the Long View

June 29, 2018

There is some really good stuff tucked away in the American Book of Common Prayer. There's a wonderful section toward the back of the book with prayers for all kinds of occasions - prayers for birthdays and for families and for travelers and for those we love. There's collections of prayers for various aspects of church life and for our personal lives and a section of prayers for our national life. You can find them all on the internet at bcponline.org - click on "Prayers and Thanksgivings."

I often flip to that section of prayers for the nation around certain holidays, like Memorial Day, Election Day, and the Fourth of July. I've been doing it for years, and every time I'm struck by a prayer that is simply entitled "For our Country."

Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our

heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove

ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will.

Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and

pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion;

from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend

our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes

brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue

with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust

the authority of government, that there may be justice and

peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we

may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth.

In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness,

and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail;

all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This prayer is often attributed to George Washington, but alas, that isn't true. It was actually written by the Rev. George Lyman Locke in the year 1882.

And it helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.*

This prayer for our country was written just after the end of reconstruction and ten years before Ellis Island was opened. It was written almost 40 years before women's suffrage, 60 years before Pearl Harbor, and over 80 years before the Civil Rights Act. And in each of those times, at each of those turning points, someone was praying this prayer for our country. They were probably thinking of different challenges, envisioning different leaders at each of those points. But when they prayed this prayer, they did so out of a deep sense of patriotism, a patriotism that said "it's not enough to just be America, we must always strive to be a better America than we have been."

It's been 242 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This Fourth of July, I invite you to step back and take the long view. I find that it helps, now and then, to do so.

See you Sunday,

Kelly

*See the Prayer Attributed to Oscar Romero

Children & Youth Sunday

June 15, 2018

Reminder, this Sunday (June 17th) is our first* combined 10:00 amservice of the summer -- to be held in the Main Sanctuary.

Sunday is not only our annual "Children & Youth Sunday" but is also the Sunday we will honor and celebrate Nina Bacas' ministry among us and bid her farewell.

All along in her years of ministry here, Nina's approach to faith formation has involved engaging the imagination of our young people, supporting their unique God-given gifts, and incorporating them into all aspects of our faith community. In her programs, children and youth are valued theologians and active agents in our parish.

Sunday's service, with children and youth taking most of the leadership/presiding roles, reflects that full engagement and involvement.

In addition to honoring those who have served as volunteers in our congregation the past program year, we will recognize our graduates. Also, special presentations and gifts will be given to Nina during announcement time.

And, there is an ice-cream social as part of our coffee hour, following the service!

See you Sunday, 

John

*We continue our 10:00 combined summer worship service schedule (in the Historic Church) through Labor Day weekend (September 2).

Is it ok to be angry?

June 1, 2018

In the Gospel appointed for this Sunday, we hear about one of the times Jesus gets angry.

The context (Mark, Chapter 2) is that it was the Sabbath day and Jesus saw someone with a withered hand, and because Jesus had compassion on him, he cured him, even though that was against the rules:

"Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come forward." Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him."

We don't often think of Jesus getting angry. There's a version -- a corrupt version -- of Christianity that wants to maintain that anger is, by definition, a bad emotion to have. Or worse, that anger is somehow the opposite of love.

I was in a meeting of clergy a month or so ago when this issue of anger came up.

We were catching up with one another and when it came my turn to speak, after the usual pleasantries, I expressed my concerns -- and yes, my anger -- over the current political environment. Specifically, I was expressing anger over the purposeful polarization in politics, the stoking of distrust, and the sense of hopelessness so many people feel over what have become routine attacks on democratic norms and the rule of law.*

In response, one of the other Christian clergy, reacting to the fact that I was angry, said, "as Christians, we cannot respond to the world's problems with anger: we must respond with love."  Then another Christian clergy person said, "As Christians, we are called to love our enemies."

I wasn't sure how to respond right away,, so I just sat and listened. Then another member of the clergy group -- a Rabbi -- said, "Well, as a Jew, I am not called to 'love my enemy.'  I AM called to oppose evil with every fiber of my being."

My first (non-serious) thought was "Oh my gosh! -- I must be Jewish...!"

But as I thought about on the drive home, and since, it occurred to me that, no, anger is very much part of being a Christian.

Those Christian clergy seem to have fallen into a mindset that the antonym of "love" is "anger."

But the antonym of love is not anger.

The antonym of love is not even hate.

If I'm reading the scriptures correctly, the antonym of love is fear. 

Or better yet, the antonym of love is apathy: a lack of enthusiasm, interest, or concern. Especially when you consider the root of the word apathy, which is a-pathos: literally, "without suffering."

Apathy is an unwillingness to enter into the world's, or the nation's (or another person's) suffering.

If you've ever felt that, you've felt the opposite of love.

"Anger is just love disappointed" the Eagles sang in "Hole in the World." 

So yes, I feel anger over the current state of politics, but it's because I refuse to stop loving America and American values. I refuse to stop being disappointed. I refuse to fall into fear or apathy. I will keep getting angry, because I will keep loving.

*p.s., and an update: Thankfully, this is a group of clergy whom I know and trust, and we continue to meet on a regular basis. And we've had a chance to talk this through a bit more.

We may never come to agreement on the role of anger in Christianity. But we do all agree on what to DO about the issues I named.

Specifically, we agree that the antidote to polarization is a unifying vision. That the antidote to distrust is forming authentic relationships. And that the antidote to hopelessness is a working together on achieving some accomplishments that can be magnified and replicated.

I'm fully aware that no faith community -- be it The Falls Church Episcopal or any other church, synagogue, or mosque -- can change America all itself. We are not trying to take on the world, or even the nation. But we are all acting within our sphere of influence. And we are all confident that if we keep encouraging each other, change will happen. Throughout history, change happens when enough pockets of micro-changers discover one another and a macro-change occurs. I'm hopeful because our faith teaches that light -- what we Christians would call the Light of God's Love, Incarnate -- shines in the darkness, and no darkness can ever overcome it.