by Pam Tinsley

Each Black Friday, instead of getting up at the crack of dawn to get the best Black Friday deal, our 12-year-old neighbor Lauren and her family get up early to prepare crockpots full of hot chocolate. While our consumption-driven culture pushes us to buy things we don’t need and spend money we don’t have, Lauren holds a Hot Chocolate Sale to raise money for an organization that’s important to her. Lauren has been doing this on the day after Thanksgiving for the past five years. It’s part of her and her family’s Thanksgiving tradition and a way for her to give back to her community.

This year Lauren is fundraising for the Low Income Housing Institute, an innovative Tiny House Shelter Program that provides warm, safe, secure shelter in tiny houses in community settings with case management that helps program participants find permanent housing and employment. Lauren says that she wants to support LIHI because “they provide places for people to live and support themselves while they get back on their feet. Also, because everyone deserves a safe, warm home, especially around the holidays.”

In a culture that has become increasingly self-centered, it’s both comforting and reassuring to see a new generation recognizing that they have a responsibility to their community. Community is where and how we share our values. Community is where and how we care for one another. Community binds us together.

When we as Christians profess to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves, we profess that community – is vital. To follow Jesus means loving our neighbor in both word and action. And, as Jesus so often reminds us, the neighbor – the community – we’re called to love includes those whom we often overlook or prefer not to see. Community is where love and justice come together.

Lauren’s Hot Chocolate Sale shows us how simple, ordinary actions can lead to meaningful transformation of hearts and minds. Her fundraiser began as an act of thanksgiving for medical care that she’d received and has become an expression of who she is as a person – someone who teaches others that Gratitude Friday might just be more rewarding than Black Friday. She teaches us that gratitude is the soil in which joy thrives[1].

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[1] Signboard at Central Bible Church, Tacoma, WA.

by Demi Prentiss

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells the story about the wise and foolish bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom (Mt 25:1-13). The five wise young women brought their lamps and flasks of oil. The foolish young women brought only their lamps. When the bridegroom is late in arriving, the five with no flasks of oil realize their lamps will go out soon. While they go to purchase more oil, the bridegroom arrives, enters the hall with the five lamp-bearing bridesmaids, and locks the door behind them. When the bridesmaids arrive with more oil, they are refused entry, and the bridegroom says he does not know them.

Hearing this parable, I’m worried about the oil. How much might the wedding party need? Why wouldn’t the wise bridesmaids share? How many lamps were actually needed? Why didn’t they extinguish all but one lamp, so their oil would go farther? Where were the oil-less bridesmaids going to find oil in the middle of the night? And as Diana Butler Bass comments in her weekly post, the wedding described sounds more like a parody, “the worst wedding ever”: no bride, no guests, and a rude, tardy groom berating the bride’s attendants and locking his party guests inside the hall.

Perhaps the parable is not about the oil, about being prepared, about being in control of the details even when the unexpected happens. Maybe the foolishness of the oil-less bridesmaids is not that they failed to bring extra oil. Maybe their foolishness lay in allowing a lack determine their actions, in seeing scarcity controlling their response.

What might have happened if, when their oil threatened to run out, the bridesmaids had decided that their being present for the groom’s arrival was more important than how many lights greeted him?  What if, instead of more light, they had offered a song, or a dance, or beautiful flowers? What if they had focused on the resources they did have, rather than what they did not have?

What might happen in our own lives – especially when we are facing obstacles or lack of resources or rejection – if we could sharpen our awareness of what we do have. Does concern over what we lack prevent us from being present and offering who we are?  What might God do in us and through us when we recognize the gifts at hand? Might what we perceive as lack of resources turn out to be a gift?

by Brandon Beck

We’re made in the image and likeness of God. We’ve been told that since The Beginning. Each and every person is made in the image and likeness of God. We read this in The Beginning. John reminds us that “In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And we are made in that image and likeness.

When Samuel is sent by God to seek Saul’s replacement, God, and I’m paraphrasing here, tells Samuel, “Quit using your eyes and judging these people-books by their skin-covers! Do as I do; after all, I made you in my image! Look at other people’s hearts!” (1 Samuel 16:7b)

But what does that mean? How do we know someone’s heart? What even is a person’s heart? How do we get to it in this world where we’ve been taught to cover our nakedness with metaphorical fig leaves?

I love the way (forgiving the patriarchal language of his time) Bernard Silvester, twelfth-century poet and philosopher, describes the heart:

The animating spark of the body, nurse of its life, the creative principle and harmonizing bond of the senses; the central link in the human structure…mainstay of our nature, king, governor, creator.

But even more so, I love the description of the heart from the 2019 UK release of the Wellcome shortlisted memoir/cardiology text Heart: A History by Sandeep Jauhar, MD (2018), in which the above quote is the epigraph:

The spark of life, fount of emotion, house of the soul – the heart lies at the centre of every facet of our existence.

We have to know our own heart before we can look at other people’s; we have to look at our own heart in order to be open and receptive and perceptive of the heart of someone else.

And, yet, the system of humanity is a closed and interconnected one. My heart and your heart are of One heart within the heart of God – named or unnamed, known or unknown.

So, as I get to know my own heart, I, inevitably, am getting to know each and every other person’s heart as well.

In 1998, musician Geoff Levin released “The Coach,” a spoken word piece with his group Celestial Navigations on their album Chapter II. He performs the role of football coach motivating players before a game and helps them visualize the whole universe in their pockets and eventually says this to them:

What is small and insignificant here – you or that BB that you have in your pocket? I think we all know the answer to that. So when some dude comes up to you and says, “Wow, don’t you feel small and insignificant compared to the universe?” You say, “Hey. Now listen here dude, I got the whole universe in my pocket the size of a BB and I don’t even remember which pocket.”

And that’s just it, friends. In the Beginning, was the Word, and we each were part of that and still are and always will be. We’ve got it in our pockets. In our hearts. And we’re called to look at what’s in the pocket-hearts of others. That’s not so tough after all, because what’s in them is the same as what’s in us – the image and likeness of God.

Amen.

by Pam Tinsley

On November 1 the Church celebrates the Feast of All Saints’. On All Saints’ we remember all the saints – past, present, and yet-to-come – and well-known and revered saints with a capital S, as well as lesser-known saints. Saints with a capital S include apostles, such as Peter and Paul; the Church fathers, such as Augustine of Hippo and Pope Gregory the Great; or prominent women who shaped the Church, such as Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila. Most folks, including non-church folks, can come up with the name of a saint with a capital S.

Last week, on October 25, the Church remembered a lesser-known saint: Dorcas, in Greek – Tabitha, in Aramaic. We learn in Acts that Tabitha was a member of the early Christian community in Joppa, a coastal town of Israel. She was a disciple and was also known for her acts of charity, in particular for making garments and giving them to needy widows. She fell ill and died, and Peter went to see her; prayed over her; and raised her to life.

As I was re-reading the story from Acts, I realized that in the past I’ve always paid more attention to Peter than to Tabitha. After all, Peter not only heals Tabitha, but he raises her from the dead!

However, reading more closely, we hear that Tabitha’s healing isn’t the end of the story. Because of her healing, Tabitha is now able to continue her ministry in daily life – her acts of charity and her work as a seamstress making clothing for the needy. And as she engages in her ministry, she also bears witness to a miraculous healing that can come only from God. It’s pretty easy to recognize the extraordinary contributions to God’s Kingdom that the apostles and saints – with a capital S – have made. But, without God’s lesser-known saints serving as Jesus’ hands and feet in the world, the essential work of the Church can’t be done. In fact, the “Tabithas” of the church – you, me, all of us – are the heart of the Church. Although Tabitha and her ministry as a seamstress may seem ordinary, she’s extraordinary in God’s eyes. We, too, are extraordinary in God’s eyes and our own small acts of service – that is, our ministry – matter, and we just might inspire others!

by Demi Prentiss

Seeds – We need Jesus’ resurrection power in order to face tomorrow. Resurrection comes small, like seeds and leaven. One little word of encouragement, one affirmation, perhaps evoking one smile or laugh. One little gift can change us. – Br. Luke Ditewig, SSJE

Day after day, the news we consume fills us with fear and grief – news of insurrection, retribution, indiscriminate violence, political misbehavior, crippling moral failings. How can any person find a glimmer of hope, the source of resilience and resurrection?

Our failure to deal with our fear and our grief begets anxiety that becomes chronic.  As Seth Godin wrote, “Anxiety is experiencing failure in advance.” Perhaps our calling in an increasingly turbulent and anxious world is planting seeds, or kneading leaven into the dough of our lives. Receiving a seed – a little word of encouragement or affirmation, a smile or a laugh – is a gift. A gift that can change us, if we dare to receive it and allow it to grow.

Even more so, having enough hope to offer such a seed is a transformational act. Perhaps our willingness to be such a courageous giver is the power of God at work through us.

May the resurrection seeds you receive grow and blossom. May the seeds you offer to others leave a trail of hope that marks your path through life.

by Brandon Beck

The Enneagram Institute describes Oscar Ichazo’s Traditional Enneagram of Personality as a system by which we can understand ourselves and others in order to draw nearer to God. The Sacred Geometry of The Enneagram, pictured above, labeled with the Holy Ideas (top left) and corresponding Ego-Fixations (bottom left), Virtues (top right) and corresponding Passions (bottom right), can guide us in prayer, daily reflection, and at-one-ment.

The Enneagram Institute offers a test to help us see the number on the gram with which we most align. Teachers share that each of us is innately in tune with the characteristics of one number more so than others, but that we each carry the characteristics of every number in some measure. Our strongest number guides our path in our relationships, though. The lines in the gram indicate our movement in ascension and in disintegration from our true nature, offering us insight into personality characteristics we can observe in ourselves and others in order to journey to the center of ourselves again and again…drawing ever nearer to God.

October 15 is the Holy Feast Day of St. Teresa of Avila (1550-1582), Nun, a Doctor of the Church. As we contemplate the memorial of St. Teresa, we remember one of her great contributions in the writing of Interior Castle or The Mansions. St. Teresa explores the soul of us and encourages us in our search for “knowledge of ourselves,” saying it “is so very important,” and she wishes that we “never to admit any relaxation therein, however highly elevated [we] may be, because while we live on this earth, nothing is more necessary for us than humility.” (p 11) She goes on to say, “We shall never be able to know ourselves, except we endeavor to know God. By considering His greatness, we discover our own baseness; by contemplating His purity, we discover our own filthiness; and beholding His humility, we shall discover how far we are from being truly humble.” (p 11-12).

St. Teresa’s Interior Castle approach says we know God by reflecting on ourselves, looking inside our hearts, bodies, and minds. Oscar Ichazo and contemporary interpreters of his Enneagram offer a way to do that. It does not matter with which number you most align; every number has something to teach us about our soul and the souls of others. We strive to embody the Holy Ideas and Virtues and to see them and empower them in others. We recognize when we are losing them and expressing Ego-Fixations and Passions in their place, and we forgive ourselves and others when the Ego-Fixations and Passions arise. And always we notice the interconnectedness of us all and rely on the strengths of each other. As St. Teresa teaches, we listen to God’s call “so that [we] would desire even to be dissolved into the praises of that great God, who created [our] soul to His image and likeness.” (p 200)

by Pam Tinsley

As the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi approaches with its beloved – and joyful – tradition of the Blessing of the Animals, this year I’m particularly struck by St. Francis’s relationship to Creation Care. Thanks to Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Creation Care is one of the three priorities of the Episcopal Church’s Jesus Movement. And the Episcopal Church now joins other faith traditions around the world in marking the Season of Creation from September 1 to October 4, St. Francis Day.

The season is set aside as a time of prayer and action focused on protecting the Earth that God has entrusted to our care. The devastating wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters over the past several months, along with the loss of biodiversity, are stark reminders of the effects of a changing climate, exacerbated by human behaviors. Even starker was the matter-of-fact statement from a young adult: He expects his generation to be the last because of the dire condition of our Earth.

During the past several years, trial usage of Creation Care language has been approved at General Convention for our Baptismal Covenant and our liturgies. One option for the Baptismal Covenant was the proposal of a sixth baptismal vow: Will you cherish the wondrous works of God, and protect and restore the beauty and integrity of all creation? Another option expanded the current fifth baptismal vow to read: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of the Earth and every human being? Creation-focused liturgies are being developed to recognize mourning and lamentation, joy and celebration, and repentance and reconciliation.

Creation Care is a serious matter, even without revised liturgies and baptismal promises to call attention to it. As Christians we need to ask hard questions about our choices in daily life and how they impact the world. And so I ask: How will you cherish the wondrous works of God, and protect and restore the beauty and integrity of all creation – with God’s help?

by Demi Prentiss

Jim Burklo, who serves as pastor of United Church of Christ of Simi Valley, CA, recently mused whether Christians might be able explain our faith in one paragraph in entirely non-religious language, with no reference to God or Jesus or the Bible. The challenge is increasingly experienced in everyday American culture, where growing numbers of people identify as “nones,” meaning people with no religious affiliation – now about 20 to 29 percent of Americans.

Burklo explains,

If we really believe that God is love, then we can describe the essence of our faith entirely in terms of that love, leaving out the G-word.  Not that the G-word is bad:  it is integral to the rich mytho-poetic language of our faith tradition.  But if we want to get our message across to people who either don’t relate to the G-word, or associate it with bad experiences, we need to start with purely secular language.

I believe that if we practice this kind of secular description of our religious faith, we’ll do a better job of welcoming “nones” into it.  And at the same time, we’ll go deeper in our own understanding and practice of our faith…..

So here is my paragraph, briefly describing Christianity in purely secular terms:

Out of billions of years of the universe churning with creation and destruction, a breathtaking reality has emerged: love.  On earth, love has evolved from the bond between family members into a deeper love that is unconditional and universal.  The emergence of this love marks a profound turning point in natural history.  This love flows through deeply attentive, open, all-embracing consciousness.  This love lifts people out of selfishness and shallowness and into lives of selfless compassion, creativity, service, and activism for justice.  This love manifests in humble awe and wonder.  This love is more extraordinary and beautiful than everyday prose can describe.  It inspires poetry, music, ritual, and mythic narrative, and it brings people together in community to celebrate and practice it more fully. 

The Christian church is one such community.  Welcome to it!

How about you? In the context of your work, or school, or social club, or athletic team, or perhaps even your family, could you meet Burklo’s challenge? How fluent can we become in speaking “None”?

_{“We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” – Madeleine L‘Engle}

By Brandon Beck

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness,and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect, Proper 6, Year A, RCL)

In the daily devotional of The Oriental Orthodox Order in the West, “Witnesses to Truth,” dated Friday, June 16, 2023, Abbot Lynn Bauman opened with quotes from playwright Tennessee Williams and theo-philosopher David Price:

No one is ever free until they tell the truth about themselves and the life into which they’ve been cast…. We are all here to be a witness to something, to be of some aid and direction to other people. – Tennessee Williams

The first truth we have to tell is the truth of the culture of outrageous violation we find ourselves in. Our essential self is violated from early days in our lives. There’s no other word for it. We have to heal ourselves with truth. This is work, and it often goes slowly. – David Price

Abbot Lynn goes on to say, “We are here as witnesses – to both be in and watch the world from our vantage point, and speak its truth no matter how difficult that may be for us, but also more importantly to be of aid and direction for other people. That is a divine calling – a higher purpose, and it gives direction and meaning for our lives. Obviously, the stakes are high as we perform this task (duty or vocation) as we feel it.”

I read “Witnesses to Truth” on Friday, June 16, then turned to the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) to prepare for Sunday, June 18.

God winked. Abbot Lynn, RCL year A, and I were thinking alike, it seemed.

The collect for Proper 6 (Sunday closest to June 16 and printed at the beginning of this article) prays for our steadfastness in proclaiming the truth and ministering in justice and compassion. And the selected scriptures for Proper 6 weave into this truth-telling-tapestry, too.

Personally, I find that balancing my bold proclamations of truth with my ministering with justice and compassion requires continual awareness, patience, practice, and prayer. I require a full team of support to keep my balance. I am grateful to my accountability partner, my family, my community, and God’s voice and presence for reminding me moment-by-moment to shift my weight a little this way or that in order that I don’t fall. I shout for joy when I see old things in new ways and new things from different perspectives, and I am learning that part of staying centered is accepting help and hearing God’s voice when it comes out of the mouths of others.

In Track 2 of Proper 6, Year A, the appointed Psalm is 100. It is a joyful shout to God – a great, bold proclamation of truth. “Give thanks to [God] and call upon [God’s] name,” says the psalmist. Listen to this psalm set to music by Adam Wright of The Corner Room. “Sometimes, we unknowingly stumble upon a life-long pursuit and don’t immediately realize its impact. For Adam Wright, that life-long pursuit is setting Scripture to music, a resource to help God’s people engage and treasure the Bible more deeply. [Adam] arrang[es] each piece into a singable work that makes memorization and meditation a joy.” (https://www.cornerroommusic.com/ )

Yet, boldly proclaiming God’s name is not our only call; we are also called to minister with justice and compassion. Our Psalm 100 shout of joy is tempered, this week, by our Gospel instruction from Jesus, from which we hear:

…proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons…I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 9:35-10:23)

We are called to proclaim with boldness and minister with justice and compassion, and, by the Spirit, with boldness and shouts, we can.

Jesus did; the apostles did; through the generations our abbas and immas have, and now we do.

To adapt the words of Henri-Frederic Amiel to this writing: Life in this space-time is short, and we have too little time to journey this way together, so gladden each other’s hearts whenever you can by being swift to love and make kindness. Be bold to proclaim the name of God, and minister with justice and compassion…and may the blessing of God – Father and Mother, Incarnate in Jesus, and Holy Spirit – be with you now and always.

Amen.