Episcopalians Embrace SXSW
As Austin becomes the center of American cultural experiences for SXSW, Episcopalians plan to capitalize on the opportunity to blend art and spirituality with a spirit of Texas hospitality. Click above to read more.
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LOGOS Project Available on iTunes Podcast
The LOGOS project is a series of encounters with global faith leaders speaking on the topics of their expertise. While LOGOS will remain a video series, we wanted to make the audio versions available for anyone to download to their phones or mobile devices so you can listen in the car, at the gym or anywhere you want! Search "Logos Project" on the iTunes Podcast app or click here to access. Or, you can find it on the Libsyn app or online here. Podcasts will be added on an irregular basis, so be sure to hit "subscribe." Happy listening!
Brené Brown Speaks at Christ Church Cathedral Tonight
Christ Church Cathedral will host a five-part Lenten series on Wednesdays. The series will offer two components — noonday prayer service with a lecture (12–1 p.m. in the Cathedral) and also an evening facilitated question-and-answer session (6:30–8 p.m. in Latham Auditorium) Brené Brown is one of several fantastic speakers lined up. Learn more here.
Can't Make SXSW? St. Mark's, Houston, Has Free Alternative
If you live in or near Houston and like free stuff, music, or food, St. Mark's has something just for you. Learn more here.
Taizé Brothers Visiting Texas in March and April
In the spring of 2014, as part of the "pilgrimage of trust on earth," three weekends for young adults will be held in Texas. Join them in Austin March 21-23, Dallas April 4-6, or Houston April 25-27. Learn more here.
FREE ECW Spiritual Growth Workshop in Salado on March 15
Join the ECW at St. Joseph Episcopal Church, 881 N. Main St., Salado for a free Spiritual Growth Workshop entitled "Tending Your Spiritual Garden" on March 15 at 10 a.m. The Rev. Mary Koppal from Good Shepherd, Austin, will share her advice on taking care of ourselves so that we may better take care of others. Workshop stations will include making bath crystals, rock salt potpourri, prayer beads, lotions and recycled paper with wildflower seeds. The workshop is open to all women. Gather your best friends for a relaxing day in Salado. This is a free event, but please register here.
Johnny's Walkers Raise Record Amount
Canon John Logan's Houston AIDS Walk team raised $16,192, the most ever by the team. Thanks to all who contributed!
National Renovaré Conference Comes to Houston, April 3-5
Renovaré is a ministry committed to Christian spiritual formation. The Diocese of Texas is a co-sponsor this year, and the conference theme is "Formation for whole life: identity, community, and mission." Register now.
Walking the Mourner's Path Group at Palmer Memorial, Houston
Walking the Mourners' Path, a small group program for those mourning the death of a loved one, will be offered at Palmer this spring, beginning after Easter. Meeting for 8 weeks on Tuesday evenings, the faith-based group will be led by trained facilitators and follows a curriculum. Palmer is located at 6221 Main St. in Houston and invites all interested persons to contact facilitators Sue Hamblen at essayhamblen@att.net or Betty Key at bettykey@sbcglobal.com for more information.
Join a National Gathering to Challenge Violence, April 9-11
Presentations, workshops and panel discussions examining violence in all its forms in American society, with a hard look at what can be done, are the elements of a special Episcopal Church gathering: Reclaiming the Gospel of Peace: An Episcopal Gathering to Challenge the Epidemic of Violence. Bishops, clergy and laity from throughout the Episcopal Church are invited to gather April 9 – 11 at the Reed Center and Sheraton in Oklahoma City, OK (Diocese of Oklahoma). Read more.
TENS Stewardship Conference Offers Many Ways to Participate, June 6-7
The theme is Walking the Way. Sister Joan Chittister, The Rt. Rev. Robert Wright, Bishop of Atlanta, and The Rev. Canon Charles La Fond, Canon Steward at St. John's in Denver, will serve as keynote speakers. You can visit in person, sign up for a live webcast or a recorded webcast. Click here for more information.
More Upcoming Events
March 15 - Lenten Retreat at Grace, Houston, with Francis Bennett
March 21 - The Missing Link Concert at St. Thomas, Houston
March 22 - Cruzando la Frontera con Jesus, Houston
March 24 - Samuel T. Lloyd at Seminary of the Southwest
Click here for a full calendar.
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Austin Episcopalians Embrace SXSW [more]
Episcopalians Gather to Celebrate Absalom Jones [more]
Clergy in Spring Brave Rain, Cold to Deliver Drive-Thru Ashes [more]
Christ Church Cathedral Celebrates 175 Years [more]
Trinity, The Woodlands, Announces Plan to Revitalize Campus [more]
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
This Week's Diolog: Episcopalians Embrace SXSW, March Magazine Online, and More
Friday, March 7, 2014
March Diolog Magazine Available Online
March 2014 Diolog Now Online
The March issue of Diolog: The Texas Episcopalian has been mailed and is now available online here.
This issue focuses on the idea of love. What is the real meaning of love? Join voices from around the Diocese as we try to answer this question.
Also in this edition, find articles about two new foundations: the Episcopal Health Foundation (EHF) and the Great Commission Foundation. Read about Logic Tobola, an architect who helped change the way we plant churches by solving a decades-old problem. And learn a little bit about Elena Marks, the new EHF President and CEO.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Dust, Ashes, Dry Bones and God's Whisper of Love
Sermon preached at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Tx on Ash Wednesday 2014
Ash Wednesday Meditation
Mika
Waltari’s book entitled The Dark Angel describes the night of May 28,
1453. This was the night before the fall
of the city of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. It was the last Christian service that was
held in the giant church of Hagia Sophia. Everyone who was present for the service was
sold into slavery or killed the following day.
It was a miraculous moment, for in that moment Roman Catholics and their
theological enemies the Greek Orthodox were present. These were the two groups
who had previously had violent even deadly confrontations because of the words
of the Nicene Creed. But on this night
they laid down their differences and received Eucharist together for the first
time in a long time, and for the last time.[i]
Waltari
wrote:
We rode together to the church as day was fading behind the
Turkish camp and shedding a last gleam of blood on the green domes of the
churches. … In my heart I knew that for
the last time a doomed Byzantium was gathering to dedicate itself to death.
…In the presence of death, all quarreling, suspicion and
hatred disappeared. Each and everyone
bowed his head before the inscrutable mystery, according to his own conscience.
In the presence of us all the Emperor confessed his sins in
the phrases that centuries have hallowed.
The Latins [meaning the Romans] joined with him in murmuring
chorus. … Tonight no one was disturbed
by these divergences. All proceeded as
by tacit agreement, and the Greeks in their relief wept more loudly than
before, because their faith was no longer condemned.
There were so many in church that the bread would not go
around. But each one willingly shared
with his nearest neighbors the morsel he had received, so that all who came
might have at least a crumb of the sacred Body of Christ. Whether the bread were leavened or unleavened
[as they had argued before] made no difference now.
During the service, which lasted several hours, we were moved
by a strong and radiant ecstasy, more wonderful than any I have known in any
church.”
The Rev. Dr.
Paul Zahl, who introduced me to this passage said of it:
“In the presence of death”:
that is the key phrase. In the
presence of death, the animating purpose of church that night became, and still
becomes, clear: mystery, tolerance, compassion, even ecstasy and out-of-body
feeling. No vertical status, no hollow
“cant”, no empty ritual (but real ritual, which means something to people), no
judgments and no opinions. Rather, practical
aid in time of need, mutual support, forgiveness, and encouragement.[ii]
In the
presence of death only a few things matter: the love of God and the love of
family, friends, and neighbor.
In the
presence of death every nonessential prerequisite washes away and only the
essentials are left.
In this
moment of powerful recognition of the finite nature of life we are able to see
clearly our unity.
We are able
to see ourselves more clearly…perhaps as God sees us – transparently presented
naked before him with all of our messy feelings of inadequacy and failings laid
out before us.
The brutality
of honest reflection reminds us of our complete and utter dependence upon God
alone.
The shield
of projected blame upon our neighbor falls to the ground as we are mindful that
nothing, that nothing in the presence of death, can avert its eye from our
predictable human condition.
Jungian
analyst James Hollis reflecting on Thomas Nashe’s A Litany in Time of Plague
recalls:
Brightness falls from the air.
Queens have died, young and fair.
Dust hath closed Helen’s eye.
…and then
writes, “It is not so much that death shocks or surprises us…but that there
are, finally, no exceptions, no exemptions. As Job found to his dismay, we have
no signed contract with the Party of the First Part, and all things fall. Brightness itself falls. Even queens, young and comely, are no
exception.”[iii]
You are dust
and to dust you shall return.
In this
moment of clarity, in the presence of death, we are united seeking comfort from
one another, forgiveness from one another, encouragement from one another; and
from God.
We see plainly
that all of this – churchy business - is really only meant for one profound
thing…to link us to God and to one another in an open and honest relationship.
And what
happens?
What happens
in that moment…in the presence of death? In the presence of dust and ashes and
dry bones?
What happens
is that God reaches out to us, his frail and little people, huddled in mass, mumbling
trifles of repentance, some going through the motions out of obligation, others
fearful of letting anyone know the truth within us…and God reaches out towards
us and whispers amongst the prayers spoken from parched and trembling lips …”I
love you.”
I love you.
I forgive
you.
Forgive
yourself.
Forgive one
another.
I love you.
[i] Mika
Waltari, The Dark Angel, Translated by Naomi Walford (New York: G.P.
Putnam’s Sons, 1953), 322ff.
[ii] Paul
Zahl, PZ’s Panopticon,
(Charlottesville, VA: Mockingbird Ministries, Inc., 2013)65ff.
[iii]
James Hollis, The Archetypal Imagination, (College Station, Tx: Texas A&M
University Press, 2000) 3ff.
Labels:
Ash Wednesday,
death,
forgiveness,
God's love,
grace,
Hagia Sophia,
Lent,
life,
love,
mercy
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
You are Awesome
Mediations on the Transfiguration and the Lego movie, St David's Austin, Last Epiphany A
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Quotes
- "Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a life and a living process." Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- "Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer." Oliver Wendell Holmes
- "Perfection, in a Christian sense, means becoming mature enough to give ourselves to others." Kathleen Norris
- "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." John Wesley
- "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." G. K. Chesterton
- "One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans." C. S. Lewis
- "When we say, 'I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,' we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the church seldom asks us for forgiveness." Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
- "Christians are hard to tolerate; I don't know how Jesus does it." Bono
- "It's too easy to get caught in our little church subcultures, and the result is that the only younger people we might know are Christians who are already inside the church." Dan Kimball