Month: May 2018

It has been a great week to be an Episcopalian. Presiding Bishop Curry’s amazing sermon at the royal wedding has given him, and by extension all of us, a lot of positive attention and praise. I have seen his appearances on Good Morning America, the View and the epic portrayal on Saturday Night Live, and my pride at being a member of this church has only increased.

We are now the church that stands for love. And really, we have always been. But the nagging question is, so what? What will we do with this moment to extend its profound effect on the church and the Jesus Movement? How will we take advantage of the moment to God’s honor and glory?

The low hanging fruit is clearly to talk about the church. The opening is there, “what about that sermon???”. The follow up is to tell your own story, why you come to church, why you love God and how you do that in the world. What does love mean? Come and see. It should be the easiest ever to invite someone to come to church, or at least to an event.  You might even mention the great sermons every week…

And it can’t end there. Because we aren’t special because we love one another.  How challenging is that? We are all pretty nice people who get along most of the time. We are a community identified with Jesus because we love our neighbor, as ourselves. So bringing people to church is great. It gives us energy and inflames our passion for justice and compassion.

But, the hard part in all of this is that people will be watching to see if we demonstrate this love in the world. Love is the way, and we have to show to what. Jesus is the example, and we have to show of what. This is a moment to reach out, to reach further, to show love in action by how we treat the world. Maybe even by saying no to hatred, violence and meanness. Now is the time to be constant and consistent in bringing the love of God into the world.

So come to church this summer and bring your friends. Come to the food pantry, the produce giveaway, and the women’s coffee. Come when we volunteer with the Boys and Girls club, or visit with people at the Red Door Café. Sit at the table at the Arts Fest and tell stories and extend the invitation. When you buy the hygiene items or the extra toilet paper, tell the store clerk or the person with you in line why.  

Love is the way isn’t theory. We make it practice, practical, every day. How will you support our Presiding Bishop’s message?

I spent several mornings last week at a murder trial. It was horrible. I had to listen to people that I care about and love recount terrible things done to them and their family. I was on the side of the victim. And I had a lot of time, especially when they were discussing the science of DNA, to think about perspective, and how that defines what justice means.

It is quite clear to me who is guilty in that trial. There is an eye witness, plenty of evidence, and my gut reaction. And I have to say I was irritated that it took so long to have the jury agree. I watched the case unfold, carefully painstakingly presented, crafted by the prosecutors. And I watched the defense try to poke holes, get the jury to think in other ways, essentially do his job. Justice is a slow moving thing.

It was easy to be exasperated with the defense. I can’t believe even they thought their client was innocent. And I was impressed. They had a job to do and they did it. I kept reminding myself everyone has a right to a fair and complete trial, everyone has a right to their day in court, everyone has a right to all of the protections built into the justice system. And the defense attorney was protecting those rights, and earned my grudging admiration.

We vow in our baptism to respect the dignity of every human being and work for justice for everyone. I prayed about that a lot. It is easy to stand back and say who deserves justice and who does not. It is much harder to put aside your feelings about the person and remember that they are a child of God created in the image of God. And even though we all have to answer for our sins, God is the judge, and God takes care of things.

The justice system isn’t always just. There have been plenty of verdicts and recent Supreme Court decisions that have sent me to prayer. I had to ask myself if I wanted retribution or justice, and what I was willing to do to get the justice I advocate for on so many other occasions. I am glad the perpetrator was found guilty. I still pray for God’s justice for the horrible things he did. And to be a witness to the rights of the victims is very comfortable for me.

And I pray for the conversion of hearts, and especially my own. I pray to remember that I am not the judge in any legal system, earthly or divine. I pray to help create a world where it is easier for people to be healthy, to get the treatment they need for mental illness, to be good. That is my responsibility in the justice system, to help build a just world. Sometimes justice is convenient and sometimes it is hard, and sometimes we don’t see it the way we want to, and I still have to pray and work and humble myself before things I cannot control. And to trust God, over and over again.

Let’s pray to be a sign of justice, to be loving to victims and perpetrators, and to be relentless in our creation of a better world.

I recently had the opportunity to photograph this local abandoned factory. When I first shot this photo the colors and textures pulled me in. Today when I posted it on instagram I was drawn to the peeling paint.

Years ago, actually more years than I’d like to admit, I worked in a steel mill. I started as everyone else did in the dreaded labor gang. It was gruelingly hard work. When we had down time, our foremen would always make us paint and paint we did. We painted everything, the floor, the walls, the tools, the machinery, people’s shoes, you get the idea. We never prepared the surface just painted over the old paint, dirt, oil, grease, just painted over all of it. As I reflected on this photo I was drawn back into painting. All those layers of paint now peeling away revealing what lies beneath.

I’ve spent a lot of time discerning my call over the past two years. Peeling the layers of paint away, trying to reveal what God had created me to be.  Layer after layer, coat after coat, I peeled and peeled and peeled. What I discovered, is that I covered a lot of pain with a fresh coat of paint. God knew what was under those layers but I had lost touch with that part of myself. What I learned on my journey of self discovery is that God accepts and loves me as I am.

My prayer for you today…. Stop painting! Be you! You are loved as you are  a fresh coat of paint is not required!

It has been a while since I have written. Personal family crises have overwhelmed my energy so that I can only seem to get done exactly what needs to be done. One of my recent tasks has been helping to clean out my parent’s condo. I realize in retrospect that my mother had an entire room dedicated to caring for people. She had drawers filled with small gifts, wrapping paper and ribbons, and cards. Boxes and boxes of cards. For every occasion. I took many of them and may never have to buy a Halloween card again.

My mother is like that. She is kind. She remembers. There was a whole stack of cards just saying that someone matters, that she cares. I took those too, determined to distribute them, sometimes randomly and sometimes intentionally. I realized that I have a lot of people I love and think about, and I should tell them so.

Since my Dad’s death a few weeks ago I have been deeply moved by people who have reached out to me. Good friends have called, church members have been so generous. But what has struck me was how many people sent cards. I have loved each one. They have made me feel cared about and connected, like someone understood on some level what grief is about. People I never thought would reach out to me have made my day. Thank you if you are one of those people.

I also collected a small stack of sympathy cards from my mother’s collection. I suspect it has dwindled as she has had more reason to use them with age. I am quite determined to send them all and buy more. I have learned all over again what a difference a small kindness can make. I highly recommend it.