Wednesday

Saw another Alfred Hitchcock movie this evening, Frenzy done in 1972.  It is a dark comedy, but the bits with the Scotland Yard investigator at home with his wife who is taking gourmet cooking lessons (French) are really funny.  Good way to unwind after a busy day.

Chrism Eucharist

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

Today I drive two and half hours to Bangor to renew my ordination vows and have lunch with the bishop and my fellow clergy.  I love the service.  It's so much more intimate here in Maine than in California.  There Grace Cathedral was filled with the hundreds of priests and deacons, retired and active that are in the diocese.  It was grand and awe inspiring, but to tell the truth, I really prefer the smaller setting here.  I couldn't make it last year because of the weather. Easter was so early and, of course, we had snow.  Of course the lazy me would prefer a half-hour drive into San Francisco even if it means spending $10 to park my car.  Probably more now.  As I leave there are flood warnings. Lots of rain yesterday and some of the rivers have ice jams in addition to melted snow and rain.  I think all the roads will be clear, but we'll see.  I'm leaving a bit earlier than I had planned.

Izzie's New Hero

Izzie's got a new hero.  Check out the story on her blog. Izzie loves to wander but there's no way she could take down a baby goat. Anyway goats don't run wild here.  She's more likely to run into bear, moose, deer and bobcat and some of those might like her for lunch.  And swimming isn't her thing either. It's a good thing Sophie Tucker lives so far away though, the old dog might learn new tricks.

The Missing Station 3H

There's more wonderfully silly stuff at Pharisaios. All about the Diocese of Wenchoster.  

Violence Breeds Violence

I am, like so many people, saddened and dismayed by all the violence of the past week and it lays heavy on my soul at the start of this Holy Week.  While rummaging through things I came across a site that has the art work for Stations of the Cross from Latin America by  Adolfo Pérez Esquivel of Argentina, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 1980. The stations are done as Powerpoint presentation with text by a Scot, Alastair McIntosh. The text for the Third Station, which is pictured above says:

Crushed By the Cross – Jesus falls for the first time under the burden of the Cross. Brutal violence has weighted him down, just like that which afflicts peasants, farm workers and the urban poor today. In the foreground we see Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, a man of peace who was assassinated at the altar when celebrating Mass on 24 March 1980. Jesus never taught “just war theory”; he taught nonviolence, telling Peter to put away his sword - “No more of this” (Luke 22:51). As such, the cross becomes the supreme symbol of nonviolence – the power of love that exceeds the love of power.

The Stations are based on liberation theology, which for me has its positive as well as problematic sides, but the brutal violence of so much of our world does weigh us down as did the brutal violence that Jesus experienced. It's not just in wars and civil wars that violence is played out: on Saturday the 4th of April a father shot dead his five children, then himself, near Seattle; on the same day a gunman killed three Pittsburgh policemen before he was wounded and caught; on Friday, April 3rd a gunman killed thirteen people at an immigration centre in Binghamton, New York, and then killed himself; and on Sunday March 29 a gunman killed seven elderly residents and a nurse at a nursing home in Carthage, North Carolina, then shot and wounded himself; and in another incident on that same Sunday a man killed five relatives and himself in Santa Clara, California. And there are the incidents that only make the local papers: the man who beats his wife to an inch of her life; the wife who shoots her husband because of long term abuse; the children who suffer violence in silence. It is all too much to bear. Then I look at what Jesus bore and I cry and I hope that I do reach out when a hand is needed and I thank God for never having had to endure such things myself. It is true that all violence is good for is more violence.

"No Them, Only Us"

This sermon is much shorter than usual, but the gospel is so much longer.  The title comes from Grandmere Mimi.

Palm Sunday is such a schizophrenic day. We start out by waving palms and singing and welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem and end up by nailing him to a cross.

Were the same people in that crowd greeting Jesus into Jerusalem and in the crowds demanding his execution a few days later? Maybe some of the same people were in both groups. It is more likely, however, that they were two very different crowds. The first was made up of Jesus' followers and friends from Galilee and the poor, the people with disabilities, sinners and the marginalized who heard of his reputation as a healer and teacher. The second group was made up of the throngs you'd find in any city on a big holiday. Jesus’ followers were likely anyplace but there. Only his closest followers stayed near Jesus. The crowds that usually followed him probably got wind of Jesus’ arrest and that their dream had ended and they faded away into the streets. It was pretty certain that the Jewish leaders would grab Jesus and put an end to his "good news" because they viewed it as a threat to their power. It was wise to stay low until the trouble blew over.

After all a demonstration in one of the busiest weeks of the year for Jerusalem was not going to be received very well. Passover was a busy time and for the authorities even a small demonstration like this one challenged the Roman occupation and the religious authorities. From their perspective, those people who followed Jesus were troublemakers.

So why take a happy holiday like Palm Sunday and tack the Passion on to it? Mainly, because so many people don’t come to church for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services and we can’t just leap from Palm Sunday to Easter, so we really have two themes put together in one service. But there can be no Easter without the cross. Easter is more than flowers and bunny rabbits and new clothes. And, by the way, Easter isn’t enough without Pentecost. Even though Jesus’ work here on earth was done, it would take a period of time: the time between Easter and Pentecost, for things to be changed. Things would be not to be what they were but what they were to become. It’s an interesting coincidence that this year the time between Easter and Pentecost is the time when a selection of a new rector for this church will happen. A time of death and dying followed by resurrection.

Human lives seem to work that way. John V. Taylor in his little book, Weep Not for Me, said that “Death followed by resurrection, life through dying, is the way things are. It is not a truth limited to the one event of Christ’s death and resurrection, nor does it affect us only when we approach the end of our lives. It is a principle of all existence. Hang on to what you have of life and you are lost. Let go, do the necessary dying, and a fuller, richer quality of aliveness will be given to you.”

I look at certain blogs everyday. One is written by a woman in Louisiana, called Wounded Bird. She is funny and thoughtful at the same time. She wrote one blog this past week called “No Them, Only Us.” It was about an art exhibit she had seen, but my thoughts on that phrase went immediately to this Palm Sunday. I thought about the fact that there were “no thems” in the crowd that greeted Jesus. There were “no thems” in the crowd that shouted for the release of Barabbas, there were "no thems" in the crowd that went to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus.  There are “no thems” in this country or this town or this church. There is “only us.” We don’t necessarily act that way or feel that way, but the life and work and death and resurrection of Jesus was to help us live in being "only us."

TGIF

Every other month the transition ministry people get together for a diocesan meeting.  That means the priests serving parishes in transition and the consultants who help the search committees.  Today was our meeting for this bi-monthly period.  It meant four hours of driving for a four-hour meeting, but the good thing is that I got to be with colleagues and talk about things that matter.   The parish I'm serving is in an isolated area and there are practically no colleagues to speak of or to, so these meetings are important to me for many reasons.  I appreciate the good spirit of the people who come to our meetings and the generous information exchange that takes place. 

Wednesday

My Wednesdays are always busy, but this morning I decided to start a bit earlier than usual and join some women for breakfast at the mountain. The ski trails were being groomed and the sun was shining. It was a great way to start the day. I saved a piece of bacon for my Izzie and then the two of us were off to the church for the Wednesday morning Eucharist and then an ECW meeting followed by a rehearsal for Easter with our Minister of Music. As part of the pre-service music I'm going to be playing "I know that my redeemer liveth" by James Filmore on one of my recorders accompanied by the MM on piano. It sounds a bit like a Salvation Army band piece, but it is lively and fun to play.

Wednesday evenings during Lent we have a soup supper followed by a program that this year is a video series on figures in the New Testament.  Good turnout and the soups have been great.  Then to relax I've been going to a film series of Alfred Hitchcock films.  The price of admission is a donation to the local non-profit of choice.  We're supporting two young people who are going on a mission trip this summer, so that's where my donation goes. 

By the time Wednesdays are over, I'm ready to sleep.