What’s Up? 06/15/10

Tags

Anglican, Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury, Bill Kristol, BP, immigration, Neo-cons, oil industry, racial profiling, Recipes, salad, Sarah Palin, seafood, soccer, Steven King, teabaggers, wingnuttery, world peace day

Ummm, it comes as no surprise certainly that God likes water. Planet earth is more water than solid terra firma. Hello? Well, could I inquire SIR? Can you spread it a bit more equitably?

I mean we aren’t so horrid as Oklahoma and Arkansas yet, but good grief.

The weather (I hesitate to call them people) humans are reduced to throwing darts at a board or reading tea leaves.

Which all means that we snuck down to Cedar Rapids with the intent to get groceries, advised that a shower or two might occur here and there. Uhuh, yeah, right. Can you spell GULLY WASHER that went on forever and is still going on? The Contrarian was decidedly piqued as he carted in load after load of soggy fare into the kitchen. And I was none too joyful myself.

I feel a rant coming on, and so be prepared with seat belts and smelling salts tomorrow. I can so far control it, but by tomorrow, well, read fireworks.

Simply Recipes has a lovely summer salad of white beans and Tuna. This is, as she points out, extremely versatile, allowing myriad substitutes. Add some crusty bread, and ya got a really nice hot day meal. (Should we ever see the end of this freakin’ RAIN that is.) Oops, rant suppression!

Case you are unaware, when I’m ranty these days, I tend to channel Lewis Black. I used to channel Roseanne, so I think it’s a bit of an improvement. Try to think Black when you read. I promise it’s usually funnier that way.

As you know, we have our own resident wingnut in IOWA, name of Steven King (no not  the writer). This one managed to find 12 people who agreed with him and apparently are the only voters in his district. Anyway, said asshat suggested that racial profiling was part of the good arsenal of law enforcement which also includes the use of one’s sixth sense, and good foot apparel knowledge. None of this should be done for purposes of discriminating of course. Ahhh, yeah.  You should read to the end, and see what he said about Obama. Seriously, this man is an idiot. And he’s all ours. Go find your own. Reported also in the Iowa Independent here.

World Peace Day is next Monday. The world is ranked by dangerousness and you can see the sorry state of affairs. Iraq tops the most dangerous. It’s not a pretty sight, sadly. Much thanks to Joe.My.God. for the h/t.

Mauigirl has become a good blogging friend of many of us. Her mother, who has been having difficulty for some time, has passed. She writes a moving tribute here. Mimi, thanks for telling us all about your mother.

Probably only of interest to Episcopalians, but it seems the Archbishop of Canterbury, wishing to stir the pot further, denied our Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, the right to wear her mitre or carry her bishop’s crosier when she preached at Southwark Cathedral last week. Petty to say the least. How long can we stay in the Anglican Communion?

We all know that most mine owners flagrantly ignore safety regulations. What we learned is that most oil companies don’t except one: BP. Is there any sane reason why ANY country should allow them to drill offshore? This is a company that deserves bankruptcy and a slow slithering away into oblivion. They are beyond disgust.

TomCat didn’t pick up the Steven King wingnuttery but he got a few from the usual players, and some new ones. Like the loaves and fishes, there is no bottom to the barrel of idiots that rise to the surface of GOP political circles. Teabuggery on Parade is the article you’ll want to seek.

Andrew Sullivan has a pretty interesting take on Bill Kristol and the neo-cons. I like his conclusion–a Palin presidential run–which I can only conclude means we win!

Tengrain reports that Sarah (that woman is an idiot) Palinator is on her way to Britain to meet with the Thatcher woman. (Doesn’t England have a quarantine requirement for Mooselinis?) The Brits have this to say. Or perhaps she might tour that volcano in Iceland and slip? Getting her out of the country is step one. I figure we should come up with something to keep her from getting back in.

Okay…take a deep breath. Didyaknowthatworldcupsoccerisaleftwingconspiracy? Well, Rush and Glenn and all the usual batchitcrazy media nuts are sure to tell ya all about it. I’ve said it a gazillion times: YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS STUFF UP! Tomorrow, how Obama plans a world take over with ice cream (but only Chocolate of course!)

Enough for today kids. Be safe, be sane, and well, be on guard against the aliens among us.

Good for the Soul?

Tags

Anglican, confession, religion, sacrament of reconciliation, sin

Sin is not a big topic these days from the pulpit. In most pulpits anyway. People think such sermons are a downer, and church hierarchy theorizes that it keeps people home. Who wants to ruin a perfectly good Sunday being told you’re lower than a polecat in a chicken coop?

Sin is a big topic in some pulpits when it has to do with preaching about what others are doing wrong. Plenty of time is spent nodding as the preacher intones how this or that group is doomed to hellfire for practicing this or that thing. That packs them in, and makes most people feel good by comparison.

We had a sermon on sin today. And it wasn’t a sermon that made me feel bad, rather I found it enlightening, and a good reminder. Sin: Self Ish Ness. Sums it up pretty darn good doesn’t it? That’s what our rector said. And I think she is very right here. So what to do? How about Soul in Need? Yep, that works too. Or self image needy? Uhuh.

None of these were my thoughts. But they all are worthwhile in describing what is gone amok when we sin. We are not trusting God, not listening, not acting. We are stubbornly thinking of ourselves.

What to do? Confession is, as they say, good for the soul. We, in the Episcopal Church, generally do a community confession each week. I do one daily with the Office. The Episcopal Church has a rite of reconciliation, and provides for private confession. If one asks that is.

The Roman Catholic church is big on confession. Strike that. They used to be. By the time I joined in 1994, they had pretty much stopped regular confession. The priest was ostensibly there on Saturday afternoon, before Mass to hear them. He probably would have been shocked has anyone made the request.

Most parishes had a communal confession sometime during Advent and during Lent. You walked up to the priest (usually a few extra priests volunteered to help out) and you gave one sin, and then you all got a communal penance.

So in reality, TEC does more with confession than most Roman Catholic parishes, at least all the ones that I ever attended. One Our Father, three Hail Marys.

I don’t know what Lutherans and Methodists and Presbyterians do. I am pretty sure Baptists don’t do much in that vein. I don’t know about Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons.

Many don’t consider it a sacrament. Many are especially against the concept that you confess to anyone other than God herself. I can pretty much understand that. I don’t think it’s required. But I’m still not sure it’s not useful.

My rector says she makes a private confession twice yearly. She thinks it is valuable. The more I think about it, I think I agree.

What stops most of us I suspect is that we develop relationships with our priests and pastors. We don’t want to tell them of some of the things we think and do. We’re ashamed. We’re not worried they will “tell” but we are concerned that they will think less of us. And most of us want our religious leaders to think well of us.

Yet, our clergy are trained to receive our confessions, at least those that use the sacrament. They have as they say, “heard it all before” and are all too aware of the foibles of the human being. After all, they know only too well their own sins, so I suspect they judge us a good deal less than we might think.

It is hard still to speak openly about our failures. It is painful.

But, I think it should be hard and it should be painful. As I sit at the kitchen table each morning and recite:

Most merciful God, I confess, that I have sinned against you,

In thought word and deed, by what I have done and by what

I have left undone.

I have not loved you with my whole heart, I have not loved

my neighbor as myself.

I am truly sorry and I humbly repent.

For the sake of your son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, and forgive me,

that I may delight in your will and walk in your ways,

to the glory of your name, Amen.

I confess, that sometimes I recite without thinking much. And that’s no confession at all.

Our rector says we are going to pause before recitation from now on, to give us all time to think of our sins. I think that helps. But I agree with her, that forcing yourself to sit and speak to another person is of greater help.

It has little to do with the absolution given. It has everything to do with being forced to confront our own culpability head on. I recall the very few times I made private confession. I felt ever so much more at peace with God. I felt reconciled. I felt forgiven. This is not to say that it is required to be done this way to be effective–that would be silly.

What it means is that the process is not for God–he knows without our saying a word whether we are truly contrite. The process is for us. And the process of private confession lifts a burden from us in a way that simply doesn’t happen in our private admissions of guilt.

I wish my church would return to a practice of private confession as normative. Being a Christian is serious business, and we don’t seem to take it as such all too often. This seems a good way to start.

What’s Up? 06/10/10

Tags

Anglican, Anglican Communion, Archaeology, environment, Humor, Jacques Cousteau, oceans, Sarah Palin, The Episcopal Church

Well, ya know my day has been a bit troubled from the last post, but frankly, I’m letting it go pretty easily. I’m praying for a woman to re-prioritise her life in a more meaningful way.

Other than that, the rolls are baking in the oven, making the house smell wonderful and the Contrarian has completed his gardening for the day and is busy re-reading a number of his short stories–reading me snippets here and there, much to my delight.

I am turning to see what the intertubes have collected for me to read, and if I find a thing or two that you might like, I’ll pass them along. Agreed?

Okay, my first stop was over at vodkaandgroundbeef. I find her writing simply hilarious. Okay, I won’t mention it every day, but really you can’t miss her.

Almost as delish is the post from Joe.My.God–did Sarah get a boob job? Oh dish that dirt! And we aren’t even linking to Perez Hilton. Miz Feminista coulda? Ranks up there with Carly’s gossipy girl snarl about Boxer’s hairdo. Oh ladies, remember, we are about POWER and TRUTH aren’t we?

Don’t know about you, but I watched a lot of Jacques Cousteau specials growing up. He more than anyone taught us the beauty and fragility of the oceans. Stephany Anne Golberg has a nice story about his life at The Smart Set.

Who killed Otzi is the oldest murder mystery going.  Seriously, like over 5,000 years old. That’s older than Columbo by at least 15 years I think, or Hawaii-50’s “Book em DanO.” Heck if that don’t titillate you, then they have a story on the oldest leather shoe ever found too. I mean you gotta know this stuff right?

The Archbishop of Canterbury has turned a cold shoulder to the Episcopal Church for failing to abide by his wishes. Tobias Haller strikes the perfect note in his poem at In a Godward Direction.

For all you anal types (I tend to be one) here’s a way to rethink and revise that constant urge to live by the to-do list. Brought to you by Balance in Me.

Questions, questions, always questions. Answers are optional. How is God the Creator is a thought provoking essay on what exactly do we mean when we say that God created everything? Brought to you by Closer to Truth, via Science and Religion Today.

Enough for today. Have a good one!

Opening our Arms and Hearts

Tags

Anglican, Catholic, Episcopalian, faith, ritual, social concerns, theology, worship

It’s funny to me how a church picks me. Yes, you read that correctly, a church picks me. I don’t believe I pick it. I simply come into it and wait, with patient hope. Is this the one?

Plenty have not been the one, and I have tarried a few weeks, seldom longer before moving on. Sometimes I know it at the first step inside the door. This is not my place. God doesn’t speak to me here. I listen. I act. There are plenty of places to wrangle about truth and comfort. I follow the Spirit on where to church myself.

Similarly, the attributes of a church are not always apparent early on. Much must often be worked through, experienced and digested before the finer points of a congregation and its structure can be realized for the precious pearl that it is. Such has been my experience anyway.

I could write volumes day after day of the joy I find in Christ Church. Most of it, I was unaware of until months had gone by. As I become more and more a part of this family, I learn new things that make my choice (the Spirit’s choice) to reside here among these people of faith, the right thing for me.

One thing I realized recently is that Christ Church is a radically open atmosphere in which faith is tenderly received and nurtured. For those of you unacquainted, an Episcopal church is often referred to as “Catholic light,” meaning that we look a lot like a Roman Catholic church in ritual. Dogmatically we are not so much alike.

That means there is a rather extensive list of physical actions that are available. There is genuflecting,  deep bowing or head bowing, curtsying, kneeling, sitting, standing, crossing. There is worship with heads and hands uplifted, or not. There are those who sing during communion and those who don’t.

All of these are practiced in my church. Everyone does “their thing” as it were. Most anything is acceptable, though I suspect anyone dancing down the aisle speaking in tongues and waving snakes might meet with some shocked looks and sharp intakes of breath. But you get my point. Rituals are broad, and people execute them as they see fit, more or less.

We in a word, tolerate, some significant differences in our congregation and the means by which they wish to worship. (We actually have two rites, one much more conservative than the other.) Yet we are one family, and we come to, I believe, rejoice in our differences. They cease to be matters of tolerance and become the beauty of the diversity that we are.

We are told each week, that Jesus calls us to the table, not the church. He calls us whether we have been “good” or not so good. The church provides the facility for God’s call and serves in the capacity of “hands” for God.

While this is all well and good as is, there is more to this type of openness I believe. By supporting and upholding us all in our varied personal ritualistic practices, the church draws us toward being more tolerate of each other’s theological differences.

Indeed we have theological differences. And some of them are deep and painful to us. Some of them you know for they are published by article and lawsuit. Yet, we have come to find in the faces of those with whom we disagree fundamentally on some issues, more places where we are able to agree.

I don’t want to make more of this than there is. The disagreements, as I said, run deep. Yet, we are able to still look upon each other as persons with sincere feelings and beliefs. We are not judging each other as evil or intentionally mean spirited. We see the humanity, the face of Jesus more clearly in the faces of those whom we have difficulty understanding.

I have concluded that the openness of our worship practices, the willingness not to be stultifying in our routines, stretches us in ways that pay off when we are called to work out the real issues that divide our faith tradition. It may not make the critical difference, but it helps.

It is another of the many reasons that I find myself so happy in Christ Church. Last Sunday, we were asked to group together in small numbers and discuss briefly why we are here, in this place, in this church. Joyously, I laughed as I turned and realized that my conversation would be with a couple of “visitors” from Minnesota. I was so happy to share my joy with them, and I could see from their faces that my words had an impact.

They are not contemplating driving from Minnesota every weekend of course, but I suspect they will take something home to their parish. Joy spreads, and the reasons for it become known. New ways of seeing and relating are explored. Opportunities become available. We must and should take advantage of each one in furthering the mission of Jesus.

Jesus was about compassion, forgiveness, and in including those who have so often been denied and turned away. We are a welcoming church. We welcome you, should you ever find yourself with nothing to do on a Sunday morning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Marriage and Civil Union

Tags

bible, civil union, fundamentalism, God, marriage

It seems to me, that if you are going to call someone a “hater of God’s word” then you have some obligation to know a tiny bit of what you propose to talk about.

At least that’s as I see it, and I have fairly loose requirements for giving opinions on most things. But a bit of actual knowledge seems appropriate lest you end up looking foolish as one person does.

The other day, I went to Facebook and was reading down my “friends” links. Friends is a broad term here, including a few high school classmates that I have come to see as fairly wrong headed in their thinking. Name that fundamentalist, creationist, YEC’er, birther, hater of all things Obama, and anti any government program which purports to assist the poor through taxes, something they don’t want apparently to contribute to.

In any case, the link was to an article about Cass Sustein, regulatory czar, who said that the government would be better off getting out of the marriage business and restricting unions to state civil contracts. Marriage should be something exclusive to religious institutions and other private groups.

Now one would think that the great uneducated wingnut right might agree. After all, they are mostly opposed to anything that involves government oversight–be it health care, business regulation, hate crime legislation. They are agin it all. So they should be for this. But think again. Logic has never played a part in the mind of a fundie.

Instead we are told that such persons who favor this are “hateful of God’s word.” Such a remark shows a complete and utter lack of any knowledge about the institution or the bible. No where as far as I can recall is there anything that purports to be a marriage that is conducted as a religious ceremony. Even the “marriage at Cana” seems bereft of any suggestion of religious involvement.

And surely this is the true when we look at history. What we find is that marriage was from the beginning a contract between the parties. Neither Greek nor Roman governments intervened in the marriage contract. Both marriage and divorce were by mutual agreement.

In the early Christian era, marriage also had nothing to do with the church.  In the 6th century in Europe, marriages were often polygamist in orientation and this was true of those who were baptised. Marriages were often considered political at the upper ranks. This mutual agreement system worked up until the 14th century as the common practice among all people.

I am told that people asked for and were ultimately granted a “blessing” that was conducted on the front of the church steps, but never inside the church proper. Finally, the church began registering these civil unions, but were in no manner required to do so. The state took no interest at all in such arrangements.

The Council of Trent, acting to counter the Reformation decreed that all marriages hence forth must be conducted by a priest to be “sacramental,” meaning recognized by the church as legal. The Anglican church permitted the normative “civil union” as late at 1753, when a formal church ceremony was required.

Although there are references within the Hebrew Scriptures that under certain circumstances, a brother might be required to “marry” a brother’s widow, such were not ceremonies involving the rabbi it seems, but rather mutual statements by the parties of intent to be “husband and wife.”

So any suggestion that someone who argues that we should return to a system whereby the state gets out of the “marriage” business, is on very firm historical ground. This is true for both Christians and non-Christians. It is also true that such a person is on firm ground as it relates to scripture. There is simply no provision for the church or synagogue to be enmeshed in the contractual obligations until a few hundred years ago.

It is simply the case that all “marriages” by mutual agreement were considered as “sanctified” in some sense by God. And the early and middle Christian communities never saw reason to involve the church in the process at all, for centuries thereafter. It seems rather that it was the wishes of the couples themselves which pushed for “blessing” and the church followed in some manner to fight the Reformation. Calvin did call for both state and church involvement, but that was in the 18th century.

Those that wish to vilify such a move today, have no basis for claiming that such a person or persons are “hateful of God’s Word” as it were. The Contrarian, who has long espoused such a belief, demands apology, though no doubt he will wait a long time to get one from the wonkettes who serve up every kind of untruth in order to express their hatred of all things Obama.

The Schizophrenia of Christendom

Tags

bible, Christendom, denominations, environmentalism, fundamentalism, God, Jesus, poor, social issues, sola scriptura

If you are a Christian, you already know this. We are a bunch of rather schizophrenic folk. Yes admit it, we are. The chart at the right only barely glosses over the real tragedy locked within the pretty bands of green and blue.

We can’t agree on what we believe. Never have really, though at times, one faction or another was powerful enough to subdue the others and put them out of business. Not so much today. We add something like three hundred brand spankin’ new “We got the truth” sects per year and no end seems to be in sight.

I’m not sure whether such a state exists in other faith traditions, but I doubt any can meet our level of splintering. I’m not just talking bout the self-styled, “spiritual but not religious” types. I’m not talking about the “I am a spirit driven determiner of what God wants” type, though I have met one of those deluded nuts. Forms churches in her home and sends them out to do as she defines is right. She has no need of church herself, being a true prophet, just sent to explain the bible to the rest of us.

No, I’m talking about our penchant in Christendom to set up strong hierarchies of correctness and then jealously clinging to our dogmas as if only we could possibly get it right. It turns out that Anglicans are trying to pave the way for depressed Roman Catholics to find a home with them. And it turns out that Roman Catholics are now making it easier than ever for depressed Anglican/Episcopalians to find a home with them. Read group inclusion here.

The radicalized bible thumpers point at the Romans and yell, “whore of Babylon,” and five minutes later, inquire whether those same Romans will be at the “anti-abortion” rally tonight. The once properly outraged Catholic, retorts with “crazy Catholic-hater” and then makes a date for the next anti-Obama town meeting with their evangelical counterpart.

Christendom makes, as they say, strange bedfellows. Worse, Christendom and politics make dangerous bedfellows. Finding it odd that ultra conservative evangelicals (biblicists) join ranks with ultra conservative Protestants and Catholics to oppose health care reform, death penalty reform, wars, and climate change? So do we, but then, listen up.

The truth of the matter is that most of these “conservative” social “Christians” are just flat out conservatives who don’t want taxes, and don’t want to personally pay for the eradication of social ills. They prefer to live their “good life” and dabble in personal “charity.” That’s not so bad of course, if you will call it what it is. Jesus, doncha know said the poor would always be with us, and that some don’t deserve our help. They tell me he said that, though I can’t find it anywhere.

Unfortunately, they don’t stop there. They pick and choose the scriptures they sola scriptura their way through to defend their racist, selfish agenda, claiming they in some fit of righteousness, are actually doing God’s work. And worse, they have the temerity to point their finger at the social liberals of the world, many of whom are deeply religious, and call us captured of Satan.

No honesty is being promoted on either side, or among anyone. We are spiraling into the same morass as the country is with increasingly belligerent “sides”. No fairness is being upheld. No reference to the abiding love and compassion of our God and our savior Jesus is being promoted or even acknowledged.

We are poaching each other’s congregations, and at the same time, sniping away at anyone who thinks differently. We have the temerity to “speak for God.” Worse, we have the awful tendency, some of us at least, of demanding that God personally be responsible for that which God deliberately placed in our hands–the stewardship of both planet and each other.

Instead, we are holding shut out pocketbooks, claiming God will take care of it. Perhaps he will, but perhaps not in the way you expect. Perhaps, just perhaps he expects something more on our part than merely pointing a finger, and chastising each other for unfaithfulness to scripture and to God herself.

This is not a game of who has the most signed up on whose side. This is not a game of theological right or wrong, more right, more wrong. This is life, and we are here for a finite time and we have work to do.

Yesterday, as I exchanged pleasantries with dozens of people less fortunate than myself, I was forced to see that if the least among us can find reason to smile and share a laugh, to find common bond in simply being human, that perhaps the rest of us should take note.

Who are we that we pick and choose the verses that support the result we desire? We all do it dont’ we? Who are we to limit a God to a series of pages in a book, a book brilliant in it’s entirety, but convoluted and confusing, doubled back on itself in places, contradictory often and for good reason–it was written by human beings, with faulty information and sometimes faulty memories.

As Dr. McGrath says in his post day, what does it matter if Jesus thought that the “kingdom” would descend in its completeness within the lifetimes of many of his hearers? What is so wrong with Jesus showing us his human limitations? Whose agenda are we pushing here? Jesus or our own?

Have we become so invested in our rightness that we no longer even hear? How can we pollute the land and think that this doesn’t violate our responsibilities as stewards? How can we let any person lack for health care or food because they have violated one of our precepts of entitlement? How dare we? Indeed.

Just sayin’.

Godly Humor: Part X

Tags

Autobiography, Christ Episcopal Church, faith journey, Godly Humor, social issues, spirituality, The Episcopal Church

It is with no little irony, as I reviewed the last couple of posts in “Godly Humor,” that I realized how aptly named it was. Another joke by my Lord. For my spiritual journey most resembles a zig zag, which winds and bends, doubles back and races fitfully along, much no doubt, to the amusement of God. It all seems quite deliberate.

So to, the announcement at the end of Part IX, that the spiritual part of my autobiography was “concluded.” How could I have come to that idea?

In the last few weeks, it seemed that I was reflecting a good deal about the past year and my new journey of sorts in the Episcopal Church. And I thought it fair to set down my observations. Take serious note that I do not speak for my own parish, nor certainly for the Church at large.

It has been a bit more than a year since I first set foot in Christ Church, eager, tentative, hopeful, and not a little saddened by the events which led me to that juncture. Yet, not a few months later, I am joyously happy, relieved, dedicated, comfortable, and and endless list of other happy adjectives. It has been a good fit.

I recall telling the Contrarian that I intended to “attend church.” I “might” engage in some biblical studies if such were offered. I expected nothing further. As I learned of the breadth of ministries offered, my excitement grew, but I remained firm. No groups or committees that met in the evening hours, not much of anything that wasn’t scheduled for Sundays. No extra drives into town for me.

Yeah right. God it seemed had other plans. With, I imagine, great glee, I started in the Adult Forum group, wherein we first studied Hosea, and then on to Paul’s moral teachings. I met wonderful, bright, and by my estimation rather right thinking individuals. I soon felt right at home, and that was due in no small measure to the immense welcoming that is so much a tradition of the Episcopal church at large, but is central to my parish.

While I was “careful” with my liberal opinions, and “mindful” of my newness, I was constantly urged to speak my mind and join in the conversation whatever it might be. For Episcopalians by design are not a hierarchical group. Although we are led by fine, well educated, and spiritual leaders, they in deep humility encourage everyone to be an important part of the congregation.

There is an exuberance, an excitement there, no matter what day of the week you happen to stop by. People are busy. They are busy about being a Matthew 25 people.

“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?”

I can honestly say that in no church that I ever attended have I found so many ways of serving the community and thus God’s people. In no place did I feel God’s call so loudly and insistently.

And against all the pronouncements of “no night meetings, no weekday drives,” and all that, I find myself immersed more and more. Today, I serve as a chalice server, co-chair of the library committee, member of the Adult forum committee, Jubilee ministries committee, volunteer at Loaves and Fishes, new member of the Education for Ministry Program, and it appears a couple more that have not yet quite formalized.

I say this in no way to toot my horn, for goodness knows I can name several dozen at my church who do twice as much or more. They are my models and examples, for the face of Christ shines brightly in them. It is with their very lives that they draw me forth. I can say as much for the magnificent clergy that we have. Warm, engaging, spiritual, deeply immersed in the Gospel, they all, Rector, assistant Rector, and deacons reach forth to teach and preach and to guide and lead in the best tradition of Church.

I am reminded that I have not been transformed as much as I am being transformed, for like the journey, it is never ending.

I recognize that in the greater Episcopal Church there are serious problems. Some of our brethren have seen fit to turn their back on a fine tradition of the church, namely that we disagree and argue during the week about doctrine, and come together on Sunday to worship our God. Some have determined that they cannot abide by the decisions made by the majority on some issues and have gone their own way. I view this with sadness, but note that there is a movement throughout Christendom of realignment generally.

Not all think the same within my own parish. One would never expect that. Yet, I like to think that while we may disagree, we respect each other. We care for the well being of all our congregants no matter our different theological beliefs. We search, in the words of our rector, to find God working in our lives in agreement and disagreement. We seek the lessons that are always there to be learned.

I can say that all that I desired in “church” were met here, and more, that I did not contemplate. I rejoice in liturgy and am uplifted in the great traditions of the service. I feel God’s hand upon my shoulder each Sunday as I enter the pew. I feel a hushed reverence at Eucharist unlike any I have ever known.

Is my parish singularly special? I cannot speak to that, for I know no other. I suspect it is and it isn’t. It is unique and yet reflects all that I have come to understand of the Episcopal tradition. God may be quite the comic when it comes to upsetting my notions about the journey, but he was quite serious when he chose Christ Church and the Episcopal faith for me.

May all your faith choices be as wondrous.