Daily Reading for June 1 • Justin, Martyr at Rome, c. 167

They who maintain the wrong opinion say that there is no resurrection of the flesh; giving as their reason that it is impossible that what is corrupted and dissolved should be restored to the same as it had been. And besides the impossibility, they say that the salvation of the flesh is disadvantageous; and they abuse the flesh, adducing its infirmities, and declare that it only is the cause of our sins, so that if the flesh, say they, rise again, our infirmities also rise with it. . . . By these and such like arguments, they attempt to distract men from the faith. And there are some who maintain that even Jesus Himself appeared only as spiritual, and not in flesh, but presented merely the appearance of flesh: these persons seek to rob the flesh of the promise. . . .

We must now speak with respect to those who think meanly of the flesh, and say that it is not worthy of the resurrection nor of the heavenly economy, because, first, its substance is earth; and besides, because it is full of all wickedness, so that it forces the soul to sin along with it. But these persons seem to be ignorant of the whole work of God, both of the genesis and formation of man at the first, and why the things in the world were made. For does not the word say, “Let Us make man in our image, and after our likeness?” What kind of man? Manifestly He means fleshly man, for the word says, “And God took dust of the earth, and made man.” It is evident, therefore, that man made in the image of God was of flesh. Is it not, then, absurd to say, that the flesh made by God in His own image is contemptible, and worth nothing? But that the flesh is with God a precious possession is manifest, first from its being formed by Him, if at least the image is valuable to the former and artist; and besides, its value can be gathered from the creation of the rest of the world. For that on account of which the rest is made, is the most precious of all to the maker.

From “Fragments of the Lost Work of Justin on the Resurrection”; found at http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr-resurrection.html

Daily Reading for June 2 • Ascension Day

So that he might fill the universe the Christ was emptied to the last drop of self. But in his ascended glory he remains man. Dare we believe that? If incarnation did something to God, ascension did something to matter. This was the culmination of the stupendous process we call creation. The God who went to such infinite pains in the making and development of electronic systems, molecules, and chemicals, metal, rocks and living cells, structured forms and responsive nerves, did not at the final stage abandon matter; he liberated it.

The ascension of Christ promises the transfiguration of matter, its divinization, as the Orthodox Churches have never ceased to teach. The physical will glow with God like metal enveloped and permeated by fire. ‘The universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and enter upon the liberty and splendour of the children of God’ (Romans 8.21). That is the end to which we aspire. And the way is the way of descent, the way of the death of self, again and again, the way of the broken bread shared with all, of the scarred hands that hold the world.

From “There is a Man in Heaven” in The Incarnate God by John V. Taylor. Copyright © 2003. A Continuum book used by permission of Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. www.morehousepublishing.com

Daily Reading for June 3 • The Martyrs of Uganda, 1886

There is no doubt that the Son of God took our human nature into so close a union with himself that one and the same Christ is present, not only in the firstborn of all creation, but in all his saints as well. And so all that the Son of God did and taught for the world’s reconciliation is not for us simply a matter of past history. Here and now we experience his power at work among us.

Although it was primarily to Peter that he said: “Feed my sheep,” yet the one Lord guides all pastors in the discharge of their office and leads to rich and fertile pastures all those who come to the rock. There is no counting the sheep who are nourished with his abundant love, and who are prepared to lay down their lives for the sake of the good shepherd who died for them.

But it is not only the martyrs who share in his passion by their glorious courage: the same is true, by faith, of all who are born again in baptism. That is why we are to celebrate the Lord’s paschal sacrifice with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The leaven of our former malice is thrown out, and a new creature is filled and inebriated with the Lord himself. For the effect of our sharing in the body and blood of Christ is to change us into what we receive. As we have died with him, and have been buried and raised to life with him, so we bear him within us, both in body and in spirit, in everything we do.

From Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, edited by J. Robert Wright. Copyright © 1991. Used by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY. www.churchpublishing.org

Daily Reading for June 4 • John XXIII, Bishop of Rome, 1963

As regards the initiative for the great event which gathers us here, it will suffice to repeat as historical documentation our personal account of the first sudden bringing up in our heart and lips of the simple words, “Ecumenical Council.” We uttered those words in the presence of the Sacred College of Cardinals on that memorable January 25, 1959, the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, in the basilica dedicated to him. It was completely unexpected, like a flash of heavenly light, shedding sweetness in eyes and hearts. And at the same time it gave rise to a great fervour throughout the world in expectation of the holding of the Council. . . .

Illuminated by the light of this Council, the Church–we confidently trust–will become greater in spiritual riches and gaining the strength of new energies therefrom, she will look to the future without fear. In fact, by bringing herself up to date where required, and by the wise organization of mutual co-operation, the Church will make men, families, and peoples really turn their minds to heavenly things. And thus the holding of the Council becomes a motive for wholehearted thanksgiving to the Giver of every good gift, in order to celebrate with joyous canticles the glory of Christ our Lord, the glorious and immortal King of ages and of peoples. . . .

In the daily exercise of our pastoral office, we sometimes have to listen, much to our regret, to voices of persons who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with too much sense of discretion or measure. In these modern times they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin. They say that our era, in comparison with past eras, is getting worse, and they behave as though they had learned nothing from history, which is, none the less, the teacher of life. They behave as though at the time of former Councils everything was a full triumph for the Christian idea and life and for proper religious liberty.

We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand. In the present order of things, Divine Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations which, by men’s own efforts and even beyond their very expectations, are directed toward the fulfilment of God’s superior and inscrutable designs. And everything, even human differences, leads to the greater good of the Church.

From the Opening Speech to the Vatican II Council by Pope John XXIII, October 11, 1962; found at http://www.saint-mike.org/library/papal_library/johnxxiii/opening_speech_vaticanii.html

Daily Reading for June 5 • The Seventh Sunday of Easter: The Sunday after Ascension Day

In what does eternal life consist? His own words tell us: “That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Is there any doubt or difficulty here, or any inconsistency? It is life to know the true God. But the bare knowledge of him does not give life. What then, does he add? “And Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” In you, the only true God, the Son pays the honor due to his Father. By the addition “and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” he associates himself with the true Godhead. The believer in his confession draws no line between the two, for his hope of life rests in both. And indeed, the true God is inseparable from him whose name follows in the creed. Therefore when we read, “That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” these terms of sender and of sent are not intended, under any semblance of distinction either in name or interval [of time], to convey a difference between the true Godhead of Father and of Son. Rather, they are meant to be a guide to the devout confession of them as begetter and begotten.

From On the Trinity by Hilary of Poitiers, quoted in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament IVb, John 11-21, edited by Joel C. Elowsky (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2007).

Daily Reading for June 6 • Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945

From 1925 when the Brotherhood began Ini ruled it for 15 years, and no Brother ever questioned his absolute authority, not because he was the Founder, but because of the force of his personality. What things stood out in his character? First, I think his spirituality: prayer was a very real thing with Ini: he was the most reverent Melanesian I have known, and that is saying a lot. God was in all his thoughts. Second, his joyousness, he was almost always in high spirits, full of fun, full of the joy of being alive, it was good to live with him. Third, his deep understanding of the thoughts of Melanesians. At Brothers' meetings when disputes were often hot, Ini always knew who was really in the wrong and generally got that Brother to say so. Fourth, his common sense, he always knew what was practicable and kept discussions to that reverent, joyful, sympathetic, wise, these the “Brothers” knew him to be. He was not popular with the White staff who thought him conceited. There was a little truth in this, for he felt his own gifts, though I don't think the conceit went deep; but also he was very sensitive to colour feeling. He thought it all wrong that every Melanesian, because of his colour, should be inferior to every white man because of his colour, yet he felt there was this feeling even within the Mission.

This is not the place to write of the Brotherhood, of Ini’s founding of the order of Companions of the Brothers, and of his other ideas, the children of an impulsive but very original mind. He worked first in his own island of Guadalcanal, then in Santa Cruz, then in Sikaiana, which owes him its Christianity, then in Mala, and then for some time in SagSag at the western end of New Britain, opposite New Guinea, where he prepared a number of people for Baptism. One of my memories is of that baptism, when Ini and I stood waist deep in the very cold water of that mountain river for several hours, while streams of people came to us from the heathen side, were baptised by us and passed over to the Christian side, where the Bishop sat in his chair on a high grassy bank with the few already Christians round him. There the newly baptised dressed in white loincloths, and finally a great procession, led by the Cross, set off for the church, a procession so long that they were singing different hymns in different parts without releasing it, or caring either, so joyful did they feel. That is just one of the many memories of Ini. What great days those were!

From “Ini Kopuria” by Charles E. Fox, in Southern Cross Log (New Zealand Edition), June 1, 1946, pages 21-24. Found at http://anglicanhistory.org/oceania/brotherhood/kopuria_obituary1946.html

Daily Reading for June 7 • The Pioneers of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, 1890

The ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven does not separate him from us; rather, it involves us with him in the same destiny and the same way. For though he left the world, he did not leave his human nature. There is humanity in heaven now. This is the extraordinary thing which we are compelled to affirm again and again on this great festival. Humanity itself has been taken up into God. As the Fourth Gospel portrayed it at the very beginning, “Do you believe because I said I saw you under the fig tree? I tell you, you shall see the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” The ladder of Jacob’s dream is now open to all of us in a constant to and fro access with heaven itself. Because of that it is possible for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and Ascension Day challenges us to ascend in heart and mind, yes, even in our bodily action, where he has gone before.

“Go and tell my brothers, for I am now ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God,” for your relationship is to be the same now, “that where I am, you may be also.” I have taken humanity into the Godhead—there is your place, which I have gone to prepare for you. Live in God and let the life of God live in you, and refuse the old idea that heaven is distant from the life of this world, for it is no longer. The barriers have all been broken down.

From “I Am Ascending” in The Incarnate God by John V. Taylor. Copyright © 2003. A Continuum book used by permission of Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. www.morehousepublishing.com

Daily Reading for June 8 • Roland Allen, Mission Strategist, 1947

St. Paul’s theory of evangelizing a province was not to preach in every place in it himself, but to establish centres of Christian life in two or three important places from which the knowledge might spread into the country round. This is important, not as showing that he preferred to preach in a capital rather than in a provincial town or in a village, but because he intended his congregation to become at once a centre of light. Important cities may be made the graves of a mission as easily as villages. There is no particular virtue in attacking a centre or establishing a church in an important place unless the church established in the important place is a church possessed of sufficient life to be a source of light to the whole country round.

It is not enough for the church to be established in a place where many are coming and going unless the people who come and go not only learn the Gospel, but learn it in such a way that they can propagate it. It has often happened that a mission has been established in an important city, and the surrounding country has been left untouched so far as the efforts of the native Christians have been concerned, because the Gospel was preached in such a form that the native convert who himself received it did not understand how to spread it, nor realize that it was entrusted to him for that purpose.

From Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? by Roland Allen (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1962).

Daily Reading for June 9 • Columba, Abbot of Iona, 597

Any account of Celtic monasticism must become an account far more of persons than of institutions. It revolves around the achievements of men and women who have become known to us for the dedication of their lives. To their contemporaries they were soon known as saints. Their lives of single-minded devotion have given rise to many legends which have become so marked a characteristic of Celtic Christianity. . . .

St. Columba, one of the most familiar and well-loved of all Celtic monks, has the advantage of a very distinguished biographer in Adomnan who wrote his life a comparatively short time after his death. Here we are shown both the humanity of the man and also those qualities of holiness which his contemporaries recognized, and which in their eyes carried him beyond the limitations of the present world. . . .

St. Columba himself of course knew the life of both monk and hermit. . . . Celtic spirituality has always been clear about the role and importance of solitary life, whether for a certain time each year, or whether for a certain period during a lifetime—for the underlying principle is that a life of activity in the world is only made possible if it is nourished by times of withdrawal into solitude and silence.

But in the end solitude is not so much a place as a state of mind and heart: it is the ability to enter into the desert of the heart, the poustinia, the inner cave of the heart, however one might wish to describe it. It is an inner attentiveness to God, a continual stream of contemplation which becomes possible even in the midst of crowds, noise, and the demands of daily life.

From Every Earthly Blessing: Rediscovering the Celtic Tradition by Esther de Waal. Copyright © 1991. Used by permission of Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. www.morehousepublishing.com

Daily Reading for June 10 • Ephrem of Edessa, Syria, Deacon, 373

In Baptism Adam found again
that glory that was among the trees of Eden.
He went down, and received it out of the water;
he put it on, and went up and was adorned therein.
Blessed be He that has mercy on all!

Man fell in the midst of Paradise,
and in baptism compassion restored him:
he lost his comeliness through Satan’s envy,
and found it again by God’s grace.
Blessed be He that has mercy on all!. . .

Baptism is the well-spring of life,
which the Son of God opened by His Life;
and from His Side it has brought forth streams.
Come, all that thirst, come, rejoice!
Blessed be He that has mercy on all!

The Father has sealed Baptism, to exalt it;
and the Son has espoused it to glorify it;
and the Spirit with threefold seal
has stamped it, and it has shone in holiness.
Blessed be He that has mercy on all!

The Trinity that is unsearchable
has laid up treasures in baptism.
Descend, ye poor, to its fountain!
and be enriched from it, ye needy!
Blessed be He that has mercy on all!

Hymn XII of Ephrem the Syrian’s Fifteen Hymns for the Feast of the Epiphany; found at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf213.iii.vi.xiii.html

Daily Reading for June 11 • St. Barnabas the Apostle

After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Come, let us return and visit the believers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work. The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. Acts 15:36-40

Contention cannot be said to be evil, when each disputes for such objects (as here) and with just reason. I grant you, if the exasperation were in seeking his own, and contending for his own honor, this might well be (reproved): but if wishing, both the one and the other, to instruct and teach, the one took this way and the other that, what is there to find fault with? For in many things they acted upon their human judgment; for they were not stocks or stones. And observe how Paul impeaches (Mark), and gives the reason. For of his exceeding humility he reverenced Barnabas, as having been partner with him in so great works, and being with him: but still he did not so reverence him, as to overlook (what was necessary). . . .

The point to be considered is not that they differed in their opinions, but that they accommodated themselves the one to the other, (seeing) that thus it was a greater good their being parted. . . . What then? Did they withdraw in enmity? God forbid! In fact you see after this Barnabas receiving many encomiums from Paul in the Epistles. There was “sharp contention,” it says, not enmity nor quarrelling. The contention availed so far as to part them. “And Barnabas took Mark,” etc. And with reason: for what each supposed to be profitable, he did not forego thereafter, because of the fellowship with the other. Nay, it seems to me that the parting took place advisedly, and that they said one to another, “As I wish not, and thou wishest, therefore that we may not fight, let us distribute the places.” So that in fact they did this, altogether yielding each to the other: for Barnabas wished Paul’s plan to stand, therefore withdrew; on the other hand, Paul wished the other’s plan to stand, therefore he withdrew. Would to God we too made such separations, as to go forth for preaching.

From John Chrysostom’s Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily 34 on Acts 15:35; found at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf111.vi.xxxiv.html

Daily Reading for June 12 • The Day of Pentecost

In the Gospels we watch a Christ who, in dismissing certainties, shows us what freedom might mean. We watch the way in which he enters into people’s lives and dissolves an existing situation, whatever it might be. The likelihood was that the condition had promised security, safety, but now Christ challenges the people to leave their nets, or to leave a nice safe booth, and follow him. He says to Peter, James, and John, “Come,” and to Matthew, “Stand up, move, walk, come with me.” Our God is a God who moves and he invites us to move with him. He wants to pry us away from anything that might hold us too securely: our careers, our family systems, our money making. We must be ready to disconnect. There comes a time when the things that were undoubtedly good and right in the past must be left behind, for there is always the danger that they might hinder us from moving forward and connecting with the one necessary thing, Christ himself.

When Brueggemann writes about the Jewish people at one historic point in their story, the sacking of Jerusalem and the loss of the temple in 597, he uses the word relinquish. It becomes a metaphor for the opening up to the new gifts and new forms of life given by God that become possible just when everything seems to have come to an end. Of course there is loss and it is right to grieve and not to pretend otherwise. Insecurity makes certitude attractive, and it is in times like these that I want to harness God to my preferred scheme of things, for it is risky to be so vulnerable. Yet it is this vulnerability that asks for trust and hope in God’s plans, not mine. So I try to learn each time that I am called upon to move forward to hand over the past freely, putting it behind me, and moving one with hands open and ready for the new.

From To Pause at the Threshold: Reflections on Living on the Border by Esther de Waal. Copyright © 2001. Used by permission of Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. www.morehousepublishing.com

editor’s note:This is my final posting on the Speaking to the Soul page, as I turn to other ventures and seek to simplify the demands on my time. I offer profound gratitude to Jim Naughton and to all of you readers who have encouraged me in this offering for the past seven years. They have been a daily discipline that has brought me joy, and has renewed my appreciation of the remarkable people who have lived their faith in such infinitely varied ways throughout the ages.—Vicki Black, vblack@tidewater.net

The Speaking to the Soul blog is on hiatus this week to celebrate Vicki Black's four years of service to the Cafe. Vicki posted the last of her 1,557 entries on the Soul blog on Pentecost Sunday, and we invite you to read it and leave her a note in the comments, either there, or here. The Soul blog will reopen under new management next week.

Tomorrow the Rev. Lowell Grisham, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, Ark., takes over as the primary blogger here at Speaking to the Soul. On most days, he will write a reflection on the lectionary readings for the day. After not too long, Lowell's work will be augmented by that of one or two other bloggers. We will keep you posted.

Monday, June 20, 1011 -- Week of Proper 7, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 972)
Psalms 89:1-18 (morning) 89:19-52 (evening)
1 Samuel 5:1-12
Acts 5:12-26
Luke 21:29-36

Today's psalm for Morning Prayer opens with a singular proclamation. "Your love, O God, for ever will I sing; from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness." (89:1) It is a good thing to open the day with a cry of love, a commitment to trust that God's love is underneath all that is.

In both of our New Testament readings today there is a scene of early morning teaching -- a model of grounding in love and trust. Luke offers a brief closing at the end of Jesus' teaching in the temple. Luke concludes the section saying, "And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to (Jesus) in the temple." In the passage from Acts, the disciples enter the temple at daybreak to continue with their teaching following their angelic release from prison.

Every enduring religion understands the mystery of the dawn. When life begins again each day it is good to recall who we are and whose we are -- to remember the teaching. For Christians, that teaching is centered in love. "Your love, O God, for ever will I sing." St. Augustine distinguished the Christian way from other competing religious paths as a heart-centered life which revolves around divine love. Augustine insisted that the scripture teaches nothing but charity and must be interpreted through the lens of love.

There is a kind of coherence that happens to us when we start the day grounded in the fundamentals, renewed in an intentional trust in God who is love. We can start our day as Dante ends his Divine Comedy, with our desire and our will aligned with "the Love that moves the sun and the other stars."

Luke gives us a picture of that coherent life of trust under love. As Peter and the other disciples go about their daily chores, there are "signs and wonders." Other people experience their coherence and become more whole. I can sense that. There are certain people I know who seem to change the energy in a room when they arrive. There is a presence about them that makes for peace and possibility. I can also think of a few people who seem to provoke chaos and confusion by their mere presence. "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near." (Lk. 21:29f) What is it about these people who can bring coherence into a room even before they speak?

As I think about some of the people who are models of coherence for me, I recognize that they are people who are grounded in something transcendent. They are self-defined, but they define themselves by something greater than their own self. They can answer like Peter and the apostles, "We must obey God rather than any human authority." (Lk. 21:29b) Sometimes it feels like simply being in their shadow raises my sense of hope and possibility. They remind me of my own transcendent alignment, and I am refreshed by the divine love that moves my center as it moves these people whom I look upon as some of my "stars."

All of our readings today proclaim the power of the transcendent in the midst of frustrations. Jesus' morning teaching includes warnings of wars and insurrections, conflicts and persecutions, strains throughout the natural world. He tells us to guard our hearts so we are not "weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life," the distractions that make us unmindful and sleepy. In Acts, the disciples are being hassled and even detained by the authorities. And we know there is a shadow from the later verses in Psalm 89 when the psalmist will lament that God has "cast off and rejected your anointed."

Yet we make the morning cry, "Your love, O God, for ever will I sing." We reassert our trust in love in the presence of so much that seems broken, threatening or even ominous. We might even sing a verse from Mississippi poet William Alexander Percy, "The peace of God, it is no peace, but strife closed in the sod, Yet let us pray for but one thing -- the marvelous peace of God." (Hymn 661)

Your love, O God, for ever will I sing; from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.

For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever;
you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens. (Ps. 89:1-2)

May I set my life this morning firmly on the foundation of the love of God which grounds all that is and all that I am. May I be one of the coherent ones today; one who can bring peace and possibility to the people and situations I will encounter. Maybe as I go about my daily chores, I can be awake enough to see "signs and wonders," even in the inevitable frustrations and strifes that surround our way. It is day. The night is past. Life renews. Underneath it all, there is nothing, but love.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 -- Week of Proper 7, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 972)
Psalms 97, 99, [100] (morning) 94, [95] (evening)
1 Samuel 6:1-16
Acts 5:27-42
Luke 21:37 - 22:13

Twenty years ago I was on the Cursillo National Committee. There was a resolution proposed to exclude non-celibate gay Episcopalians from positions of leadership in Cursillo. I argued in vain against the resolution. A majority of the committee believed that homosexual love was sinful and that leaders with such a character defect would be flawed leaders. They believed they were following God's will and the mandate of scripture.

When we met again, two gay leaders in Cursillo came to visit the committee to ask us to reconsider our decision. One was a woman who had been an exemplary and significant leader in Atlanta and in Georgia. Her work spoke for itself. She had showed herself to be the kind of leader Cursillo hoped to raise up in the church. She was a lesbian. The other person was a gay man, a priest from New Jersey. He too was committed to the Cursillo method -- its principles of evangelism and spiritual growth -- but he exercised leadership in a more local capacity.

For many on this committee, this priest's witness was their first opportunity to hear the testimony of a gay Christian. It is a common story. He grew up in the Church, loving God and following Christ as best he could. His own experience of his sexual orientation has been at odds with what he had been taught in the church. He resisted his natural inclinations, believing them to be sinful and wrong.

Like so many other gay men, he married his best friend. He had been open with her about his attraction to men. She loved him and he loved her. She was certain, and he hoped, that with God's help, they would overcome his feelings, and they would become a loving, traditional family. In fact, they were a loving, traditional family. They maintained a constant and deep affection, though there was little sexual passion. They raised their children in a loving, nurturing household. But deep at the core of their relationship, and deep at the core of his being, something true was being denied and repressed.

When he finally faced and accepted his sexual orientation, he and his wife agreed to a divorce. She wanted more from her spousal relationship than he could give her; he wanted to love fully and completely. They remained dear friends.

He met someone with whom he could be committed as a life partner, and they had been together for many years now, loved and accepted as a couple by their families and by their church. He had experienced Cursillo as a profound blessing in his life, and he felt deep hurt that he was being told to give up his leadership in the group.

With a poignancy that bordered on despair, he closed his testimony with the argument from Gamaliel that we read today from Acts 5. The church is in a place of disagreement and discernment, he said. I tell you that I love Jesus Christ, and I follow him as my Lord and Savior, he said. I do so as a gay man in a committed relationship. I find Christ manifest in my loving relationship with my partner and in my ministry in Cursillo. I realize that there are others who say that my relationship is a sin, but I experience it as grace from God.

The priest cited the words of Gamaliel addressing another religious council, addressing a group who was certain that condemning the followers of Jesus was to obey God's will and to follow the mandate of scripture. Gamaliel urged caution, citing two other messianic movements that had fizzled after making great claims. "So in this present case," Gamaliel said, "I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them -- in that case you may even be found fighting against God!" (Acts 5:38-39)

"Please," the gay priest gently urged our committee, "just leave us alone. Don't throw us out. Wait and see. Watch us; watch me and my relationship and my ministry. If we are not of the Spirit -- if we are not of God -- we will fail. We will fall of our own weight. But, if we are of God..." His words faltered as he struggled to keep his composure. "Just leave us alone. See what God will do. Let God be the judge." It was a moving testimony.

We broke for noonday prayers and lunch. It was our practice to read the second reading of the Daily Office during noonday prayers. The lector began to read. It was this story from Acts 5, the story of Gamaliel. Chills went up my spine.

I glanced back at the priest who just a few moments ago had been speaking these very words. His eyes were closed. A gentle smile of thanks came to his mouth. He tilted his head up as though gesturing thanks to God. When he opened his eyes, he blinked back tears. So did I. A woman across the aisle from me let go a little gasp. The Word of God had spoken to us that day.

That afternoon our committee reversed the policy.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 -- Week of Proper 7, Year One
Alban, First Martyr of Britain, c. 304
To read about our daily commemorations, go to the Holy Women, Holy Men blog:

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 972)
Psalms 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30 (morning) 119:121-144 (evening)
1 Samuel 7:2-17
Acts 6:1-15
Luke 22:14-23

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." (Lk. 22:19)

Take. Bless. Break. Give. The four-fold action of the Eucharist is something that has become profoundly important to me. It is a pattern for life.

Take. The 18th century spiritual director Jean Pierre de Caussade urged his listeners to give themselves to the present moment with a radical acceptance. Trust that God is always doing the best that God can do within the limitations of creation and our own sin. Accept the present moment, he said, as the sacrament of God's presence. If we are to know God and serve God, it can only be here and now within the circumstances of the present moment. So let go of the struggle of resentment and judging, and accept what is as the context for our experience of God in our lives. Within this moment, in these circumstances, God presents us our communion with the divine.

Abandon yourself to the present moment, Caussade says, and simply intend to do one thing -- to do God's will. And what is God's will? He says it can be one of three things: Either to do some present duty, or to enjoy some present joy, or, in the dark mystery of God, occasionally it is God's will for us to suffer something for the sake of God in the spirit of Christ's cross. When we are doing God's will in the present moment, we are doing our part -- we are doing everything we can to bring near the Reign of God.

It all starts with Acceptance. "Take." Accept this moment as the crucible of the divine presence and will.

Bless. In Hebrew tradition to bless something is to give thanks for it. At a meal someone will "give the blessing." They will make a prayer of thanksgiving over the food. Whenever anything is received with thanksgiving, it is blessed; it is consecrated. Thanksgiving is the characteristic Christian stance before the world. We say in our Eucharistic Prayer, "It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks..." (BCP, p. 361) To accept this moment and to bless it in a spirit of thanksgiving to God is to consecrate the moment, to make it holy. Every moment can be holy.

Break. The word "sacrifice" literally means "to make holy" -- from sacra ("sacred rites") and facere ("to do, to perform, to make"). The bread must be broken to be shared. Offering precedes giving. Jesus shows us the path of death and resurrection. For me, the breaking is always a form of willingness. I must be willing to surrender my own self-centeredness in order to enter into something greater. That sacrifice seems always to be a breaking open into an encounter with the divine, with holiness.

Give. All of life is gift. We have been given all that we are and all that we have. How can we give ourselves, and continue the generative process?

Each moment of this day will contain a Eucharistic opportunity for us to take, bless, break and give. What is this moment about right now?

Thursday, June 23, 2011 -- Week of Proper 7, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 972)
Psalms 105:1-22 (morning) 105:23-45 (evening)
1 Samuel 8:1-22
Acts 6:15 - 7:16
Luke 22:24-30

What a contrast of leadership images.

In our reading from Luke today, Jesus tells his followers to be servant leaders. "The greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. ...I am among you as one who serves." (Lk. 22:26b, 27c)

In our reading from 1 Samuel today, Samuel warns the people what they will get if they choose a king to rule over them rather than choosing God's rule. The king will have retainers and advance men, laborers for his benefit and for the means of war, luxuries and prime real estate, the best of everything and a piece of everyone's possessions. The ruler will disburse his wealth and power among his own class, among the wealthy and powerful. Samuel's description sounds like what became reality during the reign of Solomon.

At first blush, someone might read this passage as a warning against the oppressions of government. And that is not an unfaithful reading, especially when government becomes oppressive. The description fits as a critique of many oligarchies, where a ruling elite holds control over the masses.

But as I try to project Samuel's description into our present reality in this country, it seems to be a fit description of a kind of plutocracy that controls and influences so much in our nation today. It is the super-wealthy today -- financiers and corporate powers -- who have the luxuries and prime real estate, who benefit from war and get a piece of everyone's possessions.

The richest 1% of Americans own 90% of all stocks and bonds and the wealthiest 10% now earn more than the entire 90% of our population combined. In the past 25 years, our economy more than doubled in dollar values, yet 90% of Americans saw their incomes fall by an average of about $4,000. The income of the wealthiest 0.01% jumped 384%. Bill Moyers calls that "wage repression."

I'm nearly sixty years old. For the first thirty years of my life, the rest of us -- the lower 90 percent -- could make a good living and hope for improvement. Between 1950 and 1980 average income for 9 out of 10 Americans grew from $17,719 to $30,941, a 75% increase in income in constant 2008 dollars. That egalitarian growth stopped beginning around 1980. Bill Moyers traces the trend to the policies of trickle-down Reaganomics that has now created two Americas, a buoyant Wall Street and a doleful Main Street.

Commerce Department figures released this past November showed that American companies had their best quarter in history, while unemployment languished at high levels and wages remained depressed.

Now corporations and independent tax-exempt organizations can collect unlimited amounts of money legally to influence elections and politicians. Today we live in a nation where extending billions of dollars of tax cuts to the wealthiest during a recession in the face of a massive deficit is a non-negotiable absolute priority for one political party.

Samuel might say, "I told you so." We have chosen our own kings rather than the values of God. The kings we have chosen to rule over us are the kings of wealth and power. The kings we have chosen to rule over us are the kings of competition and individual autonomy.

Jesus said it is not to be so among us. "The greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves."

Friday, June 24, 2011 -- Week of Proper 7, Year One
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
To read about our daily commemorations, go to the Holy Women, Holy Men blog.

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer)
EITHER the readings for the Nativity of John the Baptist, p. 998
Morning Prayer: Psalms 82, 98; Malachi 3:1-5; John 3:22-30
Evening Prayer: Psalm 80; Malachi 4:1-6; Matthew 11:2-19

OR the readings for Friday of Proper 7, p. 972
Psalms 102 (morning) 107:1-32 (evening)
1 Samuel 9:1-14
Acts 7:17-29
Luke 22:31-38

I chose the readings for the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

It is the feast of the birth of John the Baptist. Six more months of shopping until Christmas. Luke's gospel says that Mary's cousin Elizabeth became pregnant six months before the visit of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, so the church marks John's birth six months before the feast of the Nativity of Jesus.

John's father Zechariah was also visited by Gabriel, who told him of the coming birth. But Elizabeth was very old, and it was too much for Zechariah to imagine. He was struck speechless until the child was eight days old and ready to be presented for his circumcision. Then Zechariah opened his mouth to prophecy in the words we call the Benedicutus (Canticle 16 in the Prayer Book, p. 92).

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; *
he has come to his people and set them free.
...You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, *
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation *
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God *
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

With the birth of a baby, hope springs anew. What shall this little one become? What shall he see? What will she do? What changes will come? Hope springs anew. We imagine possibilities; we prophecy. We ask God's tender compassion to come to this little one as we feel the dawn from high break upon us. Will this be a child who will help guide our feet into the way of peace? ...one who will shine in dark places and bring new life into our deathly shadows?

I'm feeling Zechariah-ish this morning because last night across the world where it was already this morning, my first grandchild was born. My son lives in Taiwan. We've been waiting for little Laura (Wu Qin) like Elizabeth and John waited. Being that far away, there was much speechlessness. (Thank God for Skype and email.)

When her dad announced her full English name, it was a surprise. We knew what her first name would be -- Laura, a derivation of my grandfather Lawrence. We didn't know her middle name. She will be Laura Jo Ann -- named also for my mother. Memories sparkle, and the heritage of rich character speaks blessings of hope upon this new mystery. May she have some of the qualities of her namesakes'.

May she also come to the wisdom of this other ancestor with whom she shares a birthdate. May she quickly come to the understanding that John expresses at the end of today's morning reading appointed for his Office. John speaks first of joy -- joy grounded in the joy of the Christ. John understands his identity. "I am not the Messiah." (It takes us all a while, if ever, to realize we are not God; we are not the center of the universe.) Then, in joy, John says, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

However we may internalize the identities we are given by our families, circumstances and environment, we have a larger identity to put on. We are invited to put on Christ. In Christ, we become fully the beloved child God creates us so uniquely to be. May Laura Jo Ann know herself to be loved by God even better than her doting family can love her. May she hold her self lightly, and delight in God's delight of her. May she escape some of the gravity that we humans inflict upon ourselves through pride and fear and control. May those decrease as love-incarnate increases.

May you, my child, also be called a "prophet of the Most High" to "go before the Lord to prepare his way." To increase his salvation and forgiveness, to dwell in the tender compassion of our God, to bring light like the dawn to dispel any darkness, and to walk in your own manner into the way of peace.

Each day is a feast of Nativity. Not only are new souls being born around the globe, but we too awaken to the dawn of a new life given to us in a new day. What shall we become? What shall we see? What shall we do? Hope springs anew. May God's compassion surround us as each of us begins today's walk, that God may guide our feet into the way of peace this new day.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people and set them free.

While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; but Jesus said to him, 'Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?' When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, 'Lord, should we strike with the sword?' Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, 'No more of this!' And he touched his ear and healed him. Luke 22:47-51

Slave of high priest
struck by the blow
wondering at the touch
stands speechless
whole again
blood still warm
on his neck

What does he hear
with his new ear?

I called to God in my distress; *
God answered by setting me free. Psalm 118:5

Looking for lost keys
to locked doors,
I did not see the window.

Monday, June 27, 2011 -- Week of Proper 8, Year One
Cornelius Hill, Priest and Chief among the Oneida, 1907
To read about our daily commemorations, go to the Holy Women, Holy Men blog

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 972)
Psalms 106:1-18 (morning) 106:19-48 (evening)
1 Samuel 10:17-27
Acts 7:44 - 8:1a
Luke 22:52-62

There is something reassuring about the story of Peter's denials. Peter holds a place of unique leadership in Christian history and memory. He became the leader of the post-resurrection movement. Yet part of Peter's story is the remembrance of his failure at a crucial moment. When Jesus most needed his trusted friend, Peter denied him three times. Peter's healing and restoration is a comfort to all of us who have failed, who have not lived up to our intentions and our relationships. It is also an inspiration to all of us who have been betrayed.

Sometimes we do not live up to our values. Under pressure, we sometimes cave in and do destructive things. Save us from the time of trial.

There is a temptation in failure to allow conscience and pride to turn a transient and momentary failure into something permanent and defining. Peter's resilience is a model for us. Yes, his failure was great. Like Judas, he failed and betrayed Jesus. When his time of testing arrived, his courage withered. All true.

But Peter did not let that failure define him. He was able to reclaim his principles. He was able to stand tall again and act as a leader, with courage and confidence.

I like the story in John's gospel when the resurrected Christ meets Peter on the sea shore (Jn. 21). There is an intimacy and poignancy in their conversation. Three times Jesus asks him, "Peter do you love me?" Three times Peter confirms his fundamental commitment, "Yes, Lord, you know I love you." Three times Jesus commissions him to service: "Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep." The text says that Peter felt hurt when Jesus asked him the question for the third time. Maybe it was the memory of his three denials.

But the past is healed for him. He is forgiven; he accepts forgiveness. Peter is empowered for leadership. And there is a hint that he will not fail when the time of trial comes to him again in the future. Jesus tells him, "When you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." I wonder if this is a allusion to the movement of the Holy Spirit taking a willing Peter into difficult and challenging places. The parenthetical interpretation in the text says that it is a commentary on Peter's martyrdom. "After this, (Jesus) said to (Peter), 'Follow me.'"

The denier is restored. The betrayed forgives. Full reconciliation and empowerment.

The facts of the past do not change. On the night of Jesus' arrest, Peter betrayed him three times. The meaning of the past and its effect on the future can change. Peter becomes the courageous leader of the Church, a paragon and inspiration. The Rock.

Hamlet soliloquizes "Conscience doth make cowards of us all." But repentance, forgiveness and the reclaiming of our virtue makes mountains of us also.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 -- Week of Proper 8, Year One
Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, c. 202
To read about our daily commemorations, go to the Holy Women, Holy Men blog

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 972)
Psalms [120], 121, 122, 123 (morning) 124, 125, 126, [127] (evening)
1 Samuel 11:1-15
Acts 8:1-13
Luke 22:63-71

We begin today's readings in Psalm 120, with the cry for deliverance "from lying lips and from the deceitful tongue. [From] the sharpened arrows of a warrior, along with hot glowing coals." (One wonders if this last is a reference to a form of torture.) The psalmist feels surrounded by enemies, Meshech (in the north) and Kedar (in the south). "Too long have I had to live among the enemies of peace. I am on the side of peace, but when I speak of it, they are for war."

We've passed the $1 trillion mark in direct financial costs for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. How can we put a number on the human toll? I've seen it here in our town among veterans returning with deep psychic wounds. Ask anyone who works with the homeless how many combat vets they encounter.

Not one dollar of special revenue has been appropriated for these wars. It's all been put on the federal credit card. Now we live with the strain of deficits, from war and from a financial meltdown.

I remember the 2008 PBS "Frontline" documentary "Bush's War," a factual inquiry into the story of how our nation was led into war against Iraq. Using exaggerated fear as a weapon of persuasion, lying lips and deceitful tongues drowned out every word of peace. Our leaders sharpened their arrows and heated their hot glowing coals, aimed toward a pitiful nation that was thoroughly contained and deterred. Our leaders could speak only of war.

Then we bent so far away from our moral compass that our own White House orchestrated a calculated process to ignore Geneva Conventions as well as the advice of our military in order to attempt legal rationalization for torture. Some are say we perpetrated war crimes.

I recall those crucial early days following the attacks of 9-11. So many voices called for restraint. We could have used the moral credit we had earned and the international outpouring of sympathy to forge a world-wide cooperative response of compassion and healing. We could have called the world together for a global plan to reach out to heal the suffering of the marginalized and poor. We could have given power and voice to the moderate expressions of religions and governments in the wake of the world's horror at the spectacle of what militant extremism can lead to. We might have encouraged an earlier expression of the deep longings that have only now emerged as the "Arab Spring." Instead, we became militant to the extreme.

So when virtually every national and international religious body spoke out in opposition to the Bush plans for war (with the notable exception of the Southern Baptists), when so many prophet-sentinels warned of dire consequences, this proud group ignored all words but their own. And what suffering and catastrophe they have wrought.

Since that time we have suffered another arrogant attack, this one from within our own financial sector. Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend about the 2010 Academy Award winning documentary "Inside Job." The film traces how deregulation of the financial industries removed the boundaries that protected us from certain forms of systemic risk. Deregulation and greed fueled systemic corruption in the financial services industries and provoked the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression. Although the stock market has rebounded and many companies are now flush with cash, unemployment remains painfully high and there is little economic energy in the middle class. Money and power is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. We have become a plutocracy. Some say we still have failed to restore regulation that would prevent similar financial abuses in the future.

"I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come? My help comes from God, the maker of heaven and earth." How beautifully Psalm 121 gives hope to the anguish of Psalm 120.

Then we read Psalm 122, and a new vision of harmony comes to us from the center of the conflict. "Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity with itself." Can we imagine Washington as a city that is at unity with itself? Grounded. Centered. "Peace be within your walls and quietness within your towers."

Psalm 123 completes the hopeful prayer. Again we redirect our gaze: "To you I lift up my eyes... as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, and the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the Holy One our God, until God shows us mercy.

"Have mercy upon us, O God, have mercy, for we have had more than enough of contempt, Too much of the scorn of the indolent rich, and of the derision of the proud."

Amen.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 -- Week of Proper 8, Year One
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles
To read about our daily commemorations, go to the Holy Women, Holy Men blog

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer)
EITHER the readings for Sts. Peter and Paul (p. 998)
Morning Prayer: Psalm 66; Ezekiel 2:1-7; Acts 11:1-18
Evening Prayer: Psalms 97, 138; Isaiah 49:1-6; Galatians 2:1-9

OR the readings for Wednesday of Proper 8, p. 972
Psalms 119:145-176 (morning) 128, 129, 130 (evening)
1 Samuel 12:1-6, 16-25
Acts 8:14-25
Luke 23:1-12

I chose the readings for Saint Peter and Saint Paul

"Come and listen, all you who fear God,
and I will tell you what God has done for me." (Ps. 66:14)

We celebrate two of our great founders today, Peter and Paul. The iconography of their friendship is an image of unity in diversity as well as a picture of reconciliation after conflict and, maybe, competition.

Peter was an uneducated fisherman from Galilee who was a close friend of the earthly Jesus. Paul was a well-educated urbanite who persecuted the church before his encounter with the risen Christ. On occasion, Paul rebuked Peter for his non-inclusive behavior toward the Gentile Christians. It seems they found a way out of some of their conflict by defining separate markets -- Peter becoming the apostle to the Jews; Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. Yet, when the time for decision came in the meeting of the Apostolic Council, Peter came through for Paul and for the Gentiles. His story of the vision of clean and unclean animals helped turn the tide for Paul, giving "official" authorization for the ministry Paul had already initiated among the Gentiles.

For me, the key to understanding Paul was that Christ gave him freedom from his crippling anxiety about his own performance. He was a scrupulous and observant Jew. He tried to do his best. He tried to be perfect. But he found it only left him anxious and self-absorbed. Am I really right? Am I really righteous? He was left haunted by the push of perfectionism, feeling rebellious toward God whom he regarded as an ever-demanding and unblinking parental judge.

Paul could point to his discipline and accomplishments, but they gave him no satisfaction. He was always just one slip-up from failure. Trying to measure up only left him feeling anxious.

Enlightenment knocked Paul down and left him blinded by a new realization. Justification -- a right relationship with God -- is a gift, a free gift from God. We need do nothing to earn it -- in fact we cannot earn it. It is given to us with no strings attached, except that we accept the gift. Accept the fact that you are accepted. This is the gift that Christ gives to Paul and to all. Relief from anxiety. Peace. Deep appreciation. Through God's prevenient loving acceptance, we are freed -- free to do good and to love because we have been loved first. We can be confident and empowered because we have already been given everything we need as an unearned gift. This is Paul's gospel.

Although he had been an observant Jew, Paul was quick to recognize that this gift of acceptance transcended Judaism. He found a responsive audience among the godfearers attending synagogue -- Gentiles who were attracted to the moral teaching and monotheism of Judaism, but who were unwilling to undergo circumcision or practice kosher laws and some other traditions peculiar to the Jews. Naturally, Paul encountered resistance when he began to steal these Gentiles from the synagogue. Many of these Gentiles were prominent in civic life and generous in support of the Jewish community. These conflicts occasionally became violent.

Paul also had the complication of uniting within the Christian fellowship people who brought with them very different traditions and practices. Many Jewish Christians observed kosher and other dietary laws as well as some Jewish holidays and other practices. Gentile Christians brought different scruples and opinions. Many of Paul's letters deal with the conflicts and complications of melding these two traditions into a coherent community.

Peter's defense of the inclusion of Gentiles was a crucial turning point in the early history of the Christian movement. The vision of clean and unclean animals that God gave Peter changed his inherited paradigm. "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." When Peter recognized the gifts of the Holy Spirit manifested among the Gentiles, he immediately included them into the Christian fellowship through baptism.

That was a profound act. Standing over against Peter's experience was the witness of scripture and centuries of tradition. Yet, the Apostolic Council confirmed Peter and Paul in their testimony on behalf of inclusion of the Gentiles.

In our generation, we've faced similar issues. Are women to be fully included? Are gay and lesbian and transgendered Christians to be fully included? Happily, our apostolic council seems to continue to follow the example of our ancestors. We continue to hear the words, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." When we have seen the Holy Spirit manifested in these others "just as it had upon us at the beginning." Our church has confirmed those who have testified on behalf of inclusion of these "others."

The gift of acceptance that Paul so profoundly articulated in his Gospel is our message as well. God loves us, frees us from anxiety and self-centeredness, so that we can confidently live generous and loving lives. The icons of Peter and Paul, the embrace of two very different men and the synergy of their passions, is an image of unity, reconciliation, and energy for us today. They show us how to transcend our scruples and differences with the inclusive power of the Holy Spirit.

Happy Saints Peter and Paul day!

I will not allow my eyes to sleep, *
nor let my eyelids slumber;
Until I find a place for the LORD, *
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob." Psalm 132:4-5 (BCP)

altar the heart
each night
before sleep

The Rev. Ann Fontaine, Interim Vicar,St. Catherine's Episcopal Church, Manzanita OR, keeps what the tide brings in. She is the author of Streams of Mercy: a meditative commentary on the Bible.