Weekly Reflection: All Great Things are Simple

*This blog post is my "Weekly Reflection" sent to Christ Church parishioners and friends on Thursday, July 7.

As my family and I anticipate our move to Indianapolis, we are living in the midst of transition at home as well as at church. A significant part of our preparation for the beginning of my ministry at St. Paul's in August revolves around our house. Getting it ready to be on on the market has meant not only the completion of a few projects but also, and perhaps most importantly, cleaning out the accumulation of 12+ years of stuff. A sizeable portion of this stuff has been books. We have given away 20 boxes of books (and still have plenty more!).

Going through my books I found several volumes by or about Winston Churchill. I have most of these books in my collection thanks to Jane Palmer, a long time member of Christ Church and someone, along with her husband Don, I consider to be a dear friend. Jane and I shared a love of history and of Churchill and Harry Truman. Besides the books, I have a few other reminders of her in my collection that represent this common interest.

I need these reminders because Jane died last week. Beyond a sense of personal loss, I know that Jane's death is a loss for a broad community of people who have been touched by her -- her family, the citizens of North Hampton, students at the White Mountain School, Boston University, the Diocese of New Hampshire, to name only a few. She lived her life with a deep commitment to the common good and she shared that commitment with a feistiness that Winston Churchill would have appreciated.

I found this quote from Churchill that I believe Jane would have appreciated: "All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."

We complicate life a great deal, don't we? Well, perhapps I should speak only for myself. Too often, I forget that what matters in life and what makes a difference in this world is really very simple. When it comes down to it, what matters is being true to ourselves, our communities, our families, and our God. If we do this, we make the world a better place.

I think I would add faith and love to Churchill's list. What would you add?

(Since sending this out to parishioners, here is what has been added to the list: charity, memory, friendship, knowledge, and compassion)

Freedom: A Gift or a Right?

This blog post is my "Weekly Reflection" sent to Christ Church parishioners and friends on Thursday, June 30.

Did you know that in the back of the Episcopal Hymnal 1982there are five hymns in the category "National Songs" (one of which is the National Anthem)? This might seem a bit odd in a nation that so highly values the separation of church and state and the right to freedom of religion. However, Christians have always believed that God is active in society as a whole, not simply in the church. For example, here are St. Paul's words in Romans 13:1: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God."

For context, it is helpful to understand that Paul wrote this in a religiously pluralistic society with governing authorities who were most definitely not Christians. He is expressing his understanding and belief that God is the Creator of all, whatever one particular religious beliefs may be.

This brings to mind verse 3 of "My country 'tis of thee," which focuses not on the freedom we enjoy as Americans but on the freedom that is inherent in God's creation.

Let music swell the breeze,
and ring from all the trees
sweet freedom's song;
let mortal tongues awake,
let all that breathe partake,
let rocks their silence break,
the sound prolong.

Perhaps this is a good reminder that, while on Independence Day we celebrate all that makes our country great, we all recognize that, ultimately, we owe our existence in this world to our Creator. Perhaps this will remind us that true freedom -- not simply freedom spelled out in the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights but the freedom to be wholly who we are created to be -- is not simply a right but a gift from God.

As Thomas Jefferson -- who was more Deist than Christian -- wrote 235 years ago: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

Living In Between

Everywhere I turn these days I find reminders that I'm living "in between" -- in between Exeter and Indianapolis; Christ Church and St. Paul's; the house I'm trying to sell and the one I've not yet found to buy. I go to church and find that not only do I have less to do, but also I see others working on things that have nothing to do with me. Yes, I'm still the rector, but I'm leaving so I'm becoming increasingly irrelevant here. At the same time, I'm communicating with folks in Indianapolis. No, I'm not the rector there yet, but I'm becoming more relevant there with each passing week. In Exeter, people are starting to move on without me (as they should). In Indianapolis, they are moving forward while I try to catch up.

Really, the whole experience is very odd . . . and a bit unnerving at times.

Living "in between" can certainly raise anxiety. There are all of those unanswered questions. Perhaps it's just me or perhaps it's human nature, but that desire to know how everything is going to work out can be very strong.

So, I was very thankful for a conversation I had a little while ago. I was talking with a member of Christ Church. It was very much an "in between" conversation. We knew it was one of the last times we will talk while I'm here, but it isn't really the last time we will see each other. So, there were some final thoughts expressed at the same time that we could say, "See you on Sunday."

Anyway, in the midst of talking about the transition at Christ Church and my transition, about saying good-bye and how hard this is, he said, "It's all good."

Amen! It's all good. For Christ Church, St. Paul's, and the Densons, there is much to look forward to. Despite all the unanswered questions (and perhaps because of them), living "in between" is good. At least, it's good for people of faith. And I don't mean some sort of blind faith that accepts divine will as if we have no choices. I mean the sort of faith that implicitly trusts that the Lord we follow is one who brings good out of everything. It is the sort of faith that looks for possibilities and finds a sense of adventure in the unanswered questions. It is the sort of faith that accepts that the only way to get where God is calling us is to walk through the "in between."

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen." (Hebrews 11:1)

Nice words for me to remember in this season of life (or any other season, I guess!)

Living "in between." It's all good!

Finding Yourself by Losing Yourself

Excellent column by David Brooks in today's New York Times. Click on the title and read "It's Not About You." In this graduation season, Brooks is taking on the general theme of commencement addresses in which graduates are told "to find their passion and then pursue their dreams."

Now, on the surface this would not seem to be such a bad thing to say. I've said this to my kids (ages 19 and 16) several times. But Brooks challenges this sentiment with, in my opinion, some powerful words.

"Most successful young people don't look inside and then plan a life. They look outside and a problem, which summons their life. . . . Most people don't form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed gradually by their calling."

I'm not overly fond of Brooks' use of the word "task." I'm not sure that I agree that "fulfillment is a byproduct of how people engage their tasks." Perhaps this is simply semantics. Instead of task I would use the word "practice." In other words, it is through the way we practice our lives – when what we do is aligned with our passion, identity, and gifts – that empowers us to become most fully who God has created us to be.

From my perspective this is true not only for individuals. It is also true for communities. When our community practices align with our identity, purpose, and mission, we manifest most fully the grace, mercy, and presence of Christ in the world.

"The purpose of life," Brooks writes, "is not to find yourself. It is to lose yourself."

Hmmmm . . . sounds familiar, don't you think?

Jesus said, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up the cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and the for the sake of the gospel, will save it." (Mark 8:34-35)

Considering the Common Good

So, here we are in Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial beginning of summer, and according to an article I read this morning in the Boston Globe there are places in the western US that cannot open their campgrounds because they have too much snow. There are actually some ski areas still open!

Which brings to mind the insane weather we've had this spring and the terrible cost, damage, and loss of life that has resulted from it. I found myself the other day complaining about the weather in New Hampshire because it had been cool and wet for days and days and days.

My complaining was put in perspective by a comment I read in James Carroll's column, "Amid disaster, community" in Monday's Boston Globe. Carroll quoted a woman who is losing her home (not just her home, but her entire town) to the deliberate flooding along the Mississippi River in order to save larger cities. Her town was deliberately sacrificed. Here's what she said: "While we understand the reasoning behind it, it's still hard to accept. It's a no-brainer when you look at sacrificing our small community to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge. I'm not angry. I've resigned myself."

Wow! And I'm complaining about overcast skies!

Carroll shares this quote in his column as an illustration of the power of a community attitude over a "me-first" attitude. Quoting Carroll here:

"The broadly positive spirit that greeted the heartbreaking need to put the welfare of many above that of a few represents the opposite of 'not in my backyard,' the refusal to carry weight for the common good that has become a hallmark of contemporary American life. In the Mississippi valley, thousands of backyards are under water, with assent."

I read something sad and hopeful here. On the one hand, I believe Carroll is correct. Contemporary American life is overly narcissistic and focused on "what's in this for me." On the other hand, when faced with a challenge and crisis, some people can focus on the good of the whole, even if they must make a sacrifice. Wouldn't it be nice if this sort of community spirit was the norm and not the exception? Wouldn't it be nice if this community spirit was so normal it would not have be written about as exceptional?

One of the core characteristics of faithful, vital churches is that they are committed to the common good. They foster and create a community spirit that calls people to a higher view of the world in which we live. These churches invite people to work for the good of the whole community.

A lot of congregations are struggling today. I'm guessing they'd struggle less if they focused more on the common good and less on their own needs. I believe these congregations would actually grow in vitality if they live as witnesses of a community attitude, just the sort of attitude Jesus calls us to embody.

Shrinking Attendance Means Stronger Church?

I'm sitting here at Me and Ollie's in the Exeter and no one is coming over to talk to me. Finally, I have a chance to write a blog post with some information I've been holding onto for a couple of months (my, how time flies!).

Here's the question: How religious are we, really, in the United States?

According to the 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 71% of Americans believe in God but only 39% attend religious services once per week (for a state-by-state breakdown go to "How Religious is Your State?").

According to an article in the Spring 2011 edition of the Public Opinion Quarterly (as reported on March 6 by the Boston Globe), it's possible that this "lukewarm" percentage for attendance is actually inflated. POQ reports that "studies of how people use their time have found that the attendance rate is lower by 10 to 20 percentage points."

I'm not a math genius and perhaps it's not this simple, but I'm assuming this means that, in fact, only 19% to 29% of Americans attend religious services weekly. In New Hampshire and Vermont, we're talking about 3% to 13% if we adjust the numbers down from the Pew Forum survey.

And let's remember that this includes all religions, not only people who claim to be Christian and go to an institutional church.

Before anyone starts to panic, perhaps we should remember that this is measuring weekly attendance. I think it is safe to say that a lot of people who go to church these days don't attend weekly because of a variety of other commitments in life and the fact that so many other events and activities now happen on Sunday. So, one can easily conclude that while the number of weekly attenders is low, that does not necessarily reflect how many people actually participate actively in a faith community.

I want to offer two possible pieces of good news here.

First, since there is no societal expectation that one be religious today, the people who come to church actually want to be there. From my experience, they are more committed to Jesus and to the church because they are personally motivated to participate. That makes us smaller but stronger.

Second, changes in religious practice are forcing those of us who lead the church to rethink who we are and why we are here. We can't simply follow the old models and expect that it will continue to work. I hear more and more people saying it's time for those of us in the mainline denominations to wake up, to focus on Jesus, and to reach out in new ways that embody the love of Jesus in the world. The more we are talking about this, the better prepared we will be to live faithfully today and in the future.

Whatever the numbers may say, I am hopeful. I know that the falling numbers mean that many congregations are and will struggle. Some of them will even die.

But if we can open ourselves to the movement of the Spirit and redefine our communities, the church can once again flourish as Christ's body in the world. Perhaps we will not be as dominant in society as we once were. But we may just become more faithful and authentic, more focused on our mission, and more effective witnesses of the active love of God in the world.

Shouting Out on Mother’s Day

It's Mother's Day. In the Episcopal Church we do not celebrate Mother's Day, at least not directly. The scripture readings and prayers will be those appointed for the Third Sunday of Easter. I can't find any inspiration there for a blog post!

Looking elsewhere, I go to one of my favorite "mother" passages in scripture (Matthew 15:21-27).

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²²Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon."²³But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us."²⁴He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."²⁵But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."²⁶He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."²⁷She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."²⁸Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly.

I love this passage because it represents one aspect of motherhood that I think we often overlook on this "Hallmark" holiday with its overly sentimental cards and messages. Here we find a mother who will not give up on her daughter, who will shout until that demon is cast out of her. I wonder if the daughter is embarrassed by her mother's persistence. I imagine her cringing a bit. She's heard this before and probably wishes her mother would just be quiet. But the mother loves her daughter and is going to keep shouting until someone does something to help. The daughter may be embarrassed, but underneath she is thankful that someone is looking out for her and is willing to do anything for her. This is not simply a story of great faith. It is a story of great love, of a mother's love.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, to my mother-in-law, and to my wife! Thank you for loving your children, for your willingness to shout out for them in their time of greatest need. Thank you for being examples for all of us of great faith, abiding hope, and fearless love.

Looking for God in all the Wrong Places

OK, it's been so long since I've posted anything that I'm thinking I need to put something--anything--on this blog! Although, I have to lead contemplative prayer pretty soon, so I'd better make this fast!

It's almost Holy Week, so it's time (actually, it's beyond time) for clergy to be hyper-focused on liturgical preparation. All the more reason why I need this quote to remind me that the purpose of all of this liturgy we will be doing over the next 11 days or so is to provide an opportunity for people to meet Jesus, not for me to glorify the church.

"I sometimes feel inclined to wonder why God hides himself so inscrutably from our experience. Or is it that the church has taught us for so long to look for him in the wrong places?"

This is from the Rev. Oswin Creighton who was a Church of England chaplain to the 86th Brigade of the 29th Division during World War I (it comes from a book titled, With the 29th Division in Gallipoli--no, I haven't read the book).

I guess this is a great example of "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Perhaps Oswin was ringing this hands as much as many do today about the paradoxical ways that the church tries to be the Body of Christ while also upholding the institutional "stuff" that seems so very important.

More on that another time. For now, it's time for contemplative prayer.

Time to worship. Time to pray. Time to find Jesus . . . hopefully in the right places.

Self-Expansion or Common Enterprise?

"We're an overconfident species." So writes columnist David Brooks in The Modesty Manifesto printed in this past Friday's New York Times.

He goes on to write that "there's abundant evidence to suggest that we have shifted from a culture that emphasized self-effacement -- I'm no better than anyone else, but nobody is better than me -- to a culture that emphasizes self-expansion."

This is possibly, he believes, a reason for some of our current problems in the United States. We have so inflated our sense of self, so fallen into narcissism, that political leaders are no longer motivated to listen to those who disagree with them, making it nearly impossible to reach the sort of compromise, let alone consensus, that allows us to make the difficult decisions that will have a long-term impact on the United States.

"Citizenship, after all," he writes, "is built on an awareness that we are not all that special but are, instead, enmeshed in a common enterprise."

I think Brooks is on to something here that speaks directly to a central challenge for congregational life in these early years of the 21st century. We in the church are trying to create religious communities in an age in which people are looking for personal spiritual fulfillment. In other words, it seems to me that so often people seek a church because they are yearning for self-expansion.

Understand, please, that I'm not being critical. Too many people have been hurt or pushed down by the church, their schools, or some other institution (or even their families). As Jesus did with the woman who committed adultery (see John 8:2-11) we need to lift people up, proclaiming to them that they are not condemned but loved. There are a lot of people out there who need some healthy self-expansion.

Yet didn't Jesus invite us to give up our selves and follow him? Are we not inviting people into a divine community, into a religious citizenship that is, to use Brooks' words, "enmeshed in a common enterprise"? To create this community, don't we need to invite people to look beyond their own personal fulfillment to work for the fulfillment of the whole? And is it not true that, paradoxically, each of us finds our truest sense of fulfillment when we give our selves over to the Jesus we experience and make manifest together?

So, it's Lent and for those of us who gathered at church on Ash Wednesday, we've been invited "to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word" (Book of Common Prayer, p. 265).

There's a lot of "self" in that invitation, but somehow I'm thinking that all of this spiritual "work" I'm supposed to do during Lent is not supposed to be all about me, that it's not all about my personal relationship with Jesus.

What might happen if, during Lent, we focused on our relationships with both Jesus and each other, if we focused on our "common enterprise." That might even lead to some transformation, an expansion not simply of the self but of the community.

I'm thinking that -- perhaps -- that could be just what Jesus wanted.

Peter Gomes: Authentic and Faithful Disciple

The Rev. Peter Gomes, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and the Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard University, died this past Monday, February 28. This is a tremendous loss for the Harvard community, but I believe also for the church in the United States.

I did not know Gomes. I never met him and never heard him preach (though I wish I had). I've read one of his books and know I should read more.

There are a variety of places you can read about his life and achievements: on the Harvard Divinity School website, on Wikipedia, and in obituaries in the New York Times and the Boston Globe.

I want to share one quote I read in the paper this morning. In 1996 Gomes said this in an interview with the Boston Globe:

"[My mother] always told me that I must invent my own reality. Reality will not conform to you. You must invent your own and then conform to it. So I did. I am an authentic and an original . . . I will not allow myself to be known simply as an African American, no more than I would allow myself to be known as gay or conservative. They are all bits and pieces of a work in progress. I am a child of God."

Wouldn't it be nice if we could all live with this sort of authenticity? What might the world look like if we had enough security to live as fully and courageously as the people God created us to be? What might the world look like if we all recognize and admit that we are works in progress? What might the world look like if we could see each person we meet as a child of God instead of the through the lens of our own reality and perspective?

This, I believe, is the essence of what we are called to create as leaders of Christian communities. We need to create communities that invite people to discover who they are as children of God. And once they have discovered this (or begun to see themselves as works in progress), we need to be communities that support and equip people to live authentically and faithfully at home, at school, at work, and in their neighborhoods and communities.

Isn't this why the church exists? Isn't this why Jesus told us to go forth and make disciples?

Thank you, Peter Gomes, for living your authentic and faithful life so publicly for the rest of us. May you rest in peace.

Who are We Serving?

Easter is late this year so we're still a long way from Ash Wednesday. That means there's only one thing to call this time of year: it's parochial report season! If you don't know what a parochial report is, consider yourself fortunate. Parochial reports are annual reports to the Episcopal Church and dioceses that every congregation needs to fill out. They measure . . . what exactly?

OK, they measure how many members a church has, how many people (on average) attend each Sunday, and how much money your congregation has.

And this data means . . . what exactly?

What it means most years is that the Episcopal Church is a declining church. I don't have any numbers since 2008, but assuming the trends have been followed in 2009 and 2010 we continue to be a shrinking church.

And yet to put it that way is to assume that our congregations are not vital, that we have no faith and are simply struggling to survive. I suspect this is true in more congregations than we want to admit, but I also know that many are vital in ways that aren't easily measured. And I'm willing to bet that the vital ones are focused more on Jesus than on parochial reports.

I'm a subscriber to a congregational development group on Yahoo. I will admit that a lot of days go by when I don't read the posts. But I opened the email today and was immediately challenged. A diocesan staff person in North Dakota had asked about what to do about tiny churches (really tiny, with 10 people coming on Sunday morning). Should they be closed? Should they try to change? I found the response from a woman in Wisconsin fascinating (I'm editing a bit to give some context and not quote the entire post).

"The struggle [is] trusting the leadership -- of members asking themselves and each other -- Who do those people in the collars want to serve, who are they going to serve? Are they serving themselves? Are they serving God? Are they serving us? Are they serving others? Whoa -- the people in the collars and in the positions of authoriy and leadership do not have it easy -- because the motivations of their hearts are always being judged by people while being moved by God in Christ."

I appreciate her empathy but I'm challenged by her questions. As one of those "people in the collars," who am I serving? Is my biggest concern average Sunday attendance or is it proclaiming the gospel and making disciples? And if it's the latter, is it really possible to measure success?

Who are we serving? I believe the correct answer is Jesus . . . right?

I wonder what report he's looking for.

A Real Family Story

If you are looking for a poignant, sad, but beautiful story that will remind you what is important in life, I strongly suggest reading "Against All Odds, a Beautiful Life" in the January 24th edition of the New York Times.

The article tells the story of Maurice Mannion-Vanover who died at age 20 on January 14th. So often when I read news stories of young men dying it is because of violence -- whether that violence is at home, in their neighborhoods, or in war.

Maurice's story, however, is a family story. When Maurice was a baby he was adopted by a gay couple. Eventually, they adopted another boy, also. Maurice was not expected to live more than 6 months after his birth, but he managed, despite many challenges, to live until he was 20.

What I love about this article is that it tells such a normal family story, filled with happiness and pain, struggle and joy, commitment and separation, sadness and love. The fact that the family at the center of this story is two gay men and their two African-American adopted sons doesn't really matter. They are a family that has endured illness, divorce, and death. Like any other American family they stood together at Maurice's funeral and grieved his untimely death. Because that's what families do.

In the midst of the sadness, can we celebrate how normal this non-traditional family is? Can we start to accept that a family is defined not by external appearances or sexuality but by love, commitment, faith, and a life shared together?

Oh yes! One other detail I love. They are members of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Montclair, NJ. They had a parish home that accepted and embraced them. If anyone tells you that religion isn't a good thing or that the church judges instead of loves, tell them Maurice's story. Tell them about the Episcopal Church.

And when you tell the story, don't forget to mention Rocky. He's the horse! I'll stop typing so you can read the article.

This story will definitely preach!

Honoring a New Hampshire Saint on Martin Luther King Day

Jonathan Myrick Daniels, a native of Keene, New Hampshire, was killed in Alabama on August 20, 1965. He was a 26 year old Episcopal seminary student who gave his life so that an African-American teenager, Ruby Sales, would not be harmed. He is rightly considered a Christian martyr and a saint of the church whose feast day on the church calendar is August 14.

Daniels and Sales are two of the countless people--people of different ethnicities, religions, ages, backgrounds, and political beliefs--who participated in the civil rights movement and helped to bring about the transformation of our nation.

I'm reminded of Daniels today because of an excellent column in today's Boston Globe by Adrian Walker, "On King holiday, honoring heroes," that focuses on Daniels passion and sacrifice. Beyond his willingness to give his life, Daniels' commitment, as a white northerner, reminds us that real transformation in our nation--a transformation that is ongoing today--comes when we open ourselves to those who are different from us.

As Ruby Sales said (as quoted in Walker's column): "If I had never met Jonathan Daniels, I would have only had a monolithic view of white people and he would have had one view of black people. We opened each other's worlds so we could see each other's humanity. That's really what the movement was about."

Following Jonathan's and Ruby's examples, perhaps the best thing to remember on this Martin Luther King Day is that the world will only become a better place when we open ourselves to relationships with those who differ from us, with those who are often separated from us. When we do this, we not only "see each other's humanity," we create community.

I highly recommend taking a few minutes to read Walker's column in the Globe. Not only does he give a fuller picture of Daniels' life and commitment than I've giving here, but he articulates the essence of what this national holiday is truly about.

Take Away the Arrogance and Hatred Which Infect Our Hearts

Six people killed and a member of Congress in critical condition in the hospital. The tragedy in Tucson has saturated the news as people try to respond and comprehend what happened. In what has become a common rite in western society, people have been leaving flowers, keepsakes, and notes in support of Congresswoman Giffords and those who were killed and injured.

Lost in the midst of this tragedy is one reported in the Boston Globe on Wednesday, January 12th in an article titled "Students Mourn Nebraska School Administrator Slain by Teen." A school principal was shot last week by a student she had suspended earlier in the day. Later that same day the student killed himself.

It seems at times, doesn't it, that we live in a society gone mad. I'm not sure if these sorts of things happen more often than they used to or if we just hear about it more because of the overload of information that comes to us. Whatever it is, I wonder what my response is to be to this as a Christian person. These events happened far away from me and my life really has not been changed by them. But do I just let them pass or is this a call to live in a new way?

I'm not sure what the answer is, but I know where I start in situations like this. I start by praying the prayer "For the Human Family" found on page 815 of the Book of Common Prayer.

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus Christ your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Once I've prayed the prayer, the question becomes: How do I put this into action? It's fine to place my faith in God and wait for God's "good time" to bring the divine purpose into fulfillment. But that doesn't mean I bear no responsibility for the society in which I live today.

As Christians, one of our primary calls is to create community, a special sort of community that lives by faith, hope, and love despite the differences that might divide us. As God's people, as the Body of Christ, we have it within our power to make a difference by showing the world that there is another way to live together.

What might happen if we took seriously not only praying this prayer, but also living it?

Even the Snow Praises God

It's January 12th and we're getting our first "real" snow day of the season in New Hampshire. This seems a good time to lift up a prayer to God using the words of Canticle 12 from Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer.

Invocation
Glorify the Lord, all you works of the Lord,*
praise him and highly exalt him forever.
In the firmament of his power, glorify the Lord,*
praise him and highly exalt him forever.

I The Cosmic Order
Glorify the Lord, you angels and all the powers of the Lord,*
O heavens and all waters above the heavens.
Sun and moon and stars of the sky, glorify the Lord,*
praise him and highly exalt him forever.

Glorify the Lord, every shower of rain and fall of dew,*
all the winds and fire and heat.
Winter and summer, glorify the Lord,*
praise him and highly exalt him forever.

Glorify the Lord, O chill and cold,*
drops of dew and flakes of snow.
Frost and cold, ice and sleet, glorify the Lord,*
praise him and highly exalt him forever.

Glorify the Lord, O nights and days,*
O shining light and enfolding dark.
Storm clouds and thunderbolts, glorify the Lord,*
praise him and highly exalt him forever.

Doxology
Let us glorify the Lord: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;*
praise him and highly exalt him forever.
In the firmament of his power, glorify the Lord,*
praise him and highly exalt him forever.

On the 10th Day of Christmas . . . Reality Hit!

As always, I feel as if I am at least a couple of days behind on this blog (well, I'm probably behind on more than that, but I'm not going to get too stressed about it today!). Anyway, I'm sitting here at home while most everyone else is starting back to work, school, and the other normal activities of life. Really, I have been working today because I've been mostly off for the past week, but the office is closed so I'm not catching up on some things at home.

We're still in the Twelve Days of Christmas which means that our tree is still up and decorated and the house has a festive look to it. However, most of our neighbors have put their trees by the side of the road, all the things I've put off until after the first of the year now need to be done, and my calendar is about to become very full. Ugh!

This is a good time for me to re-read words by Frederick Buechner in his book, Now and Then.

"Taking your children to school and kissing your wife goodbye. Eating lunch with a friend. Trying to do a decent day's work. Hearing the rain patter against the window. There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving room to recognize him or not to recognize him, but all the more fascinatingly because of that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly."

What this means for me is that it is about time to stop looking for Jesus in the manger and begin looking for him in the midst of the everyday parts of my life, the parts I cherish and the parts I take for granted, the parts I wish I could ignore and the parts I embrace, the parts that cause stress and the parts that lift me up. God, the Incarnate One, is in all of them, if only I will look.

"There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it." And isn't that the point of Christmas anyway?