Tag: Episcopal

Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

As Jesus continued on from there,
he saw a man named Matthew
sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes.
He said to him, “Follow me,”
and he got up and followed him.

Matthew 9:9, CEB

Collect commemorating Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

We thank you, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of your Son our Savior; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Come wander with me. Hear what the Spirit is saying, as you listen to what we ask (and what we say about ourselves and our God) in the Collect we pray as we commemorate Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist.

We thank you, heavenly Father

  • Only one other Collect (Saturday in Easter Week) begins with the words “we thank you.” My personal prayers often begin with the words, “thank you.” Other collects contain thanksgiving, but this prayer on Matthew’s Feast Day and the prayer on Saturday in Easter Week mark the only 2 times our communal prayer in worship begins with thanksgiving.

we pray that, after [Matthew’s] example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him

  • Wow. That is some request. It intrigues me that our request is that we imitate the example of Matthew, that we hear and then obey (with ready wills and hearts no less) the calling of our Lord to follow. We don’t ask for graces to prepare ourselves to be sent (an apostle is one who is sent by another) or even to proclaim ‘good news’ (what Matthew ultimately did, what an evangelist does); we ask to be able to hear and obey and follow. We ask God for grace (and good-will) to hang out with Jesus.
  • If you are reading this. chances are you have indeed heard this call and have followed Jesus.
    • Into what adventure have you followed him?
    • Were you able, like Matthew, to follow immediately?
    • Were you more like me (and so many others I have met along the way) and hesitated, wondered, asked questions, started, stopped, sat down and didn’t move, and, you get the idea … well?
    • My following has hardly been immediate or perfect, but here I am. I do thank God for that grace; I thank God that I have so many traveling with me who have similar stories. I thank God for the example of Matthew, who just got up and followed.

What are your thoughts as you listen to this prayer, especially the notion of “call”? And, by the way, have you noticed how often “call” is part of our prayers? What are your experiences, your hopes, your beliefs, given voice in this prayer? Please continue the conversation in the Comment section. Be well. Do good. Pay attention. Keep learning.

Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690

A Collect commemorating Theodore of Tarsus

Almighty God, you called your servant Theodore of Tarsus from Rome to the see of Canterbury, and gave him gifts of grace and wisdom to establish unity where there had been division, and order where there had been chaos: Create in your Church, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, such godly union and concord that it may proclaim, both by word and example, the Gospel of the Prince of Peace; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Collect for the Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690 in Holy Women, Holy Men)

Inspired by offline encouragement, I find myself wandering through the Collects (prayers used by many churches including the Episcopal Church at the start of worship). Come wander with me. Hear what the Spirit is saying, as you listen to what we ask (and what we say about ourselves and our God) in the Collect we pray as we commemorate Theodore of Tarsus:

Almighty God

In this Collect we address God as “Almighty God.” In other Collects we use different terms of address (and we’ll take them up as they appear).

  • What images come to your mind and heart when you hear “Almighty God”? (Asked another way, what images come to your mind and heart when you call out “Almighty God”?)
  • Leaving your feelings out of it (for the moment) what scriptural and theological “truth” is being spoken when we use this form of address? (That is, what truth—rooted in scripture, tradition, and reason—do we perpetuate, do we pass along, in speaking this way?)
  • What feelings/emotions are stirred up by using this form of addressing God?

you called your servant Theodore of Tarsus from Rome to the see of Canterbury

  • Is everyone “called” by God to some ministry, work, place, or adventure by “Almighty God”?
  • What evidence do you have for your answer?
  • Have you ever felt called by God?
  • If yes, how did you know it was a “call” originating in God?
  • If no, explore what you understand by the word “call” and what “measures” you will use to determine that you are being engaged in a divine dialogue (or not).

and gave him gifts of grace and wisdom to establish unity where there had been division, and order where there had been chaos

A pretty substantial calling (to establish unity and order) to be sure. A noble calling, requiring “gifts of grace and wisdom.”

  • What is a call of God to which you have responded (or are responding)?
  • What gifts of God helped you (or are helping you) fulfill your role in God’s call?

Create in your Church, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, such godly union and concord [that it may proclaim, both by word and example, the Gospel of the Prince of Peace]

There are 2 pieces to this part of the Collect: our petition (that God create anew) and our aspiration in receiving what we ask “that it (the Church) may proclaim….”

  • On a scale of 1-5 (1 = don’t believe at all to 5 = confidently believe), how firmly do you believe that God continues to create new things? Explain.
  • What “operation of the Holy Spirit” is required in order to help us (the Church) create a “godly union and concord”?
  • What is our role in helping God (by the operation of the Holy Spirit) create “godly union and concord” in the Church (that is, among ourselves)?

[Create in your Church, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, such godly union and concord] that it may proclaim, both by word and example, the Gospel of the Prince of Peace

To reiterate, in many of our Collects we ask God’s grace and blessing so that we may do (or do better), live (or live better) the will of God in our world. This is one of those Collects. After asking God to continue in us the creative activity of bringing us together and helping us live in harmony we speak our aspiration: “that [we] (the Church) may proclaim, both by word and example, the Gospel of the Prince of Peace.”

  • Who is the Prince of Peace?
  • How do you know this?
  • How does (y)our church “proclaim … by word and example, the Gospel of the Prince of Peace”?
  • Can you list 5 such “proclamations”? Can you list 10? 20? Make and share your list.
  • What are some “proclamations” (y)our church might make better? might make for the first time?

If you are able to pray a Collect slowly, with serious (not cursory) reflection, with honest challenges to yourself and your church, you will find a rich and wonderful universe (a godly universe) of possibility, promise, and challenge.

In this and succeeding posts I will share my questions for reflection. I am certain that other questions will occur to you and I encourage you to ask them in the Comments section. I journal regularly. More than ask questions of you, I ask them of myself; my answers are written in my journal. My answers do indeed influence who I am and how I behave. My hope is that you, too, will find direction, encouragement, wisdom, challenge, comfort, as you ask and answer questions raised by the words we use in our Collects.

What are your thoughts as you listen to this prayer? What are your experiences, your hopes, your beliefs, given voice in this prayer? Please continue the conversation in the Comment section. Be well. Do good. Pay attention. Keep learning.

That we may know your presence

Grant, O God, that in all time of our testing we may know your presence and obey your will; that, following the example of your servant Edward Bouverie Pusey, we may with integrity and courage accomplish what you give us to do, and endure what you give us to bear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Commemoration of Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest 1882 in Holy Women, Holy Men)

The Collect is a prayer regularly used in our worship. Its form was settled early in our history. After addressing God (and often acknowledging, even praising, divine attributes that thrill, or comfort, or challenge us) we ask God to meet our needs with grace for the moment, and grace for the future. Often we ask for this grace so that we may accomplish God’s will “on earth as in heaven.” We make this prayer, always, “through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Every year on September 18 we remember Edward Bouverie Pusey, a priest, an educator, and a leader of church reform in 19th century England (with John Keble and John Henry Newman). From the Collect for this day, a Collect prayed for “the Church” (that is. for you and me and all members of the Church), consider what is asked for you/us and open your eyes to see how this prayer is being answered in you, in the Church, in our world.

Hear what the Spirit is saying, as you listen to what we ask (and what we say about ourselves and our God) in the Collect we pray as we commemorate Edward Bouverie Pusey:

  • “in all time of our testing” — we who know and love and seek to follow Jesus understand that we will be tested in body and mind and spirit; we do not shrink from these tests, these trials;
  • AND we ask that God grant sufficient grace in order that “we may know your presence and obey your will,” — to feel the presence of God even in the midst of great trials and tests is a true joy (I speak from experience, I have been there, I have encountered God in the midst of darkness and the threat of destruction and found both peace and joy in that encounter)
  • AND we ask this grace for a purpose; we ask so that
    • “following the example of your servant Edward Bouverie Pusey”— we are connected to all those who have gone before us and who have lived, like Edward, through challenges, trials, and “tests” giving us confidence that we, too, can find our way;
    • “we may with integrity and courage accomplish what you give us to do,” — following the example of those who have gone before puts “flesh” on concepts like integrity and courage and gives us hope that we may accomplish the work we have been given to do in the Reign of God (and yes, we believe that God has indeed given us work to do);
    • “and, endure what you give us to bear” — again, knowing that Edward was able to endure with integrity and courage in his day, gives us the audacity to ask God to grant us grace, in our day, to “endure” even when we would like to give up.

What are your thoughts as you listen to this prayer? What are your experiences, your hopes, your beliefs, given voice in this prayer? Please continue the conversation in the Comment section. Be well. Do good. Pay attention. Keep learning.

7/31/12—Maturing in wisdom and age

Ignatius of Loyola

Today, July 31st, the Church remembers St. Ignatius of Loyola. Much has been written about Ignatius and many (including me) incorporate all or some of what is now called “Ignatian Spirituality” as a daily exercise of  body, mind, and spirit.

Here is a video meditation (32 minutes) on the saint and his spirituality, on art, on the creativity of humans, on why we continue to find ways (like sculptures) to use material objects to enter more deeply into spiritual mysteries, and on the possibility that a 16th century human can still speak powerfully to us 21st century humans.

The process of making and placing “Examen” by Joan Benefiel and Jeremy Leichman (Figuration LLC) on the campus of Fairfield University.

More about St. Ignatius in the Episcopal Blog Holy Women, Holy Men

7/24/12—Maturing in wisdom and age

Thomas à Kempis

My “go-to” book on discernment is Hearing with the heart: A gentle guide to discerning God’s will for your life (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2003) by Debra K. Farrington. She begins Chapter 1 with this prayer by Thomas à Kempis whom the Episcopal Church commemorates today (July 24):

Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know, to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights you most, to value what is precious in your sight, to hate what is offensive to you. Do not allow me to judge according to the sight of my eyes, nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of my ears; but to discern with a true judgment between things visible and spiritual, and above all things, always to inquire what is the good pleasure of your will.

The wisdom of Thomas has helped and continues to help shape my spirituality. My prayer is frequently not as eloquent as this prayer, but it is nonetheless fervent in seeking to know and do God’s will.

What do you think—is his prayer something you have prayed? Something you would like to pray? Something that a Christ-follower might actually achieve (knowing and doing God’s will)? Let us know.

A matter of perspective

The Episcopal Church Welcomes YouI’ll begin by thanking Ann for sending the link to a Wall Street Journal article titled What Ails the Episcopalians by Jay Akasie. The article appears online in the “Houses of Worship” column on the Opinion webpage. The article states that Jay Akasie is “a journalist and Episcopalian” living in New York.

Jay’s article has evoked a strong critical response from those who attended the General Convention. Rather than tell you what to think I encourage you to read the article for yourself. Remember: just because it is published by the Wall Street Journal (or any newspaper or news service) there is no guarantee it is accurate. The critical responses (which I encourage you to read as well) especially point out factual errors in the opinion piece.

The article in question

Three responses to the article

I am more hopeful than ever about the desire of our Episcopal Church to seek and know God’s will and then have the courage to act upon that knowledge. I am more hopeful than ever that we will find a way forward together even if we don’t agree with each other on specific items.

To the Trinity be praise!

To the Trinity be praise!
God is music, God is life
that nurtures every creature in its kind.
Our God is the song of the angel throng
and the splendor of secret ways
hid from all humankind,
But God, our life is the life of all.

–Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

Feast of the Visitation (May 31)

Take a moment, now that you have found this, to consider the visit of Mary to Elizabeth. May 31st is the Feast of the Visitation in the Episcopal Liturgical Calendar.

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” Luke 1:39-45

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee

We have titled Mary’s response to Elizabeth, “the Magnificat” Luke 1:4-55.

Earlier today Sojourners posted this in its “Verse and Voice” blog: “Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee. Amen.”
From the first verse of the hymn, “Take My Life and Let It Be” Post: Prayer of the Day: Take My Life and Let It Be

Finally, if you like to listen to different voices speaking on women in the Bible, and Mary on the Feast of the Visitation try this podcast: Lifting up the lowly offered by America: the national Catholic weekly

In what ways do these women model for you what it means to listen to the Spirit, to hear the Spirit, and to act on what you hear the Spirit saying to you? Leave a comment.

The endless gift of Pentecost

Continuing in the breath, wind, and fire of Pentecost here is the meditation of one of my favorite bishops. Brian Prior is the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota. You’ll want to read the whole post, of course, but here is how it starts:

It is illusive…but ever present.

Many expect to experience it only  as a lighting bolt while missing the still small voice. There are those who believe it is always manifested in a radical, almost “other- worldly” way, while the ‘everyday-ness’ goes unnoticed. Others have no expectations while the truly miraculous goes unacknowledged.  Some assume that it is brought forth by their own volition all the while it is unquestionably a gift.

Yet once you have had a moment, an experience, an awareness or an openness to its movement in your life…

Keep reading on the Bishop’s Blog.

Go deeper into the miracle of Pentecost

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other languages
as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
from Acts 2:1-11 (a reading appointed for Pentecost)

Other languages. Real languages. The disciples, who spoke Aramaic (and with an accent) suddenly were able to speak in other people’s languages. The true miracle and gift of Pentecost is not ecstatic prayer, but conveying love by bridging differences, by reaching out to the Other. Whatever separates us is the place where the miracle of Pentecost happens.

I encourage you to read the entire post: Loving the other

Again I encourage you to take a look at the meditation offered by Steve Garnaas-Holmes on his blog Unfolding Light. Read the meditation with your own experiences of the Holy Spirit (gift of your Baptism) and the prayers of the Church that the Spirit give you an “inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all [God’s] works.” (Prayer for the (newly) baptized, adapted)

Let the miracle of Pentecost emerge from your daily comings and goings, your work and play, your busy-ness and rest.