Lent

Dear People of Christ Church,

As I mentioned in my email last week, plans for Lent are underway, but we still have two Sundays of Epiphany. This week, we celebrate the baptism of Theodore Edward Drozd. It will be a wonderful day, and I'm especially glad we get to celebrate together before the Drozd family move to the DC area this spring. We will miss them! March 6, we will have another of our big children's Sundays, with kids doing readings, singing in the choir, sharing the sermon with me, and helping at the altar. The last time we had a big kids' service was for St Francis Day, way back in October, so it's about time.



It's not Lent yet, but we can feel it coming. The word comes from the Old English "lencten"-the days lengthen-and it's in the air, that heady excitement for the thaw and the light, but also still an awareness of how much is still grey, seemingly dead. You'll read more in weeks to come about the meaning of Lent and the many ways there are to observe it. This Sunday, we'll have our annual "Ministry Fair," where you can learn about all the things that happen at Christ Church and talk with representatives from different ministries about how to get involved. Lent is often a time when people take on a spiritual discipline; maybe it could be a time to try out a new ministry here at Church. With Michelle's departure, we will need a new person to schedule the greeters!



Before Lent, though, there are many occasions to celebrate. Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday" ("Shrove Tuesday," if you want to sound more religious) is the day before Ash Wednesday, traditionally a time to eat up all the fatty foods in the house before the austerities of Lent begin. We're starting early, though, with a Friday concert the weekend before, with the big band sounds of Steve Taddeo and the Suburbanaires. Steve and his band have used our lower hall for rehearsals for some time now, and are offering this concert as a benefit to us at no cost-the proceeds all go to Christ Church and supporting our ministries here. We'll have beer and wine available that night, and you can even pre-order a pizza. So buy your tickets now, (on our website,) and invite your friends-it's a week from tomorrow!



We celebrate here, but are always aware of those in other places who are not-I've been much in mind of the people of ChristChurch New Zealand. Tuesday, February 22, a 6.3 quake hit the city, still recovering from an earthquake in September. The Anglican Cathedral's tower collapsed, and people are still feared to be stuck in the rubble inside. At this point, 98 people are confirmed dead, 226 still missing. With our twitter name CCWaltham, a lot of our followers are looking for the Waltham neighborhood of ChristChurch, New Zealand and ended up on our page, so I have been sending prayers their way-a very 21st Century-style closeness.



And, of course, the Middle East. I mentioned in my sermon on Sunday that people in Egypt's Tahrir Square had been reading Ghandi and MLK (for more on that, visit fellowship of reconciliation here. The fall of Mubarak and the violence in Libya, the political standoff in Wisconsin-so much is happening in our world! So much is worthy of our prayers and attention. God is in the midst of it all.



Blessings,

Sara+

Preparing for Lent

Dear People of Christ Church,

This past Monday, we had our first vestry meeting with our new 2011 team. It was great! This parish is lead by such a talented group of people, and it is a gift to be able to work together discerning the dream of God in this community.


This Sunday, a group will be meeting at 8:45 AM to plan for Lenten liturgy. We observe the changes in the season in many ways as part of our worship-the music, prayers, even the colors used serve to draw us into a particular experience. Why are we meeting at 8:45? Choir begins at 9:15, so we want as many people as possible to be able to come. It's early, but I promise there will be coffee. For Lent, (starting March 13) we'll convene a spiritual practice group, also at that hour, to invite conversation on how our Lenten disciplines are treating us...or, maybe, how we are treating them. Choir members can leave for choir at 9:15, and others can either continue talking or move into the church for silent meditation. We'll have some beautiful photographs of the stations of the cross from (Roman Catholic) Westminster Cathedral to hang in the church to pray with as well.



Our Lenten Tuesday night series, beginning on March 15, will meet as we always do for Eucharist at 6:30 and dinner and conversation at 7:15. This year, we'll be reading Archbishop Rowan Williams' Resurrection. It is a little dense, but it's also short, so we'll just be reading about 25 pages a week. I'd like us to begin with chapter one, so please let me know if you'd like to participate and I'll order you a book. It's $11.00. The book is an amazing meditation on resurrection-not just "THE resurrection"-an event in a distant time-but resurrection in general. Williams writes, "To speak of the resurrection of Jesus is also to speak of one's own humanity as healed, renewed, restored, recentered in God." In Easter season we'll celebrate confirmation/reception of new Episcopalians-please let me know if you're interested in this or the introduction to the Episcopal Church class.





For more information on Lenten doings, please visit the Lent and Holy Week page on our website.


Blessings,

Sara+

Valentine's Day

Dear People of Christ Church,

Today, I find myself thinking about Valentine's Day, coming up next week. Your parish leaders will spend the evening at vestry, so no candlelight dinners for us. The parish hall is currently decked out in red and pink-thank you to our faithful decorating elves!-so that will have to be enough.

Something about Valentine's Day makes me a little cranky-there's so much in our culture's glorification of romantic love to be critical about. Maintaining real, honest relationships is hard work; those early, heady days of romance give way to the different graces of constancy and faithfulness, but those aren't celebrated nearly as enthusiastically, precious as they are. Chocolate and flowers are not proof of dedication and affection, and their absence isn't indicative of much, either. And, of course, it's possible to life a fulfilling life as a single person, but the TV ads for flowers don't tell you that. It's another excuse to buy stuff.

Our church has not done a great job of countering this; St Paul's memorable formuation, "Better to marry than to burn" casts marriage as the lesser of two evils for someone unable to control their lust. Western culture tends toward dualism-man/woman, spirit/body, good/bad. Historically the Christian tradition has a terrible track record for celebrating the gifts of the embodied experience including, yes, the gift of our sexuality. The cultural conversation around the meaning of same sex marriage hasn't just unveiled a lot of homophobia, it's also reminded us how impoverished our thinking is about the meaning of heterosexual marriage. The liturgy for marriage talks about it as a lifelong covenant, the profundity of which is not decreased given the number of marriages that end in divorce. Companionship, raising children when the partners are called to it, and a whole host of other benefits also ensue-but what it means for society is more complicated, and a conversation we're just beginning to have. In December of last year, a study was released in which 40 percent of respondants found that marriage was becoming "obsolete:" a complicated question if ever there were one!

The Bible doesn't offer us much clear advice. In her new book, Unprotected Texts: The Bible's Surprising Contradictions about Sex and Desire, the Rev. Jennifer Wright Knust talks about how there's just no way to get a sexual ethic out of the Bible, its pronouncements and ideas all being too contradictory and too out of context to be useful. In a patriarchal culture, the ownership of women tended to dictate a lot more than the real discernment of God's desire for our flourishing. (See below for some links to articles and an upcoming lecture by Knust)

So where does that leave us, peering into another Valentine's Day? 3 years ago in this space, I talked about the origins of "St Valentine" vis a vis Saints Cyril and Methodius, whom our official church calendar give us for February 14 (read here).The question then, as now, of doing theology comes down to honest reflection about what life is like. Where is God revealed in our lives, in all their complicated, messy glory? When has a tragic divorce lead to new life? When has the love of God been revealed in friendship as well as romantic love, in fifty years of marriage as well as a new engagement, a single person's devotion to community and individual contemplation? Where does our faith call us to take a critical stance on our culture? When do we just enjoy the candy hearts? Thanks be to God that we are part of a community of conversation, as well as conviction.


Blessings,

Sara+

Feb. 3: A Psalm for the Weather

I hope you have not gotten too buried or strained under all of this snow! There is something about all of this Weather (with a capital W) that gives kind of a sense of perspective. We humans have figured out a lot of things, but there are certain immovables that we just can't force our will upon. It's a good metaphor for the spiritual life-we can do a lot, and we can be in control of a lot, but we aren't the ones with all the power.

Another image comes to mind which, I think, comes from Buddhism: a contemplative practice is like opening a window; you can open it, but you can't force the wind to blow. You can prepare yourself in prayer, but only God decides how and when to be known. But if you don't open the window, it's a lot harder to know the wind is there.

Anyway, along with the doings of your very faithful vestry, I thought I'd share a psalm for the season-the inclusive language translation comes from the Episcopal order of Saint Helena. Please also keep those who are homeless in your prayers--the weather is not just an inconvenience (or a metaphor) for those who are outdoors.
Blessings,
Sara+

Alleluia! Praise God from the heavens; sing praise in the heights.
Praise God, all you angels, sing praise, all you heavenly host.
Praise God, sun and moon; sing praise, all you shining stars.
Praise God, heaven of heavens, and you waters above the heavens.
Let them praise the Name of God; by whose command they were created.
God made them stand fast for ever and ever; and gave them a law which shall not pass away.
Praise God from the earth, you sea-monsters and all deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and fog, tempestuous wind, doing God's will; Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars;
Wild beasts and all cattle, creeping things and wingèd birds;
Sovereigns of the earth and all peoples, leaders and all rulers of the world;

Young men and maidens, old and young together.
Let them praise your Name, O God, for your Name only is exalted, your splendor is over earth and heaven.
You have raised up strength for your people and praise for all your loyal servants, the children of Israel, a people who are near you. Alleluia!

January 20: 2010 Annual Report

Each morning when I get to work, I sit with an icon of the road to Emmaus. Shortly after the crucifixion (but before the resurrection is understood) Cleopas and another disciple are going toward Jerusalem when a stranger appears and asks them what they’re talking about. They don’t recognize the risen Christ in their midst, but as they walk, the stranger interprets Scripture and teaches them about the Messiah. Only afterwards, as they share a meal, is he revealed as the risen Christ. He disappears, and they marvel together: Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road? (Luke 24:32) Looking back over the year, we can see.

Our hearts were burning:
We said goodbye to friends—moving on to new adventures, Ian and Becky left for the Coast Guard. We celebrated Holy Week and Easter, our liturgies carrying us through those wild days of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection. We cared for those far away, as we gathered money to buy pigs for people in Haiti rebuilding their lives after the earthquake, and near, as we worked with the children at B Safe in Boston, while all year offering food to seniors in Waltham and diapers to parents in need. People took on new ministries, listening to where God lead them, and put down old ministries, as they were lead to new challenges. We were reminded of the preciousness of our time together, as we said our farewell alleluias to Martha White and Mary Bonnyman in May and June. John entered hospice; his good humor still is a pleasure each time I visit. Adah, Vanessa, Alana, Henry, Claire, and Olivia, were baptized. Paul joined us in September, reminding us of how important it is to nurture new leaders, and gave us an opportunity to work more closely with our friends at St Peter’s. We applied for a Community Preservation grant from the city, taking our place with the Paines, Lymans, and Winns, and all those who’ve gone before in caring for our building.

Each year I sit down to write this report—now, my sixth—I have the same flush of gratitude and excitement at what we are doing at Christ Church. It’s been a busy year—these days of burning hearts—but we’ve also had some very fruitful space for reflection and discussion with the work of the GPS (“God’s People Serving”) Committee, magnificently chaired by Jonathan Duce. In our work in creating mission and vision statements of the church, we’ve had wonderful opportunities to listen to each other and consider what we are about here (see the GPS report for so-far final drafts of everything). Our hearts were burning within us again and again—sometimes we even knew God was with us at the time!

Throughout this process of discerning the mind of our community, I’ve also been so aware of the individual gifts that we each bring to the table. Working with Jonathan and Cindy as wardens has helped me see through new eyes what real leadership looks like—both on the level of creative visioning and the day to day planning that gets things done. I am so grateful to them for what they have taught me and what they do for this church. Very grateful, too, that Cindy will be able to stay on for another year as vestry member. With Shawn as treasurer and Michelle Driscoll as clerk, it’s been a pleasure to see them apply their own extraordinary gifts to those ordinary tasks and making them their own. Our whole vestry has been such a talented body; each one’s individual perspective has immeasurably enriched us all. Joy, Ed, and Jeanne, our outgoing members, will be missed—but I will look forward to seeing what new projects they take on!

In 2011, I pray our hearts will continue to burn with the brightness of God’s love, listening for the Spirit’s guidance and acting with the strength of the Gospel. Thanks be to God, and to each of you!




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On Violence: Response to Tucson Shootings

This week, my thoughts have been in Tucson, where a gunman attacked Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (still in critical condition) and killed six people. I've been puzzling over the national debate about the event-where the debate has become focused, and about how different poles of the political spectrum have dealt with it.

So far, it seems like the debate has been in two varieties; one: we need to "tone down" the political debate. That people of goodwill can disagree, that we can put aside our differences and work for the common good. The other side would say that an isolated act of violence by someone who apparently has a tenuous connection to reality is not a commentary on anything in society at all. Of course, there are different varieties of both arguments; some on the one side say that it's the especially contentious nature of the debate in Arizona itself, particularly the debate about immigration. Apart fromgeneral anti-government rambling, the assailant doesn't seem particularly allied with one side or the other. He clearly meant to attack Congresswoman Giffords, but what was it about her politics in particular? We don't really know yet. What both of these views don't examine, though, is the wider picture of language and culture. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said "Words make worlds." It's not just how we talk about politics--it's how we talk, period.

We use violent imagery without even thinking about it-without even realizing what we are saying. We are "up in arms" at something, "bombarded" with images, "shooting down" each other's opinions. Violence is so intertwined with our existence in the world we don't even realize it. The problem isn't just with our political debate. Being polite is really nice, but what's going on is deeper than that. Our "dialogue" (if that word isn't too charitable) is the symptom, not the real issue. It's not just about how we speak to each other, it's about what we believe about each other. Being cruel doesn't mean that you hold your opinion any more fervently, but listening to our political life, it would seem that way. Listening to myself, I realize just how the imagery of force is part of my thinking. Recalling how I felt some days during the last presidency, I think I know what it's like for those now on the opposite side of the spectrum.

The issue isn't the culture of a particular state. The problem is with the endemic nature of deep, ingrained violence in human interaction. As a person of faith, I know that God's reality is so much wider than what I see. There is much to be lament in this moment in our national culture, but the goodnews is that there is Good News-we are still reading the prophet Isaiah, still hearing that vision as we did in Advent of those brilliant reversals and restorations that are possible with God's help.

At Finn's baptism on Sunday, we were reminded of the baptismal covenant promise "to renounce the evil powers that corrupt and destroy the creatures of this world." Those powers are out there. They're "in here," too--we've all internalized them. But God's power is bigger. In the life of Jesus and his forgiving response to the violence he suffered, we don't just have an abstract example of what is possible. It's not that somebody wrote a story about a new way to live. We have evidence of new life and new possibility in the resurrection. Violence doesn't get the last word. Freedom wins--not a freedom that says "I'm right and you're wrong," but a freedom of abundance that holds all of us secure in love and lets us know there is nothing to fear.

This week, as all of this continues to swirl, pray for all the victims of the shooting. Pray, too, for the country of Haiti on this year anniversary of the earthquake there. Pray, pray, pray. Pray and give thanks for all that you have and all that is possible in Christ. Then pray that all of our hands and hearts will be strong and compassionate enough to be those of Christ in this world.

Epiphany Blessing From June 6

Today is the day we celebrate the magi's visit to the cradle of baby Jesus. I was with the Sisters of St Anne this morning, celebrating the Eucharist with them and some friends.
We prayed a wonderful Epiphany blessings, which I'll share with you here:
May Almighty God, who led the Wise Men by the shining of a star to find the Christ, the Light from Light, lead you also, in your pilgrimage, to find the Lord. Amen.

May God, who sent the Holy Spirit to rest upon the Only begotten at his baptism in the Jordan River, pour out that Spirit on you who have come to the waters of new birth.
Amen.

May God, by the power that turned water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana, transform your lives and make glad your hearts. Amen.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you for ever.
Amen.

An old church custom is the blessing of homes at the new year; there is a nice service you can do yourself at the worship well site. Sorry I didn't think to hand out holy water and blessed chalk in advance.