Saint Anne's Blog

A Year In The Life

2011-01-27T20:30:00.000-06:00

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Saint Anne's day by day: January - December, 2010

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Sharing the Dream

2011-01-17T08:30:00.000-06:00

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Wise Women Also Came

2011-01-07T08:30:00.000-06:00

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Wise Women Also Came

Wise women also came.
The fire burned
in their wombs
long before they saw
the flaming star
in the sky.
They walked in shadows,
trusting the path
would open
under the light of the moon.

Wise women also came,
seeking no directions,
no permission
from any king.
They came
by their own authority,
their own desire,
their own longing.
They came in quiet,
spreading no rumors,
sparking no fears
to lead
to innocents’ slaughter,
to their sister Rachel’s
inconsolable lamentations.

Wise women also came,
and they brought
useful gifts:
water for labor’s washing,
fire for warm illumination,
a blanket for swaddling.

Wise women also came,
at least three of them,
holding Mary in the labor,
crying out with her
in the birth pangs,
breathing ancient blessings
into her ear.

Wise women also came,
and they went,
as wise women always do,
home a different way.

- Jan Richardson

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The Journey of the Magi

2011-01-05T08:28:00.003-06:00

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Journey of the Magi

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A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times when we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities dirty and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wineskins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

~T.S. Eliot

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O Holy Night

2010-12-24T11:00:00.001-06:00

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The Third Sunday of Advent

2010-12-12T10:30:00.000-06:00

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Sermon – Advent 3A
December 12, 2010
The Rev. Patrick Markie

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent and Advent is the Season the Church gives us each year to remember, rejoice, and reflect. We remember with joy what we know already happened: Jesus came as a baby, he was placed in a manger, and he changed the world forever.

We rejoice in the sure and certain knowledge of God’s presence with us and among us today, because on the first Easter morning, three women discovered something amazing: the rock had been rolled away from the tomb, and Jesus had risen from the dead.

And we reflect on what is still to come, as we wait in joyful hope, ever vigilant and ever open to the mystery of the second coming of Christ.

John Westerhoff says: “Advent provides us with a moment to reflect on where Christ is trying to break into our lives and into our world…Of course we remember the birth at Bethlehem, but only so that we will not forget the vision of a new possibility that God implanted in our hearts, and the promise of God’s return, upon which we base our hope and for which we watch and wait.”

John the Baptist had been waiting and hoping for the coming of the Messiah for a long time. And in last Sunday’s Gospel he took this message to the people, as an edgy messenger, dressed in camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. He ate grasshoppers and wild honey, and he was probably skinny as a rail, with hair and a beard that looked like they’d never been cut. And there he stood, knee-deep in the River Jordan, shouting out as loud as he could, “Repent…prepare…for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

And last Sunday’s Gospel tells us, “…the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him…”

Some of it, I’m sure, was plain old curiosity, and the people of John’s time were probably saying, “I just can’t believe what I’ve been hearing about this guy. I’ve got to see it for myself. Nobody really dresses and eats and talks like that, do they?”

But mostly, I think, it was what John was saying: “With many other exhortations, John proclaimed the good news to the people.” And it was good news that gave a waiting and hoping people, faith and trust and joy, and inspired them to respond to John’s call to “bear fruit worthy of repentance,” or as another translation says, “To change the way you’ve been living your life.”

Fast forward to today’s Gospel and we have an entirely different picture of John the Baptist. Here he is, the bold prophet who pointed to Jesus as the One, who called for repentance and baptized many, now sitting alone in Herod’s prison.

It must have been lonely and dirty and very difficult being imprisoned in first century Judea. There were most likely no comforts or conveniences, and the only thing available to John was time—time to think, time to ponder, time to second-guess, and lots of time to doubt. Was Jesus really the One? Was he the real thing? Had I been right, or had my work been in vain?

Things were not turning out the way they were supposed to. The Messiah was supposed to change things. He was supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff in the world. He was supposed to change things so that men like Herod were no longer in power and men like John the Baptist were no longer in prison. Jesus wasn’t doing the things John thought the Messiah was supposed to do, and John was full of disappointment and doubt.

I suppose we’ve all been disappointed with God at one time or another. A loved one gets sick and dies. A terrorist attack takes place somewhere in the world. Tornadoes tear up a town or earthquakes devastate the lives of hundreds, even thousands of people.

Our disappointment comes because of faulty expectations. Sometimes we fail to really see God because we are blinded by the picture we have painted of God in our mind. If we are going to see God at work in the world then we need to remove the blinders of our expectations and look with the eyes of faith. We need to be open to seeing beyond what we have grown to expect.

Doubt is nothing new. Even the most faithful disciples throughout human history have experienced their dark nights of the soul and their season of doubt. Think about Thomas Merton, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther, the Apostle Thomas, and so many other pillars of faith who wrestled with doubt, lived with it and expressed it, and yet did not let it consume them.

John the Baptist, in spite of his imprisonment and uncertain future, refused to wallow in his doubt. He did not allow it to disappoint and embitter him. According to Matthew’s account he sent word by his disciples to Jesus and asked him directly: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

A commentary on this text says: “Jesus meets John’s questioning and doubt directly. There are no heavy theological treatises or condemnation of his doubt handed down. Not at all! Jesus provides the answer through the witness of his disciples.” “Go and tell John what you hear and see,” Jesus says. “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

Jesus wants John to know that he, Jesus, is indeed the one foretold by the prophets, he wants him to know that something extraordinary is starting to happen, and that John was the one sent by God to proclaim this good news and to prepare the way. But don’t accept and believe just because I’m telling you, Jesus says. Listen to the good news of what’s been happening and then judge, have faith, and believe.

We all need to look with the eyes of faith and see God at work in and through all the ordinary elements of our lives. We need to see God in the face of our neighbors. We need to look for God at work in the world. We need to not allow our faulty expectations to trip us up and cause our faith to falter.

Being disillusioned about God is not necessarily a bad thing. Disillusionment is literally the loss of an illusion. And in the long run, it is never a bad thing to lose the lies we have mistaken for the truth.

Did Jesus fail to give you everything you prayed for? Then perhaps Jesus is not a genie. Did Jesus fail to punish your enemies? Then perhaps Jesus is not a police officer. Did Jesus fail to make everything run smoothly? Then perhaps Jesus is not a mechanic. Over and over our disappointments draw us deeper and deeper into who Jesus really is and what Jesus really does.

Disillusionment, questions, and doubt can be good things. Frederick Buechner says: “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”

John had to deal with his disillusionment over Jesus. He wanted Jesus to condemn sinners—instead, Jesus ate with them. He wanted Jesus to proclaim fire and brimstone—instead, Jesus preached about God’s love.

Jesus didn’t answer John’s question by coming right out and saying he was the one. But he did tell John to look at the works he was doing and draw his own conclusions.

Barbara Brown Taylor paraphrases Jesus’ answer this way: “People who were blind to the love loose in the world have received their sight; people who were paralyzed with fear are limber with hope; people who were deaf from want of good news are singing hymns.

“And best and most miraculous of all, tell John that this is not the work of one lonely messiah, but the work of God, carried out by all who believe, and there is no end in sight. Tell him I am the one, if you must, but tell him also that yes, he should look for another and another and another. Tell him to search every face for the face of God and not get tripped up on me, because what is happening here is bigger than any of us. What is coming to pass is as big as the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus is the one. He is the one God anointed to bring good news to the world. He is the one who was called to show and share how much God loves us. He is the one who came into the world to serve. He is also the one who calls us to be the one.

We probably aren’t called to do this on a grand, world-changing scale, but rather by living out our faith every day in ordinary ways.

We can share God’s love by talking to someone who is lonely. We can provide God’s care by visiting the sick. We can show God’s compassion by comforting someone who is grieving. We can demonstrate the peace of God by not retaliating when someone wrongs us. We can show our concern for the poor by giving gifts that help provide food, clothing, and shelter.

Last year on the Third Sunday of Advent we read from Luke’s Gospel a story similar to what we read last week in Matthew’s Gospel. John is preaching and baptizing, crowds are coming out to see him, and he calls upon the people to do good works, because “every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And then, in Luke’s telling of the story, the people are so stirred up by John’s words that they call out, “What then shall we do?” And John tells them exactly what they should do.

“Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” In other words, in the words of our Baptismal Covenant, “Seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself.”

To the tax collectors he said: “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” In other words, “Strive for justice…among all people.”

And to the soldiers he said: “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusations…” In other words, “Respect the dignity of every human being.”

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent and we light the pink candle on the Advent Wreath. It used to be called Gaudete Sunday from the Latin word “rejoice,” which was the first word of the opening prayer of the Latin Mass for this Sunday.

It is a reminder of the joyful coming of God in the person of Jesus at Bethlehem, a reminder to rejoice in the presence of God with us and among us today, and a reminder that as Christian people we wait in joyful hope for the second coming of Christ.

The message for us today is that we are called to be stewards of this good news, and to be active participants in ushering in God’s righteous reign. “We are charged with telling the world that something new is happening, just as the prophet Isaiah did with these words, ‘Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.’ Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.’”

The Season of Advent calls us to wait in joyful expectation; of that there is no doubt. Yet that waiting should not be static. We are called to go into the world, strengthened by the Word, strengthened by bread and wine, to tell all people that Jesus comes, that hope abounds, and that there is a place at the table and in the community for everyone. Even as we wait, salvation breaks in around us, and God is active in the world. What good news! Now go and tell!

AMEN

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Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

2010-12-10T20:00:00.002-06:00

Advent Colors

2010-11-29T21:00:00.002-06:00

Advent Colors

Purple my heart,
purple not with courage or from war,
but from longing for the Desire of Nations
and for peace.

Blue my eyes and soul,
blue and silent as today’s late afternoon snow under shade.
Waiting, hoping, melting, freezing.

White my spirit, my remembering,
white for never having known before
the One

Whom now I see,

and taste
and feel.

Em-an-uel,
God-with-us.

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Give Hope

2010-10-19T09:00:00.002-05:00

SERMON FOR SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2010 SAINT ANNE’S
PROPER 24C LYDIA HUTTAR BROWN
Genesis 32:22-31, Luke 18:1-8

It was dark in the mine, half a mile underground.

After the deafening roar of falling rock, after the terror of feeling like the mountain was caving in and would crush them, after the silence and the realization they were still alive, it still took hours for the dust to settle and for the 33 Chilean miners to realize they were trapped by a huge rock that blocked their only exit. They gave thanks to God that they had not been in the passageway, on their way to the surface for their lunch break. They gave thanks that they were instead trapped a half mile underground in a huge cavern, and they gave thanks that surely -- almost certainly -- people were looking for them and would find them. They gave thanks and began their active hoping. Persevering in hope. They rationed their little bit of food, to make it last as long as possible. They exercised and sang and told stories and made plans for the future when they would be rescued.

It was dark in the lives of teenagers, in Minnesota and around the country.

Well, at least it felt dark. So dark and lonely and misunderstood that they could see no escape except death. Teenagers who were harassed and bullied because of who they were. And who felt trapped and alone. Without hope, without light, without a future.

It was dark in the forest along the Jabbock River, as Jacob wrestled with the angel.

He wrestled with his doubts and fears, wrestled with God pushing him toward his estranged brother, wrestled with his own inadequacy and mortality. But Jacob didn’t give up. He struggled with all his doubts and fears. He struggled with his conscience. He demanded a divine blessing. He persevered in hope -- active hope --
that his encounter with his brother would be blessed by God.

It was dark in the life of the widow.

Her husband had died. In her time -- in Jesus’ time -- a widow was destitute. No husband meant no home, no livelihood, no money.
So there were moral and social obligations to widows built into the legal code. But this widow was not being served well by the system. A corrupt judge was refusing to make sure her safety net was in place. But the widow persevered in hope. She wouldn’t rest until she got justice,the protection of the law, for the help she needed.

Above the miners, their loved ones were also persevering in hope. Hope that their loved ones would be found, alive. They made a camp above the mine -- Camp Esperanza -- Camp Hope. And nobody gave up.

With Jacob, the angel also persevered in the struggle,and gave Jacob a blessing as the sun came up. It may have been dark in the nighttime, but Jacob was aware of God’s presence with him throughout his struggle. Jacob did not persevere or hope alone.

The widow also was not alone in her persevering hope. She had the law on her side; she had the wisdom of maturity to take a longer view and insist on justice for herself.

Where is Camp Hope for young people who are afraid and lonely? Where is the persevering, hopeful community that will stop at nothing to lighten their darkness?

Churches like St. Anne’s, who believe in the honor and dignity of every human being, must speak louder and reach out more clearly with a message of hope. Bishop Gene Robinson said in a recent blog posting that religion is killing our young people. The religious messages that get into the mainstream media too often fuel hatred and prejudice, even cruelty. We must counteract the messages that come from much of organized religion that adds to the despair of young people. Our message is this:

God loves you, as you are. You are a child of God, created in God’s image. God has great hope for you, and so do we.

Being people of good will is not enough. We have to actively hope, actively struggle and demand a blessing for all people who are trapped, who are in darkness. Especially young people who don’t have the perspective to take the long view.

The Star Tribune recently had a contest for young people to enter their dreams for a better world. Winston Chen, a 5th grader in Eden Prairie, wrote:

I dare to dream of a community where people of all different cultures and religions come together creating a great collage of many colors.
I dare to dream of a community where despair is replaced with hope and fear is overcome by joy.
I dare to dream of a community where collaboration is valued, and everyone is an equal contributor.

Mackenzie Manuel, a 4th grader in Minneapolis, wrote:

My dream for our community is for people to stop violence and get along. … [One] thing I would change is bullying and harassment. Some kids get bullied all the time and other kids see it and don’t do anything. That’s called a “bystander.” If you see somebody getting bullied, you should tell someone because if you don’t it could happen to you! … So remember to always help others out and don’t be afraid to stand up for what’s right.

Olivia Meredith, 3rd grader in Minnetonka, finished her short essay with a poem:

Give hope, watch others beam,
it is easier than it seems.
Pay it forward is the theme,
as a community, we make dreams.

Give hope. Watch others beam. We, as God’s people, are called to persevere in hope and to shine the light of persevering hope for others. For all people. This is our vocation, and it is critically needed now, right now, in our families, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and community. Let us be a loud insistent persevering voice, demanding justice for all people, and working, waiting, actively hoping.

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Peace Teachings

2010-10-18T20:00:00.000-05:00

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MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH

On October 16, 2010, St. Anne's planted three peace poles in our peace garden :

Baha'i Teaching

Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in thy judgement, and guarded in thy speech.
Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness, and a home to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.
Be a breath of life to the body of humankind, a dew to the soil of the human heart, and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

Buddhist Teaching

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind
quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power, and may people think of befriending one another.
May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wildernesses—
the children, the aged, the unprotected---
be guarded by beneficent celestials,
and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.

Christian Teaching

Blessed are the Peacemakers,
for they shall be known as the Children of God.
But I say to you that hear, love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other also,
and from those who take away your cloak,
do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to everyone who begs from you,
and of those who take away your goods, do not ask them again.
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Hindu Prayer for Peace

Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real.
Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.
Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
Oh Lord God almighty, may there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome, and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May thy Vedic Law propagate peace all through the world.
May all things be a source of peace to us.
And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all,
and may that peace come to me also.

Jain Teaching

Peace and Universal Love is the essence of the Gospel preached by all the Enlightened Ones.
The Lord has preached that equanimity is the Dharma.
Forgive do I creatures all, and let all creatures forgive me.
Unto all have I amity, and unto none enmity.
Know that violence is the root cause of all miseries in the world.
Violence, in fact, is the knot of bondage.
"Do not injure any living being."
This is the eternal, perennial, and unalterable way of spiritual life.A weapon howsoever powerful it may be, can always be superseded by a superior one;
but no weapon can, however, be superior to non-violence and love.

Jewish Teaching

Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
that we may walk the paths of the Most High.
And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares,
and our spears into pruning hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation—
neither shall they learn war any more.
And none shall be afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.

Muslim Teaching

In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful.
Praise be to the Lord of the Universe who has created us and made us into tribes and nations, that we may know each other, not that we may despise each other. Most Gracious are those who walk on the Earth in humility, and when we address each other, may we say "PEACE."

Native African Teaching

Almighty God, the Great Thumb, we cannot evade to tie any knot;
the Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees:
the all-seeing Lord up on high who sees even the footprints
of an antelope on a rockmass here on Earth.
You are the one who does not hesitate to respond to our call.
You are the cornerstone of peace.

Native American Prayer for Peace

O Great Spirit of our Ancestors,.
To your messengers the four winds,
and to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect,
and to be kind to each other so that they may grow with peace in mind.
Let us learn to share all the good things you provide for us on this Earth.

Shinto Teaching

Although the people living across the ocean surrounding us,
I believe, are all our brothers and sisters,
why are there constant troubles in this world?
Why do winds and waves rise in the ocean surrounding us?
I only earnestly wish that the wind will soon puff away
all the clouds which are hanging over the tops of the mountains.

Sikh Teaching

God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear:
that Truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living..Know that we attain God when we love, and only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is defeated.

Sufi Prayer for Peace

O Almighty Sun, whose light clears away all clouds,
We take refuge in you. Guide of all people, God of all deities, Lord of all angels,
We pray you to dispel the mists of illusion from the hearts of the nations
And lift their lives by your all-sufficient power,
Your ever shining light, your everlasting life,
Your heavenly joy and your perfect peace.

Zoroastrian Prayer for Peace

We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world:
that understanding triumph over ignorance,
that generosity triumph over indifference,
that trust triumph over contempt,
and that truth triumph over falsehood.

A Thought

2010-05-25T18:00:00.000-05:00

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God comes to us disguised as our lives.

- Paula D'Arcy

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One Sunday in May

2010-05-10T19:00:00.000-05:00

O Light, from age to age the same,
O ever living Word,
Here have we felt Thy kindling flame,
Thy voice within have heard.

Here holy thought
and hymn and prayer
Have winged the Spirit’s powers,
And made these walls divinely fair,
Thy temple, Lord, and ours.

What visions rise above the years;
What tender memories throng,
Till the eye fills with happy tears,
The heart with happy song.

Vanish the mists of time and sense;
They come, the loved of yore,
And one encircling providence
Holds all for evermore.

O not in vain their toil who wrought
To build faith’s freer shrine;
Nor theirs whose
steadfast love and thought
Have watched the fire divine.

Burn, holy Fire, and shine more wide!
While nations rise and fall,
Faith, hope, and charity abide,
The heart and soul of all.

O, Light from Age to Age
Frederick Lucian Hosmer

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

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Mother's Day Proclamation

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by
irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking
with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be
taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach
them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another
country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From
the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance
of justice."

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons
of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a
great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a
general congress of women without limit of nationality may be
appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at
the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the
alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement
of international questions, the great and general interests of
peace.

Julia Ward Howe
Boston
1870
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Mother's Day was originally started after the Civil War, as a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who had lost their sons.

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Shoulders

2010-05-01T09:30:00.000-05:00

Shoulders

A man crosses the street in rain
stepping gently, looking two times north and south,
because his son is asleep on his shoulder.

No car must splash him.

No car drive too near to his shadow.

This man carries the world's most sensitive cargo
but he's not marked.
Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE
HANDLE WITH CARE.

His ears fill up with breathing,
he hears the hum of a boy's dream
deep inside him.

We're not going to be able
to live in this world
if we're not willing to do what he's doing
with one another.

The road will only be wide.
The rain will never stop falling.

- Naomi Shihab Nye

St. Anne's Supporting the MDGs: Ending Malaria

2010-04-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

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Elvis Is Still In The Building

2010-04-09T12:45:00.000-05:00

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St. Anne's is happy to report that Elvis is alive and well - and we found him, entertaining at Neighbors. Go Elvis go!

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Alleluia, Alleluia!

2010-04-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

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Take These Broken Wings

2010-04-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

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Good Friday

2010-04-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Palm Sunday

2010-03-28T14:00:00.000-05:00

Palm Sunday in Jerusalem 2008:

Our Transparent World

2010-03-18T11:00:00.001-05:00

Life is this simple:

We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent
and the Divine is shining through it all the time.

This is not just a nice story or a fable. It is true.

- Thomas Merton

Strange Fire

2010-03-12T16:00:00.000-06:00

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i come to you with strange fire,
i make an offering of love,
the incense of my soil
is burned by the fire in my blood.

i come with a softer answer
to the questions that lie in your path.
i want to harbor you from the anger,
find a refuge from the wrath.

this is a message of love.
love that moves from the inside out,
love that never grows tired.
i come to you with strange fire.

find another state of mind.
grab hold.
strange fire burns with the motion of love.

when you learn to love yourself,
you will dissolve all the stones that are cast,
you will learn to burn the icing sky
and to melt the waxen mask.

yes, to have the gift of true release,
this is a peace that will take you higher.
i come to you with my offering,
i bring you strange fire.

this is a message of love.
love that moves from the inside out,
love that never grows tired.
i come to you with strange fire.

- Indigo Girls

YOU Are Invited...

2010-03-08T18:00:00.002-06:00

To walk the new indoor canvas labyrinth at St. Anne's!

Proudly made by eager children and their very patient adult friends.

Our church office hours are Monday - Thursday from 9am - 1pm.

Our building is also available on Monday and Wednesday evenings.

Please call the church office at 651-455-9449 for other possibilities.

You cannot travel the path until you have become the path.
- Gautam Buddha

Yet the Lord pleads with you still: Ask where the good road is,
The godly paths you used to walk in, in the days of long ago.
Travel there, and you will find rest for your souls.
- Jeremiah 6:16

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old,
Seek what they sought.
- Matsuo Basho

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find
- Matthew 7:7

Trust

2010-03-03T16:00:00.001-06:00

`
Only when someone gives us permission to start trusting ourselves do we also start listening to ourselves, do we take ourselves seriously, as I believe God does. Only when we start trusting ourselves do we also begin to take responsibility for ourselves and for our mistakes. Only then do we grow and become 'fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself' (Ephesians 4:13). In this transient world of human limitation, there is nothing purely secular or purely sacred. There is only good direction and bad direction. Jesus came to show us the way--the way through. The theologians call it the 'Paschal Mystery,' the way of dying and rising.

We must admit that both directions are happening in our lives...The wondrous work of grace is to be able to gather those opposing forces together in one place and make them into forces for life rather than death. We call it holiness.
- Richard Rohr
Near Occasions of Grace
`

First the Quiet

2010-02-26T17:00:00.001-06:00

.

.

Lenten Sacrifice

2010-02-22T15:00:00.006-06:00

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It is customary, Lord
to give something up
during the season of Lent
What would you have me do without?
I who have so much
Chocolate?
Cream cakes?
Cigarettes?
Sweets?
Swearing?
The list is endless
and I could give up all those things
for the span of 40 days
quite easily and almost painlessly
But what difference would it make
other than making me feel 'holier'
that my friend who makes no such sacrifice

What would you have me do without?
I who have so much
Selfishness?
Conceit?
Envy?
Pride?
I fear before I ask
that the answer might be 'yes'
and the giving up
would be all too real, Lord
it would be difficult
painful
sacrificial
a real cross to carry for 40 days
and more?

- John Birch

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2010-02-17T07:10:00.002-06:00

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Ash Wednesday
February 17, 2010

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Interactive Ash Wednesday Service
Especially for Children and their Families
5:30 PM
Ashes and Eucharist

.

- Noon -

Ash Wednesday Liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer

.

- 7:00 PM -

Shared liturgy with Spirit of Hope Community

Blend of Traditional and Contemporary

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Video from Brian Prior's Consecration

2010-02-14T06:47:00.004-06:00

People's Consecration Party

2010-02-12T07:47:00.004-06:00

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People's Consecration Party

The Department of Indian Work (DIW), missions, and special ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota are proud to sponsor the People's Consecration Party:

Friday, February 12
6 pm to 11 pm
Gethsemane Church

downtown Minneapolis
905 4th Avenue South

Dinner will be provided by the First Nations Kitchen team, with all expenses underwritten by the sponsoring organizations.

A free-will offering of money or food items will be accepted. Donations will be used for Haiti relief, food items donated to Gethsemane's food shelf.Live music will begin at 6 pm.

Parking is available in the ramp diagonal from the church.

After Epiphany

2010-02-11T08:30:00.002-06:00

.

When the song of the angels is stilled
When the star in the sky is gone
When the kings and princes are home
When the shepherds are back with their flocks
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoner
To rebuild the nations
To bring peace among the people
To make music in the heart.

- Howard Thurman

Photos from our journey to Belize are now up on St. Anne's Belize 2010 blog. Though we have returned, our work in Belize and in other places continues. For more information visit the outreach page of St. Anne's website.

Christ's Loving Arms

2010-01-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

St. Anne's is loving the wider world in a hand's on way this week.

Come join us!

Loving One Another

2010-01-21T10:10:00.004-06:00

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Deacon Pat Markie commissioned and sent the team of St. Annian's heading to Belize in a few days with these words:

As Christians, our mission is to make God known to all people. We hear this in Jesus’ words: “I give you a new commandment , that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We celebrate you and your devotion to the work ahead of you in Belize.

Through the gift of your service, you show others the love that God has for all people. This is both a privilege and a responsibility, and by standing here you are publicly affirming your commitment to this work.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, look graciously upon these people whom we now commission for your service. Give them your spirit, enrich them with your grace, and strengthen them for the tasks which lie ahead. Amen.

We rejoice to recognize you as representatives of this Congregation and we thank God for your dedication and your willingness to serve. We send you to Belize with our prayers and our support, and, with you, we renew our commitment to service in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Click here to learn more about this year's project and St. Anne's ongoing involvement in Belize.

Follow St. Anne's as they travel and work via our St. Anne's 2010 Belize blog.

Thank you for your support, love and prayers!

.

An Extremist for Love

2010-01-18T13:20:00.002-06:00

.

...though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail

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Haiti

2010-01-14T10:00:00.001-06:00

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Prayer Service Thursday, January 14

Bishop Jelinek urges all Minnesotans to join the Presiding Bishop in urging your prayers for those who have died, been injured, and are searching for loved ones. Please plan to join Bishop Jelinek at a prayer service on Thursday, January 14 at 7 pm at St. Mark's Cathedral.

Support relief efforts - as seen on the Diocesean home page

The diocese has established a dedicated fund to which you may make a tax-deductible donation. All funds collected will be distributed through the congregations participating in the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti Parish Partnership Program. Donations can be made on line or by check to the Episcopal Center (payable to the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota and write "Haiti Fund" in the memo line) or call Helena Bedell at 612-871-5311 and she can take your credit card information over the phone.

Additionally, you can make a donation to the Haiti Fund established by Episcopal Relief and Development to provide critical assistance such as food, water and medicine, as well as long-term recovery and rehabilitation aid.

Living God,

As we raise our hands helplessly, aching at the devastation we see on the streets and in the faces of the Haitian people, we raise our hearts to you. Through you, we offer hope and love to our sisters and brothers in Haiti. Through you, we send strength and peace. Through you, we offer courage to those who are searching and comfort to those who are mourning. Through you, we let them know they are not alone.

Amen.

.

Forming a Star

2010-01-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

Forming a Star

Speeding through life,
we forget about just sitting
and watching,
the beginning of the star.

Night comes blue and dreamy,
undistrubed,
moving of its own rhythm,
forming a star.

We could take lessons from the night.
Not to press too hard, not to forget
this majesty is in us
and forms us into who we are.

Our magic can get lost, but we can find it again,
in all our quiet moments,
like the night, blue and dreamy
forming a star.

- Sandi Walker

Messy

2010-01-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

To reveal God, to find God, to make the journey into the lap of the Beloved, is messy. Why we have ever thought otherwise I do not know. Mary's journey was messy, full of whispers I'm sure, Joseph's journey was messy, full of the same, and doubt. The Magi's journey was hardly straight, following a star, guided by betrayers, forced home another way, unsure of what they left behind. The story of our Lord's birth, and epiphany is messy, and dangerous because that is the only way the Beloved is ever revealed. In the mess, in the pain, in the love that risks hurt, in the dust of the streets, in the blaze of the sun.

- Christina Josephine Robertson

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It Is Not Over

2010-01-05T20:00:00.004-06:00

.

It Is Not Over

It is not over,

this birthing.

There are always newer skies

into which God can throw stars.

When we begin to think that we can predict the Advent of God,

that we can box the Christ

in a stable in Bethlehem,

that’s just the time

that God will be born

in a place we can’t imagine and

won’t believe.

Those who wait for God

watch with their hearts and not their eyes,

listening

always listening

for angel words.

- Ann Weems

.

Go Tell It On The Mountain!

2009-12-25T12:00:00.001-06:00

`

`

Twas In the Moon of Wintertime

2009-12-24T13:30:00.002-06:00

`

`

Advent Worship

2009-12-22T07:00:00.001-06:00

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

As snowflakes fall
in the freedom of an endless sky—so I will live today.
Celebrating the intricate significance of lives
dancing in silent beauty
to the presence of God with us.

- Cari Spears

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Winter Solstice Liturgy

2009-12-19T12:25:00.005-06:00

Don Austin

2009-12-12T11:00:00.000-06:00

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St. Anne's is sad to announce that long-time member, Don Austin, passed away on December 11th. He was surrounded by family and died peacefully.

The funeral service will be held at St. Anne's on the morning of Saturday, December 19, time TBA. Obituary notice will appear in Sunday's Pioneer Press.

Rest eternal grant to Don, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

.

How to kneel

2009-12-09T11:00:00.000-06:00

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Unos, dos, tres, catorce!

Lights go down it's dark
The jungle is your head
Can't rule your heart
A feeling so much
Stronger than a thought
Your eyes are wide and though
Your soul it can't be bought
Your mind can wander

Hello hello
(Hola)
I'm at a place called Vertigo
(Donde esta?)
It's everything I wish I didn't know
Except you give me something
I can feel, feel

The night is full of holes
As bullets rip the sky
Of ink with gold
They twinkle as the
Boys play rock and roll
They know that they can't dance
At least they know

I can't stand the beats
I'm asking for the cheque
The girl with crimson nails
Has Jesus 'round her neck
Swinging to the music
Swinging to the music

Hello hello
(Hola)
I'm at a place called Vertigo
(Donde esta?)
It's everything I wish I didn't know
But you give me something
I can feel, feel

All of this, all of this can be yours
All of this, all of this can be yours
All of this, all of this can be yours
Just give me what I want
And no one gets hurt

Hello hello
(Hola)
We're at a place called Vertigo
(Donde esta?)
Lights go down and all I know
Is that you give me something

I can feel your love teaching me how
Your love is teaching me how
How to kneel, kneel

In the Darkness of Advent

2009-12-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

`

`

Longing for the Hush

2009-11-28T19:00:00.003-06:00

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Longing for the Hush

Earlier and earlier stores press their limits
as traditional holiday music, like Gene Autry and Bing
drift through tinny sounding speakers.
Retailers seek the blackest of black ink for their bottom line—
"Ah, the joyous season of giving!"

In the mist of it all,
cynicism crept in and almost stole from me
the revered moments of hushed, silent bliss
when my heart and God’s connect in this solemn season,
immersed in salvation through the hope of a blanketed savior child.

- Cari Spears

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Are you, too, longing for the hush?

In this busy time of year, perhaps the best gift the church can offer is quiet, slower-paced space and time to rest and reflect. Each Wednesday of Advent, St. Anne's sanctuary will be available as a quiet space for meditation and prayer, from 5:00-9:00 PM beginning December 2. Stop in any time, stay for as long as you'd like. All are welcome.

God Would Kneel Down

2009-11-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

~*~

GOD WOULD KNEEL DOWN

I think God might be a little prejudiced.

For once He asked me to join Him on a walk through this world,

and we gazed into every heart on this earth,
and I noticed He lingered a bit longer

before any face that was weeping,

and before any eyes that were laughing.

And sometimes when we passed
a soul in worship

God too would kneel down.

I have come to learn:
God
adores
His
creation.

~*~

- St. Francis of Assisi

(as translated by Daniel Ladinsky)

We Are Standing On Holy Ground

2009-11-08T19:00:00.000-06:00

*

*

Blessing of the Animals

2009-10-04T21:20:00.004-05:00

God bless the animals.

Let us remember to give thanks for all of the significant animals in our lives, past and present, and for the wonderful lessons we learn from all of your wondrous creatures.

Give us, God, the gentleness of the rabbit,
the working ability of the beaver, the courage of the lion,
the cunning of the fox,
the bravery of the tiger
and the fortitude and resiliency of the coyote.

May we always have the lovely family life of the wolf,
whose members care for one another with sincere devotion.

Grant us the common sense of the horse,
the strength of the ox
and especially, God,
we ask for the humor, comedy and playfulness
of the sea otters and the squirrels.

Bless us each with the mastery of good grooming and relaxation of our cats
and with the loyalty and devotion of our dogs.

Best of all, God, fill us with the sheer joy of the songbirds at dawn,
heralding a new day and forgetting the past.

Help us to awaken to and learn from their wisdom
and their sweetness,
their loyalty
and particularly
their seeming inability to judge human beings unkindly.

Amen.

- by The Rev. Lauren McLaughlin
from the book Blessing the Animals: Prayers and Ceremonies to Celebrate God’s Creatures, Wild and Tame. Edited by Lynn L. Caruso

Church Bulletin Slip Ups

2009-09-21T18:45:00.002-05:00

*

Enjoy!

*

These sentences actually appeared in a church bulletin or were announced in a church service:

Announcement in the church bulletin for a National Prayer and Fasting Conference. "The cost for attending the Prayer and Fasting Conference includes meals."

Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again" giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

"Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget to bring your husbands."

The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.

The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing "Break Forth into Joy."

Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.

Don't let worry kill you off. Let the Church help.

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles, and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

The church will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment, and gracious hostility.

Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM.-prayer and medication to follow.

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.

*

St. Anne's Ministry Fair - September 20th

2009-09-17T14:32:00.002-05:00

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Butterflies

2009-09-08T08:30:00.002-05:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world

the master calls a butterfly.

Richard Bach

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Am

2009-09-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

Song of Amergin

I am the wind that blows across the sea;
I am the wave of the deep;
I am the roar of the ocean;
I am the stag of seven battles;

I am the hawk on the cliff;
I am a ray of sunlight;
I am the greenest of plants;
I am a wild boar;
I am a salmon in the river;

I am a lake on the plain;
I am the word of knowledge;
I am the point of a spear;
I am the lure beyond the ends of the earth;
I am the god who put fire in your head;

Who made the trails through stone mountains;
Who knows the age of the moon;
Who knows where the setting sun rests.

Come All You Sailors, Lovers, Seekers...

2009-08-26T12:26:00.003-05:00

*
COME ALL YOU SAILORS

Come all you sailors
Sail upon my sea
Swim in these salty waters
Cleanse the wounds that run so deep

Come all you lovers
Give your hearts to me
Come with your broken dreams
and your ruined fancies

Come all you seekers
Realize that you can see
Find within your deepest longing
That all you need is me

- The Wailin' Jennys

*

Bread of Life

2009-08-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

Be gentle when you touch bread.

Let it not lie uncared for, unwanted.

So often bread is taken for granted.

There is so much beauty in bread;

beauty of sun and soil,

beauty of patient toil,

winds and rains have caressed it,

Christ often blessed it.

Be gentle when you touch bread.

Celtic prayer

Come With Me

2009-08-15T12:33:00.004-05:00

*

The Sunflowers
by Mary Oliver

Come with me
into the field of sunflowers.
Their faces are burnished disks,
their dry spines creak like ship masts,
their green leaves,
so heavy and many,
fill all day with the sticky sugars of the sun.

Come with me
to visit the sunflowers,
they are shy but want to be friends;
they have wonderful stories
of when they were young -
the important weather, the wandering crows.

Don't be afraid
to ask them questions!

Their bright faces, which follow the sun,
will listen, and all
those rows of seeds -
each one a new life! hope for a deeper acquaintance;
each of them, though it stands
in a crowd of many,
like a separate universe, is lonely, the long work
of turning their lives
into a celebration
is not easy.

Come and let us talk with those modest faces,
the simple garments of leaves,
the coarse roots in the earth
so uprightly burning.

*

Chicory

2009-08-05T15:38:00.006-05:00

Chicory

Roadside chicory with economy of leaves
splurged all to color,
blue, blue, lavender-blue blue,
flat faced, fringed blue on thin stems,
redeeming the ditches

- Arline Fobes

Gone To The Fields To Be Lovely

2009-07-24T17:23:00.002-05:00

*

Camas Lilies

Consider the lilies of the field,
the blue banks of camas opening
into acres of sky along the road.

Would the longing to lie down
and be washed by that beauty
abate if you knew their usefulness,
how the natives ground bulbs
for flour, how the settler’s hogs
uprooted them, grunting in gleeful
oblivion as the flowers fell?

And you—what of your rushed and
useful life? Imagine setting it all down—
papers, plans, appointments, everything,
leaving only a note: “Gone to the fields
to be lovely. Be back when I’m through
with blooming.”

Even now, unneeded and uneaten,
the camas lilies gaze out above the grass
from their tender blue eyes.

Even in sleep your life will shine.
Make no mistake.
Of course, your work will always matter.
Yet Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.

-Lynn Ungar from What We Share

*

Hands

2009-07-10T15:48:00.013-05:00

Hands

If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we're all OK
And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
And useless in times like these
I won't be made useless
I won't be idle with despair
I will gather myself around my faith
That lights the darkness most fear
My hands are small, I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken

Poverty stole your golden shoes
It didn't steal your laughter
And heartache came to visit me
But I knew it wasn't ever after
We'll fight, not out of spite
For someone must stand up for what's right
'Cause where there's a man who has no voice
There ours shall go singing
My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
I am never broken

In the end only kindness matters
In the end only kindness matters
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray

My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
We are never broken
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's mind
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's heart
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's eyes
We are God's hands
We are God's hands

- Jewel

Water

2009-06-22T15:44:00.004-05:00

*

Your eye has not strength enough
to gaze at the burning sun,
but you can see its burning light
by watching its reflection
mirrored in the water

If you pierce the heart of a single drop of water,
from it will flow a hundred clear oceans;
heaven is concealed in the pupil of an eye;
the core at the center of the heart is small,

yet the Sacred will enter there

- Mahmud Shabistari

Outdoor Worship at St. Anne's: YOU are invited!

2009-06-18T15:52:00.005-05:00

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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thank You, I'll Be Here All Week...

2009-06-14T16:57:00.002-05:00

How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?

Charismatics: Only one. Hands already in the air.

Pentecostals: Ten. One to change the bulb, and nine to pray against the spirit of darkness.

Presbyterians: None. Lights will go on and off at predestined times.

Roman Catholic: None. Candles only.

Baptists: At least 15. One to change the light bulb, and three committees to approve the change and decide who brings the potato salad.

Episcopalians: Three. One to call the electrician, one to mix the drinks and one to talk about how much better the old one was.

Methodists: Undetermined. Whether your light is bright, dull, or completely out, you are loved. You can be a light bulb, turnip bulb, or tulip bulb. Church wide lighting service is planned for Sunday. Bring bulb of your choice and a covered dish.

Nazarene: Six. One woman to replace the bulb while five men review church lighting policy.

Lutherans: None. Lutherans don't believe in change.

A Signpost

2009-06-02T13:31:00.004-05:00

The opposite of love is not hate but fear. If we are to broaden our vision and enlarge our hearts, we must allow risk to enter our lives, permit doubt to walk hand in hand with belief. It is a mistake to sharpen our minds by narrowing them. It is a mistake to look at the Bible to close a discussion -- the Bible seeks to open one....

The Bible is no oracle to be consulted for specific advice on specific problems; rather, it is a wellspring of wisdom about the ambiguity, inevitability, and the insolubility of the human situation. It sings praises to God who...provides minimum protection but maximum support....

Finally, the Bible is a signpost, not a hitching post. It points beyond itself, saying "Pay attention to God, not me." And if, as the Bible claims, "God is love, and she who abides in loves abides in God, and God abides in her," then revelation is in the relationship. In all Scripture there is no injunction more fundamental than that contained in these simple words: "Love one another."

-- William Sloan Coffin

The Courage to Love

*

We Remember

2009-05-25T10:50:00.002-05:00

*

A Memorial Day Prayer

Eternal God,
Creator of years, of centuries,
Lord of whatever is beyond time,
Maker of all species and master of all history --
How shall we speak to you
from our smallness and inconsequence?
Except that you have called us to worship you
in spirit and in truth;
You have dignified us with loves and loyalties;
You have lifted us up with your lovingkindnesses.
Therefore we are bold to come before you without groveling
[though we sometimes feel that low]
and without fear
[though we are often anxious].
We sing with spirit and pray with courage
because you have dignified us;
You have redeemed us from the aimlessness
of things' going meaninglessly well.
God, lift the hearts of those
for whom this holiday is not just diversion,
but painful memory and continued deprivation.
Bless those whose dear ones have died
needlessly, wastefully [as it seems]
in accident or misadventure.
We remember with compassion those who have died
serving their countries
in the futility of combat.
There is none of us but must come to bereavement and separation,
when all the answers we are offered
fail the question death asks of each of us.
We believe that you will provide for us
as others have been provided with the fulfillment of
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

- Rev. Dick Kozelka (ret)
First Congregational Church of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN

*

Light Everywhere

2009-05-22T15:30:00.006-05:00

a sacred time
in a sacred space
at a sacred hour

an open heart

a place
so thin

and light rose from within

golden and sure
rising, then rushing

the open heart filled

and burst

and opened some more

until the heart no longer existed

because it
wasn’t meant to contain
wasn’t meant to hold

the heart was just a thin place, too

a passageway
through which light flew free

into the world

golden and sure
rising, then soaring

up

and

out

and everywhere

A visit from the Presiding Bishop

2009-05-17T16:00:00.002-05:00

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*

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T20:00:00.000-05:00

*

The Lanyard

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

- Billy Collins

Happy Mother's Day to all those who care and comfort and ache and celebrate with the love of a mother.

One Ohana

2009-05-08T08:00:00.001-05:00

Congratulations Bailey, Emily, Evan, Kathryn!

2009-05-01T15:22:00.002-05:00

*
SERMON
EASTER 3B, APRIL 26, 2009

Picture this: An incredibly cute 10-year-old boy, standing in front of his house at 442 White Bear Avenue in St. Paul, on a warm spring night in 1957. Dressed in dark blue pants, white shirt, and red tie, holding a brand new missal with gold edges, and looking amazingly pious, all the while trying desperately to remember the twelve fruits and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit which he and all the other fifth graders were supposed to have memorized a long time ago.

It was confirmation night at St. Pascal’s Catholic Church and in a short time, the incredibly cute 10-year-old boy, along with more than 100 other kids, would be presented to Bishop Leonard P. Cowley for anointing, the laying on of hands, and some serious questions about gifts, and fruits, and virtues. The incredibly cute 10-year-old boy was really hoping for the virtues question since there were only three of these to remember.

I mention this for two reasons: First, I came across my confirmation picture a few weeks ago, as Roxie and I continue the process of sorting, saving, and throwing thirty-four years worth of stuff; and second, four young people from our congregation were confirmed yesterday at St. Mark’s Cathedral-- Emily Davis, Evan Furniss, Kathryn Rooney, and Bailey Parsons—and so I’ve been thinking about Confirmation a lot lately.

The Book of Common Prayer says: “In the course of their Christian development, those baptized at an early age are expected, when they are ready and have been duly prepared, to make a mature public affirmation of their faith and responsibilities of their Baptism, and to receive the laying on of hands by the bishop.”

I can tell you this about Emily, Evan, Kathryn, and Bailey: Each of them was baptized at an early age, each of them has been duly prepared, at least in the sense that they came to confirmation class more than thirty times, each of them told me they felt ready to be confirmed, and each of them did indeed receive the laying on of hands by the bishop yesterday at St. Mark’s Cathedral.

But now comes the hard part. Because the other thing each of them did yesterday was this: They each made a “mature public affirmation of their faith and the responsibilities of their baptism.”

They each promised to continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers; to persevere in resisting evil, and to repent and return to the Lord whenever they fall into sin; to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ; to seek and serve Christ in all persons, and to love their neighbor as themselves; to strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being.

Wow! That’s some heavy-duty stuff!

We talked a lot about these Baptismal Covenant Promises in class, we talked about practical ways to fulfill these promises, and I always had to admit that that last one is the most difficult one for me: “to respect the dignity of every human being.”

What about the person who doesn’t respect me? What about the person who I disagree with politically, socially, or theologically? What about the postal clerk at the local branch post office who saw the St. Anne’s Episcopal Church return address on a letter I was trying to mail, and told me, in front of a long line of people, that he hoped I was aware that all of us Episcopalians are sinners because of that gay bishop?

Definitely not easy to respect the dignity of that guy. But that’s exactly what Emily, Evan, Kathryn, and Bailey promised to do yesterday. And that’s exactly what each of has committed ourselves to do as baptized members of the Family of God.

And we are reminded of it every time we witness a baptism or a confirmation, every time we attend the Great Vigil of Easter, and every year on the First Sunday after the Epiphany—the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord—when we repeat our Baptismal Covenant Promises.

Our four young people who were confirmed yesterday did not choose to become adopted children of God. They did not choose to have promises made on their behalf, to have water poured on them, to “be sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever.” They didn’t choose any of this.

For them, baptism was a gift, a gift that their parents and godparents desired that they have, and the church bestowed upon them.

What they did choose, however, was to be confirmed yesterday. To stand and to publicly affirm their faith and their commitment to the responsibilities of their baptism. They chose to say for themselves what had been said for them when they were infants. They chose to state their beliefs using the words of the Apostles’ Creed, and to publicly declare their intention to strive to faithfully live their lives in accordance with their Baptismal Covenant Promises.

They did all of this and acknowledged what we all know to be true—we cannot do any of this on our own. And that’s why each of the Baptismal Covenant Promises ends with these words: “I will, with God’s help.”

I will continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers---with God’s help.

I will persevere in resisting evil---with God’s help.

I will proclaim the Good News of God in Christ, I will seek and serve Christ in all persons, I will strive for justice and peace among all people, I will respect the dignity of every human being---with God’s help.

I’m not a person who is easily provoked, but I have to be honest and admit that there were all kinds of things I would’ve liked to have said to that postal worker I mentioned earlier. Fortunately, somehow, with God’s help I think, I was able to smile and tell him to have a good day.

“I will, with God’s help, respect the dignity of every human being.”

Emily, Evan, Kathryn, and Bailey, even though you’ve already been confirmed, today’s Gospel reading from Luke suggests three more things I’d like to tell you.

“While the disciples were telling how they had seen Jesus risen from the dead, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” (Luke 24:36)

My hope is that St. Anne’s will always be for you a place of peace. A place where you feel welcomed, respected, and loved. A place where you feel the presence of God, the love of God, and the peace of God. A place that calls out to you to join in and participate. A place that inspires you to be “Christ’s loving arms in the world, by spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to all people.”

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Why are you frightened, and who do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself.’” (Luke 24:38-39)

My hope is that St. Anne’s will always be for you a place that you can come to when you are frightened and when you have doubts. A safe place where you can feel free to express your fears and share your doubts. A place where you know that you will always be listened to and taken seriously. A place that will encourage you to ask as many questions as you want, even though we probably won’t have all the answers.

“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.” (Luke 24:41-43)

My hope is that St. Anne’s will always be for you a place to be fed and nourished. A place where you feel welcome to come on any Sunday and celebrate Eucharist with us, because, as Lydia reminds us every week, “this is Christ’s table, and he invites everyone.” A place where the bread and wine of Holy Communion will be offered to you as a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice for us. A place where you will be sent out to speak words of hope and healing, and to perform deeds of compassion and courage, to a troubled and hurting world.

Okay, back to the incredibly cute 10-year-old boy. I’m happy to report that he was confirmed without incident. The bishop didn’t ask him any questions. And unfortunately, the seven gifts and the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit continue to be NOT memorized.

To our four newly confirmed young people, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is you have been confirmed. You came to class over thirty times, you met with an adult mentor, you answered all the questions, and you filled in all the blanks. You did it! Congratulations!

The bad news is, IT’S STILL NOT OVER! God is not finished with you yet. But his really isn’t bad news, because God isn’t finished with any of us yet. God continues to be active in our world today. God continues to speak to us in the people and events of our daily lives. And continues to call us to go and do.

Finally, to you newly confirmed members of the St. Anne’s family, and to all of you, I want to offer this Gerhard Frost poem, from his book Kept Moments. It’s called “A Life to Share.”

A LIFE TO SHARE
by Gerhard Frost

He is my friend,
warm, magnanimous, and wise.
I heard him speak to students,
and this is what he said:

Give yourself to God in trust
and to your neighbor in love.
Remember, contempt for persons
besets us all. Servanthood centers
in grace and in our fellow humans.
We have a way of life to share;
if we’re too busy for people,
we’re busier than God.

Wherever you live, be sure to unpack;
no place on God’s great earth
is just a stepping-stone.
People, profound and complex,
are always there, great as saints
and great as sinners. Be ready to forgive
and be forgiven.

Avoid the tyranny of swift success,
recalling that where persons are at stake
many things must just be lived with in love
and left undone,
awaiting the miracle of God.

*

Amen

*

- The Rev. Pat Markie

I Will Just Say This

2009-04-19T16:24:00.002-05:00

*

I WILL JUST SAY THIS

We
bloomed in Spring.

Our bodies
are the leaves of God.

The apparent seasons of life and death
our eyes can suffer;

but our souls, dear,
I will just say this forthright:

they are God Himself.

- Daniel Ladinsky

*

Morning Has Broken

2009-04-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Seven Last Words

2009-04-10T12:00:00.001-05:00

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The Seven Last Words

1
The story of the end, of the last word
of the end, when told, is a story that never ends.
We tell it and retell it — one word, then another
until it seems that no last word is possible,
that none would be bearable. Thus, when the hero
of the story says to himself, as to someone far away,
‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do,’
we may feel that he is pleading for us, that we are
the secret life of the story and, as long as his plea
is not answered, we shall be spared. So the story
continues. So we continue. And the end, once more,
becomes the next, and the next after that.

2
There is an island in the dark, a dreamt-of place
where the muttering wind shifts over the white lawns
and riffles the leaves of trees, the high trees
that are streaked with gold and line the walkways there;
and those already arrived are happy to be the silken
remains of something they were but cannot recall;
they move to the sound of stars, which is also imagined,
but who cares about that; the polished columns they see
may be no more than shafts of sunlight, but for those
who live on and on in the radiance of their remains
this is of little importance. There is an island
in the dark and you will be there, I promise you, you
shall be with me in paradise, in the single season of being,
in the place of forever, you shall find yourself. And there
the leaves will turn and never fall, there the wind
will sing and be your voice as if for the first time.

3
Someday some one will write a story set
in a place called The Skull, and it will tell,
among other things, of a parting between mother
and son, of how she wandered off, of how he vanished
in air. But before that happens, it will describe
how their faces shone with a feeble light and how
the son was moved to say, ‘Woman, look at your son,’
then to a friend nearby, ‘Son, look at your mother.’
At which point the writer will put down his pen
and imagine that while those words were spoken
something else happened, something unusual like
a purpose revealed, a secret exchanged, a truth
to which they, the mother and son, would be bound,
but what it was no one would know. Not even the writer.

4
These are the days when the sky is filled with
the odor of lilac, when darkness becomes desire,
when there is nothing that does not wish to be born.
These are the days of spring when the fate
of the present is a breezy fullness, when the world’s
great gift for fiction gilds even the dirt we walk on.
On such days we feel we could live forever, yet all
the while we know we cannot. This is the doubleness
in which we dwell. The great master of weather
and everything else, if he wishes, can bring forth
a dark of a different kind, one hidden by darkness
so deep it cannot be seen. No one escapes.
Not even the man who saved others, and believed
he was the chosen son. When the dark came down
even he cried out, ‘Father, father, why have you
forsaken me?’ But to his words no answer came.

5
To be thirsty. To say, ‘I thirst.’ To be given,
instead of water, vinegar, and that to be pressed
from a sponge. To close one’s eyes and see the giant
world that is born each time the eyes are closed.
To see one’s death. To see the darkening clouds
as the tragic cloth of a day of mourning. To be the one
mourned. To open the dictionary of the Beyond and discover
what one suspected, that the only word in it
is nothing. To try to open one’s eyes, but not to be
able to. To feel the mouth burn. To feel the sudden
presence of what, again and again, was not said.
To translate it and have it remain unsaid. To know
at last that nothing is more real than nothing.

6
‘It is finished,’ he said. You could hear him say it,
the words almost a whisper, then not even that,
but an echo so faint it seemed no longer to come
from him, but from elsewhere. This was his moment,
his final moment. “It is finished,” he said into a vastness
that led to an even greater vastness, and yet all of it
within him. He contained it all. That was the miracle,
to be both large and small in the same instant, to be
like us, but more so, then finally to give up the ghost,
which is what happened. And from the storm that swirled
a formal nakedness took shape, the truth of disguise
and the mask of belief were joined forever.

7
Back down these stairs to the same scene,
to the moon, the stars, the night wind. Hours pass
and only the harp off in the distance and the wind
moving through it. And soon the sun’s gray disk,
darkened by clouds, sailing above. And beyond,
as always, the sea of endless transparence, of utmost
calm, a place of constant beginning that has within it
what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand
has touched, what has not arisen in the human heart.
To that place, to the keeper of that place, I commit myself.

- Mark Strand

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A New Commandment

2009-04-09T09:30:00.001-05:00

Falling Stars

2009-04-05T16:25:00.004-05:00

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Falling Stars

Do you remember still the falling stars

that like swift horses through the heavens raced

and suddenly leaped across the hurdles

of our wishes -- do you recall?

And we did make so many!

For there were countless numbers of stars;

each time we looked above we were astounded by

the swiftness of their daring play,

while in our hearts we felt safe and secure

watching those brilliant bodies disintegrate,

knowing somehow we had survived their fall.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

Image by Anand Zaveri

What's Left

2009-04-02T08:22:00.002-05:00

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What's Left
(for Peter Hennessy)

I used to wait for the flowers,
my pleasure reposed on them.
Now I like plants before they get to the blossom.
Leafy ones — foxgloves, comfrey, delphiniums —
fleshy tiers of strong leaves pushing up
into air grown daily lighter and more sheened
with bright dust like the eyeshadow
that tall young woman in the bookshop wears,
its shimmer and crumble on her white lids.
The washing sways on the line, the sparrows pull
at the heaps of drying weeds that I’ve left around.
Perhaps this is middle age. Untidy, unfinished,
knowing there’ll never be time now to finish,
liking the plants — their strong lives —
not caring about flowers, sitting in weeds
to write things down, look at things,
watching the sway of shirts on the line,
the cloth filtering light.

I know more or less
how to live through my life now.
But I want to know how to live what’s left
with my eyes open and my hands open;
I want to stand at the door in the rain
listening, sniffing, gaping.
Fearful and joyous,
like an idiot before God.

- Kerry Hardie

Come Away To Belize With Us

2009-03-19T16:16:00.001-05:00

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We're out loving the world right now...

Click here to come along!

Regular posting to resume soon...

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Saint Anne's Supports The Millennium Development Goals

2009-03-01T21:09:00.002-06:00

Thank you to Christian Picciolini for the amazing work and the permission to spread the word.

One Life

2009-02-27T16:09:00.006-06:00

They say your way is different from my way,
your savior is not my savior,
your forever is not my forever.
But, the truth is all life is one life.

-- Mutant Message Down Under

You're It

2009-02-23T12:42:00.007-06:00

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You're It

God disguised as a myriad of things
and playing a game of tag,
has kissed you and said
"You're it --- I mean you're Really IT!

Now it does not matter

what you believe or feel,

for something wonderful,

major-league wonderful,

is someday going to happen.

-- Hafiz

After Epiphany

2009-02-18T14:41:00.004-06:00

*

Light

Beyond the darkness
there is a light
a light of hope
a light of life
a light of future
but....
will it...
give the hope
will it....
light the path
will it...
brighten the life
You alone decide

-- Mary Dos

*

A Prayer For The World

2009-02-12T07:59:00.006-06:00

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A Prayer for the World

Let the rain come and wash away the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds held and nurtured over generations.

Let the rain wash away the memory of the hurt, the neglect.

Then let the sun come out and fill the sky with rainbows.

Let the warmth of the sun heal us wherever we are broken.

Let it burn away the fog so that we can see each other clearly.

So that we can see beyond labels, beyond accents, gender or skin color.

Let the warmth and brightness of the sun melt our selfishness.

So that we can share the joys and feel the sorrows of our neighbors.

And let the light of the sun be so strong that we will see all
people as our neighbors.

Let the earth, nourished by rain, bring forth flowers to surround us with beauty.

And let the mountains teach our hearts to reach upward to heaven.

Amen.

- Rabbi Harold Kushner

Light

2009-02-04T21:04:00.003-06:00

The Light of God before me
The Light of God behind me
The Light of God above me
The Light of God beside me
The Light of God within me

Guest House

2009-01-27T07:56:00.005-06:00

Guest House

This being human is a guest house

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

--Rumi

Belizean Dinner: You're Invited!

2009-01-18T21:04:00.004-06:00

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Learn more at the St. Anne's website

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With That Moon Language

2009-01-13T08:49:00.006-06:00

With That Moon Language

Admit something:

Everyone you see, you say to them,
“Love me”.

Of course you do not do this out loud;
otherwise, someone would call the cops.

Still though, think about this,
this great pull in us to connect.

Why not become the one
who lives with a full moon in each eye
that is always saying,

with that sweet moon language,

what every other eye in this world
is dying to hear.

- Hafiz

What do you see, when you look at the sky?

2009-01-04T20:30:00.001-06:00

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SERMON FOR SUNDAY JANUARY 4, 2009
2ND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
MATTHEW 2:1-12 – THE MAGI

When you look up at the sky, what do you see?

There was a Peanuts cartoon from long ago, that showed Charlie Brown and Lucy and Linus out on a hillside, on a beautiful day with blue sky and white puffy clouds. They are lying down in the grass, looking up, and Lucy says, “If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud formations… What do you think you see, Linus?”

“Well,” says Linus, “those clouds up there look to me like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean… That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor… And that group of clouds over there gives me the impression of the stoning of Stephen… I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side…”

Lucy replies: “Uh huh. That’s very good. What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?”

“Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsie, but I changed my mind.”

When you look up in the sky, what do you see?

The magi long ago saw a star. Not just any star, but a star incredibly bright and big. Maybe a comet. Maybe 2 or 3 stars or planets lined up together so that they blurred into one spot of dazzling light in the sky. Maybe a divine beacon that appeared directly from heaven, like the pillar of fire and cloud that led the children of Israel as they escaped through the desert.

Whatever it was, it gave them pause. This was no ordinary heavenly object. It gave them pause – only long enough to realize that they had to move. It was time for action. You don’t see a sign like that star and then just turn your eyes down and go about business as usual. At least… You could, but the rest of your life you would wonder what would have happened if you had believed in your heart what you saw with your eyes.

Do you ever wonder why it is that only the magi seemed to see the star? If it was so bright and so clearly a sign from heaven, why weren’t there throngs of travelers following it? Why weren’t the desert oases booked solid with pilgrims on their way to wherever the star was leading?

One answer is that… well… this is a story that Matthew tells, to help us understand some things about the birth of the Messiah. Just like in Luke’s story of shepherds on the hillside, and the whole sky being lit up with an army of angels singing about peace and good news for all people – but only the shepherds saw it – the stories are not about everybody. They are not news accounts. They are not objective historical record. Matthew tells us this story so we will know that Jesus’ birth was foretold by ancient prophets… And so we will know that Jesus came for everyone, even people from far away with different customs and different names for God.

Or perhaps other people did see, but didn’t let it make them do crazy things. They looked up and saw a ducky and a horsie and said “How nice,” and went about their day. But the magi saw a star, a divine portent, and it changed their lives forever.

There are still people today who see things – in the sky, in their neighborhoods, in their sister’s or brother’s eyes – that seem to be signs from God. There are still people today who are looking for the Christ child, and who notice signs that give them pause and then call them to action. And just like the magi, they bring gifts. The gifts and abilities they have help them know what kind of action to take.

Some people see poverty and need, and they pack their bags and go on a journey – to Africa or Belize or North Dakota or New Orleans … any number of places where there is hunger or homelessness or need for education. Some people give up their vacations or weekends to staff Project Home’s temporary shelters, or to build houses, or to mentor children. Some people give their gifts of gold (that’s more common than frankincense or myrrh these days). Some people write encouraging notes, and make praying for others a daily priority. Some people go out of their way to drive others where they need to go. Some people cook food, some people just sit and listen, some people share their knowledge… And there are many more ways that those who recognize the signs of God in our world respond.

Here’s what they have in common: They have seen something, in the sky or at least beyond themselves… Something that gave them pause, that changed the course of their life and makes them do things that it would be easier not to do. Like the magi they follow the sign from God that they have seen. No matter how hopeless, no matter how far. And they continue on because, well, what else would they do? Having seen the star, you just can’t put your head down and pretend it’s not there.

Or you could… but you would miss out on the great adventure of traveling together, with others who are also following the star, finding Christ again and again, offering our gifts again and again.

What do you see, when you look at the sky?

- Lydia Huttar Brown

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For Amy

2008-12-28T16:54:00.003-06:00

*

O God of grace and glory, we remember before you our sister Amy. We thank you for giving her to us, her family and friends, to know and to love as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage. In your boundless compassion, console us who mourn. Give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth, until, by your call, we are reunited with those who have gone before; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

- Book of Common Prayer

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People Look East

2008-12-21T15:25:00.004-06:00

People look East the time is near
Of the crowning of the year
Make your house fair as you are able
Trim the hearth and set the table
People look East and sing today
Love the guest is on the way

Furrows be glad though earth is bare
One more seed is planted there
Give up your strength the seed to nourish
That in course the flower may flourish
People look East and sing today
Love the rose is on the way

Birds though you long have ceased to build
Guard the nest that must be filled
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledgling time has chosen
People look East and sing today
Love the bird is on the way

Stars keep the watch when night is dim
One more light the bowl shall brim
Shining beyond the frosty weather
Bright as sun and moon together
People look East and sing today
Love the star is on the way

Angels announce with shouts of mirth
Christ who brings new life to earth
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word the Lord is coming
People look East and sing today
Love the Lord is on the way

People Look East

Let Us Be Lights

2008-12-15T11:51:00.003-06:00

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SERMON FOR SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2008
ADVENT 3B
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Psalm 126
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 1928

According to the gospel of Luke, the first public act of ministry that Jesus did was this:

He was in Nazareth, his own hometown where he had been raised, and on the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue, as usual. And when it came time to read, he stood up and opened the scroll and read from the prophet Isaiah, from the portion that we just heard:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

These were words that a prophet of Israel had written about 5 centuries before Christ… written to comfort and encourage people in exile, far away from their homeland, living in a reality far different from what they had been expecting… A reality that seemed bereft of the presence of God and very far away from the fulfillment of God’s promises to them.

And the prophet wrote these words, to encourage them that in spite of all the tragedy and difficulties and challenges they had endured, God was working for their good and would bring them home.

And when Jesus picks up the scroll and reads these words, they still have their historical meaning, but they are no longer bound by space or time to just that one meaning. They leap forward 5 centuries and take on greater meaning in a new context.

Jesus read: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. The Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. To comfort the broken hearted… to proclaim liberty… freedom… to announce the good will of God toward all the world.

And as we hear these words, they have come completely undone from their tether. They are no longer just about the Israelite people in exile in Babylon. They are not just for first-century Nazarenes. They are words of hope for all who are estranged… all who are oppressed… all who are brokenhearted… all who are captive… They are words of hope for us.

The message of all our lessons today is a message of hope and joy. Of light in the darkness. A message of God’s promise for good – in our lives and in our world.

Paul, writing to the fledgling church in Thessalonica, advises them: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances… hold fast to what is good. They are struggling, facing persecution, and he tells them to be joyful.

This past week Warren Taylor wrote on the CaringBridge website that Amy’s condition was worsening. The cancer has taken over her bones and her liver, and it is absolutely incurable. They are making plans now for hospice care, and praying for time – weeks, if possible – for them to have as a family before Amy dies. And then Warren asked for stories and jokes. Something to bring a smile. Stories of children’s antics… one-liners that bring a chuckle or guffaw… Even in the darkness of impending death and loss, joy and laughter can help lighten the path.

The Lord has anointed me to bring good news… Rejoice in the Lord… Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy…

Our world is full of unspeakable pain and also of dazzling joy and goodness. As Christians, we choose to see the goodness. We don’t deny the pain, but we believe that goodness is stronger. We believe the light is stronger than the darkness. And, believing this, we look for the light in even the darkest moments. And we hold the light for one another, so that we can find hope.

A favorite hymn says:

“I will hold the Christ-light for you, in the nighttime of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.”

We draw on the Divine Light that has come into our world, and fills our world and our hearts, and we let that light shine through us. We become light.

There was a man sent by God whose name was John. He himself was not The Light, but he came to testify to the light. He came to tell about the light, to draw attention to the light.

But you know, and I know, that when we take light from light, (as when lighting a candle from another candle) the source does not grow smaller, but the light becomes brighter. And you know, as well as I, that the best teaching is not only about words. It’s the example of how a person lives that is the real testimony about their convictions.

You can’t just talk about God’s light and love. You have to live them. You have to become them.

Colleen Watson can recite this poem by memory – it’s called “Sermons we see,” by Edgar Guest. Here’s an excerpt:

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.
The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear;
And the best of all the preachers are the ones who live their creeds,
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.
… … … …
When I see a deed of kindness, I am eager to be kind.
When a weaker brother stumbles and a strong man stays behind
Just to see if he can help him, then the wish grows strong in me
To become as big and thoughtful as I know that friend to be.
And all travelers can witness that the best of guides today
Is not the one who tells them, but the one who shows the way.

Yesterday afternoon about 40 people gathered in this sanctuary to pray for Amy and Warren and Isabella and Arbor. We lit candles and we prayed and we read scripture and poetry and we mostly sat in silence.

We did this for the Taylor family, and we also did it for ourselves and each other. Because we need to remind ourselves and each other: The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. Rejoice. Even in sorrow, give thanks. God’s goodness and love are over all and in all, and goodness will triumph. Love will have the last word. The Light will never be extinguished.

Let us be lights that shine and point to the Divine Light that has come into our world.

- Lydia Huttar Brown

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O Come, O Come Emmanuel

2008-12-08T11:42:00.001-06:00

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A Place

2008-12-01T11:00:00.005-06:00

There is a Place Beyond Ambition

When the flute players

couldn’t think of what to say next

they laid down their pipes,

then they lay down themselves

beside the river

and just listened.

Some of them, after a while,

jumped up

and disappeared back inside the busy town.

But the rest—

so quiet, not even thoughtful—

are still there,

still listening.

- Mary Oliver

Sheep and Goats

2008-11-24T21:07:00.002-06:00

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SERMON FOR SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2008
PROPER 29A – CHRIST THE KING SUNDAY
Matthew 25:31-46 The Judgment of the Nations

Most of you know, that 9 ½ weeks ago something happened to Mark and me that has changed us forever. We became grandparents. One of the great joys that has come from this, is that I get to take care of my granddaughter one day a week, while her parents are at work. I changed my day off to Thursday, so I can be home with Olivia.

But there’s one event at church that happens on Thursdays once a month, that I want to be at church for. It’s our monthly Elders’ meeting (a.k.a. Octogenarians Anonymous). This is a group, started by Anne Hotchkiss, that gathers every month just to talk about issues related to aging. Everyone who is at least 70 years old is welcome. (It started out for people at least 80 years old, but now they let some of the young people come.) They let me come, even though I’m a little behind them in life-stages.

A couple weeks ago, on the 2nd Thursday of November, I packed Olivia into the car and brought her to church, and she was a hit. Not only with the group, but with Susan in the office, and Susan’s friend who had stopped by briefly, and waited, on the rumor that Olivia might be making an appearance.

The truth is, everybody loves Olivia. All she has to do is exist, and people are crazy about her. Same thing with Molly here, and with the other children among us. There’s just something about a little one that makes people respond with love and care.

And on that Thursday, I began to wonder: what would it be like if we had that same wonder and delight in every human being? The joy and admiration we feel in the presence of a baby… what if we felt that way around everybody?

What happens to us, that makes that go away?

Competitiveness, perhaps… Possibly fear… Mistrust, based on experience… Defensiveness or protectiveness… Careful managing of our emotions…

Things we learn for our self-preservation, that help us not be taken advantage of, that help us differentiate ourselves and take care of ourselves, but that also put up walls between us.

Just this past Friday I attended the funeral on the West Side, of Jacob MacKenzie, the 15-year-old who was shot on his front porch, allegedly by his cousin’s boyfriend – most likely accidentally, the tragic unintended victim of gang violence.

I went to the funeral because this family are neighbors of Don Austin, and I was moved by his story of their need. I, too, have a son who died, and I wanted, if possible, to reach out to this grieving mother. And I thought, this is part of our geographical parish, our church neighborhood. Perhaps I, or St. Anne’s, can help. And as I sat in the back of the church, I wondered again how it is that we have come so far, as people, from simply taking joy and delight in the presence of one another? Violence, fear, anger, hatred because of things done and left undone…

Jesus told a story to his disciples, an image of the final judgment.
In this story, some are blessed and rewarded because they served the king when they saw him in need – hungry, homeless, in prison, thirsty… And others are rejected because they saw the king in need, but did nothing to help him. Both groups protest – When did we see you in need? And the king replies: whenever you helped anyone, even – perhaps especially – the least important ones, you were helping me. And whenever you turned your back, you were turning your back on me.

I think what’s key in this story is not how much help they gave or didn’t give. We can drive ourselves crazy trying to be the sheep in the story, and realizing that all too often we behave like the goats. In their book, Good Goats: Healing Our Image of God, Dennis and Sheila and Matthew Linn come to the conclusion that we are all “good goats.” Leading a retreat of older, retired Roman Catholic nuns, Dennis Linn asked the group,

How many of you, even once in your life, have done what Jesus asks, … and fed a hungry person, clothed a naked person or visited a person in prison?” All the sisters raised their hands. Dennis said, “That’s wonderful! You’re all sheep.”

Then Dennis asked, “How many of you, even once in your life, have walked by a hungry person, failed to clothe a naked person, or not visited someone in prison?” Slowly all the sisters raised their hands. Dennis said, “That’s too bad. You’re all goats.”

The sisters looked worried and perplexed. Then suddenly one very old sister’s hand shot up. She blurted out, “I get it! We’re all good goats!”

(Good Goats: Healing Our Image of God by Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Matthew Linn. Paulist Press, 1994, p. 49)

We’re all good goats. We all succeed and we all fail at meeting the needs of our fellow human beings.

But there’s another aspect of this story that I want to explore a little further. And that is that none of those gathered before the king recognized the king in his need. It’s especially poignant in the case of the goats. Their response is something like: “But Lord! If we had known it was you, of course we would have helped you.”

This story is not calling us to try singlehandedly to meet the needs of the world’s poor or solve all the social problems around us. This story calls us to practice recognizing Christ – to take delight in one another and in every human being, just because they exist. To respond to need, yes, out of love for God, whose children we all are.

The Sunday Club children have learned a new word this fall. Namaste. It’s a Hindu word of greeting, that means roughly “the Divine Spirit in me recognizes and honors the Divine Spirit in you.” A simple greeting, a reminder and daily practice of what we have promised to do: to seek and serve Christ in all persons.

Anthony DeMello tells this story:

(from Taking Flight: A Book of Story Meditations by Anthony De Mello. Image Books, Doubleday, 1990. p. 51)

A Guru meditating in his Himalayan cave opened his eyes to discover an unexpected visitor sitting there before him – the abbot of a well-known monastery.

“What is it you seek?” asked the Guru.

The abbot recounted a tale of woe. At one time his monastery had been famous throughout the western world. Its cells were filled with young aspirants and its church resounded to the chant of its monks. But hard times had come on the monastery. People no longer flocked there to nourish their spirits, the stream of young aspirants had dried up, the church was silent. There was only a handful of monks left and these went about their duties with heavy hearts.

Now this is what the abbot wanted to know: “Is it because of some sin of ours that the monastery has been reduced to this state?”

“Yes,” said the Guru, “a sin of ignorance.”
“And what sin might that be?”
“One of your number is the Messiah in disguise and you are ignorant of this.” Having said that the Guru closed his eyes and returned to his meditation.

Throughout the arduous journey back to his monastery the abbot’s heart beat fast at the thought that the Messiah – the Messiah himself – had returned to earth and was right there in the monastery. How had he failed to recognize him? And who could it be? Brother Cook? Brother Sacristan? Brother Treasurer? Brother Prior? No, not he; he had too many defects, alas. But then, the Guru had said the Messiah was in disguise. Could the defects be one of his disguises? Come to think of it, everyone in the monastery had defects. And one of them had to be the Messiah!

Back in the monastery he assembled the monks and told them what he had discovered. They looked at one another in disbelief. The Messiah? Here? Incredible! But he was supposed to be here in disguise. So, maybe. What if it were so-and-so? Or the other one over there? Or…

One thing was certain. If the Messiah was there in disguise, it was not likely that they would recognize him. So they took to treating everyone with respect and consideration. “You never know,” they said to themselves when they dealt with one another, “Maybe this is the one.”

Soon the atmosphere in the monastery became vibrant with joy. Soon dozens of aspirants were seeking admission to the Order – and once again the church echoed with the holy and joyful chant of monks who were aglow with the spirit of love.

My friends, the Messiah is here. Not just here in this room, but in our world. You will find him in disguise, in need… We will find him in those it is easy to love, and those we find challenging.

Greet him. Delight in his presence. Welcome him. Extend your helping hand. Practice recognizing him, and know that as you serve others, you are serving Christ.

- Lydia Huttar Brown

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What Are You Afraid Of?

2008-11-20T16:55:00.002-06:00

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2008
PROPER 28A
Matthew 25: 14-30 The parable of the talents

What are you afraid of?

Of ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night…

What are you afraid of?

I’m afraid if I say how I feel, I might lose my best friend…
I’m afraid if I try, I might fail, and everyone will know I’m a loser…

What are you afraid of?

Losing my job… Not having enough retirement savings… Losing everything I’ve worked so hard for…
I’m afraid I might fall…
I’m afraid for my children… I’m afraid of the bully at school… I’m afraid of dying… I’m afraid of what the doctor might say…
I’m afraid …

There are some things we should be afraid of, like a hot stove. But too often we fear things we have no control over, or we fear the unknown, the “what if.”

Fear can be paralyzing. It can dominate our thinking and take over our actions.

That’s what happened to the third slave. He was afraid. Afraid of his master, afraid of failure, and so he hid. He hid not just himself, but all that had been entrusted to him.

Now don’t think that just because the master left him with one talent, that it was basically nothing. A talent was the equivalent of 15 years’ wages for a worker. Fifteen years he would have had to work to earn that much – assuming that as a slave, he would have been paid anyway. Fifteen years of wages, given to him freely without condition except the trust that came with it, and the expectation that the slave understood he was managing it for the landowner.

The other slaves in the story were entrusted with 5 talents and 2 talents, respectively. A lot more money than the poor fearful slave. Perhaps his fear extended to comparing himself to them. “Obviously they are the ones the master is really counting on,” he may have thought. “My part is so small, it doesn’t really count. Obviously the master doesn’t expect much from me.”

Perhaps the slave was afraid of the outer darkness, the weeping, the gnashing of teeth. And so he chose those things right up front, burying the money in the dark ground, gnashing his teeth in anxiety every time he thought about the master, weeping with fear at the thought of failure.

Finally the day came when the master returned. Calling the three whom he had entrusted with his wealth, he spoke with them one by one. The first slave had been entrusted with 5 talents – 75 years’ wages! – and joyfully reported that he had invested the money and it had doubled. The 2nd slave had a similar story with his 2 talents. A huge sum of money, doubled!

When it was the 3rd slave’s turn, he said, “Master, I knew you were harsh, and took the fruits of the labor of others … and so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.” The master doesn’t deny or affirm the slave’s description of him. He just repeats it back, and draws a different conclusion, if that’s what the slave believed. “You believed me to be harsh, with high expectations? All the more reason you should have invested, and made something of my investment in you. Be gone, to outer darkness…”

But to each of the other 2 slaves, the master said: “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”

Outer darkness… Joy of your master… Interesting talk, isn’t it? Not economic language, not the dialog of master and slave, not business talk. This is “Kingdom of Heaven” talk, “Reign of God” language. It hearkens back to the introduction to this whole section in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus said: The reign of God will be like this…

The reign of God will be like this. All are entrusted with great wealth. Some will recognize the great trust that God has placed in them. They will recognize God’s goodness and generosity in handing over to them this great abundance, with only the expectation that they manage it as God would. They will recognize that God has taken a great risk, in such trust, and so they will do their best to do as their master would. They will do their best to live the God-like qualities of risking, trusting, being generous.

But some, (in this image of the reign of God)… some will not see God as generous, trusting, or good. Some see only a god to be feared. They live in fear of the wrath and judgment of God. They see only a harsh master, an exacting accountant. Instead of abundance and generosity, they see the possibility of loss, they see only a test which they will probably fail.
They pattern their lives after the god they believe in.

Last summer at the Lambeth Conference in England, the Archbishop of Canterbury invited the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Sir Jonathan Sachs, to speak to the Anglican bishops gathered from all over the world.

Rabbi Sachs spoke of different kinds of institutions and their function in society. Political institutions and structures are about the creation and distribution of power. Economic institutions and structures are about the creation and distribution of wealth. Religious institutions, in their true purpose, are about the creation and distribution of those intangible things that undergird society and make it strong. Things like love, friendship, trust, influence.

Rabbi Sachs said, power and wealth are zero-sum games. They are about competition, and, in the short term at least, there are winners and losers. In contrast, love, friendship, trust – these only exist when they are shared. And they actually grow, the more you share them. Rabbi Sachs calls these “covenantal goods.” The more I share, the more I have. And the more there is, all around.

And so, perhaps the Kingdom of Heaven will be like this: A wealthy landowner went away, and entrusted everything he had to his slaves. Some of them understood that this was a covenant of trust, and that, if they did as their master had done, they could not fail. Losing the original investment was impossible, because the more it was used, the greater it became, and the more there was. But one was afraid. Not understanding the covenant of trust, this one thought it was a zero-sum game. That losing everything was a distinct possibility, and it would be better to hoard and hide.

Jesus said that those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for his sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?

This is Kingdom of Heaven talk, Reign of God talk, covenant talk. Jesus himself invested everything, completely emulating the generosity and riskiness of God, and by some measures he lost it all. Crucified as a criminal, alone, abandoned. But that’s not the story. This is not a story of losing. No – this is a story of risking everything and multiplying the investment.

Jesus did not fail – he returned to the master double, ten-fold, 100-fold – infinitely more than the investment entrusted to him.

He fulfilled his mission, and the master was well-pleased.

The resurrection, ascension to God’s right hand, and the ongoing life of Christ are the ultimate “Well done, good and faithful One. Enter into the joy of your God.”

Last week in her stewardship talk, Mary McDougall read a quote by Marianne Williamson, used by Nelson Mandela and many other people and places – including the movie Akeelah and the Bee. It’s worth repeating here.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” asks the poet Mary Oliver. What is it you plan to do with the trust placed in you by your Creator, from whom all blessings flow?

What are you afraid of?

- Lydia Huttar Brown

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Prayer For Veterans

2008-11-11T11:26:00.004-06:00

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On this Veterans Day -

We ask for blessings on all those who have served their country in the armed forces.

We ask for healing for the veterans who have been wounded, in body and soul, in conflicts around the globe.

We pray especially for the young men and women, in the thousands, who are coming home from Iraq with injured bodies and traumatized spirits. Bring solace to them, O Lord; may we pray for them when they cannot pray. We ask for an end to wars and the dawning of a new era of peace, as a way to honor all the veterans of past wars.

Have mercy on all our veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, bring peace to their hearts and peace to the regions they fought in. Bless all the soldiers who served in non-combative posts; may their calling to service continue in their lives in many positive ways.

Give us all the creative vision to see a world which, grown weary with fighting, moves to affirming the life of every human being and so moves beyond war.

Hear our prayer, O Prince of Peace, hear our prayer.

- From Education for Justice

Today

2008-11-02T15:33:00.003-06:00

Today I purpose to live

My life will shine
As the morning sings I walk in liberty
Bound in true dreams
Manifested promises
Chase my forward motion
A covered path before me
The fruits of my hoping
The fruits of my living

Today I purpose to love

My love will speak
With the sound of grace
Merciful within mercy
The works of my faith
Smiles of overflowing
Inspire my giving
Abundance of joy as rain
The fruits of my living

- michael john faciane

Invitation

2008-10-28T10:35:00.008-05:00

Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space at the same time.

Invite one to stay.

- Maya Angelou

Autumn

2008-10-21T14:50:00.002-05:00

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From all that dwell below the skies
let songs of hope and faith arise;
let peace, goodwill on earth be sung
through every land, by every tongue

- an adaptation by Curtis W. Reese

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A Visit To The Apple Orchard

2008-10-14T13:41:00.012-05:00

Oh, the Lord is good to me
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need
The sun and the rain and the apple tree
The Lord is good to me!

Keep us, O Lord, as the apple of your eye

The Blessing of the Animals

2008-10-07T13:30:00.004-05:00

But ask the animals and they will teach you;

the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;

and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?

In God’s hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of every human being.

What Would You Do?

2008-10-01T08:10:00.002-05:00

What would you do, if you knew you could not fail?

Prayers For Amy and Warren

2008-09-21T16:35:00.003-05:00

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Holy and Life-giving One,
shower your healing grace on Amy and Warren.

You made them in your image, full of light and love.
In their creativity, wisdom, joy, and grace
we catch glimpses of you,
the source of all that is good and joyful and life-giving.

Holy God, we pray for healing.

Touch every cell of Amy's body with health and wholeness.
Drive far away all that is painful or cancerous.
Fill her with physical and emotional strength to win this battle.

When her spirit is tired, give her the comfort of your presence.
When her body is weak, give her the grace of your strength.
When she is afraid, fill her with the confidence of your peace.

Be for Amy and Warren the spring of healing water that washes over and fills them, today and tomorrow and for years to come.

Amen.

- The Reverend Lydia Huttar Brown

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