Do the little things ('Gwnewch y pethau bychain')

I have truly enjoyed learning about St. David of Wales as we prepare to celebrate his feast day this Sunday. I knew a little bit before, having researched him when I was choosing the name for my first son, David. I liked what I read about St. David and chose him, and the qualities he possessed, as the patron saint for my son. How synchronistic that I find myself serving with a church for whom he is also the patron!

Here’s what I liked about St. David when I chose him as patron saint for my son: according to many sources, St. David was a gentle man who lived a simple, frugal life. Celtic spirituality was in his blood and he was deeply concerned about the care of creation, even keeping bees at some of the monasteries he opened. It is reported that David was a strict disciplinarian who required that the brothers worked hard to grow enough food to feed themselves and the poor in the neighborhoods surrounding them.

I recently read that St. David’s last words were offered in a sermon he preached days before he died. He concluded that sermon with this advice to his followers: “Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about…”

“Do the little things.” This brings two other saints immediately to mind who also preached this message: St. Thérèse de Liseaux, a.k.a. Thérèse of the Little Flower, who said, “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love” and Mother Teresa of Calcutta who said, “We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

I can see St. David’s influence and support in the life of our church. Saint David’s in the Valley, Cullowhee, manifests a real concern for creation in the big things, e.g., how the new parish hall was built, and in the small things, like having bins for recycling and ceramic cups for wine and juice instead of paper or plastic. St. David’s, Cullowhee also bravely sticks to its faith and creed – ahead of the curve, I might add, in its intentional inclusivity of all people and its strong commitment to inclusive language in worship.

In my Parish Tour conversations I continually hear about small acts of kindness being done as part of the fabric of life here, with great love and without complaint or need for accolade. As one parishioner said, ”The relationships here are reliable. These people are here for me if I need them.” Imagine if every church lived that simple truth!

This is such a strong foundation to stand upon on as we respond to the love of God who invites us into a new season, a season which will include connecting the great love here at St. David’s to the neighbors surrounding us. As we go forward, we will remember the support we have among the communion of saints and be joyful, remember our faith and creed, missing no opportunity to do the little things we are called to do with great love.

'Gwnewch y pethau bychain.' See y’all Sunday for our patronal feast celebration!

Summer Sundays

At a recent deanery meeting one of my colleagues mentioned that in the Diocese of Western North Carolina, Sunday attendance in the summers is usually about one-third its usual numbers. I find that to be true here at Redeemer, and to be honest, this astounds me. I understand the increased numbers of vacations in summer, but I don’t think that really explains this phenomenon. I don’t know what does. Here’s what I do know…

In our Sunday Eucharist we stop and make time and space to pray, to invite the presence of God in - individually and collectively. We participate, asking God for what we need for ourselves and for those in our lives and in our world. We breathe in the Word of God in the Scriptures, nourish our souls with the holy food of Communion, then breathe out the effects of all of this in our lives - being dismissed to “love and serve the Lord.”

For Episcopalians, the liturgy is not a performance by the priest of a magic event or a memorial of a past event. It is a bringing down the curtain of earthly time and entering into eternal time. It is an anamnetic event (as we’ve discussed before). A foretaste of the heavenly banquet, our Eucharistic meal links our bodies, our hearts, and our minds to the reality of our salvation in Jesus Christ. We hear the history of our exodus and the truth of our salvation in the Eucharistic Prayers. We hear the narrative of our identity as children of Abraham and people of the New Covenant in the Scripture readings. In our liturgical music, we sing, hear and understand what we believe on another level – one that connects to our creative, holistic understanding.

We remember the example of the disciples who, upon seeing the resurrected Jesus, didn’t recognize him until he made Eucharist with them. Then their eyes were opened and they described a burning in their hearts in the presence of their Savior. Our Sunday Eucharist is the time we set aside to experience that.

We also engender authentic Christian community by creating space for the worship of God. That is why it’s so important be together as family in the most literal and broadest sense: a family of God that worships together, plays and studies together, disagrees yet loves one another, and has a way and a means to accomplish our common mission – the building up of the kingdom of God on earth.

Sunday worship is not a duty (social or otherwise), and we don’t affect our eternal outcome by going or not going. But we do affect our present – knowing who we are, whose we are, and what our purpose is. Our eyes are opened in the Eucharist, our hearts are set on fire, and we are strengthened as individuals and as a community to be witnesses of the Good News we know.

See you Sunday – oh, next Sunday… I’m on vacation August 1!!!

Simple Surrender

As we continue in the season after Pentecost, a season during which we work to grow in Christian discipline and our Anglican tradition, I offer the following prayer for our common contemplation. Taken from the 1514 book of hours used at Clare College in Cambridge, this prayer has been set to music and whenever I read it, it is the sung version which prays in me:

"God be in my head and in my understanding; God be in my eyes and in my looking; God be in my mouth and in my speaking; God be in my heart and in my thinking; God be at my end and at my departing."

One of the things that moves me about this prayer is that it is a prayer of simple surrender. By this prayer, we invite God to come into an unguarded soul. Such an invitation requires real faith: faith in the tender mercy of God who loves us, delights in us, and desires communion with us. We have precious few opportunities in the world to safely learn or practice this kind of surrender. In prayer, however, in the presence of God, we can trust enough to let go of all fear, control, and goals - and just rest in God.

This prayer also takes us beyond our present experience and, by the words it uses, connects us to our Judeo-Christian tradition. Notice that in this prayer the head is associated with understanding and heart with thinking. In our Judeo-Christian tradition, the head is understood to be the place where compassion is found and the heart is where our will, our ability to choose, abides.

In addition, remembering that God spoke creation into being in Genesis, and that Jesus is the Word of God Incarnate, this prayer invites God to be present in our ‘mouths.’ Hearing this from our Judeo-Christian tradition, we ask God to be in all that we speak into being, that is, all that we do in our world. God speaks (acts) now in and through us. As Christians, what we are called to speak into our world is the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ. We speak this Good News by living it, by proclaiming it, by being it.

That’s the other thing I love about this prayer. It asks God to BE… not to DO. So often when we pray, we have a list of things we’d like God to do – for us, for our loved ones, for the world. While intentional prayer is important and transformative, it is also important for us to make room for God to just BE in us, and us in God. It’s often harder to sit and listen, and prayerfully BE in God’s presence than it is to ‘talk at’ God; but when we do, we inevitably witness how God “does” even more than we could ever have asked or imagined.

Finally, this prayer proclaims the promise of the risen Christ: eternal life…life lived in the eternal presence of God, the lover of our souls. It is because of this promise that we can surrender, that we can trust completely and let go totally, knowing that God loves us, delights in us, and desires to BE in us.

Forward in Faith

As we enter into the long green season after Pentecost we slow ourselves down to a leisurely pace and invite the meaning and power Easter and Pentecost to penetrate into our consciousness so that they can manifest in our lives. As we go, we are aware that we are moving toward the transformation only God’s grace can provide.

Being transformed by God is something we often desire and fear at the same time, both individually and corporately. We seek it and avoid it. We move towards it, then retreat from it, because change is scary. But so is stagnation. The only way forward is by faith.

I was recently invited to sit on the diocesan Congregational Development Committee (CDC). As I discerned my response, I realized that although I did not feel called to serve on that committee, I still felt compelled to go to the meeting. So, in faithful obedience, I went. During that meeting, another member of the committee spoke of his ministry to the Spanish-speaking faithful in our diocese. The fire of my passion was lit! Looking back, I was right that I was not called to serve on the CDC, but it was necessary for me to go so that I could find the committee on which I was being called to serve. Forward by faith.

We have the freedom as God’s children to live in the present moment entrusting ourselves completely to God’s plan and God’s grace. We also have the freedom to cling to our own understanding and get in God’s way.

We are a prayerful people and so we can be confident as we make our plans, remembering that God’s vision always goes beyond anything we can imagine and God’s plan always leads us to life. Moving from where we are to where we are being led, we know that our path may not be as direct as we might expect. But that’s okay because we also know that God’s plan is trustworthy.

This summer at Redeemer we will be updating and attending to the details of our plan bringing ourselves into compliance with diocesan and national canons, as well as with our own policies and the plan we discerned together (remember those purple sheets!?!) nine months ago: obtaining background checks and Safeguarding God’s Children training for all people ministering to our young members; doing training for all liturgical ministries and getting licenses for those requiring them (Lay Eucharistic Visitors, Lay Readers, etc.); making a plan for our continuing formation and education (adults and children); looking with new eyes at our hospitality to newcomers, re-vamping our website. etc.

You may remember that when we did our initial discernment, I suggested we try on certain things and see how they felt. Some have worked wonderfully, e.g., our desire for a feeding ministry and the birth of The Shepherd’s Table. Others continue to need adjusting. That’s life – and we can only do so much at once. It takes an average of five (5) years for a new rector and congregation to build their life of mission and ministry together. I think we’ve made an amazing start.

Our trials are not over, nor are our celebrations - that is what living in the fullness of life means. So… on we go. Forward by faith.