Easter Message 2013

St. John of Damascus, called the golden tongued doctor of the church, an Arabian, a Christian, a priest, and mystic monk, reflected in the eighth century on the Easter feast:

Thou hallowed chosen day! That first
And best and greatest shinest!
Lady and Queen and feast of feasts,
Of things divine, divinest!
On thee our praises Christ adore,
For ever and for evermore.

Come, Let us taste the vine’s new fruit
For heavenly joy preparing:
In this propitious day, with Christ
His resurrection sharing:
Whom as true God our hymns adore
For ever and for evermore.

The Holy life of Jesus, the Holy Meal with friends, the Holy Cross alone, and the Holy Tomb have birthed for us (our friends, our families, the church, for all of creation) a new life of freedom and resurrection. Whereas the cross was the end of bondage to sin and death, and the invitation to live a new transformed life; the empty tomb is our new beginning, our recreation. In the empty tomb we find the nativity of Christian faith and the renewal of Creation through communion with God and reconciliation with one another.

We inherit from our faith ancestors an experience of a new and more powerful presence of Jesus Christ. Centered in Jerusalem and in ever expanding circles like the ripples in a pond, the resurrected Jesus appears in different ways to those who love him. He appears to them as traveler along the road and in the midst of locked lives tucked away in upper rooms. Jesus was present powerfully and emphatically. This resurrection and the experience of Christ led the first Christians to pronounce a new covenant story that includes an ever embracing family of God.

Today, we are beckoned to join the resurrected Christ in a newly planted Garden of Eden. We claim resurrection as stewards in God’s creation. We are the family of god, and God is with us as we seek to recreate, renew and restore God’s creation. We do not claim the work of the cross, the empty tomb and the garden for ourselves alone but for the whole of creation. We are at work in God’s garden, we are the workers in the field, the sower of seeds, and God’s human hands at work in the world.

Formed in the Episcopal Church and later a Roman Catholic, pacifist, suffragette and the founder of the Catholic Worker movement, Dorothy Day understood the work of the resurrected community of Christ.

We must practice the presence of God. [She wrote.] He said that when two or three are gathered together, there He is in the midst of them. He is with us in our kitchens, at our tables, on our breadlines, with our visitors, on our farms…”

[She said:] What we would like to do is change the world – make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do. Add to a certain extent, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the worker, of the poor, of the destitute – the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor, in other words – we can to a certain extent change the world; we can work for the oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world. We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever-widening circle will reach around the world.

In the season of Easter we share in and offer to the world resurrection. Our eyes are focused. Our vision is clearer. Our hymns, our prayers, and our worship adore Christ and encourage us out into a world desperate to hear the voice of a loving living freeing God.

This Easter, most hallowed of days, queen of feasts, all creation resounds in shouts of praise and thanksgiving feeling and knowing that from east and west and north and south, the great family of God is being gathered in so that it may be sent out. You and I are changed in the emptying of Christ’s tomb, and as we gather in the sunlight of a new Easter garden we see that the world is changed…forever and forevermore...

Thoughts on the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

By the waters
The waters of Babylon
We lay down and wept
And wept for, thee Zion
We remember, thee remember
Thee remember, thee Zion

By the waters
The waters of Babylon
We lay down and wept
And wept for thee Zion

 
 
This morning's news of the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut has taken us all by surprise. We have awakened in the midst of our preparations for the Holiday into a nightmare that reminds us of our vulnerability, and the vulnerability of our children. 

 

Rachel Weeps

As many of you know I have been leading a book study on Bonhoeffer's Christmas sermons.  During the taping of this third section I spoke on the nature of God's compassion for the most vulnerable.  Boenhoeffer's words are worth repeating today:

 

Again and again, when the people of God are in trouble and distress, tears flow.  So it was in the time of Rachel, the mother of the people of Israel, whose grave lies near to Bethlehem, Rachel weeping for all her children.  It was in the last days of Jerusalem before it feel to the Babylonians, when the prophet Jeremiah looked down upon the tragedy and wept....A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.  (Jeremiah 31:15)

 

What has taken place is a tragedy.  We all mourn the loss, and we mourn with these families affected.  The repercussions of this awful event will change us.  In fact they already have. 

 

Our hearts and our prayers are offered to all those affected.  Our diocesan staff stopped work at 1:00 today and offered prayer.  I would ask you to join our country, and indeed the world, in mourning these losses.   We should pray specifically for peace to be poured upon this town and the Sandy Hook Elementary School community.  As we weep with Rachel let us pray for a healing balm to be given to the children and parents.  For those who have died let us pray that they may rest eternally with the saints in light.  Let us pray for the first responders and for our Episcopal clergy who are already on the scene offering care and support.  Let God hear our lamentation, our intercession, and our hope.

 

Let us be mindful of the opportunity now before us to work towards a world that has no longer a place for hate, fear, and senseless acts of incomprehensible violence. 

 

I am aware of our own families here in Texas who dropped their children off today and will embrace them this afternoon.  The Episcopal Diocese of Texas has clergy and lay pastors in congregations all over the diocese who are ready to help all of those who feel in need of conversation and prayer in the wake of this disaster.

 

I have reprinted below resources for talking with children and the statement from our Episcopal brothers and sisters in Connecticut and invite your prayers for them as well.  Let us weep together. Let us mourn the lost. Let us pledge to work towards the loving kingdom of God that Christ Jesus envisions.  And, let us hope for our future and the future of the Sandy Hook community.

 

Faithfully yours,

C. Andrew Doyle

 

Resources

This is a comprehensive list of excellent resources compiled by Sharon Pearson and leading Christian educators for those of us needing guidance after Friday's tragic and senseless shooting. Most importantly, turn off the TV.

• Tips for Talking to Children about the School Shooting (from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)
• Dealing with Grief – What to Say and What NOT to say (from the Huffington Post)
• Helping Children Cope with Traumatic Events
• And Mr. Rogers lives on with his wise words. (The Fred Rogers Company)
• Tips for Parents to help their children and youth cope in times of tragedy (from Episcopal Relief & Development)
• Books about Grief and Loss
• Ministering in a Torn World (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) – compiled after 9/11 for Christian Educators
• Tragedy: Prayers, Guidelines and Resources (from the Episcopal Church)
• Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers (from the National Association of School Psychologists)
• Violence on Campus: Helping Your Kids Cope with Tragedy

Statement from Diocese of Connecticut on Sandy Hook Shooting

The Connecticut Bishops released the following statement following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary on December 14:

Dear Friends in Christ:

We are shocked and overwhelmed by the horrendous tragedy of the school shooting in Sandy Hook. We hold the victims, their families, and all who are affected by the shooting in our thoughts and prayers for healing and strength. We pray that those who have died will be held in the arms of our loving God whose heart aches for those affected by this tragedy.

We bishops have been in touch with the Rev. Mark Moore, the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Sandy Hook which is adjacent to the school were the shooting took place. We have also communicated with the leadership of Trinity Church, Newtown, and we understand that the Rev. Kathie Adams-Shepherd, rector of Trinity Church is on the scene ministering to the bereaved.

We are departing immediately for Newtown/Sandy Hook to be of whatever assistance we can. We will be in contact when we have additional information.

We invite all clergy to open our churches for prayer.

Please keep all who have died, the one who has perpetrated the shooting, and all affected by this incident in your prayers. May the God who we await this Advent season bring us hope and new life in Jesus the Christ.

Faithfully, Ian, Laura and Jim

The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas
The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens
The Rt. Rev. James E. Curry

There’s a Reason They Call It “Working” The Program

(continued from previous post "When Work of Ministry Just Isn't Working"

Some of you may know, I began "working the program" of Al-anon about twenty years ago. I started this work as a result of finding my life and ministry in a pretty bad place. On a regular basis, I read my One Day At A Time, went to meetings, got a sponsor (God blessed me with a good one!) and started working the Twelve Steps.

Step One: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

I breezed through this step. That was easy enough and true and apparent. I got it, and I got it immediately. I thought, "This program is pretty good. I can do this."

Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than our-selves could restore us to sanity.

This was a little harder. I could get that God was greater than me, but I wasn't thinking clearly at all; I had been trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results, and I wasn't so sure I couldn't take care of things based on my own power of reasoning. I worked at it until I came to realize the crux of my dilemma: either I really, truly believed that God had the power to do this for me or I didn't. I decided God had the power to restore me. After all, isn't that the meaning of redemption? It took me several hard weeks of work to fully accept this truth.

Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Now here was an embarrassing problem. I'm an ordained priest! I could do theology, talk theology, preach the Gospel, read Holy Scripture, lead the Eucharist, and do all manner of priestly things. But I wasn't sure I was ready to turn my "will and my life over to the care of God." Especially, I wasn't sure I wanted to submit to the God that I understood at this particular time of my life.

And so here it came: the dark night of the soul. Here was that moment when a man decides what he is made of. Here is the moment when he decides what he really believes. As any good procrastinator will tell you, you can stretch some things out pretty far. My avoidance of this step, led to my whining about the step, which led to my deepest sorrow over seeking God who seemed to have abandoned me. My sponsor listened to me. My sponsor talked with me. My sponsor allowed me to really work this step, to wrestle with it and didn't try to fix it for me.

One night after a particularly difficult meeting followed by one-on-one time with my sponsor, I went home, sat on the red couch and poured out my trouble to my wife, JoAnne. JoAnne said, "You need to get out of this house and its distractions. You need to leave the comfort of this couch and go up to the church. You need to pray and sit with God until you get this soul work done." So I said, "Ok." I couldn't really argue, and it was a good idea. I went to the Church. I entered this holy space and I prayed. I prayed on my knees. I prayed sitting down. I cried. I talked to God. I yelled. I was quiet. I was quiet, some more.

Coming Up: After the Darkness ...

When the Work of Ministry just isn’t Working

There was a certain time in my life when things were not going well for me in my ministry.

• It was the time of the tragic Texas A&M bonfire: I had been forced by circumstances to deal with this trauma, to witness the deaths, and to minister to the friends and families of those who had died. I was one of many clergy providing pastoral care; the Catholics were the first to arrive and Sandi Mizirl, our own campus missioner, did a yeoman's work with the families at the hospital. I had stayed on the site to visit, to pray, and to be present with the police, firemen, and other rescuers who were seeking the young people still trapped beneath the fallen stack.

• It was a time that I was struggling under the weight of my own ministry goals, forgetting for the moment, the lessons I had learned about shared ministry. I was spinning a lot of plates, most of my own creating, and they felt like they were going to fall any minute.

• It was a time that my relationship was very strained between me, my father, whom I love, and my family.

• And it was a time that I was in solo flight. I did not have a clergy support group or anyone with whom I felt like I could confide my struggles. My prayer life was in the dumper. Life was hard, and I was making it harder, and I wasn't reaching out for help, though help was all around me.

Eventually, I had no choice but to change a couple of things as a course correction; some changes occurred naturally, some by my invitation. Most of these changes revolved around reaching out to others. I found a counselor to help me better understand myself. I found a clergy group to gain new ministry perspectives. I moved into a relationship with a monastery in order to renew my prayer life. And I got into Al-anon.

This course correction did not have immediate, but rather long term effects.

Coming Up: There's a Reason it's called "Working the Program"