Living Stones
Father Dirk’s blog
Psalms 120-134 are known as the Psalms of Ascent. They were said by pilgrims making their way to the Temple in Jerusalem. Jerusalem itself was built on a mountain and the Temple was at the highest part of the city. Thus, wherever one was, one “went up to Jerusalem.”
Since we are making our own pilgrimage to Jerusalem, I designed Yeti mugs to reference the Psalms of Ascent. I chose a verse representing each of the four of us:
It’s the middle of Holy Week. As we begin the Sacrum Triduum (Holy Three Days) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil, I am struck that in a week, Jim and I will land in Tel Aviv and check into our hotel in Jerusalem, just a fifteen minute walk from the Old City where the crucifixion and resurrection happened. Next week will also be Orthodox Easter, the end of Passover, and the middle of Ramadan in a site sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. What a time to arrive!
This year’s stewardship theme is “For all the Saints.” Since pledge ingathering Sunday is All Saints Sunday this year, we could not resist! Our theme reminds us that what we pledge, what we give, what we do is for all of the saints. It is a powerful message when we unpack it a little.
Who are the saints? This will freak some of you out, because you have told me, “I don’t feel that way!” You are a saint. I am a saint. All of the baptized people of God are saints. This is not liberal inclusion, nor is it therapeutic theology. It is sound Biblical Christianity. All of the baptized people of God are saints.
The recent leak of the draft opinion (now official) of the Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade has brought the question of access to abortion front and center for many of us. As a nation, we are politically polarized on this issue into two irreconcilable camps. Polls show that most Americans have more nuanced positions than our elected leaders, both respecting the mystery of life in the womb and generally favoring legal access. While we do not know where the Supreme Court will ultimately land, the issue is before us. If our faith is to have any power, it must be able to speak to us in the midst of such profound questions of the sanctity of life and the right to choose. We cannot ignore these questions. Rather, I believe firmly that if we wrestle with them, we will see a way forward that allows each of us to come to our own informed understandings as well as understand better those who, through similarly formed consciences, might still disagree with us.
My husband Jim thinks in images, not words. This makes communication at home, uhm, “interesting” sometimes! I can ask a question, receive an answer, and discover Jim meant the exact opposite of the answer given. “Words Matter!” I exclaim. Jim shrugs, and we laugh about it.
As Pride month draws to a close, I, too, need to be reminded that words matter. We have an increasing number of staff, parishioners, and friends of the congregation who use they/them pronouns because their gender is outside the gender binary imposed by society. This has been true of some people throughout human history, and some AfroIndigenous and Asian cultures more readily understand this diversity today than most of us in the West.
Since the age of Aquinas in the 13th century, we have been taught to think that if something is not this, it is that. The reality is sometime something is not this or that, but both, or neither, or something else. Science and lived experience has shown this to be true of human gender, as well.
Two weeks ago I confessed how talking about justice issues can make feel uncomfortable, partly because I do not feel fully equipped, and partly because it can rock the boat. Yet, at times, doing so is compelling, and God always pulls us out of our comfort zones while promising to be with us for the journey.
My confession this week was that I knew nothing about Juneteenth until I was ordained and serving in a parish in Philadelphia. Juneteenth, the June 19th celebration of the freeing of the last enslaved people in 1865, is a major festival in Philly and elsewhere. However, I grew up in South Carolina. Juneteenth was never mentioned, even in school history classes. While we were never fed any garbage trying to excuse slavery or minimize its impact, we never explored the experience of slavery from the viewpoint of an enslaved person or their descendants.
Another step forward! This Sunday is Baccalaureate Sunday when we celebrate the achievements of our graduating high school students. In a year like no other, Gabriella Chin, Kerry Ann Hohenshilt, Spencer Hurley, and Colin McAulay all completed their senior years. Gabby and Colin will speak, Spencer will acolyte, and Kerry Ann will usher. Then, we will gather outside for a fellowship celebration with single serving food options following diocesan and CDC guidelines.
That is what we do at St. Peter’s - we move forward in answer to God’s call in whatever way circumstances at the time permit. Our youth have been a sign of that commitment.
Our faith practice focus in June is Mercy and Justice. Of all of our faith practices, this is the one is likely to make us the most uncomfortable. My confession is that I share this discomfort, even as my heart holds dear how critical these practices are.
I think we’re OK with mercy, but the Justice part is hard. We get caught up in the confusion of Justice with social agendas, political platforms, and such. I find very helpful this description of Mercy and Justice that Anne Delgado posted on our website:
Justice and mercy often go hand in hand in Scripture. When we experience mercy, we can receive or offer compassion and love regardless of merit. Biblical justice encourages us to go a step further and live selflessly to restore justice or fairness to those who are unrightfully hurt or wronged. Together, mercy and justice help us establish ourselves and our neighbors in right relationship with God.
Wednesday was the Feast of the Epiphany, celebrating the visit of the three Magi to the child Jesus. In their visit, they give him gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, which represent his identity as prophet, priest, and king.
The visit occurs at a time of political turmoil. Herod is a despotic ruler in fear of being challenged by this child. He fakes interest in doing the child homage so he can discover who and where this child is in order to destroy him. Hearing of these these threats, as the Epiphany gospel passage ends, the Magi return to their home “by another way.”
By divine action, Herod is not successful, though much damage is done in his wake.
We normally celebrate Epiphany with great joy as the close-out of the Christmas season. However, as events unfolded on Wednesday with the attack on the Capitol fomented by a leader fearful of losing his power, the darker side of the Gospel stands out.
We all stand in shock, horror, and disgust at what we saw on Wednesday. Knowing the people of St. Peter’s, I have zero doubt of that. We all grieve the death and damage that occurred, and we share thanksgiving that the Constitutional mandates of our democracy were fulfilled.
On November 3, voting in the 2020 elections will conclude and we will soon thereafter know who our next elected leaders are. This has been a very fraught time for our nation and for each one of us, and Election Day is not guaranteed to settle it.
From pandemic, to violence, to racial injustice, to economic, housing, and food insecurity, to manipulative disinformation for the purpose of division, we are beset on every side.
Every aspect of our lives has been disrupted and each of us has been thrust into a more vulnerable space that can emotionally and physically exhaust us. We are facing choices in this election that many of us, regardless of party or candidate we support, see as existential in nature. More than once we have likely heard, “Nobody is at their best right now.”
In the midst of all of this we have a calling as God’s people to be, in the words of the Prayer of St. Francis, “Instruments of [God’s] peace.”
