Lament is Also Prayer

Rejoice always.. give thanks in all circumstances..1 Thessalonians 1

One of my old college friends who is in possession of a wicked sense of humor, decided to counter-balance the online proliferation of “Daily Gratitudes” (sic) with “Daily Ingratitudes.” Some are bitter and maybe a little mean, but others are  beautiful and speak  profoundly to darkness and pain. Others, like this one, were funny:

I am ungrateful for things that don't understand that "inside the house" is not for them, even though you say it to them, you haul them outdoors, you construct barriers, you encourage vibrant predatory life to torment and eat them, you hope. And yet, there's the cockroach saying "oh hai, is this that 'indoors' thing you don't want me to be in?"

Even in the midst of “rejoicing always,” we still need to name, for ourselves and God, those things and times causing us to lament.

[Some of mine: people who do not use their turn signals, the disastrous traffic at the Chick-Fil-A across from Piedmont Hospital, canned Asparagus, televangelists, “holiday music”, “Bro-Country”, smog,  I am also not grateful for cancer, diseases in general that kill people (like Parkinson’s disease- one that effects my Mom), war, starvation, income inequality and certain politicians who shall go unnamed].  

Paul is right- rejoice and give thanks, always, but also find room in your life for lament.

Paul was no stranger to pain, and I suspect that he probably lamented aplenty. He describes a pain or a  “thorn in his side” (what  might have been epilepsy, depression, migraines or some other physical or emotional issue in one of his letters, saying:

^“I pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me alone. ⁹ He said to me, “My grace is enough for you, because power is made perfect in weakness.” So I’ll gladly spend my time bragging about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power can rest on me. ¹⁰ Therefore, I’m all right with weaknesses, insults, disasters, harassments, and stressful situations for the sake of Christ, because when I’m weak, then I’m strong. (2 Cor 12:8-10)

Before he was able to see God at work in his pain, he lamented (“pleaded”) and wanted it to go away. He later reconciles himself to his "thorn," but he never blames God for it or says that God was “teaching him a lesson.” 

Paul and I may have the whole migraine thing in common. Many times I have asked God to take them away and they have persisted.  (Good medicine, healthier living, exercise, and meditation- all gifts from God- have helped me control them). I have also found lots of grace within the pain I have felt. I may have even found “power in weakness” by learning to calm my mind and find greater self-compassion within my “thorn.” Yet, you will never find me thanking God when I have one or rejoicing. (Probably quite the opposite). Migraines are dark, awful, and yucky.

Lamenting their presence in my life to God has helped me own them as a reality, though, and find healing (and perhaps even, in retrospect, gratitude). 

Rejoice, always, name your “gratitudes”, but also know that God hears lament-  the cry of our hearts- our pain- as prayer, too. 

"Whump:... Or Change Happens but So Does New Life

"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Mark 13:24-29

Last week I was getting ready for my day when I heard, no felt, what I would have to describe as a “whump.” The Georgia Dome, a giant building in which I had watched football games, Olympic sports, and been to a few concerts (most notably The Rolling Stones) was imploded. I am sure a lot of you have watched the above video a bunch of times. Watching stuff like that get blown up is pretty awesome.

What is funny about that, though, is that one “temple” got flattened right next door to a new one. We are accustomed, in our time, to blowing up stadiums when we get tired of them and building new ones. Out with the old, and in with the new. We have explosives able to destroy “temple” like buildings in a matter of seconds and trucks and workers able to haul off the rubble in relatively little time. I wonder sometimes, then, what “temples” do we have in this world that feel, much like the temple in Jerusalem must have felt for Jesus’ followers, as if they will be around forever?

It’s not a huge leap for us to see why Jesus goes off on a rant in Mark 13 after being asked  by one of his disciples what would happen to the “awesome stones and buildings” of The Temple of Jerusalem. Jesus kicks of the rant by predicting, “Not even one [of those stones] will be left upon another. All will be demolished!” (13:5, CEB). For his friends, this sounded like nonsense. How could something as mighty as the Temple ever be destroyed?

About 80 years after Jesus lived on earth,in fact, Roman armies came in and leveled that very temple.That temple was the center of the universe for people back then. Jesus wants his followers to see that all “temples” will fall eventually. Everything on earth is susceptible to time and the forces of nature and history, and that our only constant on earth is change.Whether or not he could see the future, Jesus knew the future.

Yet, even in the midst of change, he says, there is constantly new life flowing in to this existence. “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.” Even as time marches on, new life is always happening.

One source of h anxiety tension and grief for human beings is that we are uncomfortable with time and change. We get so caught up in our grief about what is passing away and our anxiety about what is yet to come that we do not notice new life appearing around us. Truly, we could spend all of our time fretting about all of the things beyond our control. Yet, when we do, Jesus is telling us, we miss much life and resurrection taking place- right now. As we kick off Advent, then, let us all take time in the day-to-day to find Jesus already alive in our lives and in the world we live in.

King Jesus

”Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:44-46

I like to ask my atheist friends to  “Tell me about the God you do not believe in?” The God they do not believe in is often remarkably similar to the one that fundamentalists who stand preaching on the corner probably believe in- a kind of cosmic, cruel king who casts people into hell based on whether or not they had their beliefs properly sorted out before death. The God they do not believe in sounds like one who sorts us out based on pretty high standards for eternal pleasure or punishment. Their God sounds like a bloody tyrant.

 “Christ the King” Sunday- (the last Sunday before Advent, aka “this Sunday”), gives us opportunity to think about which God we believe in. The word “king” itself is problematic, isn’t it? Most kings - even the so-called “good” ones- ruled through violence and fear and enforced a system that sorted people out based on what they had or which family they were born into. We have no context for kings in a democratic society, anyway, because we rejected that whole monarchy thing 242 or so years ago when we broke away from English rule. I am not even so sure I like the idea of Christ as King, then. 

If Jesus were king, then, what would that look like? A King Jesus that looks like the one in Matthew 25 has high standards for  “the nations” that are gathered before him in this parable. Even harder for us is that the nations are not judged based on moral purity, proper belief, worship or any other “religious” kinds of standards. Nope. They are judged based on their compassion. The righteous are those who clothed the naked, cared for the sick, visited the imprisoned and welcomed the stranger. Period.

I don’t believe Jesus means to send anyone who does not do perfect and untiring work for the “least of these” off to hell, however. If that were true, I think we would all be pretty much doomed. Jesus gives us a  good clue on where to look for God and for what God looks like. Want to find God? Get up and walk towards the messiness this life offers us. 

God is found there – in all kinds of hunger, and imprisonment and estrangement and sickness. Do good and loving work in the hunger that surrounds you right now. Find someone you know who is imprisoned- be it in a city jail or in the prison of addiction or loneliness and offer your love and help setting them free. There are strangers in your midst each and every Sunday at church-- walk across the room and welcome them- and maybe even take them out for lunch. Jesus is right there, friends, and when we follow him to those kinds of places in this world, we are truly being his "subjects"  and his "sheep."

God’s kingdom, in fact, is already ruled by a present, living King who has proclaimed the center of his power rests with the least powerful. All of us, then, have a chance to embrace our King in the present, and live under an entirely different and holy rule. 

St. Samuel Seabury- A Complicated Dude

Bishop Samuel Seabury, the First Bishop of The Episcopal Church, had a complicated life, I would imagine. He took an oath of loyalty to the King of England at his ordination to the

priesthood back in England, yet he lived in a land that was trying to break free from the British Imperial rule. Seabury was outspoken in his opposition to American freedom from England. He was a “loyalist.” That fact put him at odds with people with whom he worshipped and worked. It might have even put his life on the line on occasion.

Seabury made his life more complicated, in fact, by writing pamphlets under the pen-name AW Farmer and getting into a kind of "flame-war" with one Alexander Hamilton. When the Continental Congress enacted a boycott on the import and export between the colonies and England, he wrote “Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress and criticized the rebellion by saying:

“Though the open violator of the laws may escape punishment…. he shall feel the lash of my pen : and he shall feel it again and again, till remorse shall sling his guilty confidence, and shame cover his opprobrious head.”[1]

Whoa. Harsh. Opprobrious, even (I had to look it up. It’s not good).

Hamilton then struck back with - A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress and insisted that theirs was the cause of liberty and opposition to what amounted to slavery:

“No person, that has enjoyed the sweets of liberty, can be insensible of its infinite value, or can reflect on its reverse, without horror and detestation. No person, that is not lost to every generous feeling of humanity, or that is not stupidly blind to his own interest, could bear to offer himself and posterity as victims at the shrine of despotism….” [2]

St. Samuel Seabury eventually went to prison for being loyal to the King and even was chaplain for British troops.

Seabury finally  took the journey back to England and was consecrated Bishop by Scottish bishops not loyal to the crown. When he returned to his new homeland some of his “flock” in the American Episcopal Church were unhappy with the fact that he was “high church” (one who places a high importance on liturgy, vestments, etc) while many of them were “low church” (less emphasis  on liturgy and more on preaching, etc). George Washington would not even reply to letters sent by Seabury. Still, Seabury embraced his new country and was Bishop for all of them.

Being the Church is often complicated, especially when we disagree with each other over important issues and problems. Seabury found himself praying for, delivering sacraments to, and even burying people who once may have considered him their enemy. In order for any of to be the Church after the War for Independence, they all had to see one another as much more than the sum total of their political views. Americans who once bitterly disagreed now had to be  children of God from the same human family.

You too will share Christ’s Body and Blood with people who disagree with you or are different from you. Yet we are all complex people with deeply-held stories that affect our way of seeing the world. God loves us all, so we are challenged to find our way to reflecting that love- especially for one another.

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[1] Seabury, The Rev. Samuel, Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continential Congress, 1775, online: accessed 11.17.17 https://ia800203.us.archive.org/28/items/cihm_20488/cihm_20488.pdf

[2] Hamilton, Alexander, A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress, 1774, online: accessed 11.17.17, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0054

The Demon of Judgment

One of my favorite movies is Keanu Reeves’ “Constantine.” Reeves plays a doomed “spiritual detective” who gets to live out his life on earth chain-smoking and dying of lung cancer while doing his best to earn his way into heaven by eradicating the world of lawless demons who prey upon the innocent.The demons create havoc and then, through prayers and other “exorcist skills” Constantine names them, casts them out, and sends them back to oblivion.

Recently, one “demon” I see a great deal of in myself and others is one I would call “judgment.” Judgment shows its nasty face constantly these days head in  because we all are networked together in such a way that we can instantly react to others under its power. Having honest and robust arguments is not a bad thing, mind you, but judgment takes them over when we find ourselves classifying each other as “evil” or “a bad person” or,  “always wrong.” We are given tools that make it super easy to forget our common humanity. 

Jesus flatly rejects this “demon”, though. In fact, he assigns the status of “blessed” to us when we act in the opposite way. When he says, “Blessed are the meek,” for instance, he is telling us that when we listen and seek to  understand before forming our reaction to others, we are blessed. When we seek out ways to be merciful and loving (even when others are awful to us), we are blessed. 

Being merciful and loving to people we think are jerks is hard work. It does not mean allowing yourself to be abused or taken advantage of. Sometimes, the best route is to (as I had to do recently) just stop the interaction or discussion. What it also means for me is that I have to take time to breathe, pray, and remind myself that all of us are children of God. Tough stuff, sometimes, I know. 

One first step out of being controlled by judgment is curiosity. I ask myself 3 or 4 questions about the unseen person on the other end:

-What kind of day are they having?

- What are we getting out of this energetic exchange?

- How or why is this topic of disagreement a point of pain or anxiety for the other person or for me?

- How might I offer an opportunity for a more human interaction?

- What might the other person need from me?

The good news, though, is that, like John Constantine’s nemeses, this kind of common “demon”  is easily defeated – if we take the time to name it, breathe, pray through it, and  learn from it with “holy curiosity” and the spiritual resource called God's love for us all. 

Being blessed, Jesus promises, is so much sweeter than being right.

Being Right or Being Human?

“… one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:34-37

Being right is easy. We have a lot of lawyers in our church, so some of you probably live with people whose job is to be right. For a Lawyer in Jesus day, Jesus probably appeared to be an easy opponent. He flouted the rules quite often, eating with outcasts, touching the unclean, healing on the sabbath and being friends with all kinds of outsiders.

His conversation partners in this scene were sure they were going to get him when they asked him, “Which law is the greatest?” If he came down on one side of some issues, he would anger their opponents (who would come after him). If the angered them, well, they could take care of getting him thrown in jail or executed.

What a surprise, then, that his answer defeats them by actually quoting the same scriptures they are claiming to live by. In fact, in Leviticus it actually appears right after the 10 commandments- “You must not take revenge or hold a grudge against any of your people; instead, you must love your neighbor as yourself…” (19:18). In their move to show Jesus just how unlawful he  was, they are convicted by their own laws. They forget to be human beings in their desire to be right.  

When I hear people  say that  we are a “nation of laws," I think of this scene. We are  a nation  governed and kept in order and in (mostly) good standing by laws, for sure, but we are much more. We are a nation of people striving to become fully- human beings . Our laws, when they are at their best, empower and enable us to love other people more fully and (as a result) be more fully human ourselves. Anything else is counter to God’s ultimate purposes for us, if we pay any attention to what Jesus (and Leviticus 19:18) says.

What would it look like if we, as a community and nation, sought to obey the law upon which Jesus says hang “all the law and the prophets?” Whatever your politics, I am sure you will agree that our world would be radically different (and probably better) wouldn’t it? Open room in your imagination to think about this world, rather than one in which we are always “right.” Jesus reminds us that being “right” often has little to do with loving God and other people or being the fully human, blessed creations God made us to be. 

Tim

Trial and Error and Repentance

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:19-23

Being human is all about trial and error, isn’t it? I mean, we know that many things are not worth trying because they are too dangerous or that they usually will lead to bad things happening to us. (In the south, such things are often proceeded by “hey ya’ll, watch!”). We try stuff, and sometimes it hurts us or other people or God’s world. We need to “repent” sometimes, because we make mistakes. Making mistakes and learning from them is how we grow up. Making the same mistakes, over and over, is no way to lead a life. Repentance, then, is a gift.

How this is extra good for us, then, is that “repenting” can be about (as the Greek word for it- “metanoia” – suggests) simply changing directions, or trying something else. Sure, it is healthy sometimes to feel remorse, or even guilt, but even those things are meant to push towards something better for ourselves and others. Repentance is about much more than feeling bad.

God’s kindness and compassion extends to us as individuals, so we ought to show compassion towards ourselves when we repent. One of the reasons the world can be so lousy sometimes, I believe, is because we are terrible at the last half of the great commandment (“love your neighbor as you love yourself.”) Many of us have problems loving our neighbors precisely because we have a hard time loving ourselves.

Maybe, then, repentance is the ultimate act of self-love? Maybe the stupid things we do separate us from our love for fellow humans, God, and ourselves? If God is not beating us up when we make mistakes, it follows that we should take it easy on ourselves, too! Repenting is not about feeling bad or moving away from “the seven deadlies,” -it is about trying something else with God’s help and living into a new path. After all, Jesus promises us that when we do repent, God’s kingdom is near!

Tim

Pray About Everything

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians  4:4

“In everything by prayer and supplication give thanks, because it will help you not be as anxious,” might be a good way of rephrasing Paul’s instruction to his friends in Phillipi. If I were to ask many of you when you prayed, it would probably be limited to meal times and/or bedtime. I pray then. At bedtime I think of 10 people and pray for them. At mealtimes, if it is just me or I am eating out somewhere, I pray, “God bless it and put it to work.” I don’t like long dinnertime prayers.

If you stop and think about it, eating certainly is a time when we should always give thanks. Each meal is a miracle. The food got grown via an infinite number of biological processes beyond most of our comprehension. The food got picked or slaughtered (if you are into the whole meat eating thing), preserved without getting damaged or spoiled, lovingly prepared in a way you like, and served to you in a safe, cool, comfy spot. So many good things happened so you could have the chance to eat your cheeseburger, so the least you can do is say, “Thank you!” to God.

Paul says to pray in everything, though. We should tell God what we want (supplication). We are to share openly and honestly with God our goofiest and deepest desires. Praying in everything connects with the reality that we can communicate with God in ways that reach far beyond what pops in our conscious minds. “Everything” prayer moves beyond our limited view of life and our narrow view of reality.

Anxiety is a complicated thing, I know. I will not say that prayer cures anxiety or even treats it.There is nothing too small, too petty, too goofy or juvenile for God’s healing grace found in prayer. Even so, if you are anxious, make sure that a part of your self-care is also sharing your anxiety with another person around the same time you pray about it. At the very least, my experience has been that prayer leads me to finding a new path or new way of living with, (and sometimes leaving behind)

Whatever you do, dear ones, pray in all things because, after all, God is with us in all things.

Darkness Doesn't Extinguish This Light

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.The Word was with God in the beginning. Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people. The light shines in the darkness,and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light. John 1: 1-5 CEB

So much surfaced for us all when we read the news about Las Vegas and later watched the footage. Some of us found ourselves newly anxious about being in crowds or more suspicious of strangers out in public. Some  may be having nightmares and feeling depressed and reasonably frightened. All of these responses are a function of the fact that we are, in fact, human beings.

I have no answers for why some folks store up guns and then use them on innocent people in acts of random violence. The best I can do, if you want to be all cosmic, is muse upon the fact that “the world is a broken place.” You don’t need any reminder of that, though. Scroll through your news feed on any day and you can find evidence for that aplenty.

Even so, as people of faith we believe and live as if evil, even in a display as powerful as what happened Sunday, cannot ever stop good.We are a witness to this  truth about the Gospel of Christ. Countless acts of love and light are happening in each moment as we live together in the aftermath. Goodness will continue to grow (and will never stop!) 

Goodness will continue to put evil in its place when we start talking with one another about  about guns and their place our lculture We have to truly begin to see the other- the enemy- the pain the neck person – the person who might even hate us- as a brother or sister. We have to have serious, difficult, family talks about our addiction to violence and our deeply-held belief that it ever really works for anything. 

If we are people of this light, we are challenged to begin acting as if we believe what John told us. We can live as children of this light- even as we weep and continue to ask, "Why?" 

Schadenfreude

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” Jonah 3:10-4:11 

Good news here. God is big enough for us all. Jonah has been asked by God to go and tell the Ninevites (the arch enemies of the Children of Israel) to repent. He tries to escape God on  a boat, gets thrown in the sea, swallowed by a whale and then washed up on Nineveh. THEN- he gets a meeting with the King and tells him God's message- "REPENT OR ELSE" and the King says, "OKEY DOKE!"

Jonah, all along, didn't want to go on what he thought was a suicide mission. Also, he hated the Ninevites and figured they would not listen, and God would blow up their city. They not only repent by smearing the men with ashes and having them wear sackcloths- the women, children and even animals got in on the gang. THEY HEARD HIM.

So now, at the end of the story, we see him upset about this and even grumpier that the shade he was enjoying dried up. He is so upset about the shade that he says to God "Take me now." God says, "Let me get this straight. You are upset about not having shade, but you do not give two hoots about a city full of human beings?" The story ends on this cliffhanger.

Who among us has not had what is called schadenfreude- or "pleasure at someone else's pain"? How great it was that a King decided to repent of being a jerk. How great it was that he heard God's message of mercy. Yet, who among us cannot relate to taking more pleasure out of seeing someone "get what they deserve" versus someone else experiencing mercy? We are all guilty of this, to some degree. 

Take this in:
The story of Jonah means for us that God is not a God of a tribe or a people but a God for everyone whose love extends to everyone (even our enemies). A life's work for us, then, is working on repenting of our hatred and being curious about how we can love our enemies. For starters, we can try not to feel happy when something bad happens to them. We can be curious about why the enmity exists. 

Later, in the person of Jesus, then, we get an example for how this works. We can look to his example of love and the multitude of ways that love can be played out when we let go of our ancient hatreds. Jonah couldn't let go. We can.

T 

Not Fair!

“…When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:12-16

Jesus’ parable of the workers is a good news-bad news kind of parable. 

First the bad news:

What we notice about the parable is the unfairness of it all. Jesus plays into our  all-too-human tendency to think, first off, that the universe is arranged with us in the center (it isn’t).  Good people die when they don’t deserve it, cheaters win the match, and people do not get what they deserve. At some point, all of us will be the worker who worked all day and then watched someone who walked on in the last hour get paid the same wage. A fundamental truth is that life is not fair.

Now, the good news:

If we make his parable even more cosmic, though, Jesus is reminding us that God’s love does not work within human equations of what is fair. God loves us all— equally— without measure— regardless of how good we are, how much Church we attend or what religion we follow. God’s love works beyond our comprehension of being merited or evenly given out. 

We will never deserve anything God gives us because we were made to be loved by God, not to earn that love with any kind of work. Whether you show up late or early, you will be loved. 

Control Yourself

Happening, New Beginnings, and DYC are diocesan retreats that can be life-changing. I went to each of these weekends while growing up as an “Episcopal Kid”  as an attendee, a team member, a chaperone, and a babysitter. We are taking groups to all of these weekends, so sign up. While many of the details of the experience might have faded, the relationships I formed with people from all over the Diocese of Atlanta continue. You will learn on the weekends that “you are now a part of a welcoming and loving community.” Whenever I’ve needed a shoulder to lean on or an ear to listen, I’ve relied on friendships formed on a Diocesan retreat at Camp Mikkell. If you’re feeling unsteady or unsure in your faith, want to explore your many questions, or just want to try something totally different, join us at Happening, New Beginnings or DYC. (Look for details in the weekly email for signing up, etc.) Take the first step and register at eycdioatl.org

Thinking about how grateful I am for making the choice to be a part of these experiences reminds me of something interesting we learned in my Psych class called “Locus of Control.” LOC refers to the extent to which people believe that they have control over their lives. So, if you have an internal locus of control, you would likely believe that you have free will and that most things that happen to you are due to yourself. Someone with an external locus of control, however, would believe that things that happen to them are mostly due to fate, or to luck, or maybe God.  Statistical studies have shown that people with an external locus of control are more likely to get injured or die in natural disasters. Sometimes, during natural disasters, for instance, people with an  external locus of control are more likely to stay put, refuse help, and just ride out them out because they may have a “whatever happens- happens” sort of outlook on life. But people with an internal locus of control would tend to take action and get out of harm’s way. (This is, of course, a generalization and may not always be true for everyone).

Yet, there were many people in the path of Irma who had no choice about being able to get out of the way. Certainly, none of the folks who lost their homes had any control about where the storm landed. (And God certainly did not direct Irma towards any particular place).  Paul, in his letter to the Romans, recognizes that , in the end, there are many things we are not always in control of. He says, “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. “ Whatever the outcome, he says, we all belong to God, and we should act as such.

Which leaves us with this: many of us have more control than others. We who have  electricity, for instance, might find room in our house for someone who has been in the dark for days. We might take some of our money and send it to Episcopal Relief and Development or even help an older neighbor clean out her yard. When we are the ones who have some control over our environment or lives we are called to direct ourselves towards being the hands and feet of Christ to those who (their fault or not) have not been so fortunate. Wherever we are in our “locus of control” we belong to God.

Hurricanes: Holy Eucharist,Prayer and Action

As Irma barrels towards and across our brothers and sisters (and us, probably), we first want to remind you that you will be OK. There are many around you whose primary concern in life is to make sure that you are OK.

We had some other thoughts :

+Limit media intake: Outside of needing practical information, (like when, exactly Irma may hit us or other folks in our lives) we do not need to obsessively watch video of the storm or soak up images of the aftermath. The first 25 times we see it are enough for us to know that Irma is scary and that  lots of people are suffering. In time, we can respond. In the meantime, we can best care for others by caring for ourselves, too. 

+Pray: Prayer connects us to those we do not know and those we care about during these times. Ask God for what you want - however ridiculous or self-serving it may seem. God values honest prayer. When we open up our hearts to God, prayer really works on us  in a profound way. (It’s science!)

+Get to Church: All Saints’ is going to be working hard to figure out how we can best leverage our abundant  resources to offer refuge and relief for people affected by Irma and other natural disasters (like Hurricane Harvey). Mother Kim will be leading a group who will begin to figure out how we can minister to the Saints who are seeking refuge from this and other natural disasters. God and her church can use our energy, talents , time and money to help our brothers and sisters.

Stay tuned for details.

+Get Communion: You might be surprised at what happens when we  show up and share space, prayer and Holy Eucharist with others who are worried about the same thing(s). When we worship together we offer God our cares, concerns and worries. God  blesses, feeds and unifies us through our Holy Eucharist. Whether we perceive it to be helpful or not, we are strengthened and transformed by being here together and sharing this holy meal. 

+Get in Touch: You know how to find us. If you feel like you just cannot handle what is happening around you (now or any other time, for that matter), we are always available to talk. There are many others in this community available as well. 

+Open your Prayer Book:  We have a wealth of prayer at our fingertips. If you don’t have a Book of Common Prayer at home and want one, just let us know. You can also use online resources like this or this.

Here is one prayer, found in Evening Prayer and in Compline to use when words fail you. (A good one to memorize, too. Works when things are rough and when they are OK).

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and  give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen. 

All will be well, 

Tim and Joel

Here I Am

A burning bush? Parting the sea? Plagues? Moses’ story is made for Hollywood, isn’t it? (The only thing it is missing is zombies. Zombies would have made it perfect). 

Back when we got TV signals on huge antennae and only had 3 channels, a yearly, 2-night showing of “The Ten Commandments” was a big event. When Moses (played by the late Charlton Heston) took his staff and it turned into a snake and ate all the other snakes it freaked me out. I was terrified when the angel of death drifted through ancient Egypt in the form of a fog. My favorite part, though, was the talking, burning bush. Even at age 8, I thought it was kind of funny and littlegoofy that God almighty came to visit Moses as a piece of shrubbery that was on fire. 

Rabbis  say that what was most remarkable about the burning bush was not that God spoke through it but  that Moses stopped at all. A bush on fire would not have been an unusual thing the desert. Something made Moses go and look. Even more remarkable is that fact that when a voice says to him, “Moses!” he doesn’t run away in terror (like I probably would). He responds with “Here I am!” 

 “Here I am” (in Hebrew it is pronounced “hey-na-knee”) shows up over and over in some of the big stories and scenes of the Torah. People like David, Solomon, Jessie, and others are called out to by God and every time they answer, “Here I am!” God calls out, and they respond. Our story with God, then, is that God has constantly been calling out to humanity. The “heroes” of scripture also did stuff like part seas, kill giants and build temples, but what was most heroic about them was that they stopped answered God’s call with a “hey-na-knee.”  

Like Moses and our Fathers and Mothers who came before us, we too are invited to answer God’s call in our lives with a “Here I am”  and a life of spent pursuing and working for what is of ultimate worth.  In Jesus, though, we also see God’s desire to be a part of us by becoming one of us and continuing to live among us and within us. Our story with God continues, and even in stories of burning bushes and parting seas we can see that God finds us of ultimate worth and is saying to us at all times and all places, “Here I am.”