Get the kid his peaches...snagged from Fiat Lux!

A wonderful story.  Well-worth a few minutes of your time.  I snagged it from JimR at "FiatLux" Blog

A Christmas story: Get the kid his peaches

Here, friends, is a Christmas story worth telling. This is an old column that ran in the Los Angeles Times by Al Martinez, who I think is one of the greats for a lot of reasons. I love this column every time I read it and I hope you will, too.  And explains why a lot of us went into newspapers back in the days before cell phones, the internet and focus groups. And if you want to know why I think the priesthood and journalism are closer than many people think, this has something to do with it. My newspaper buddy Bob Schmidt sent this around again tonight, so thanks Bob!  Here goes. Enjoy:

Christmas Story

By Al Martinez

IT happened one Christmas Eve a long time ago in a place called Oakland on a newspaper called the Tribune with a city editor named Alfred P. Reck.

I was working swing shift on general assignment, writing the story of a boy who was dying of leukemia and whose greatest wish was for fresh peaches.

It was a story which, in the tradition of 1950s journalism, would be milked for every sob we could squeeze from it, because everyone loved a good cry on Christmas.

We knew how to play a tear-jerker in those days, and I was full of the kinds of passions that could make a sailor weep.

I remember it was about 11 o'clock at night and pouring rain outside when I began putting the piece together for the next day's editions.

Deadline was an hour away, but an hour is a lifetime when you're young and fast and never get tired.

Then the telephone rang.

It was Al Reck calling, as he always did at night, and he'd had a few under his belt.

Reck was a drinking man. With diabetes and epilepsy, hard liquor was about the last thing he ought to be messing with, but you didn't tell Al what he ought to or ought not to do.

He was essentially a gentle man who rarely raised his voice, but you knew he was the city editor, and in those days the city editor was the law and the word in the newsroom.

But there was more than fear and tradition at work for Al.

We respected him immensely, not only for his abilities as a newsman, but for his humanity. Al was sensitive both to our needs and the needs of those whose names and faces appeared in the pages of the Oakland Tribune.

"What's up?" he asked me that Christmas Eve in a voice as soft and slurred as a summer breeze.

He already knew what was up because, during 25 years on the city desk, Reck somehow always knew what was up, but he wanted to hear it from the man handling the story.

I told him about the kid dying of leukemia and about the peaches and about how there simply were no fresh peaches, but it still made a good piece. We had art and a hole waiting on page one.

Al listened for a moment and then said, "How long's he got?"

"Not long," I said. "His doctor says maybe a day or two."

There was a long silence and then Al said, "Get the kid his peaches."

"I've called all over," I said. "None of the produce places in the Bay Area have fresh peaches. They're just plain out of season. It's winter."

"Not everywhere. Call Australia."

"Al," I began to argue, "it's after 11 and I have no idea . . .”

"Call Australia," he said, and then hung up.

If Al said call Australia, I would call Australia.

I don't quite remember whom I telephoned, newspapers maybe and agricultural associations, but I ended up finding fresh peaches and an airline that would fly them to the Bay Area before the end of Christmas Day.

There was only one problem. Customs wouldn't clear them. They were an agricultural product and would be hung up at San Francisco International at least for a day, and possibly forever.

Reck called again. He listened to the problem and told me to telephone the secretary of agriculture and have him clear the peaches when they arrived.

"It's close to midnight," I argued. "His office is closed."

"Take this number down," Reck said. "It's his home. Tell him I told you to call."

It was axiomatic among the admirers of Al Reck that he knew everyone and everyone knew him, from cops on the street to government leaders in their Georgetown estates. No one knew how Al knew them or why, but he did.

I made the call. The secretary said he'd have the peaches cleared when they arrived and give Al Reck his best.

"All right," Reck said on his third and final call to me, "now arrange for one of our photographers to meet the plane and take the peaches over to the boy's house."

He had been drinking steadily throughout the evening and the slurring had become almost impossible to understand.

By then it was a few minutes past midnight, and just a heartbeat and a half to the final deadline.

"Al," I said, "if I don't start writing this now I'll never get the story in the paper."

I won't forget this moment.

"I didn't say get the story," Reck replied gently. "I said get the kid his peaches."

If there is a flash point in our lives to which we can refer later, moments that shape our attitudes and affect our futures, that was mine.

Alfred Pierce Reck had defined for me the importance of what we do, lifting it beyond newsprint and deadline to a level of humanity that transcends job. He understood not only what we did but what we were supposed to do.

I didn't say get the story. I said get the kid his peaches.

The boy got his peaches and the story made the home edition, and I received a lesson in journalism more important than any I've learned since.

I wanted you to know that this Christmas season.

Al Martinez is a former reporter and columnist for The Oakland Tribune, from 1955 to 1971, The Richmond Independent and Los Angeles Times to now. Born in Oakland, he also has written several novels, for television and the movies. This article first appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Dec. 25, 1986.

I have accepted a new call...Announcement from "Fiat Lux" Blog

I have accepted the call to be the Senior Associate Rector at St. Paul's Memorial Church in Charlottesville, VA. I am sad about leaving Emmanuel, but profoundly excited about the possibilities for ministry, mission, and fellowship at St. Paul's "on the Corner" near UVA...I have been blessed to serve alongside such wonderful people at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, VA, over the last three years, and for this time I will be eternally grateful.

I am so thrilled about the following announcement and about the possibilities for ministry, mission, and fellowship at St. Paul's Memorial!

From "Fiat Lux" Blog written by the Very Rev. James Richardson:

Dear friends of St. Paul's,

I am delighted to announce that I am calling the Rev. Peter M. Carey as our new Senior Associate Rector.

Peter comes to us with broad parish and teaching experience. He is currently the Associate Rector at Emmanuel Church, Greenwood. Peter and his wife, Lisa Plog, and their three children - Zachary (age 9), Sam (age 6), and Lily (age 4) - will be with us for their first Sunday on July 8. They will also join us for our Shrine Mont parish retreat weekend July 13-15.

Peter and Lisa have long-standing ties to Charlottesville and St. Paul’s. They were married at St. Paul’s and their son Zachary was baptized here. Lisa grew up in Charlottesville and graduated from the University of Virginia. Her parents still live in the area and her father is on the faculty at UVA. Lisa currently teaches history at St. Anne’s-Belfield School.

Peter is a graduate of Bates College in Maine. He holds a master’s degree in education from George Washington University and is a graduate of the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. Prior to serving at Emmanuel church, he was the head chaplain at St. Catherine’s Episcopal School in Richmond. He is also well known in the wider Church as a writer for Episcopal Café.

After the departure of Ann Willms, I spent a good deal of time talking with parish leaders about how we have managed and shared our clergy responsibilities. I concluded that St. Paul's would benefit from having a more senior associate rector with significant prior parish experience and a broader scope of responsibility. I asked Paula Kettlewell to form a committee to draft a position description which reflected the manner in which she and David Poist so successfully shared their ministry.

After I identified Peter as a candidate, I asked several groups of parish leaders, representing a broad cross section of the St. Paul's community, to meet with Peter and give me their advice about how Peter would fit in our community. After meeting with these groups, Peter then met with the Vestry. I received extremely positive feedback from the members of these groups, and with the consent of the Vestry, I offered this call to Peter as our next Senior Associate Rector and Peter enthusiastically accepted.

You will discover, as I have, that Peter has tremendous energy and fresh ideas for ministry. He will participate broadly in every aspect of parish life with us, including working with families, children, adults, and in pastoral care, education and the use of social media. Peter is extremely friendly and outgoing with a magnetic personality. He will make a great addition to our clergy staff.

In explaining why he has decided to join us, Peter wrote this:

“There is great hope and passion for St. Paul's, and many, many folks I met with are so excited about not only St. Paul's past, but also the present and future of this wonderful church. The energy and excitement of the folks I’ve met with is contagious and I am so excited to join you! 

“There are a plethora of opportunities for new programs, for new approaches, and for new ideas at St. Paul's, of course, some choices will need to be made about what direction this wonderful church should go, and the Long-Range Planning process will help in this area. I am excited about the energy for the future of St. Paul's, and grateful that God has moved me to find you at this time.  

“We are huge Wahoo fans in our family, especially my 9 year old son and myself, the opportunities for engagement with the UVA community are wide and deep and I am psyched to see what we can do together.” 

I am thrilled to have Peter join our clergy team. Please join me in welcoming Peter and his wonderful family (see picture below) to our parish.

Peace to all,

The Rev. James Richardson, Rector & Chaplain

Anglican Astronauts

My friend Jim Richardson has a very helpful post today about the continuing "Days of Our Anglican Lives" that is the melodrama of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. Read it HERE.

My favorite quote:
"just because a group of disaffected former Episcopalians wish to call themselves “Anglican” does not make them Anglican any more than it makes them astronauts..."

I have posted an excerpt below. I think Jim summarizes some aspects of our current situation quite well. Thanks Jim!

~ Rev. Peter M. Carey

____________________________
First, let me offer a bit of factual perspective: There are four dioceses which have declared their secession from the Episcopal Church – four out of 110 dioceses. The four that have gone are small. How many people do they represent? Judging by total reported attendance, the breakaway dioceses boast, at best, about 20,000 people, and that is assuming everyone in all four dioceses have left the Episcopal Church, which they have not.

To put that in perspective, the total attendance for the Episcopal Church is about 804,000, so the breakaways represent a bit more than 2 percent. In terms of membership, we are at about 2.15 million, and the breakaway churches have about 49,000 members (again assuming all 49,000 are seceding, which they are not). To put it another way, the total communicants of the Diocese of Virginia is considerably larger than the four breakways dioceses combined. Again, do the math – they may be loud, but the breakaways aren’t large.

Many churches within the breakaway dioceses have declared they will remain in the Episcopal Church regardless of what their bishops and diocesan conventions do. The Cathedral for the Diocese of Quincy, in Peoria, Illinois, voted to remain in the Episcopal Church. The Diocese of San Joaquin, in the Central Valley of California, has 19 of its churches – nearly half – staying with the Episcopal Church.
Next, let me offer a few observations about all of this:

The breakaway bishops agree on one thing: they don’t want gay people in the church. Beyond that, they are already finding it difficult to find common agreement, much as they label what they are doing as a “common cause.”

There are already schisms within the schismatics. Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth, who has for years been vocally against the ordination of women, has already said he is in a state of “impaired communion” with another of the breakaway dioceses because that bishop is ordaining women.

And just because a group of disaffected former Episcopalians wish to call themselves “Anglican” does not make them Anglican any more than it makes them astronauts...
___________________

Read the rest HERE.

A few "new" blogs that I'm reading....

1)

The Rev. James Richardson is the new rector at St. Paul's Memorial, Charlottesville, and he has a great blog called "Fiat Lux" in which he comments on his ministry, on observations about his community, and about worship. Today's post was about some changes that the church is making in terms of how they "do" liturgy - below is an excerpt, read it all HERE.

From Fiat Lux:

Those of you who were with us at our 10 a.m. service today noticed a few changes in how we did things. I’d like to explain what we did and why, and invite your conversation as we continue to see what works, and what doesn’t.

After our procession and opening hymn, we began today’s service at the Holy Table, with all of the clergy assembled together. You may have noticed that the Table had only candles and books. Think of all this as a meal in two parts, the Liturgy of Word and then the Liturgy of the Eucharist. In the Liturgy of Word – the first part – we gather around the Table to hear the old stories of our ancestors, the story of salvation contained in Holy Scriptures. We are not ready to eat yet until we hear the ancient story of salvation and how we are part of that story. Symbolic of the centrality of the story of salvation is the placement on the Holy Table of the book containing the Holy Gospels. The chalices and patens for our meal were elsewhere (more on that in a minute).

The Gospel story of the day was read aloud by the Rev. David McIlhiney, who carried it into the congregation. Another way we symbolize of the centrality of the Gospel is to hear it read aloud in the middle of the congregation. We stand up for the Gospel to show our respect and reverence for the holy book as it is carried and read (this is an echo of the Jewish practice of reverencing the scrolls containing Torah). Also, as the Gospel is carried into the congregation, it is appropriate to turn and face the book from wherever you are standing.

2)
The blog, "Leave it lay where Jesus flang it" is the blog of another Episcopal Priest who is willing to really call a spade a spade in terms of hypocrisy and injustice. She is a rector of a church in the South, though is from the West (left?) coast. She is a good writer, and a keen observer of things "churchy" and not "churchy." Whether or not you agree with all that she writes is of no matter - the blog is great fun to read, and it's great to see whose feathers she is going to ruffle! Below is an excerpt, or, read it all HERE.

From "Leave it lay"

So the Democratic Convention has begun.

There is something in me that fears and dreads all this political hoopla. I guess I can write those reactions up to the experience that I and many of my age carry-- that the first political process in which I participated was the election of '74 that elected good ol' tricky Dick Nixon--what with Watergate and all. While I did not vote for Nixon (yes, my parents raised me left, not right), I still felt the political betrayal of deceit to my bones. The Vietnam War did not help my trust of the government either. So that is the bed in which my political awareness was conceived. And even in this election, I am aware that I keep waiting for the other shoe of some type of betrayal to drop.

Given the Gospel lesson in morning prayer, I feel an invitation to view political betrayal in a new light--because I have pondered greatly on the great story of God planting a garden for us--the vision of all that could be, but a garden that was planted with a tree we should not touch and in which the snake lived. And, even amonst the disciples, the human snake in the garden God was cultivating--betrayal again.

3)
"Scott's Rott" Blog is the blog of a friend of mine from seminary who reflects biblically and theologically upon a whole host of "stuff" ... he is a brilliant guy, and I find that his humor, positive spirit, and groundedness comes through in his writing. Check it out HERE. Below is an excerpt.

One of the most enduring of truth is "hip sells". I haven't actually heard anybody say this, but I'm willing to bet. What passes for hip among folks like us, sells.

Depending on the particular us you belong to, definitions of hip vary. A lot. Let's just consider things automotive. Whether you purchase a Dale Earnhardt (rest his soul) comfortor and pillow sham set or the Hermes edition Bugatti, hipness played a big role. And I'll bet no one has ever sprung for both.

Kathleen Norris doesn't mention the word "hip" anywhere in her chapter on "The Bible Study." She may not mention the word in the book, but this seems like as good a moment as any to suggest that the meditations in Amazing Grace depends on the regular transgression of a hipness boundary that her readers roughly share.

Part of the pleasure of reading comes from believing that we're the author's kind of people. A good writer makes us feel like the rest of the world may not understand her subtle intentions, but we do. We understand just what she's saying and we're pretty sure she would like us if we ever met for cocktails.