A few years ago at about this time of year, I took a group of young people from a parish to Scotland for a religious pilgrimage. The trip was wonderful and the significant moments could fill this blog. However, one of the odd things I remember was the term, "holiday." Many of the other tourists we encountered would say that they were on "holiday," which of course is "vacation" for most of us in the States.  As I read many of your vacation exploits via Facebook, I am jealous and I am trying to determine if you are on a vacation or on holiday. Yes, I am a nerd, so I looked up the definitions and for the British, "holiday" is synonymous with vacation.  So, if they are the same you ask, why am I parsing these words?

Here is the why? In a couple of weeks, I will be on vacation but it will begin with what I am calling a holiday, that is I am going to spend an entire day comemorating an event, a religious event. That, of course, is another definition of holiday.  One of my nieces is to be married and she has asked me to share in the responsibilities of officiating at her wedding. This will be the second niece to have given me that honor, and I view this as a celebration worthy of a holiday!  Like a holiday, the family will be gathered together, siblings and cousins, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews that we do not get to see enough. We will all be there gathered around this celebration, shared prayers, shared meals, and shared memories. This vacation will have all the trappings of a holiday and for that I give thanks.

As you continue your summer vacation, do not forget to take a holiday. Do not forget to celebrate an occasion or two. Do not forget, in the rush to do take time away, to take time to share a meal, to share a prayer, and to share common memories. In the Episcopal Church, every Sunday we celebrate the Eucharist is considered a holiday. Won't you join in the celebration?

Peace, John+

As I read the continual news and updates from the oil castastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, today I am profoundly aware of those who live in the wake of this mess. Several of our young people have gone to Mission on the Bay on the Mississippi Gulf Coast to spend a week cleaning and repairing property and homes.  This is the work that still remains from Hurricane Katrina. Residents of the Coast and New Orleans have spent the last five years putting their lives back together, or at least attempting to do so. In many cases with the help of volunteers who spend their time, like our young people sharing in their daily struggle to live as normally as possible. Now, these very same lives, these very same residents will be most affected, if not already, by the oil in the Gulf. I am grateful for the witness and ministry of our young people and the ministry of so many who have traveled to help rebuild lives. I pray that in this time of new anxiety, they may offer hope to a people who too often find hope fleeting.  When you have a moment, stop and pray for the residents of the Coast and New Orleans, and give thanks for those who ministry to them. Lastly, it is easy to castigate BP and the government for their actions or inactions. We do not know all the facts, nor do I expect we will know all the facts. However, let us pray for any complicity that we have in the sufferings of others. Let us pray that greed, the collective desire to have more and to have it now, whatever it may be, give ground to generosity and to the common good.

Peace,

John+

There is the slightest possibility that I may be a little obsessed with the weather. While I have never had serious discussions with anyone as to the root cause of this behavior, I am mostly certain that I was taught to be this way. Growing up, we watched the news, but we WATCHED the weather forecast.  I mean, we were sssshed into silence to allow Dick Wiliams or Dave Brown (the weather guys on channel 5) to tell us what they knew, or didn't know. There was no Doppler 3-D radar, they actually moved the cold fronts and the sunshine and the clouds by hand; I think they had velcro on them.  Regardless, we watched the weather in the same manner as we sat in church. 

Weather watching was religious. As long as my mother was alive, you could bet the house that the second question out of her mouth in a conversation on the phone was, "How is the weather?"  She delighted in having six children in six different geographical and climatological conditions. I miss anticipating that question. 

What I do not miss is the weather.  I have the weather bookmarked on my computer and iTouch.  When I hear thunder, I keep the radar window open on the laptop to track the storm.  I feel like friends with the Weather Channel celebs and I know what Dave Brown is going to say before he says it.  Although my mother died almost three years ago, I still think of her in the midst of our late afternoon summer thunderstorms. There are times when I look at the phone either to call or to wait for her call. Why is that?

This Sunday is designated Trinity Sunday by the Church. To explain the doctrine of the Trinity in a blog is impossible, as it can be in a sermon.  However, I offer this. The Doctrine of the Trinity attempts to offer an explanation to God's unending, never ending presence.  God always was, is, and always will be present in this world - in all of creation.  God is present as Father, Son (incarnate/human & divine) and as the Spirit.  At the risk of oversimplification, we live in the presence of God, all three persons, all the time; yet, we live most notably through the power and presence of God the Holy Spirit.  How do we know?  Great question! But I know this, my mother was around before me, she was alive during part of my life, and she lives in me through the power of her presence; the memories or the spirit of life (and an obsession of weather) she gifted in her death.  Likewise, God was in the beginning, Jesus was one with the Father while living in humanity as one of us, and Jesus assures us of God's, and thus his, eternal presence through the Spirit.  If that gets too confusing, I apologize. Turn off the computer, pick up the phone and call someone you love and ask, "What's the weather?"  Then it will all make sense.

Peace,  John+

Today, April 28, is the author Harper Lee's 84th birthday.  To Kill a Mockingbird is Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel.  I have never met Harper Lee, nor have many for she has lived a rather private life; but we do have an autographed copy of the novel that my sister gave us.  Her signature strengthens my connection to her and to her characters in the book, and it deepens my appreciation for her. My discerning a call to ordained ministry began informally after reading the book and watching the movie.

Atticus Finch, the book's protaganist, a heroic father, attorney, citizen, and although never explicitly stated, a theologian is one of the great influences in my life.  Atticus takes on the defense of a black man in a rural southern town, a trial whose outcome is determined by the color of his skin long before the first witness is called.  This decision and experience causes Atticus and his children no small amount of ostracism and grief.  Scout and Jem are Atticus' daughter and son.  Here is an excerpt when Atticus  explained to Scout why he chose to defend the black man, Tom Robinson.

". . . sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down - well, all I can say is, when you and Jem are grown, maybe you'll look back on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn't let you down.  This case, Tom Robinson's case, is something that goes to the essence of a man's conscience - Scout, I couldn't go to church and worship "God if I didn't try to help that man."

    "Atticus, you must be wrong . . . "

    "How's that?"

    "Well, most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong. . ."

    "They're certainly entitled to think, that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions," said Atticus, "but before I can live with other folks I've go to live with myself.  The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

Amen and thank you Harper Lee!  Happy Birthday!     Peace, John+

A parishioner pointed out how much they enjoyed my blog having found it this past week.  They said this with a wry smile knowing that the last entry was at Christmas.  Ouch!  I should do better I replied.

So as I began to write this, I sneezed once, then twice, then a third time - lurching chest, eye watering, ear ringing sneezes.  I've pulled a muscle or two in my back, fractured a rib or two and will need nasal reconstruction as a result of my allergies this spring.  I can't remember a time like this when I was so sensitive to the beauty blooming in our midst.  I love spring.  I love being outside.  I love flowers and trees and green grass.   I love looking out the "east" window of the church at the beauty of God's creation, I still sneeze - from the altar flowers.  Why does God make me sneeze? 

That, of course, is a silly question.  But not one without a reply.  To sneeze is to breathe and to breathe is to be alive, physically to be sure, and spiritually.  The process of new life of which pollen and spores of all types bring into being should get our attention.  Maybe sneezing is a way of making sure we are paying attention, of making sure we are acknowledging the beauty and mystery of creation which is all too easy to take for granted.  In no way do I wish any of us misery with allergies, but I do hope that we take time to thank God for the beauty which surrounds us each and every day.  If I have to choose between a scratchy throat with watery eyes and  absence of a budding oak or a blooming azalea, I'll take one for the team and I will say thank you God each time I reach for a kleenex.   

Peace,  John+