Snow Business!

There’s no business like snow business, like Snow business I SNOW! (Apologies to Ethel Merman and her song “Show Business”...here is a picture of her cameo from the movie Airplane!)

My, what a winter storm that was this past week. Everything was quiet, and then WHAM. It just goes to show you how quickly our circumstances can change from one day to the next.

Something that does not change, however, is God. Here is how one of the prayers from our Compline service in the Book of Common Prayer puts it: Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At any rate, a happy February to all of you! Have you ever wondered where the word 'February' comes from? It comes from the Latin word 'februum', which means 'purification'. (Check Wikipedia if you don’t believe me!) It was named after a Roman ritual of purification, way back in the 700’s BCE. That’s fine for then, but I wonder if 'purification' could have any February meaning for us this year? I believe the answer is yes. Usually the answer would be obvious: the liturgical season of Lent begins this month, in less than two weeks. That is a wonderful opportunity to purify ourselves!

The state of our lives and our world might give us another way in which to consider purification, however. As some of us get the COVID-19 vaccine, and others wait for their turn, we hope to be purified of fear. Fear that we or our loved ones will get sick or die. Fear that our lives can never return to a more casual and close way of life.

And yet, that kind of aspiration is misguided. Someday we and our loved ones will die. It is inevitable. Also, while our lives will get something approaching 'normalish', we can never go back to where we were, not really.

However, there is hope that can be a source of great strength and joy! 1 John 3:3 says "And everyone who thus hopes in God purifies themselves as God is pure." (English Standard Version and adjusted to be gender-neutral.) Now we are getting somewhere! If we have hope in God, then we will be purified. That’s a wonderful message isn’t it? Let us have hope this February. Hope in God’s goodness and love towards us and all of God’s children. Hope in the ability of the human race to be better today than we were yesterday. Hope that the glowing embers of our faith will continue to burn brighter, day by day. I have those hopes, and I pray you do as well. Some days our hope will feel stronger than others, to be sure. On those days when my hope wanes, I’ll be looking to lean on you. And if you have days where your hope seems thin, know that you can lean on me. As Paul says in his letter to the Romans, "hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." (Romans 5:5, NRSV)

Be well my friends. The One who is eternally changeless is with you. Peace!

Create a Prayer Altar at Home

Because of the pandemic, we continue to pray in our homes, cars, and other places—but not the pews. But if you’re sitting in the same spot on the couch whether praying or watching TV, you’re not helping yourself to enter a prayerful space.

“Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks.” Philippians 4:6

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels

In this anxious time, our relationship with God can be one of our central pillars (along with mental health, community, etc). One way to draw closer to God in our daily lives is to have a dedicated prayer space at home.

In a couple weeks, we’ll build prayer altars in our houses. You’re welcome, of course, to start now.

The easy part:

You don’t need a whole room, or even a whole table. Any dedicated space can become a prayer altar: a window sill, an end table, the top of a short bookshelf.

You also don’t need to leave it there forever. You could start with a Lent prayer altar. Maybe you can’t always spare one part of your kitchen counter, but it seems doable for 40 days?

The hard part:

There is no hard part! You already have everything you need, probably scattered across your home. The idea is that we’re gathering it together in an intentional way.

Here are some suggestions for "ingredients," all of which are optional:

• Something alive: a plant or fresh flowers

• A candle with matches (not if little ones can reach them)

• Something to that reminds you of God

• Something to represent your family or community

• Something to hold/touch

• Fabric for underneath everything, maybe in a liturgically appropriate color

• A Book of Common Prayer

• A Bible

Gather these ingredients, and join us after 10:15am Zoom Morning Prayer on February 14! We’ll talk about the practice of building a prayer altar, discuss how to use our altars, and then start putting them together.

Conversion of St. Paul

Today the church usually celebrates the Conversion of St. Paul on the road to Damascus. Since this is a Sunday, it will get pushed to tomorrow...but I figure we can at least talk about it today. Here is what the Book of Acts (9:1-22) has to say:

9 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; 16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

(The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Ac 9:1–19). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

(Straight Street in Damascus...)

Paul had an intense, life-changing encounter with Jesus. But he did not endure it alone. God sent someone to help Paul through the strange and disorienting time after his encounter.

This time in our life together is intense, and strange, and disorienting. Yet we are not in it alone. As we sit in our own Straight Street houses, trying to make sense of what has happened, God will send someone to help us along the way (or a few). Look for those messengers of the Lord, because they are angels in our midst! And also...and here's the really crazy part... be ready for God to send you as an angel for someone else. We are in this together. Peace to you this day, my friends.