Off to NOLA!

If you plan to go, and have not told me you want to go, now is the time!

Friday, Jan. 2

• To St. Joseph to pick up Rosine.
• To St. Francesville for lunch & to see Crace Episcopal, an historic church with a Civil War cannonball embedded in its wall and surrounded by an historic cemetery and magnificent live oaks. This will be a late lunch so breakfast before we depart is advised.
• To New Orleans; arrive and check in at the Best Western French Quarter.
• Dinner and a stroll down Bourbon Street.
• ~10:30 p.m. Compline in my hotel room.

Saturday, Jan. 3

• 7:30 a.m. - Morning Prayer in my hotel room; complimentary breakfast at the hotel.
• 9 a.m. - Arrive at Episcopal Church of the Annunciation; spend most of the day working in the playground built for the neighborhood, which was heavily flooded by Katrina. Here's what the churches website says: 
• Annunciation is located on the edge of the Broadmoor and Freret neighborhoods. Both neighborhoods flood considerably after Katrina and the residents of both neighborhoods have worked hard to build a better community than existed prior to 2005. If you come down, you will see what a success they are. Both neighborhoods are diverse, ethnically and socially. Both neighborhoods have friendly people and great places to eat.
• Lunch at "Dat Dog"? Or something else in the neighborhood.
• Dinner & evening: You're on your own.

Sunday, Jan. 4

• 8:00 a.m. - Complimentary breakfast at the hotel.
• 10:00 a.m. - Holy Eucharist, Christ Church Cathedral
• 11:30 a.m. - Tour of the Cathedral
• ~1 p.m. - Lunch, joined by Garrett's friend, who is the Cathedral virger.
• Remainder of the day: You're on your own.

Monday, Jan. 5

• Breakfast snack at the hotel, if needed.
• 10:00 a.m. - Arrive at Five Continents Bed & Breakfast.
• Morning Prayer led by Fr. Walter J. Baer.
• Breakfast/Brunch by Peter Neusser.
• Tour of the city featuring Hurricane Katrina devastation and recovery; Fr. Baer will share his experiences ministering in the city post-Katrina. 
• Late lunch, at the end of the tour, joined by Fr. Baer.
• Back to hotel for break and change clothes.
• 7:00 p.m. - Solemn High Mass - Vigil of the Epiphany, St. George's Episcopal Church
• After mass: You're on your own.

Tuesday, Jan. 6

• The entire day is for you to use as you see fit. However, I plan to catch me some beads at the Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc parade, and I'm guessing Carnival Season kick-off hi-jinks will abound. Remember also that NOLA offers wonderful art and history museums.

Wednesday, Jan. 7

• 7:30 a.m.: Heading home - and I'm going to ask Sam to pick up Rosine at the Highway 65 intersection on I-20 so we can get home in the shortest time possible, as I must report back to campus Wed. afternoon.

December 29: Feast of the Holy Innocents

We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
         

Pizza & Planning

French Quarter Christmas

Canterbury@ULM will gather at my house

Monday, December 29, at 6 p.m. 

My address is 79 Quail Ridge Dr., which is in the Audubon Park subdivision in Swartz.

We will go over some materials I acquired from Episcopal Relief & Development about ministry in disaster contexts. This will be preparation for our trip to NOLA in January, but even if you can't go on the trip, please come! It's good material regardless and someday, you'll need to know.

Waiting for Jesus...

Happy Thanksgiving!

  

Circle of Life

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
       
(I took this photo last summer in the Kisatchie National Forest.)

Thanksgiving Eve

Just a reminder that this Wednesday evening, Thanksgiving Eve, the Episcopal Churches in our area will join together for Holy Eucharist - 7:00 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church in Monroe. Please join us!

This Week....

Canterbury meets Thursday at 6 p.m. in Student Center 163. We'll make a decision/plans for tailgating in The Grove Saturday and for the remainder of the semester and the holiday break.

We'll also talk about study materials for next semester. No reading assignment for tomorrow. I have some materials from Episcopal Relief and Development we'll use in preparation for out January work in NOLA.

BTW, I need to know very soon who is going to New Orleans with us for sure, so even if you cannot come to the meeting, please let me know! And, BTW 2, Rosine is going with us!

Veterans Day

Veterans Day 2014
For Heroic Service, The Book of Common Prayer, page 839

O Judge of the nations, we remember before you with grateful hearts the men and women of our country who in the day of decision ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy. Grant that we may not rest until all the people of this land share the benefits of true freedom and gladly accept its disciplines. This we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

d365

Learned about this great daily devotion site and app today. For more info or to subscribe by email, visit http://d365.org/

d365 Daily Devotionals - devotionals 365 days a year

d365.org

Decisions, Decisions

Tonight it was just Garrett and I. We reflected on our first outdoor Eucharist and made some decisions about the future, as well as discussing Ch. 7 of Keller, Encounters with Jesus. Here are the highlights:

Spring Semester Outdoor Eucharist: Thursday, March 26, 5:30 p.m., Bayou Park. We'll observe The Annunciation, transferred from Wednesday. Bayou Park will be reserved before the end of the semester and we'll be sure to get yard signs made. We thought the first outdoor Eucharist last Thursday was great, but our goal is to get more students there and the GSU and Tech Canterburies.

Holiday Party/Planning:  We will meet at Dr. K's house to party and make final preparations for our trip to NOLA. We discussed Dec. 18, but upon checking the calendar, it is clear we could do it either the 11th or the 18th. We will decide which date by or at our last meeting of the semester, Nov. 20. It would be very helpful if everyone would do what is necessary to make the Nov. 20 meeting.

Travel to NOLA: We will rent a mini-van so we can travel to NOLA in one vehicle. Dr. K. will ask her friend, Fr. Walter Baer, who is known for his knowledge and post-Katrina experience of NOLA, to jump into the mini-van with us and guide a tour of the city, particularly areas hard-hit by Katrina.

And these!

I LOVE these photos!

Thanksgiving Eve Eucharist

Last reminder!

Hope to see everyone there!

BTW, I cannot pull up an email address for George Spires. Someone who has his phone #, please make sure he knows.

Fall Back!

It's that time again: Across most of the United States,daylight savings time (DST) will end at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 2, when clocks will fall back to standard time. Set your clocks back one hour before going to bed on Saturday night!

Our Ad for the Hawkeye

Planning, planning, planning!

We will meet Thursday at 6 p.m., Student Center 163. However, we will spend our time deciding about tailgating Saturday and planning our outdoor H.E. next week and our trip to NOLA over the break.

Rooms reserved....

I have reserved rooms for our January 2-6, 2015, trip to New Orleans at the Best Western Plus Landmark Hotel on North Rampart St. That's the northern edge of the French Quarter.

Tomorrow....

Change in plans, folks! Due to the major changes in Diocesan Convention plans, we are not needed to help set up at Grace Thursday evening this week. Therefore we will meet at our usual time and place:

Thursday, 6 p.m.

Student Center 163

We have some planning to do, and we will discuss.....

The First Christian

(Ch. 5)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene, by William Hole

John 20:1-18 20Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. ²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ ³Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. ⁴The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; ¹²and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ ¹⁶Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Convention Changes!

Storm Damage responsible for

Changes in Diocesan Convention!

The Site for the 35th Annual Convention has changed. We will meet at

the following location for all events:

Bayou DeSiard Country Club

3501 Forsythe Ave., Monroe, LA 71201

There is also a change in the agenda. Here is a broad outline:

Friday

Lunch on your own

1:00 Registration

2:00 Business

4:30 Holy Eucharist

6:00 Silent Auction

7:15 Banquet

Saturday

Light breakfast provided prior to beginning of meeting

8:30 Business

Noon Adjournment

Lunch on your own

Clergy Spouse luncheon cancelled.

Parking spaces are limited, so please carpool as much as possible.

These changes are a result of the damage wrought by the storm on

Monday. As you may know, Monroe was struck by an F2 tornado on

Monday. The Garden District was hit hardest. Grace Church sits in

the midst of that neighborhood. Access to the area is limited and power is

disrupted. As a result, we are unable to meet at Grace Church.

As the outline above suggests, we will follow a significantly revised

agenda. Given our space and the available time, we will dispense with

workshops, hearings, and vendors. This is regrettable but unavoidable.

Please be on the lookout for a ministry fair day in the future in which

some of these canceled sessions will be held.

Most importantly, let us keep the people of Monroe in our prayers.

Many are enduring the negative impact of this storm. At the same time,

let's also acknowledge the grace and grit of these good people who, in

the midst of trial, have worked quickly and effectively to host our

Convention. Nothing keeps that Monroe Convocation down!

  

The Rt. Rev. Jacob W. Owensby, Ph.D., D.D.

The Diocese of Western Louisiana

35th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana

The Monroe Convocation will brave storm damage and power outages to host the 35th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Western Louisiana this Friday, October 17th - Saturday, October 18th. Pray for the success of the convention or come volunteer to help. Canterbury will send representatives to the the convention this year too! See post below...

Bishop Jake's theme for this year's convention is "Gone Fishing - Engaging God's Mission"

Join us also at our regular meetings and find out more about our upcoming mission trip to New Orleans!

Reminders: Diocesan Convention

This is convention week, and Canterbury@ULM has responsibilities!

Thursday, 5:30 - ?? -- We will meet at Grace Episcopal in the gym to help set up for convention. Pizza and beverages will be provided. (Ivania, if you can't get there at 5:30, come when you can.)

Friday, 11 - Noon & 1:30 - 3:30 -- Convention Business, President Garrett Boyte is our delegate.

Friday, 4:30 -- Convention Holy Eucharist. Garrett Boyte and Ivania Vallejo will be oblationers and should be at Grace by 4:10 p.m. I will be Deacon of the Table. Those who are attending will want to get there by 4:20 to get a decent seat.

Saturday, 9 - 2 -- Convention Business

This week: Jesus & his Mother

 

John 2:2-11

²Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ ⁴And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ ⁵His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ ⁶Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. ⁹When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ ¹¹Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Today's Tailgate!

Homecoming Tailgate!

We're on! Look for our banner (above) in the student section of The Grove Saturday afternoon. We'll be cooking burgers and hot dogs.

Dr. Ed Ryland will meet Garrett to set up the canopy and table Friday, and he'll join you Saturday afternoon about 2 p.m. I have asked Mthr Dawnell to make sure someone else is there from about 11:30 'til 2.

So next week we must get on with getting t-shirts. Think about what you want to put on them. And I'll be looking forward to joining the fun at the next home game.

Hawk on!

        

Homecoming!

A member of St. Thomas' has suggested something we did not think of, namely tailgating in The Grove for home games! In fact, he offered to pay for the food if we want to do that.

I think it is a great idea, and this coming weekend is Homecoming! Monday I will go to Office Depot and order our banner. I do not have a tent or canopy, but we can probably rent one.

The biggest problem I have is that I will be out of town from noon Friday until noon Sunday. I made these plans months ago, long before I knew when Homecoming would be!

I can get some folks from St. Thomas' to help get ready for this and be there with you, but...

MOST IMPORTANT: If we get this organized, will you be at our spot in The Grove? I need to be sure at least a couple of you are there at all times, so if you can't be, please let me know ASAP.

Text or e-mail.

        

The Grieving Sisters

Our chapter in "Encounters with Jesus" for this week is based on the story of the death of Lazarus and Jesus' interactions with Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha:

John 11:17-36

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ ²³Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ ²⁴Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ ²⁵Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ²⁷She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’

28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ ²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ ³⁵Jesus began to weep. ³⁶So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’
            

The Insider and the Outcast

 

John 4:7-19

 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)^* Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

 Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet.

Our Bible story for this week's Canterbury!

Thursday, 6 p.m.

Student Center 163

 

Canterbury today!

ULM Student Center 163

5:30 - 6:30 p.m.

President Garrett Boyte is in charge of today's meeting because I am at a Clergy Day. I will see the Bishop and do my best to get an answer from him about being celebrant at our outdoor Eucharist in October!

Garrett has your copies of the book we are studying, "Encounters with Jesus," by Timothy Keller. He also has money to buy food.

In addition, please discuss the mission trip in December. If you are all good with the idea of going to connect with St. Anna's in New Orleans, I need to start making arrangements. Please pick dates for us to be there that include a Sunday so we can worship with the folks at St. Anna's and that also include a day for us to do a work project in NOLA.

I'll see you next week!

 

The Skeptical Student

The story for this week's Canterbury@ULM meeting:

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ ⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ ⁴⁸Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ ⁴⁹Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ ⁵⁰Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ ⁵¹And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’

Tonight!

Tonight

6 p.m.

Student Center 163

Ready, Set, Go!

We will meet this week:

Thursday

6 p.m. in the SUB

I am working on a room in the Student Center. If I have one by Thursday, I'll post it. If not, we'll meet at a table across from Einstein's. 

We have much to plan. I need to request Bayou Park for our outdoor Eucharist ASAP, so be thinking about when you want to do that.

Please remember your friends are welcome. I have ordered a book for our fall semester study and will introduce it Thursday.

#Episcopal – “Social Media Sunday” a Digital Invitation

While in church this Sunday or when you get home, get out your smart phone. Facebook a selfie, live-tweet a prayer, blog an idea, video the hymn-singing, Instagram photos, Pinterest fun images, Foursquare a location — and use #Episcopal — so “Social Media Sunday” goes viral.

Social Media Sunday is an invitation to Episcopalians to share faith in the digital universe, according to Carolyn Clement and Laura Catalano, church social media administrators, who came up with the idea. “It’s a way of saying this is what’s going on in [the] church.”

“People can take a selfie, or a picture of stained glass in their church or something fun going on and post them on Facebook, or Twitter. It’s a neat way to get an idea of what’s happening across the church.”

Besides being a fun day, Social Media Sunday “hopefully, will give us some kind of information about how many Episcopalians are out there, actively using social media to share their faith. It’ll be interesting to see,” Clement said. Meanwhile, she added: “We just want to see #episcopal go viral on June 29.”

From an Episcopal News Service article by Pat McCaughan

Jesus, the Way

Christ Church, St. Joseph, La., 18 May 2014 

My late husband and I were hunting buddies. After he died, I mostly quit hunting because, as I’m sure many of you know, it’s way more fun to hunt with a buddy.

But that’s not the story for this morning. The story for this morning is how we got lost, more specifically, how the one who was always certain she knew where we were, and which way to go, got turned around and got us completely lost.. because he trusted and followed her.

 

See, he was born and grew up in a city.., and he had a lousy sense of direction. You could never have told him, “Go east on I-20, then south on Highway 65 to reach St. Joseph,” because he never knew which way was east and which way south. Do I turn right or left? he would ask.

I, on the other hand, grew up in the country, and had and still have a good sense of direction. Tell me that St. Joseph is southeast of Monroe about an hour and a half’s drive, and I’ll immediately have a mental map of going east on I-20 a ways and then south on some state highway, the name of which I might need to look up.

Give me a map, I have often bragged, and I can get anywhere I want to go, and home again! It got a little harder when we moved to Louisiana, where everything this side of the Ouachita is flat and covered with palmettos and… to people from Pennsylvania, looks exactly alike, indeed, seems to have no distinguishing features to help you find your way.

 

More

Tomorrow evening!

Northern & Central Louisiana Interfaith

invites you to come learn about

Higher Education Funding & the Workforce

 

St. Thomas' Episcopal Church

Thursday, May 1

7 - 8:30 p.m.

 

This issue is of special interest and concern to students. Please try to attend. The purpose of Interfaith Civic Academies is to provide data and initiate thought and discussion of the issues of our community.

Today's sermon: Wounded Healer

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Mer Rouge, La.

I have a scar on my knee. It’s not actually a very impressive scar. You probably wouldn’t notice it even if I were wearing shorts this morning!

But I enjoy telling the story of getting it anyway. I even think of the story in church sometimes because it involves sheep. In fact, I can’t NOT think of it when scripture reminds us, “all we are like sheep who have gone astray”!

You see, sheep are not very smart. One day on a small farm in Iowa, I and my brothers were helping my father in the barn when suddenly the skies opened and the rains came down—huge, drenching, rains.

Our small flock of ewes and newborn lambs was grazing in a pasture nearby. “Quick,” my father said, “get the lambs.”

And we all rushed into the pasture, took a soaking wet lamb into our arms and ran into the barn—the mother following us, of course—then back for another and another until all had been saved.

Sheep will stand in a heavy rain until the lambs get cold and water-logged, fall to the ground and die.

The scar happened because, running to the barn with an armful of wet lamb in a downpour, I failed to see a hunk of barbed wire on the ground and ran into it, ripping open my knee.

No big deal, really. Didn’t even go to the doctor. With no medical insurance, it had to be a lot worse than that to merit a trip to the doctor!

But I enjoy telling the story. It tells you something about me. It gives me a bit of “street cred,” if you will, or I guess “farm cred” would be a better term.

Today’s Gospel story often gets used to talk about things like Thomas’ doubting, his need to get visual confirmation of the resurrection of Jesus, and his ultimate, powerful statement of faith.

I, myself, have used this story to preach about how it is okay to be a bit skeptical, to ask questions and to wait and see. After all, the other 11 also didn’t believe the women when they first burst into the room claiming they had seen Jesus! So Thomas certainly should not take the rap alone!

And the story is about those things..., but I think that focus passes over something very, very important—namely, Jesus showing the disciples his scars, and then breathing the Holy Spirit into them.

More 

Civic Academy

Northern & Central Louisiana Interfaith

invites you to come learn about

Higher Education Funding & the Workforce

 

St. Thomas' Episcopal Church

Thursday, May 1

7 - 8:30 p.m.

 

 

This will be in lieu of a Canterbury@ULM meeting this week. Interfaith's involvement in this issue is directly related to our concerns as faculty and students at this university. Hope to see you there.

Bishop Jake's Easter Sermon

Old Tombs, New Life

Listen to Audio on SoundCloud

There are some things that only God can do. 

Jon Bruno is the Bishop of Los Angeles.* Before becoming Bishop Jon served an inner city parish in gang territory. Sitting in those pews among the maids and the mechanics and the janitors and the waitresses were members of rival gangs. 

You could describe some of these young men and women as former gang members. They had undergone a remarkable transformation of heart, soul, and mind. They hadn’t just quit an organization. They were new people. Compassion, respect, and vulnerability had displaced violence, contempt, and intimidation as the defining core of their lives.

Edward Burne-Jones' "The Morning of the Resurrection"

But they hadn’t gotten there all at once. And they certainly hadn’t gotten there on their own. There are some things that only God can do.

Most of the gang members in that parish were just that. Gang members: murderers, thieves, drug dealers. 

Don’t get the idea that these intimidating young men and women had rushed to church because they had seen the light and amended their ways. Against their better judgment they slipped into the back pews, eyeing everybody with suspicion. Their hearts raced when they recognized members of other gangs. They may have exchanged blows and gunfire with some of them.

Gangs do not offer an exit strategy. Well, that’s not entirely true. The tomb is a gang’s exit strategy. You get killed and you’re out. You try to get out and they kill you. In other words, you’re already in the tomb. You’re just waiting for it to be official.

And so gang members stumbled, staggered, and wandered into Bishop Jon’s parish because they had the faint hope that the tomb was not the last word. That maybe, just maybe, God offers a way out of the tomb and into some new life that they didn’t yet understand. 

As it turns out, God does get people out of their tombs. That’s what we celebrate Easter morning. 

More
   

Christós anésti!

God Play, by Bette J. Kauffman

Anésti̱ o Kýrios , prágmati.

Wondrous Love, cont'd....

Thoughts and questions for reflection...

Mark's Gospel is known for its stark and spare style. Read again the story of the crucifixion in the post below. How does paring the story to its bare elements shape your reading and response?

In Mark's (and Matthew's) account, Jesus cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Most human's feel this sense of abandonment by God more than once in their lifetime. Have you? And what does it mean to you that Jesus felt it as well?

What about John August Swanson's painting (in the post below) speaks to you?

Here's a detail from the painting:

Who do you think these people are? How do you read their expressions and gestures?

Here's another detail:

What do you make of this person, alone at the bottom of the painting?

Wondrous Love...

The Crucifixion, by John August Swanson

Mark 15:21-39

The Crucifixion of Jesus

 They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’ And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!’ In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.’ Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

The Death of Jesus

 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’ And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’
        

Today....

Canterbury@ULM will not meet today. It is Maundy Thursday, and Maundy Thursday services begin at St. Thomas' and at St. Alban's at 6 p.m. I will be at St. Alban's and need to leave campus at 5 p.m.

The Maundy Thursday service is a very special commemoration of the institution of the Lord's Supper on the eve of his crucifixion. The service incorporates foot washing, a sign of the servant ministry of Jesus the Christ. All are welcome to participate in foot washing but none are obligated.

After Holy Eucharist, the service ends with stripping the altar bare in recognition of the devastating events of Good Friday. The reserve sacrament is carried to an altar of repose elsewhere in the church, and the tabernacle doors will be left wide open, foreshadowing the empty tomb we will celebrate at the Easter Vigil Saturday night.

This is a solemn and moving moment in the life of the church. I hope you will attend a Maundy Thursday service.

The study materials about Jesus' crucifixion we would have used today will be posted on the blog tomorrow for your Good Friday meditation.

        

Tenebrae

Join us at St. Alban's tomorrow night, Wednesday in Holy Week, for Tenebrae. The liturgy begins at 6:00 p.m. The name Tenebrae is from the Latin word for “darkness” or “shadows.” The service symbolizes the growing darkness as we move toward Good Friday and the return of the light at Easter.