MoAmy+

Two Christian responses to Haiti: Robertson vs. the Missionaries

As the heartbreaking news began pouring out of Haiti last night and this morning, I was struck at how many stories there were about missing missionaries.  I knew the Episcopal Church had a large and active role in development there--many friends are in dioceses with companion relationships with Haiti, including our neighbors next door in Lexington.  (Read this archived story from Young Adult and General Convention Deputy Bungee Bynum on his experience there.)  I knew from my work with Episcopal Peace Fellowship that they were partnering on peacemaking work there, and of course I knew of Episcopal Relief and Development's ongoing work on the ground in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.  Not to mention that Haiti is the largest diocese of the Episcopal Church.

I knew all of those Episcopal connections, but was impressed that so many other American Christians had also been called to work in a place so in need of helpful partnerships.  I wondered about, and prayed for, our own missionaries there, particularly the members of the Young Adult Service Corps.  YASCers are 21-30 year olds who spend a year working in various places of need around the world, in partnership with our fellow Anglicans.  They participate in a discernment process.  They raise $10,000.  They learn new languages.  They convince their parents it's a good idea to live half way around the world for a year.   They serve.  

That's what impressed me today: that so many folks are transformed by the good news that God chose to be born into a world when there was no room for Him that they'll give up all our cozy American conveniences and move to the poorest country on this side of the globe.  They'll risk their lives to serve people that maybe the world likes to think we just don't have room for.  

Then I hear that Pat Robertson--once again--proclaimed that people in horrific suffering have simply asked for it.

The Gospel is God's good news, God's glad tidings. People in comfortable lives give up everything to come serve you when the world falls apart?  Sounds like good news to me.  A (very) rich old white guy with a cable TV show proclaims God's curse on a now homeless nation?  Not so much.

My Christian brothers and sisters--let's not let the world think only Pat Robertson represents Christianity.  Get yourself to work.  Tell someone some good news.  Serve somebody.  Be Hope.

Learn more about the Missionaries of the Episcopal Church here.

Ask the Priest

I'm very excited that my good friend FrSimmons has asked me to contribute to his collaborative blog, Ask the Priest.  I'll try to post the questions I seem to get all the time, as well as answer those posed by readers.  He's also given me design permissions, so watch out!  Anyway, check it out--and ask questions! 

Donate now to Episcopal Relief and Development's Haiti fund. 

Sermon: Epiphany 1C 2010

In Epiphany, we come to know this wondrous God who comes into the world.  The Messiah continues to be different than what we might expect: John thinks his coming will bring a fiery judgment, but instead we're made God's children and given the gift of empowered ministry through the Holy Spirit.  Now we have to get to work dwelling in the life of God.

Epiphany1C 2010

Sermon: Christmas Morning

I celebrated and preached on Christmas morning (Luke's Gospel). Here's the gist of what I said: God is where there is no room.  

There's no room for God--it's a familiar story, right?  Most of the time there's no room for God:

• No room for prayer: Who wants to get up on Sunday morning?
• No room for study: But this Top Chef marathon is on...
• No room for those in need: I'd love to help, but I'm just too busy.
• No room for others: I just can't talk right now. If I don't leave right now I'll get stuck on 64.
• No room for  listening: [insert sarcastic political commentary here]
• No room for giving: It's not in my budget.  [sent from my iPhone]
• No room for mercy: Whatever, he's an jerk.
• No room for confession: It's my life, I can do what I want.
• No room for fearlessness: This is just how the world is.

No room back then, either.  To quote Gil Bailie:  "There's no room in Rome, Jesus, so go to Israel. There's not room in Israel, so go to Nazareth. There's not room in Nazareth, so go to Bethlehem. There's no room in the inn, so go out to the shed where the animals are."  

Great.  Now I feel guilty.  Merry Christmas to you, too!  Ah, but the Gospel is "Good News".  The story of Jesus is good news.  See, even though we look at our life and think that there is no room for God--or that we just need a little more time to be able to clean out that extra bedroom--God is there, looking for somewhere to be born.  

When we believe God can't come, God won't come, when there's just no way and it's just too hard for us to figure out how to make it happen, God is there.  He makes his room out back, in the shed, hanging out with unlikely characters, ready to turn the world upside down.  It seems to me that in fact God doesn't just happen to show up then, ignoring our unbelief, but that God chooses to show up precisely there and then, in those particular places and times.  God looks for the places that seem least likely for a divine meetup and makes a bed.  God is where there is no room.

The Christmas message challenges us both to make more room for God in our lives and to rejoice in the wondrous, mysterious truth that even when we say 'sorry, God, there's no room right now' God shows up and makes a bed, waiting to be born into our lives.  

Merry Incarnation!

Sermon: Advent 1: Nothing can save us that is possible

From the Advent portion of W.H. Auden's Christmas Oratorio:

Alone, alone, about a dreadful wood
Of conscious evil runs a lost mankind,
Dreading to find its Father lest it find 
The Goodness it has dreaded is not good:
Alone, alone, about our dreadful wood.

Where is that Law for which we broke our own,
Where now that Justice for which Flesh resigned 
Her hereditary right to passion, Mind
His will to absolute power? Gone. Gone. 
Where is that Law for which we broke our own?

The Pilgrim Way has led to the Abyss. 
Was it to meet such grinning evidence 
We left our richly odoured ignorance? 
Was the triumphant answer to be this? 
The Pilgrim Way has led to the Abyss. 

We who must die demand a miracle. 
How could the Eternal do a temporal act, 
The Infinite become a finite fact?
Nothing can save us that is possible: 
We who must die demand a miracle.

New Year ' s Resolution

For Christians, Advent is the start of the new year.  So, here's my resolution: ...to start blogging again.  I hope to add sermons here, though since I don't really write them out, that's hard to do.  You'll get outlines/abstracts of some sort.  You'll probably get some art, science, and media also, since all of that is tied up together in my brain.  I'm still working on integrating tumblr as well, since I love that platform and I find the community there very interesting and challenging.  I've always felt called to live a bit on the edge of the church, even while being completely in love with it.  There's lots to both tell--and hear! Happy New Year, MoAmy+

Posts from the General Convention blog at episcopalky.org

I was a Deputy to the 76th General Convention.  The diocese asked us to blog at their site, but the link is now expired.  Here are some of my entries.

Guidelines for use of electronic devices on the floor of the House

From President Anderson on June 4th, 2009: • Deputies may use personal computers on the floor of the HOD provided the volume is turned off. • In order to give full attention to the work of the House, The President of the House of Deputies requests that electronic devices not be used for communication purposes. • There will be times during the course of our work that the President of the House of Deputies will ask that electronic devices be closed. These times will include, but not be limited to, prayer and meditation, and during messages from the president and special guests. • Cell phone use is prohibited.

Packing!

I'm still trying to get myself organized for the 2 week trip to General Convention, but I think I'm almost ready to go. I've been reading a lot and making a list of all the last minute things I need to remember to put in my suitcase.  I was glad to find out the first leg of my flight to CA has internet access, it will be fun to try that out--I'll be sure to blog about the airplane food :) . I did make one important decision:  I will take full advantage of my new MacBook's power and go as digital as possible during the convention.  As Deputy Knisely has noted, many of the documents we'll be using are available as PDFs, so there's no reason to lug both the hard copy and the digital copy.  We were told we won't have power available on the floor, but the MacBook should make it through most of the day.  I also hope that the more people use laptops on the floor, the more the planners will look more closely at alternatives to printing everything, for everybody, all the time.   Our first impulse now needs to be online publishing.  I would have much preferred a power outlet (or wifi!) to a printed & mailed Blue Book. I'll try to post things here, and you can follow me and lots of other deputies & visitors on twitter. My handle there is MoAmy, or you can just peruse all the 'tweets' coming from General Convention that have been marked with the tag #ecgc.  You could even sign up and join in on the conversation!