The Apostle Paul compares the Christian life to a race; in 1st Corinthians he says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
The word curriculum comes from the Latin verb currere, which means, “to run.” Taken literally, curriculum means a course to be run, just as the early Church lived out its existence. In the Acts of the Apostles (2:42-47), Luke describes the course of the Church’s life – its purpose and its actions. We can think of this as the church’s curriculum. Today it is much the same; the curriculum is our total experience of Christian education and formation. It involves every facet of discipleship, at every age, when we:
Proclaim the word of Jesus’ resurrection (Kerygma)
Teach the sacred story and its meaning to our lives (Didache)
Come together to pray and re-present Jesus in the breaking of the bread (Leiturgia)
Live in community with one another (Koinonia)
Care for those in need (Diakonia)
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The March 18 lectionary reading from the letter to the Hebrews invites us to remember that the Word of God is living and active rather than a flat script on a page. However, the image of a two-edged sword piercing and dividing does not bring an initial sense of comfort.
Today’s meditation from Episcopal Relief & Development’s 2011 Lenten devotional uses some powerful phrases such as circumcision of the heart, and Jesus stripping away our pretenses. This brings to mind the process of heart bypass surgery. Arteries that are blocked from carrying life must be bypassed so that we may continue living as fully as we can. A surgical procedure that is intrusive and somewhat violent in the short term is actually life-giving in the long run.
In essence, fullness of life is imparted to us through a circumcision of the heart as God bypasses arteries that are many times clogged with our own intentions and agendas.
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How are you doing in your brackets so far?
As much as I appreciate basketball (I did grow up in Kentucky after all), I’m not talking about college hoops here. I'm wondering how folks are doing with the slightly more spiritual bracket of Lent Madness presented by the Rev. Tim Schenck.
A priest in the Diocese of Massachusetts who clearly enjoys a little frivolity now and again, Fr. Tim pairs up the saints of the church in classic March madness fashion. Each day, two of the saints face off, with readers voting for the winner.
As he writes in his blog, “Only one saint will prevail; the rest will taste the bitter agony of defeat. Which, if they were martyred in the first place, merely adds insult to injury.”
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The first Sunday in Lent has the same gospel story every year. Told in versions by Matthew, Mark and Luke, the forty-day temptation of Christ in the wilderness begins our own forty days of wandering. Each year on this Sunday, I remember my teacher Henri Nouwen and the sermon/lecture he preached on this subject in the late 1970s. I think it was the finest address I have ever heard. It was entitled, “Downward Mobility.”
It was in this lecture that Henri first articulated the principles that would make up the foundation of his later book, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. He took the three temptations of Christ and told this auditorium of Yale seminarians that they represented:
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When the social worker called my sister and her brother-in-law 2 ½ years ago, she needed an emergency foster care placement for two children.
My sister and her husband had just entered into the foster-to-adopt program in the state of Kentucky. They were hoping for long-term placements, children much further through the system who would be eligible for adoption. A short-term placement of a brother and sister, ages 1 and 2, wasn’t part of their plan.
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The Church instituted Ash Wednesday and the people responded with Mardi Gras. The church established All Saints Day and the people offered up Halloween. Easter is the church’s highest holy day but the people love Christmas even more. Who’s in charge here?
Liturgy translates as “the work of the people” so it seems clear that the people are in charge. Should the church go along or buck the trend?
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With Ash Wednesday quickly approaching, I’m giving a lot of thought to what this year’s Lenten discipline will be. I’ve never been one to give up a particular food or drink; I lean towards clearing clutter out of my life to make room for greater focus on my spiritual life and/or time for service.
One idea rolling around in my brain is a Lenten carbon fast. Last week, both one of my online newsletters and Facebook brought the article “Age-old Lent gets a 21st century makeover,” by Jeffrey MacDonald (Religion News Service) to my attention. The March issue of Vestry Papers had just been published; the title of one of the articles is “A Lenten Carbon Fast.” Imagine my surprise while reading the first paragraphs of MacDonald’s article:
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Lent is fast approaching. Often, I am amazed by how quickly time passes…less than two weeks left until Ash Wednesday.
This year we decided to try something new. Episcopal Relief & Development has usually had a single author for the Lenten devotional in previous years. In 2011, our Lenten Meditations were written by a group of 10 leaders from across The Episcopal Church. We are very appreciative that they were willing to take time out of their busy schedules to contribute. The reflections and insights have been a wonderful blessing, and we are extremely grateful.
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On a December night in 1996, a drunk driver swerved into my mother’s lane and crashed into us head on. I was 14, in the passenger’s seat, and immediately felt a white hot bolt of pain shoot through my lower back. Thanks to God and my mother’s beloved white Cadillac, we emerged from the wreckage largely unscathed. Compared to the person who hit us, who remained in the ICU for weeks after, my own physical therapy sessions seemed a breeze. Very soon my pain quieted to a persistent but low hum.
Fifteen years down the road, however, this hum has become increasingly louder and more insistent. For this reason, two years ago I joined the millions of Americans who now attend yoga classes on a regular basis.
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A few weeks after my husband proposed, we shared dinner with his great-aunt and uncle, who is a United Methodist minister.
They offered us various pieces of advice about marriage and life in ministry. Then the great-aunt turned to me: “Make friends with the Presbyterians.”
I’ve thought about her advice over the years. She was trying to prepare me for the impossible tension of being in community with a congregation without becoming friends.
I admit: I suck at this part of being a priest’s spouse. I don’t know how to be in community without being personally involved, without caring and sharing parts of people’s lives. I’m a former reporter who chose that profession not only because I loved to write but also because of an insatiable curiosity about others. I’m an extrovert who processes out loud and lists entertaining as a hobby.
Separation was easier at a large suburban church, when I could safely go to the grocery store or a restaurant with nary a parishioner in sight. But in a small town, relationships are blurred all the time. I’m Facebook friends with the school principal and my hairdresser. The handyman is the son of a woman who grew up in the church. I’m godmother to a darling 2-year-old whose mother is on vestry and whose grandfather is treasurer.
I know my husband struggles too – but he has a clear sense of his call and vocation as a priest. I’m simply someone who fell in love with a priest. No seminary lecture prepared me for how to properly distance myself.
And so time and again, I fall into deep friendships with wonderful people, sharing their lives, the disappointments and heartbreaks, the great joys and triumphs. Then I realize I need to pull back, to create space for their spiritual development, guided at times by the teaching of my husband, their priest.
This yo-yo of relationships breaks my heart every time. And yet I’m unwilling (and maybe unable) to live and worship with such detachment.
So I’m asking this body, the wise readers of Vital Posts, for advice. How do you navigate these types of relationships? What do you expect in your clergy spouse or partner? Is it OK for the clergy and spouse/partners to be friends with parishioners?
I look forward to your help.
It was a week of snow, ice, wind, and rain. Numerous flight cancellations and airport closures laid havoc across the country. Add to this job layoffs, pay cuts, and budget struggles. Not to mention planning for Lent and preparing a Sunday sermon. But nothing could deter 160+ Episcopal educators and faith formation leaders from gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina in the middle of February.
Individuals from a variety of Christian formation networks (from all nine provinces and Canada) came together for Tapestry, the annual conference of the National Association for Christian Education Directors (NAECED). Even before this 3-day event began, representatives from a number of networks gathered to meet one another and vision how collaboration can continue to grow and weave together the variety of ministries in The Episcopal Church that serve the mission of the church via Christian formation:
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When I think of food and the Episcopal Church, I believe we’re much more than just wine and cheese. Within just the past few months I’ve come across:
John Hornbeck’s work with Episcopal Community Services in the Dioceses of Kansas & West Missouri. As I noted in the
following post, Episcopal Community Services has made addressing domestic hunger their sole focus,
leading conversations on improving soup kitchens and food pantries in the Kansas City area.
Paul Clever of the Diocese of Southern Ohio whose farm work at the
Good Earth Farm is a new model of what Episcopal religious communities might look like in the 21 century.
The work of the
Community of the Holy Spirit at Bluestone Farm. While my colleague Anne Ditzler and I were immersed in putting together this website, we enjoyed their hospitality, homemade pizza, peppery preserves and wine. Amazing food from an inspiring community.
ECF Fellow Ellen Davis and Wendell Barry on Krista Tippett’s
Speaking of Faith. In this interview, Davis was drawing from her book
Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible.
Nancy Davidge’s concerns regarding
food deserts and the national campaign to address childhood obesity.
This doesn’t even begin to mention, of course, the many churches that are growing produce for soup kitchens and food pantries. Nor does it include many individuals like me whose faith & ethics shapes what we eat, what we don’t eat, and where we buy it.
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Last Saturday I went to a birthday party for a friend. After the food, socializing, and a round of charades, a young adult taught us improv comedy games. Most of us had never done improv before, but Patrick guided us in a firm and fun-loving manner, encouraging our play and creativity.
One of the games centered on telling a fairy tale. Three people sat in front of the group on chairs. One would begin telling the familiar story. When Patrick gave the signal, that person stopped talking – often mid thought – and the person he pointed to next would have to pick up in the exact place to continue the story. If someone paused too long, sputtered over their words, or didn’t pick up in the flow of words or emotion, Patrick would signal their death. “Die well!” he instructed, urging us to send forth a gasp and collapse to the floor so another party guest could take the seat. The newcomer was then on the hot seat to pick up the tale where others had left it hanging.
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It is everywhere. The term Postmodernism is in the water these days. It is has been appropriated by a new generation of evangelical theologians who have embraced it as strongly as progressive theologians latched on to Liberation Theology 30-40 years ago. They both come from the same new deep philosophical pool and it seems for all religious thinkers – left and right – there is no turning back.
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In the 1980s, the Minnesota Ad Campaign of Episcopal Church made quite a splash with a series of funny print advertisements, some of which contained pretty good zingers. A few I remember:
“Will it take six strong men to get you back into church?” (Image: six pallbearers carrying a casket through the front door of a church.)
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One sunny summer day as a young boy I experienced a miracle. I was holding a small magnifying lens, examining a flower petal. Suddenly the flower leapt on fire. I was shocked! In a profoundly simple way, I witnessed the power of captured light: enormous. All light emanates from God. In the Genesis creation account, God creates light on the first day – “Let there be light”; however it is not until the fourth day that God creates the sun, moon, and stars (Gen.1:1-19). God’s light precedes our light. This is such an important reminder when you are living through a cloudy day or stormy season of life: how to capture, store, focus, reflect God’s light, the light of life. Several practices are helpful.
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My congregation has had to learn to put up with the fact that I am more a Christmas than an Easter Christian.
I embrace this holy day whose message is that God so loved the world that God sent a son born of Mary in a manger, whose love embraced the entire world and all creation. The Incarnation is salvation enough for me.
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Visitor frenzy kicks in high gear over the next two weeks, as newcomers and rarely-seen-ers attend Christmas services.
Welcoming visitors is a ministry -- and not everyone has the gift.
Consider these true -- but don’t-try-this-at-home -- stories:
A visitor and his son come a few minutes before church, and a group of parishioners engage in conversation. It’s always awkward to know if people are first-time visitors – or whether they simply sit on the epistle side and you’ve never noticed them before. So a church member rightly asks,” Is this your first time with us?”
When the newcomer says yes, (Read more...)
Playing Santa helps me understand Jesus a little better.
This isn't a debate about the commercialization of Christmas or whether we’ve spoiled our kids beyond all hope.And I know there’s so much more to my relationship with Christ than understanding what it means to be a gracious giver.
But when you’re Santa for your children, you spend hours in preparation: talking, shopping, chatting with other moms. You try to find that perfect balance of a magical morning, trying to get the most-wished-for presents without slipping into over-the-top consumption.
And yet for all that preparation, worry and work, Santa gets the credit.
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