Morning Prayer, Brokenness, and Wholeness

Well, Rev. Cynthia Park did it again. She led the 10:00 a.m. congregation in a stunningly beautiful morning prayer service last Sunday, with only two day’s notice that the rent-a-priest who was to have presided over Sunday Eucharist would not be able to do it after all.

The first reading was about David and Bathsheba. You know the story: lust, betrayal, adultery, directed killings, etc. Old Testament stuff. Somehow, in spite of David’s many character flaws, meanness, sins, and what my children would call “epic fail,” God chose David to lead his people. In Cynthia’s exegesis, God chose David not because of the universally horrible attributes we see David display in this particular reading. Instead, God chose David because of the God inspired ability – I guess we call it grace – which David exhibits at the end of his life when he acknowledges his moral bankruptcy before God and asks for mercy. Wow, that’s heavy!

Somehow, Cynthia connected this story to the 900-mile journey on which she was about to embark to spend a week in the woods leading her young grandchildren in an artsy “Granny Camp” at the request of her own children. Cynthia emphasized that “Granny Camp” was not high on her list of favorite things to do, but that her children expected her to love doing it because their grandmother (Cynthia’s mother) seemed to love doing it when they were youngsters. Long story short: I think there’s probably some kind of grace that enables Cynthia to immerse herself in a hellish chore with her grandchildren (sorry kids!). And in truth, Cynthia’s mom probably hated doing it too, but did it anyway with grace – both the human-elegance kind and the godly-theological kind.

I don’t really know what else to say about this except that I wish I had written about it five days ago when it was still fresh in my mind. I hope that God’s grace will overcome my memory lapse and feeble attempt to tell the story of one wonderful hour in the St. Clement worship space. Peace be with you.

-- Pat Jones

Let’s get over the excessive umbrage

We've all done it. Everyone on the planet has done it. We overreact. We say something or do something we wish we hadn’t done. We assume the worst about another person’s actions and lash out in a less than civil way. It happens to everyone. And we regret it.

The clear message of President Obama’s Thursday night sit down in the Rose Garden with Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cambridge, Massachusetts police sergeant James Crowley is this: “Let’s get over the excessive umbrage, sit down, and get to know each other.” Michael Kinsley wrote eloquently about this sentiment in a July 31 Washington Post op-ed article.

It’s hard to hate another person when you walk side by side with that person and his family on a presidentially guided tour of the White House, then join that person, the president, and vice president for a cold beer in the Rose Garden. As for President Obama’s own hastily chosen words about someone acting “stupidly,” he’s human too, just like his companions in the garden.

-- Pat Jones

8:00 a.m.

The quiet. The thing that struck me most about attending the 8:00 a.m. Sunday Eucharist for the first time was the quiet. It was enveloping. Inviting. Nourishing. It made me want to begin a silent retreat right then. To be alone with the Lord. Silent, attentive and observant. Apart.

Then the service began. A short walk from the sacristy to the foot of the altar. The lectionary held aloft. A few words of greeting. All of the gestures and movements were smaller, more subdued than those of the 10:00 a.m. service. There were 18 souls present at 8:00 a.m. The typical 10:00 a.m. congregation numbers 50. So the volume was dialed back. The movements were sparer. An economy of sound and movement appropriate to the situation.

The Lord finds us where we are. In the quiet and stillness of the 8 or the music and movement of the 10.

-- Pat Jones

Paul Hawken's Commencement Address

Every once in a while, you hear or read a speech that makes your skin tingle and your heart leap for joy. Paul Hawken’s commencement address to the class of 2009 at the University of Portland on May 3rd is one such speech.

In his opening remarks, Hawken says that he was asked if he could give a simple short talk that was "direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful." I think he succeeded. Here are just a few excerpts from this mind blowing speech.

Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating.

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse.

You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power.

Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. Our innate nature is to create the conditions that are conducive to life. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.

Please go now and read Paul Hawken’s commencement address. And be inspired to change the world for the better.

-- Pat Jones

Never Forget

My travels for work have taken me to Krakow, Poland (my first time) for an international conference. I took the opportunity of this trip to visit the nearby concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau which became the killing center where the largest numbers of European Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

Perhaps nothing can prepare you to confront the visual and psychological reality of the systematic human extermination that happened here. We had an extraordinary guide, Berta, who is a native of the small village of Oswiecim from which the camp draws its name. A history teacher, Berta was amazingly knowledgeable about all aspects of the camp. Allowing her facts and observations to unfold before us with patience and sensitivity, Berta invited us to face a reality that is impossible to ignore. I found a very interesting blog post about another group’s recent visit to the camp and our guide Berta here.

As a continual reminder of our own responsibility to prevent such atrocities from happening, visitors to the camp see this quote from George Santayana at the museum’s entrance: "Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it."

-- Pat Jones

Cho Too

“When I first arrived here in the Church of Saint Clement, I could feel your love and welcome embrace. The way you surrounded me with your love made me feel as if I had come home.”

Those were the words of Cho Too, the seminarian from Myanmar (Burma) who preached at the 10:00 a.m. Eucharist this past Sunday. With her parents listening from one of the front pews, Cho Too broke open the words of the gospel by reflecting on her own experience of God’s love as expressed in and through the members of our church community.

After two years with us, Cho Too returns to Myanmar this month to begin teaching seminarians who are preparing to become Episcopal priests. As a farewell gift to our community, Cho Too presented Father John a framed image of the cross and lights at the center of our worship space – an image composed of tiny multi-colored precious stones.

The Sunday School children prepared a special song which they sang for Cho Too and the community following her homily. She will carry the light and love of our church community to a part of the world in which our Christian faith struggles under the heavy burden of official opposition. We will pray for Cho Too and the faith she helps to sow.

-- Pat Jones

Final Performance of "Fiddler" TONIGHT! Love, romance, revolution!

The final performance of T.C. Williams High School’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof” is tonight at 7:30 at T.C. Williams High School! Themes include love, romance, religious persecution, revolution, and the challenge of trying (and failing) to control one’s spouse, children, community, country, and God. Read a student’s review of the performance in the Washington Post.

TC has put forth a fine crop of actors, musicians, stage hands and technical crew to produce this family classic. Of special note (to me, anyway) are Freshman Sam Jones as Perchik, the student radical from Kiev who courts daughter #2 Hodel; and Senior Katie Jones, lyrical flutist in the pit orchestra. Sophomore and neighbor friend Zachary Frank delivers a robust perfomance as Tevye...and he can't wait to shave off his scraggly beard. Both Sam and Katie are my children and members of St. Clement, though they often hide at the edges of the worship space…or cannot be seen at all. Well, they can both be seen and heard loudly and clearly TONIGHT at T.C. Williams High School beginning at 7:30 p.m. Arrive early to purchase your tickets: $8 for adults; $6 for students and senior citizens. They’re expecting a sellout crowd. Don’t miss it!

-- Pat Jones

“I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

Congressman Jim Moran has written a thoughtful and courageous op-ed piece in today’s Washington Post that speaks to our duties as patriotic citizens and evangelists. He’s talking about the debate over where to relocate the 241 foreign nationals being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and/or where to put them on trial.

Here’s a portion of what Jim wrote: Like those in any other congressional districts, we Virginians would rather not have terrorism suspects held and tried in our back yard. Often, though, doing the right thing is neither popular nor convenient. Alexandrians are civic-minded people and are ready to do their duty if it serves the greater good. They have shown this public spirit time and again. Zacarias Moussaoui, who participated in planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon, was held and prosecuted in the Alexandria courthouse. Others who have been brought to justice in the court include the "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh; Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad; and spies Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames. Taking the easy route and joining the chorus of those crying "not in my back yard" is appealing. But that's not the Alexandria I know and have represented in Congress for nearly 20 years. I am confident that if asked to step forward, Alexandria would demonstrate resolve for a higher purpose, echoing John F. Kennedy's call to accept the challenge presented because it is what happens to be right and good for our nation.

I agree with Jim Moran. We should accept these prisoners if the Obama administration asks us to do so. We can also look at this responsibility to accept Guantanamo detainees as part of our call as Christians. In the book of Matthew (Chap. 25), Jesus talks about how the King of glory will separate the sheep from the goats at the end of time.

Jesus said: Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

My friend Bud Hart is active in the Kairos Prison Ministry here in Alexandria and can tell you all about what it’s like to serve the spiritual needs of incarcerated men, women and children, their families and those who work in the prison environment.

We are called to be patriots and evangelists. Let’s respond with full hearts.

-- Pat Jones