There is a cryptic announcement in our church bulletin for this Sunday which says, “Revelation is coming!” I think it is a very timely announcement. While you might think that with Thanksgiving now over it is the Christmas season, I beg to differ. This is Advent. Since the season of Christmas starts at sundown on December 24, up until then it’s Advent time.
Advent is a time of watching and preparing for the coming of our Lord. We watch in fascination as the Holy Family-to-be walks to Bethlehem and is turned away at every hotel, motel, or Holiday Inn. We remember the Virgin Mary as she sits atop a donkey and ponders what it means to carry the Christ child. We look upon the face of Joseph as he holds the reins of the donkey. His face is set and determined but we can’t help but notice the look of awe, wonderment and fear. It is a time of fascination and wonder. And, it’s also a time to remember that Jesus promised that he would return. He came through on each promise and now we wait for the fulfillment of his final one – to return. When Jesus was lifted up into heaven, the angels told the disciples and on-lookers that Jesus would return in the same way they saw him depart. (Acts 1) So, this season is about looking up to the clouds and anxiously awaiting Jesus’ return while we also remember his birth. So what’s the deal with the cryptic announcement in our bulletin? Starting this past summer, many people exchanged names and became secret pals with someone else in the congregation. And, on the first Sunday of Advent, the secret pals will be revealed to one another. Each recipient will have an envelope with their name on the front. Inside will be a picture and contact information for their secret pal – the one who has been writing and praying for them in secret. Apocalyptic writers of the Bible tell us that all will be revealed and I think that really means everything. I expect that kind of revelation to happen in heaven, but the apocalyptic seers and writers seem to indicate they believe it will happen during a particular generation. And, as a tradition during each Advent season, we wonder if it will happen during our time. About this Great Revealing (and Reveling) that is to happen with Christ himself returning with the clouds, I wonder if it will be also like the secret pal’s envelope. At that time, will we receive an envelope which will reveal when Christ was in our lives? Will we get pictures of people who helped us when it was actually Christ himself working through them? Or, perhaps, will you receive one that shows when you were like-Christ for someone else. As you ponder that, I’d like you to think about which envelope is bigger – the one signifying when Jesus helped you or the one where you were the hands and feet of Christ for someone else. For me, I definitely see the envelope of someone being Christ in my life as much, much bigger than when I was Him for someone else. It’s more like a FedEx truck delivering an entire filling cabinet of full of times when Jesus helped me in my life. All the more, though, that image of the filing cabinet makes me want to be his ambassador here on earth. Happy Advent! - Fr. Marshall The virtue for December at Saint John’s School is “enthusiasm.” If there was a top ten list for virtues, I doubt enthusiasm would appear on anyone’s list. Nevertheless, I think it is important and I am not alone in my sentiment. Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with saying, “Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.” Winston Churchill said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm.” And Ivern Ball said, “Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch.”
Some find it surprising that we need to teach students from pre-k through 8th grade to be enthusiastic. Some say, “Don’t they have enough energy already?” For the most part, children have plenty of energy. But, there is a difference between childhood energy and enthusiasm. The root of enthusiasm is a combination of Greek words that translate literally to the “God inside.” (“En” for in and “thusi” [theo] for God). There’s a spirit inside each one of us and enthusiasm is what brings the God/Spirit out. We all have God inside. Focusing on this December virtue teaches how to bring it out. The end of the year brings a particular focus to spreadsheets, budgets, pledge drives, and the like. Because of it, I find my enthusiasm waning. Being a Priest-in-charge is not easy; the work never stops And we’ve come a long way since I joined the Saint John’s family three and half years ago. But, that “long way” has taken its toll, in particular on my enthusiasm. I don’t think I’m alone in this. Other church and school leaders may be finding their enthusiasm on the decline too. Negativity is the enemy of enthusiasm. There is a term for it – “emotional business management” (EBM). According to author and business consultant Suzanne Evans, EBM is about the ups and downs of business. As entrepreneurs know, there are good months and bad months. The EBM of a bad month, however, weighs heavier on the heart than the EBM for a good month. This applies to pastoral ministry, too. We’ve had good months and bad months and the bad ones can bring church leaders down more than the good ones energize us. The first thing negative EBM affects is enthusiasm. Additionally, things are not going well in the world and there are negative thoughts and forecasting regarding the future of the Church in America. Even our own Bishop preached on this a couple of Sundays ago. Suffice it to say, there is plenty of negative EBM to go around. Treating enthusiasm as a virtue is a way to counteract negative EBM. Here is a virtuosic plan of action for enthusiasm. Think and then list what you are thankful for, what you are proud of yourself for, and then how you will feel once a task or goal is completed. Write another list of all the things, moments, and people that make you happy. Write how you would feel inside if everything in your life would be just as you want it, then concentrate on this feeling and try to hold it as long as possible. Come back to this feeling and read your lists every time you feel sad or discouraged. This will help tremendously. Jesus was enthusiastic about his mission. The negative EBM he encountered was tremendous. Yet, he never let that trouble him or slow him down. Did Jesus make a list of all the things he was thankful for? Perhaps. And if he did, I bet you are on his list. Now that is something to be enthusiastic about. -Fr. Marshall If you look closely at my forearms today you’ll notice “LOVE & SERVE” on my left forearm and a heart shape on my right. Yesterday, when the black Sharpie print was darker, folks caught glimpses of my forearms, partially covered by my half-rolled black clergy shirt. Someone even commented, “Fr. Marshall, I didn’t know you had tattoos.” I thought I maybe should go with it and say, “Yes, I just had them done. What do you think?” Instead, I recalled to them the following story.
The virtue for the month at Saint John’s School is obedience. The reading for this week is from Deuteronomy 11: “The Lord says, ‘You must listen carefully to the commands I give you today: You must love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.’” This might sound familiar because we often recount in church that Jesus said the greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” Deuteronomy continues, “’Remember these commands I give you. Keep them in your hearts. Write them down and tie them on your hands and wear them on your foreheads as a way to remember my laws. Teach these laws to your children. Talk about these things when you sit in your houses, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. Write these commands on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.’” I told our students that in Moses’ day (to whom Deuteronomy is attributed) the “hand” started at the tips of the fingers and ran down to the elbow. We have names – fingers, palm, hand, wrist and forearm — but they simply had “hand”. I showed them one way to “tie them to the hands” is inscribe them on one’s forearm. That way farmers can continue to farm or a 21st century priest can type, shake hands, and celebrate communion without worrying about something tied around the palm. I asked an 8th grader to write “LOVE & SERVE” on my left forearm and a heart on my right to symbolize “with all your heart and soul.” All day, I caught glances of God’s command to love and serve the Lord with all my heart and soul. It caused me to think if I was being obedient to God’s command. I saw it when I dialed a phone number, when eating lunch, when I looked up a Bible passage on-line, at Bible study, and during the numerous meetings I had that day and even when I picked up our to-go order from our favorite Chinese food restaurant. When I finally sat down in the evening, I put my feet up on an ottoman, stretched, and saw “LOVE & SERVE' which made me ponder if I, even sitting at home, was being obedient. Imagine if we all took this command literally and wrote it on our forearms and our foreheads. What if we taught that command to our children and talked about it when we sat in our homes, commuted to work, when we lay down and got up. Imagine if it was written on the doorposts of our homes and on our gates. Despite the constitution, what if it were written over Congress, the Supreme Court and the White House and across the dome of our State Capitol. What if we listened carefully to the commands that God gives us. What would our obedience produce? -Fr. Marshall We celebrated Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) this week. The Anglican calendar shows it as All Souls day. From experience, I can tell you that Day of the Dead and All Souls Day are on the proverbial same-side of the coin. At the core of each celebration is remembrance. We re – member the souls of those whom we love but see no longer. Thankfully we have a day to remember the dead because the days spent with the living are busy and scheduled.
In seminary, we often asked, “What does one teach children about death?” The answer is simple – they understand a lot more than we think. And, they can also tell when adults are not being authentic when talking about it. At Saint John’s School, the students found a way to talk about death through art. Many created shadow boxes which feature a clay representation of a person the student wants to remember. On the back of the box are two or three sentences about the subject of the box. In addition, the box is painted in pastel pink, teal, and purple as well as black and white for contrast. I hope to borrow a few of them this Sunday for you to see in the Narthex. Curiosity propelled me to take a sneak peek at who the students were coming up with to remember this year. They are all fantastic. Many have descriptions of the person represented in the box as someone who they never knew but was loved by everyone in the family. Although touching, I could tell the boxes were not quite as authentic as the ones where a loved one was known by the artist. The one that stands out for me is by Ximena (Heh-main-a). I don’t know what grade she is in as there are Ximena’s in most grades. This Ximena, however, spells her name with two hearts – one over the “i” and a heart after the “a”. In her shadow box, she created the most beautiful dog with white fur, floppy ears, straight tail, black eyes and a pink collar. The box is colorfully decorated with green and blue back ground with pink pastel hearts. On the inside, the dog is standing on bright green grass offset by a blue sky, a tree and three sun shades. In pencil, Ximena wrote on the back, “My dog and I used to play. I would give her food and water. I will always remember how you used to make me laugh.” It makes me wonder if All Souls Day includes dogs. According to my fancy Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, it is a day to remember the “faithfully departed” which became universally accepted in the Church in 998. I also wonder when it is appropriate to remember the un-faithfully departed. After all, faithfully departed is a Christian code word for those who died in the faith. Prior to 1969, it was obligatory to include the chant, “Dies Irae” which means day of wrath. Unfortunately, the twenty pound, 1786 page tome has no listing for Day of the Dead. In fact, the rules for Dia de los Muertos say nothing about who can be remembered. Traditionally held in cemeteries, it is perhaps assumed the celebration day is for humans. Does All Souls/Day of the Dead include pets? According to Ximena, it does. She is the foremost authority on her own grief. For her, this day is a time to remember her dog. Do dogs have souls? For Ximena, her dog does. Is it worthwhile to remember pets that we love but see no longer? According to Ximena, and me, it certainly is. -Fr. Marshall |