tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18699559638173718652024-02-07T21:55:32.185-08:00Sara I Writesjust another radical feminist tattooed lady priest mamasirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-7432696008908567302018-04-21T12:43:00.000-07:002018-04-21T13:54:32.283-07:00Going on the way...rejoicing<br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">One of the main things I’ve written about in this space over the last year has been reflecting on my New Pennsylvania Life—not so new, now, having passed the year mark more than a month ago. In March of 2017 I left my parish where I’d served for 11 ½ years to move here, where my husband started as rector of St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon, just south of Pittsburgh. I’ve been surprised at what a homecoming it has been; more than 20 years ago when I left my hometown, Erie, 120 miles north of here, I never thought I’d be back. It turns out I really like Pennsylvania.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">Part of the plan was to have some time to adjust before getting into a parish. Maybe a month or two. It’s been 14. But worth the wait: I’m excited to share that I’m now the recommended candidate for St John Lutheran (ELCA) in Carnegie, PA (5 miles southwest of the city of Pittsburgh, 5 miles northwest of where I live). This means that after I meet everyone and lead the service next week, the congregation will have a vote and decide whether to call me as their pastor. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">I was in college and not paying a ton of attention when the 1999-2000 “<a href="https://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/agreement-full-communion-called-common-mission" target="_blank">Agreement of Full Communion-A Call to Common Mission</a>” was adopted. For more than a hundred years, various configurations of Lutherans and Anglicans had been in conversation, trying to live out Jesus’ instruction “to be One, as I and the Father are One.” The places we are One are many more than the places where we differ. Our liturgies are very similar, we already shared music, prayer, and theologies of the Eucharist. The ELCA <a href="https://www.elca.org/Faith/Ecumenical-and-Inter-Religious-Relations/Full-Communion" target="_blank">explains the meaning</a> of full communion this way:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">Full communion is when two denominations develop a relationship based on a common confessing of the Christian faith and a mutual recognition of Baptism and sharing of the Lord’s Supper. This does not mean the two denominations merge; rather, in reaching agreements, denominations also respect differences. These denominations worship together, may exchange clergy and also share a commitment to evangelism, witness and service in the world. Each entity agrees that even with differences, there is nothing that is church-dividing. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">The ELCA has full communion relationships with other denominations, as well: The Presbyterian Chruch (USA), United Church of Christ, The Episcopal Church, The Moravian Church, the United Methodist Church and, of course, member churches of the Lutheran World Federation. The Episcopal Church, meanwhile, is in full communion with all the Provinces of the Anglican Communion, the Old Catholic Churches of Europe, the United churches of the Indian subcontinent, the Mar Thoma Church, the Moravian Church, and the Church of Sweden. The Episcopal Church is also currently in dialogue with the United Methodist Church. We all love: Jesus, the sacraments, the creeds, the Bible. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">I went to an Episcopal seminary that regularly used the Lutheran Book of Worship, and when I planned liturgy at my Episcopal Church I routinely pirated Lutheran Eucharistic prayers for our use. I held open office hours along with a Lutheran pastor and a rabbi in my parish in Massachusetts. I went to a Lutheran preaching Bible study for 10 years. My mom grew up Lutheran, in Sweden, and I cannot say how many ancient churches I visited growing up. I even spent 2 months working at a Lutheran Church when their pastor broke his neck. When I met Donna, the parish secretary from St John, she remarked that the lines between denominations now are more like dotted lines than solid ones. I have been fortunate to observe for a long time how right she is.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">I’ve always explained the Episcopal Church as being about being “close to the ground.” It started over political conflict of King Henry VIII, and while his marital difficulties perhaps were not the first, best, most stellar reason to start a whole new branch of Christendom, the principle of local governance, worship in your own language, and celebrating the sacraments are a pretty good outcome. But those are not uniquely Anglican/Episcopal—Lutherans are right there, too. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">When I read the pieces I’ve written on here about what not being in a parish has taught me about parish ministry, the idea that most stands out is grace. Grace, grace, grace. Totally free, unearned, impossible to comprehend or plan for, grace. Which, as it happens, is basically the central tenet of Lutheran spirituality. You cannot do anything, ever, at all, to earn God’s love. There’s no point at which you’ll arrive as being the maximum quality Christian that then puts to shame your previous efforts and gives you the keys to the kingdom. It will never happen. This is not contrary to anything in the Episcopal Church. But it is not the loudest note we play, either. Martin Luther says “God doesn't love us because of our worth, we are of worth because God loves us.” That’s it; it’s just love. Just grace.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">The other thing that’s been powerful about this time is how aware I am of my call to parish ministry. It’s been great to have time to write for my town magazine and do a different kind of work. It’s really fun to invite kids over in the middle of the day when school is off to watch movies. (I am also very aware of what a privilege it is to have been able to spend a year unemployed and not have it be financially ruinous) But I’m not called to be a stay at home parent. I’m not called to be a magazine columnist (though I hope to keep doing projects once in a while). I’m glad I got to do those things, and I’ve had the sense to have fun this year. I’m also not called to be a chaplain, or the director of a churchy organization. Baptizing, burying, and being-with. Preaching and teaching. And those are not confined by denominational lines, either.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">So send out extra prayers the weekend of April 28—there will be time for the congregation to meet me and my family that Saturday, and Sunday I lead the service and preach. The <a href="http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Easter/BEaster5_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank">passage from Acts</a> is one of my favorites; a Ethiopian eunuch meets Philip on the road, reading Scripture. Philip interprets Isaiah and teaches him about Jesus. The eunuch says, “Look! Here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” Nothing. "He went on his way rejoicing." What is to prevent us all from receiving God’s grace? Nothing. We go on our way rejoicing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4AfIScPnG-aD8_6kSUysXMFcvAUtJKVwo1oMdrSJ3dI50wCw3U7kkA8Ms_nbXs3Eg38jwARV284nmK2Uv0E0PQCYA82EZzR9RTO5NhkqA9ZwvdyylhWBWYeEJ1I5VsbgL0IR3aibRkY8/s1600/st+john+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1521" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4AfIScPnG-aD8_6kSUysXMFcvAUtJKVwo1oMdrSJ3dI50wCw3U7kkA8Ms_nbXs3Eg38jwARV284nmK2Uv0E0PQCYA82EZzR9RTO5NhkqA9ZwvdyylhWBWYeEJ1I5VsbgL0IR3aibRkY8/s320/st+john+c.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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St John Evangelical Lutheran Church</div>
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Carnegie, PA</div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-76420928704539214212017-12-20T13:11:00.000-08:002017-12-30T13:15:10.208-08:00Nearing holidays and—hopefully—nearing the Holy. <div style="background-color: white; color: #777775; font-family: helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 16pt;">As we get closer to Christmas, I admit it-I get hooked by all of the secular, of-the-world stuff. That *one* more thing that will complete the stocking. Trying to ensure exact, mathematical parity between my two children. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 16pt;">Several years ago, I picked up a copy of Marie Kondo’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering-Organizing/dp/1607747308/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1513020052&sr=1-1"><span style="color: #e65e52; font-style: italic;">The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up</span></a>. In the unlikely event you haven’t heard of the 2014 best seller, the magical process of “tidying up” is to go through each of your belongings and hold them in your hands asking if they spark joy. [read more of this post at <a href="http://www.growchristians.org/2017/12/15/joyful-and-ambivalent-gift-giving-at-christmastime/" target="_blank">Grow Christians</a>]</span></div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-60311184397060770162017-12-13T12:03:00.001-08:002017-12-13T12:03:28.741-08:00Openness and Gratitude<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I’ve wrestled a lot in this
space about all the things that have shifted over the last period of time since
leaving my parish of 11 ½ years and moving closer to home. It’s been a
grace-filled time in so many ways. One way is how experiences I had in parish
ministry have stayed with me—the conversation that seemed totally routine at
the time, the random funeral for a community member—just more evidence of how
we are shaped by our world as much as we shape it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Coming closer to the holidays this year, my
thanksgivings have been many. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been
thinking… <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">more of this piece at <a href="http://www.growchristians.org/2017/11/22/pausing-in-the-open-space-and-giving-thanks" target="_blank">Grow Christians.</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-59063302018393741472017-10-21T11:25:00.000-07:002017-12-13T11:26:42.957-08:00Raising Feminist Kids? Me too.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or trying to.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;">In
raising my kids, I’ve been surprised that I turned out to be the kind of parent
who wants to shield their children from the world. I thought I’d be open and
honest about sin, about brokenness and pain and suffering, about how much is
wrong in the world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On this, I am also
led by my children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When first being
told that such a thing as war existed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and
there were wars being fought at that moment</i>, my then three year old
declared we had better get over there and explain that it should stop. The idea
that women used not not be able to vote or wear pants and men didn’t cook is
deeply shocking to my children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’m
realizing that on sexual violence, I am irrationally hoping that the dots I
have set out will somehow get connected by my children. It’s not enough.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wrote a piece over on Grow Christians on the topic—click over
<a href="http://www.growchristians.org/2017/10/21/its-christs-world-not-harvey-weinsteins/" target="_blank">there </a>to read more.</div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-32252666272725448752017-09-12T09:47:00.000-07:002017-09-12T09:47:20.662-07:00Making a Home in Scripture<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3BspiVGVU8rx_S3oL2E4rKIbwyEgMyL37ZwHxZX6tp65fol0tFh3gf1L4WHy5UcilH87we89c_-mHygJtFrDF0KCcroOCBwqti-hmXT0t1yS-w7PbIVI3xIOqt1xii8NlQD2XG-rv2EQ/s1600/St+Aidan%2527s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3BspiVGVU8rx_S3oL2E4rKIbwyEgMyL37ZwHxZX6tp65fol0tFh3gf1L4WHy5UcilH87we89c_-mHygJtFrDF0KCcroOCBwqti-hmXT0t1yS-w7PbIVI3xIOqt1xii8NlQD2XG-rv2EQ/s400/St+Aidan%2527s.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> St Aidan's, Photo A.M.Clark. Episcopal, Transgender, and Rainbow Flags Flying</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
A Sermon for the Installation of the Rev. Dr Cameron E. Partridge as Rector<br />
<br />
St Aidan's Episcopal Church, San Francisco<br />
<br />
September 9, 2017<br />
Joshua 1:7-9; Psalm 146; 2 Cor 5: 17-20; John 15: 9-16<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I first want to say just how lovely it is to be here. Thank you Cameron and Kateri, to Bishop Andrus, and all of you for the great adventure of being in this church together. There is always a need for the church to celebrate, but there is something particularly striking about doing so at a time when there are so many people in this world who are struggling and fearful. With the entire state of Florida and the coastal south awaiting hurricane Irma, with whole islands in the Caribbean already destroyed and Houston still unsure of what it will take to rebuild, with the news this week about DACA, an earthquake in Mexico, brinksmanship over North Korea as well, it can feel almost out of sync to celebrate. So I just want to honor that the realities of the world are much on our minds and hearts, and that our celebration happens in this world, not out of it.<br />
<br />
I recently re-read Jeanette Winterson’s Memoir, <u>Why be happy when you can be normal</u>. Cameron actually lent it to me when it came out five years ago—one of the tragedies of not living in the same place anymore is that I don’t have him around to lend me books. I’m the one who requests things from the library and end up getting new books nine months after they’re published. But it popped up on the “available now” list of kindle books from the library and I was excited to look at it again.<br />
<br />Winterson is a novelist. All of her books have the most wonderful magical realist sense about them, when people invoke the laws of physics to explain their feelings for each other but then go out and walk on water when they need to go home. Her imagination was hard won: she was adopted as an infant by a Christian Pentecostal family and emotionally and physically abused. She grew up in Northern England—not as far north as St Aidan and Lindisfarne, but far enough from London for it to seem like another country. There were only six books in the house, nearly all of which were either the Bible or Biblical commentary.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFox55bdKAwFp-ULKb25FHm_gpERT0kcDUE0RTVbJ8ng33139D-JKVD0XnfXRMnLcMkjybyZZFnvz1OPDkuqGfgsa-BbIWzketG-aWMQgPTcgcLD_Y3ZmP_Hr12Etr_bGSx6y7pmDhAcg/s1600/Preaching+Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFox55bdKAwFp-ULKb25FHm_gpERT0kcDUE0RTVbJ8ng33139D-JKVD0XnfXRMnLcMkjybyZZFnvz1OPDkuqGfgsa-BbIWzketG-aWMQgPTcgcLD_Y3ZmP_Hr12Etr_bGSx6y7pmDhAcg/s320/Preaching+Image.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo A.M. Clark</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Her mother talked about how it had been the devil who had led her to the crib to adopt Jeanette instead of another child. When Jeanette is caught in bed with a girlfriend at age 15 her mother arranges for the two of them to be unmasked in the congregation as abominations to the Lord. They are each put through a three day exorcism. Still, Jeanette has her own books and her own life. When her mother finds the books (hidden under her bed, she discovers about 72 of them make for one layer before starting another), she burns them all—there are advantages to sticking with the library—but by that point the damage was done. She had read the books, she had known love with her girlfriend. The genie was out of the bottle. Jeanette knew that the world was wider than the confines of her mother’s violence. And once her own books were gone, she decided she could write her own. Word by word, she quite literally wrote herself into a new story.<br />
<br />Jeanette Winterson does not, I am guessing, identify as a Christian these days, but her story is a resurrection story. The way she talks about stories as salvific and love as redeeming resonates deeply with how we are called to see Scripture and love one another in this world. As the book of Joshua invites us, this is how we figure out what it means to walk forward, not to stray to the right or the left, to keep God’s word in your mouth. This is what she writes:<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The intensity of a story releases into a bigger space than the one it occupied in time and place. The story crosses the threshold from my world into yours. We meet each other on the steps of the story. Books, for me, are a home. Books don’t make a home –they are one, in the sense that just as you do with a door, you open a book, and you go inside. Inside there is a different kind of time and a different kind of space (60).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />As Christians, we meet inside Scripture. It is our home. As we grow and our lives change, we understand the world anew and as we understand ourselves as part of it. In Scripture, we move into the world where Jesus turns water into wine and transforms suffering into wholeness. Where we sit with him on the way to Jerusalem, being called together as friends, eating at the table as one body and of one blood. Where St Paul calls reconciliation to us, telling us that Christ has entrusted this ministry to us. We enter Scripture and see where the young adult worried about her DACA status feels the power of community marching in the streets, bold and strong, as the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea. Her feet are dry. Where those who rejected hear Jesus say, "Come! Come to the table and eat your fill. There is enough for everyone." Where those who have nothing are given everything. Where our hands help to prepare the feast. All of this happens in Scripture, and we bring it back with us in and out of time.<br />
<br />In and out of time, each of us.<br />
Most importantly, we don't do this work alone. It’s all fine and good to talk about The Church or The Body of Christ most generically, but the work of the Christian faith is done in the context of actual people in actual places in actual parishes. As God pitches a tent with humanity in the particular time and space of Jesus, so, too, St Aidan’s and Cameron are given to each other as you are camped together here in this time and place. You have been called uniquely together to answer a particular call, but you are part of a lineage of Christians who have done this work for hundreds of years, each in their own way.<br />
<br />The idea of lineage is important, as clergy and people, particularly in these days. White supremacy did not just appear. Xenophobia did not only just emerge as a good strategy for consolidating power and whipping up fear. The denial of climate change isn’t the latest technique for making more money in the short term and leaving the consequences for later. You know this, and this is work you were already doing. Cameron knows this, and it was work he was already doing. Where you sit today is to join your work together, in this particular time and in this particular place, to listen for where God is calling you to go together.<br />
<br />This is who you are: you will be people of peace and justice and witness. You will be a place of welcome and grace for those who perhaps have not had such an easy go of it in other places. And it will not be simple. You will each disappoint each other. But inside your love for each other and for God’s creation, the shimmering reality of God’s love, of friendship with Jesus and all God’s people, will be the beating heart under your feet.<br />
<br />I want to finish with Winterson’s words once more. She's talking here about happiness, but also the limits of it. There will be plenty of happiness. You will have moments of transcendent joy and absolute hilarity (which I hope for you, because Cameron’s laugh, as you have probably noticed, is possibly the most infectious laughI have ever heard). But it’s not just about happiness. It’s not just about getting the budget met, or the auction organized, or getting more kids in Sunday School to grow the congregation. Those are important, but they’re not the whole story.Here’s what Winterson says.<br />
<br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If the sun is shining, stand in it –yes, yes, yes. Happy times are great, but happy times pass–they have to –because time passes. The pursuit of happiness is more elusive; it is lifelong, and it is not goal-centred. What you are pursuing is meaning –a meaningful life... The pursuit isn’t all or nothing –it’s all AND nothing. Like all Quest Stories. When I was born I became the visible corner of a folded map. The map has more than one route. More than one destination. The map that is the unfolding self is not exactly leading anywhere. The arrow that says YOU ARE HERE is your first coordinate. There is a lot that you can’t change... But you can pack for the journey (24-25).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />All blessings, all prayers, all hope, to you, Cameron and St Aidan’s on this journey. Amen.sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-11808004025829440932017-08-05T13:29:00.005-07:002017-08-05T13:34:07.915-07:00The Soft Animal of My Priesthood: Yet another thing that being out of a parish is teaching me about parish ministry<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So, friends, now
it’s going on five months out of parish ministry after having left my congregation of 11 1/2 years. Yes, there are possibilities,
yes, ecclesiastical wheels turn, yes, there are churches that will need a
priest and I'm a priest who needs a church. Having had this extra time, though,
I’m continuing to interrogate what that means: how not “having a church” helps
me understand what it is to have one, what it means to be ordained in the first
place.</span><br />
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When I was in
college, as part of my gender studies degree I read feminist psychology about
the gendered nature of self-perception. Rather than as isolated individuals,
women (</span><span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span>I’m just leaving
right on the floor here the fact that “woman” is a complicated category and
acknowledging the work I’m remembering relies on some conventional stereotypes
and antiquated assumptions) often perceive their identity and place in the world relationally. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not as self-over-and-against the world, but as
self understood through relationships with other people. This is presumed to be
a good thing: the rugged individual who prioritizes (um) *him*self does not
always tend to place care for others at the center of their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it also cuts the other way: it’s great to
be connected to others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If, though,
someone is defined only through others to whom they are connected, the strength
and self-differentiation of that individual perhaps does not make them the
fiercest bear in the room. </span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As a priest, I
experienced this relational understanding<b> </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">a lot—not so much in terms of how I understood myself as an individual,
but how I understood myself as a priest. Being a priest was relational:
identified with that particular parish. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not how the Episcopal/Anglican
tradition views ordination: it’s seen as an “ontological change,” a change in
who you are, period</span>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can be
home with your kids or working as a pastry chef or at a homeless shelter, but
you’re still a priest. It’s not a role grounded in a permanent identity, not a
temporary task. But what does it mean without a church? </span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The church still
has invested in me the power to, as the ordination rite says, “to preach, to declare
God's forgiveness to penitent sinners, to pronounce God's blessing, [and] to
share in the administration of Holy Baptism and in the celebration of the
mysteries of Christ's Body and Blood.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’m
not a <i>parish</i> priest right now, with baptisms and communion to celebrate—that’s
the only kind of priest I’d ever been. </span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was most
powerfully struck by this recently at Wild Goose Festival, which my family has
attended for the last five summers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
festival is themed on music, art, spirituality, and justice, with speakers and
readings and performances on assorted related themes. It attracts a variety of
religious impulses but is generally progressive and Christian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a lot of mud (you camp) and feral
children roam in packs demanding money for lemonade and ice cream. It's heavenly. </span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8naXiPAEvE0cp4Kesj-fB6EoPkhCtLSEzisoQCjICA_DXNXgUI6vu2HSZzyRtZSxgeSYBKGctrjQuu0xpB2aEc-Ge7Kb_CLEkfAPxbo-p3sZpMCF_8lmg_SGJXmi0vHGw6P0VEYCc454/s1600/WGF+Tent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1315" data-original-width="1600" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8naXiPAEvE0cp4Kesj-fB6EoPkhCtLSEzisoQCjICA_DXNXgUI6vu2HSZzyRtZSxgeSYBKGctrjQuu0xpB2aEc-Ge7Kb_CLEkfAPxbo-p3sZpMCF_8lmg_SGJXmi0vHGw6P0VEYCc454/s320/WGF+Tent.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beer and Hymns, Wild Goose (just beer, and hymns. that's it.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Every other time
I’ve gone to Wild Goose I’ve done so on my church’</span><span lang="PT" style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">s dime as </span><span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“continuing education.” The parish funded
the trip both in terms of time off from my usual work and money for gas and the
ticket to get in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result, my
experience there was filtered through the lens of my perception of
responsibility to my parish: looking for shiny things to bring home. Continuing
education time is part of the standard clergy contract—you couldn’t use it to
go shopping in Jamaica, but there are no set expectations for how robust a
“payoff” it is to the congregation. Still, there’s some sense that you ought to
carry away something useful, like ideas for children’s education or profound
spiritual experience or </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">social justice </span><span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">insight. </span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Being at Wild
Goose without a parish behind me, I realized I wasn’t constantly packaging my
experience for the consumption of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was just…there. And I was aware of how pleasant—holy, even!— it was <u>just
to be there</u>. Ironically, I wrote a blog post about the holiness of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thereness</i> three years ago (<a href="http://saraiwrites.blogspot.com/2014/07/we-are-herewild-goose-2014.html" target="_blank">here</a>) and continue to
learn my own lesson. This year at Wild Goose, I didn’t go looking for the next
genius thing. I went to workshops led by my friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hours spent on the state of public education
or protest poetry could have been relevant enough to parish ministry, but not
to have to ask the question in the first place made me realize how heavy a
burden it had become to be manufacturing those tiny parcels of insight in the
back of my mind.</span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Newsflash: I
didn’t have to. I didn’t have to prove how clever or worthy I was. I didn’t
have to spin straw into gold. My job as a priest was also in the other part in
the ordination rite: “to love and serve the people among whom you work, caring
alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just love. To point to where we and God are
connected. To be connected myself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My understanding of priesthood evidently
needed <i>less</i> relationality between me and the people and more
relationality between all of us and God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Being a priest isn’t about standing in front and saying smart things. When
it feels like it is, it’s time to try being a priest in a different way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time away is inviting me into that other
space.</span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">My experience of
being a priest at Wild Goose Festival without a congregation helped me to have
a sense for how I was still a priest even without a congregation. This view of
having been a priest having “my” people—I even did it in the last paragraph
there without thinking—it too easily slips into carrying a ridiculous burden
that deadens the clergy and infantilizes the congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like church architecture that puts the
altar at the front of the church and the priest behind it; everyone’s looking
at you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re there, and you might as
well pray from there so everyone can see. The older practice of having everyone
face forward and the congregation see the back of the priest isn’t better,
necessarily, but it’s crucial to remember that being in front isn’t the point. </span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Crucially, too, I
also realize how much I relied on that identity and that congregation to tell
me who I was. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My priesthood is more than
that particular context, and my personhood is more than as a working parish
priest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having been more creaturely these
last months (a la Mary Oliver’s <u>Wild Geese</u> poem,below, allowing the soft
animal of my body to love what it loves) I’m also aware that I’m more than the
kid sleepovers and setting up house and landing in a new community and (having
moved to a Trump state) political protests I’ve been part of. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than the suburban lawn I have to go mow
now, too. </span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(And, because it
is impossible to read it too many times, here’s Oliver's whole poem)</span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You
do not have to be good.<br />
You do not have to walk on your knees<br />
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.<br />
You only have to let the soft animal of your body<br />
love what it loves.<br />
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.<br />
Meanwhile the world goes on.<br />
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain<br />
are moving across the landscapes,<br />
over the prairies and the deep trees,<br />
the mountains and the rivers.<br />
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,<br />
are heading home again.<br />
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,<br />
the world offers itself to your imagination,<br />
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --<br />
over and over announcing your place<br />
in the family of things.</span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">--Mary
Oliver, “Wild Geese” in <u>Dream Work</u>, 1986,</span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24Qjnpz9AAMh2JL7lIqnnMuG-KRMTDdfrGHVPsHUWmbDaGgRTBZYeoX5-Y4u0kcz9yi9KTI9GtC3Aj3IvzivhA3PnHQ6lMFMVVkcRgd7diw28Bppz_8FHBy8Zsf4pjDC_bzRzi3Psr6s/s1600/Lake+August+2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1199" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24Qjnpz9AAMh2JL7lIqnnMuG-KRMTDdfrGHVPsHUWmbDaGgRTBZYeoX5-Y4u0kcz9yi9KTI9GtC3Aj3IvzivhA3PnHQ6lMFMVVkcRgd7diw28Bppz_8FHBy8Zsf4pjDC_bzRzi3Psr6s/s640/Lake+August+2017.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "cam" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> [Gratuitous photograph of children running hand in hand toward Lake Erie, August 2017]</span></div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-1583156238895553942017-04-19T18:25:00.001-07:002017-04-19T18:32:38.247-07:00Different Words, Same Page<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“How was it to read the responses instead of leading the
service?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My mother asked me this question after church on Easter,
having sat with me in church for the first time since—when? College?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A long time. Until this year, she’s always
had to come and watch our kids during Holy Week, a marathon of leading services
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday--most days two services, most services
preaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I responded in somewhat
adolescent fashion, replying dismissively that they were all words on a page. Who cares that
I’m almost 40? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t want to talk
about it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even feeling a bit less testy now, I still stand by that. Strictly
speaking, liturgy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does</i> in large part
come down to words on the page. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a
particular kind of speech that works because it’s repeated, and it’s a
particular kind of speech because it relies on a whole raft of shared
assumptions and referents. (My MDiv thesis was on this—I am doing my best not
to go on and on and on here). Liturgies work because others have performed
them, and others before them, too. Words and actions both come together. Words <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are </i>actions. There’s an elasticity to
it: an outdoor church service whose congregation is experiencing homelessness
feels different from an indoor service with incense, four choirs, and an organ.
It would be wrong to claim that one of those groups of people was comprised of
lower-quality Christians or that the prayers of one were heard by God any more
effectively than the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bread, wine,
words. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Call and response. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Priest and people. You might prefer one liturgical
context or language to another, but it’s the same action. And you have to have
<i>both</i> priest and people for sacraments. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Person at altar, person in pew. Call, response. Neither
works without the other. If anything, what was remarkable about last week’s
services was how not-different the liturgies in themselves felt. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got a little teary thinking about my old
parish (similarly to my experience a few weeks ago I wrote about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><a href="http://saraiwrites.blogspot.com/2017/04/on-being-somewhere-else.html">here</a></u></i>),
but I didn’t feel out of place or lost. Holy week still felt…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">holy</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>3 years ago I wrote a <a href="http://saraiwrites.blogspot.com/2013/03/being-present.html">post</a> in
this space about performance artist Marina Abramović’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Artist is Present</i> comparing her immersion in her work with
being a priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still stand by that
piece*, but I also think that a lot of what felt holy was actually the anxiety
and adrenaline rush that ensues when an introvert has to stand in front of
people four days in a row. That realization doesn’t make it less “spiritual,”
but I wonder if I’ll be able to go a bit easier on myself in the future. Maybe
I’ll be able to say my parts and the congregation can say theirs, and I’ll
understand a bit more clearly about how it’s shared. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were all kinds of conflicts during the
Reformation about how, exactly, bread and wine become body and blood: was it
saying the words of Jesus, or praying the Holy Spirit on the elements, or the
priest, or the people—my favorite answer then, and still, was Richard
Hooker’s—it happens when the people say Amen. So be it, and it is. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I quote—probably too often—a line I heard in a Martin Smith
book about how God has called some people to be clergy because God does not
trust them to be lay people. As someone whose return to the church of her
childhood came in tandem with an experience of a call to the priesthood, that
resonates a lot. I never did get myself organized enough to join a church as a
young adult until I was thinking of going to seminary, and then I was all in. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now into my second month of not working in a parish I’m also
aware how God is, also, entrusting me with the this experience, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it was announced on Maundy Thursday that
no one had signed up for the 12am-1am slot in the overnight vigil remembering Jesus and his disciples in the garden before the crucifixion, I could say yes to my
ten year old when he wanted me to take him. Did I ever take the uncomfortable
hours when I was leading holy week in my parish?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nope. Would I again? If I’m in parish
ministry, probably not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I will
always be grateful to be the parent of a kid who is comfortable enough in
church to take a nap under an organ console.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And if not for this time, I wouldn’t have been there for it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So yes, during Holy Week, I said the words on the page. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Mostly. (I will always substitute expansive language when it
refers to God as “he,” no matter what it says) I got my feet washed and prayed
at the cross. I got drenched with the holy water of Baptism at the vigil and
got wax on my clothes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hear</i> sermons, instead of write
them!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, with Richard Hooker in the 16<sup>th</sup>
Century, I took some time to worry less about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i> God was present in what I was doing and just to be grateful
that God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE3J3_Mh1ruIy3muqZVWug_g42bT7V-B66mHqU7OwzkNssjn9QEmnv-L_S2p77XttJRiifYbLYRZj0t92urj_h04ZrhRd3P6oMPWXC7kHjCEwUCqMGX1fCJX0KkbN-ZCTuOD7nQmRjxzo/s1600/adah+feet.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE3J3_Mh1ruIy3muqZVWug_g42bT7V-B66mHqU7OwzkNssjn9QEmnv-L_S2p77XttJRiifYbLYRZj0t92urj_h04ZrhRd3P6oMPWXC7kHjCEwUCqMGX1fCJX0KkbN-ZCTuOD7nQmRjxzo/s400/adah+feet.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: right;">
<i>Photo: Paul Barker</i></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><i> Adah getting her feet washed at the outdoor kids' service.</i></span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">*PS--A version of my Abramovic post was included in the book </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><u>There’s a Woman in the Pulpit</u></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, a lovely collection of work by women clergy edited by Martha Spong. Get it </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Theres-Woman-Pulpit-Christian-Clergywomen/dp/1594735883" style="font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">!</span></div>
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</style>sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-18379273454222345982017-04-06T08:11:00.000-07:002017-04-06T08:11:46.607-07:00On being Somewhere Else<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I’ve been thinking in circles for weeks now about how to
write about leaving Christ Church Waltham—and moving away from Boston, which
I’d lived in for the last 17 years (minus seminary in New York City).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We bought our house in Pittsburgh exactly
four weeks ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Writing was a huge part of how I did my job—as
solo pastor I preached every week, and in addition to that I wrote a weekly
email newsletter. Neither of those things were optional; there was a reliable
rhythm to it that led to a certain trust that ideas would turn up when I sat
down to receive them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also led to a
certain attentiveness to my surroundings; like a crow, bringing shiny things
home to create my theological nest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
pieces sparkled better than others, but the nest was still sufficient for
shelter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHwAcf340QO5kKtVt57N9ujJS1_ggtwpX7KktrEn1D0MuRm3G9OA4koGZUurvsTJaOPgj0CT9HdCDaTlnpKI1_qFQqraj1bk0svoV1mnfgJkRqY9aKdIN8bp3mvAsShCIr-GR8AQIT28/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-04-06+at+10.20.39+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHwAcf340QO5kKtVt57N9ujJS1_ggtwpX7KktrEn1D0MuRm3G9OA4koGZUurvsTJaOPgj0CT9HdCDaTlnpKI1_qFQqraj1bk0svoV1mnfgJkRqY9aKdIN8bp3mvAsShCIr-GR8AQIT28/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-04-06+at+10.20.39+AM.png" /></a>The move has been a move home, sort of—Pittsburgh is 120
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Also dwelling, sleeper-cell like in the back of my mind in
the 20 years since I lived here last, is the day itself. Further west and south
than Boston, here the sun comes up closer to 7am than 6am, a blessed relief. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember being so appalled by the early
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quantified this—in their “<a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2015/03/24/Yes-Pittsburgh-is-dreary-but-not-the-dreariest-in-America/stories/201503240080">dreariness
index</a>” Boston was tied for fourth nationwide, Pittsburgh for second. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the
greyness feels like home, too. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Hunt Stained Glass and the Ohio River West End Bridge</i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
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My last day at Christ Church was a month ago, March 5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our house was packed up to move the next day.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time as I’ve been surprised by how
much home this feels, I am also clearly <u>somewhere else</u>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This struck me most forcefully last Sunday at
a youth group talent show at St Paul’s, where Noah just started as rector. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was fantastic: they did a skit and sang
everything from Elvis to Vance Joy (and they were really good!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
talent show at my church in Waltham was always one of my favorite events. People
shared everything: poems about their cats, kids with pogo stick performances, family
garage band covers of Nirvana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of it
fit together in the most beautiful and strange unity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Sunday as one of the girls was singing
that’s all I could think—I am somewhere else. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Somewhere else: familiar and foreign at the same time, a wide-open
space for grace to move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sunday night
was a moment of the sacramental oneness of church basements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
come home to a grey place that is home without being home, and the things that
I loved about church are still here to love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I cried, but for gratitude, not regret. I<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> miss</i> my old church, but I have no reservations at all about being
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The hard thing about trying to articulate the experience of
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post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story of Christ Church isn’t
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the same power that will lead me and them into whatever new thing God is doing.
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So for the first time in a long time, I’m sitting in a
pew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been ten years since I had a
Holy Week without leading all the services—in 2007 my son had just been born
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">note: While the
preceding line is a much more poetic ending (and it was true yesterday when I
wrote this), it is, in fact, raining now and is forecast to snow tomorrow. </i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yes.
Snow. On April 7. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i><br />
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<o:p></o:p>sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-72349703696094097422017-02-09T08:40:00.000-08:002017-04-06T08:40:58.744-07:00Alleluia in a time of fear<div class="MsoNormal">
This year I have missed the snow; there is something about
how it shifts perspective just enough to see things anew. I live across the
street from a cemetery, and in the winter when the trees have lost their leaves
you can see it in a way you can’t in the summer. Usually the
gravestones blend in to frozen winter mud, but today they stand in stark relief
against the white ground.<br />
<br />
I will miss “our” cemetery when we move to Pittsburgh—it’s where our kids
learned to ride their bikes without training wheels and where we go to find
puddles to jump in after rain storms. And I’ll miss the daily reminder of
death: not an absence of life, but as a marker of transition, life beyond life.
Each stone is its own warren of stories of heartbreak and loss and love and
hope. As a priest, I love Sunday Eucharists, but funerals will always hold my
sacramental heart most firmly. As we commend the dead to God, we declare
against all odds and evidence to the contrary, “Even at the grave, we make our
song, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.” Each of the stones across the street from
my house carries its own alleluias.<br />
<br />
As it is our job to hold our alleluias high in times of death, so it is in
times of fear, and we’ve got plenty of fear now. I don’t really think of myself
as particularly patriotic. My mother is Swedish and even after almost 50
years in this country still hasn’t chosen to become an American citizen, so I
was raised with a certain degree of skepticism at the exceptionalist narrative
that is sometimes taken for granted. But complicated times bring out
complicated feelings, and over the last months I’ve felt <i>more </i>American,
not less.<br />
<br />
I had this sense most powerfully a few weeks ago at the funeral for a
parishioner when military representatives came to present the flag to his
widow. I often have mixed feelings about this. In addition to my
sometime-ambivalence about patriotism, I’m a pacifist; I believe that war is
contrary to Christian practice. Service and sacrifice, of course, have their
own beauty, in any form. The folding of the flag, the saluting, the
playing of <i>Taps</i>—it’s as liturgical as anything we do on
Sunday. There was something so lovely about it as two young men of
different races (one white, one Latino), stepped into this ritual beyond
politics or ethnicity or any other identity. I had such a sense
that our country is bigger than the fear and prejudice that seems to now to be
holding the day. The American ideals of equality and justice are
betrayed—all the time. But they are still our ideals. They are still what every
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>veteran offered themselves for and
remember during that same ritual with the flag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We might all disagree with any particular detail of how to <i>accomplish</i> our
ideals, but there they are. My other teary-eyed flag moment came shortly after
the end of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”, when for the first time I saw a flag handed
to the same gender partner of the person I was burying. George and Frank were
in their eighties and had lived together as “friends” for many, many years when
George died. <br />
<br />
So continued gratitude for this strange country, for love, for justice. Even in
the midst of all the graves and all the contradictions and all the sorrow and
anger and confusion, we make our song. Alleluia.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-52487381048397389952016-11-10T10:51:00.001-08:002017-04-06T07:16:51.332-07:00Release to the captives and freedom for the oppresssed<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_4692125358613288849mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
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<br />
<i>November 10, in response to the Trump election</i><br />
<br />
This morning I’m writing in gratitude for the community we share, and in
hope for our God who works wonders. Last night we gathered for
Eucharist in the choir, about twenty of us, praying for the vulnerable
and the afraid, reminding ourselves of God’s great providence and grace.
The gospel text I chose for the day was of the beginning of Jesus’
public ministry as told in the Gospel of Luke:<br />
<br />
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,<br />
because he has anointed me<br />
to bring good news to the poor.<br />
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives<br />
and recovery of sight to the blind,<br />
to let the oppressed go free,<br />
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.<br />
<br />
Jesus announces that that prophecy is fulfilled in him, that as the
people gather there they are seeing the good news brought to the poor
and release proclaimed to captives.The oppressed are free and the blind
are given sight. Jesus goes on to do those things—healing, saving,
transforming. The love of God in his life was so strong, so brave, that
nothing could stop it, not even death. <br />
<br />
Hearing those words, we remembered together that the mission of the
church is that same mission. Like Jesus, we occupy the place between the
truth of God’s power and love and the truth of our broken and fragile
world. In God’s dream of transcendent peace, Muslim women aren’t afraid
to wear their veils while walking down the street. Immigrant kids don’t
worry that their parents will get deported. LGBTQ people don’t worry
their marriages will be dissolved. White supremacists don’t get air time
next to legitimate political actors. We rest in that dream, at the same
time as we live in a world where all of those things happen. One
particular heartbreak and inspiration yesterday was reading the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://christchurchwaltham.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D428a0932087f8e903ff5d12fd%26id%3D724e8e5c7c%26e%3D9d7bbbbb87&source=gmail&ust=1478890174440000&usg=AFQjCNHAffJ0qG9Vxad-phv4TMkc52wyfA" href="http://christchurchwaltham.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=428a0932087f8e903ff5d12fd&id=724e8e5c7c&e=9d7bbbbb87" style="color: #330066;" target="_blank">letter</a>
superintendent Echelson sent to faculty and staff of Waltham schools.
Immigrant students are wondering if they should drop out of school, he
said, to start making much money as they can, worried they’ll get
deported. Arabic speakers are afraid for their safety. Echelson wrote,
“Our students, particularly those students who might not feel safe right
now because of their immigration status, perceived religion or any
other variable, need us to show up for them.”<br />
<br />
This is the transcendent, im/possible place: the place of the cross
before the resurrection. The love of God is already showing up on the
cross. The love of God is with the gay kid getting beat up and the woman
being sexually assaulted. The love of God is incarnate in the mosque on
Moody Street, at Temple Beth Israel, at St Mary’s and Sacred Heart. The
love of God is showing up in Chaplains on the Way, at AA, at the
Community Day Center. The love of God has always been there and will
continue to be there. There are places where it hasn’t yet been born,
but it is there. Our task as people of faith is to be midwives, to stand
in support and accompany God’s love into the world.<br />
<br />
We can do this: to bring that love to the desolate places, to have the
courage to speak love to the dark abyss. To show up. That is our mission
no matter who is president, no matter what prejudice seems to become
acceptable. That is our mission, too, to those who disagree, to whom we
are still bound in faith and love, who no less need the gift of God’s
love.<br />
<br />
Blessings,<br />
Sara+<br />
<br />
(P.S. My sermon from last night is on <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://christchurchwaltham.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D428a0932087f8e903ff5d12fd%26id%3Ddf2eede025%26e%3D9d7bbbbb87&source=gmail&ust=1478890174440000&usg=AFQjCNGPM25M1VspRD4sJ5746jZaQxRs8A" href="http://christchurchwaltham.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=428a0932087f8e903ff5d12fd&id=df2eede025&e=9d7bbbbb87" style="color: #330066;" target="_blank">soundcloud</a>.)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-76790102934784565652016-06-08T19:11:00.000-07:002016-06-08T19:11:55.042-07:00Making feminist church<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is no longer
Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and
female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus –Galatians 3:28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What does a feminist church look like?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This past week I was at a conference with young (ish) clergy
in the church and was surprised to find myself asking that question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I write about gender in this space all the
time, it’s one of my own primary categories of thought. I spend my life in “the
church” and have been at my parish for almost 11 years. Still, I don’t think I
had ever phrased the question in quite that way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A church is just a church. It can be inclusive
or exclusive at any given time, receiving the ministries of all of God’s people
with beauty and grace or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what
makes a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feminist</i> church? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My peers and I grew up in a church where women’s ordination was
taken for granted. I’m 37. It’s been forty two years since the first women in
Philadelphia and Washington DC were ordained “irregularly.” 40 years since the
wider church voted officially to ordain women as priests. We’ve had a female
presiding bishop—the head of the whole Episcopal Church. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are reckoning with human sexuality,
recognizing the gifts of the ministries of transgender people who help the
church to understand how gender is neither binary nor biologically determined.
We are making some progress! Still, from California to Cuba, women are still
paid less, still occupy fewer senior roles, and still have difficulty advancing
in their careers. (See my post about <u><a href="http://saraiwrites.blogspot.com/2014/02/fall-over-or-please-dont-read-this-blog.html">Leaning
In/Falling Over</a></u> in this space for all of my questions about what it
means to “advance.”) For women of color and LGBTQ folks the journey is even
more difficult.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the conference I attended many of the women present met
on our own. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went around the room to share
our stories. Woman after woman shared their own experiences: ministries
dismissed, sexual harassment experiences swept under the rug, belittling by colleagues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone had a story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It felt like a fault line of pain and trauma had
cracked open. It settled over all of us and it had to go somewhere. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wider group took up the conversation and
the Holy Spirit whirled among us. Voices were heard.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of our members has observed about how our official
polity channels are where “change goes to die.” We have commissioned <a href="https://www.cpg.org/linkservid/263402B7-CC1A-3BCE-FCA2267DD366026F/showMeta/0/?label=Report-2013+Church+Compensation">reports</a>
about parity in compensation, and there’s some data:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at the level of solo clergy, women make 90%
of men. The problem? Only 34% of solo clergy are women. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The number goes way down for senior female
clergy on multi staff parishes. There is something to think through, though, in
how we actually create church<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>es</u></i><u>
</u>where change can happen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sexual
harassment and discrimination are common to women in every institution. The
church isn’t different there. I’m also curious about how parish clergy create cultures
in our own places where that happens for our congregations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also think it’s important to recognize that
feminism is not a female project. My heart belongs to Hillary, but I make no
assumptions that having women in power will make things better for all
women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having more women priests or more
women bishops won’t immediately help. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Rev. Gay Jennings , President of the House of Deputies,
just shared her remarks in <a href="mailto:http://houseofdeputies.org/40-years-on-thoughts-on-gender-equality-in-the-episcopal-church.html">40
Years On: Thoughts on Gender Equality in the Episcopal Church</a> at Executive
Council. She says it better than I:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times;">Too often I hear us measuring gender equality in the
church by counting how many educated, privileged women sit in positions of
hierarchical authority. I fear that we may believe that the best the church can
do for women is to be sure that more of us are bishops, deans, and cardinal
rectors.</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Patriarchal authority deforms everyone—even those who can make
it at the top, men or women. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can do
better than just being successful in the institution! From the ground, in our
parishes and schools and chaplaincies, men and women are equally able to make church
feminist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And make feminist church. This
Sunday we’ll hear a story of Jesus upholding the ministry of the “wrong” kind
of woman. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s out of bounds and has a
terrible reputation, and he loves her. That’s the Gospel we’re called to.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Otherwise, I don’t have any clear answers, but here are the
questions I’m thinking about asking… My own parish is also on its own journey.
I make no claims about being the success story!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Are there unspoken expectations about the “kind of
person” who is drawn into different ministries? Are men asked to join altar
guild? Do they teach Sunday School? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. If and when single gender communities develop by chance, is
that phenomenon named? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. How are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">intentionally
</i>single gendered communities nurtured? Are there places where people can
find refuge for themselves to heal? To talk honestly? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can people affiliate with those spaces
according to their own gender identification and wishes for community? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. How is gender-expansive language used for God? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are inclusive language resources like the <a href="http://englishtexts.org/Portals/11/Assets/praying.pdf">ELLC</a> Nicene
Creed and prayer books of other communions or <a href="http://richardliantonio.com/anglican/Enriching%20Our%20Worship%201.pdf">Enriching
Our Worship</a> and the <a href="http://www.osh.org/breviary.html">St Helena
Psalter</a> used? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. How are “safe church” policies implemented and discussed?
Is preventing abuse of children and other vulnerable populations discussed and
respected? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. How are staff hired and leadership selected? Is there an
effort to seriously consider the gifts of those who are women, people of color,
and LGBTQ persons? How do ministry teams reflect on and explore their own
implicit bias?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6. How are families of leaders and staff respected? Is there
an equal policy in place for men as well as women to take parental leave?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are
employees judged for taking advantage of these benefits or are their personal commitments
honored?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s my list so far, friends…add your own!<o:p></o:p></div>
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sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-35857966680534105082016-04-20T07:21:00.003-07:002016-04-20T08:56:56.239-07:00Easter is an altogether different kind of fact.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1OsDPcLejvJdm_QefDn8w9F5POuErMm5zcK5EwwT3niBLbsNkiF2u6U_R-ob1xAETzHXA8eoI67Sig6rmAfPpBdMMY9f-9JAjcygtoihwaFv47ilrDQkRD6JDXUPC9yYWwjj3GQP4BfE/s1600/raad+photo+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1OsDPcLejvJdm_QefDn8w9F5POuErMm5zcK5EwwT3niBLbsNkiF2u6U_R-ob1xAETzHXA8eoI67Sig6rmAfPpBdMMY9f-9JAjcygtoihwaFv47ilrDQkRD6JDXUPC9yYWwjj3GQP4BfE/s640/raad+photo+crop.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We’re pushing 5 weeks of Easter now, almost to the end.
We’ve gotten through the empty tomb, “side wound Sunday” with Thomas, and
eating fish on the beach. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This past
Sunday, the raising of Tabitha in Acts for this Sunday and Jesus talking about
his sheep hearing his voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All kinds
of encounter with Jesus trampling down death. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All kinds of truths, all kinds of people
trying to figure it out for themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In my vacation week after Easter, I visited the Boston
Institute of Contemporary Art, where an exhibition of the artist Walid Raad
who, the ICA tells us, “informed by his upbringing in Beirut during the Lebanese
civil war (1975–1990), has spent the past 25 years exploring the ways we
represent, remember, and make sense of history.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The exhibit is full of things that are “true”
in different ways—in a conventionally factual sense maybe or maybe not, but
still true. It also holds a not un-pointed critique of American naiveté, which
the Boston Globe’s art critic Sebastian Smee grapples with brilliantly in this
<a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2016/02/25/timely-new-ica-show-walid-raad-artfully-sells-grand-delusion/l7zHYYLQIJ1TNLww3YVACN/story.html?event=event25" target="_blank">review</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In all of my preaching this Holy Week I felt confronted by
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wideness</i> of the view of our new
stations of the cross, as I wrote here in March. The Raad exhibit asks a
similar question. How much are we willing to see? What lives, in the words of
writer Judith Butler, in her book <u>Precarious Life, </u>are actually
“grievable?” The crucifixion of Jesus only, or also that of the criminals on
either side? We can have all kinds of lovely ideas about Jesus and compassion
and justice, but if we don’t see those put to death next to him, that’s a
pretty thin participation in God’s love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any
metric of our faith depends more on those criminals and on those in our world
now than on Jesus himself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Too often, we don’t see them, and the American
tendency toward tidy narratives and easy answers is literally fatal to those
who fall in the cross hairs of our foreign policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the series of photographs is of shell
casings Raad found as a child growing up during the civil war in Lebanon. My
kids find Easter eggs; the world that he grew up in is plainly un-imaginable to
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the middle of the Raad exhibit there’s a wall of images
where visitors can leave their own categorizations of facts as tending toward
one of three categories—emotional, aesthetic, or historical. Easter, it occurred
to me, is a different kind of fact altogether.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Factually, the tomb was empty. We can offer explanations about what
happened, conjecture about resuscitation or body theft or, even, true
resurrection. But the empty tomb is only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">understood</i>
in confrontation with that space of death, at the same time confronting how it
becomes a space of life. That transformation, though, doesn’t happen in our
heads: the tomb can be empty or not empty, the body stolen by grave robbers or
raised by the almighty power of the living God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The transformation happens in our lives, in our own lives and that of
our communities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’m not persuaded intellectually that “Christ is raised from
the dead and that death no longer has dominion” (Rom 6:9). I have come to
believe, day by day and week by week, in what I have experienced and seen of
the risen Christ. I don’t believe because I’m afraid of the alternative, of
heaven vs hell or joy vs some cartoon of eternal punishment, I believe because
I have tasted it and heard it and walked with the truth of the resurrection and
I know that that dead don’t always stay dead. <span style="font-size: 12pt;">(My sermon about Tabitha is <a href="https://soundcloud.com/sara-irwin-530951447/easter-4-c-2017" target="_blank">here</a>). It’s not a
historical fact or an aesthetic fact or an emotional one. It melts the
categories and then knits a scarf out of them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just as, or even more powerful than any belief in
resurrection, though, is the invitation toward resurrection. I am doing the
Mother’s Day Walk for Peace through Dorchester to stand with victims of
violence and to go, bodily, in my part of the risen body of Christ to be one
with the risen body of Christ of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I am writing Governor Charlie Baker to advocate for full inclusion of
transgendered people because the risen body of Christ is a female body and a
male body, and a neither, both, between body. All of these encounters with the
world are encounters, also of the peculiar kind of truth that Easter is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So there it is, again—more questions than answers, more labyrinthine steps than journeys<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>completed. Thanks
for reading.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-83421222174498235142016-03-19T08:14:00.002-07:002016-03-19T08:16:35.422-07:00The Way of the Cross, Life, and Peace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Almighty God, whose
most dear Son went not up to joy but first suffered pain, and entered not into
glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of
the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus
Christ your Son our Lord, Amen. [For Fridays, BCP 99]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The cross as way of life and peace is not self-evident.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m a pacifist. The
version of Christianity that hoists Jesus up as a conquering king and
sacrificed lamb is not my native land. It’s a huge part of the broader tradition,
and a part that I am willing own as a facet of the landscape. At the same time, I recently instructed my
parish director of music to “find something less bloody-Jesusy.” I’ve done that more than once. My fear is that
in glorifying the suffering of Jesus, we risk setting that above the ministry
of Jesus. And glorifying the suffering
leads too easily to a place of quietism when we come to actual suffering in the
world. And the idea of a God who desires the sacrifice of “his” child to
satisfy some ghoulish debt? Not my religion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Still, the cross is at the center of Christianity. The center: it’s the hinge point that brings us from God’s
incarnation to the risen Christ we know in the sacraments. Instead of spending
a lot of time <i>at</i> the cross, I tend to
look at the love that brought Jesus there in the first place: love that refused
to answer evil to evil. Rather than some
cosmic imbalance that requires blood for blood, the crucifixion is about non-violence
overturning the violence of the world. This is what Jesus always did in his ministry (see: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Girard" target="_blank">Rene Girard</a>).
It’s easy, though, in that comparatively sunny interpretation, to forget that the
way to the cross was a long way that Jesus actually walked. Not a metaphor. Not
a myth that takes the many varieties of human experience and creates something
new out of them. But an actual person taking actual steps. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyc5StiY2zdXqcBK3Ht-cHOGnfqMSRLwL7uU6v59_1dVsCMw7hehnxM8V_t4ZUQ1Yec4vR1gfWNMk5S-6EF0ZHeNEb0epEkuNpYJoKdg8JO6UfxC709GxNiPqBBkF2pKUab24PL1ydJ5E/s1600/IMG_7721.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyc5StiY2zdXqcBK3Ht-cHOGnfqMSRLwL7uU6v59_1dVsCMw7hehnxM8V_t4ZUQ1Yec4vR1gfWNMk5S-6EF0ZHeNEb0epEkuNpYJoKdg8JO6UfxC709GxNiPqBBkF2pKUab24PL1ydJ5E/s320/IMG_7721.JPG" width="240" /></a>When the vestry at my parish decided to adopt the Stations
of the Cross from St John’s, Bowdoin St, when it was closing, I was delighted. (Pictures from the move and installation <a href="http://saraiwrites.blogspot.com/2016/03/welcoming-home-stations-of-cross.html" target="_blank">here</a>). I loved St John’s, and the idea of having a little piece of that holy barn, now
being turned into an office space, was lovely.
St John’s was the first church that was just mine, not just the St
Mary’s in Erie, PA, where I grew up. In
deciding whether to adopt them, the we published pictures of the images in the
newsletter, announced it at church, and offered field trips to go and see
them. Things were different when they turned up in the back
pews waiting to be hung. This being a parish of actual human beings, there
were—and probably still are—some mixed feelings about them. They are, in fact, very, very large. They are
moonlike and bright compared to the somber and dark colors of the rest of the
church. In talking to my spiritual director, a priest I see regularly
to talk about my work and my prayer, he asked mildly, “Well, have you asked God
what they’re doing there?”</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Indeed I had not. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The mixed feelings are appropriate. As one person on the
vestry leadership board pointed out, they’re not <i>supposed </i>to be attractive.
They are images of a dead man walking. I’ve seen stations of the cross
with images of the AIDS crisis, homelessness, <a href="http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2013/03/25/episcopalians-go-to-washington-for-prayerful-march-against-violence/" target="_blank">gun violence</a>, climate change, and, now, the <a href="http://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Stations-of-the-Cross-refugee-photography-goes-on-display" target="_blank">refugee crisis</a> in Europe. Episcopal Relief and Development created a rite for the <a href="http://www.episcopalchurch.org/files/stations_of_the_cross_global_justice.pdf" target="_blank">Millennium Development Goals</a>. This willingness to see suffering is half the heart of
Christianity. The other half is the faith
that such evil and suffering doesn’t have the last word. But we have to look
and see the pain to receive the gift. I
had not asked why the Stations of the Cross were there, possibly because I
didn’t quite want to know.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPL4_LtD3XjQTRYwtLc4MtgphLf4l5rV1eMj7ECa2PH3hcjnbq_spz6KjyUsGP7jl1OFJGjMYSwGf6dzfw22HNRsO85t1uD6hL3hOBaOfcNDYPKzRL4zXaBugLHsZYUCiXIZ5Vma6FyK8/s1600/File_000.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPL4_LtD3XjQTRYwtLc4MtgphLf4l5rV1eMj7ECa2PH3hcjnbq_spz6KjyUsGP7jl1OFJGjMYSwGf6dzfw22HNRsO85t1uD6hL3hOBaOfcNDYPKzRL4zXaBugLHsZYUCiXIZ5Vma6FyK8/s320/File_000.jpeg" width="276" /></a></div>
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I have written a fair amount in these pages about suffering
and privilege. I have a lot of privilege, I know that. Being present to the suffering of Jesus—step
by step, moment by moment, makes it harder to close my eyes to the suffering in
the world. The first time I did the prayer service for them, my kids were
along. It’s one thing to hear abstractly the words to Mary: “A sword will
pierce your own soul, too.” It’s another to hear those words while your own
children are right next to you, blissfully unaware and climbing through the pews. Death and suffering are real. They will face them. I can't protect them any more than Mary could.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In this time of truly awful political rhetoric, when entire
peoples and religions are demonized, we need this broken savior. He didn’t win.
He didn’t get everyone to love him. He didn’t succeed. That’s where God was
2000 years ago, and that’s where God is now. We have to look.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-358795647837978652016-03-17T12:24:00.000-07:002016-03-19T08:15:41.151-07:00Welcoming Home the Stations of the Cross<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaehB3jxWRpOJ461FohpNCkQfVhn7DU_aEUCymLPAI7LWhHE-fKtKdE_A7RMnY9to2HDEEP0RkWEhvz-3Wt5Bm4OaSeByZyh9gQuJrAbzBgkQnFpBXFpfz69jjfo4OQCUL-Q5dGY4_DNY/s1600/St+Johns+Bowdoin+St.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaehB3jxWRpOJ461FohpNCkQfVhn7DU_aEUCymLPAI7LWhHE-fKtKdE_A7RMnY9to2HDEEP0RkWEhvz-3Wt5Bm4OaSeByZyh9gQuJrAbzBgkQnFpBXFpfz69jjfo4OQCUL-Q5dGY4_DNY/s320/St+Johns+Bowdoin+St.jpg" width="260" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaehB3jxWRpOJ461FohpNCkQfVhn7DU_aEUCymLPAI7LWhHE-fKtKdE_A7RMnY9to2HDEEP0RkWEhvz-3Wt5Bm4OaSeByZyh9gQuJrAbzBgkQnFpBXFpfz69jjfo4OQCUL-Q5dGY4_DNY/s1600/St+Johns+Bowdoin+St.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>When I was first in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, I worked at St John's Bowdoin St with the congregation and the ministries with those who were homeless and poor in the neighborhood...I started in September 2000. It was grace-filled and incredible and also, in parts, liturgically terrifying. St John's was part of an Anglo-Catholic tradition of "high" Episcopal worship that took all the senses seriously. From chanting to incense to more vestments than you can imagine. It was the first church that was <i>my </i>church--not my parents'. It was the first place I swung a thurible (somewhat shamefully, on Easter Sunday, when I didn't use enough incense and weak trickle of smoke leaked out pathetically), the first place I taught an adult ed class, the first time I went to a vestry meeting...I'm sad to see it go. But 15 years after I left, the stations of the cross from St John's came to Waltham when St John's merged with the Cathedral Congregation. (More from me about the Stations of the Cross <a href="http://saraiwrites.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-way-of-cross-life-and-peace.html" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjES32beK6816lgj9WkCBIXeDU2q27zhy3gYNd3Wj-T8-5xLhUrbLhhMszGOvmL9SVnoDuNCVmXkJRSRzLdq38Qjvfa1PdjkUemgrGJDch0XALzgSIttyCSOEpwp-F1dzMfFZ2T9DzlkHs/s1600/IMG_7719.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjES32beK6816lgj9WkCBIXeDU2q27zhy3gYNd3Wj-T8-5xLhUrbLhhMszGOvmL9SVnoDuNCVmXkJRSRzLdq38Qjvfa1PdjkUemgrGJDch0XALzgSIttyCSOEpwp-F1dzMfFZ2T9DzlkHs/s640/IMG_7719.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj44CLkZA7rELJHDjuwYmINfeoxcR-GSLIN4tj6UyGj722c_2xejfZtVeWHANhCWPATKXBuNJDAExV7y0V74hyF5nVoVq7NsOt57COIoEO9se433YmDScNRR1bB6tlTeHBtpTwPxBSl10A/s1600/IMG_7716.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj44CLkZA7rELJHDjuwYmINfeoxcR-GSLIN4tj6UyGj722c_2xejfZtVeWHANhCWPATKXBuNJDAExV7y0V74hyF5nVoVq7NsOt57COIoEO9se433YmDScNRR1bB6tlTeHBtpTwPxBSl10A/s640/IMG_7716.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd4a9I-GqW_Euqd4SuOoY_9iRch4wkWcuOHb-v0s_8yzlRFf-H7VfgF1wq2UMjqLf750azSa_YVzPVMv7-GI5Q1NknL2RS2MNorJ6cscDI3W199BwKtO7qcgXyLL4d3VjBrXEkvzjT51o/s1600/IMG_7714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd4a9I-GqW_Euqd4SuOoY_9iRch4wkWcuOHb-v0s_8yzlRFf-H7VfgF1wq2UMjqLf750azSa_YVzPVMv7-GI5Q1NknL2RS2MNorJ6cscDI3W199BwKtO7qcgXyLL4d3VjBrXEkvzjT51o/s640/IMG_7714.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cathedral Facilities Manager Jim Woodworth incredibly helpful! See the blank places in the wall where they were before?</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigeHLivaCK69x2X4boeTHxIAzYttAoRBMCP71w2_YSFDtb8CtTEd6e-I_rTpkhGZSiCTwPhrdOQUbzBfR-8HwB9lNkkkmiY9Nq4cQ6f35ZJ9VHiy48r7IcHOYb49L4X7iDWdSnK2Q2MLY/s1600/IMG_7723.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigeHLivaCK69x2X4boeTHxIAzYttAoRBMCP71w2_YSFDtb8CtTEd6e-I_rTpkhGZSiCTwPhrdOQUbzBfR-8HwB9lNkkkmiY9Nq4cQ6f35ZJ9VHiy48r7IcHOYb49L4X7iDWdSnK2Q2MLY/s640/IMG_7723.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front reredos and pews removed<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ76Nvx_l0SarWmp7CPZqOuIo5VdGVI7dfbLIAXNHaeQ3V_Dne7PZnCErOcVeEgoBT5QVqxxfXDVtHEivGYrziKOAgiWgpCc0VigT6So2O7pzAio5UuZ81vKSN9F3oWfTuWoUDSHvAUXA/s1600/IMG_7716.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ76Nvx_l0SarWmp7CPZqOuIo5VdGVI7dfbLIAXNHaeQ3V_Dne7PZnCErOcVeEgoBT5QVqxxfXDVtHEivGYrziKOAgiWgpCc0VigT6So2O7pzAio5UuZ81vKSN9F3oWfTuWoUDSHvAUXA/s640/IMG_7716.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvVKGWKV0vjTPWK9NgysQ1o1nOyyZt3hjR007hP4KuB4GnsxYU-QlMFqRe2kDAuRgN3W6EFHJSObnrQR7VNHc4O5pN79E5EG1a9lk9rCtaVeuoGADJMV0KEXOSDVOFU1lv0PO9LW6hgaU/s1600/IMG_7721.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvVKGWKV0vjTPWK9NgysQ1o1nOyyZt3hjR007hP4KuB4GnsxYU-QlMFqRe2kDAuRgN3W6EFHJSObnrQR7VNHc4O5pN79E5EG1a9lk9rCtaVeuoGADJMV0KEXOSDVOFU1lv0PO9LW6hgaU/s640/IMG_7721.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU7h7bNAWk1cCCx1y7mE8n8gu6eoibMs-W80ECr6Y6rHo1zBUm4z5jChm9fYEEGDKIkS0l-ETKvKgREinH1BMUGaSESmCdcPy5nvUXHMt-z23nzmOMzaJjzWAKE3tDpJT2oclNP3CqGd0/s1600/IMG_7726.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU7h7bNAWk1cCCx1y7mE8n8gu6eoibMs-W80ECr6Y6rHo1zBUm4z5jChm9fYEEGDKIkS0l-ETKvKgREinH1BMUGaSESmCdcPy5nvUXHMt-z23nzmOMzaJjzWAKE3tDpJT2oclNP3CqGd0/s640/IMG_7726.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Made in 1888, they're ten years older than Christ Church<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDHAdH2PXBoSvSTj8pdQEHnKV6eD0ijYpFPYieQhGDyr7oTuRenU4pJOsgTae0_xuTCk0_niE9yVYCzCUI1ei9ryek99TrPOqosEER_6P7V0h-Vj6xOoDuhSrf1WkB2-VDMEBRjC8r38s/s1600/IMG_7725.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDHAdH2PXBoSvSTj8pdQEHnKV6eD0ijYpFPYieQhGDyr7oTuRenU4pJOsgTae0_xuTCk0_niE9yVYCzCUI1ei9ryek99TrPOqosEER_6P7V0h-Vj6xOoDuhSrf1WkB2-VDMEBRjC8r38s/s640/IMG_7725.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
There was a lot of waiting in the back pew while we figured out our next steps.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMB79FIMuvhtDNpE0bxZWra55tF1Qcyj2dei7f70HW2YZAVZwAHLscZuq6CxfcmPkTUqhFZZh-IkIGdUgqFTUkrrMzDGdYnSLIwKe2zLnZn0HA0jt-5oPaURinOB646mDm6znjZgwgzhc/s1600/jesus+falls+back+together.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMB79FIMuvhtDNpE0bxZWra55tF1Qcyj2dei7f70HW2YZAVZwAHLscZuq6CxfcmPkTUqhFZZh-IkIGdUgqFTUkrrMzDGdYnSLIwKe2zLnZn0HA0jt-5oPaURinOB646mDm6znjZgwgzhc/s640/jesus+falls+back+together.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
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Jesus falls a second time. With cracks showing...one was broken while being taken down, and two in transit. A great metaphor--an inconvenient thing to try to repair.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfv5jpAZIvIqvKA_kseKGKvHvgi7rnNwxgbzeKhDrGODoLKVihlYd-HdMzUDM9kSSdDJ7DN0L-EXFTdQn09NGEArIIuOfFpngM0wJQ8dt8F45OorVpkW6NSnU4XRpWJyJUnWaQnBMxzdo/s1600/A+woman+wipes+the+face+of+Jesus+6.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfv5jpAZIvIqvKA_kseKGKvHvgi7rnNwxgbzeKhDrGODoLKVihlYd-HdMzUDM9kSSdDJ7DN0L-EXFTdQn09NGEArIIuOfFpngM0wJQ8dt8F45OorVpkW6NSnU4XRpWJyJUnWaQnBMxzdo/s640/A+woman+wipes+the+face+of+Jesus+6.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJ0WUsx9Nt-G_UAJAiP8G9iXY2iPdYG8yOrwJiNfMuo68JoTAHTsDZsPzK9AFhOXTuQKhvlMd-Urmvw9NrzRAkccd1V-us-tFjbqnSYuJ2oIABsfnQoQSraakYSEEoYjTvcKIE9F5Sgo/s1600/Jesus+Takes+up+his+cross.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJ0WUsx9Nt-G_UAJAiP8G9iXY2iPdYG8yOrwJiNfMuo68JoTAHTsDZsPzK9AFhOXTuQKhvlMd-Urmvw9NrzRAkccd1V-us-tFjbqnSYuJ2oIABsfnQoQSraakYSEEoYjTvcKIE9F5Sgo/s640/Jesus+Takes+up+his+cross.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
Jesus takes up his cross<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnNbHT23CPTk3Tm_gY-6LWUcEBheu9ayw12OraJMElpSbQyJGpo_ucqBFndA69ei5DZd2k1l5tTzlntw_gNMs_aju8XtGQPUEz4AlZSIJgN1ZVBGgMHrwPB0fg5GGzeoLr-UXXCvkFaI0/s1600/Carryingframes.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnNbHT23CPTk3Tm_gY-6LWUcEBheu9ayw12OraJMElpSbQyJGpo_ucqBFndA69ei5DZd2k1l5tTzlntw_gNMs_aju8XtGQPUEz4AlZSIJgN1ZVBGgMHrwPB0fg5GGzeoLr-UXXCvkFaI0/s640/Carryingframes.jpeg" width="480" /></a><br />
The frames are delivered!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJ1EnuPg9_-OkvWkwsly6-GRcKGFeL3MCJF_qzGVdfHtVUHJdjHdkgrq8Z4STOSE_OhWL9Q_vfk42duxWrY3GzvNrtuG_Nh2xtU3z4RxHI0abIAdaBxl4yi3re9VaNGbJVpu02u1rNmU/s1600/IMG_0005.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJ1EnuPg9_-OkvWkwsly6-GRcKGFeL3MCJF_qzGVdfHtVUHJdjHdkgrq8Z4STOSE_OhWL9Q_vfk42duxWrY3GzvNrtuG_Nh2xtU3z4RxHI0abIAdaBxl4yi3re9VaNGbJVpu02u1rNmU/s640/IMG_0005.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
And we have hooks!<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPc_Po430kS9AiM7aj3EhOvGjQoCQiRc0QkTrrrfOsRUrh0jzhTe5b3HLp_GcDLK4vya9q3qpWXeopXXkOlkBnBI16oCE9Lkbxsc_YyTbejFbvl7iHmzqbVJg4sGdm-9IBFiMr5LG0iA/s1600/IMG_0006.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPc_Po430kS9AiM7aj3EhOvGjQoCQiRc0QkTrrrfOsRUrh0jzhTe5b3HLp_GcDLK4vya9q3qpWXeopXXkOlkBnBI16oCE9Lkbxsc_YyTbejFbvl7iHmzqbVJg4sGdm-9IBFiMr5LG0iA/s640/IMG_0006.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
Betsy helps David while Chloe looks on, clearly enthralled.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzwzXGJ-S2Js3Ftnek_DqKLMTfr903pE-o9GHYDQ5Jiv7e3FE5chJIemDuIdHP_MLGqK9uWzzorE6BeGUqAIf_WBucruXhL6bHRD26vhucro9Ipex7uS7dYGMQDJBGmHq6UAbXizy8bmw/s1600/IMG_0010.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzwzXGJ-S2Js3Ftnek_DqKLMTfr903pE-o9GHYDQ5Jiv7e3FE5chJIemDuIdHP_MLGqK9uWzzorE6BeGUqAIf_WBucruXhL6bHRD26vhucro9Ipex7uS7dYGMQDJBGmHq6UAbXizy8bmw/s640/IMG_0010.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5b5WZOLnLQDVMVgt7jTLbBNmBZRUDM-4DZawcro3yjM3be8j1B4Sn1wAQW7GDCm0BRJ-txTnkQwb9QA5o99tuWJScqtr5NlY7rXf3cwMtPYWCVkGh5Ah2Oe0xs-0FHB1nfPvfDjT6pA/s1600/north+wall+stn.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5b5WZOLnLQDVMVgt7jTLbBNmBZRUDM-4DZawcro3yjM3be8j1B4Sn1wAQW7GDCm0BRJ-txTnkQwb9QA5o99tuWJScqtr5NlY7rXf3cwMtPYWCVkGh5Ah2Oe0xs-0FHB1nfPvfDjT6pA/s640/north+wall+stn.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUCyG0pkxsMcN-XvD0701CbDtOkWj923VyKUT9jrr3Z8DeJhpOgFIIqNS5AdiT_qbuZp6oPPeGw6QynZY8fQIgpYqCQ70SUFu-_AWsiZEIfudSn1bgOQmegI-l2ov4Jo4ix-2ENVa4BSY/s1600/south+wall+stn.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUCyG0pkxsMcN-XvD0701CbDtOkWj923VyKUT9jrr3Z8DeJhpOgFIIqNS5AdiT_qbuZp6oPPeGw6QynZY8fQIgpYqCQ70SUFu-_AWsiZEIfudSn1bgOQmegI-l2ov4Jo4ix-2ENVa4BSY/s640/south+wall+stn.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64Vx76c4Rq_xDq1GS4PSMEbZnrgOqBrJV-3zH91DxLcHf1Af0LDZfU9VSbAUJwi7VOYkdP0CQQGTCRMhtqXoXW0FtaaErkXRw56m0m8FvpMWtFxFLpnNdI9ZaLp3uZRsExs2OGZdZHyc/s1600/mary+stn.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64Vx76c4Rq_xDq1GS4PSMEbZnrgOqBrJV-3zH91DxLcHf1Af0LDZfU9VSbAUJwi7VOYkdP0CQQGTCRMhtqXoXW0FtaaErkXRw56m0m8FvpMWtFxFLpnNdI9ZaLp3uZRsExs2OGZdZHyc/s640/mary+stn.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiup2QY4-DhN481V35Q9UJLtwXarl9gW_u4awh6ZFWU3TG2kMnhcLg3FDOB6WcWZPYOZz3eJ55un7L3yVJds4QSX8O1kJ8sdMWUSAd2mXdyQQZFiRjLCxagLD6jCns2BPnZu4kJw_asbU0/s1600/Panorama.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiup2QY4-DhN481V35Q9UJLtwXarl9gW_u4awh6ZFWU3TG2kMnhcLg3FDOB6WcWZPYOZz3eJ55un7L3yVJds4QSX8O1kJ8sdMWUSAd2mXdyQQZFiRjLCxagLD6jCns2BPnZu4kJw_asbU0/s640/Panorama.jpeg" width="640" /></a><br />
And here they all are!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-77669346352917502122016-01-15T08:34:00.002-08:002016-01-15T08:34:42.386-08:00The Anglicans And Us: Primates Meeting 2016<div class="MsoNormal">
There have been times when my kids have not gotten invited
to their friends’ birthday parties.
Either I hear about it from another parent or they find out about the
missed event from someone else, and there is sadness and pain. As a parent I wonder if I should do more to
smooth the way for them, initiate more play dates or encourage them more as
they build friendships. Then the insult passes, and then they hit each other
with foam swords or talk about their minecraft creations and the world is
restored again, just a little less stable than it was, but restored nonetheless.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since Bishop Gene Robinson was elected bishop of New
Hampshire in 2003, there have been a lot of foam swords swung around in the
global church (There were, to be sure, lots swung before that, mostly around
women’s ordination). Last summer’s national church vote to amend the marriage
canon to include same gender marriage was hope and joy and wonder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have plenty of distance to travel for ending
discrimination, but we have decided, collectively, that we are finished arguing
about equal marriage in the life of the Episcopal Church based in the US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Finis</i>.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So now, the international meeting of heads of Anglican
Churches—primates—have voted to suspend us for three years for having done so. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honestly, the thought occurred to me to be
surprised at the fact that it hadn’t happened earlier. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have had times of “fasting” and not making <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">more</i> publicly LGBTQ bishops, in
attempting to please the self-appointed orthodox (whether those were conformed
to because of accident or intention is another question). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout the last 13 years, the global
church has continually gone neither as far as the far right would prefer nor as
far as the far left would prefer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
been very Anglican. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Via media</i>, etc.
Even this time, Bishop Ntagali of Uganda left the Primates meeting early
because he was angry that the Episcopal Church wasn’t being kicked out
completely.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the thing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Anglican Communion, as an institutional body, has more
in common with the structure of parents mediating birthday parties than, for example,
Congress and the President.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the primates
are not democratically elected by their whole church. The primates themselves
represent their individual churches, but as “first among equals,” not as
enforcers who can make anyone do anything. Obviously how that’s lived out in
different places varies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The word
“Episcopal” means that our church is overseen by bishops. Who oversees the
bishops? Well, they’re all sitting next to each other at a table. The
Archbishop of Canterbury is at the head of the table, but he’s still just one
person sitting at the table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike the
President and Congress, he doesn’t have veto power over what the bishops might
want to do individually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bishop Gates
can tell me how I can function as a priest, but Bishop Curry, Presiding<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bishop/ Primate of the Episcopal Church can’t
dictate how Bishop Gates functions as a bishop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bishop Gates sits at Presiding Bishop Curry’s table and he sits at the
Archbishop of Canterbury’s table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, it’s sad. Almost
8 years ago, St Peter’s Anglican Church of Uganda came to worship at my parish,
Christ Church. While I have never felt like we are singlehandedly holding the
Anglican Communion together, it has been important to me that we are sure that
we are one Body of Christ, even if there are things we might disagree
about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Five years after they came, I
traveled to Uganda and Tanzania with Bishop Shaw (that’s when I started this
blog). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was actually in Kampala, Uganda
on the day the Archbishop of Uganda was consecrated, along with Tom Shaw,
himself a gay bishop (however celibate, being a monk and all).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were wrapping up our visit with the Bishop
Masereka Christian Foundation, where we learned about their work in Kasese,
with AIDS prevention, maternal health, and children’s education. There were
more important things on the table than human sexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What binds us together?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The communion of saints. The Prayer Book. Shared history. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kind of like minecraft and foam swords.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are in relationship with each other
because we are in relationship with each other. Neither the primates’
gatherings nor the Archbishop of Canterbury were ever constructed as dogmatic
doctrine-creating bodies. That’s not what they’re for. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re built for relationship. That’s it. And
there are a lot of ways to be in relationship. My time in Uganda was amazing
and transcendent, I’m embarrassed that I haven’t kept the connections made on
that trip more strongly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do think
that on Sunday I might stay late at Church to pray with St Peter’s, for whom
debates like this are closer to home. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Being suspended is sad, but not tragic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gay teenagers getting kicked out of their
homes by their parents? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That’s</i>
tragic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The murder of transpeople
because of their gender expression? That’s tragic. Respecting the dignity of
every human being, as we say in the baptismal covenant, to me means honoring
LGBTQ persons at every level of the church. The humanity of all God’s people is
not up for debate. It’s just not, and clearly, it’s “worth” whatever
institutional penalty could be imposed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Can</i> we actually be kicked out of the
Anglican Communion? Maybe, maybe not. If the bishops who voted the suspension
think that we’re going to amend our gay-loving lifestyles in three years, they
are clearly wrong. And if that means that we can’t go to the meetings, okay.
But I am still part of a global family of churches that draw our lineage to the
English Reformation, and I will still have a strange loyalty to the Book of
Common Prayer, even though we print everything in a single leaflet at my church
and almost never open the book itself. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This Sunday, I’ll preach the wedding at Cana: abundance and
transformation and celebration and miracle. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I may even preach about weddings: the joining
of two persons (of any gender) in love and faithfulness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll preach, too, about hope, that Jesus
Christ who brought us into his body is strong enough to manage when we are
struggling, and always gives us more than we dared ask for. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-78386127219654286192015-12-25T18:31:00.000-08:002016-01-02T18:31:34.604-08:00Grace in the gaps between us: Christmas 2015<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grace in the gaps
between us<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the best known stories from the Christian scriptures
is, of course, the story of Christmas. Whether rendered in plastic or clay or
straw or glass, you can buy a nativity scene almost anywhere. You don’t have to
be a Christian to recognize this old, old story, and have your imagination
caught by its meaning: even in these dark days of winter, hope endures, born in
the form of a tiny child. Jesus brings together heaven and earth in tiny
newborn hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love that we in the
cold Northeast receive this gift at this hard time of year.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Looking more closely, though, we also have the opportunity
to invite a closer look at the Christmas story, the part that you can’t see in
those manger scenes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like everything,
it’s more complicated than it looks. Here’s the trouble: the Bible doesn’t say
just one thing. There are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">four</i>
different accounts of Jesus’ life, and each one says something different about
where he came from and why his life was important.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The shepherds only show up at the manger when the author of
the Gospel of Luke tells the story. The magi, wise ones from the East, visit
Jesus after his miraculous birth takes place in a house (in the book of Matthew).
The Gospel of Mark mentions <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not one word</i>
about Mary as visited by the Holy Spirit or Jesus’ birth—he just starts off
right away with Jesus’ ministry as an adult. The Gospel of John offers a fourth
account, talking about Jesus not as miraculously given to Mary, but the one
through whom the whole world came to be, the Word of God. No manger <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">or</i> house, in that one, no Holy Spirit and
a young girl, or her profound declaration of “yes” to God.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what gives? Why couldn’t the church have gotten its
stories straight? With something as important as the birth of the one we call our
savior, shouldn’t we at least have one answer about where he came from? We can
try to harmonize the accounts like we do in our greeting cards, but I think we
miss something when we impose an order that’s not there. Those shepherds are
important, but not the whole story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
symbolize the birth of God at the margins, in the outcast—the pregnant homeless
teenager. Those wise ones, coming from the East, symbolize the universal nature
of God, the fact that sometimes truth is recognized by those outside your own
kin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need shepherds <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> kings, cosmic Christ and Jesus just
appearing out of nowhere. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t know how these many different stories sounded to the
earliest Christians, but I believe in our world now the message of these
different ways of believing couldn’t be more timely. In a world rife with
religious strife, what we all need most is some humility. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need, crucially, to remember that it could
be otherwise—there could be many truths, many different ways to
understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God speaks many languages
and tells many stories to God’s people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As an Episcopalian, with my planned-out worship in a big
stone church, I need to remember that the storefront Pentecostals also know
Jesus. As a Christian, I need to remember that my Muslim brothers and sisters also
know One God, Creator of heaven and earth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need to remember that in my human mind, I
can’t know how all the stories come together: not the stories of my own faith,
and not where those stories touch the sacred stories of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need
to remember the mystery of love, and the grace of God that fills in the gaps
between us. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Printed in the<a href="http://waltham.wickedlocal.com/news/20151224/waltham-voices-grace-in-gaps-between-us" target="_blank"> Waltham News Tribune</a> Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More Christmas is here--listen in on my <a href="https://soundcloud.com/sara-irwin-530951447/christmas-eve-2015" target="_blank">sermon</a> from our service at Christ Church on Dec. 24!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-51990599205827500122015-10-15T09:55:00.000-07:002015-10-15T19:40:14.039-07:00Inky Love<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFvdH4yFuT06CLh2gFxH61cJ5DWZpEcuJek5k0azShB0vOcaS7fu8gTair_24JVGIQHbAmrutck-OmSqfqyTj4KHUx7Y7SNOfhKnHer2TaXpIy3b9FGE1lp_OELofuHIDfW0LuHprACpk/s1600/isaiah+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFvdH4yFuT06CLh2gFxH61cJ5DWZpEcuJek5k0azShB0vOcaS7fu8gTair_24JVGIQHbAmrutck-OmSqfqyTj4KHUx7Y7SNOfhKnHer2TaXpIy3b9FGE1lp_OELofuHIDfW0LuHprACpk/s320/isaiah+cropped.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby Isaiah and my old tattoo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Two ½ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>years ago, I
had a rather large tattoo on my right arm done by Holly Azzara at Always and
Forever in Watertown, Massachusetts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a mommy tattoo—my kids’ names, flowers,
happy swallows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like children, it took
up more room than I expected—neither population has any sense of
moderation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had initially planned for
it to incorporate the <a href="http://saraiwrites.blogspot.com/2015/03/international-womens-day-2015.html" target="_blank">female symbol</a> I had tattooed on my arm when I was 19, but
Holly was unimpressed, and advised me to start over on the other arm or cover
it up. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I didn’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">want</i> to
cover it up. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wrote in <a href="http://saraiwrites.blogspot.com/2013/01/re-entry-becoming-more-tattooed-lady.html" target="_blank">this space</a> then about why—the sentimental value
of seeing the same image on my arm at my wedding, nursing my newborn children,
graduating from college —that tattoo is in all of those pictures. It’s become
lopsided and faded, but it’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">me</i>. It’s
possible that I am also becoming a little lopsided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until, until. I started to plan my next tattoo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My first plan was to get a great blue heron.
They symbolize a connection to place and wilderness that’s hard to come by so
close to the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve written tons of poems
about the heron in the pond by the cemetery across the street from my house,
and in the summer they fly over from daytime feeding grounds at the tiny lake to
the west.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re beautiful and shadowy,
motion and stillness at the same time. Grey, black, muted blue. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the end of the day, though, a bird is a bird. And while I
may still get the heron done,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there was
another image I couldn’t get out of my mind. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a woman (at least I see her as a woman) looking out
with clear eyes and calm gaze. The green beneath her feet suggests the round
earth under her. She is love. Just love. She has kind of a square face and
looks like she’s seen a lot. But the way she looks out is just clear
compassion. Total and complete love.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjjxqrH90kGDa4ky343aipS_x0HsFJgs71WRtEDaE012SzF27bOMYrIvVewb4h8t3EzitUspYpgEp_nYfcEBg7qVuikKAJVhNvo5ZjhnTsBmcNQm6rhngacBqnfPry3DDZL1DCtplz0ug/s1600/FullSizeRender-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjjxqrH90kGDa4ky343aipS_x0HsFJgs71WRtEDaE012SzF27bOMYrIvVewb4h8t3EzitUspYpgEp_nYfcEBg7qVuikKAJVhNvo5ZjhnTsBmcNQm6rhngacBqnfPry3DDZL1DCtplz0ug/s640/FullSizeRender-2.jpg" width="411" /></a>I sat opposite her window when I was on sabbatical in 2012
at Grace Medford, where my husband is t<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So just over two weeks ago (10 months after
the original decision was made), after 6 ½ hours of needle time, here she is. <o:p></o:p></div>
he rector, which was when I was planning
the mommy tattoo. And she just wouldn’t let me go.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And you can still see my old tattoo, shadowy in the
background.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have an appointment for
January to go over and fill in any spots that didn’t heal properly, and maybe hide
that a bit more. But I kind of love it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The line in the original window from 1 Corinthians—“The
greatest of these is charity”— you’ve heard at every wedding—is in the
background, but I went for the Latin “Caritas” just on the top instead of all
the words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have mixed feelings about
Latin—you know, there’s that whole central tenant of Anglicanism that talks
about worship in your own language—but I am setting those aside in favor of the
wider Christian history of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Getting ready to preach recently, I found another place in
Scripture where this image resonates. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As Jesus was setting
out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good
Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him,
"Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the
commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall
not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your
father and mother.'" He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these
since my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack
one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was
shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s an astonishing and tragic moment: he comes up to Jesus
and bows down, offering deference and respect. “We can imagine that maybe he’s
expecting to be told he’s doing well; he says he has kept all the commandments.
But something unanticipated happens—Jesus looks at him, and loves him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that loving glance, Jesus sees him and
knows him, and tells him what he’s missing. The man was looking for approval,
not grace. Certainly not this kind of love that will change his life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he leaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For his security, and a deeper grief than he’s ever known. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisX5OMwJoJocud4oQRw1e1yOkyb5OkNJrguNtIV10DfTV9GcsyPegM-SOZXcbpxvGZI7W58nfp7DqpoEZkJMQ_Fq5pwm5aPqVLB7g20u7djhC7McBn6aFuFho0o7FXrpn46QYVXT5rFQQ/s1600/IMG_7340.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisX5OMwJoJocud4oQRw1e1yOkyb5OkNJrguNtIV10DfTV9GcsyPegM-SOZXcbpxvGZI7W58nfp7DqpoEZkJMQ_Fq5pwm5aPqVLB7g20u7djhC7McBn6aFuFho0o7FXrpn46QYVXT5rFQQ/s400/IMG_7340.PNG" width="201" /></a>This, it seems to me, is as clear a picture of hell as we
ever see in the New Testament. Never mind all that stuff about the eternal fire
where the worm never dies. This is the real thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of the promises of God’s eternity so
close he could touch it, and instead he turns his back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Giving in to his fear, he can’t listen to his
sorrow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He walks away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even Job knew he was talking to God in the
depths of despair, but the rich man has nothing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just his money. And he will find out that
that’s not enough.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus looks at him and loves him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what this woman is doing—<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
this look in her eyes is so astonishingly clear, so generous, you can see her
looking at you and loving you for who you are. And all of your anxiety, all of
your perceived need to prove yourself or justify your status—it just melts. And
you imagine that this is what love is. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With all the transcendent hope in the world, I
want to say yes to it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-78031580016224218682015-09-22T11:25:00.000-07:002015-09-22T11:27:30.404-07:00In Memoriam: Paula Tatarunis<br />
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Last week, I celebrated the
ten year anniversary of my time at Christ Church, Waltham, where I came to work in 2015 when the bishop asked if I’d be
interested in an appointment at a little church west of Boston. Ten years
later, I still love these people. I cry at their funerals and their baptisms,
trying to thread the needle between having my feelings spill all over
everything and being a human person with real relationships. This past weekend
was a tough one—a beloved sometime-parishioner died after a seven months long
struggle with a series of medical catastrophes from an AVM in her brain.</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After having joined with astonishing
vigor in 2006, over the years, Paula came to find that she and Jesus were
working through some differences that felt irreconcilable to her. The amount of
translation she found herself needing to do to be in church was just too much.
The mystery of God for her was silence and stillness, out taking pictures of
dead weeds. God was harder to find for her in the particularity of Jesus and
the practices of church community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
emailed off and on throughout her sojourn away, and she turned up on Sundays
once in a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last December as we
were emailing afterwards she said it felt good, but that she felt like her
vocation was in the “outer darkness.” Naturally I chose the prologue to John
part for the Gospel at the funeral—“The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not overcome it.” She had a lot of light.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The funeral was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">marvelous</i>. We had amazing singers, full
incense and fiery processions. I did cry, sniveling through “Let all mortal
flesh keep silence” </span><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">after
communion, a hymn that I love and a particular favorite for a person who was,
as her husband said in his euology, “the most beloved misanthrope there ever
could have been.” She was indeed happiest when fleshy mortals were silent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few people have asked, so here’s my
sermon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> (you should also look at her blog--www.paulashouseoftoast.blogspot.com, which is BRILLIANT). </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In Memoriam, Paula
Tatarunis, 1952-2015</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif;">There is a section in
one of the addenda to the Episcopal Book of Common prayer politely titled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Burial of one who does not profess the
Christian faith.</i> You can have whatever reading you want at a funeral, and
it really doesn’t matter what part of the Bible it comes from. So the headings
are not important. But when I was putting things together to talk with Darrell
about what to do today I just kind of caught on that expression. To <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">profess </i>the faith. To believe it, to say
it out loud, to identify. Paula’s relationship with the Christian faith was
just never as simple as professing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When she was preparing for confirmation, Paula made a comment about how
the cross inscribed on her forehead when she was baptized as a child had
endured there, without her knowing it, an invisible claim made by God on her.
That claim followed her and held her, when at moments she would have professed
something pretty different from the traditional creeds of the institutional
church. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif;">Whatever she professed,
Paula’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">faith</i>, however, I would trust
to pray me out of the belly of any whale, as our first opening acclamation from
the book of Jonah said. Paula’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">faith</i>
was in unfathomable beauty and grace and clarity and vision and justice and
peace. Paula’s spiritual life was that of a theologian, as in the classical
understanding that defines theology as “faith seeking understanding.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paula’s faith was always, always, always seeking
understanding. And as I think about her faith, she was one of the most
Christian, most theologically grounded person I’ve ever met.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She did not simply <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe</i>, as though a crowd of people in a stone building saying
words together could make them true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
interrogated and imagined and made poetry out of the most random shards of
life. She wrote in her blog once about Jesus as the chimera of eternity and
history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The chimera of eternity and
history. She was never sure of how, exactly, to believe in Jesus—but I am sure
she knew him.</span></div>
<div class="VersicleRight" style="tab-stops: 1.2in 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;">What has
come into being in the Word was life, and the life was the light of all people.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif;">It might be a little
weakly transparent to use imagery of Word and light at the funeral for a poet.
It might a tad too obvious to talk about how Words and Light are part of the
reality of God at the funeral of a poet and photographer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The work of poetry and photography is to hold
time still, just for a moment. It’s to say “Look, here! Something important is
here!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was part of how Paula
was a theologian. I remember once when we setting up for Good Friday services.
We set up a huge wooden cross next to the baptismal font for Lent, and part of
preparing for Good Friday is to cover all the crosses with black veils. So you
cover it and tie it at the bottom under the cross bar. And the first year we
had the big wooden cross Paula asked me what I thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not long after the photographs had
been released of the atrocities in Iraq and I kind of shook my head and said,
“I think it looks too Abu Ghraib.” And she said “Well, is that bad? Isn’t that
the point?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which, of course, is
exactly the point. She got it, whether or not she always claimed it. The point
of Good Friday is to say that God is able to face the worst of humanity, not to
shy away from it, but to enter into our violence and say that it does not have
the last word. The violence and suffering of the world are always defeated by
the love of God. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif;">Paula had an amazing
gift for the particular, for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">things</i>
of life in this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Paula found
her way into helping with the altar guild, a solitary ministry done for the
community, but completely alone—she said it was her anchoress work, like Julian
of Norwich having visions in her little church hermitage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She took it on with such astonishing
precision and understated grace that when she left, suddenly everyone realized
how we’d all be unconsciously leaning on her to straighten us out behind the
scenes. Where was the screw that somehow transforms a paschal candle into an
advent wreath?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything, though, came
from this amazing core of dedication and rigor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would get here at 8am in a blizzard,
just in case someone else showed up for church and I needed help (not many
did).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif;">This piece from John
this, too, is a story of creation and origin. It’s not Jesus born in a stable,
and it’s not Adam and Eve walking in the garden. Those stories tell us one
thing, and this one tells us quite another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This one reminds us where we have come from, and the One to whom we
belong. The one whom Paula sought and sought and wanted and desired after, who
sought and sought and desired after her. This is the scandalous story of the
Christian faith—that God chooses humanity and pitches a tent here with us, in
the person of Jesus. Jesus turns over tables and casts out demons and heals and
does all of these wild things with all the wrong people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the powers of empire and the world just
cannot handle it. You just don’t act like that with no consequences. The world
does not work that way. It still doesn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And all the power of the empire that can’t
imagine such love nails him to a cross. And the love doesn’t stop. His friends
see him. He eats with them. They find him when they are together. And this love
that couldn’t be defeated by death continues. In them, and through eons and
days and over years through shadows, and brings us here. To this love and
grief, terrifying and beautiful. The same love that moved mountains is the love
that catches us, and catches Paula.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is that invisible seal on her forehead, the crown on her forehead, and the bond
that will keep our hearts and hers united in God’s love forever.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 5.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>September 19, 2015.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-14707600365566087842015-07-16T20:07:00.001-07:002015-07-16T20:17:47.669-07:00Wild Goose Festival 2015: some light reading on jesus, anti-racist work, humilty, and salvation.<style>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve written several versions of this post
trying to get to the bottom of what, exactly, I was doing for my time at <a href="http://wildgoosefestival.org/" target="_blank">WildGoose Festival</a> last week. First I wrote a very tidy “what I learned
on my continuing education time” post for my parish newsletter. Then I wrote an
uber-confessional piece for this space, and finally managed to put them
together. I’ve been noticing a lot as I’ve blogged more here how my
Respectable Lady Rector voice differs from my Free Range Mama Priest voice. So
what follows is the result of trying to bring them closer together (and is also
with a few edits basically what I sent to the parish).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br />
Trying to share a weekend of gathering with people in the North Carolina heat,
a tent revival with real tents (for people who don’t go to tent revivals) it’s
easy to share links of what I saw. Information is one thing. But the experience
isn’t about data. The incredible part of it was the amazing sense of how
God was working in the lives of the people I met and listened to. Every
person I heard had a deep sense of Scripture. I did the math and I’ve preached
at least 400 sermons. I know some things about the Bible. But the way that <a href="http://wirelesshogan.blogspot.com/2014/12/doctrine-of-discovery.html" target="_blank">Mark Charles,</a> a Navajo activist
and educator, talked about how white settlers in the Americas lacked a “land
covenant” with God to guide our relationship, or the way Bree Newsome talked
about how Jesus worked for peace, not order, or how Tony Campolo talked about
the love of Jesus moved in his heart to advocate for GLBT persons in the
evangelical movement—literally, OMG.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
I worked pretty hard to get my spirituality to fit into the Episcopal Church
box. I came to this church, which I love, through sacrament and mystery and
astonishment at being fed in the Eucharist, and that was enough fuel wading
through the muck of HE-god language and hierarchy and institution. I have often
had occasion to remember a conversation with my bishop, Tom Shaw,, when I was
first studying to be a priest. I went on this long rant about how much I hated
the patriarchy and insularity and pointless attachment to history and tradition
of General Seminary. Very patiently, buddhalike, he listened to all of it and
finally said, “Well, how is that different from the church you’re eventually
going to serve?” </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">13 years later, I think I’m glad to say that
the rest of the church where I have found myself is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">totally</i> not as
uncomfortable as I was at General seminary (with apologies to all those happy
GTS-ers out there). However, the side effect of all of that squeezing and
prodding and poking into more traditional forms was that it came to pass that
my faith was most comfortable in a very abstract articulation. I could love the
big ideas of the incarnation of God in Jesus and the sweeping movement of the
Holy Spirit in our lives. But that’s my theology. My <i>passion </i>for
Jesus is more in sacrament and symbol. It's a lot less clear than "Ok,
Lord, I’ll climb that pole.” I’d be afraid to climb a flag pole just for
the sake of the height, much less risking arrest and the legitimate possibility
of being shot. But <a href="http://www.religionnews.com/2015/07/12/activist-who-took-down-confederate-flag-drew-on-her-faith-and-on-new-civil-rights-awakening/" target="_blank">Bree Newsome</a> pointed out that
Jesus was mostly just in the Temple when he was knocking things over. He was
out in the world doing his ministry where God called him to be.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
So that’s my real invitation from Wild Goose Festival. Where am I muting the
invitation of the Holy Spirit because of fear? Where am I unfree from a
disordered attachment to comfort? In church, in my family, in my prayer?
How often am I willing to do the hard work for genuine, holy, peace?
To learn from marginalized voices, not because it’s my “duty,” but
because <u>Jesus is there</u>. It’s very comfortable to say that
“education” is the key to success and social mobility, and that’s often true.
But where we need to lean harder on education is for people like me who don’t
get arrested for failing to use a turn signal, to learn what we don’t know.
As a person of privilege in this country I can be like a fish in water
and not have to understand what water is. But that is not the way of
Jesus.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
A white anti-racist response has to come from humility. This country was
founded on the theft of land and came to economic dominance through
slavery. It is <i>coming toward</i> democracy, and is founded
on some amazing ideals of freedom and equality that are <i>coming toward</i> being
for all people. But those ideals aren’t a reality for all of its people.
The inspiring part, though, is that if the truth really will set us
free—and I think we have to believe it does—is that we are all on our way to
the vineyard. Some will be on time, some will be late, and some will be <i>really,
really late</i>. (I know someone made this reference at WGF and I don’t
remember who it was). But as Episcopal priest Paul Fromberg said in his talk on
“An apocalyptic of peace:” I don’t believe in progress. I believe in
salvation.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
As a Christian I, too, believe in salvation.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
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sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-73970623029682938652015-06-09T06:16:00.002-07:002015-06-09T06:23:34.433-07:00Why politics needs theology: or why feminism and trans rights are part of the same train<style>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This week one of the most shared articles in my facebook
news feed was the provocatively titled “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/opinion/sunday/what-makes-a-woman.html?ref=opinion&_r=0" target="_blank">What Makes a Woman</a>” by Elinor Burkett. The bottom line of the piece was that it’s intellectually
inconsistent to cheer when Caitlyn Jenner goes on national television declaring
that her female brain makes her a woman and to jeer when Larry Summers
idiotically says (as he did ten years ago) that women aren’t as successful in
math and science as men because of differences in their brains. If Caitlyn gets
certain privileges because of her lady brain, the reasoning goes, we have let
Larry say mean things about us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If men
and women’s brains really are different, maybe he’s right.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Um, no.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Let me put my cards right on the table. I’m a militant nurture-not-nature
person when it comes to gender differences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I gave my son dolls and my daughter trucks. It was only when pre-K
classmates insinuated that pink was for only girls that my son’s long-treasured
Hello Kitty lunch box and pink sneakers were retired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the
same time, I have (as I’ve often mentioned in this blog) all the female problems.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My confidence is shaky, my ambition
second-guessed (and then my lack of ambition second guessed again. I am
sometimes a square of guessing).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
all the lady parts and all the lady problems. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">But those problems are social, not biological. The lady
parts are just that—parts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Breastfeeding
my children was the most embodied and holy feeling I’ve encountered so far, but
that doesn’t mean that those who haven’t had that experience are any less women
or that I have to be defined by my body to express my faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our brains take daily showers in all the
stereotypes and social expectations of the world, as Burkett’s article itself
quotes: <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">“You
can’t pick up a brain and say ‘that’s a girl’s brain’ or ‘that’s a boy’s
brain,’ ” Gina Rippon, a neuroscientist at Britain’s Aston University, </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10684179/Men-and-women-do-not-have-different-brains-claims-neuroscientist.html"><span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">told</span></a> <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">The Telegraph last year. The differences
between male and female brains are caused by the “drip, drip, drip” of the
gendered environment.” </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course that has an impact. Caitlyn Jenner
can think whatever “Women are from Mars, Men are from Venus” nonsense about how
her emotional sensitivities make her more female as she wants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s her business<span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Essentialism—the idea that there is anything essentially
“male” or “female” about being aggressive or nurturing (or any constellation in
between)—is an old debate in feminist circles. We like it when we get to hang
out with women and we feel safe. We don’t like it so much when it’s deployed as
a weapon from without, limiting who we can be. From a feminist point of view,
though—as the underdog in the patriarchy—we have a certain right to deploy
whatever tools we want. Because we are not—at this point—in charge, we get to
have our cake and eat it too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I
wrote in many an undergraduate essay in my gender studies degree, essentialism
is one tool, among many, that can be deployed at will.
Using one tool along the way doesn’t mean you’ll need it
every time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Does Caitlyn Jenner have a more
female brain that I do? It’s totally possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Does that jeopardize my or her status as women? I don’t think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is where theology comes in, and why Burkett’s
collision course isn’t inevitable. As long as there are feminists who want to
exclude trans women, there will be trans activists who object to the idea that
the play The Vagina Monologues is too cisgender (traditional birth
gender)-centric. That’s dialogue, not oppression. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can agree or disagree with either one and
still fit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Caitlyn Jenner can describe
her gendered experience in a way that doesn’t resonate with mine. That’s her right.
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 405.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In our baptismal covenant, we
promise to respect the dignity of every human being. The dignity of each person
to define themselves as they see fit, to express themselves as they desire, in
the place where they find God’s breath breathing most freely in them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s why racist police brutality is wrong.
It’s why men can stay at home with babies and women can earn lots of money. And
it’s why Caitlyn gets to be herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These values are not in conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Or, as third grader Q described his gender transition on the NPR show <a href="http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/creating-safe-spaces-transgender-kids/" target="_blank">TheTakeway</a>, Instead of a dead flower, [this is like being] a growing
flower.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 405.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">While it’s true that Caitlyn
Jenner’s brain has come for its first six decades or so to inhabit a world
where a man is free to walk wherever he wants, as a transwoman she is
exponentially more likely to face violence now. If she spent her years as an Olympian
longing to be seen as someone else, even in the midst of fame and privilege,
she now has the right to be as feminine as she wants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
because she earned it from her suffering, but because it’s just who she is. I
believe her, even if, as Burkett says, “her truth is not my truth.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our truths don’t have to be the same to be
true. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Human dignity, by definition,
isn’t defined by the world. Our dignity comes from our belovedness as created
by God. To extend Q’s metaphor, God wants us all to be growing flowers,
period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether our stems and petals
match in traditional ways isn’t the point.</span></span></div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-21132801883097052582015-05-08T10:48:00.000-07:002015-05-08T10:48:05.068-07:00A book to get us to the day when we won't need a book: There's a Woman in the Pulpit
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPMXh-k8CGdfKGd8pyAyMITJme4SSEYRtp3_M00GFpusc91lZPmoBAZSi8hapW4CNimr6qRCf7SVIPAwE8bsQamKdnnrfY2wVNyBCAKdaO4JDDHQvVYCV7OdfEFJDl6RTNGcSteGB-UJE/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPMXh-k8CGdfKGd8pyAyMITJme4SSEYRtp3_M00GFpusc91lZPmoBAZSi8hapW4CNimr6qRCf7SVIPAwE8bsQamKdnnrfY2wVNyBCAKdaO4JDDHQvVYCV7OdfEFJDl6RTNGcSteGB-UJE/s320/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="288" /></a>This week I’m excited to be part of the “blog tour” for <u>There’s
a Woman in the Pulpit</u>, an anthology of writing by women clergy about being
women clergy. And it’s a delightful book, with women from a wide swath of
Christian denominations holding forth on everything from bedbugs in the parish
library to high heels in the pulpit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
am grateful never to have dealt with bedbugs at my parish and I’d sooner crawl
on broken glass than wear high heels, much less on a Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s what’s so lovely about the book—it’s
like hanging out with friends. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some are
older, some are younger. We are all shades of LGBTQ and some are straight
(actually I’m not sure if there are any transwomen represented).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not the same as me, but also so much the
same.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I grew up in an Episcopal Church in which I never realized
until much later that women’s ordination had been a struggle: “Pastor Kay” came
when I was in fifth or sixth grade. But it was a parish that never used
inclusive language, so whatever the gender of the person at the altar, the
wider church’s commitment to ur- patriarchy was not in doubt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do remember the fracas that ensued when
“Pastor Kay” tried to switch her title to “Mother Kay.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reading the book, I found myself nodding
along with women clergy who have been mistaken for the secretary, who are
looked at as though they have two heads when they talk about their clergy
spouse and “preacher kids” x2 (“How does <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i>
work?”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can relate and am grateful
for these women who so graciously can explain the shimmering abyss of
transcendence that is this strange vocation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I am profoundly grateful to be among their tribe.</div>
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“Should” we need a book like this? “Should” we be surprised
that we have so much in common? “Should” it still be remarkable to have a woman
in the pulpit? Of course not. And if “There’s a Woman in the Pulpit” included
the voices of faithful Roman Catholic or Orthodox lay women, it would be a
different collection. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would a book ever
make it off a shelf if it were edited to include pieces about people who own
red couches or have named their children “Isaiah?” I doubt it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gender is as socially constructed and random
a category as any of these. But the fact is that the dominant American culture can
be toxic to women. My daughter won’t face the risk of acid attack or kidnapping
when she goes to school, but she will still figure out her male peers are
judged as “leaders” while she’s just bossy. Or, as contributor Rev. Kathryn
Johnston put it, there are advantages to being on “Team Penis.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Are we pastors or women pastors? Priests or women
priests?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, yes. Ten years into my work at my church outside of
Boston, those who were a little worried about having a woman as their priest
are over it. We get on with things, do the work. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember a line of some postmodern theorist
(Foucault, maybe? Probably) about gender and sexuality to the effect that “you
don’t know the sex of the hand that touches you in the night.” And surely that
is true of the hand that touches the forehead of the unconscious at the
bedside. The grace of God is mediated through human bodies, but isn’t gendered
in God’s own nature. </div>
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I’ve written about gender a lot in this blog—even 15 years
after graduating with my degree in gender studies, it still organizes my
thinking. Maybe when my daughter is my age the fact that her mother was in a
book about the experiences of women as clergy it will seem like a strange
artifact. This book, like all the ways we tell our stories, brings us further
to the new day when we won’t need it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Theres-Woman-Pulpit-Christian-Clergywomen/dp/1594735883/ref=zg_bsnr_491438_1" target="_blank">...get it from a bookstore, or order here from amazon or kindle!...</a> </div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-89299376112204091302015-04-10T12:39:00.002-07:002015-04-10T12:40:09.540-07:00Wonder and Angst on Easter Friday<style>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Holy Week was last week, the time in the church that we walk
through the days of Jesus’ last meal with his friends, his betrayal, his
crucifixion, and the resurrection. Every year, I summon all of my “Trust-God/Trust-Myself
resources” for Holy Week, believing that what I need for each day will be given
to me. And every year, it is—I usually feel fine about what I preach and what
happens in those liturgies (every day at 7, with two extras this year on
Thursday and Friday at noon), and always grateful for those who step up, every
year, and do the whole thing with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With all the focus on the three days—Thurs-Fri-Sat—I never quite have
what I wish I had on Easter Sunday. I never <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">quite</i>
preach the joy, never <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">quite</i> capture
the wonder of God raising Jesus from the dead. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truth of Easter is that death has no power
over us, the violence that appeared to defeat God in Christ is vanquished. To
be very honest, Easter morning is one of those days I’m most grateful for being
part of a liturgical church; we share Eucharist and we are in community—however
I feel about my sermon, at the altar we will be fed, no matter what. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">If</span> I am impressive in my own attempts at
articulating the mysteries of our faith--that's nice when it happens, but not the
most important thing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This year, after having gotten through Holy Week and Easter
day on adrenaline, coming to Easter <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">week</i>
has been harder. Being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in</i> Easter this
week has been harder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have the week
off from work, so no bulletins, no emails, no leaky pipes, no evening meetings. Yay! I pick my kids
up early from pre-K and afterschool, watch movies with my husband, go for long
walks, read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went to the Institute of Contemporary Art to
see "<a href="http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/when-the-stars-begin-to-fall/" target="_blank">When the Stars Begin to Fall,"</a> a show of African American art from the South. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The days of this Easter week so far personally
has been very, very good. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s not
quite felt like Easter.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Where I get stuck is that, while I get a break, even in
Easter season, the suffering of Good Friday has not gone away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Family and friends of 148 people gunned down at a University in Kenya
are still grieving. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walter Scott, another
unarmed black man was killed by police for no reason, and would again have gone
without justice if a bystander hadn’t recorded the encounter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More kids without a father. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“All lives” matter, of course they do. But
America doesn’t systematically devalue “all lives.” It does <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> to go without saying that black
lives matter, because again and again black people are killed, and seen as
“less than.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, murdered as an enemy of the state, was interpreted as
“less than,” too—a minority Jew living under empire. In his book <u>Resurrection</u>,
former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams calls him a “pure victim,” able
to change the nature of reality itself because he refused to offer violence for
violence. The term always bothered me—if he is distinguished as pure, what
about all of the other <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">impure</i> victims?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who are slandered, those who are
blamed? Walter Scott would likely <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/10/why-was-walter-scott-running?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=opening-statement&utm_term=newsletter-20150410-154" target="_blank">not have run</a> from the
police in the first place if it weren’t basically a crime to be poor in so much
of our country. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think, too, of what
was said about Travyon Martin after his death, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice…so
many who did not deserve to die and so many whom our news media convicted
again, as though one death were not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where is their Easter?
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To put it plainly, <u>is it good enough</u> to say that they
are united with Christ in his death and raised with him in the resurrection? Is
that enough? Is it enough to say that the “pure” victimhood of Jesus Christ
ends the relentless pendulum swing of violence, the perpetual motion machine of
hatred and destruction that has been human society since the beginning of time,
for all of us, guilty or not?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I think it is…and it isn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are loved and
“saved” by Jesus not because of what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we</i>
do, but because of what God does. It is in God’s nature to create and love, and
that is what God does, spending God’s self lavishly and falling in love like an
idiot every. damn. time. someone is born. However you interpret the
crucifixion—whether it was a blood sacrifice for sin or an ultimate pacifist
peace-creating death (or somewhere in between), God’s love is the beginning and
the end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It’s not enough just to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">say</i> that the resurrection of Jesus is for all, but it’s also not enough just to protest,
or cry, or grieve, or wail (though the Christian tradition is full of that—see,
for example: the psalms).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t just
mouth the words “Christ is risen” and go home. On the other side, nothing
you can do is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ever</i> enough. This is not
a reason to do nothing, but it is an important reality check in a world where
we want fast answers and easy consciences. (spoiler alert: you won’t get either
one). We have to work hard for Easter simultaneously as we sit down and just
open our hands. It means that we have to fervently hope and believe and know
that all of those who are cut down by violence rise in peace and glory, and
that death indeed has been vanquished for them as well...as those of us left
behind work as we can for a newer world where we are with what we have (on
this, see the potter Theaster Gates, whose "Billy Sings Amazing Grace" is at the Institute of Contemporary Art--his<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/theaster_gates_how_to_revive_a_neighborhood_with_imagination_beauty_and_art#t-885575" target="_blank"> TED talk </a>is about the recreation of his neighborhood in Chicago as is very Eastery indeed).<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/theaster_gates_how_to_revive_a_neighborhood_with_imagination_beauty_and_art#t-885575"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></a></span><style><!--
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So that’s me this week—reading slightly trashy novels
(currently appalled and delighted by Miranda July’s novel <span style="color: black;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank"><u>The First Bad Man</u></a></span>, walking along the lakes that feed the Mystic River, thinking about the change
that is to be made where I am with what I have, being a couch potato in my
existential angst and occasional wonder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Happy Easter Friday, everybody!
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span>sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-73566834555980064902015-03-09T12:11:00.000-07:002015-04-09T12:24:55.494-07:00The Death Penalty: Wrong Now, Wrong All the Time.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;">This week, I’ve
been praying around sin—appropriate enough for Lent, of course—but in
particular around criminal justice as well. The trial of Boston Marathon bomber </span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;"> Dzhokhar Tsarnaev</span>, of course, is
impossible to ignore, and on Tuesday I was also drawn into another case through
a colleague in Georgia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Georgia was set
to execute<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeania-ree-moore/kellyonmymind-reflecting-on-kelly-gissendaner_b_6776318.html" target="_blank"> Kelly Gissendaner</a></span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;">, convicted for
her role in the murder of her husband. In her time in prison, her life was
changed; she studied theology and began a correspondence with the theologian
Jurgen Moltmann, ministered to her fellow prisoners and was, by all accounts,
completely changed. Her story was a compelling one; Georgia hasn’t executed a
woman in more than fifty years, and her story of conversion and compassion
reminded me of everything we want to believe about human nature. We <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can</i> change and we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> change, even under difficult circumstances, even living through
the consequences of the depth of our sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;">For our Tuesday
night services, we’re using a Eucharistic prayer from the Church in Scotland
which contains this line: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;">Lifted on the Cross, [Christ’s] suffering
and forgiveness spanned the gulf our sins had made. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;">To which, of
course, I would add—Christ’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ministry</i>,
and suffering, and forgiveness spanned the gulf of our sins. What I like so
much about this phrasing is the visual metaphor—our sin separates us from God.
We can sense that God is there, that there is hope and joy and forgiveness—but
we can’t get there on our own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That gulf
of sin is not intractable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God has
already bridged it. But I need to acknowledge it as there, because without the
awareness of sin, I slip into thinking that I’ve got everything figured out. Not
because Jesus died as some blood sacrifice for my guilt, but because the
crucifixion is a mirror of reality. Twelve year old
kids getting shot by police who are supposed to protect them, immediately seen
as suspicious because of the color of their skin. Muslim women being harassed
(and worse) for wearing headscarves. Synagogues defaced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Charlie Hebdo massacre, girls kidnapped
in Pakistan and Nigeria for going to school. The Marathon bombing. Human
trafficking. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The crucifixion happens
every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When crucifixion happens, how
do we respond? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;">Too often, we lash
out with more violence. The death penalty is a prime example of this. The old
Biblical injunction “an eye for an eye” gets quoted a lot, but in its initial
context, that was intended to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">minimize</i>
punishment, not maximize (we might also recall that Jesus said some things that
un-did that logic).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kelly Gissendaner wasn’t
executed, after all—after thousands of <a href="http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2015-03-02/preachers-deliver-petitions-opposed-gissendaner-execution" target="_blank">petitions </a>and phone calls to
the governor’s office, the prison said that the drugs for lethal injection looked
“cloudy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe if all the petitions and
phone calls hadn’t been made, she would have still been put to death; I don’t
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s alive, though, and that is a blessing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;">In <a href="http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/massachusetts-0" target="_blank">Massachusetts</a>, no one has been
executed since 1947, though governors and legislatures have tried to bring it
back a number of times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Tsarnaev trial
is a federal one, so even though our state doesn’t have the death penalty,
federal prosecutors are asking for it and most of the defense, at this point,
is around convincing jurors that mitigating circumstances make Tsarnaev less
culpable of his crime. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;">I’m not on the
<a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/03/09/why-the-almost-all-white-jury-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-trial-troubling/LkzvGCMn3DMwhEsEpe7BaP/story.html?p1=feature_sec_hp" target="_blank">jury</a>, so it doesn’t really matter whether I think Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is guilty,
not guilty, or somewhere in between. I do, though, think it matters what all of
us think and do about the death penalty itself. (</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;">It's probably worth noting that my opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances would have disqualified me from being on the jury at all)</span>. I signed the petition for Kelly
Gissendaner because I was moved by her story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m glad to know about her and I’m glad she’s not been executed. But the
death penalty isn’t about how good or how bad the defendant is. The death
penalty is about what kind of society we create. And that’s about all of
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we promise to respect the
dignity of every human being every time we baptize someone, that includes the
possibility—even the certainty!—of how those human beings fail. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are always bound by those vows, no matter
how we think we can justify breaking them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-25618723389338186832015-03-08T18:00:00.000-07:002015-10-12T06:29:50.579-07:00International Women's Day 2015
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimHLJP7cBHJk2OcWwCAe-Ici5Zq33dPX68Gp4nyd98G2AaKsvRPzP-hy_ZXRXpeVno4K_R0A8iGHt41uJ7cneOdwGvtXGZlf9bMITBYQ96o5nPaRruehvhUqhRkA741VAxtgs_we-P3tI/s1600/photo-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimHLJP7cBHJk2OcWwCAe-Ici5Zq33dPX68Gp4nyd98G2AaKsvRPzP-hy_ZXRXpeVno4K_R0A8iGHt41uJ7cneOdwGvtXGZlf9bMITBYQ96o5nPaRruehvhUqhRkA741VAxtgs_we-P3tI/s320/photo-2.JPG" width="280" /></a></div>
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When I had just turned 19, I got a tattoo of a female symbol
on my bicep. In college I was a gender studies major (along with religion, big
surprise there) and can’t remember a time I wasn’t a feminist. Gloria Steinem
visited the college where my parents taught when I was 10 and my mother paid me
$5 to go stand in line at the mic to ask her a question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a safe bet, my female symbol—17 years
later, I’m definitely still a feminist. I am watching my five year old daughter
spoonful by spoonful begin to swallow the message she is supposed to be pretty
in order to matter in this world (which, truthfully, she is) and I cannot do
anything to stop it. When she is 19, maybe she, too, will need a tattoo of a
female symbol on her bicep.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today is International Women’s Day—for another hour, at
least—and I have had the privilege to travel meet women from the Global South
and I know how different their concerns are from mine. I know that beauty in
the US can be hazardous to one’s health but to the woman from rural Tanzania
who doesn’t have clean water, that is the least of her concerns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a woman in the mountains in rural India
to menstruate is to be considered filthy, contagious—that is not a mere
inconvenience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I watch my own
daughter admiring ads for make up (which she’s never seen me wear) I am
well-aware that the stakes for her are quite different. She may or may not go
on to accomplish All The Things, but the obstacles she will confront are not
the same. </div>
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<br /></div>
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When I got my tattoo I knew everything—I was sure that my
rage had moral weight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This morning I
preached about Jesus turning the tables over in the temple and skated over the
question of his anger (truth be told, it was not my finest homiletical moment),
but his anger, and our anger, did matter and does matter. But it will not do
anything on its own. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure how
much it mattered that we held signs in front of the women’s clinic near my
college to support those on their way in. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe
it did. Maybe it mattered to one, and that was enough. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Now I am wondering what it matters that my tattoo is still
there—I’ve got plans to get rid of it in favor of a larger piece—another woman
symbol, a woman with a burning holy heart, love, who walks the world. She is
the power of love over death. But I will miss the clarity I had 18 years ago.
It was pretty nice to be so sure I was right. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1869955963817371865.post-3643144259527643222015-02-26T18:25:00.000-08:002015-02-26T18:25:03.150-08:00Mama Christ and God the Father
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“Everyone knows that God’s beyond gender. Why does it matter
what pronoun you use?”</div>
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<br /></div>
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I’ve always had a hard time with boy-god language. It was a
huge thing for me in trying to come back to church after my adolescent time
away, and I worked hard to uncondition myself from initial my gut-punch
reaction to hearing God referred to as “he.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I read all the feminist theology I could get my hands on in college and I
wrote my master’s thesis on deconstruction, language, and religious experience. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A version of it was published in a journal 8
people read. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Bottom line: “Yes, it matters.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Maybe it’s just me. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Of
course,</i> it could just be me, uniquely tossed about on my own
personal-is-political winds of fortune.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In many Episcopal churches it’s general practice to use less masculine
language when it’s convenient, like “It’s right to give <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">our</i> thanks and praise” instead of “It is right to give <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">him</i> thanks and praise” when we lift up
our hearts at the prayers for Communion. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And certainly in many pockets of the church
inclusive language is a priority.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But our defaults are still male.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crushingly, my own children refer to God as
“he” and I am powerless to stop it. Mean streets and what not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My son (7) insists that this is just another
thing that I, as his mother, Just. Do. Not. Get. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Again: “everyone knows” God’s not male, so who cares?<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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Scrupulous as I am about un-gendering my own language for
God, I’ve had relatively little practice with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">differently</i>-gendering my language for God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my commitment to God being beyond the male
gender, I’ve insisted along the way also that God is also beyond the female
gender and left it at that. Christian theology is scattered with images of
Jesus feeding us with his bloody breast as mothers feed their babies
(particularly in the medieval period, but long before then, too).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As someone who had a hard time with the
stereotyped images of mothering (another piece of writing for another day) I
instead have always talked generally about God as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">parent</i>, not a mother or father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At some point a few years ago when I prayed the Jesus prayer (kind of a
Christian mantra—you repeat it to yourself again and again, either in formal
prayer or in the course of doing other things—sometimes “Jesus, Son of the
Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner” and sometimes “have mercy on us”) I
began saying “Amma, Christ, have mercy on us.” Amma is, more or less, the
feminine parallel to the Aramaic Abba (which means “dad,” as Jesus referred to
God).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the habitrail of my mind, it
was a nice shift. But it was just me. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Until this Lent. </div>
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I don’t know how it came about, but this year in assembling the
prayers of the people for my parish for Lent, I put in the phrase I’ve prayed
with under my breath for several years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amma,
Christ, have mercy on us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the
part of the service where we name concerns for the church and the world, prisoners
and captives, friends and members of the congregation who are ill,
anniversaries and birthdays and conflict and violence and freedom. The usual
response is “Lord have mercy,” but instead the reader ends each petition “Amma,
Christ” and the congregation responds “Have mercy on us.” </div>
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<br /></div>
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And, have mercy. It knocked my socks off. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
might note that this is posted before the second Sunday of Lent so we’ve only
done it once, but I was so surprised at how different the rest of the service
felt because of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not totally
thrilled with how the prayers are written—it’s really, really wordy and
long—but hearing “Amma Christ” said by everyone else, not just the echo chamber
in my head was, ten years into saying all kinds of masculine prayers, a
revelation. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The thing that surprised me, though, wasn’t that it was nice
to have my own theological preferences reflected in the worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly that is very pleasant. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The real shift for me wasn’t in how it felt to say “Amma
Christ” with my parish. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The real shift was what it felt like to say God the Father. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I am a good logicker—I can justify a lot in my head if I
think about it for long enough. So often I just mentally “type over” male God
language when I have to use it. I mean, yes, empirically, Jesus was male so I
can’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> say “Son of God.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Trinity, too, is kind of a big deal, and
yes, I do baptisms in the name of the “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” But in my
mind, there’s always a little prickle of discomfort. Talking about Jesus as
mother actually freed me to say God as Father without holding my breath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I had not expected that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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It turns out that, yes, while “everyone knows” God is beyond
gender, there is still something about how using the whole range of gender expression
makes it easier to hear both the middle and the edges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t work just to mentally erase the
male stuff (even while still saying it out loud) and not add in an
alternative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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I have a degree in gender studies. I know all of this is an
accident of culture. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(though my son will
be glad to explain to you how pink <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is empirically
</i>a girl color and the fact that it was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">his</i>
favorite color from ages 3-5 does not change that)</div>
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<br /></div>
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Apparently, though, however post post post whatever I want
to be, I’m still stuck in the binary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Apparently the words we use do matter. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Apparently it helps to use all of them.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
sirwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00628622865343906953noreply@blogger.com5