tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3979179838140326342024-02-01T19:09:32.733-08:00Christian Quandary - Faith for NowAn attempt to understand the Christian faith in these days of uncertainty and confusion. A willingness to wrestle with questions, explore simple answers, and probe the experiences of doubt and hope alike. A continued sharing of spiritual themes I explored at <a href="http://vocatio.blogspot.com">Vocatio</a>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-7492447064935306442013-12-17T01:10:00.001-08:002013-12-17T05:17:19.848-08:00<h4>
December 17, Tuesday of Week Three of Advent</h4>
<span style="color: #741b47;"><i><span style="color: purple;">Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo,
I will come and dwell in your midst,
says the LORD. Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD
on that day, and
shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall
know that the LORD
of hosts has sent me to you</span>.<span style="color: black;"> </span></i><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">(<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zechariah%202:%2010-11&version=NIV" target="_blank">Zechariah 2: 10-11</a></span>)</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">3:26 AM - I should be sleeping. I've been awake since 2:30, give or take. What's best to do with the Christmas Eve afternoon service? Should we invest in property next door to the church? What's the best way to help Howie? Why am I stuck on a weight plateau? Why is it so hard to lose weight anyway?<br />
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Does God come to us in the middle of our insomnia? I usually sleep ok. Not tonight. Not tonight with so much that I want to go right, be good, offer the first and best gifts of what God gives me. All of my anxieties about myself and frustrations with how things are or may turn out are invading the middle of my usual time to sleep. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">I am awake. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">I am awake in Advent. Worrying about Christmas Worrying about how to finance my purchases. I am eyes wide open in Advent. Pondering how to make the church I serve "successful." 'Like I can do that? When is good, good enough? Am I supposed to worrying, anticipating, both, neither? </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">I'd prefer to be asleep in Advent right now, at least for a couple of hours before when I'm scheduled to wake up and go to yoga class. My purpose then is to burn a few calories, practice breathing; you know, be healthy. My purpose throughout this Advent has been to accomplish all of those things that are associated with practicing a devoted spiritual discipline. I suck at contemplative prayer; so, I thought I'd give yoga a fourth chance. What should I hold on to and what should I let go of before the odd but wonderful things will happen in Bethlehem. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">It's now 3:47 AM. Maybe I should be singing and dancing like the prophet <a href="http://www.textweek.com/prophets/zecharia.htm" target="_blank">Zechariah</a> suggests. He's one of those prophets at the back of the Old Testament that people don't know much about. His words don't get heard alot anymore, if they ever did. That's how I feel about this blog. Nobody reads it. Why bother with it? Would I, or the church I serve be more successful if more people showed up and read and saw what I (we) did. As if it's all about me.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16206" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Y5IhOHPe3DDoezdbO-UHqFp8iKP6AJFeB3XhkTBz1RbEpemlelg7hVq8VQXQpg2uSf9W-Rvpe5qb3mGA1m2mtbLRFECnHS1_ufpUuD_0dftzoypD_czcDAI2op2lqX2yBJUae8CxJQ/s320/0905zachariah-prophet0010.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black;">I think the behavior that the Prophet Zechariah was trying to share with the Jews returning from Babylon was that Yahweh was creating something new. God was restoring God's Reign amongst the people who had been taken away from their roots, their, homes, and their sleep. God's kingdom of justice and peace wasn't going to happen simply, or casually. Remembrance and repentance are crucial for the people to practice. There were then and are now some sleepless nights when wandering around with God in seasons of Advent. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;">Remembrance and repentance are connected to rejoicing. It is because of the connections between then, and what is to come in our now when we most trust in The Messiah's presence. Anxiety about what happened or what's happening won't determine the outcome of either one. Letting go, seeking forgiveness, being faithful and hopeful. These virtues in concert and song with one another perhaps best define how our song and dance of life goes in Advent. God knows and God cares.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">It's 4:14 AM - a little less than an hour until the alarm goes off.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">I think I'll try to nap in Advent for that little amount of time. May God dwell in the middle of our midst if you are awake with me.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Blessings Along The Way, Jim+ </span><br />
<br />Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-28902697301599328842013-12-11T14:39:00.001-08:002013-12-11T17:19:55.322-08:00<h4>
December 11, Wednesday of Week Two of Advent</h4>
<span class="text Matt-3-1"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i style="color: purple;">“Write this to the angel of the church in Ephesus: These are the words of the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven gold lampstands: I know your works, your labor, and your endurance. I also know that you don’t put up with those who are evil. You have tested those who say they are apostles but are not, and you have found them to be liars. You have shown endurance and put up with a lot for my name’s sake, and you haven’t gotten tired. But I have this against you: you have let go of the love you had at first. </i>(<a href="http://www.commonenglishbible.com/explore/passage-lookup/?query=Revelation+2%3A+1-4" target="_blank">Revelation 2: 1-4</a>)</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1JeUy7KHkJ2hQB4offYohaPTu2bahDaKd8x2ccpo50RzGoEsrqOPCWyT2Yl8ok6ag-phIVMNxUIGfe0MCQz0FQEyiFrkyzs8zIuvkiCSylVcofu0ryP2GoNl68K56CydSpwFq4Futg/s1600/Jim_ECSF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1JeUy7KHkJ2hQB4offYohaPTu2bahDaKd8x2ccpo50RzGoEsrqOPCWyT2Yl8ok6ag-phIVMNxUIGfe0MCQz0FQEyiFrkyzs8zIuvkiCSylVcofu0ryP2GoNl68K56CydSpwFq4Futg/s320/Jim_ECSF.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="text Matt-3-1"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span><span class="text Matt-3-1"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I've done a few 100 mile rides on my bicycle. I've also gone through some rough stretches in churches that I've belonged to over the years. Both of experiences have been real grinds at time. The work get hard. Muscles get taunt. Patience becomes strained. Grinding out the hard miles, especially going up hill has taken me right to the brink on an occasion or two. One of my spinning instructors is now teaching me how to train at a heart rate that is hard work but not so hard that I don't get too tired too quickly. I've got a couple of mentors in the Episcopal Church who help me to think about preaching and teaching with endurance and perseverance in mind. My bicycling informs my vocation and vice verse. Both disciplines require a lot of work; testing things out, remaining steadfast in prayer and hope. </span></span>
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<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="image-align: left;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-3-church-ephesus-lost-love" target="_blank"><img border="3" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp9xuAtcQ39_b8npgc8hBOywUlGtDT38MmQibu7VmjjKPigcs6Bb2ScO2k9xJ5b6V0zhnIyApGRiABy4KNljKVur_ZwT66o0Qob-4Zw7ihAH69jrFuTqSFWEG8OSRxz2PpfKx7AnHjow/s320/MaryChurch01.jpg" width="304" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-3-church-ephesus-lost-love" target="_blank">Church of Mary - Ephesus (5th Century CE)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
John's words for the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05490a.htm" target="_blank">Church in Ephesus</a> remind me this afternoon why I put in all of those miles in and out of the saddle and pulpit.<br />
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Love.<br />
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Love of other people. Love of the life God has given me; the life I'm entrusted with here in the middle of a very cold December. That's the same love I seek when I was out bicycling for <a href="http://www.ecsfsouthernohio.org/BikeFest2013.htm" target="_blank">50 + miles</a> on a warm day to support <a href="http://www.ecsfsouthernohio.org/" target="_blank">ECSF's </a>compassionate Gospel-based work. I wonder now if those of us who are grinding it out in churches and fitness centers around The Church don't need to slow down just a mile per hour or two. Perhaps we (I) should think back upon why we're (I'm) so busily putting together Christmas programs? Why are we (I) scrambling to figure out how to get more people to come to church? Why are we (I) working so hard to make so many things happen in so little time. Is it because of our (my) own sense of accomplishment? Is it our American culture prodding us (me) to be more productive, more successful? <br />
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Maybe it's time to return back to the love that we had when we first encountered Christ. I wonder if it's so important to get up at 5:00 AM to get to the gym or stay at the church till 9:00 PM at night if those behaviors aren't somehow deeply and richly connected to God's love for me and my love for God.<br />
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I can't speak for others....but tonight, I'm going to heed John's words to the Ephesians and think about my first loves and how the most important things I love aren't about me or how hard I work. Such perseverance is great and laudable but without love, deep faithful love in God and God's love for all of us -- what's the point?<br />
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Blessings Along The Way, Jim+<br />
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Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-21803878811859934212013-12-10T07:35:00.000-08:002013-12-10T13:03:35.689-08:00<h4>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: normal;">December 10, Tuesday of Week Two of Advent</span></span></h4>
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<span style="color: purple;"><i><span style="color: #351c75;">When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced
the Sadducees, they gathered together, and 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.'</span><a href="http://www.textweek.com/mtlk/matt22c.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"> </span></span></a></i><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><a href="http://www.textweek.com/mtlk/matt22c.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">(Matthew 22: 34-40)</span></a></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.textweek.com/mtlk/matt22c.htm" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.textweek.com/mtlk/matt22c.htm" border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnnV4XBRwlR_eJ2KW7wGcUT3h3AEFPpjhnS0g5xKT6uZQhjSr1qUw9KYcLpnE7bQRupsTgWibff77qj-E_Wx0T-6RLPbohvsrgYaty05REmq2eMQN04dgmcXao-1YjD7Ooi3KeTXOnPA/s320/Matthew22_37.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;">There's no <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=253690208" target="_blank">Good Samaritan</a> parable in Matthew. Jesus and the Pharisees just move along to another rhetorical argument. What do you think about <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=253690338" target="_blank">the Messiah</a>? Whose Son is he?</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Matthew's Jesus and Pharisees aren't as interested in identifying how people live into Jesus' two greatest commandments. The question they seem to avoid is: How does the compassionate, vulnerable, uncertain love triangle between God, me, and my neighbors work? Matthew <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/matthew.html" target="_blank">understands</a> Jesus Christ's Gospel with a primary focus on The Messiah's relationship with Jews and existing Judaic laws. Luke is <a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/Luke.htm" target="_blank">more interested</a> in connecting the Messiah with existing Jewish traditions even as Christ's Gospel liberates Gentiles and promotes the Early Church's apostolic expansion. If all the Law and the Prophets are hung (literally "<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2910&t=KJV" target="_blank">crucified</a>" or leading to death") on such love; why do we often place more value and trust in doctrine instead of forgiveness? Why are prophetic expectations more important than striving to make ourselves and those around us more holy and better connected to God?</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Weird, isn't it... Christian Communities still wrestle with bedrock questions of faith. How should we best live into Jesus' two greatest commandments? Who is the primary audience for our Christian discipleship? What does it look and feel like when our lives flow outward from a deep and abiding love for God and neighbors alike? The essence of each and every question that we more fully live into provides a chance to ... well take a stand (or sit down) for what we believe is true about love.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://au.whogivesacrap.org/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://au.whogivesacrap.org/" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFvd4dVBrk2q7Kfcn0JFVK7lji8eQT-QipGeRTlubMlQp0FV2rpP2lX-bDofcqzE5E0JpBnhmAZ194yQI67Vxo8EKh36OkIYdjtOPMNyk0NtZWW78WhCV9NcaD5YJAXCl5oxc5ibGs7g/s320/simon_griffiths3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;">There are some any ways to actually fall in love with love (God) while loving the people around us. Some such efforts such as those of <a href="http://www.australiaunlimited.com/society/wiping-out-poverty" target="_blank">Simon Griffiths</a> have worldwide implications. He's working on wiping out poverty, in a bodily sort of way. Mr. Griffiths is someone who "<a href="http://au.whogivesacrap.org/" target="_blank">Gives A Crap</a>." He and his business partners have created a company that distributes designer toilet paper and distributes profits to provide toilets to communities in developing countries where the absence of toilets directly leads to the deaths villagers. You should definitely watch his humorous, non-religious, but very loving <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf2fC0oKnwI" target="_blank">TedTalk</a>.<br />
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Maybe that feels too big? If so what is somewhat smaller but you're willing to hang your life out for it? What self-giving way of being yourself would shut-up the Pharisees in your life while bringing about a transformational and Christ-like way of loving God, your neighbor, and yourself. One of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S02KOlw7dlA" target="_blank">Advent</a>'s primary purposes is to prepare ourselves for embracing God's birth into the world. How will we welcome Jesus? Who are the shepherd and magi we should invite to be with us at the manger? Will we welcome someone like a smelly shepherd boy without any money to come alongside of us as we worship God? Will we take our worship outside of our walls to an inn where poor people are sheltering themselves from the cold. What social media tools might we use as Simon Griffiths does that would create a compassionate relationship with people who just don't need toilet paper but may also need to know that God's Commandments are true and embodied by us. Are there rituals we should set aside or pick up that will encourage us to worship and wonder with more people. Setting aside the rhetoric for something "real," helpful, and blessed might just get the Gospel out in ways we can't imagine and would indeed change the world as Jesus the Christ's godliness and humanness does.<br />
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Blessings Along The Way, Jim+<br />
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<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Their
first year of trading has been successful and the distribution of
profits to Water Aid from the business has meant that for each toilet
roll sold someone in need in a developing country has been provided with
access to a toilet for one week, Griffiths says. - See more at:
http://www.australiaunlimited.com/society/wiping-out-poverty#sthash.Qdh9JrZK.dpuf</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span></span></span>
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<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Their
first year of trading has been successful and the distribution of
profits to Water Aid from the business has meant that for each toilet
roll sold someone in need in a developing country has been provided with
access to a toilet for one week, Griffiths says. - See more at:
http://www.australiaunlimited.com/society/wiping-out-poverty#sthash.Qdh9JrZK.dpuf</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;">
</span></span></span></span>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Their
first year of trading has been successful and the distribution of
profits to Water Aid from the business has meant that for each toilet
roll sold someone in need in a developing country has been provided with
access to a toilet for one week, Griffiths says. - See more at:
http://www.australiaunlimited.com/society/wiping-out-poverty#sthash.Qdh9JrZK.dpuf</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;">
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
Their
first year of trading has been successful and the distribution of
profits to Water Aid from the business has meant that for each toilet
roll sold someone in need in a developing country has been provided with
access to a toilet for one week, Griffiths says. - See more at:
http://www.australiaunlimited.com/society/wiping-out-poverty#sthash.Qdh9JrZK.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
Their
first year of trading has been successful and the distribution of
profits to Water Aid from the business has meant that for each toilet
roll sold someone in need in a developing country has been provided with
access to a toilet for one week, Griffiths says. - See more at:
http://www.australiaunlimited.com/society/wiping-out-poverty#sthash.Qdh9JrZK.dpuf</div>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
</span></span></span></span>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-29126723940326252082013-12-09T08:37:00.000-08:002013-12-09T11:52:44.614-08:00<h4>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
December 9, Monday of Week Two of Advent</span></h4>
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<i><span style="background-color: #fefcf8; color: purple; line-height: 21px;">To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you let me not be humiliated nor let my enemies triumph over me. Let none who look to you be put to shame; let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes. Show me your ways, O LORD, and teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long. Remember, O LORD, your compassion and love, for they are from everlasting. </span></i></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="background-color: #fefcf8; color: purple; line-height: 21px;">Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; remember me according to your love and for the sake of your goodness, O LORD. Gracious and upright is the LORD; therefore he teaches sinners in his way. He guides the humble in doing right and teaches his way to the lowly. All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. My eyes are ever looking to the LORD, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and have pity on me, for I am left alone and in misery. The sorrows of my heart have increased; bring me out of my troubles. Look upon my adversity and misery and forgive me all my sin. Look upon my enemies, for they are many, and they bear a violent hatred against me. Protect my life and deliver me; let me not be put to shame, for I have trusted in you. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, </span></i><span style="background-color: #fefcf8; line-height: 21px;"><i><span style="color: purple;">for my hope has been in you.</span> </i>(<a href="http://www.missionstclare.com/english/December/morning/9m.html" target="_blank">Psalm 25: 1-9, 13-2</a>0)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: #fefcf8; line-height: 21px;">32 years ago on December 3, 1981, I rose my right hand and accepted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. I had "washed out" of pilot training but I was a good enough officer candidate to request a change in training to become a navigator. I caught a break and remained at Officer Training School, completed my candidacy program, and became an Air Force Officer and aviator. It was a big day! I got my gold bars and I was on my way to flying F-4s and serving on the staff of the Air Combat Commander's Quality Improvement team. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: #fefcf8; line-height: 21px;">I had a fairly successful military career. I flew more than 1500 hours in <a href="http://www.holloman.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15097" target="_blank">Phantoms</a> in Europe, Asia, and around the United States. I was fortunate to train German and American F-4 students and served as a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Fighter_Squadron" target="_blank"> Flight Commander</a> for three years. I attended <a href="http://www.au.af.mil/au/soc/" target="_blank">Squadron Officer School</a>, and <a href="http://www.au.af.mil/au/acsc/" target="_blank">Air Command and Staff Colleg</a>e. My Squadron and Wing leadership nominated me to be selected as Tactical Air Command's F-4E Weapon System Officer of the Year. I won that award in 1991. I was promoted to Major in 1995. It was a purposeful life and I was fortunate in may ways. I flew and worked with brave, talented, and adventurous pilots and navigators. I was extremely impressed by the diligence and dedication of several enlisted women and men. I thankfully never engaged in combat or dropped bombs on other human beings.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: #fefcf8; line-height: 21px;">I wasn't successful at one thing though. I couldn't remain a closeted gay man and serve in the military. Ultimately, I was outted by a colleague and compelled to resign my commission. I shamefully left the military in January, 1998, after serving for more than 17 years. It still hurts to re-live that experience. I caught another break though as I was suffering through the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/dont-ask-dont-tell-timeline/" target="_blank">Don't Ask Don't Tell</a> policy that was still in effect when I was in the military. The lawyers at <a href="http://www.sldn.org/" target="_blank">Servicemembers Legal Defense Network</a> helped me to negotiate receiving an honorable discharge. I did not retire from active duty but I maintained my <a href="http://www.va.gov/" target="_blank">Veterans Affairs</a> benefits and returned to civilian life with some psychological and professional wounds as well as with the rights and responsibilities that an honorable discharge empowers veterans to exercise such as being eligible for VA <a href="http://www.gibill.va.gov/" target="_blank">Educational Assistance</a> while attending seminary. </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/12/09/249342610/other-than-honorable-discharge-burdens-like-a-scarlet-letter" target="_blank">Learn more about Reed Holway</a></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: #fefcf8; line-height: 21px;">I therefore pay attention when I observe the United States' <a href="http://www.defense.gov/registeredsites/registeredsites.aspx" target="_blank">Department of Defense</a> and <a href="https://www.vetsuccess.va.gov/public/index.html?PHPSESSID=3431f131b200f80cb066f805a4278a65" target="_blank">Veterans Affairs</a> Administration actively seek to deny veterans' benefits. I become especially disturbed when I note such injustice when these veterans have served our nation with honor and suffered psychological as well as physical harm because of their military service. I listened to a <a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/12/09/249342610/other-than-honorable-discharge-burdens-like-a-scarlet-letter" target="_blank">news story</a> this morning on <a href="http://www.npr.org/" target="_blank">NPR</a> describing how the US Armed Forces have discharged more than 100,000 veterans with less than honorable discharges over the past decade. I am willing to bet that most of these vets were enlisted personnel rather than officers. I'd also postulate that many of them were not fully informed of their entitlements prior to being kicked out. They may have been too afraid to ask. They may not have know that there were external agencies that would be available to help them with their discharge process. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: #fefcf8; line-height: 21px;">In Reed Holway's case, he became addicted to pain medications a military doctor prescribed to him while recovering from a knee injury he suffered on active duty. He was arrested for a DUI infraction and the US Navy discharged him from active duty. You can read more about his and other servicemembers' stories. The ones that are truly horrific are the stories of young men who suffer from <a href="http://www.ptsd.va.gov/" target="_blank">Post Traumatic Stress Disorder</a> because of the mental and physical wounds they suffered during combat. Many of them tragically sought to reduce their stress through drug and alcohol addictions. Some of them were consequently discharged because of their associated criminal and/or violent behaviors. The consequences of such dishonorable discharges is that these women and men cannot access the VA's Healthcare <a href="http://www.ptsd.va.gov/" target="_blank">system</a> and are at much higher risks of becoming suicidal, remaining unemployed for lengthy periods of time, and becoming incapable of using their military service to live as a well-integrated and healthy member of society and their families. These veterans are in our midst everywhere and we either blissfully ignorant of their plight. We (un)intentionally avoid aiding them or assist them to challenge the Pentagon when the government refuses to respond to these brave servicemembers' stories and suffering.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: #fefcf8; line-height: 21px;">The Psalmist in <a href="http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm25.htm" target="_blank">Psalm 25</a> pleads to <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H430&t=KJV" target="_blank">Elohim</a> and <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H3068&t=KJV" target="_blank">Yehovah</a> for guidance, compassion, and forgiveness. "<a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/David.html" target="_blank">David</a>" who was a leader of military forces as well as a soldier himself was certainly a jealous and treacherous ruler as well as a faithful Jew and penitent King. Perhaps he provides a biblical example for veterans and civilians alike in terms of how to best understand God's invitation for us to offer mercy and support to soldiers and their families. God's Reign in Jewish and Christian terms alike exists as a Kingdom where perhaps no one better understands the horror and consequences of war and violence than those who have witnessed and experienced it. I am reminded that it is a centurion who stands at the foot of Jesus' cross who acknowledges that Jesus The Christ truly was The Son of God. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2015:37-39&version=MSG" target="_blank">Mark 15: 38</a>). It is that same instance when the curtain of the temple was torn in two signifying that the boundaries between a transcendent God and humanity were forever redeemed through Jesus the Christ's sacrificial and unconditional love.</span></span><span style="background-color: #fefcf8; line-height: 21px;"> </span><br />
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<iframe align="left" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" padding="3" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/mMAwSyqnAWs" style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 2px;" width="325"></iframe> The <a href="http://trinitycleveland.org/music-and-art/cathedral-choirs/" target="_blank">Cathedral Choir</a> of <a href="http://trinitycleveland.org/about/welcome/" target="_blank">The Cathedral</a> of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio offers this wonderful chanted <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMAwSyqnAWs" target="_blank">performance</a> of Psalm 25. I post it here with the hopes that my guests will listen to the words while pondering how we together may continue upon paths of righteousness, support the needs and hopes of servicewomen and servicemen who have offered their lives in military service. They have often suffered undue harm. May we continue to seek peace rather than war, hope rather than fear, and enter into more compassionate relationships with one another as we trust in God and God's redemption through the on-going birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in our lives who will soon be born in Bethlehem's stable once again.<br />
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Blessings Along The Way, Jim+Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-7747853896299378022013-12-08T15:47:00.002-08:002013-12-09T06:13:03.302-08:00<h4>
December 8, Sunday of Week Two of Advent</h4>
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<span class="text Matt-3-1"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><i>In those days John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea announcing,</i></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><i> <span class="text Matt-3-2" id="unique-id-23194"><sup class="versenum"> </sup>“Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven! ...</span></i><i><span class="text Matt-3-7" id="unique-id-23199"> Many Pharisees and
Sadducees came to be baptized by John. He said to them, “You children of
snakes! Who warned you to escape from the angry judgment that is coming
soon?</span> <span class="text Matt-3-8" id="unique-id-23200">Produce fruit that shows you have changed your hearts and lives.</span> <span class="text Matt-3-9" id="unique-id-23201">And
don’t even think about saying to yourselves, Abraham is our father. I
tell you that God is able to raise up Abraham’s children from these
stones. </span></i><span class="text Matt-3-9" id="unique-id-23201">(<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.commonenglishbible.com/explore/passage-lookup/?query=Matthew+3%3A+1-12" target="_blank">Matthew 3: 1-2, 7-9</a> </span>- Common English Bible Translation)</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.commonenglishbible.com/explore/passage-lookup/?query=Matthew+3%3A+1-12" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="St. John The Baptist align= " border="5" left="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4JF-NQzownMU1qzFaJXsRezbc7v8vOygHaCYXujBeLv31T1zg4pYcpqonKMWfFajSMuSOHpJPtuJH47wf1ZzFBiFQ6eE9bdRp6ulqIu50qefDN-8Kev3AgizaEbYgfB46nvOWEdvcjg/s1600/stjohnicon2.jpg" /></a><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><span class="text Matt-3-9" id="unique-id-23201"><span align="left" style="color: black;">Change your hearts and lives. <a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/metanoeo.html" target="_blank">Repent</a>! I note that John the Baptist doesn't direct his prophetic message to the repentant people coming out from Jerusalem, throughout Judea, and all around the Jordan River. He looks up and notices that the Pharisees and Sadducees are in the crowd. These religious leaders had differing views of how Yahweh's (God's) reign was to going to arrive but they seemingly were <a href="http://blog.pricelesseternity.com/2012/09/john-baptists-message-for-pharisees-and.html" target="_blank">united in rejecting</a> John's and Jesus' repentant vision of The Kingdom of God (Heaven). John recognizes something that many prophets do but I often forget. How I live my life as a person exercising religious leadership and possessing spiritual authority really matters. John implies that his opponents were resting assured in the ideological belief that the covenant they shared with Yahweh was more than enough to endorse their privileged and selfish lifestyles. John reverberates upon the proclamations of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other ancient Jewish prophets. Change your hearts and lives. Transform your relationships with God and your neighbors or suffer the consequences. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><span class="text Matt-3-9"><span align="left" style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><span class="text Matt-3-9"><span align="left" style="color: black;"><br /><iframe align="left" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="4" height="251" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/55755360" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="440"></iframe> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><span class="text Matt-3-9"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><span class="text Matt-3-9" id="unique-id-23201"><span align="left"><span style="color: black;">Watch </span><a href="http://vimeo.com/55755360"><span style="color: purple;">Dr. Walter Brueggemann Part 1 "Practicing Neighborhood Amid Empire"</span></a><span style="color: black;"> from </span><a href="http://vimeo.com/epicentervideos"><span style="color: purple;">The Episcopal Diocese of Texas</span></a><span style="color: black;"> on </span><span style="color: purple;"><a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><span class="text Matt-3-9" id="unique-id-23201"><span align="left" style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text Matt-3-9" id="unique-id-23201"><span align="left" style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="text Matt-3-9" id="unique-id-23201"><span align="left">All Christians believers should intentionally consider the ethical and spiritual consequences of their behaviors, relationships, and comments. However, as an Episcopal priest, and as a person possessing some degree of political as well as religious authority, I'm humbled by, and cautious of the beneficial, inconsequential, or harmful impact I have in my work and actions. Who I am has meaning and influence upon the people I serve in the congregation with whom I work as well as the neighbors I interact with around the parish. </span></span><br />
<span class="text Matt-3-9"><br /></span>
<span class="text Matt-3-9"><span align="left"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/walterbrueggemannfans" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">Walter Brueggemann</a> has laid out a poetic and empathetic prophetic understanding of God's character in the world for the ancient prophets and for religious leaders of yesterday and today. He suggests that the established Church and The Church's leaders must be acutely aware of ways in which they and their Christian communities are denying the consequences of humanity's impact upon Creation and one another. This awareness must not lead to anger and violence but rather to vulnerability and shared grief. We can be like John the Baptist I suppose by robustly demanding repentance. I suggest we should follow Jesus and enter into the suffering and fear that resides in each of us as well as our societies. Ultimately John and Jesus along with the Jewish prophets proceeding them wind up offering what we assuredly need: Divine Hope, Neighborly Reconciliation, and the birth of the God's Reign of Compassion and Justice.</span></span><br />
<span class="text Matt-3-9"><span align="left"><br /></span></span>
<span class="text Matt-3-9"><span align="left">Here in Advent, Brueggemann and John the Baptist prompted me to offer a <a href="http://stjamescincy.podbean.com/2013/12/08/december-8-2013-sermon/" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">prophetic sermon</span></a> earlier today with truthful candor. On the 2nd Sunday of Advent, I invite all of us to picture ourselves as willingly going out to listen to Brueggemann, John The Baptist, and Isaiah alike. I invite preachers and pastoral care providers alike to ponder and pray about the manner of our shared leadership as well as the fear, despair, and denial existing in our churches. What would be the most truthful, empathetic, and hopeful ways for us to participate in Christ's mission for us when and where we reside. How may we guide and facilitate ourselves and the people we serve to live into more vulnerable and healthy relationships? How shall we most passionately and peaceably live in community especially with the people who reside outside of our churches' walls? How shall we awaken to a truly blessed, less consumer-based, and more openhearted understanding of Christ's birth between now and Christmas? </span></span><br />
<span class="text Matt-3-9"><span align="left"><br /></span></span>
<span class="text Matt-3-9"><span align="left">I believe we must speak the truth even as we offer people two of the most important virtues Christ's approaching incarnation offers us: solidarity and hope. Such honesty will free us to embrace love through a process of shared tears in some cases. Such hope will empower us to embraces one another as mutual citizens of God's reign and compassion. May we in prayer and deed observe Jesus the Christ's powerful presence among us as John The Baptist did with repentant lives and bold righteous actions.</span></span><br />
<span class="text Matt-3-9"><span align="left"><br /></span></span>
<span class="text Matt-3-9"><span align="left">Blessings Along The Way, Jim+</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple;"><span class="text Matt-3-9" id="unique-id-23201"><span align="left" style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span>
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Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-32533488897476797632013-12-07T12:31:00.001-08:002013-12-07T12:37:10.199-08:00<h4>
December 7, Saturday of Week One of Advent</h4>
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<span style="color: purple;"><i>Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time. Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, just as you have said. Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. </i><span style="color: black;">(<a href="http://www.missionstclare.com/english/December/morning/7m.html" target="_blank">Amos 5: 13-15</a>)</span></span><br />
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<div style="image-align: left;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/kxdOYgTXtH8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">We inherently want Advent, all of life really, to be pretty and calming. We avoid problems in the world or in the lives that cause us to confront the suffering of others; the woes of our poor and selfish choices. We like "nice." We steer away from confrontational challenges.<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+3:1-12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv" target="_blank"> John The Baptist </a>and the ancient <a href="http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12389-prophets-and-prophecy" target="_blank">Jewish prophets</a> won't let us get off so easy if we pay attention to what they say.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">I believe they would be chastising us as we purchase gift after gift for our family members and friends without responding to the needs of people with little money or hope this time of year. <a href="http://www.jubilee-centre.org/document.php?id=122" target="_blank">Amos</a> told the people of Israel that their greed, oppression of the poor, and dishonesty were sins against God. John the Baptist demands repentance (change of heart and life) from the people who hear his words out by the Jordan River. The prophets of our own time such as <a href="http://www.walterbrueggemann.com/" target="_blank">Walter Brueggemann</a> encourage us as people of faith to realize that avoiding of the realities of hungry people, unjust societal and governmental practices, and dangerous environmental practices are similarly unrighteous and evil.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">It's difficult to acknowledge such truthful but confrontational demands. It not easy to preach to a congregation caught up in the middle of holiday celebrations and shopping. Thus, this afternoon, I am instead listening to <a href="http://www.rvwsociety.com/bio_expanded.html" target="_blank">Ralph Vaughan Williams'</a> Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasia_on_a_Theme_by_Thomas_Tallis" target="_blank">Fantasia</a> has a haunting and melancholy tone for me. I love the beauty of the music while also sensing lamentation within the notes. Tallis' original words for the hymn were:</span></span><br />
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<i>Why fum'th in fight the Gentiles spite, in fury raging stout?</i><br />
<i>Why tak'th in hand the people fond, vain things to bring about?<br />
The Kings arise, the Lords devise, in counsels met thereto,</i><br />
<i>against the Lord with false accord, against His Christ they go.</i>
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<div class="templatequotecite">
—<a class="external text" href="http://blb.org/cgi-bin/index.pl?type=pf&translation=KJV&handref=Psalm+2%3A1%E2%80%932" rel="nofollow">Psalm 2:1–2</a>, <cite>Archbishop Parker's Psalter (1567)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-mellers_2-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasia_on_a_Theme_by_Thomas_Tallis#cite_note-mellers-2">[2]</a></sup></cite></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">There's a You Tube <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxdOYgTXtH8" target="_blank">video</a> (in two parts) that offers Tallis' and Williams' music to the listener. Their music provides me, and perhaps you a pathway into embracing the suffering we encounter in our own lives as well as the suffering of other people around us. It is through such portals of the heart we may find prophetic courage and Christ-like empathy to reach out beyond our own gift lists to the needs and desires of people who are struggling in one way or another. God's love is present in such connections as it is in the music we may be fortunate to listen to on a cold Advent afternoon.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">Blessings Along The Way, Jim+</span></span></div>
Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-72893396311254168242013-12-06T12:20:00.001-08:002013-12-06T12:37:53.943-08:00<h4>
December 6, Friday of Week One of Advent</h4>
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<span style="color: purple;"><i> Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables,
saying: 'The kingdom of heaven may
be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his
son. He sent his slaves
to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet,
but they would not
come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, "Tell those who
have been invited: Look, I have
prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered,
and everything is
ready; come to the wedding banquet."</i></span> (<a href="http://www.textweek.com/mtlk/matt22a.htm" target="_blank">Matthew 22: 1-4</a>)<br />
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<a href="http://www.taftmuseum.org/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_taft museum entrance"><img alt="http://www.taftmuseum.org/" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpt47ELWs1hxsRpg6SwwABgFjIgLYyOdIldwsdpN2Y3LdA26f6fmQILjBS8s8OaFhJLkiZr4PAemQ-eN5UpW8w_5n0W7dJQ7Dq5qY81CF-xv3dTmipN2aRnfHLm3rbC1Go8h1P7mzyMQ/s320/Taft_1.jpg" width="180" /></a>This is the entry door for the <a href="http://www.taftmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Taft Museum</a> in downtown Cincinnati. I bet there have been a couple of wedding banquets in the house over the last several decades. There's a huge dining room just off of this hallway. There's a large "living room" just behind the spot from where I took this photo. Plenty of gorgeous artwork and space for ritzy celebrations<br />
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You really should visit the Taft should you get the opportunity, especially in the weeks leading up to Christmas. There's a wonderful exhibit of 19th Century American and German handmade Christmas ornaments right at the entry into the older section of the house and museum. There are other Christmas decorations in many of the hallways such as the one in my photo.<br />
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I got to thinking though. What if you had never been to the museum and were standing outside on the other side of the doorway. What if you weren't able to see the beauty of the afternoon sunlight shining through the glass above the door, onto the carpet. What if you were outside and you had no visual comprehension of what was inside? What if you nothing about the banquet of beauty existing in the house? What if you had heard about the Taft Museum but had not yet seen it? Wouldn't this make your first visit there even more special!<br />
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Perhaps this sense of unknowing is more awe-inspiring if we think about it. What beauty would we behold if we truly lived into Advent. Most of us, like the Taft Museum, have already decorated our homes for the holidays. Trees are up; lights are lit. Our family's traditional ornaments are artfully set out throughout the house. We're ready! Christmas is here. <br />
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It isn't though.... for those who are willing to wait on the other side of the hallway and door. God is preparing the banquet and Christ's incarnation is coming quickly, at least it is in traditional ways of understanding <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmastide" target="_blank">Christmastide</a>. Dec. 25th is the beginning, not the ending of Christmas. We've just pushed up the celebration to begin sometime around the first of November. We can thank our culture for getting Santa and holiday cheer out in front of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas" target="_blank">Saint Nicholas</a> and a truer meaning of Divine love.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFFd4GvLFzb64vArIEpBMTFzKnape2_muTMBfEElfyXI1t4_KzYE0A3GouEOJyvHbu13bwdjRP3BPNnwKmrhV_C1Qdn5mtNF_vw0l2ag6audLIV_neg9Sk4Q1xg5kIMEvGFEMm-NTcA/s1600/Taft_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFFd4GvLFzb64vArIEpBMTFzKnape2_muTMBfEElfyXI1t4_KzYE0A3GouEOJyvHbu13bwdjRP3BPNnwKmrhV_C1Qdn5mtNF_vw0l2ag6audLIV_neg9Sk4Q1xg5kIMEvGFEMm-NTcA/s320/Taft_2.jpg" width="181" /></a></div>
I mean I get it. I stopped at the Taft's gift shop and bought some stationary as a Christmas gift. I've got my wreath up on my front door and eyed getting some outdoor Christmas lights to place on the bushes outside of my front door. And yet, it's Advent. What if we had to wait for Jesus' return like Christians sitting by fireplaces did 200 years ago. What if we took some time to ponder what it's like to be invitees to God's Son's wedding banquet and actually show up with inquisitive hearts and minds.<br />
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Maybe this challenge is a "both/and" sort of situation. Perhaps we can experience Advent at some point in time each and every day leading up to Dec. 25th even as we experience the beauty surrounding us inside and outside of life's doorways and banquet halls. Maybe we should similarly recall that many people can't afford to visit upscale American museums or purchase holiday gifts and greeting cards either. Such realities come to mind when we don't place our secular Christmas expectations in front of John the Baptist's pleas to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+3&version=CEV" target="_blank">give your extra coat</a> to someone who needs it. <br />
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I'm glad that our tour to the Taft didn't happen today. It's snowing very hard and the roads are slippery. Today, I have time to reflect upon the beauty I witnessed at the museum yesterday. I have time to reflect how hurried I felt leaving the museum in order to tend to other tasks that needed my attention. Today, I have more time to light a candle, sit in silence, and ponder what it will be like when I again encounter Christ's birth in my life in newborn ways, when the banquet will be especially ready.<br />
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Blessings Along The Way, Jim+</div>
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December 2 - Monday of Week One of Advent</div>
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December 2 - Monday of Week One of Advent<br />
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December 2 - Monday of Week One of Advent</div>
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Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-76467253922272905162013-12-04T11:20:00.000-08:002013-12-06T07:18:38.898-08:00<h4 class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #674ea7;">December 4, Wednesday of Week One of Advent</span></h4>
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December 3, Tuesday of Week One of Advent</div>
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December 3, Tuesday of Week One of Advent</div>
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<a href="http://www.missionstclare.com/english/December/morning/4m.html" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.missionstclare.com/english/December/morning/4m.html" border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN9iqhVh3Hk-e62wqal82DF4B7DwB5ARdksRjsioxkuL0xJeBVApFeCldTuLGyndAFH4tA4xDF7vKHaR5B1FrfkB8dRGTz4YPYJVMaM-JRXbez94qb1_nCG2Yhpl3YxKRW8dMzkaj5pA/s320/Frustration_Angelou.jpg" width="207" /></a> <i>The Lord is not slow about his promise, as
some think of slowness, but is patient with you,
not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But
the day of the Lord will come
like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud
noise, and the elements will be
dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done
on it will be disclosed. </i><a href="http://www.textweek.com/epistlesrevelation/2peter3.htm" target="_blank">2 Peter 3: 9-10</a> </div>
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Frustration is a powerful emotion. I get frustrated when my expectations don't line up with what's actually going on at the moment. I want something to happen right now and it isn't taking place according to my desires. I want someone else to get a task done or get out of my way or whatever. In many cases I don't have any direct control over what's going on. I can't force the driver who is going to slow to push down his pedal. I can accelerate and go around him while I'm .... frustrated. Is that the proper and Divine solution. Maybe, maybe not.</div>
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The author of The <a href="http://www.textweek.com/epistlesrevelation/2peter.htm" target="_blank">Second Epistle (Book) of Peter</a> seemingly is frustrated by a couple of big problems that he (they) can't seem to control. First, there are some terrible <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2+Peter+1:16-21&vnum=yes&version=nrsv" target="_blank">false prophets </a>out there preaching a sinful gospel. Second, he (they) seemingly are impatient with the manner in which early Christians <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2+Peter+1:16-21&vnum=yes&version=nrsv" target="_blank">are preparing</a> for Christ's eagerly anticipated apocalyptic arrival. These challenges are seemingly quite frustrating. Early Christians expected Christ's imperial reign to happen during their lifetime. </div>
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judith-orloff-md/how-to-be-patient_b_1748430.html" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judith-orloff-md/how-to-be-patient_b_1748430.html" border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZGeF8NlRRO0r-IUx5KGYHwcJYVtgubFvezjyNiyhJT9-NcGgKptOnN5oIJAcffTzuccmBRHJQ89oG5cl53Ql7FLCV50Amq8_GKJyTEG6fS80qZ2IMKKcQ46_lB9fAyjQRX3udA91wFg/s320/Meyer_Hope.jpg" width="207" /></a>Expectations are tricky, especially when our hopes, anxieties, and desired outcomes don't match up with what's actually happening at the moment. The "blockages" causing our frustration may be something we are wrestling with internally or there may be external factors impacting our progress. That's a somewhat negative observation regarding frustration. A more optimistic viewpoint may be for us to focus on the underlying causes and opportunities for personal and spiritual growth that our frustration represents. What is causing the distress, anger, sadness, or bitterness we are experiencing and is there anything about who we are or what we believe prompting us to become frustrated? What might we do to amend our way of being or current approach to the frustrations we face each day.</div>
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Advent is a season of patience, repentance, and serenity in the moment. All of these virtues are wonderful if not disciplined anecdotes for frustration. What is within your sphere of influence to change now or in the future? What is outside of your control or something you should be (un)comfortable with for awhile as Christ enters into your life in new and unexpected ways? Dr. Judith Orloff (2012) <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judith-orloff-md/how-to-be-patient_b_1748430.html" target="_blank">defines</a> "patience as an active state, a choice to hold tight until
intuition says, "make your move." It (patience) means waiting your turn, knowing
your turn will come. ... With patience,
you're able to delay gratification, but doing so will make sense and
feel right. (para. 6). May your Advent offer more opportunities for hopeful and patient deliberation and progress. I wish you peace in the midst of this season's frustrations. Providence is a good thing at the mall and elsewhere in daily life. </div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7;"><i>O thou lover of (hu)mankind, send down into our hearts that peace which the world cannot give, and give us the peace in this world. O Ruler of Peace, keep us in love and charity, be our God, for we have none other beside thee; grant unto our souls the life of righteousness, that the death of sin may not prevail against us, or against any of thy people.</i></span> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Hook" target="_blank">Walter Farquhar Hook</a></div>
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Blessings Along The Way, Jim</div>
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Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-30560793597139926472013-12-03T09:32:00.001-08:002013-12-17T05:30:37.790-08:00<h4>
December 3, Tuesday of Week One of Advent</h4>
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December 2 - Monday of Week One of Advent</div>
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December 2 - Monday of Week One of Advent<br />
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December 2 - Monday of Week One of Advent</div>
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<a href="http://http//heatherpoast.wordpress.com/?ref=spelling"></a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgufUt3SK3spFO3wGG5QGNm_ZV0if3VfmXBq4ovUYfSLMGKwhkicIXGU3UyTk6YZfFxTQ1s2hXPjkdRZmxBl8flrZott-3e3hXKdXMoAJ_umYcOin4z7G2jjYFzvoCKhCCUYVIc688UFg/s1600/Heather_T.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgufUt3SK3spFO3wGG5QGNm_ZV0if3VfmXBq4ovUYfSLMGKwhkicIXGU3UyTk6YZfFxTQ1s2hXPjkdRZmxBl8flrZott-3e3hXKdXMoAJ_umYcOin4z7G2jjYFzvoCKhCCUYVIc688UFg/s320/Heather_T.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://heatherpoast.wordpress.com/poasts/" target="_blank">Heather Poast </a>in a "easy seat."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I started taking yoga classes again about a month ago. I normally go to spinning class at <a href="http://www.revolution-fitness.com/asp/index.asp" target="_blank">Revolution Fitness</a> on Monday mornings and Heather Poast started teaching that class. I liked Heather's teaching style & was hooked when she played Bruce Hornsby toward the end of the class.<br />
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Heather invited spinning class participants to come to her Tuesday morning hot yoga class. I was kinda intimidated because I hadn't practiced yoga in many years and I didn't want to look like a fool. On the other hand, I was looking for a less aerobic workout to add to my weekly exercise discipline. I was also looking for a means to regain some flexibility and re-connect my physicality with my spirituality. So, I started going to yoga on Tuesday mornings.<br />
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I absolutely love the class even though it's one of the most strenuous workouts I accomplish. I've got to know Heather just a little bit better and, like with the spinning, I appreciate how she makes me think about what I'm physically doing and what is my intention for each motion, each breath, each calorie that I'm burning.<br />
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Heather writes a blog named "<a href="http://heatherpoast.wordpress.com/poasts/" target="_blank">Have a Namaste</a>." Her posts let readers quickly know that yoga for her means alot more than just working out. Yoga informs how she lives her life. Yoga shapes how she eats, why she works at the jobs she work at, and why she truly "<a href="http://heatherpoast.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">shines</a>" the way she does. Most Westerners think that yoga is just another way to burn 750-1000 calories in an hour. True yogis and <a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/yogini" target="_blank">yoginis</a> know that <a href="http://www.hindunet.org/yogasanas/" target="_blank">Yoga</a> is a centuries old discipline that practitioners use to mutually and intentionally benefit their bodies, minds, and souls alike.<br />
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This should be the best intention of any religious practice, whether it be Hindu yoga or Christian <a href="http://prayer.forwardmovement.org/the_daily_readings.php?d=3&m=12&y=2013" target="_blank">Daily Prayer</a> during Advent. We re-connect to The Divine and ourselves when we establish a disciplined and rhythmic practice of prayer and motion. Franciscan priest, teacher, and mystic, Fr. <a href="https://cac.org/richard-rohr" target="_blank">Richard Rohr</a> (2012) recently said that most world religions seek to teach their believers that each person’s ultimate purpose and reason for existence is to create union with God and all things. This is the
simple goal of our existence. Rohr quite boldly says; "If your religion is not helping you to do
that, then you’d better get a new religion."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrbnyc9u-ZHCApLsyx_HYsRUnoBqrmNDfX5oDilX8yPRfjt81NlHq66poLtb0WP_HSxS0BzUgIi_iJ6HjCkRzX9XnZNK_6H4cfnere241reEe8fpno11fFi3L4HFUEtuzfpt9Ys00atA/s1600/candlestand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrbnyc9u-ZHCApLsyx_HYsRUnoBqrmNDfX5oDilX8yPRfjt81NlHq66poLtb0WP_HSxS0BzUgIi_iJ6HjCkRzX9XnZNK_6H4cfnere241reEe8fpno11fFi3L4HFUEtuzfpt9Ys00atA/s320/candlestand.jpg" width="320" /></a>Religion is something we practice and enjoy when we decide we desire to be healthier and in closer relationship with ourselves, God, and one another. It is in Advent, (December) for Christians when we can actively seek our Christ's arrival in any number of ways. Contemplative persons may light candles, breathe and watch. Students may gaze out past frosty windows and ponder what it means for God's life and Word to dwell with us once more. I don't know. For me, at least today, it's getting up early in the morning and driving across Cincinnati to sweat, stretch, and spend time with Heather and a few other people who inhale through their noses and exhale rather profusely out of their mouths while balancing on one foot. I don't get too embarrassed if I look unsteady or even clumsy. Heather doesn't seem to care. She keeps encouraging me. I receive her support as one way of God inviting me to continue showing up in my relationships with Christ, people I relate to, and myself. What will play and prayer look like for you as the days shorten and the opportunities for you to more deeply understand why you are here and what union with God looks like for you, now and in the days yet to unfold.<br />
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Blessings Along The Way, Jim+ <br />
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</script>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-81832597013602023582013-12-02T07:03:00.000-08:002013-12-06T07:19:23.861-08:00<h2>
<span style="color: purple;">December 2 - Monday of Week One of Advent</span></h2>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"> <span style="color: purple;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us
everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge
of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. </span></i><a href="http://www.missionstclare.com/english/December/morning/2m.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: black;">(2nd Peter 2: 1-3)</span></span></a></span> </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnz0VS_2LqKTxe6Y99SDFXp0d6e9H-zm2JNS6guvQuHjJquju-uDliLllWqmFQIOeBc9viirtPL9GwkEG-z5A7l5KdhefAaHDkPdBrtgAWMEmf6PkV1lY82pDnrUMe6Uq1SO7suTlLyQ/s1600/IMAG0163.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnz0VS_2LqKTxe6Y99SDFXp0d6e9H-zm2JNS6guvQuHjJquju-uDliLllWqmFQIOeBc9viirtPL9GwkEG-z5A7l5KdhefAaHDkPdBrtgAWMEmf6PkV1lY82pDnrUMe6Uq1SO7suTlLyQ/s320/IMAG0163.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">My cat Bono prefers to drink water from the water faucet. I've learned that it <a href="http://crazybeanrider.hubpages.com/hub/Why-Cats-Drink-From-The-Faucet-We-May-Never-Know" target="_blank">isn't unusual</a> for cats to enjoy drinking running water as opposed to standing water. Running water is fresh, clean, and healthy. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">Bono always greets me at the kitchen faucet early in the morning, often in the afternoon, and almost all of the time in the evening. He occasionally still tries to get to me to turn the bathroom faucet on but that feels kind of like a boundary violation to me. He's a good learner though. He knows that if he follows me to the kitchen sink that I'll turn on the water for him. He's likely to get his back scratched too. It's a fun ritual, for both Bono and me.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">Prayer during Advent is sort of like this ritual that my pet cat and I share. It requires us to show up and spend time in love with someone or something else, God. Fortunately God offers unconditional love. The divine faucet of love God offers is not dependent upon human emotional boundaries or the local water company's supply of H2O. It just "is." As the author of Peter's Second Epistle writes. God's divine power unceasingly pours out to us everything we need to life through Christ's glory and goodness. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">Moreover, such prayer is grounded in one of Christianity's finest virtues: hope. Bono hopes that I'll turn the water on for him. He meows and especially purrs when he gets the water and his back scratched too. Is it any wonder that he shows up each day? God gives us much more than 30 seconds of water and a couple of strokes with a brush with quite sharp bristles. In prayer, God gives us time and space to say or think about anything that we wish to offer. In turn, God assures us that whether or not we are thirsty for love, God is there to abide with us.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">My prayer for you during the seasons of Advent and Christmas-Tide (December) is that you will rush to a silent faucet of fresh, clean, and healthy prayer </span></span><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">at least once </span></span><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">each day. I pray that you'll hope for God's presence to be nearby and available and that you'll make yourself available to God, ritually & intentionally. Lastly, if you have a pet, or special person you love; make sure they drink plenty of healthy water and give them an </span></span><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">especially gracious</span></span><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;"> shoulder rub that you've prepared for them, and yourself.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: black;">Blessings Along The Way, Jim+ </span> </span><br />
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Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-69942599894158110872013-08-12T09:32:00.001-07:002013-08-12T09:42:20.944-07:00One guy's view on The Episcopal Church's Transformational Work. <br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Acts8Moment?hc_location=stream" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGssY1Sl0ffwPEmk83HOHH3wpeQnZZqMfddPosHWEmT6_6SbAU8KD1bBBloTQuyVtDF7FpqezTQ_jSRmx77SwSbsXrX09susif_k8X7JyP4CeszZOPjtJ_n8zKEoAgH-lJbsHktbv8Q/s1600/acts8.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I haven't written on my blog in awhile. Let's just say that I've been busy. One of the things that I've been working on is the <a href="http://www.diosohio.org/" target="_blank">Diocese</a> of Southern Ohio's Special Task Force on Restructuring. Bishop Breidenthal called for the <a href="http://www.diosohio.org/dfc/newsdetail_2/3159411" target="_blank">formation</a> of the task force at last year's convention and we've been working very hard for about a half a year now. This work is not easy and readily defined. Transforming a person's individual life is difficult enough. Just pray with Jesus about that type of change. Changing a church or a diocese full of churches that are laden with numerous expectations, decades of liturgical, administrative, and pastoral practices - outdated or otherwise - is extraordinarily challenging. Such "change" requires wonderfully creative people who commit to collaborating on a common purpose that is grounded in the truths and responsibilities of The Christian Gospel. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The challenges and opportunities associated with with such resurrection are remarkably profound and borderline miraculous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Needless to say, I get somewhat more than riled up when I read an article like the one that <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Acts8Moment?hc_location=stream" target="_blank">The Acts 8 Momen</a>t people posted on their Facebook page earlier today. Now, before I go further, I fully endorse Acts 8 in their mission to </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">change "<i><span style="color: #38761d;">the conversation in The Episcopal Church from death to
resurrection; while equipping The Episcopal Church to proclaim resurrection to
the world."</span> </i>However, let's not presume that such resurrection happens through a continued process of harping about high administrative and human resource costs in an era of decreasing investments and revenue generation. Acts 8 uses <a href="http://holysoup.com/" target="_blank">Thom Schultz</a>'s work to suggest that we Episcopalians (and other organized Christian entities) are spending way, way<a href="http://holysoup.com/2013/08/06/the-shocking-truth-of-church-budgets/" target="_blank"> too much money</a> on administrative costs and not nearly enough on mission or direct ministries. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Let's agree that Pastor Schultz's data and hypothesis are legitimate. Let's also concurrently wonder about the implications for our churches as well as for other </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.preservenys.org/01_what_excel_recip_2009.html#christ_church" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXT1vx7qanBa0dJRilgXM1x756SktdycGXRtgUHnsuMtjR59zWaRe6Nj3xaZOrxXDiJ7Mzao02Yz1bbD8e8cWWQWMIAXhI3PmrcRRuQkXZ7UCNhNmSLIMN4JGs8HleeeMpeSjSBh28vw/s320/christ-church.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">denominational and non-denominational Christian faith communities. For example, raising up, caring for, and gathering in a building has been & still remains a paradigm most Christians are accustomed to for their worship and programs. Just ask the folks at <a href="http://www.christchurchpok.org/" target="_blank">Christ Episcopal Church</a> Poughkeepsie about the costs associated with preserving their place of worship even as they transform their Christian mission for the 21st Century. What would they and the people around them have lost if their <a href="http://www.preservenys.org/01_what_excel_recip_2009.html#christ_church" target="_blank">tower</a> came crashing down one summer morning? Would everyone in that context had been better off if they closed their doors? I'd further add that many Episcopal Church plants aim toward the construction of, and movement into a magnificent and expensive sacred ecclesiastical space. <a href="http://nativityscottsdale.org/" target="_blank">Episcopal Church of the Nativity</a> in Scottsdale, AZ is a fine example of such a healthy, inspiring, and mission focused parish.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Like it or not, and I happen to like it on certain occasions, most Episcopalians are not familiar with, or attached to their altar and musical resources coming into and out of the church in wooden containers. Moreover, there are a host of other vastly more relevant matters that I, my colleagues on the diocese's task force as well as the Episcopal Church's <a href="http://reimaginetec.org/" target="_blank">Re-imagining Task Force</a>, the folks dwelling in The Acts 8 Moment, and those interested in living into Christianity in the present millennium must consider and </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">vigorously and </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">transform. First, could we please take serious time and thought to look at current realities in their entire contexts, especially from a holistic Episcopal Church point of view. The issues here are systemic not arbitrary, and our systems are presently performing as people want them to; otherwise they would be working in ways that would be more efficient, more radically creative, and more open to God's Spirit. We'd nimbly re-imagine and institutionally realign our organized Christian lives if the associated costs weren't so dire. We love creativity except when the gap between what's in place and what we desires seems too great. Indeed, we need to face up to the harsh realities of the cruciform death and loss happening in our own churches that will indeed invite us to accept new life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For today's purposes, let's merely consider some of the basic yet monetarily grounded challenges that are in place. Let's admit for example that dioceses, <a href="https://www.cpg.org/active-clergy" target="_blank">the Pension Fund</a>, The Church's <a href="https://www.cpg.org/global/about-us/about-cpg/church-insurance/" target="_blank">Insurance Company</a>, and other Episcopal Church structures presently impose many "administrative costs" on parishes and churches. I get paid a particular salary and compensation at <a href="http://www.stjamescincy.org/" target="_blank">St. James Westwood</a> because of<a href="http://www.episcopaldso.org/How%20we%20work/clergy-salary-information.html" target="_blank"> salary and compensation guidelines</a> that the Diocese of Southern Ohio has established. These guidelines exist in part because we have clergy coming out of seminary graduating with<a href="http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2012/06/04/called-to-seminary-but-saddled-with-debt/" target="_blank"> enormous debt</a>. This is also the "job" that I trained for over a matter of many years. Maybe I should have remained in the private sector as a consultant. Maybe not. Regardless some, if not many dioceses do little to cover such expenses yet parishioners' expectations remain precisely the same across the denomination. They seek seminary-trained clergy. Maybe that needs to change. Maybe we can and should become a denomination where pastors serve without an extensive theological education. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ok, but, the denomination's current pension system
punishes priests who do not work full-time or accept lower salary
positions. </span></span>Even if those processes were to change we would still have a denominational structure dictating, and righteously so, that churches pay for their <a href="https://www.cpg.org/global/about-us/about-cpg/medical-trust/" target="_blank">staff's insurance</a> and pension costs. </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://sunflowerchalice.com/2013/07/17/resilience-and-the-spirituality-of-change/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyg-jm1exWgOl07-aZLIFYQy_si1lXwqiCbeSS2FNlnWfFolf5B0QdayReOHyzvFuHUl8KtjycBR_ATNI2pX81rgwYPJ7oAjP6vkYXREB4A_stnoK2Fi4m-RCU_Gl_w8H2FlilDToMA/s320/resilence.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Conversely, we do little if anything to educate and facilitate the manner in which clergy, congregations, and dioceses evangelize, perform their Gospel missions, and grow in increasingly secularized and suspicious societal settings. We haven't consciously or structurally transformed the church over the past two decades because we have focused on other priorities and avoided the real work of mergers, closures, and structural reforms that needed to happen during that time. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Finally, we are presently not a denomination that is
accustomed to having professionals with other responsibilities exercise
leadership in parochial settings. These are the sorts of sacrifices we need to consciously and spiritually acknowledge that are in place as we either say yes to change or continue toward demise, institutionally and evangelically. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's rather striking but not surprising we are where we are as Episcopalians. There's an increasing clamor for bi-vocational and part-time clergy. Duh! It's expensive to higher a person(s) who principally accomplishes the parish's administrative, pastoral, missional, and theological tasks. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/scottgunn?fref=ts" target="_blank">Scott Gunn</a> has written some meaningful <a href="http://www.sevenwholedays.org/2013/08/07/preparing-for-the-zombie-church-apocalypse/" target="_blank">blog posts</a> on this topic over at Seven Whole Days. It takes a whole church to accomplish The Church's Work. However, the fact remains that many parishes are seeking clergy to fill billets who can't afford full-time clergy but inherently hope that the priest who comes and serves will accomplish full-time work. We therefore need to, as Scott suggests, become more outward serving rather than inwardly concerned. We need to believe in Jesus the Christ's proclamation of the Good News, resiliently and boldly. These are concepts that we affirm but aren't particularly well accepted in many established parishes, especially declining parishes with aging congregations. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tony Lorenzen offers some great advice for us as we consider and resolve cost and systematic issues in The Episcopal Church. Tony <a href="http://sunflowerchalice.com/2013/07/17/resilience-and-the-spirituality-of-change/" target="_blank">writes</a>: </span></span> <span style="color: #38761d;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Our structures, our polity, our best practices, and our religious
culture itself are based on the norms, communication technology, and
social organization of a world that no longer exists. ... Unless we become more flexible
and more able to bounce back, we will not thrive. </span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: black;">Indeed, let's not blindly presume such resiliency will happen just because we desire it to or that there will not be any sort of push back from established social or instituional systems comfortably in place. The creation of an Episcopal Church based upon contemporary norms, technology, and social organizational realities will be birthed through a lengthy process of engaging stakeholders, defining and accepting winners and losers. It may happen in communities that are smaller and consequently more adaptive. It may be that some larger institutional entities will actually have to collapse because of bankruptcy or financial insolvency. I don't know. I do believe that persons exercising leadership must continually re-focus themselves and the people they endeavor to serve toward the acceptance of a shared purpose that brings us all into alignment with God's will for us. Then and only then might we be able to incarnate Jesus the Christ's compassion and Grace institutionally and meaningfully by proclaiming <a href="http://www.anglicancommunion.org/ministry/mission/fivemarks.cfm" target="_blank">Anglicanism's</a> mission in the world. Such transformation isn't only about reducing administrative costs. Such resurrection is much much more inspiring and earnest than technically changing budget priorities. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: black;">Blessings Along The Way. Jim+</span></span><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></i></span>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-63323245523516579482012-06-22T09:57:00.001-07:002012-06-22T10:07:37.246-07:00Budgeting - Getting into the messy details in a contemplative yet pragmatic way<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's been so long since I've been able to post something here. I wish that I took more time to keep my blog current. I'll work on that project during the summer when life should, at least hopefully, slow down a little bit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I recall that I first started blogging when I was going through the ordination discernment process. I was very interested in The Episcopal Church's life, mission, and processes. Thus, it's not surprising that something that is presently going on in <a href="http://www.episcopalchurch.org/" target="_blank">The Episcopal Church</a> (re)captured my attention. Episcopalian leaders will be gathering in Indianapolis for this year's (77th) <a href="http://www.generalconvention.org/" target="_blank">General Convention</a> in about two weeks. Lay persons, priests, deacons, and bishops will work separately and with one another to work on and resolve hundreds of issues. The <a href="http://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/5023" target="_blank"> Blue Book</a> details all of the various committees, councils, and agencies working throughout the convention. Unquestionably, the most pressing and controversial issue facing the bishops and deputies is the work upon the denomination's 2013-2015 <a href="http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/06/01/annoated-draft-episcopal-church-triennial-budget-released/" target="_blank">budget</a>. The processes leading up to the adoption of this budget have been convoluted and <a href="http://anglicanfuture.blogspot.com/2012/04/for-future-of-episcopal-church-and.html" target="_blank">unsettling</a>. Many observers, including me, were shocked by the proposed <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/episcoyouthproject" target="_blank">cuts</a> to Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministries. One of the church's brightest stars and a St. James parishioner made an excellent </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E964kV3rio&feature=plcp" target="_blank">video</a> explaining <object align="right" height="215" width="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_E964kV3rio?version=3&hl=en_US">
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<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_E964kV3rio?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="360" height="215" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> the impact a 90% budget reduction would make upon her, her family, and other Episcopalians. The Dean of Bexley Hall wrote a very penetrating and meanigful commentary about the entire process on his <a href="http://crustyoldean.blogspot.com/2012/06/its-all-over-but-shouting-annotated.html" target="_blank">Crusty Old Dean</a> blog.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: right;">Here's the deal, last night, I made some comments about this whole budget thing on The Rev. Scott Gunn's Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/scottgunn" target="_blank">page</a>. I did so after learning that <a href="http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/presiding-bishop" target="_blank">The Presiding Bishop</a> had decided to submit her own<a href="http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/06/21/presiding-bishop-proposes-alternative-2013-2015-budget/" target="_blank"> budget</a>. That felt odd to me because she's a member of the denomination's <a href="http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/general-convention-executive-council" target="_blank">Executive Council</a> and certainly should have had a major stake in their budgetary decisions and debate. On some level, it feels like Presiding Bishop Schori was very unhappy with what happened with the Executive Council's activities so she is consequently using her organizational authority and leadership status to adopt a budget, that's probably better, on to the General Convention's docket. Top-down decision making and influence scares me, probably because of my military background. Then I read some more comments on Bishop Kirk Smith's <a href="http://arizonabishop.blogspot.com/2012/06/abandon-all-hope.html" target="_blank">blog</a> this earlier today. I wrote some <a href="http://arizonabishop.blogspot.com/2012/06/abandon-all-hope.html?showComment=1340370543717#c2639084042212656008" target="_blank">comments</a> there that I won't repeat here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white;">Here's what I do want to say .... We continue to be in the midst of numerous </span><a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/reformation" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">reformations</a><span style="background-color: white;">, within and outside of the Church. Reformations evolve through technical and </span><a href="http://afptoronto.org/media/Fundraising%20Day/Haldane_Scott_1-6b.pdf" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">adaptive</a><span style="background-color: white;"> changes. Technical changes are about managing and reallocating resources. Technical changes require managers, "leaders," or resource controllers to make rapid organizational or institutional decisions. They often if not always produce new results. That are rarely, if ever, transformational. Adaptive changes hold a greater possibility for truly reforming people, communities, and hopefully Christ's Church. They are messy, protracted, and usually more organic than disciplinary. </span><a href="http://cambridge-leadership.com/index.php/adaptive_leadership/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Ronald Heifetz</a><span style="background-color: white;"> writes: </span><i><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="background-color: white;">"</span><a href="http://www.management.com.ua/ld/ld027.html" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Leadership</a><span style="background-color: white;"> is about mobilizing people’s capacity to sift through and hold on to what’s essential from their past. (Leaders) sift through their organization’s past, or from their family, neighborhood, or community’s past, and hold on to what’s precious and essential from that past (in order) to)hold onto what’s essential. They carry that forward, and discard and let go of that which is no longer essential so that they can take advantage of the opportunities that are generated from these cross-boundary interactions and from contemporary life. </span></span></i></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.ecfvp.org/vestrypapers/uncertain-times/the-spirituality-of-authentic-leaders/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbvqnvYNlBtTXzDwtIDLvLcrd1lJvAiGbwe4YDAnTEayHMfmFKQ0QP4CfFaYFi975Yjwsd8EVdt-kB08iJjokR1qvjXrld9Ya_olQVFV7JGYOQhhkOaip7VHG046FsbWEwAB2HmR3rkA/s320/JS1.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white;">I hope that The Episcopal Church's deputies and bishops will not get too bogged down in only figuring out technical solutions for our church's budgetary and canonical processes. I pray that they and we as a Church will venture out on to that longer and unforeseeable path like the early disciples and apostles did. I understand that we are by far more institutional and concretized than Sts. Peter and Paul. However, the General Convention, at least from my perspective is hardly post-modern and typically concerned with preserving the status quo. We Episcopalians speak publicly about desiring to become more organic but most of our responses and actions are truly more technical than adaptive. Those persons exercising <a href="http://www.ecfvp.org/vestrypapers/uncertain-times/the-spirituality-of-authentic-leaders/" target="_blank">leadership</a> need to boldly, faithfully, act in an integrated manner. There is an important maxim that I am in the process of learning from <a href="http://center.trinitywallstreet.org/programs.php" target="_blank">Hugh O'Doherty</a> through the <a href="http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/faith/clp" target="_blank">Clergy Leadership Project</a>. It is: <i><span style="color: #38761d;">"People only take responsibility for those things and actions that they help to create."</span></i> I am striving to live into such leadership behaviors as a priest, pastor and person. I pray that the Holy Spirit will be present in Indianapolis, especially as Episcopalians discuss the budget and other life-changing and hopefully transformational challenges/opportunities that will be present there. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white;">Blessings Along The Way, Jim+</span></span></div>
</div>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-30760414378515301752012-05-24T11:49:00.000-07:002012-05-24T11:50:59.835-07:00Approaching-the-Day-of-Pentecost<br />
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<a href="http://www.textweek.com/yearb/pentecdb.htm" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZHysQ2ccls_vsmnplqGNBqrH74lh782o2SeQl5AKOQyVJIE4e_JHXYnfPoVvidgtiRWFYMTf7kBqva1BoDpwvXI_JfNaz5WVUJ4NRuWUr08DMreq5UGw-mZ9AJuIqYwEfMhVJBfP5g/s320/CELPentecost.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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You can read more of<a href="http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Approaching-the-Day-of-Pentecost.html?soid=1101968623887&aid=26FttS8GZ98"> my thoughts</a> about <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=588" target="_blank">Pentecost</a> in our <a href="http://www.stjamescincy.org/" target="_blank">parish's</a> newsletter, St. James' <a href="http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs020/1101968623887/archive/1108848564951.html" target="_blank">Weekly Epistle</a>. Let me know what you think or how Pentecost will transform you this year.<br />
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Blessings Along The Way, <a href="mailto:edsjim@gmail.com" target="_blank">Jim</a>+Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-16839825868631082892012-03-30T14:42:00.005-07:002012-03-30T14:51:50.111-07:00Reflection for Passion Sunday<a href="http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark14_15.htm"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 217px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioiXpL69IWW2g3wjDFux60NijeXEiGRHI534QMCdgYmn5x4dq4_th4fkzkFudUcBiYoDEWOnvAOo73yEue05YjUO8sEXfklzIum_Tw1G9eSOtzSHhjuGp4NYmWsUiw5aDLbluqB5BDcA/s320/brewster_welcome.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725809549014517282" border="0" /></a><br />Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ<br /><br /><span style="font-size:11pt;">This Sunday we will read Mark's entire Gospel account of Jesus' <a style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); text-decoration: underline;" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+14:1+-+15:47&vnum=yes&version=nrsvhttp://" target="_blank">Passion</a> as well as celebrate the <a style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); text-decoration: underline;" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" href="http://www.textweek.com/yearb/palmsb.htm" target="_blank">Liturgy of The Palms</a>. We don't necessarily think of scripture as being "dramatic" but it is. This Sunday's reading encompass the entire range of human emotions: excitement, anticipation, allegiance, anger, rage, fear, betrayal, loneliness, friendship, compassion, despair, respect, and many more that aren't mentioned here.<br /><br />I wonder if it isn't worth it to listen to the various voices of the gospel narrative to truly live into what is actually going on. What are the characters actually saying and how do their words impact us as we hear what's going on. How is it that a crowd of people move from exulting Jesus of Nazareth upon his entry into Jerusalem to a place where they scream out for his execution just a few days later. How can someone so loyal as Peter swear his allegiance to his rabbi only to completely abandon him in just a few matter of hours. (the photo is <a href="http://www.gurdonbrewster.com/gbwelcomehomecrosslarg.html">Welcome Home</a> by Gurdon Brewster)<br /><br /><br />Perhaps most important, observe and admire how God responds throughout each and every scene. When and why is Jesus the Christ silent? How does the Incarnate God act in contrast to Pilate? I find myself amazed at the differences between the two even as I wrestle with the scene's meaning for me as one of Jesus' disciples.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 246px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioeWaYUMTwj1STmxVbr3vThxv2oFnkhtvyf2whNp4L9ceeS5XUsstkZSbMEAL6eMaMfekSPVPQQqJwYzDYAup69JBKhySYbaqICUqGIr1YHHc7mij-GRzW7QD6Vo9bcs_r-FjyKNTFRg/s320/779px-Eccehomo1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725810844323325282" /></a>We read the Passion narrative because people may or may not be able to share in Holy Week's liturgies later on. We shouldn't bypass any of our Lord's steps from Palm Sunday's triumphant Entry to Easter Sunday's tomb. Golgotha's Cross and Jesus' mortal death are as much of the narrative as is Jesus the Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday morning. Each dramatic scene is necessarily connected to the others. These emotional and spiritual truths leap off of scriptural pages into our own experiences, our own dramas. Jesus, the Living Word of God is inscribed onto our souls as well as our Christian faith.<br /><br />Holy Week begins this Sunday. Come, listen, and live into Christianity's more meaningful drama once again.<br /><br />Blessings Along The Way, Jim </span>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-84887773195829765132012-02-25T10:32:00.009-08:002012-02-25T11:01:24.391-08:00Lent 1B<a href="http://www.textweek.com/yearb/lentb1.htm"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 260px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEins2ZsCTDSBR2b6DHF2iw8-1L9lLpeZDoqJL24UkF6VJ5EGNtRqh9X99bD1xakk1vSBV3Y3OgTazV_3C61QrWxOBOTHjXvVSjykf8YvrLotmhEcLHvc9ewx8eudxTyMCx5b8Zk-6PAfg/s320/Kramskoi_Wilderness.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713144389642725506" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> 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<![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-variant:small-caps;color:#17365D; mso-thememso-themeshade:191font-size:14.0pt;color:text2;" ><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. </span><sup style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">13</sup><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.</span> </span></i><span style="line-height:115%;font-variant: small-caps;color:#17365D;mso-thememso-themeshade:191font-size:14.0pt;color:text2;" >(<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=197195209">Mark 1:12-13</a>)</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-variant: small-caps;color:#17365D;mso-thememso-themeshade:191font-size:14.0pt;color:text2;" > </span></p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> 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mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="line-height:115%;color:#17365D; mso-thememso-themeshade:191font-size:14.0pt;color:text2;" ></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=" line-height:150%;font-size:12.0pt;" >A week ago, <a href="http://4peregrini.blogspot.com/">Fr. Gil</a> Stafford <a href="http://stjamescincy.podbean.com/2012/02/19/sunday-february-19-2012-listening-to-the-spirit/">preached</a> about how Jesus often sought solitude so that he could pray with God. Such solitude provided sacred space for Jesus to better understand what God’s will was for him. This time alone was especially vital as he approached his mortal death on “Good” Friday. Seclusion brings us closer to God and to ourselves. It can also be very scary. Isolating. Silence cracks open doors to voices we strive to set aside from ourselves. Murmurings inside of our heads and hearts discomfort us, especially in times of uncertain pain. It’s crazily silent and discomforting in the Wilderness times of our lives. It’s also when and where we can be most close to God.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Holy Spirit draws us there, most typically kicking and dragging our heals into the dust of our day to day experiences. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=" line-height: 150%;font-size:14pt;" >On As</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=" line-height:150%;font-size:12.0pt;" >h Wednesday – <a href="http://stpeterspeekskill.org/?page_id=50">Fr. Howell Sasser</a> told the people of <a href="http://www.stjamescincy.org/">St. James</a> that the Ashes of Lent literally fly into our face. The smudges of ash hold potential power to transform the way that we see God. The blackened sign of the cross on our foreheads can’t help but change the way that people view us. You’ve long since washed away those ashes. Perhaps you’ve forgotten about them, or didn’t even receive them. It may be that Lent’s moments of recognizing your mortality haven’t driven you into the wilderness experiences of fasting, repentance, and reflection just yet. It might even be that you’ve been experiencing Lent’s isolating experiences long before this past Wednesday. Regardless, <a href="http://www.textweek.com/lent.htm">Lent </a>is here, now – providing the presence of God in opportune yet awfully visible, dusty, visceral ways of being Christian that we more often than not would rather avoid. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=" line-height:150%;font-size:12.0pt;" >The <a href="http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark1c.htm">wilds</a> of Lent bump up against the world’s emphasis upon ourselves and the noise of our surrounding political and economic complications. The Holy Spirit’s rough invitation in this season of Lent beckons us to examine our faith. God calls once again to communion with God's self and one another. The Creator’s angels and demons alike wander around with us for 40 days.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We determine during these difficult days whether or not we truly desire to deepen our commitments to our Christian lives. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:12.0pt;" >There’s a variety of ways to “do Lent” – Traditionally, people give up something. We swear off on eating chocolate even as we proclaim that we won’t swear at terrible drivers as we normally do. We set our hearts and minds to spend more time accomplishing charitable acts just as we dedicate ourselves to spending less money on gasoline or going to the movies. All of these actions however place the emphasis of our Christianity upon ourselves. We become the center and source of personally decided upon commitments. Listen to what Ash Wednesday’s <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+6:1-21&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Gospel </a>says. <sup style="font-style: italic;">5</sup><span style="color:#984806;mso-thememso-themeshade:128color:accent6;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. </span><sup style="font-style: italic;">6</sup><span style="font-style: italic;">But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.</span> </span><span style="color: black;color:text1;" ><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=" line-height:150%;font-size:12.0pt;" ><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;" >Jesus didn’t joyfully go racing into the Palestinian Wilderness. God directed him there. Seemingly Jesus’ human personality didn’t comprehend what he should do following his baptism. He wasn’t yet ready to proclaim his presence of God’s Kingdom to the people around him. First, God’s Son, our Lord, goes into the desert because God’s Spirit tells him to go. The desert Jesus entered was and still is a stark and desolate place. Jesus could have fallen in to any number of deep ravines. He spent many nights in cold caves. It’s in the desert of Jesus’ life where he confronted temptations, abided with wild beasts, and lo and behold – was attended to by angels. Fear and love are much more primeval during Lent, especially when we, like Jesus don’t set up the landscape on our own terms, but, on God’s. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=" line-height: 150%; font-size:12pt;color:black;" >I think it was in the Wilderness where Jesus first learned to pray – <a href="http://www.lords-prayer.co.uk/">Our Father</a> – you are holy – Your Kingdom Come – Your Will be Done. Lent isn’t specifically about the good that we can create of our own accord. It is a season of trusting God, waiting for God, and being open to God intentions for us. Lent enables us, however harshly, to be Christ’s followers in our day. These are rarely easy, glee-filled exercises.<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:12pt;color:black;" >This season of penitential solitude is often shrouded in the sufferings of our own personal tribulations as well as those of the people near us. Our response should recognize that suffering is embedded in our human nature. We can’t and shouldn’t oppose it. Rather, we need to find God’s presence and our faith in and through it.<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:12pt;color:black;" >I <a href="http://www.blogger.com/I%20invite%20you,%20therefore,%20in%20the%20name%20of%20the%20Church,%20to%20the%20observance%20of%20a%20holy%20Lent,%20by%20self-examination%20and%20repentance;%20by%20prayer,%20fasting,%20and%20self-denial;%20and%20by%20reading%20and%20meditating%20on%20God%27s%20holy%20Word.%20And,%20to%20make%20a%20right%20beginning%20of%20repentance,%20and%20as%20a%20mark%20of%20our%20mortal%20nature,%20let%20us%20now%20kneel%20before%20the%20Lord,%20our%20maker%20and%20redeemer.">invite you</a>, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the<br />observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance;<br />by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and<br />meditating on God's holy Word. May God <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fr-richard-rohr/lent-is-about-transformation_b_1282070.html">transform</a> you and may you be born anew in the midst of the unknowable but blessed adventures of your Lenten wanderings</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=" line-height: 150%; font-size:12pt;color:black;" >Blessings Along The Way - Jim+<br /></span></span></p>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-89165936705928391802012-02-01T17:30:00.000-08:002012-02-01T17:30:12.791-08:00'Approaching the Fifth Sunday Following the Epiphany'Here's our parish's weekly e-mail. I offer some thoughts about worrying and such. <br /><br /><a href="http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs020/1101968623887/archive/1109196604252.html">'Approaching the Fifth Sunday Following the Epiphany'</a>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-67143992677734763752012-01-16T13:53:00.000-08:002012-01-16T14:01:01.707-08:00January 15, 2012--Listening–Have you got the time?<a href="http://www.textweek.com/yearb/epiphb2.htm"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 246px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xl6yoStEcODEGH-22j3WZ_aH1JrpZ60aY6l15ndpPvrV1yUR0X_xiMAHuzl5dZvmMuVrDqR_KRzMCEz0LPnpj1f5kL8X1g-UgPauHKZyCXA7pMOagODZsrmbnh3H8TChbf6nzwt7qA/s320/iconepiph2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5698352047154749746" border="0" /></a><br />Here's my <a href="http://www.textweek.com/yearb/epiphb2.htm">Second Sunday after the Epiphany Sermon</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://stjamescincy.podbean.com/2012/01/15/january-15-2012-listening%E2%80%93have-you-got-the-time/">January 15, 2012--Listening–Have you got the time?</a><br /><br />I look the whole notion of "call" -- especially in our day and age when people search for a job, or yearn for success. Is it more difficult for us than it was for Jesus' 1st Century CE disciples? Are we more preoccupied than they were? <br /><br />Perhaps the most challenging aspect of call is facing our own sense of fear and failure. Maybe we are too selfish. Nonetheless, people, young and old continue to search for meaning. Many believe that God is beckoning them to search beyond themselves to the needs of other people and causes. God is beckoning some people to be more prayerful. Generally, I think, God is calling us all to dig deeper, search more broadly, love one another more compassionately. Jesus calls us to follow in his manner of life and continue to offer the Good News of God's reign, boldly and unselfishly.<br /><br />There are three "steps" to any call process. The first is to listen; to have open ears for God's voice in the midst of the babble and noise of daily living. The second is to respond; to affirm with the people around us that we are not listening to our own egos but to the Will of The Divine who yearns to draws us nearer to God and to the world around us. We must "Go and See." Finally, we being the pilgrimage of discernment, a journey that never ends and is hardly ever, direct in nature.<br /><br />I hope that these words and sermon bring you encouragement as well as send you further along the path of holiness and happiness.<br /><br />Blessings Along The Way, Jim+Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-35011580901296369572011-12-14T14:33:00.000-08:002011-12-14T14:41:31.114-08:00Giving or receiving - which "gift" is easier for you?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Willimon"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSsFkRMXpvBz8JUGf9CYm6WcrwTDRBK0rJ_9R8Nvzhi8Y0Addr_tyLFaCSCAs8-e8fZ4Jrp7DRkwONZpkEzTPUjGlRHOiMGOT2FM_m0l0Rw7-5Ecbez98PFKv3ACWojs-h5itWObf9mQ/s320/Bishop-Will-Willimon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686116280771240818" border="0" /></a><br />I was reading a remarkable article by Methodist Bishop William Willimon this morning. He was differentiating between being the giver and the receiver, especially at Christmas time. He suggests that, generally speaking, people in our culture are more comfortable with giving rather than receiving. Folks like to give gifts to other people this time of year because, in Willimon's opinion, <span style="color: rgb(248, 145, 255);"><em>we enjoy thinking of ourselves as basically generous, benevolent giving people...Christmas is a season to celebrate our alleged generosity."</em></span> (Willimon, <a style="color: rgb(229, 154, 255); text-decoration: underline;" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108961008428&s=0&e=001iPwp1oNALMN7WnlbrHOSiSddAiny5D8oNNc7EERHc6Dx4LOhzxRq3xapsdE_8nRCwUmGy8u4d-y9HlPm_N4rBB_r1JtywTPDzT8lrpbJ8lnt7L27n9f1BFGcfsWK5tA_t3nVfLGLXXzNgdb6QyOgqqGjrT2PW15Jdpxb6tJ_vU0=" shape="rect" target="_blank">Watch for the Light</a>, page 143."). He adds that "we" (I infer he means educated, somewhat wealthy to wealthy White adults) are better givers than getters not because of our generosity but because of our pride and arrogance. He concludes that such negatively reinforced generosity is completely contrary to the sort of giving the Bible describes as taking place at the very first Christmas.<br /><br />I think that Willimon is correct in some ways but I don't think our holiday generosity is so much about our pride as it is about our disdain for vulnerability and receptivity. All of us possess some sense, if not a great deal of vanity. The more money that I spend on someone else's gift will make it (and me) more valuable to them. That's one way of thinking, however misguided such manipulation may be. We may also think that the quantitative value of our present is more meaningful than the value of our presence to someone. The folks at <a style="color: rgb(216, 141, 253); text-decoration: underline;" shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108961008428&s=0&e=001iPwp1oNALMN7WnlbrHOSiSddAiny5D8oNNc7EERHc6Dx4LOhzxRq3xapsdE_8nRC7r-ANwFhfip6g_m8MkBZbEmPMYh8IFsDlqGRByYhcw8u2OJWKBqJpgCs5QDOal_4eeaB95OQ2rE=" target="_blank">Advent Conspiracy</a> suggest this is not the right way of thinking about generosity as Christmas draws nearer. The proper response: spend less on gifts and give more of yourself to those you love.<br /><br /><br />I'd <a class="imgCaptionAnchor" shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108961008428&s=0&e=001iPwp1oNALMN7WnlbrHOSiSddAiny5D8oNNc7EERHc6Dx4LOhzxRq3xapsdE_8nRC6PqRdtpR5ctC9pJ5W6sXuL_QkqHy6jrAo505plkPgfE70PE-W3YJcYuxaMibEojP" target="_blank"><img style="text-align: left;" src="https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs020/1101968623887/img/110.jpg" name="ACCOUNT.IMAGE.110" alt="Mary and the Baby Jesus" align="left" border="0" height="212" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="179" /></a> suggest there's an equally if not more important aspect of giving vs. receiving. Mary, Jesus' mother, provides a perfect example of being a recipient rather than a giver. It's not uncommon to hear about Mary's obedience and humility. Both of those traits are assuredly true about her response to <a style="color: rgb(216, 141, 253); text-decoration: underline;" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108961008428&s=0&e=001iPwp1oNALMN7WnlbrHOSiSddAiny5D8oNNc7EERHc6Dx4LOhzxRq3xapsdE_8nRC6PqRdtpR5ctC9pJ5W6sXuL_QkqHy6jrAo505plkPgfFSkH2vfTbWeI6f-ovqTUNT" shape="rect" target="_blank">Gabriel's announcement</a> of her selection as the mother of The Son of The Most High. However, let's look at her way of being in a different manner. Mary was an excellent recipient of God's Grace. She was willingly vulnerable to accept whatever the future held for her, God's Son, and God as well. Whatever God's will is.... she's willing to let it happen, freely, unconditionally. Would it be as easy for a 15 or 16 year-old girl to respond this way today? What about us? When God calls in this Advent Season, are we so busy shopping for someone else that we miss God's invitation to receive and share Grace rather than worldly goods?<br /><br />Receiving Grace on our parts requires relinquishing control and power over the situations we confront. I think this reality is probably why many Christians speed up and stay busy during Advent, rather than slowing down and just "being." Remaining still and allowing God to be God within us requires a HUGE leap of faith in God's providence as well as an equally large dose of "Letting Go." Non-stop giving, well, this is very charitable activity but it may not necessarily be an extension of God's love as much as we desire it to be.<br /><br />Bishop Willimon writes <span style="color: rgb(216, 141, 253);"><em>"This is often the way that God lov</em></span><a class="imgCaptionAnchor" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108961008428&s=0&e=001iPwp1oNALMN7WnlbrHOSiSddAiny5D8oNNc7EERHc6Dx4LOhzxRq3xapsdE_8nRCwUmGy8u4d-w_xWAC9OkgDk7BS0_wb4GZDKS7SRShS-r7p6GCI1ih4m6rDnQsX3oF" shape="rect" target="_blank"><img style="text-align: right;" src="https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs020/1101968623887/img/112.gif" name="ACCOUNT.IMAGE.112" alt="Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" align="right" border="0" height="281" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="263" /></a><span style="color: rgb(216, 141, 253);"><em>es us: with gifts we thought we didn't need , which transforms us into people we don't necessarily want to be. ...this stranger comes to us, blesses us with a gift, and calls us to see ourselves for who we are, empty handed recipients of a gracious God who, rather than leave us to our own devices, gives us a baby."</em></span> (Willimon, <a href="http://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/9781570755415" shape="rect">Watch for the Light</a>, page 149.)<br /><br />I share my wishes and prayers for you that you'll live into the Grace of freely and responsibly accepting the beauty and holiness of God's presence in the dwindling days of Advent. May you find at least one opportunity each day between now and Christmas Eve to receive rather than give. Open yourself up to the living possibilities of welcoming the Christ-child into your presence with a somewhat unexpected hope that an angel will find you prepared to faithfully believe in God's surprising Love.<br /><br />Blessings Along The Way, Jim+Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-66533277708642921932011-12-04T13:48:00.000-08:002011-12-04T13:50:23.467-08:00December 4, 2011 Sermon-- Prophets and Professors - Check out what's in the Wilderness Box..<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 258px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9RW4bzAMCCk6s25X4iPW83SP6gloh2m7Q4DFlxIbJBMeZjZj3CMJrSR_FoPbFRAAqKXyahuMypAXTmUwiE0exVrsjTtrU0tKFICUm-Cw5l0hiDgSQh9sd0yNpa5PwxJtpy3Y5NRw5w/s320/johnbaptist.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682393737453684786" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Here's what I thought might be the good news of John the Baptist for the people of <a href="http://www.stjamescincy.org/">St. James</a> this morning:<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://stjamescincy.podbean.com/2011/12/04/december-4-2011-sermon-prophets-and-professors-check-out-whats-in-the-wilderness-box/">December 4, 2011 Sermon-- Prophets and Professors - Check out what's in the Wilderness Box..</a>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-40486354180718551862011-11-27T11:35:00.000-08:002011-11-27T11:53:16.367-08:00Advent Considerations<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://anglicansonline.org/special/advent.html"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBn5B9M0tMiTwDy7VDSF-Niw4gvDyzUQXAFDr33q0aB5nWLzss1Y3XNWm_EPNpbkOsG3LVFeVxaHZX9YMXhtGC3knAL3cU1wo14siq6IMN-6J5-ncfHRr9fBG1IGZI9A5_4fMQfs0yzQ/s320/advent-candles.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679762783211505234" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 204); font-style: italic;">The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 204); font-style: italic;">the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 204); font-style: italic;"> ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 204); font-style: italic;"> make his paths straight,’”</span> (<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=189422560">Mark 1:1-3</a>)<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">What do you want for </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.rejesus.co.uk/site/module/christmas_pub_quiz/">Christmas</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">? It's the timeless question that Santa Claus asks of children who sit on his lap in shopping centers from Westwood to Walla Walla. Parents similarly query children about their Christmas wishes. The kids' responses often create tension rather than pleasure. The ever-increasing cost of a 4-gigabyte iPod or an upgraded iPad tablet doesn't necessary bring the joy of Christ's birth into a family's holiday. “Things” do not necessarily remind children and adults alike that Jesus the Christ was born in the equivalent of a rural Motel-6 garage. If not, what does?</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">It's probably fairly commonplace for a pastor or priest to bemoan the corporate and secular worlds' claims to Jesus' birthday. Yes, I witnessed Christmas decorations being displayed before All Saints' Day. Yes, I started receiving coupons for <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=black+friday+2011&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=black+friday+2011&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=mJ6&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsu&source=univ&tbm=nws&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=eZLSToLoOOj20gGXjtUK&ved=0CHsQqAI&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=9da509c114e6a080&biw=1440&bih=702">Black Friday </a>sales in my e-mail inbox before the Thanksgiving holiday. There doesn't seem to be any means by which I can push back against the Amazons of December. However, maybe it isn't even necessary to do so if and when we come back to the question that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas">Santa</a> asks of children and, implicitly, that God asks of us as Advent opens before us. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://allwomenstalk.com/10-christmas-shopping-dos-and-don%E2%80%99ts/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyTomY91lM2kn9xBk4xxOdp6B-pG_KTuhhPX0rR-AA1ladca0n5AWMN0z2yQNB5rmbwiUU8bkfp2GPMeuTuSeyFhdMfsqOGkMp2xsv6Bf6xMVxL3BpkKgPuHiWA_V8ZN6fTW_CFDkCgw/s320/8318769-christmas-theme-santa-claus-and-children-having-a-fun-isolated-over-white-background.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679763996172472482" border="0" /></a>What do you want for Christmas this year?</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent">Advent</a> offers 24 days to delve into the true meaning of Christ's pending arrival in our hearts and homes. What is it that we truly desire? Is it the coolest 3-D video game? Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Wouldn't it be intriguing to delve even more deeply into the question(s) of our “wants?” What are we in want of as we turn on the (<a href="http://factoidz.com/energy-efficient-christmas-lights-and-decorations/">energy- efficient!</a>) Christmas lights around our house? What are we truly yearning for as we invite friends and family to spend some precious time with us between now and Christmas Eve? The answers to these questions may reveal some prayerful possibilities as we trim Christmas trees or strive to find those perfect gifts for the people we love most.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />A truth of Advent is this: <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Jung">Vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit</a>. (Bidden or unbidden, God is present). <a href="http://wiki.faithfutures.org/index.php?title=Jesus_Database">Jesus</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_God">Son of God</a>, who is born in a stable to an underemployed carpenter and a teenage mother, is going to gaze into their and our human hearts on Christmas whether we are aware of it or not. The angels of the heavenly host are not going to sing their Glorias only to rulers sitting on thrones in palaces of grandeur. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_God"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2RaI5SU-ZT1BLcHeYD53SkVHHoHvBk4szIRCaZbWxVZDtQrlOwXTUKuH2J8MvfFyfLxGx4iAt_7nb61WNoe500mg7jjpJknnVESelCeRvORhc7XMQjaYdRjuPPCtYB3SdE04MGgIf7Q/s320/christmasmystery.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679765259388095010" border="0" /></a> They will also proclaim the joy of God's peace and goodwill to a bunch of smelly and forgotten-about shepherds camped out on a chilly night in some hills miles away from the glitter of grand houses or big city malls. You will hear their message when we offer Lessons and Carols on Dec. 18th. You will hear it again when we sing Hosanna on Christmas Eve. With any luck, the glory of their songs and the joy of Jesus Christ's birth will be really apparent to you long before then.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">If God's love is indeed truly present with or without our direct invitation, this <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/26/advent-2011_n_1113578.html">Advent Season</a> is an opportune time to discover more deeply our lives' desires. The silence of prayer during our special Advent worship services may provide just the sacred space that you need to hear God's message as <a href="http://faithofacenturion.blogspot.com/2005/12/zachariah-and-elizabeth-lessons-about.html">Elizabeth and Zachariah</a> did. Some unbidden angel might approach you as you are standing in a store line or jotting down your “holiday greetings” on this year's family Christmas Card. I can't say. What I will say is this: yearn for something wonder-full between now and Christmas Day. Take time to get inside of your “wants” so that God can somehow respond to you in a way that Apple cannot. Ponder how you and we as a church can be a living example of the baby Jesus' love for his family and the world around them (and us).</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">What do you really, really, REALLY desire for Christmas this year? May you discover these Advent answers even as Santa and his elves are busily working toward their big day and the Gospel begins to proclaim yet again The Lord's birth on Christmas Day.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />Blessings Along The Way, Jim+</span></span>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-28954667207525590042011-10-26T14:59:00.000-07:002011-10-31T11:58:53.185-07:00Dia De Los Muertes and other approaching Autumn liturgical commemorationsI was mowing the lawn at home yesterday afternoon; perhaps for the last time this calendar year. My thoughts drifted to the theme of Autumn as I cut the grass. I recalled that children will be coming to house for Halloween candy in a few days. And, <a shape="rect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgllDtfmTySaUeZF5UwBY4wC7snYcnB2ronAvIb_5sXxfFyerMNGrafv_vb63BbryII0CHV-bXqSXLa2GzPE0HO0wyk0nZcLAjhiX_AiXrsRlva1KxInztgFaQU7sI8CXKyuOre04FXmg/s1600/AllSaints.jpg" name="13341524b9fe7ef9_ACCOUNT.IMAGE.78" width="230.4" vspace="5" border="0" alt="All Saints Icon" align="right" height="154.8" hspace="5" style="text-align: right; " /></a>around the same time, the Church's feasts of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints">All Saints</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Souls%27_Day">All Souls</a> will pass by. One of those events is a kinda big deal whereas two enduring religious practices will probably go unnoticed by the majority of people here in the United States.<br /><br />It's odd isn't it? We've commercialized <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Hallows_Eve">All Hallow's Eve</a> without realizing that its roots reside principally in ancient and medieval religious holidays. I love chocolate about as much as anybody and it will be cool to hand out candy to the children who come to my door on the 31st. Nonetheless, I wish that we did a better job of recalling our ancestors and their customs.<br /><br />The Celts <a shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108331141886&s=0&e=001ef2A8q5CT8306oWenoEpeCYrcbXMsYkmxlJq2oNwP91tZ15nD_lwKS8mYRwC_3ScaC3Lgh5g-P_z7GEV_NqClsOlNZNNdZKItIOmJygf8Iwxuc7VogegXw==" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(6, 88, 181); "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq37AteA0LenOu2SDGNjzGyAMMxwjN15PaSyUDf75nqPF6_O39BMAJbfDi6tvLDx1uU-s1Q9zuS537V10nLk53zInvHygcFN8yfdrU4t4Y-L6BY-S3RMLump2HzgH_ovUiQWb7VxxW4Q/s1600/samhain.jpg" name="13341524b9fe7ef9_ACCOUNT.IMAGE.77" width="164.5" vspace="5" border="0" alt="Samhain" align="left" height="224.19" hspace="5" style="text-align: left; " /></a>celebrated <a shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108331141886&s=0&e=001ef2A8q5CT8306oWenoEpeCYrcbXMsYkmxlJq2oNwP91tZ15nD_lwKS8mYRwC_3ScaC3Lgh5g-P_z7GEV_NqClsOlNZNNdZKItIOmJygf8Iwxuc7VogegXw==" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">Samhain</span></a> - a harvest festival marking the transition from summer to winter (light to dark). Samhain was also a time to note that the natural cycle of life around them was passing through its own moments of death. They created religious rituals so that living people would benefit from the energies of increase that lead out of death back to life. (Kondratiev, 1997).<br /><br />Ancient Christians were coincidentally commemorating the lives of the martyrs who were responsible for instituting the faith as well as providing models of living for Jesus' disciples to adhere to in the own communities. Pope Gregory III instituted<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> <a shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108331141886&s=0&e=001ef2A8q5CT8306oWenoEpeCYrcbXMsYkmxlJq2oNwP91tZ15nD_lwKS8mYRwC_3ScaC3Lgh5g-P_z7GEV_NqClsOlNZNNdZKItIOmJygf8IzqW7kPUWwoyXbMvDo7s1p0" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: underline; ">All Saints Day</a> </span>on the 1st of November when he dedicated an oratory for relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world."<a shape="rect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dia_de_los_Muertos"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyGI4Io1shTTGa6u9ZS_PbL_Aak_OghkmMBs91fz43RebxZFKtak9KC4cc1ehpuvZZ_JG2AbFDSLd2wUODWgJ5hr9M9dynBHYTISHBzcFRQ1z5f01XHNDzgrlVWu6-XfgFbLuEPfu6VA/s1600/diadelos.jpg" name="13341524b9fe7ef9_ACCOUNT.IMAGE.76" width="189" vspace="5" border="0" alt="Dia de Los Muertos" align="right" height="147.84" hspace="5" style="text-align: right; " /></a> All Saints has been significant liturgical date in the Catholic calendar ever since.<div><br /></div><div><span style=" text-decoration: underline; font-size:12pt;color:#3333ff;"><a shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108331141886&s=0&e=001ef2A8q5CT8306oWenoEpeCYrcbXMsYkmxlJq2oNwP91tZ15nD_lwKS8mYRwC_3ScaC3Lgh5g-P_z7GEV_NqClsOlNZNNdZKItIOmJygf8Iyt8O0guJHJWwG8YsCfhRTP" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: underline; ">Dia De </a> </span><span style=" text-decoration: underline; font-size:12pt;"><a shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108331141886&s=0&e=001ef2A8q5CT8306oWenoEpeCYrcbXMsYkmxlJq2oNwP91tZ15nD_lwKS8mYRwC_3ScaC3Lgh5g-P_z7GEV_NqClsOlNZNNdZKItIOmJygf8Iyt8O0guJHJWwG8YsCfhRTP" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333ff;">Los Muertos</span></a><a shape="rect" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=pisfhjcab&et=1108331141886&s=0&e=001ef2A8q5CT8306oWenoEpeCYrcbXMsYkmxlJq2oNwP91tZ15nD_lwKS8mYRwC_3ScaC3Lgh5g-P_z7GEV_NqClsOlNZNNdZKItIOmJygf8Iyt8O0guJHJWwG8YsCfhRTP" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 214); font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: underline; "> </a></span> is a Mexican holiday that occurs on All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Family and friends gather to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Traditional activities include building private altars and consuming the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. Costumes are a huge part of the festivities albeit this aspect of "The Day of the Dead" has similarly become commercialized.<div><div> </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>Mowing the grass shouldn't probably be such a contemplative practice but living into the realities of our mortality, noticing the change of season, and offering thanks for our religious and familial ancestors should be. We will celebrate All Saints Day at <a href="http://www.stjamescincy.org/">St. James</a> on Nov. 6. In the meantime, what does this Autumn Season mean to you as we pass from the long warm and muggy days of summer to the colder, shorter sunlit moments of Winter? Is there someone in your recent or distant past who profoundly impacted your life and faith. If so, how will you be commemorate their lives on All Saints or All Souls Day? Perhaps there's a family ritual that you can create or maybe you'll want to share a special kind of candy with the children who visit you in their costumes. I don't know but hopefully these autumn days will not pass you by unnoticed nor will God's immanent and loving presence be lost in the Trick or Treats either. </div><br /><br /><div>Blessings Along The Way, </div><div><br /></div><div>Jim+ </div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </p></div></div>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-66103506076554959672011-10-25T07:58:00.000-07:002011-10-25T10:22:10.535-07:00Religious Root Canals<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/dental-root-canals#whatis"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 108px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVjFdWCXWN0KxJ_IjqokDRynLxM-_1SZCTyUesCCQh3Yy1jhS8LNdBW-tG9prNzkG3ymjAYwyzvRc2JEE_5ftthsjBOrKM9sPMcgLChU7q3S6Pbq78EIAp2v29dZnEA1AHCdJ1A_kmg/s320/template_rootcanal_clip_image002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667444737556946226" border="0" /></a><br />I've spent the last few days pondering the roots of my family and faith. I have dwelt in coincidental moments of bliss, fear, fun, and bewilderment.<br /><br />For example, we had a wonderful time this last weekend at <a href="http://www.stjamescincy.org/">St. James</a>. Our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127905240645082">OctoberBlest</a> celebration was a huge success. The food was excellent. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127905240645082"><img style="float:right; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 280px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-0LY-XwgMXxhAXcTK4EEMHaOeEr9T1pmwRDjTm88Kln3cEhYT9mdlqeWzTNAAk3CfV9lif4-tWa6FUWj5Y972FTeC0SVQSEXbUT1h8ZNQsuYs0gN46sLzE9paOIqXuo-nug5TYMI6TA/s320/octoberblest1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667446004059960610" border="0" /></a> The gift baskets were beautiful! The fellowship was fun and fruitful. It was more than I could have expected and hoped for and reminded me of what a blessing it is to have wise and committed lay leaders and parishioners. We continued with our festivities on Sunday morning. The liturgy was really quite good if I don't say so myself and the music was superb! The choir performed a wonderful rendition of a hymn that was commissioned for the parish on the celebration of its centennial last year. We finished up with a rousing recessional singing of <a href="http://www.lyricstime.com/gospel-lead-me-guide-me-lyrics.html">Lead Me, Guide Me</a>. The tune reminded me and others of our Baptist roots. We aren't nearly as good as the Greater Fountain of Life Male Chorus but we surely enjoyed praising our Lord as best as we could. <div style="float:left;margin:10px 10px 5px 5px;"><object align="left" height="287" width="380"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yUsY7HAwr8U?version=3&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yUsY7HAwr8U?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="287" width="380"></embed></object></div> In sum, it was a wonderful time. Our patron saint, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_the_Just">St. James of Jerusalem</a> hopefully would have appreciated the activities we engaged in to honor him and his outreach to the Gentiles. I pray that everything that we accomplished this past weekend may serve as a celebratory and dynamic springboard for accomplishing Jesus Christ's work, prayer, and play in the weeks, months, and years to come.<br /><br />My thoughts and prayer have not only dwelt on what is happening at the parish where I serve. My mother has been ill for many weeks now. My sister, brother, other relatives, friends, and neighbors celebrated her birthday back in June. She had an automobile accident just a couple of weeks thereafter. She's been in and out of the hospital since that time. Thus, many of us have been wrestling with the difficulties of what to do as our 90-year-old mother's health and spirits are failing. It's not been easy and I'm learning about the experiences that many parishioners have shared with me when their parents' health declines and end-of-life issues surface and require immediate and strategic attention.<br /><br />The best of times and the worst of times are spiritual and real-world "<a href="http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/dental-root-canals#whatis">root canal</a>" events in some ways. Church celebrations allow church members to recognize the difficulties of the past, the realities of the present, and the hopes for the future. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDfCpDXQfMRglQLR9DD7bsL9Cs9t6KWjCcPmkgjn9kfA7On5S1bGsWF1aYJtw1TnDdz5qeqOn9OtpneilVK9nM_CViYinnVRvWwuw5nvYeD_CK1v-v7yCFxlqp2NyWCJ94ABY65Mg7wg/s1600/octoberblest2.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDfCpDXQfMRglQLR9DD7bsL9Cs9t6KWjCcPmkgjn9kfA7On5S1bGsWF1aYJtw1TnDdz5qeqOn9OtpneilVK9nM_CViYinnVRvWwuw5nvYeD_CK1v-v7yCFxlqp2NyWCJ94ABY65Mg7wg/s320/octoberblest2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667473599078152306" border="0" /></a> We celebrate the dreams and inspiration that our ancestors have offered to us while fully knowing that our common life with one another has never been easy and often been complicated. Nonetheless we seize upon the opportunity to offer our thanks, raise money for our mission, and move forward with our faith and trust in a loving and blessed God who has brought us this far and will us and those that follow in the future even further.<br /><br />On a personal level, my familial circumstances are not indifferent. We are coming to a crossroads when each and all of us will have to reconcile the realities of our paths, gather with one another to be with, and encourage one another in the uncertainties of today, and assess what steps lie ahead and should be trod. The root canal metaphor especially works in this case because family dynamics are never with wounds. Cleansing, forgiveness, and healing need to occur. Bandages, and in some cases, long term infectious, compassionate control needs to offered and received. It's intriguing in my own experience because almost all families, including mine, are in need of Jesus Christ's re-conciliatory Grace. Repentance and return to The Lord hand in hand needs to occur. Spiritual and real world root canals hurt. However the operation itself and the time thereafter provide clean and sacred moments for improved health and contentment to occur.<br /><br />Each day of living seemingly provides us a palette of emotional shades to behold and belong in. How we experience God within the<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8iTeDl_Wug"> 525,600 minutes</a> of each year presents the basis for the ways in which we live our lives. <div style="float:left;margin:10px 10px 5px 5px;"><object align="right" height="243" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/x8iTeDl_Wug?version=3&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/x8iTeDl_Wug?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="243" width="420"></embed></object></div> For Christians, our births, our trials, our triumphs, our temptations, our turbulent times, and our times of total happiness reside in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ who came into the world so that we might experience God's love, compassion, and hope more fully with our families and churches alike.<br /><br />Blessings Along The Way, Jim+Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-55350213481745691642011-09-26T07:55:00.000-07:002011-09-26T08:24:06.087-07:00Welcoming and Working Parishes<a href="http://www06.homepage.villanova.edu/christopher.j.wilson/calvary.htm" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LrBixYhDDZ7mdrp75QC3OMry934YWUXBTtcPReV3gCyToBoH4YdrSovKGrYPajhhEVCnuCbcZ2sY6l__SK_WBSppWRihOoywi4FBtL_kI1tPDwpcL9EgAr4n9g-_TnWxKsjbEyGC7A/s320/chagall_calvary.jpg" align="left: width=" border="2" height="252" /></a><p> I'm glad to see that my "stand out" friend and blogger The Rev. <a href="http://forwardmovement.org/forward-movement-names-new-executive-director.html">Scott Gunn</a> is back to blogging again. I've missed his work while coincidentally understanding how difficult it is to keep writing ingenuous posts while beginning a new vocational undertaking. Scott+ has been very busy, I think, getting settled at <a href="http://forwardmovement.org/">Forward Movement</a>. Godspeed and blessings for him and his staff as they strive to transform that organization into a vibrant evangelistic 21st Century Episcopalian publisher. Their transformational <a href="http://forwardmovement.org/how-a-weary-and-divided-episcopal-church-gets-reinvigorated.html">mission</a> is to "reinvigorate the life of the church and to rehabilitate its general, diocesan, and parochial work.” Scott+ possesses a much grander mission to accomplish in comparison to mine as the new Rector of <a href="http://st-james-cincinnati.diosohio.org/index.html">St. James</a> Episcopal Church - Westwood. He's nonetheless found the time to crank up his worthwhile blog: <a href="http://www.sevenwholedays.org/">Seven Whole Days</a>. He's consequently inspired me to get back to continuing my virtual quandary of the Christian life <a href="http://christian-quandary.blogspot.com/?spref=fb">here</a>.<br /></p><p> I've missed my writing. I find blogging to be a cathartic and contemplative spiritual practice even as I ponder what it means to be a faithful Christian disciple, leader, preacher, and teacher. I infer that Scott+ and I both are interested in seeing that <a href="http://episcopalchurch.org/">The Episcopal Church </a>and its parishes that we serve and love will not continue to<a href="http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/FACTs_on_Episcopal_Church_Growth.pdf"> decline</a> in membership and missionary influence in local neighborhoods and across the broader <a href="http://anglicancommunion.org/">Anglican Communion</a>. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/C.-Kirk-Hadaway/e/B001HCS13I">C. Kirk Hadaway</a> suggests that there are some factors such as where our parishes are located and the demographic makeup of the neighborhoods where our churches reside that we have little control over as we accomplish the work that God has given us to do in our ministries and programmatic vineyards. <a href="http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/FACTs_on_Episcopal_Church_Growth.pdf" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-LMgSK1IVEKYXiU9sccKtA6jhtS4e8lESS54H0hyRNPCPfC5fFSBa19PDSbneUC4bL0UQVhbV8TCEJLKlJ9QitgyHL9ERcxKDt-9O5C-UWfn81PGL8rhTWL8arOhE-SRexLQqUvbvOg/s320/New_Comers.jpg" border="0" height="201" width="280" /></a> (Image by <a href="http://www.mattglover.com/wordpress/wordpress/">Matt Glover</a>) Nonetheless, as Scott+ points out in his most recent <a href="http://www.sevenwholedays.org/2011/09/25/practicing-our-slogan/">post</a>; there's plenty that we do have a great deal of control and influence over as we "welcome" new and reluctant members to join us in worshipping God and proclaiming <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=184044419">Christ's Gospel</a> in innovative and life-giving ways. We can ensure that we indeed welcome guests when they come to visit our churches to worship with us. We can (re)learn how to practice hospitality and the care for newcomers in our midst. Scott+ wrote: "<i style="color: #274e13;">I’m not breaking new ground when I say that most congregations simply aren’t welcoming. Sure, the current members feel welcome, but that’s because they’re already in the club. If you show up as a new face, there’s often a distinct lack of warmth. When I visit congregations, I’m usually not wearing a clerical collar, so I get the same welcome that they’d give any guest. It’s usually not much of a welcome at all.</i><span style="color:#274e13;">" </span> Those are disquieting words but they are indicative of my previous visits to many Episcopal Churches around the country. These communities aren't unusual - it's human nature to form communities that are comfortable and often exclusionary. The truth is though, our parishes and our work as stewards apostolic Anglican stewards will indeed die if we don't embrace a different way of "being church."<br /><br />I'll be honest. I've been so busy focusing on making sure that my microphone works and the acolytes are vested that I haven't placed as much emphasis on our hospitality as I should. I did do a couple of things yesterday though. I went out to the curb before our 8:00 am services and waved to drivers-by - just to say hello. I almost immediately noticed that someone had written graffiti on our church sign. That event led me to consider whether or not signs on the lawns outside of our churches are value-added. That thought led me to more ponder an even deeper question: <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/105778141899903899712/OurChurch" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s68jdagC2cM/TSTigYkoAHI/AAAAAAAAAF8/xmPGwMebNMA/s320/SR1_2771-Edit.jpg" border="0" height="165" width="250" /></a> What are the living "signs" of a "successful parish. I didn't have to look very far. They are symbolically there on the side of our buildings and inside our chancel. The cross, the altar, and the presence of Christ in communion with us and one another are the visible and "living" signs of who Jesus Christ is calling us to be.</p><p> I agree with everything that Scott is writing about in his blog and I think that there is even more for us to consider. We aren't only welcoming people to come and be with us so that our churches don't close and our dioceses decline. We're proclaiming a message that's counter-cultural to the people around us and to ourselves. One of our primary goals is to obediently and humbly follow Christ to the Cross and beyond. We don't live for our own well-being. We live for the benefit and Grace of others and the world that we live in. </p><p>Paul in the Second Chapter of Philippians writes: <i style="color: #274e13;">"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,"</i> (<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=184047351">Philippians 2: 3-5</a>)<span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" ><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" >. The Cross is a symbol for our death-defying acts of compassion that we share with our guests. The<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altar#Anglican_churches"> altar</a> is the symbolic and "real world" place where Christians offer their time, talents, and treasures to their faith community and The Lord they follow and serve. The fact that there are few East-facing and standing altars in Episcopal Churches expresses the fact that our altars are not only about some sort of mysterious consecratory, ritualistic acts. We now welcome younger and older people alike to share in the sacramental and liturgical work that we are doing with one another. </span>Lastly, communion unites us with Christ and one another. Jesus the Christ is present with us every time we meet one another at the altar rail. We are fed there so that we can feed others.<br /><br />Each and all of these living symbols are the basis for our hospitality and, still more, the reasons for proclaiming the faith that we share with our guests in our parishes as well as in all of the other hospitable work that Jesus Christ is calling us to do.</span></p><p class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippi" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Philippi_basilica_B.jpg/220px-Philippi_basilica_B.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style=";font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" >I will be spending more time thinking, writing (blogging), and preaching about Paul's <a href="http://www.textweek.com/pauline/phil.htm">Letter to the Philippians</a> over the course of the next couple of weeks. I'll get to that right after tending to the graffiti. Truthfully, I'm thinking that the manner in which Paul shared Christ's Gospel with the people of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippi">Philippi</a> is still true and "value-added" for us. The Church at Philippi began as a small prayer meeting house and grew over time until it became a large cathedral. Paul's ministry in that place to Gentiles from Italy and Greece thrived over time. It also thrived because there were active gold mines there too. Nonetheless Paul implored the Philippians (and us) to imitate Christ by pouring ourselves and our churches out for the people nearby. That's an alternative yet apostolic message that I believe will resonate with people who are searching for God as well as welcoming opportunities to make a difference in the neighborhoods, suburbs, downtown locations, and rural settings where our Episcopal parishes are established and yet to come into being.</span></span></p><p><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" ><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" >Blessings Along The Way, Jim+<br /></span></span></p><p><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" ><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" ><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" > </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" ><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" ><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" ><span style="Times New Roman",serif;font-family:Georgia,";font-size:100%;" > </span></span></span></span></p>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-30396962388030543012011-08-14T14:42:00.001-07:002011-08-14T19:04:00.804-07:00Who we eat with & why it so important<a href="http://www.neverthirsty.org/pp/bible-studies/life-of-christ/study089/LH01.html" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 181px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5fAO747xF8bJxbAYY7uFPS3llQ-8KpO5R_mqUc0_Ez5RiKMgHES0e6k9TY1ixBJQo88wOcNMkaByAZZBmsl1Ny3VnWADA8vWbRC666Eq4ZMfYJ5_Kr6P5nKzlxnJcf-V1TsldMIypuQ/s400/syrophoenician_colombe_200h.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640832162377567010" /></a>
<br />This morning's <a href="http://www.textweek.com/yeara/propera15.htm">gospel</a> is one of those texts that offers listeners numerous opportunities to reflect upon. For example, a person can focus on <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+15:10-28&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Jesus' denouncement</a> of ancient Jewish purity codes. He obviously wasn't as concerned with public health issues as the Pharisees but he accurately describes where the root of human evil resides, in a person's selfish, destructive, and degrading vices. Certainly, one could also seek to unpack the basis for Jesus' rude treatment of the Syrophoenician/Canaanite women. Pastor and homiletics professor <a href="http://www.utsnyc.edu/Page.aspx?pid=370">Barbara K. Lundblad</a> properly <a href="http://odysseynetworks.org/on-scripture-matthew-15-21-28">states</a> that <i> ... <span class="Apple-style-span">"We’ll do almost anything to make Jesus who we want him to be. But Matthew doesn’t clean up this story. Matthew dares to give us a very human Jesus and he paints a specific picture of this woman. She is a Canaanite woman. She is not one of Jesus’ people."</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span">
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<br /></div><div>The point that I became most interested with was (is) the multiple nuances around the term "Canaanite." Canaanites were the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaanite_religion#cite_note-14">polytheistic religious inhabitants</a> of the Levant region prior to the Israelites arrival in the land. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyre,_Lebanon" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 260px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFiJGnl5kA3Ho2KBTd6t4kMbzkhKbL2lyWmYxUpvrDS23ExUzTBRyZ5GdYyIkkWhSFO4QW7PEKpH2UUPzaomYlrj_FpHiGtOLZFXn14ekgMIB2S7DlxLbylsuHAieeSfNkrOzCseA_pA/s400/800px-TyreAlMina.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640886955921450930" /></a>Tyre was a cosmopolitan seaport were the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan#cite_note-9">Canaanites</a> (Phoenicians) prospered and traded a variety of goods and services with people from all over the Mediterranean Basin, including a unique and costly purple <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan">Canaanite</a> cloth. The woman that impacts Jesus' understanding of his mission to redeem humanity is much more complex than a simple peasant woman with a sick daughter. She is conceptually and practically much more dynamic than that imagery. She represents a historical group of people as well as a urban, socioeconomic individual who is vastly different than the Torah observant disciples traveling with Jesus. Her "line of work" may or may not have been suspect.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>I mention all of these facts because it's apparent that the people we encounter who differ from us potentially offer the most profound and life-changing lessons for our consideration. It's tough to travel to a different place or neighborhood and comfortably interact with people. It's even more awkward when food is involved. Eating is such a life-giving human behavior and humans have inculcated all sorts of eating rituals and morals. Nonetheless, it's very easy to assume that our way of doing things, including the construction of our theologies regarding God and our "neighbors" are right when we only possess our comprehension of such doctrines and disciplines. We become much more entrenched in our ways of thinking and being when our experience is the only one that we know. Matthew literally has to move Jesus and his disciples out of Galilee and into Canaan in order to get this point across. The question for us remains, will we allow ourselves to be similarly moved.</div><div>
<br /></div><div><a href="http://www.cincy.com/home/neighborhoods.html" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 95px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJXBMjpBlomRoxwxp-4O6D808xUt98atCLnX0Qvir0Dkpdd7pcOmdevA0ozoHlJonGmKaGaYj7OY27Js0nPS_X6UpjYgPr86tz_4fOCxtHXMPtCHyV3I-AUfMh45q6Kh08FHgqXTHzlQ/s320/northside_feature001.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640893084499814146" /></a>It's become clear to me in just a couple of days that <a href="http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/">Cincinnati</a>, is a city of <a href="http://www.cincy.com/home/neighborhoods.html">neighborhoods</a>. It's a terrific place to drive around and enjoy. I look forward to meeting people and eating food in<a href="http://www.cincy.com/home/neighborhoods/parms/1/hood/over-the-rhine.html"> Over The Rhine</a>, <a href="http://www.cincy.com/home/neighborhoods/parms/1/hood/wyoming.html">Wyoming</a>, and <a href="http://www.cincy.com/home/neighborhoods/parms/1/hood/clifton.html">Clifton</a>. I'm very much still a visitor. I don't know all of the various cultural nuances in this place. I'm however confident that people who live in one of these neighborhoods may not be familiar with some of the cultural particularities of people who live in another neighborhood less than 10 miles away. Apparently, mistakenly calling a "West-sider" an "East-sider" can be <a href="http://cincinnati.com/blogs/threeblocksfromthebeach/2011/01/09/cincinnati-rivalry-week-one-rivalry-at-a-time/">very detrimental</a> to one's career or well being. It's interesting to think about how such rivalries have tormented and degraded relationships between people and groups of differing religious faiths.
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<br /></div><div>The Canaanite Woman instructs Jesus and us that we can expand our perceptions of God and our own purpose a great deal when we are willing to take risks by eating and associating with someone who doesn't come from our neighborhood. We can also be a "change-agent" for others when we invite the Holy Spirit to offer the gifts of kindness, patience, and compassion that exist in our hearts. These are the Spirit's gifts which are best represented by a Christ-centered approach to life that offers <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_communion">communion</a> that is invitational rather than conflictual. It's also important to remember that words often mean more than they seem, especially when they are not our own to define. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>Blessings Along The Way,</div><div>Jim
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<br /></div>Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-397917983814032634.post-23769357326931417212011-08-07T11:43:00.000-07:002011-08-07T14:03:00.106-07:00Reporting the News<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.blogger.com/www.washingtonpost.com"><img style="float:left; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTEulDvjfKCPgB-VKoOesrcWksDwqcxDcU8IkbTLRf9tScw1kbw8o7aMpMLpBMw2hCTRuuTbrVELeei6FJqdL8ugSgtj19Lg6ZQ_si3ji8eJohcNN3HjNalnojRos-pkf5LHpUfSmUw/s400/atla-050708-newspaper01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638188939859548242" border="10" /></a> Wow, I haven't blogged in a month. I didn't realize that it's been so long since I last posted some "news" here.<br /><br />It's true that a fair amount has personally been going on for me in that time. I returned to New Jersey for a week and arranged for my household goods to be packed as well as began my "good-bye" process with friends and neighbors in <a href="http://www.cityofasburypark.com/">Asbury Park</a> and at <a href="http://www.stgeorgesrumson.org/">St. George's By The River</a>. My companion and I then traveled to <a href="http://www.ciweb.org/">Chautauqua</a> for a "<a href="http://tamswitmark.com/musicals/brigadoon.html#synopsis">Brigadoon</a>-like" week. We really had a wonderful time listening to terrific speakers such as <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/david-ignatius/2011/02/17/ABXXcOJ_page.html">David Ignatius</a> and <a href="http://www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com/about/leadership/r-james-woolsey">James Woolsey</a>. <a href="http://www.tonycampolo.org/">Tony Campolo</a> is a brilliant and humorous preacher. <a href="http://www.alexandergavrylyuk.com/">Alexander Gavrylyuk</a> is probably the finest pianist that I've ever hear perform in person. <a href="http://pinkmartini.com/">Pink Martini </a>is worth seeing if you ever get the chance as well. I loved all of it, especially when Howie+ and I were able to preside and preach with one another at <a href="http://chautauquaepiscopalchapel.org/">Chapel of The Good Shepherd</a>.<br /><br />Then, it was time to come back to the "real world." I had a week where I wrapped up what has been a wonder-full, educational, and cherished time @ St. G's. There are people there that I'm sure I will not see again. Death happens regardless of where our vocations take us. There are other good and kind souls there that I pray I will spend more time with in the months and years to come. My last <a href="http://stgeorgesrumson.org/uploads/curate20110724.mp3">sermon</a> in that place was heart-felt, emotional, and spoke of my hope that those Christians will continue to share Jesus Christ's gospel there. I love those people and believe that the Kingdom of Heaven will continue to be revealed there.<br /><br />I next traveled to Cincinnati and towards my new call at <a href="http://st-james-cincinnati.diosohio.org/">St. James - Cincinnati</a>. They are wonderful, friendly, and faithful Christians. Vacation Bible School (VBS) "<a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135922566491605">Beach Blast</a>" was a great success. I'm hopeful that that event is indicative of the energy and resources we're going to place upon our Sunday School and youth activities.<br />I can't wait to get started! My prayer is that we will feed people, neighbors, and one another even as God feeds us and beckons us to accomplish Christ's work, prayer, and play there. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135922566491605"><img style="float:right; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 260px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhshO7zac2sMVZSFeGxpH7wmrQdUxVYGwm86bfKSjxLTEBRHF_kP89PKF-3ZzwOT_zbZYHu3lMSkzXu0ingqL-gCCwhEtPXvrdFHZTJKuzLWTXI3pUhZFP0-69Ci68b2x-VJLOupq9usA/s400/289238_10150332225636999_322132331998_9957862_6232880_o.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638205859785927282" border="5" /></a>You should get to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/StJamesCincy">know and like</a> these Episcopalians too, if you don't already.<br /><br />Anyhow, that's most of my personal news; information that seems almost irrelevant in comparison to what's going on in the world around us. <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2011/08/banks-and-market-slump">High Anxiety</a> exists in the markets. <a href="http://www.standardandpoors.com/home/en/us">Standard and Poors </a>(S&P) has <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/why-treasury-and-the-rest-of-washington-is-so-furious-at-s-p/243219/">downgraded the U.S. debt</a> despite a $2 Trillion dollar accounting error. The <a href="http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=cin">Cincinnati Reds</a> were in a losing streak going into today's game. Seriously, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/world/middleeast/08syria.html">civil strife and war</a> going on in the Middle East is very depressing. It is, as Howie+ alluded to this morning in his sermon at <a href="http://stpeterspeekskill.org/">St. Peter's</a> Episcopal Church - Peekskill, difficult to even pay attention to the headlines anymore.<br /><br />Such indifference or denial however, does not make the headlines any less "real." The storms of life are as consequential for us as they were for the disciples in the boat on a scary early morning. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.textweek.com/mtlk/matt14b.htm"><img style="float:left; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 262px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpRP2CH9uK2GPKBXPCZtdX28EG4R8iQCZoM5srV8tJaj7x8F23LJ8yDw00pT5UHG6TrKt1f7P-9_w5aJnDnsx5JkOmYzzTqwcIPSxk4iIYdz_w21j9GGmJN9hWttol4MDpxomP1NcEw/s400/calm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638212348597740018" border="5" /></a>Perhaps St. Peter provides us a worthwhile way to understand our best means for staying focused on what's happening, whether it be world news or personal transition. Reach out your hands to Jesus and don't be afraid to ask for help. It's impossible to avoid waves of chaos, tragedy, and desperation on the sea of mortal life. However, a person doesn't need to drown. The eternal and incarnational God is constantly present and supportive. Christians believe that Jesus Christ will never leave us "<a href="http://asvbible.com/john/14.htm">comfortless</a>."<br /><br />Belief in God, one another, and ourselves is perhaps the greatest virtue that we can possess, especially in times of ever-increasing unemployment, uncertainty, and insecurity. The Rev. Dr. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/06787552280232329081">Elizabeth Kaeton</a> <a href="http://telling-secrets.blogspot.com/">blogged </a>a few months ago: I know that the aphorism "<span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">If you always give, you will always have" sounds paradoxical, but I believe there is great wisdom in it. Furthermore, I believe this wisdom is the antidote - the 'honey' - to the caustic brew of fear and primal rage that have combined to pollute our cultural environment.</span><br /><br />Giving is not only about charity. It's about letting go as well. It's about understanding that we have some degree of control over what's going on and about us. We don't always have a great deal of control though. We can't make our household goods show up exactly when we want or get the job that we've always desired. We should be grateful and generous when those events do occur. Moreover, We can believe and act as if God possesses a desirable, violence-free outcome for us and all who dwell on this planet. We can reach out our spiritual and physical hands to Jesus with the hope that he and his disciples will come to our aid. We should respond if and when we can when people seek our assistance.<br /><br />The turbulent seas of life are not the end of life on this planet, at least not yet. I think that we need to set aside our fears as best as we can, climb out of the security of our boats albeit not by ourselves. There is work to be done, gifts to be shared, blessings to be received, and Jesus' eternally strong hands and heart to hold us, especially when we keep our faithful and hopeful eyes on his.<br /><br />Blessings Along The Way (It's good to be back blogging :-))Jim Straderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781331975297370366noreply@blogger.com0