Episcopal kids are smart. It’s true, they are. There is something special about a child raised in an Episcopal church and also those who attend Episcopal schools. They are taught to think, reflect, ponder, question, believe, serve and love. They’re also observant. Very observant. I can’t change one thing in the church without one of our kids asking me what I did. They see and know our liturgy better than many adults. They can recite the various Eucharistic prayers, the creed, and many other common phrases and prayers. Our kids know when I change the proper preface; even though they don’t know it’s called a proper preface. (If you don’t know what it is, just look on the middle of the page 367 and then turn to page 377 in the prayer book)
But there is a downside to this “smartness” and it’s probably not the one you are thinking. Since Episcopal kids are observant, faithful, ask questions, and know the words and lifestyle of our faith, they use that as their measuring stick when looking at us adults. They listen to what we say, watch how we behave, and see how we treat others and then compare that to our shared faith and practice. Was it just me, or did you also feel a shiver go down your back? A book about teens and their faith was published while I was in seminary. It was based on a comprehensive study of teens across all faith traditions. Christian teens that self-identify as Episcopalian scored quite well across the entirety of the test – from being able to elucidate their faith to actually participating and living it out. The teens of the Episcopal Church stood out and represented our particular faith tradition very well. However, there is one question that they ranked near the top that does not sit well with Episcopal adults. The question was about how well their parents live out their faith tradition. We ranked near the top of all faith traditions of not living our lives like what we profess with our lips. Ouch. I attended a symposium with the authors the book. During the question and answer section, the Episcopal contingent asked for some clarity around that painful response from our own children. Luckily, the authors let us off the hook a bit. They said that if teens of other Christian traditions knew their own faith tradition, specifically the baptismal covenant, as well as the Episcopal teens do there would be very little difference between the Episcopal parents and the parents of the other traditions. It felt like a backhanded compliment. The good news, our kids know our faith. The not-so-good news, it is visible to them when we don’t live up to what we profess. -Fr. Marshall I am not a good speller. I blame my 7th grade teacher because she didn’t focus on spelling. In her words, “Someday you will have computers spelling for you.” Prior to 7th grade, however, spelling bees were agony for me. Public speaking comes rather easily to me, but public spelling does not. At my 6th grade spelling bee, I intentionally misspelled the first word so that I could sit down. My teacher, Mr. Winters, looked disappointed, but allowed me the intentional fail.
Flash forward thirty five years; my son, Ethan, is preparing for his 6th grade spelling bee. He has been diligently reading through the list for over a week now. This morning, in the car on the way to Saint John’s, he practiced the huge volume of words, three at a time. It seems as if my 7th grade teacher’s prediction is only partially true. Computers do help us spell but spelling is still a part of school curriculum. The virtue for the month at Saint John’s School is doing our best, both for the Lord and ourselves. Ethan has the option to not do his best and to follow his dad’s footsteps of intentionally failing the 6th grade spelling bee. From his diligent preparation, I can tell you that, although he is not comfortable standing up and spelling words in front of a crowd, he’s going to give it his best shot. This past week, we heard in Sunday’s Gospel lesson about Nathaniel proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus smiled (at least I imagine him smiling) and said, “Truly, you will see greater things than this.” Nathaniel, in my opinion, was uncomfortable about proclaiming about who Jesus was. I think his proclamation took him out of his comfort zone which is perhaps why Jesus said he’ll see greater things than this. As I listened to Ethan spell, “infringing” “endeavor” “ipso facto” “guffaw” and “veracity,” I wondered what would have happened if I had practiced and did my best in the spelling bee. It also got me thinking that we never heard about Nathaniel’s friends. I bet that he had some, yet none of them said Jesus is the Son of God. Imagine what would have happened if they did. Truly they did not see “greater things than this.” I wonder if God is calling you out of your comfort zone. I wonder if you take God up on the calling, what greater things you will see. -Fr. Marshall In my junior year in high school, our symphonic band received perfect scores and thus won a state competition. It took a lot of practice, dedication, hard work and commitment to be perfect. The piece with which we won the event was particularly difficult and required that each section watch the director and listen to the others.
We were locked in a dead heat against a rival high school which had just performed their final piece and performed it very well. Our director, Mr. Harper, told us in our warm ups prior to performing that he had a trick up his sleeve. During band practice in preparation for the competition, Mr. Harper had us play different parts of the piece without looking at the music in order to teach us to listen to one another. He knew we could do it because his pep band leader (me) led the band in a two-minute version of the song during a time out during a home basketball game. We didn’t have the music at the game. During our warm-ups, Mr. Harper instructed us to sing through the music in double time. He then felt we were ready to perform it without the notes in front of us. Five minutes later, we processed into the auditorium. We pulled out the music, set it on the stands, and sat down. He raised his baton, turned it once in a circular motion, and we turned our music stands away from us so that the music was facing the audience. The five judges had our full sheet music in front of them and while the entire audience had our music in view, the performers were left without the notes. There was a rush of voices and then silence from the crowd as they waited to see if we could perform without music. Mr. Harper smiled warmly and confidently at us, like a cat who had just caught a bird. He waved his hands and off we went. … and we were perfect. That night, I had a dream. I was in the most magnificent symphony orchestra I could ever imagine. We were playing in the throne room of God. The music was unlike anything I have ever heard on earth. Every instrument was in tune, from the tympani to the chimes to the strings to the piccolos. We were technically correct but, at the same time, we were playing with more passion than I have ever experienced. By far, this was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard in my life. I was in the orchestra for God. After I awoke, I realized that what we played for the judges in the high school band competition sounded like an AM radio station played on an old transistor radio compared to what I heard in heaven. I shared the dream with Mr. Harper. He told me that we strive to be on earth what God has in store for us in heaven – perfection. Maybe this is what Jesus meant when he said for us to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect. That we strive to be better than what we are, to reach higher and higher, to try to be perfect maybe to prepare ourselves for what God has in store. -Fr. Marshall I think it is time for English to create a new word.
I have heard that English has the biggest vocabulary, the most words, of any language. A Russian tutor said that English has twice as many words as Russian but is half as specific. In other words, the argument goes, it takes us twice as many words to say the same phrase in Russian. This particular tutor wondered how scientists using such a diverse and clunky language could get us to the moon first. The virtue for Saint John’s School this month is “pride.” Some clever and attentive students have commented that they thought pride was a sin; therefore, how can it be a virtue. In typical Anglican fashion, I answered yes to both – it is a sin and it is a part of the virtuous life. C.S. Lewis (not a fan of pride), wrote in Mere Christianity, “The utmost evil is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” Obviously, this is not the form of pride we are teaching and encouraging at school. We are teaching the virtue of doing one’s best, putting one’s best effort forward, taking pride in one’s school work, homework, extra-curricular work, and church work. We are lifting up the virtuous side of being proud of one’s school, church, faith tradition, and family tradition. At the same time, we are not placing one set of traditions over others. I don’t think we have a word for that kind of pride so maybe English needs a new one. I know a talented student who is quite good at softball. During practice she hits the ball with skill, tenacity and ferocity. But, during a game, she looks like she’s never been at bat before. When confronted with this paradox, she says she doesn’t want to show off. I find that very interesting and, in an odd way, consistent. But in my opinion, Jesus calls us into a life where we do our best with whatever gift or skill our Creator has given us. Unfortunately, we don’t have a word for it. In St. Paul’s first and second letter to the Corinthians, he warns against pride and also shares his boasting about their faithful work. A careful reading of the Greek makes it seem like Paul is dancing around “pride” as no word in Greek defines how proud he is of them and how he wants them to continue doing what God has blessed them to do. Even if there is no word for it, I think we should have pride in what God has blessed us with, pride in accomplishing good things for God’s Kingdom, and pride in the faith tradition we have inherited. -Fr. Marshall |