St. Gabriel's Musings

Confession

2007-11-16T19:01:00.000-08:00

All right. It's time for a confession. You've probably already guessed it...

I'm a bad blogger.

Blogging is all about regular, up to date musings, observations, inspirations, even rants.
Note the "regular" part.

I'm not a big blog reader either, and I'm still trying to figure out the RSS thing.

It's all about time. Lack thereof. I've been feeling very pressed for time lately. Even my days off are packed to the gills with stuff to do and catch up on. Like that basket of unmatched socks. Or those chairs I've been meaning to sand and stain for the last 15 months. Or those books that have been gahering dust by my bedside.

Can I really be that pressed for time? Really? Since May?! (note date of last entry) Maybe there's an problem here. It can't be good for one's health to be pressed for time for over five months.

Whether I decide to keep a blog is beside the point. Busyness, hurry, clutteredness, procrastination, overwork, multitasking fragmentation... these are not good for the spiritual life. In fact, they are deadly to it.

I know this. I preach about this. But I'm guilty of all of these things myself. It's easy to blame our culture. Our culture encourages hurry. But I can blame no one but me.

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin." Well, I spin. Somtimes out of control. Maybe you feel the same.

How 'bout we stop?
Say "no" to things that aren't important.
Say "yes" to things that give life to us and others.

The world won't stop turning if you and I take time... Time for real prayer and real thoughts and real listening... time for deep conversations and deep sleep.

Two more weeks and we begin Advent, which is a great time to "unpress" and to savor each day. Slowing down runs counter to our culture of hurrying to count the days down to Christmas.
I'm thinking that I may start the slowing of Advent now.

I'm not sure where keeping a blog fits in all this. I do know that a funny thing happens when I take time to write. I slow down. I get more centered. I listen more to myself and the Holy Spirit in me. I write things that surprise me. (I didn't know where this was going here when I sat down at the computer tonight. I thought I'd be talking about the whole blogging culture. Who knew?)

So, I won't promise when the next entry to this blog will be posted. But I will work to "unpress" my time, and try to savor life more fully.
Until then, some books by my bed are calling my name.

10 Reasons Why I love Being Episcopalian

2007-05-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Having spent a large portion of the day at the National Cathedral for the glorious celebration of the consecration of The Rt. Rev. Shannon Johnston, our new Bishop Coadjutor, I just wanted to share a few of my thoughts on why I love our Church.

(These are not all the reasons, or necessarily the most important reasons, or in any kind of order... but here we go.)

1. Women can be priests. Presiding Bishops even. When I was a kid, it wasn't true. Of course, when I was a kid, I had no idea I was ever going to be a priest!

2. It's a family! Being part of a larger communion means there is always someone else. There's nothing like being one priest in one baby congregation, but showing up for an event like this and knowing and greeting literally hundreds of other priests and lay people from around the diocese. Old friends from churches I've worshipped in. People I know from committees and commissions. The love is thick. They are as excited about our ministry as I am about what God is doing in their places.

3. Amazing processions (This was only about 1/4 of the total procession into the cathedral.

4. The Cathedral. It's the National Cathedral. A house of Prayer for all People. But it is ours - Episcopal. I'd like to think our churches are all that way. Houses of prayer for all people. Places to meet God no matter who you are.

5. Cool hats (That's my husband Chris in a biretta)

6. Great music in all different styles. St. Gabriel's style is a lot different than most of the music we heard at the cathedral today, but I love the richness.

7. Variety and Unity. People who can have different ideas on various theological and social issues all praying and singing and taking communion together. I'm made richer my friends and colleagues to the right and left of where I stand.

and of course

8. The Father (God Almighty)

9. The Son (Jesus Christ our Lord)

10. and The Holy Spirit (The Lord, the Giver of Life)

Without this Trinity all our pomp, processions, and presiding bishops wouldn't make a hoot of difference. But it is because each of us has found life and purpose by aligning ourselves with God's purposes to reconcile the world to himself, that we enjoy sharing our joy by bringing out our best for God.

Lessons from a Cactus

2007-05-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Early in May, I was out in Phoenix teaching at the Episcopal Church's Start Up! Start Over! congregational development seminar, and I had some free time to go hiking in the desert.

The saguaro cacti were fascinating (Those are the kind that can look like cowboys with their hands up)... They grow so tall! I learned that they can live to be over 200 years old and don't even begin to grow branches until they are over 50 year old!

While my friend Lydia and I were hiking I noticed how several of the saguaro had been damaged. Arms were broken off. Flesh was scarred. Sometimes they'd been hurt by forces of nature; a few had probably been harmed by vandals. For the most part, however, the cacti were still alive, just bearing scars.

One particular cactus really caught my eye. Two of its arms were broken, but not completely broken off. Then over the years, the arms had curled back up toward the sun, obviously still receiving nutrients and water. When I saw it, it was even beginning to flower. (Hard to see with the image I got with my camera phone)

Of course, to me, this just seemed to be another sign of God's redemptive power. You and I are often broken. The winds and storms of life tear us down. Sometimes others hurt us as well. But as long as we can stay connect to the "whole", we can still receive the water of new life, and continue to bear fruit.

For Christians, that "whole" is Jesus. As Jesus said, "I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me, you can do nothing. (John 15:5) When we stay connected to Christ, and in the body of Christ, even when we are scarred and beat up, God can help us grow again, and even blossom beautifully.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

2007-04-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

We had a glorious Easter celebration at St. Gabriel's last Sunday

As per our tradition, (hey, can a four-year old church have "tradition?!?") we celebrated with an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, and a pot-luck brunch. Gracing the food table at the brunch was a vase full of daffodils from St. Gabriel's land, picked by vestry member Cindy Jones. As she handed them to me after as we were packing up she said, "And there are many more there... all different kinds."

Many of you may remember that last fall we went out to our land and, with the help of the G-Men, used the stones from the land to design a cross. Then we planted assorted daffodil bulbs around the the perimeter of the cross. Later, some of the G-men mulched the area to protect the newly planted bulbs.

[Scenes from the October cross-making. Above: team at work. Right: finished cross]

I couldn't wait to get out to the land and see for myself how things were looking. The trees were still pretty bare and the ground was covered with dead leafs from the previous fall. Rising from the brown surroundings were a cheerful gathering of daffodils inviting me closer.

It was beautiful. As I took pictures (with my phone) and prayed on our land, a few "God thoughts" came to mind I'd like to share.

First, Planting bulbs is like a lot of what we do in our faith. You can't see from the outside of the bulb what it's going to look like. We can't see today what life will hold for tomorrow.

You just have to take what you've got, and give it to God, and trust, that in God's time, he will make it bloom.

Second, the daffodils were all different types - some white, some yellow, some single blooms, some multiple blooms, some frilly, some "classic."

We are all different as well, but when we are gathered around the cross, or gathered together to "grace" another venue, our diversity shows God's beauty.

Another thing I noticed was that all over the ground, in what seemed to me at first to be mostly dead leaves, were delicate little white flowers coming up everywhere. To me this signaled another truth of life with God. Yes, God takes what we give him, and he blesses it and gives it back to us.

But God also just gives us abundant blessings without us even asking for them. We didn't plant those little flowers, God did. God's work and our work, side by side, are beautiful.

As you observe the new life springing forth in creation this spring, may you experience new life in Jesus spring forth in your soul.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

"Imagination Sermon"

2007-03-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

Those of you at St. Gabriel's this last Sunday (March 18th) experienced an "imagination sermon." When I was explaining the concept of the imagination sermon to my husband (also a priest), he said, "I don't know.... sounds too much like, 'Imagine I had written a sermon this Sunday' to me."

The imagination sermon, however, is not the preacher's way of playing hookie (!), it is a way to experience corporately one aspect of the ancient method of lectio divina.... sitting with a piece of scripture and letting God speak to you through the text. We invite our God-given imaginations into the story as well, allowing Jesus to be alive to us, and the people of the story to speak to us.

After listening to the Gospel story of the Father who had two sons (a.k.a. The Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32) members of the congregation imagined they were someone in the story, either someone explicitly mentioned (younger son, older son, father, etc.) or someone else who would have been present.

As people lived into the character the Holy Spirit brought to mind, several people stood up to share their thoughts. We heard from a few wayward prodigals, several angry and confused older brothers, a longing father, a bookie in the far off land, the boys' mother, and some others. There were a few quiet tears, nods of understanding and a fair amount of laughter. I felt we were on holy ground when some people shifted from the biblical story to their own stories as they identified with the characters and touched on the Father's presence in their own situations.

One thing I find fascinating about this method of engaging the Bible is that even folk who do not stand up to share are given a story. The Holy Spirit works in all the imaginations, giving some full-blown, fully-illustrated scenarios, and to others a flit across several characters as the camera of their mind pans the faces in the narrative.

I invite you, this week, to continue to live into the story of the loving, welcoming Father, and see how God speaks to you through it.

Thoughts from the Vicar

2007-03-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

My hope as I begin this blog is that it will become a conversation. A way for me to share thoughts, ideas and prayers with St. Gabriel's community, and others who are interested.

St. Gabriel's is a great place. We turn a middle school auditorium into a sacred space to encounter Jesus each week.

We even find times to get away to the mountains to enjoy God's presence in nature. (Here's a picture of us at our retreat center at Shrine Mont in May 2006). Please join the conversation.