Category Archives: Life of the Church

Nothing to Fear, Nothing to Lose

Posted on by Sare

The ways in which Katniss and Jesus are really quite similar: They were willing to lay down their lives for their friends. Neither had anything to lose, nor anything to fear. And it’s not just these two…

Harry Potter walked back into the woods. Firefighters run back into the fire. The Mayor of Newark ran into a burning house last week to save his next door neighbor – after throwing off his bodyguard.

And all of these people aren’t ‘one of them’, they’re one of us. They’re no one particularly special… until afterwards when you hear their story and you realize that in the moment that that totally normal person had no fear and nothing to lose.

Nothing to fear, nothing to lose – The stockbroker who decides the Wall St. rat-race isn’t worth it, takes a 90% pay cut, buys a farm and lives a happier life?

If your church ceased to exist tomorrow, other than your core members, who would notice? Who would care? If the answer is nobody, it’s not looking good for your church.

In crisis we have two choices – which are actually the two choices we always have, but are put in stark relief in in the midst of crisis – we can hold on tight or let go. If we hold on tight, we break, we are inflexible, we have everything to lose and everything to fear and when we lose even part of it much less all of it, we ourselves feel as if we are breaking. And if we let go, if we release we still may lose things – items, reputation, money, loved ones – and yet we are able to weather it like a palm tree in the wind, bending and swaying. But the perspective we have when we hold on is so painful, so full of suffering. The perspective we have when we let go is one of freedom and expectation.

So – will you wait for a crisis to let go, or are you willing to do so now and live a gentler and easier life?

It’s a Hot Mess over here…

Posted on by Sare

Do I refer to my life? The craziness of getting married, creating your own job and moving out of a commune? Nope. (Though it certainly applies…)  I’m talking about the fabulous new anthology, HOT MESS: Speculative fiction about climate change.

For this anthology, the wonderful and talented Rachel Lynn Brody got a bunch of her favorite authors together to write some brilliant pieces of short fiction that range from Eric Sipple’s eerie ‘She Says Goodbye Tomorrow’ to the fabulously tongue in cheek ‘Haute Mess’ by the editor herself, to my own quirky little tale, ‘Traditionibus Ne Copulate’. As an author I came to the group late in the game – over lunch at her parent’s kitchen table when she was home visiting, Rachel asked if I had any tidbit of interesting fiction that fit the bill.

“I have a weird little post-apocoalyptic story about lab mice that have taken over the church once all the humans are dead, and they host monastic gas stations in an age of alternative-fuel. Does that count? It’s kind of up-beat and chirpy, all things considered. I wrote it at Sermon Prep Group one day last year. My colleagues were all very amused, and one of them named it for me: Traditionibus Ne Copulate. It means Don’t Fuck With Tradition.”  Rachel read it, loved it (of course) and included it – why? Because she is a wonderful person.

Now, do I have a penchant for rescuing lab mice or a pro-dolphin socialist state? No, not really. Do I have a thing about the Church needing to change or die (or if you will, change or get the hell out of the way)? Yes, yes I do. But that’s a platform I’ll probably never get off of. (See latest website: No-Exceptions.Org)

I think my favorite of the group is actually the shortest – Rachel’s ‘Haute Mess’. This has obviously come from the mind of the woman who writes advertising copy at [a very large & wealthy department store chain] in order to pay her rent. It’s just so gorgeous, so very tongue in cheek, and so oddly upbeat for being a harsh commentary not only of climate change, but also of consumerism run rampant. I think that’s why I love it so much.

So –  yeah. This is a great book. And you can find it on Amazon for your kindle and kindle aps, or in paperback, and you can find it on Barnes & Noble for your nook and nook aps. Why are you waiting!

In case you’re curious, each of the authors are donating a portion of their royalties to the charity of their choice – me, I’ve chosen Episcopal Relief and Development. Why? Because they’re full of awesomeness. You could donate to them as well. You know, right after you buy a copy of HOT MESS. :)

Please pass the voodoo chicken

Posted on by Sare

Alrighty folks.  This one came from this week’s Exegete.

Appropriate music to listen in the background: True Blood Sountrack, London Calling, or the Tallis Scholars.

Appropriate accent to affect in head while reading: Generic Southern.

This, on St. Paul’s commentary to the church at Corinth, concerning whether or not to eat meat sacrificed to other gods… (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)

Once upon a time there was a Voodoo Chicken.  It was known as Voodoo Chicken because it was used in a vaudun ritual, but you know, it was also marinated afterwards in the most mouthwatering fashion.  And you know, a dinner party is a dinner party.  You can’t fault your host for their odd taste in religious piety when they serve mouthwateringly good roasted chicken.  Some of us like to say a little, unobtrusive blessing over our food, but to each their own, right?  And since we all know (in our separate religions) that ours is the only right one, there’s no harm in letting other people attempt to invoke a god that doesn’t actually exist, so live and let live. And pass the chicken.

This is all well and good when you’re surrounded by people who are firm in their faith, whatever that faith may be.  The Vauduns know that eating the Voodoo Chicken will bring them closer to fine, and the Christians know that the Vauduns really know how to roast a chicken or twelve, and that their own understanding of God requires neither chicken nor lack of chicken for Divine Union.

However, it all goes to hell in a hand basket but quick when you’ve got newbies in your midst.  Newbies get a little rabid, you know, and they’re really clear about wanting to get things Perfectly Correct and Appropriate.  It really hits the fan when your newbie is their oldie.  Then you’ve got someone looking at your enjoyment of the damn chicken (whose not actually damned, just damned inconvenient) and their knee jerk reaction is that you’re getting a little closer to fine, when it’s really just the seasonings.  Now, these newbies know it’s not Divine Union, because our God doesn’t go in for Chicken.  This is about the time that the confusion and resentment sets in.  Perhaps there’s even some serious doubt about the bigger things of life – they are newbies, remember.

So, you know. Practice discretion.  Not because there’s anything wrong with the Om Nommy goodness of the Vaudun’s chicken dinners, but because in the long run, is your gastronomical satisfaction really worth causing that much angst amongst the newbies? Give the Voodoo Chicken a pass while they’re in the room, for heaven’s sake.   You can always have some next week.

Anarchy, Discord & the Kingdom of Heaven

Posted on by Sare

An Introduction

So, I was making the morning coffee in that bleary-eyed way one does, thinking about making breakfast with one of my housemates whereupon I spied a bright green tri-fold brochure which heralded “Discordianism: The Un-Religion”.  My curiosity was piqued…

Anarchy

One of my housemates is an Anarchist.  I can tell you that his name is Henri because his name isn’t actually Henri.  We didn’t get along very well at first, Henri and I.  This, I think, is because I would periodically show up looking like a cleric, and he had a tendency to be rather loud and just as angry, which puts me off my tofu.  Well, he’s mellowed and I’ve started speaking, and we found out that we have a metric fuck-tonne in common in the basic principles on which we structure our lives. Continue reading →

The Msg of Jesus vs. That of Peter & Paul

Posted on by Sare

So, we were discussing this at our sermon group this morning.  On the one hand you have Jesus saying that The Most Important Thing Ever (the Summary of the Law, it is called in some circles) is A) Love God with everything in you and B) Love your Neighbor as Yourself.  All of his ministry and most of his teachings that are told of in the four canonical gospels support this and the ones that don’t are suspected by many biblical scholars to be later additions and edits by his well-meaning but utterly clueless and totally unhelpful students.  Okay.  Nifty.  Very clear.  Love-Love-Love.  It’s a reeeeally easy doctrine to remember.  Less easy to live out, but not a whole lot of memorization required.

But you know, all throughout the four canonical gospels, over and over again, his students ranged from Not Getting It to Seriously Misunderstanding with exceptionally brief intervals of seemingly divine epiphany in which they Sort Of Understood, A Little.  Pentecost notwithstanding, I don’t think much changed with their understanding of his message after the Roman Empire executed him.  What makes me say this? Continue reading →

Cool as shit.

Posted on by Sare
Photo by Jean Carneiro at http://www.sxc.hu/profile/jpaulocv

You are the beloved.

Soundtrack: ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ by The Cult. “When the world drags me down, she sells sanctuary…”

Because she’s cooler than shit, she starts the meeting out with the following reflection: We tell other people all the time that God loves them, that they are the Beloved (see first creation story, any accounting of the baptism of Jesus, etc), but how often to we spend quality time meditating on that fact as applied to us?  And then we spent five minutes in meditative silence.  And instantly the tone is set for our sometimes negative, sometimes fractious group: start from a foundation of love, and be honest about where we are in relation to it.  And we turned to the person next to us and discussed it.  And we opened up to the larger group some of our experiences, and believe you me, we were all over the board with it.

For some of us this was the most fundamental part of who we are.  In the voice of a mother, or father, or spouse there is that constant reassurance: You are so incredibly loved.  You are lovable.  You are wholly good.  These other things?  These failings?  This brokenness?  All of that is stuff that can be forgiven, or is already.  But at your essence, you are Perfectly Beloved.

And for others of us… yeah, not so much.  Perhaps you’d think a room full of Clergy who regularly preach the Love of God and who regularly sit with the dying and assure the Love of God and who regularly baptize newborns and proclaim the Love of God would have a better handle on it in their own lives.  Well, you’d be wrong about that.  ::stepping down off the pedestal, on behalf of all her brother and sister clergy::   Continue reading →

Maundy Thursday Service

Posted on by Sare

Service.  Not as in ‘church service’.  More like as in ‘servant’.  I’ll not be washing anyone’s feet tonight.  I’ll not be stripping the altar of a church, though I’ll be stripping my own small personal altar in my bedroom.  Earlier today I renewed my ordination vows along with my colleagues.  But what I will be doing this evening, from roughly four in the afternoon (about an hour from now) until nearly nine in the evening, I’ll cook for my twelve housemates.  Not all of them will show up for dinner, I know that in advance, but I cook for all twelve nonetheless, as I make up plates for those who are missing, and ensure some leftovers for those who are not fasting tomorrow (that would be everyone but myself–this is not a religiously based cooperative living outfit I’m a part of).

And so, as I realized my faux pas during communion earlier today (oops, I signed up to cook on Maundy Thursday), I thought, ‘yeah, this is kinda like footwashing.’

And here’s why.  I live in a commune.  We do things for each other because we recognize that our common lives are inextricably linked.  One of the things we do for each other is cook dinner.  Six meals a week are cooked by someone in the house and we are on roughly a two week schedule.  So, yes, I only have to cook dinner once a fortnight.  That’s the exciting part.  And nearly every day I can come home from work just in time for the dinner gong to ring at seven in the evening, and I can sit down with a group of wonderful people and eat tasty, nutritious, filling food that was made from scratch from mostly locally produced organic ingredients.  There is no bad, here.  And then when ever it is we are done, we wash our individual dishes and leave.

That was the part that stymied me when I first was introduced to the House.  The cook doesn’t want help cleaning up, and when it’s your turn, you’re not going to get help cleaning up unless you specifically ask for it, and then it’s more like asking a favor.  Why?  Well, partly it’s tradition.  And partly, it’s the service we perform for our friends and guests as a part of honoring our common life together.  No one is too good to cook, and no one can get out of it by performing other, say administrative chores.

A little like washing the feet of your guests and friends.

Issue-by-Issue

Posted on by Sare

It was pointed out to me by one of my CREDO-mates that an issue-by-issue sort of thing for the Monday Morning Exegete might go well.  You know, for people who really like it, but won’t use it every single week.  All you periodic preachers out there are thusly served: The Exegete can now be ordered/delivered on a periodic basis.  So, come and get your exegesis, hot off the presses.  Let me know which weeks you want, and at the end of the month you’ll get an invoice for only the ones you’ve requested.  If you’ve got my email address, of course you can simply shoot me a request for whichever dates you need.  Alternately, you can check out this nifty page with the even niftier form and fill it out as often as you need to.

Et voila!  Exegesis when  you need it, and not when you don’t.

It’s On My Card: Dresser of Sycamore Trees

Posted on by Sare

It’s On My Card: Dresser of Sycamore Trees

Me and my man, Amos, we’re two peas in a pod.  He was a god-fearing man, born in a time of corrupt religion.  In his day, religion wasn’t just the place you and the members of your family went to worship and get atonement for all the ways in which you were crappy to yourself and others.  I mean, it was one purpose that religion did in fact serve in his day, but in the big picture, religion had a very different role that was as much if not more important.  It was religion’s job to be a check on the corrupting influence that power has on people, most particularly in politics, most particularly in the king’s court.  You see, every king had a prophet, or a school of prophets that when not corrupt themselves, had the delightful effect of moderating the king’s rule.  When any king started lording it around, levying oppressive taxes, passing laws that benefited his wealthy associates at the expense of the scads of people living it poverty, it was the prophet’s job to tell him ‘God says knock that shit off, right now.  The God you worship doesn’t stand for this kind of tomfuckery, and you bloody well know it.  Also, your people are starving, jackass.’

As you might imagine, genuine prophets were frequently killed. Continue reading →

The Courage of Martyrdom

Posted on by Sare

This week’s prayer (the collect for proper 10), distilled says:

God, give us knowledge & understanding of what we’re supposed to do, and give us grace & power to do it. Amen.

According to the Abridged & Practical Diction of Sare Liz, Knowledge def.: practical know-how. Understanding def.: the deeper wisdom of why. Power def.: the ability to make possible things happen. Grace def.: the divine ability to make impossible things happen; from the Catechism: ‘Grace is God’s favor towards us, unearned and undeserved; by grace God forgives our sins, enlightens our minds, stirs our hearts, and strengthens our wills.’

So, let’s talk, then, about Christian Courage, or if you will, the Christian courage of martyrdom.  It’s a cause & effect chain reaction.  Because I (if I use myself as an example) understand deep in my bones that I am loved, holy, and safe, I can step out in courage and hope, having hog-tied my fears just the moment before, to say challenging words of compassion and love to a world that embraces violence and rage, fully knowing that the world’s gut instinct will be to kill me, and if not to kill me, then to disgrace and impoverish me, consigning me to the margins of poverty and shame, but that I no longer care – not a whit.  And if I, using myself as an example, speak love and compassion to a violent and rageful world, it does not matter if I fail or succeed by anyone’s measure, even my own, because I already know that I am loved, holy, and safe.  This thing I do is in response to that understanding – it is in no way an action meant to earn such a blessing that might, in the event of failure in someone, anyone’s eyes, fail to earn the blessing.  The blessing (being loved, holy, and safe) is unearned and precedes all.  Failure to understand that cause and effect relationship is a failure to understand the good news of Christ, the gospel of Christianity, the deepest and most prevalent point of this global religion, and indeed, the joy of God.

Maybe.  I could be wrong.

But even if I am, God, give me the knowledge and understanding of what I’m supposed to be doing, and give me the power and grace to actually do it, because I suspect that just because the world needs to hear it, doesn’t mean large swaths of the world are going to love it.  Or maybe they will.  But give me strength, if they love it or if they hate it, to bear up under the scrutiny.  Amen.