Silence

Silence

How do you respond to silence?  Do you think about getting the "silent treatment" when someone is angry with you?  Do you think about times of loneliness?  Do you remember glorious walks in the forest?  Do you remember times when you were left to relish in the calm after a house full of people go back to their homes?  Do you think of the silence in a church on a quiet Friday morning?

The prophet Habakkuk reminds us that God is, and that we can worship and connect with God through silence.  How hard is it for you to embrace silence?  Carving out time for silence can be hard in our busy, 24/7 world.  There seems to be background noise all around us.

Just last night, I was reading and the kids were in bed and I started to hear the most amazing sound emerging from the silence.  At first I thought it was a sound that went along with someone setting off fireworks - a high-pitched screech.  Or,  perhaps it was a pack of coyotes across the woods...

So, I went outside, and the noise stopped.  Later, I realized that the noise was bats flying nearby our outside light where a plethora of bugs were flying.  Bats feasting on bugs, emerging from the silence.  Amazing.

What gifts of silence are there for us?  Do we have ears to hear?  Do we shut up long enough to enjoy the silence of the Almighty?

The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. Habakkuk 2:20

"I am learning to shut up more in the presence of God."   Archbishop Tutu

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

July 29, 1974 - Celebrating the Philadelphia 11

Celebrating the Philadelphia 11!!

From the website of the Episcopal Church:

On July 29, 1974 eleven women broke the barrier so long in place against the ordination of women to the priesthood of the Anglican Church when they were "irregularly" ordained to the priesthood in Philadelphia.  These women are often referred to as the "Philadelphia 11"

Although there was no specific canon that specifically prohibited ordaining women to the priesthood, the canons required a recommendation from the standing committee.  Many were upset because these women did have such a recommendation.  While others were ready for change and ventured into new territory for the Episcopal Church.  

On August 15, 1974, the House of Bishops, called to an emergency meeting, denounced the ordinations and declared them invalid. Charges were filed against the bishops who ordained the women and attempts were made to prevent the women from serving their priestly ministries.

In September 1976, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church approved the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate.

Philadelphia 11:
Merrill Bittner    
Alison Cheek
Alla Bozarth (Campell)
Emily C Hewitt
Carter Heyward
Suzanne R. Hiatt (deceased 2002)
Marie Moorefield
Jeanette Piccard (deceased 1981)
Betty Bone Schiess
Katrina Welles Swanson (deceased 2006)
Nancy Hatch Witting 


Ordaining Bishops:
Daniel Corrigan
Robert L DeWitt
Edward R Welles
Assisting: Antonio Ramos



Hat timp to the Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton via Facebook for the reminder...

Who's in?

Far too much time can be spent trying to decide "who's in, and who's out."  Who will start on the team?  Who will be invited to the party?  Who will make the final art show?  Who is really loved by God?

The reality is, we are not the ones who get to choose when it comes to God.  It is true that reams of theological papers have been used to try to decide who might really be the true church, who might really be counted among the holy, who might really receive the riches of eternal life.  However, it isn't really ours to decide, and it isn't really ours to even know God's thoughts on the matter.

I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said, "God bless the whole world, no exceptions," and it got me thinking.  Surely it is a reaction to bumper stickers which tend to claim that God will only bless me (and those who think, look, and act like me).  God's embrace is surely more mysterious and wider than my feeble imagination.

As a creature, as one who was created, I am dependent upon the creator, my whole existence is contingent upon another's actions.  My energy can quickly be wasted wondering about who will make the final team.  My energy, our energy, can be better spent being and acting in ways that help to transform this world, in which we are now living, to try to bring hope and joy and the good news of Christ to this hurting world.

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

For Mission  (from the Book of Common Prayer)

God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Praying our lives

Dividing up our days into blocks can be a helpful practice - time with family - time for exercise - time for eating - time for sleeping - time for work - time with friends - time for commute - time for reading - time for relaxation - time for study.  Do you structure your day this way?  Many of us may do this kind of dividing up of the day.  We feel the need, perhaps, to compartmentalize so we can focus on what we're doing and be more productive - maximize our time, and all the rest.  And so, we also may create a block where we tend our spiritual life - where we practice our Faith.  Perhaps some time for individual prayer, and hopefully also time to join with others in corporate prayer on Sunday - we block off this time. 

But, is this what God really desires?  Of course, there is much good in setting aside time for prayer, time for worship, but doesn't God desire it all?  Doesn't God want us to live out our prayer?  Doesn't God want us to turn in worship at all points of the day?  Paul admonishes his readers to "pray without ceasing," ... and so whole monastic traditions developed dedicated to praying at all times - and monks would memorize the Psalms so that they could recite them throughout the day.  The Jesus Prayer developed, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner," and people recited the prayer throughout their entire day.

What if in our Outlook Calendar and our Google Calendar instead of only creating a block of time for prayer and worship we were able to shade the entire day with God's presence in all of our appointments?  What if we were to acknowledge the essence that we desire to be "wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you"? 

What if we were able to go beyond "punctuating" our days with prayer, but rather we were able to "pray our lives"?  The truth is, that we can, God is upholding us and lifting us with his loving embrace at all times, and in the midst of all our appointments...

We might start with the Prayer of Self-Dedication found in the Book of Common Prayer:

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey


 A Prayer of Self-Dedication  

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sustain me

How do we understand the work that we do every day?  Are we working to accumulate money, worth, value, the ability to buy stuff?  Are we working in order to reach some goal, perhaps "the American Dream"?  Why do we work?  Towards what are we working? 

The work that we are doing can be in harmony with the work and will of God.  Even the words we speak, as we open our lips and speak words from the start of the day until its close; these words can be words of hope, of proclamation of good news, of encouraging the weak, of love for the lonely, of inspiration for the apathetic.  Our work and our words can be in sync with the Word of God, always active, always inspiring, always activating our lives.

Our work and our words that may begin early on a Monday morning take many forms, getting the family dressed and fed, getting ourselves off to work, setting out goals for the day, caring for loved ones, visiting those who are sick or in prison, going to meetings where tough decisions are made, interacting with difficult people, listening to the troubles of friends, getting some exercise.  Our work and our words have to take many forms, but if we reflect upon and practice the sense that our work and words are activated by God, and that our very lives are gift from God, we may get into harmony with the great transformative work that God is doing in the world.  "Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.  Create in my a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me."  Even, and especially, in our dealings that do not feel godly or deep or spiritual we might turn our hearts to God, and ask for the Lord to activate our lives.

"Sustain me with your bountiful spirit."

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

From Psalm 51

 

Open my lips, O Lord, *

          and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, *

          and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence *

          and take not your holy Spirit from me.

Give me the joy of your saving help again *

          and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *

          as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

How to pray

How do you pray?

I reflected on this question today in my sermon.

Here are N.T. Wright's thoughts on the question...

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey


How do you set about praying? From our point of view, there is a fairly obvious order of priorities. We’re usually in some sort of mess, and we want God to get us out of it. Then we’ve usually got some fairly pressing needs, and we want God to supply them. It may strike us at that point that there’s a larger world out there. Again, we probably move from mess to wants: please sort out the Middle East, please feed the hungry, please house the homeless.

But then, once more, it may dawn on us that there’s not just a larger world out there; there’s a larger God out there. He’s not just a celestial cleaner-up and sorter-out of our messes and wants. He is God. He is the living God. And he is our Father. If we linger here, we may find our priorities quietly turned inside out. The contents may remain; the order will change. With that change, we move at last from paranoia to prayer; from fuss to faith.

The Lord’s Prayer is designed to help us make this change: a change of priority, not a change of content. This prayer doesn’t pretend that pain and hunger aren’t real. Some religions say that; Jesus didn’t. This prayer doesn’t use the greatness and majesty of God to belittle the human plight. Some religions do that; Jesus didn’t. This prayer starts by addressing God intimately and lovingly, as “Father”—and by bowing before his greatness and majesty. If you can hold those two together, you’re already on the way to understanding what Christianity is all about.


From The Lord and His Prayer by N. T. Wright (Eerdmans, 1996)

Ode to Joy

Joy in the midst of this present world.  Beethovan wrote his 9th Symphony and it has a remarkable way of lifting my soul out of the mire and into a deep reality of Joy and Glory.  Have your heard it recently?  Perhaps time to click on this Youtube clip and sing along in jibberish German (if, like me, you have no ability in German).

~ The Rev. Peter M. Carey