After the Eucharist - St. Luke's West Holloway

I’m in London for the Annual General Meeting of the Compass Rose Society which begins on Monday.  Part of what I love about the Anglican Communion is its theological breadth and liturgical diversity.

For me, the Anglican tradition is less about institutional preservation  – though I believe the tested wisdom and organizational strength of that tradition is a charism worth preserving  – and more about being rooted in rich spiritual, liturgical and theological soil.  It’s the same soil that gave us Julian of Norwich, Thomas Cranmer, C.S. Lewis, Rowan Williams, and Katherine Jefferts Schori for goodness sake!  We are living in a time where we need leaders, deeply rooted in the wisdom of Jesus, to till this soil in a rapidly changing world and post-Christian context.

It was Archbishop Rowan Williams who aptly coined the phrase “a mixed economy” to describe the kind of church which might emerge if this post-Christian context is taken to heart. Traditional or “inherited” understandings of what it means to be the Church, and emerging “fresh expressions,” should ideally be seen as complementary aspects of a single coherent ecclesiology.  I’ve seen it with my own eyes in London today.

Fr. Dave Tomlinson

This morning I attended the 11:00 Liturgy at St. Luke’s West Holloway, a parish church currently led by Fr. Dave Tomlinson, whose preaching and writing  I have admired for some time (see his Re-Enchanting Christianity here). On the parish website, Fr. Tomlinson states:

“I think I’ve the best job in the world! I’ve been the vicar of St Luke’s since 2000, and I’m more enthusiastic about the job now than the day I first took it on. St Luke’s is a glorious mishmash of people – young and old, men and women, black and white, gay and straight – who have found in this place somewhere to belong, somewhere to make friends, somewhere to grow personally and spiritually, somewhere to laugh and weep together, somewhere to explore the mystery we call God. We are a church that tries to combine the rich and broad tradition of Christianity with insights and understandings from the present, and this is reflected in our theology and worship. ”

These words are congruent with what I encountered at St. Luke’s this morning.  I was warmly welcomed both before and after the service and felt quickly at home in the open and creative set-up of the worship space.  The liturgy included a judicious use of video, poetry, and music, featuring both an adult and children’s choir accompanied by piano and organ.  The theme, based on the lectionary readings, was the “God of Creation,” and Dave concluded his fine sermon with a video setting of the poem ‘Wild Geese‘ by Mary Oliver.  It takes both spiritual sensitivity and artistic skill to blend traditional and modern elements together in a liturgy like this, and as one who believes liturgy demands our very best, I was pleased to see both elements in good evidence.

Evensong at St. James, Paddington

This evening, I made my way to St. James Paddington for a traditional liturgy of Choral Evensong.  Here I experienced a liturgy more catholic in style, in a gothic space enriched by a brilliantly designed lighting system, professional choir, dignified ceremonial, and the scent of fragrant incense beckoning the faithful to raise their hearts in glad adoration of the living God.

At St. James, Paddington,  the music of Orlando Gibbons, the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittus, the chanted psalm, the Biblical readings, the choral anthems, the opening and closing organ voluntaries, were faithfully offered–leading us into the Divine Mystery at the heart all things.  Two very different approaches to worship yet one Spirit inspiring and blessing us all.

Very rich soil indeed.

While doing some research for my sermon this Sunday, I came across a unique web-site titled, The Sabbath Manifesto, a creative project by a group of Jewish artists in search of a modern way to observe a weekly day of rest.  They have created 10 core principles and offer them to anyone looking for ways to develop a rhythm between work and rest in the relentless busyness of life.  Here are the ten principles offered on The Sabbath Manifesto web-site:

1. Avoid Technology.
2. Connect with loved ones.
3. Nurture your health.
4. Get outside.
5. Avoid commerce.
6. Light candles.
7. Drink wine.
8. Eat bread.
9. Find silence.
10. Give back.

I am helped by thinking about Sabbath both as a specific practice and as a larger metaphor to  recover the forgotten necessity of rest.  The very act of refusing to multitask seven days a week serves as a “manifesto” that we are deeply loved by God for who we are, not what we do.

Think for a moment about the significance of worship on Sunday (or any other day of regular worship for that matter).  The gathering, the readings, the preaching, the singing, the breaking of bread – why do we do this week after week?  I wonder sometimes with the amount of work that goes into preparing and attending our Sunday liturgy, if we miss the significance of what it is all about in the first place.

The Gospel we will hear on Sunday (Luke 13:10-17), takes up this issue with the powerful story of Jesus healing a woman with a severe physical handicap in the synagogue.  He is challenged by a leader of the synagogue who tries to discredit his actions while elevating the Pharisees for so dutifully and faithfully following the Mosaic Law. When Jesus sets the woman “free” from her ailment, the leader of the synagogue can only say:

“There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, not on the sabbath day.” (Luke 13:14).

Talk about an adventure in missing the point! Jesus holds a very different understanding of the gift of Sabbath. Sabbath is not only a day given to rest from labor, but is also a day linked to the Exodus event, when God’s people were released and freed from their captivity (see Deuteronomy 5: 12-15).  I think this is the sabbath tradition that Jesus refers to in Luke’s Gospel, a tradition that is based on compassion, deliverance, and renewal.

The Sabbath Day – whether the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday or the Christian day of rest and worship on Sunday – reminds us that we too need to stop, rest, delight, and be released from those aspects of our busy lives that diminish us.  If we are only “going through the motions” on Sunday, and not actually receiving the gift of a day to fast from multi-tasking and concentrate on relationships that really matter, is it any wonder that we feel as if we are treading water and barely getting by week to week?

Was Jesus on to something about the Sabbath as a day to experience being set free from what restricts and depletes us?  Is it possible for people who live in Fairfax County to adopt sabbath-keeping as a formative spiritual practice so that rather than being “bent over” by the pressures of our world we are raised up to see at eye level the wonder and gift of God’s full world?

This is the question I will seek to address in my sermon for this Sunday.  If it resonates with those who gather, I’ll post it here next week.

From Episcopal News Service

In early August, New York Times religion writer Paul Vitello touched an ecclesial nerve when he launched a story, “Taking a Break From the Lord’s Work,” and raised a range of important questions on clergy wellness. His reporting, based on studies of clergy health, cut across the interfaith spectrum and resonates with lay professionals in the church, as well. It concluded that self-care, sabbatical rest and time for re-creation help church leaders lean into rising levels of stress, depression and fatigue.

A week later, Jeffrey MacDonald opined in the Times in “Congregations Gone Wild” on the same clergy propensity for physical and spiritual burnout, yet his conclusions shifted the debate in a different direction. MacDonald nodded to “several new studies” on clergy burnout and offered seemingly anecdotal evidence that demeans the laity as entertainment hounds who hunger for little more than “comforting, amusing fare” and render the clergy the “spiritual equivalents of concierges.”

Based upon relevant data gathered and addressed in 12 years of conducting research and hosting more than 200 conferences on wellness in the Episcopal Church, CREDO Institute Inc., an affiliate of the Church Pension Group, comes to a different conclusion.

Through analysis articulated in the Clergy Wellness Report (2006) and the initial findings of the Emotional Health of Clergy Report (2010), we have observed that there is more to the challenge of clergy stress than fickleness of congregations and the cultural pressures of increased consumerism among churchgoers.

Read the full editorial here.

The Episcopal Church gives significant support to its clergy through wellness programs such as CREDO, an eight-day conference that allows participants to focus on four areas affecting overall wellness (spiritual, vocational, health, financial).  I’ve been fortunate to attend two of these conferences over the last ten years.  I’m not sure one can survive in pastoral ministry (or any full time vocation) without the intentional practice of slowing down and disengaging for reflection and discernment.  It’s a constant challenge, and for many, an issue of spiritual if not physical survival.

From the New York Times:

The findings have surfaced with ominous regularity over the last few years, and with little notice: Members of the clergy now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans. In the last decade, their use of antidepressants has risen, while their life expectancy has fallen. Many would change jobs if they could.

Public health experts who have led the studies caution that there is no simple explanation of why so many members of a profession once associated with rosy-cheeked longevity have become so unhealthy and unhappy.

But while research continues, a growing number of health care experts and religious leaders have settled on one simple remedy that has long been a touchy subject with many clerics: taking more time off.

“We had a pastor in our study group who hadn’t taken a vacation in 18 years,” said Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, an assistant professor of health research at Duke University who directs one of the studies. “These people tend to be driven by a sense of a duty to God to answer every call for help from anybody, and they are virtually called upon all the time, 24/7.”

As cellphones and social media expose the clergy to new dimensions of stress, and as health care costs soar, some of the country’s largest religious denominations have begun wellness campaigns that preach the virtues of getting away. It has been described by some health experts as a sort of slow-food movement for the clerical soul.

Read the full article here.

This week, I came across an article by James Martin, a nationally known Jesuit priest, who spoke to the popular phrase “I’m spiritual, just not religious” and explained that this kind of thinking might be a way of saying that religion means, “abiding by arcane rules and hidebound dogmas, and being the tool of an oppressive institution that doesn’t allow you to think.”  Martin wonders if people who identify themselves as “spiritual but not religious” imply that faith is something solely between you and God. But is that really true? We cannot simply relate to God alone. That would mean there is no one to whom we are accountable with regard to our “spirituality,” or to suggest when we might be drifting into troubled territory.  Martin writes:

“We all tend to think that we’re correct about most things, and spirituality is no exception. Not belonging to a religious community means less of a chance of being challenged by a tradition of belief and experience, less chance to see when you are misguided, seeing only part of the picture, or just wrong.”

What happens when our “spirituality,” hits the wall?  What happens when life circumstances overwhelm us and we feel that no one understands our situation or would want to?  What happens when our faith gets knocked out of focus and what we thought was a solid spiritual world view no longer makes sense to us?  What then?

For those of us who are connected with a mainstream Christian community, we are frequently reminded that suffering and doubt are part of the life of even the most devout Christians we know. Without the wisdom of a faith tradition we miss the encouragement and tested practices of those who have walked similar roads in ages past.  No matter how intentional we might be about the spiritual dimension of our lives, we are human and make mistakes. And when we do, we can rely even more deeply on the wisdom and grace of a religious tradition. We may not fully understand or agree with all aspects of that religious tradition, but on the whole, the grace and stability it offers are invaluable. The irony is that we most often feel like giving up on the community of faith precisely when we need it most.

I commend Martin’s article to you – a helpful reminder for ourselves as well as a bit of wisdom to pass on when you engage with those who see little value in the mainline church today.  Turns out you can be “spiritual” and “religious” and nurturing that relationship appears to be the better part of wisdom.

In this video, also available here, Rowan Williams talks of Lent as providing an opportunity to “sweep and clean the room of our own minds and hearts so that the new life really may have room to come in and take over and transform us at Easter.”  The Archbishop says:

“It’s not about feeling gloomy for forty days; it’s not about making yourself miserable for forty days; it’s not even about giving things up for forty days. Lent is springtime. It’s preparing for that great climax of springtime which is Easter – new life bursting through death.”

In the Hymn “Once in David’s Royal City,” there comes this line:

For he is our lifelong pattern: day by day like us he grew; he was little, weak, and helpless; tears and smiles like us he knew: and he feels for all our sadness, and he shares in all our gladness.

“Our lifelong pattern” reminds us that Christmas is far more than a single day can hold. Christmas is the birth and the best of what human nature can grasp – love, truth, understanding and compassion—the basics upon which the whole of our life in this world depends.  In the babe of Bethlehem, in the person and words of Jesus of Nazareth, in the graceful strength of his Spirit, we find a new dimension at work in our lives.  We discover a goodness stronger than evil, a compassion stronger than selfish striving, and a love stronger than cruelty or hatred.  On this day, we celebrate the glad tidings of Christ’s birth and the profound gift of hope he brings to the world.

Can we truly have hope for a more peaceful world?  Is change in the human heart really possible?   Hope is the single most important ingredient for changing the world, or at least changing our little corner of it. “Hope,” as the writer Jim Wallis likes to say, “is believing in spite of the evidence, then watching the evidence change.”

We yearn for an expression of hope that offers a positive, generous, and engaging way of life.  We want to belong to a hopeful community which is also committed to grappling honestly with difficult questions and which longs to make the world a better place.  Christ is the pattern of that hope, and the Church, when it rises to the call, is a sign and foretaste of what such hope can be in the world.

Wherever you are in your journey of faith this Christmas Eve, do not surrender your hope, no matter how flickering the flame of hope may be within you.  Let the glad tidings of Christmas be reborn in you, and then, for his sake, live and share your hope with others.

Merry Christmas my friends,

Rick+

Here are a number of good online Advent Resources to explore:

The Church of England has its own online Advent calendar

The Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s 2009 version begins with a brilliantly-colored nativity scene that is actually a child’s puzzle by a Sri Lankan cooperative working with SERRV International.

The Diocese of Maryland’s 2009 calendar features daily mediations from diocesan leaders, centered Advent themes and the church’s calendar of saints.

Beliefnet Interactive Advent Calendar. Popular online Advent calendar.

Trinity Church Wall Street’s 2009 calendar offers a video each day produced by Trinity Wall Street as part of a series called Anglican Communion Stories.

Love Blooms Bright: An Advent blog from the Scottish Episcopal Church.

The online community of i-church, founded by the Diocese of Oxford in the United Kingdom, has a calendar that includes contributions written, created, sung and chosen by i-church members and friends, according to an explanation on the community’s “gatehouse” page.

A Bach Christmas Calendar. BBC Radio 3 provides this attractive online calendar for the month of December.

A stained-glass window Advent calendar from Grace Cathedral (San Francisco) with audio clips, articles and books.

Full Homely Divinity is a ‘website for the Anglican at the Altar and especially for the Anglican in the pew.’ It has expanded its offering of Advent material, and has a new page on the Saints of Advent, as well as another called Rediscovering Advent.

An Advent page from King of Peace Episcopal Church (Georgia, USA) with explanations, dates, traditions, the text of a wreath service, and so forth.

Archbishop’s Reflections on Advent. Rowan Williams reflects on YouTube about calendars, self-examination, chocolate, hope, repentance, quiet, and waiting.

Love Blooms Bright: This Advent blog from the Scottish Episcopal Church, launched in 2007, returns again this year

Praying Advent. This site offers simple ways to enter into this Advent season, week by week, in the midst of our everyday lives.’ From Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

St Nicholas: Discovering the Truth about Santa Claus. A wonderful website. ‘St. Nicholas Center is a virtual center, a website, where people can learn about St. Nicholas; it provides resources for families, churches, and schools.

Saint Nicholas Tradition. Canon Jim Rosenthal, founder of the St Nicholas Society, spoke on 19 December 2008 issue of the Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly programme about the sainted Bishop of Myra. Video and text are now available online.

HT to Anglicans Online

Grateful for each hand we hold
Gathered round this table.
From far and near we travel home,
Blessed that we are able.

Grateful for this sheltered place
With light in every window,
Saying “welcome, welcome, share this feast
Come in away from sorrow.”

Father, mother, daughter, son,
Neighbor, friend and friendless;
All together everyone in the gift of loving-kindness.

Grateful for what’s understood,
And all that is forgiven;
We try so hard to be good,
To lead a life worth living.

Father, mother, daughter, son,
Neighbor, friend, and friendless;
All together everyone, let grateful days be endless.

Grateful for each hand we hold
Gathered round this table.

“Thanksgiving Song“ Mary Chapin Carpenter
℗ 2008 Zoe Records