Lord, Purge Our Eyes to See

Lord, purge our eyes to see
Within the seed
a tree,
Within the glowing egg,
a bird,
Within the shroud,
a butterfly.
Till, taught by such we see,
Beyond all creatures,
Thee.

—Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Waiting

On Pearl Harbor Day, perhaps it is all the more important to recall that we are waiting for the Kingdom of God to come into its fullness. Waiting does not come easy to us. Watch the video above which meditates briefly on this.

Advent Examination

Advent is the perfect time to clear and prepare the Way. Advent is a winter training camp for those who desire peace. By reflection and prayer, by reading and meditation, we can make our hearts a place where a blessing of peace would desire to abide and where the birth of the Prince of Peace might take place.

Daily we can make an Advent examination. Are there any feelings of discrimination toward race, sex, or religion? Is there a lingering resentment, an unforgiven injury living in our hearts? Do we look down upon others of lesser social standing or educational achievement? Are we generous with the gifts that have been given to us, seeing ourselves as their stewards and not their owners? Are we reverent of others, their ideas and needs, and of creation? These and other questions become Advent lights by which we may search the deep, dark corners of our hearts.

—Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac

Prepare the Way

In tomorrow's Gospel Reading we begin with a list of the people in power at the time John the Baptist came onto the public scene in Judea:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

I preached on this nine years ago at King of Peace saying in part:

If you’ll look at the passage with me, I’ll show you what I mean. You could read it through in your mind like this:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of some guy, when, oh I know that one, Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, I think that’s how you say it, and some other guy was ruler of some place and his brother was ruler of the region of two hard to pronounce names, and another guy was ruler of Abilene, I thought that was in Texas, during the high priesthood of two guys with names I don’t know, the word of God came to John son of some Z name in the wilderness.

Another way to do it is to just see what the words are and not even really read them. That would go like this:

In the fifteenth year, yada yada, yada during the high priesthood, yada, yada, yada, the word of the Lord came to John, son of some guy in the wilderness.

I don’t want to poke fun at this way of reading through a hard list of names and places. It makes sense really. I ran across a similar suggestion in a book recently. My daughter, Griffin, and I were reading through the introduction to her copy of Jules Verne’s classic book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea where Bruce Colville, himself an author, gives advice on how to read the book. Listen to this introduction to see how it might relate to reading the Bible:

Now, before you begin reading, I have to give you a warning. This is not a book for lazy readers, not a walk-through. In fact, odds are you’re going to have to work to get it.

That’s okay. In fact, I’m going to give you permission to do something that normally bugs the daylights out of me: You can skip some of the stuff. One of the quirks of Verne’s style in this book is that he occasionally stops to make long lists of the undersea creatures that Professor Arronax (the character narrating the story) sees through the windows of the Nautilus.

Trust me: You don’t need to read them all.

Here’s another tip: You might enjoy having a globe or atlas nearby while you are reading.

It’s not necessary to have one to enjoy the book, of course. But because this is a trip around the world, you might find it fun to trace the route the Nautilus follows.

“Good grief,” you may be muttering to yourself. “If the book is so much work, why bother?”

Let me offer three reasons.

Reason Number One—Most stuff that’s worth doing takes some extra effort….
Reason Number Two—It’s a great adventure story, one of the grandest every written….
Reason Number Three—Two words: Captain Nemo.

Okay, so that reason won’t work at all—unless, you change the two words to Jesus Christ. Because it is in the pages of the Bible that we can meet Jesus Christ. However, the rest of the advice is reasonable enough. If a list of names and places is threatening to slow your Bible reading down to a halt, it might be best just to scan over the list and keep reading. That does not mean that those passages have nothing to teach, but it could be that they need to wait for another time.

Well, this is another time and place. Is there anything to gain from a list of people and places like the one Luke gives us this morning? What does the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius have to do with us? You see, the challenge I always feel in studying a passage of scripture with a sermon is to discover what it has to say to us, right now, this week. Does this passage have anything to say to us that could or should change the week ahead? I think it does. This list of names reveals something about God to us that can have a profound effect on how we live our lives.

As I was concluding the sermon, I said in part:

God’s love is not for the lovely alone. God’s love is for all. No matter how unlovable a person seems to us, they are not beyond God’s love. This is good news for people living on the streets, or to people dealing with the final stages of disease. But God’s love extending to everyone is good for all of us gathered here this morning. When we feel our most unloved, when we feel our most unlovable, we can know that God loves us anyway. That’s the way God has always been. And God continues to scatter the proud and to lift up the lowly. God continues to show up in unlikely places. You don’t have to worship in a great cathedral surrounded by stained glass for God to be present. You can find God as John did in the wilderness. Or you can encounter God in a church that meets in the living room of a house.

The full text of the sermon is online here: A Particular Time and Place.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor

Discover Chanukah, the festival of lights

As the darkness lengthens toward the longest night of the year, Jews celebrate the festival of lights, which is Chanukah to give thanks for religious freedom. This year, the 8-night holiday of Chanukah is from November 30 to December 7 (the date varies each year, following a lunar calendar).

This minor Jewish holiday has taken on great significance as a Jewish alternative to Christmas. However, Chanukah is a unique religious holiday with its own food, music, games and traditions. Chanukah need not be compared to another religious holiday, but stands on its own merits for what it teaches about faith. For the story of Chanukah is a story of people of faith taking a stand for their religious freedom.

Early in the fourth century B.C.E., Alexander the Great conquered Israel and much of the ancient Middle East. Alexander’s armies brought not only Greek rule, but also Greek culture. On Alexander’s death, his empire fell under the control of lesser kings and kingdoms. By the second century B.C.E., Israel was under Syrian control.

The Syrian leader Antiochus Epiphanes set his sights on Egypt, with Israel the necessary stepping-stone on his path. To bolster his control of Israel and unite his country with a common culture, Antiochus began outlawing Jewish religious practices and enforced a change to Greek culture. As Antiochus program of social change first began, many Jews accommodated themselves to Greek culture with no complaint. Jews stopped circumcising their children, who began to go to a Greek-style gymnasium and learn of Greek gods along with other Greek culture.

By 165 B.C.E., Syria outlawed all Jewish practices. Many Jews, who had made room for some social change as a way to get along with those in political power, found there very way of life under a more serious attack than they had realized. Any outward observance of faith in the God of Israel was severely punished. Torture and murder of those who practiced their faith became commonplace. The Syrians put to death all who were found with scripture. The mothers of sons who were circumcised after the decree went out were put to death together with their sons.

Many Jews continued to practice their faith and were put to death praying the prayer (Known as the Shema for the Jewish word for “hear”) of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul and strength.”

Antiochus took his strongest stand against the faith of Israel by desecrating the Temple in Jerusalem sacrificing a pig on the altar and placing a statue of Zeus there. A group of Jews hid in the wilderness outside of Jerusalem to avoid the Syrian army as it made its way from village to village erecting altars and forcing Jews to sacrifice to Greek gods. The First Book of Maccabees tells of a group of 1,000 men, women and children caught in hiding who were put to death rather than sacrifice to Greek gods.

Mattathias the Hasmonean and his sons heard of the group who died in hiding and vowed to overtake the Syrians by force. Mattathias’ son Judah led the religious revolt. Judah was given the nickname Judah Maccabee, meaning Judah, “The Hammer” for his strength as a resistance fighter. Beating the Syrians in a series of skirmishes, they took back the city of Jerusalem itself with little resistance.

The first order of business was to rededicate the desecrated temple to the one true God. As Mattathias’ sons relit the eternal flame in the Temple, they found there was only enough purified oil for one day, yet it would take eight days to purify new oil for Temple use. Judah Maccabee and his brothers lit the lamp in faith that God would supply their needs. The lamp burned brightly for all eight days of the dedication on the one day’s supply of oil. This miracle was seen as a sign that God had blessed Judah and his brothers in their fight for religious freedom.

Today, Jews around the world remember this blow struck for freedom by lighting a menorah (also called a chanukiah), lighting one new candle each night for the eight nights of the Temple dedication. The Menorah is a nine branch candelabra with one branch higher than the others. This is for the shamash, or servant, candle, which is used to light the others. By the eighth night of Chanukah, all the candles burn brightly in remembrance of the light of God burning brightly in the world after the darkness of Antiochus’ rule.

For all people in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the story serves as a reminder that faith serves as a bright light to carry us through dark times. History has shown that God is faithful to those who seek to keep the light of faith burning.

The text above is my religion column for today's issue of the Tribune & Georgian.

No Jurisdiction

Today I attended the burial office for the Rev. Bill Pitner at Holy Nativity Church on Saint Simons Island. Bill was a wonderful priest who was a big help to me personally and I was thankful for the well-attended liturgy with a good sermon by the Rev. Dee Shaffer, who Bill mentored.

But I did want to share one comment which our bishop said in passing. There was no stand for his crozier (the shepherds crook he carries in liturgy) and one was improvised from a flag holder. I asked if it would suffice and Bishop Louutit said, "I only need to carry the crozier in and out. I won't pronounce a blessing as I don't have jurisdiction."

"No jurisdiction?" I asked, "Is Bill canonical resident somewhere else?" I was using the term for how one can maintain official, or canonical, residence in one diocese while living in another. I knew that Bill served his entire ministry in the Diocese of Georgia, so I didn't understand when the Bishop said Bill had been resident in our diocese but wasn't any longer. Bishop Louttit explained with a smile, how Bill is beyond his jurisdiction as Bill has passed to the life eternal and is with his Lord. No bishop has jurisdiction where Bill now rest from his labors. Bill needs no blessing pronounced by his one-time bishop as he is now being blessed by being in the presence of the Holy Trinity from whom all blessings flow.

I'm not sure why I found this quite wonderful, but I did and do and so wanted to share this with you gentle readers.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue
Canonically and Physically Resident in the Diocese of Georgia

The Gift of Wonder

Each year, God asks us to shed one more coat of awareness, one more dream state and come alive to the vision of God’s plan for each of us and the world-at-large.

The older we get, the harder this is to do. As children we had a sense of wonder. Our eyes were wide open and drinking in the fascinating gifts we beheld…Our thirsty souls could not have enough of the wonders of creation.

Then, somehow, we grew too old to dream. We tired of the abundance of the world, or at least grew weary of keeping up with the feast of life, and stepped away from the banquet of life.

The natural gift of wonder God gave us as children was meant to be kept alive.…Instead we let wonder go to sleep. We entered the typical dream state of most humans.

Why else does Jesus tell us today, ‘Stay awake!’…Advent says, ‘Wake up and realize the gifts of love you have received.’

…Psychology says, ‘Let go.’ Spirituality says, ‘Wake up.’ In both cases there is a withdrawal from the busyness of daily life (our dream state) and a waking up to the subconscious and spiritual depths of ourselves.

—The Rev. Alfred McBride

Advent Virus

WARNING……WARNING: ADVENT VIRUS

Be on the alert for symptoms of inner Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to this virus and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.

Some signs and symptoms of The Advent Virus:

• A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.
• An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
• A loss of interest in judging other people.
• A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
• A loss of interest in conflict.
• A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
• Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
• Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
• Frequent attacks of smiling.
• An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
• An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

Please send this warning out to all your friends. This virus can and has affected many systems. Some systems have been completely cleaned out because of it.

Full of Grace

Episcopal Church and the Visual Arts has a new online exhibit up for Advent. You can read the Main page with a Curator's Statement and from there select a slideshow of the art, or select the art by artist's name. There are also small thumbnails on that main page which one can click to see the art.

The best way to experience this exhibit is to watch the slideshow in Flash, which takes you through each image. The link for that feature is here: Exhibit as slideshow.

My daughter, Griffin, and I curated an Advent show for ECVA in 2005. That exhibit remains online here: Venite Adoremus.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Curator

Response Time

Today is the feast day of St. Andrew, the brother of Peter. Priscilla Marck writes of this day:

The feast of Saint Andrew invites us to ponder his response to Christ’s call: "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets…" (Mt. 4:19-20). With his brother Peter, Andrew immediately left his fishing nets to catch souls for the Kingdom.

Are we hesitating to respond to Christ this Advent because we are waiting for just the right moment, those perfect circumstances that will allow us to be just as quick as Andrew? Sadly, we may discover that while we were waiting for that illusive moment, we failed to be attentive to the here and now invitations of everyday life, missing opportunities to respond with the generosity of a true follower of Christ.

Incarnate for Us

Advent, like its cousin Lent, is a season for prayer and reformation of our hearts. Since it comes at winter time, fire is a fitting sign to help us celebrate Advent…If Christ is to come more fully into our lives this Christmas, if God is to become really incarnate for us, then fire will have to be present in our prayer. Our worship and devotion will have to stoke the kind of fire in our souls that can truly change our hearts. Ours is a great responsibility not to waste this Advent time.

—Fire of Advent, from Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac


King of Peace's Advent materials are online here: Advent Resources and we also have a very popular PDF file in our archives: Celebrating Advent in the Home which includes a simple Advent wreath service for use each evenign between now and Christmas.