The 37th Dose: Fasting...not just for Roman Catholics anymomre

Every year, on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, I fast.

Generally, about a week in advance, I begin to speak to my parish about fasting, and I suggest to them that when they fast, they should generally start a couple days in advance, slowing down, eating a little less and less each day, so that by Ash Wednesday, making it a whole day without food won't be so hard on their stomachs.

Then, they look at me as though I'm from a different planet!

"Fasting? That's one of those 'Roman Catholic' things. We don't do that!" (The same is generally said of confession, come to think of it.)

Now, this upsets me. It upsets me partially because, well, I'm a Priest, and my people, loving as they are, have decided to educate me about what it is we Anglicans/Episcopalians do or don't do, as though I was an outsider. And I can't fault them. They've probably been told by a whole lineage of Episcopal clergy that fasting, confession, daily prayer, and all ohter disciplines of the Church are for you to take or leave. And in reality, they are right. I can't really make anyone fast, or make a confession, or say their prayers.

But this brings me to the second reason this upsets me: they're missing out on one of those things that truly blesses us as Christian people. Fasting is more than simply, "Going hungry for Jesus." It actually makes us go hungry FOR Jesus. Not only this, but if we put our minds to it, it makes us appreciate Jesus's sacrifice, because we can feel it. No amount of talking about it will bless you. Doing it will.

Fasting is about "doing without"  or "putting away" those things that keep us from God. When we take a couple days out of our year to go without something, it makes us apreciate it that much more. I'm amazed each year to hear my friends, some of whom do not believe in God, nor go to Church, who talk openly about what they're "giving up for Lent." It's become somewhat of a popular thing to talk about. People sacrifice chocolate, fast food, expensive coffee, and all other sorts of extravagances, in order to accomplish several goals: save money, lose weight, spend more time at home, take better care of themselves...but what about to understand our Lord, or to understand ourselves?

Go without food for a day, and every time your stomach grumbles, think of Jesus. Perhaps you'll think of him in the wilderness, being tempted by the devil; tempted with things such as food, shelter, and protection from the things that go bump in the night in the deserts of Judea. Perhaps you'll thnk of him working, dragging what was probably no less than a 150 pound cross through the streets of Jerusalem on an empty stomach--think of this as you struggle to make it through your day on an empty stomach. Perhaps you'll think of him, at around 3pm, on a cross. By then, I can promise you, your mouth will be at least a little dry. Imagine asking for a drink, and being fed vinear. Perhaps you'll be thankful that all you are is thirsty, without harboring a nasty taste in your mouth, as others make fun of you.

There are many other places my mind has gone on fasting days, and it never would have contemplated those things, had I not fasted. Fasting with Jesus always make me love and respect him more. It's so easy to forget, and easy to dismiss, when our appetites are satisfied.

Some people never hunger for the Lord, because they feast at the table of his adversary.

Others hunger for his word, and yet feast on the words of tv, radio, and all other manner of thought that means nothing, changes nothing, and feeds us nothing...so we stay hungry.

Jesus was never Roman Catholic. Fasting predates the existence of that tradition by thousands of years.

Fasting, is about doing without food, but also about putting away distractions. What might you think about today, if you weren't wasting time on facebook, watching cable TV, or searching for pictures that you shouldn't be looking at? What might you hear, if only the radio wasn't drowning out your thoughts? What might you pray, if you only allowed yourself some silence to pray in?

Fasting, my friends, is not just for Roman Catholics anymore. It never was really only theirs to enjoy. It is for anyone who wants to put away the world for a day, and listen to God.

What might he be saying that you aren't hearing?

36th Dose: What? vs. How?

Not all questions are the same.

Some questions lead to answers while some lead only to more questions. And some, if we cannot supply an answer, remain unanswered and can plague our minds.

The mind, after all, is a problem solver. And when it can't solve a problem, the question lingers and may even keep us awake at night.

"What am I doing with my life?"
"What if I'd called her/him one more time?"
"What is the appropriate amount of time to call someone back after a first date?"
"What if..."

These kinds of questions, which can be very daunting, often lead only to fear or anxiety instead of answers.

Now I don't want to completely sail the word "what" up a river. "What" can begin some questions that will lead to knowledge, and knowledge is the beginning of understanding how to change our selves, our minds, and our relationships with others. But, the longer I've been in ministry, Ive become far more fond of the question "how?".

Rick Warren said somewhere (and forgive me for neglecting you the direct page number and text as this would be the responsible thing to do--but here it comes), "Most people already have more knowledge than they're putting into practice." His argument was that the last thing many Christians need is another Bible study, because we already know more than we tend to use or implement. Discipleship is more than just Sunday school--it is about taking that good news into our homes and out into the world.

This is why I love the question "how" instead of "what", and far more than "what if...". Let me give an example. Which of these do you like better:

What am I doing with my life?
or
How can I improve my routine this week to better use my time?

The first is general and vague while the latter is clear and specific.

Of course this latter phrase could be stated: "What could I do to improve my routine this week?" but it still lingers there as knowledge, instead of action. "How" tends to lead us into action.

We have, perhaps, the most educated society in the history of civilization, and yet we have more problems than ever before. We have a vast communication network at our disposal, and dozens of modes of "social networking" and yet people are still chronically lonely, despite 600+ facebook friends, and tweets keeping them up to the moment with what some celebrity is up to.

Knowledge is potential power, but only if we use it to put into action those things that would change our lives for the better.

Knowing God is one thing... loving him is something better, and serving him better still.

Knowing my wife is one thing... loving and serving her is better still.

You probably won't serve that which you don't love, and it's not likely you can truly love something or someone you don't know.

Go ahead. Ask the "what", but carry it forward into "How". What is wrong, and how can I make it better?

How can I make time for more prayer this week?

How can I get to know my God, my spouse, or my kids better this week?

How can I show them my love a little more this week?

How can I make this world a better place, while I'm still alive to be a steward of it?

Answer one of these questions at a time in progression, and you might find you're being a better disciple, a better, spouse, a better parent, or just a better child of God.

Fr. Jon+

35th Dose: What divides us?

Last week I took my 7th class toward my Doctorate of Ministry degree, and this course was on "The History of Orthodox/Anglican Relations." Basically, it was about the history of doctrines that could serve to divide us, or reunite us as a faith tradition.

In the late 1800's an Anglican Priest named Edward Pusey was writing to his friends in England about how to reunite with the Roman Church. His perspective at the time was that the Anglican and Orthodox churches were basically in agreement on virtually everything, and in the 19th century, he was right.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case today. Bishop Robert Terwilliger (formerly suffragan Bishop of Dallas) was apparently once known for saying that reunification in Anglicanism seems to be a revolving theme that seems to come about every 100 years. So what has changed over the last 100 years?

The things that historically divided the Eastern and Western Churches, from an Eastern perspective, were essentially: the use of ikons, the validity of ordinations, and authority within the Church. While Westerners, like Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists tend to create catechisms or doctrinal statements to define every aspect of faith, the Eastern Churches have a good respect for allowing mystery, and sharing authority. I don't think any of us debate that Christ is the rightful head of the Church, but we do seem to have problems over who is #1 in his stead on earth until he returns. The East refer to the patriarchs (highest church leaders) as "1st among equals" with their brothers in Roma, while the Roman Church claims the primacy of the Chair of St. Peter (the popes).

These days, Anglo-Catholics (high church Anglicans) and Eastern Orthodox groups have very little that divides them, because they continue to agree on core doctrines, and the use of ordination. Holy orders have everything to do with sacraments, therefore if those in Holy Orders aren't in right order, neither are the sacraments which they confect.

This is no longer true for Most of Anglicanism. There are portions of our Church that differ in their teaching on the 7 sacraments, hold to the Nicene Creed as we have it in the prayer book which adds: "Who proceeds from the Father 'and the son'," which was not in the original text of the Creed of Nicaea; and a portion of Anglicanism also departs from the historic teaching of the Church concerning women in the Priesthood. These things cause a problem for the unity of Orthodox and Anglicans, but also for the unity of Anglicanism with itself.

Dr. Pusey also wrote in his day of the things that divided Anglicanism and Orthodoxy from the Church of Rome. It is amazing how much of this is still true, even 100 years later!
(Bear with me, this is an exhaustive list, but I didn't write it!)
Points made by Pusey as "practical evils popularly feared from Rome" are:
A. Eucharistic sacrifice
B. Necessity of intention to validity of sacraments
C. Statements on justification
D. Doctrine of satisfaction or making amends (confession practices)
E. Adoration of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist
F. Limitation on cultus of images
G. Doctrine of the "real presence" in the Holy Eucharist as defined as "transubstantiation."
H. On the number of sacraments
I. The sufferings after death (Purgatory)
J. Deutero-Canonical Books (Apocrypha)
L. Primacy of the See of Rome (which would include: "Papal infallibility" and it's aftermath including: Transubstantiation, marriage of a brother's wife, title of "universal bishop", Papal authority, Immaculate Conception, Marriage of clergy, the grace of the cup, and [in his day] prayers in vernacular.

So, how much of this still applies to us today?

I would say that just about everything that divides any Church, doctrinally speaking, can be narrowed down to one of two things: authority and mystery. I think most of the problems that divide us are either centered on trying to over-define things that will always be, to some level, a mystery; and claiming too much authority over things which rightly belong to Christ alone, namely, supremacy over the Church.

So what do you think? What is it that divides churches? We can have a varying amount of usage when it comes to liturgy, calendars, music, and lectionaries...but those things have never really been universal. What really keeps us from being united with out fellow Christians around the world?

Think hard, and I imagine it will come down to some element of mystery or authority.

What would happen to the Church universal ("catholic" or "sobornost") if we grew in a little humility, and learned to listen to the things that divide us, and determine whether we have the authority to claim that they are true, or whether they rightly belong to the mysterious power of God alone.

May God bless you this week as you contemplate these things.
Fr. Jon+

34th Dose: Resolutions

A new year brings new opportunities for change. And change usually begins with finding out where we've been going wrong, and then trying to remedy our faults.

My fault in blogging is inconsistency. And it makes me sad, because I get a lot of positive feedback from it, and I seem to help a lot of people who don't go to Church, yet read this blog. This is a sorrow I hope to remedy this year.

So, how do we change ourselves to make a fresh start together this year?

It seems to me that the problem these days, is that few are willing to admit that they've made mistakes at all, except it seems that everyone is honest in hindsight, when the heat is off, and there are no penalties for honesty. However, true contrition is rare. And it is a pity, because contrition can be a real motivator for change.

Contrition is that true sense of sorrow for having made a mistake, a sin, or simply a miss-step in everyday life. Contrition is when we feel bad because we've hurt someone--hurt God, hurt our family or friends, or hurt ourselves. True contrition begins with true sorrow and a desire to be more loving to those who deserve it--even ourselves.

St. Thomas A' Kempis said, "I would far rather feel contrition than to be able to define it. If you knew the whole Bible by heart, all the teachings of the philosophers, how would this help you without the grace and love of God?"

Sometimes when we make mistakes we don't feel bad about it at all. Partially because society teaches us these days that there are no mistakes made by people, just incidents that didn't go as planned.

To grow in a real sense of contrition is to consider ourselves in perspective to the sacrifice of Jesus' blood for our lives. Or rather, to consider that God always wants better things for us than we want for ourselves.

Thomas A Kempis also said, "Many people, although they often hear the Gospel, feel little desire to follow it, because they lack the spirit of Christ. Whoever desires to understand and take delight in the words of Christ must strive to conform their whole lives to him."

But is this our desire? Do many of us who wish to be good Christian people have a real desire to actually BE like Christ? Do we desire to conform to anything, or rather do we desire that the world conform to us? Or at least conform to tolerating our behavior, however it comes out?

Desire is at the heart of this. Desires draw us into all kinds of trouble. Desires for food, sex, attention, love, comforts, and so on--these desires can be used for good or for bad.

So what would happen if we re-directed our desires toward heavenly things? How could a true desire for heaven or virtuous living change your life this year?

Ask yourself today if you are where you want to be in life. What are your deepest desires? Is there room for change? Is there room for true contrition to motivate us into better living for ourselves and those around us?

Answer these questions, and make a few, that is FEW (not many) resolutions for this year. Let's see if we can make a change together in 2012.

Feel free to email me your prayer requests for what could truly change your life this year.
Joncjenkins@gmail.com

Happy New Year!
Fr. Jon+

33rd OVERDUE Dose: Preparations for Something New

I've been excited to get back into blogging by 2 people lately. One is my dear old friend Mr. Tony Clark (who is apparently my biggest fan and checks in on me every day); and the second is a new visitor to my parish, Mrs. Jenny Thompson.

  

As I return to this long overdue habit, I must make my apology, which is to say, my explanation, for why I haven't been blogging.

  

1. It takes a lot of time. This is going to be remedied by making the blog posts smaller, and without as many photographs. My greatest frustration with Blogging is the posting process. I usually write these in a very short amount of time, and then spend 3 X as long trying to get it to look like I want it to look, with text wrapping around photos, and paragraph breaks where I need them to be. Sometimes it looks great in the "compose" page, and looks like one large seamless paragraph on the actual blog. So that can be frustrating.

  

2. I haven't settled on a regular time to write. This is hopefully going to be remedied by a change in my schedule to make Monday a "Reading and Writing" day. It seems to be the only day that people really don't call as much, and so I can hopefully get into the habit of doing some study and writing this blog, as well as working on my dissertation.

  

3. Format. I usually tell you what's going in in my life or parish, and then give a word of the week and a book of the week. The trouble is, I have no shortage of words for the word of the week, but not that many people read books, and truly a lot of what I recommend for people is limited. So I'm going to drop the whole"book of the week" concept. However, I am working on revamping my parish website in the near future (already underway) and I intend to clean up my "Suggested reading page" so that everyone who wants to ask me about books I'd suggest on various topics can find them there.

 

And so, here were are. I guess I'll begin with an update.

Since last year...

• I've gotten engaged, and am slated to be married to Claire Galloway on October 22nd, at St. John's Church, Ft. Worth.
• I've completed my 3rd year of Doctoral Studies at Nashotah House. I have my dissertation topic, but I need to submit a formal request for my outline and bibliography. Although, I haven't had time to get that done yet, due to lingering summer school homework and marriage preparations.
• I've become far more involved with my Diocese in serving various committees, and writing curriculum for our youth camp.
• I was elected Secretary of the Alumni Association at Nashtoah House.

All in all, I've been really busy. There's probably more to report, but those are the major things. Most of my life is a parish routine, and that basically doesn't change much.

So, what do I say, after starting a post LAST September saying I was back at it, and then not writing for a whole year? I suppose I'll just say that I'm thankful for all God's provided me this past year. This last year has brought me a lot of spiritual growth, and myriad blessings in my personal life. Not the least of which is Claire. She redeems me more than I'd generally like to admit. Our life together is going well, and it's been an interesting year as I've both taken Marriage Counseling Courses, and given some as well.

I guess the most interesting thing about getting ready to be married is all of the advice people try to give us about marriage. All of it is pretty interesting, and some of it is very particular. Here are a few things I've been told since we got engaged:

• If you ever have a fight, just say, "Yes dear, you're right. Oooh La La."
• Pray together every night. (And we do, unless hindered by travel)
• Have a system of giving yourselves a small regular cash allowance so to buy things you want for yourself, and so to buy gifts for each other without knowing about it from reconciling your bank statement.
• When it comes to the wedding, just let her have her way.
• Have sex at least once a week.
• Don't go to bed angry.
• Have a "date night" once every week.

There have been other things, but they all basically fall into these categories.

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WORD of the WEEK: Holy Matrimony

I don't get to share a Greek origin for this word. But I think it's important to distinguish "holy Matrimony" from Marriage.

A lot of things are paraded around as "marriage" these days. "Wedding" is also a pretty vague term. If I say to someone, "We're going to a wedding" the first question will likely be, "Whose wedding?" or "What kind of a wedding?"

"Whose wedding" might seem like a simple question, but is it? Is this the Groom's wedding? Is this the Bride's wedding? Is this God's wedding? Is this the Mother of the Bride's wedding? Whose wedding is it? Most people ask this question simply to identify who is getting married to whom? But a conflict often arises over "whose wedding is this anyway?" Is this the bride's big day? Or is it just THE big day?

This brings us to "What kind of wedding is this going to be?" Priests or ministers also have a certain character to their weddings. In fact, I have more than one. I can have a Nuptial Mass, or simply An Order for Holy Matrimony. Some even have Solemn High Nuptial Pontifical Masses, which means a really long wedding with lots of ceremonial presided over by the Bishop. (I think our wedding will be somewhere in between.) Some people have Star Wars weddings, or Cowboy weddings, or any number of other themed weddings. So how can we look at all of these things and call them Marriage, or Holy Matrimony?

Few people distinguish a difference between a Wedding vs. Holy Matrimony? Bridal magazines don't distinguish a difference. They're going to sell the same product to a bride no matter where she's getting married. The State doesn't distinguish a difference. They're going to give the same licence to a couple being married in a Church, as a couple being married at the Courthouse, or on a beach. I even had a conversation with a bartender earlier this year who told me that he got ordained on the Internet so he could preside at the wedding of another friend of his on a beach in Jamaica. So what's the difference between that, and Holy Matrimony?

I guess the big question is, "what makes it holy?" What makes anything holy? What makes it good? In creation, as reported in Genesis, God makes everything and it is GOOD. What did he mean by that? Was the dirt playing well with the rocks? Were the trees being nice to the ants? What does it mean to be good, let alone holy? Being good means fulfilling God's purposes. The dirt was Good because God made it for a purpose, and it fulfilled it's purpose.

Being Holy, means to not only be good but to be sacred, set apart, spiritually whole, well, perfect, or pure. Holy Matrimony is set apart from common marriage by being made holy through God's presence, uplifted by fulfilling God's purposes for the couple, and being made whole in the 2 becoming one flesh through the binding of hands, and mutual sacrifice of one to another. The care of each individual is for that of the other in that they try to fulfill God's purpose for their creation, and furthermore for God's purpose in setting them apart. They are no longer in the open pool of single people, but are now set apart from society as a married couple.

Did you know rings aren't even required for marriage? They are a sign of it. We say that the marriage is bound when the man and woman bind themselves to each other in oaths of self-sacrifice and mutual love, and we demonstrate this in our service by binding together the couple's hands as a sign of their union. St. Augustine spoke of the "two becoming one flesh" in holy matrimony as "the rib that was once taken from Adam to make Eve is being restored." He says that when the rib that fits comes along side the man, they are reunited into one flesh and fit to fulfill the purposes for which God made marriage.

These are the purposes that make marriage holy, according to the Book of Common Prayer:

1. Mutual Joy
2. Help and comfort granted one another in prosperity and adversity
3. When it is God's will, for the procreation of Children.

C.B. Moss, a great Anglican Systematic Theologian puts them in reverse order.

1. Procreation of Children (Bodily purpose) [Genesis 1:27-28]
2. Hallowing of Sex (Purpose for the soul) [1 Cor. 7:9]
3. Mutual love (Spiritual Purpose) [Gen. 2:24]

Fr. Crary, my dear mentor and a senior Priest of our Diocese, would say it yet a third way:

1. For the procreation of Children, to be brought up in the fear and nature of the Lord, and to the praise of his holy name.
2. For a remedy against sin (concupiscence), and to avoid fornication; that such persons as have not the gift of continency might marry and keep themselves undefiled members of the body of Christ.
3. For the mutual society, help, and comfort that one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity.

All in all, Marriage not only serves as a holy thing because it prevents the couple from sinning by having sex outside of marriage, it also serves to build up society. Parents teach children how to live together in community, with self-sacrifice, mutual concerns for the needs of others, and love shown through support in good times and in bad. It is a most holy virtue to give of oneself in charitable love--love which is concerned about the needs of another over ourselves. That's why St. Paul calls it the greatest of the virtues, and the lesson which reminds us of this is probably the most common reading heard at all weddings: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.

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Well, I suppose that's enough for a first post. In fact, It's probably still too long.

Have a great week.

Fr. Jon+

The 32nd Dose: Back to School!!

Welcome back! That's what they say on the first day of school: "welcome back."

Although sometimes we aren't that eager to be back in school. But I don't see why not. The beginning of a new school year is a good thing!

Even if you don't have kids, the school year definitely affects how we do things. My commute to work is a little longer each day when school is in session. No more easy 8 minute drives to work. In fact it's more like 18-20 minutes. I confess that I've been late to work a lot lately, mostly due to traffic as I live near a school, and all of the morning commuters are delayed a little because of dropping their kids off for school. It seems there have been more wrecks lately, probably because people are going fast because they're running late!

The school year puts everyone on schedule, or at last it asks them to keep a schedule. When I was in school, if you were late, you got a "tardy slip." That or someone recorded that you were late to class. If we received enough of these slips, we had to stay after school in detention, which was NOT pleasant. In the High School I attended, punctuality was encouraged with negative reinforcement, and I'm sure it is in other places as well. If you were late, you were penalized. Perhaps your job has a similar level of accountability with a time-clock that you punch-in or out on, and if you're late enough times, the boss gives you some kind of a warning, and may eventually fire you, something no one needs in this economy!

I've noticed, especially over the last few years (this is sort of a rant, but bear with me) that fewer and fewer people care about punctuality: BEING ON TIME.

I've always been at least 15 minutes early no matter where I'm going. I've found that being early ALWAYS benefits me in some way. If I'm early to work, I have time to get organized and settled before I go to pray Morning Prayer. When I'm early to a meeting or a doctor's appointment, I've found that often times the person I have an appointment with is ready to see me early, and I get to have more time to myself later in the day. When I'm early to a dinner party, I get to talk with the host a while to catch up with my friend before the crowd arrives and the small-talk begins. Being early to things has almost always blessed me in some way!

But I've found more and more lately that many people are always running late. People run late to important meetings, and then wonder why the meetings go on longer than expected. Some parents are late picking their kids up from school. And some parents are late at bringing their kids to Sunday School or to Church. I've hosted many dinner parties over the last year and at every single one, there is someone who arrives 2 hours into a party. I even have one friend who is notorious for showing up to a party about 15 minutes before it is supposed to end, and then she can't understand why everyone is leaving. "I just got here!", she says.

Another thing that has gone by the wayside is R.S.V.P.ing to anything. R.S.V.P. stands for the French Phrase: "repondez s'il vous plait" which means: "respond please." When a person decides to host a party, or any kind of an event where food and beverages are to be served, or materials have to be produced for the guests such as handouts or whatnot, they ask for you to RSVP, which is to say, "Please let us know if you're coming so we may be good hosts and provide enough food and resources for our guests." However, very few people do this anymore. They just show up to events without alerting their hosts that they're coming. This is not very polite behavior.

We've also had the opposite phenomenon here at the church. With the dawn of the social networking websites like Facebook, people can set up invitations to events through the website for greater efficiency. The trouble is, people RSVP for things without any real intent to attend them. For example, the first of my "Second Sunday" masses last September, I asked people to RSVP so I would know how much food to provide. I had over 40 people promise to come, however only 15 people actually came. I had all this extra food (and expense) but no one to enjoy it. I managed to turn it into a blessing as I took nearly a dozen pizzas to the Union Gospel Mission to feed the homeless, but it also cost the church quite a bit of money.

Punctuality is really about balance and organization, but it is also a matter of respect for those who have us over to their homes for hospitality.

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WORD OF THE WEEK: Hospitality (Middle English from French/Latin hospitalis: to host.)

Hospitality is the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. In Benedictine spirituality hospitality has always been a element of the holy and religious life.

In a monastery, there is a monk (or a rotating schedule of several monks) whose job is simply to welcome guests, show them where they need to go, and to see that their stay is enjoyable.

In the Bible, God's people (the Jews as well as ourselves!) were taught to be good hosts to those sojourners (travellers) who came among them, as they too were once sojourners in the wilderness. "19 Love the sojourner therefore; for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." -Deuteronomy 10:19. The basic tenet here is simply the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Why wouldn't we want this as a cornerstone of our lives? Why wouldn't we want to be good hosts to our friends, as well as good guests? Once again, I've found that being a good guest blesses me. When I come to someone's house for a dinner, and I come on time, we find that everyone enjoys themselves, and we all look forward to doing it again at someone else's house next time. But if we're constantly late, the host ends up making food for a table without guests. After a while they stop inviting us. Fortunately, God never stops inviting us to his table, but this is only due to his divine mercy and compassion, forgiving us our negligence. Friends aren't always as forgiving.

In our baptisms, we all promise to keep the commandments, which include WEEKLY attendance at Church. This is what is meant by the 4th Commandment:

"8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; 11 for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11

If you RSVP with God and don't show up, what does that say of our promises? What does it say of our relationship?

Hospitality is always a matter of generosity, not only to our friends, but to guests and complete strangers. That generosity usually comes at a cost, which may often mean that some of our friends will come late, or not at all. But the payoff, the benefit of the generosity is the company of good friends who come together, and the blessing of meeting new people and expanding our families to include those who are otherwise strangers.

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Since this is my first post after a summer hiatus, instead of giving you a BOOK OF THE WEEK, I'm going to tell you about my summer, and my summer reading.

This summer was intensely busy for me. It always seems so easy to schedule hings to keep busy during the summer, but even so much as a week away from the parish leaves a lot to be done when I get back.

CAMP CRUCIS

The first major thing I did this summer was to spend a week out a Camp Crucis with the Sr. High crowd of 10th-12th graders and the summer staff. This summer's session was incredible! I was asked to write the curriculum for camp this year, so I took it a bit more seriously than in years past. I always try to prepare a lot of good things to offer for the session I teach, but this year I had the added responsibility of trying to prepare resources for the entire summer, although, I never know for sure if they were used or not! The theme was "Praying through the year with Jesus" and it was about looking at the life of Christ as we remember it in the Church year, but not so much to develop liturgical rhythms, but rather to learn to spend our lives with Christ, sharing in his joyful and trying moments, and to be resurrected with him again and again as we fall throughout our lives.

I also had a sub-program which was to walk around camp asking the kids questions from Trivial Pursuit cards (Genus Edition). Whomever got the most cards each day won a Star Wars Pez dispenser. The competition got pretty rough, but all told, we had some great interactions.

NASHOTAH HOUSE

About a week after I got back from that, I went back to Nashotah House for 2 weeks of Summer Schooling in my Doctor of Ministry Program. Last year Nashotah was nice and cool, and I had one very demanding class, and one more relaxed class. This year, it was incredibly hot and humid, and I had two well balanced classes.

One class was with Dean Kevin Martin of the Diocese of Dallas, who is an expert in Church Development. This class was great as I got to hear from others, but also research techniques in developing the life of the parish along with the potential growth of the parish. The books I read for this class were:

The Myth of the 200 Barrier: How to Lead Through Transitional Growth by Kevin Martin

5 Keys for Church Leaders: Building a Strong, Vibrant, and Growing Church by Kevin Martin

44 Ways to Increase Church Attendance by Lyle Schaller

Assimilating New Members by Lyle Schaller

The Seven Day a Week Church by Lyle Schaller

I cannot recommend enough, especially to my clergy brethren, how much these books are worth your time, most especially Lyle Schaller's books. I've bought at least a half-dozen more of them to read when I get a little free time.

The second class I had was titled: Theological Anthropology through the Eyes of the Eastern Fathers. This class was taught by Fr. John Behr (pictured to the left), who is the Dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary in New York, but also among the greatest minds in the world just now in Patristic Studies. We read so much for this class, that I cannot list all of the articles, but suffice to say that I read a great deal from the Church Fathers.

The full texts I read were:

Dogmatic Treatises by St. Gregory of Nyssa

Against the Heresies by St. Irenaeus

On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ by St. Maximus the Confessor

The Mystery of Christ by John Behr

The Life of St. Antony by St. Athanasius the Great

In my final paper which I just turned in, I did a study on "Pleasure as the End of Appetite in the Life of St. Antony". This was a wonderful read, but I also encourage all of you to get an opportunity to read anything written by Fr. John Behr. He is a terrific writer, and a magnificent teacher. I was so blessed by my congregation this summer to get 2 weeks away for these studies.

Shortly after my return from Nashotah, in the midst of trying to do coursework and implement my studies to the parish life, I was on a Happening weekend, which took up a lot of time, but it is ALWAYS worth it.

After that, I took a while to try to catch up on work, and I took a short vacation at home. I got a lot done, but it seems there is still more lingering from my summer even though it' well over now. I finished the cedar armoire I was refinishing, I made 2 new mirrors, wrote 2 papers, and got organized both at the home and the office. Unfortunately, it was still too hot to get much done in the garage, but I did get a good coupe of days of projects in before the heat of the mid-day 100's that plagued us through August.

Anyhow, that was essentially my summer. This "Back to school" time has me running ragged, but it has been very fruitful, and we're starting to see a lot of visitors here at the Church, as well as some wonderful new families. I welcome the routine of the school year, but I suppose my trouble is in still trying to reconcile all of the things I started in the summer time. There are also more pictures to be found on my facebook page (www.facebook.com/FrJon) if you want to see more of beautiful Nashotah House or the pictures from happening. I don't have many camp pictures, but I've seen that tehy're available somehow through the website: www.campcrucis.org

So, WELCOME BACK! I had a great summer, but there's always more to do. . Let's get into a routine together, and perhaps we'll be fruitful as we grow in our knowledge and love of God!

In Christ,

Fr. Jon+

The 31st Dose: Waking Up and Finding Sanctuary

Welcome back from a time of Rest...well, at least MY time of rest.

It feels like it's been a month since I've written anything on here, and for good reason: I finally took a much-needed vacation! And to be honest, although I only took off one week, it feels like my vacation was 3 weeks. Partially because I got some good time away and time moved slowly as I enjoyed long days of NOT WORKING! But it also felt longer because some of my people misunderstood when was taking off, so the week before my vacation, a lot of people assumed I was away and they didn't call me to interrupt my work, so I got a lot done! Then the week I got back, although I had a lot of work waiting for me, I really managed to knock it out in short order, so the week after my vacation was pretty easy too (with the exception of an unexpected series of sudden hospital calls when I normally write the blog, so I missed last week as well).

As I said in my Easter post, Lent was VERY good for me. I really put a lot of bad things behind me: bad behaviors (sarcasm), lingering history, lingering pain and anxiety, and I finally moved on from a funk I'd been in since our parish troubles a year ago. I also taught a class on the history of monasticism and how we can apply their experience to our daily lives, which was also good for me from a perspective of study and class preparation, but it also took a lot out of me. So once I finally made it to Easter, I had no more anxiety, no more depression, no more classes to teach, and I came out of it with some good tools to really rebuild my life. Not to mention, I got a new companion in my awesome dog Eamon!

But even though all of that was behind me and I had some good things going, I WAS BEAT! I was tired. I was thoroughly exhausted from the teaching, extensive prayer, self-examination, study, and whatnot...and so I simply came out of Easter feeling really good, but completely spent of energy.

This week, I feel as though I'm finally waking up from Lent, Vacation, and all of the things I've overburdened myself with over the last few months. I want to reiterate that I'm coming out from under a burden I put on MYSELF.

The weight of life's burdens can be a most heavy load to carry. As some of you can imagine, I usually carry a lot of other people's burdens too, but that hasn't been (at least from my perspective) the weight that I've set down. The burdens I've had most trouble laying down are things I put on myself to stretch who I am, further my mind, and truly things that kept me busy at a time when I didn't want to get out into the world. I just wanted to bury myself in work, and I COMPLETELY succeeded at that!

When I get upset, and this has been true since my youth, I pour myself into some kind of work. When I was in college, there were many times when I was angry with someone, with my job, with my schedule, or with a girl; and when I get angry, I get restless--literally, I don't get any rest. I toss and turn all night. And so I usually decide that if I'm going to be awake I might as well get some work done.

In art college, this meant that my friends found me in the studio day after day between 2 and 5am working hard at completing some project because I really had nothing else to do and I was insomniated and angry. I do very well at taking out my anger in WORK. There were months when the ceramics professor LOVED me because I was not only available, I was eager to take the overnight watches on the kilns which none of the non-art majors would take, essentially meaning he was pleased that I was responsible enough to look after the kilns in the middle of the night when anything and everything can go wrong if you're not attentive, and I was actually qualified and eager to take the night shifts.

This past Lent was similar to that time. Many a night you could have found me in the office at 3am working on Holy Week services or writing a lent program lesson or a sermon. In fact, one of my parishioners sent me a text message at 3am about her mother dying, and I responded with a call in under 30 seconds. I was available to make a call to the hospital within 15 minutes because I was already awake and alert when that family needed me most.

But the inevitable result of not sleeping is exhaustion. It eventually catches up with you.

The work was good for me on a spiritual level, and it helped me get through my angst, but it also left me really tired and in a dire need for rest. We all need rest.

I can't tell you how many people I meet in public who don't go to Church because they want a day to sleep in. Of course when I mention that they offer church on Saturday night and Sunday night as well, they're seemingly still unable to find the time. They usually say something like: "I'm just so tired, and I need that one day to rest."

And I COMPLETELY agree! That's why God gave us a Sabbath: a day of worship and a day of rest. There's a reason we don't ask you to do push-ups on Sunday morning: it's supposed to be restful! Worship is restful. The act of leaving home, coming to a sanctuary, and bringing your troubles to God so to LEAVE THEM BEHIND is a wonderful gift of rest and refreshment. If you go to Church every week and you're not leaving behind your anxieties and/or your gift of thanksgiving to God for all he provides you, I really think you should consider that you probably haven't experienced the Sabbath as God intended!

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Word of the WEEK: Sanctuary (Middle English from Latin sanctuarium: sanctus=holy + sancire= consecrated or "set aside")

Sanctuary has 3 meanings, the last of which has to do directly with the Church itself, although we will see how the others do in some way as well:

1. A place of refuge or safety

2. A nature reserve (i.e. bird sanctuary)

3. A holy place, temple, or church (also used to define the innermost holy places of a Church)

Although the 3rd definition here has to do with the church itself, the 1st and 2nd definitions come from the Medieval Church period in which fugitives were not allowed to be arrested in churches, so they would come and hide in the sanctuaries.

But more importantly that that, I think you should all consider that the first definition has EVERYTHING to do with YOU! You typically are a fugitive in need of a safe place. The outside world is constantly looking to attack your morals, question your beliefs, break down your family values, seek 90% of your money (instead of 10%), an ALL of your attention, your love, and above all, your will. YOU ALL NEED A PLACE TO GET AWAY from that bombardment on your lives!

This is what the Church offers you: a holy (sanctus=holy) place to get away (sancire=consecrated place which is set apart from the rest of the world). You need a holy place to get away from all of the UN-holy places that demand your time, treasure, and attention.

Think of it this way: there's nothing in the Church to distract you from your time of rest with God EXCEPT what you bring into it. There are no phones in the Church except the ones you bring in. There is no Internet access in the Church unless you bring it. There is no television...and so on. The Sanctuary is a HOLY place that is SET APART for you to come and get away so to find sanctuary, safety, rest, relaxation, relief from running around, working, and turning yourself in circles.

However, the greatest trouble with sanctuary is usually ourselves or other people. When we get to Church we begin to treat it like the rest of the world. When we see friends we want to talk, chat, converse, and carry on all the business that we do everywhere else. Here's another fun fact: there are no voices in Church except the ones you provide. The Church is a place to come and listen as well as praise God.

One of the Churches I attended in High School was St. Barnabas in Garland. They had printed on the door as well as on the front of their bulletin: "Before the service speak to God; during the service let God speak to you; after the service speak to each other."

So many people come to Church and depart feeling as though they heard nothing from God. But then I often challenge them to ask themselves honestly, "Did you ask him anything, and then did you listen for the answer? Or did you spend the whole time whispering to your neighbor about so-and-so on the 3rd pew with the funny looking hat?"

You all need a day of rest. You all need a place to leave your burdens behind. you all need to be attentive to making your Church a place of quiet so others can converse with God. And above all, you need to renew your purpose for being there through an act of worship: to give to God your love, your thanks (this includes the first fruits of your labor which is your tithe= 1/10th of your income as a sign of trust that God will provide for you), and you need to give him your burdens and ask him to bear them with you.

If you go to a sanctuary for quiet and only fill it with noise, what are you doing there?

If you go to a sanctuary for relief, but don't actually ask God to help, what are you doing there?

If you go to a sanctuary to GIVE your life, will, and treasure to God but don't actually leave any of those things behind there for God to enjoy and use as he will, what are you doing there?

God's sanctuary is open to everyone, even fugitives, but it has a purpose, and that purpose is to be a place of REST, REFRESHMENT, and the RESURRECTION of SOULS.

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Well, welcome back to regular blog posts. I've finally had some rest, and so I should be pretty regular at writing once again.

As an added bonus, here's a recent picture of myself with my dog Eamon. This is also going to be the picture I give my Momma for Mother's Day (it's what she asked for).

Thank you to all of those who let me get rest, and to those of you who have been supportive to me through this time of refreshment of my own soul. I thank you for your laxity in letting me off a week or two there, and I hope this return to weekly doses does you some good. After all, we need sanctuary EVERY week, not just once in a while or when the family is in town for a holiday.

God bless you all!

Fr. Jon+

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