Bread, Wine, Salt

Feast of Christ the King, Year C Last Sunday after Pentecost as prepared for delivery The prophet Jeremiah wasn't predicting the future in today's reading when he said “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture,” he was just stating the facts of the case. The kings of Judah were, on the whole, a bad group. They were more concerned with currying political favor with whichever nearby kingdom was in power at the time than they were with following God's law or caring for their people. Jeremiah wasn't warning the Kings that great sorrow and distress was coming. They were already there. The scattered flock that Jeremiah talks about was the scattered people of Judah, exiled after King Zedekiah paid tribute to Egypt instead of Babylon. It was too late to bring the Kings around to better behavior, but the prophet was also called to bring comfort to the people in times of distress, and through Jeremiah, God promises the people better shepherds an...

"Breathe in and out." That's what I'd tell them, the parents who woke this morning, if they slept at all, still living the nightmare from yesterday, if I had occasion to speak with them, if they asked me how they should go on. But they are many states away, and I don't know them. I'm fairly sure they don't want my opinion. But you are here, which means you probably know me, and might care about my opinion.  I've written about grief a good deal. I don't have any new insights since my last bout of sermonizing. So here is a run down of what I've written already: I don't know what to say , reprint, originally from December 2009 How the story of Job teaches us what to do when our friends are hurting. On the Phone , August 2010 What to say to people who are grieving. What it means to Pray , August 2010 If prayer doesn't come easily, or if you think you can't pray, this is a simple way to start. When the Lid is Taken Off...

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent for many Christians. (In which we read about making our prayers private and then smear oily ashes all over our foreheads where everyone can see them.) I haven't had ashes in years because my kids are not yet old enough to manage the meditative noon service and my husband sings in the choir at the last service, and someone has to actually be in the house while the kids are sleeping. I didn't expect to be able to go this year anyway, since I knew I'd be spending the day at a hospital offering up my patience, my compassion, my arm strength, and my ability to not roll my eyes at hospital staff in service of a client. As it turns out, I received ashes from the hospital chaplain who was visiting the maternity ward, and I go to explain the whole praying in public/ mess of ashes contradiction to a Jewish doctor who was sitting behind the desk while I received the ashes. The preparations for Lent started before today. On Sunda...

This is from my personal archives, and was published in my parish newsletter in November, 2009 Many years ago I went to the funeral of a young man. He was my boyfriend's friend, and I didn't know anyone there, certainly not the young man's family. As I walked through the receiving line, the man's mother pulled me into a tight hug. I said the only thing I could think of: “I'm so sorry for your loss.” It felt inadequate. Surely there was something else I should have said. There are plenty of guides for people who are grieving. There are fewer resources for the friends and acquaintances. Well-meaning and loving people are often at a loss for what to say and what to do. Afraid of doing something wrong, they don't do anything at all. The result is that the bereaved feel abandoned, which adds more pain and sometimes anger to an already bad situation. So what should we do when we are called to support others? Most people are familiar with the story of Job, a righ...

Compline

Three times I have been the voice on the other end of the line with nothing to say.  Twice it was on purpose. The first time I was just in the church office working on the utterly un-Spiritual task of  data entry.  The phone rang.  I was the only person there.  The woman on the other end needed a priest.  We had no priest.  Our priest had left and our Interim hadn't started yet and I was the financial secretary.  It was Friday afternoon.  I didn't know who was on call.  I would find out.  Someone would call her by Monday.  Would that be okay? "I guess."  Said the woman on the phone.  She was breaking. "Are you okay right now?"  And the answer poured out.  Her twins were born catastrophically early and were hooked up to every machine imaginable and she just didn't know how it was that life kept moving. "How do you go on?" And so I told her about my lost boy, and about breathing.  "You just get ...

It is said that if the Jews are the people of the Book, then Anglicans are the people of the Prayer Book.  I am an Episcopalian, a member of the American branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and our service and daily office are outlined in the Book of Common Prayer .  Anything you want to pray about, there's a prayer in the BCP, and if somehow the BCP is at a loss, there's the Book of Occasional Services.  And if the BOS fails?  There are any number of supplements at your disposal.  You can have full, vibrant prayer life without ever once using words of your own. That's not always a bad thing.  Sometimes we need to rely on the words of generations of our ancestors.  Sometimes we can pray in anemnesis, praying with all those who prayed those same words before you could speak.  There is comfort in ritual, and anyone who denies it should really give it another try. Sometimes, though, words aren't enough. I struggle with prayer, intercess...