On the Seventh Day of Christmas - A Christmas Oratorio by Camille Saint-Saens

Camille Saint-Saëns was considered by many to be a symphony composer and virtuoso pianist. As he grew older, he came to resent the French public’s interest in impressionism and other new musical movements. He denounced radical musicians like Stravinsky, and Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun provoked him to remark: “I'd soon lose my voice, if I went round witlessly bawling like a faun celebrating his afternoon.”  Don’t you love that?!

He had numerous interests, not all of them musical. Saint-Saens was a prolific writer; he penned books, letters, articles, even poems and plays in addition to his many successful musical works. He travelled the world. Saint-Saens was witty, argumentative, and passionate about experiencing all life had to offer. He died from complications of pneumonia in 1921 while visiting Algiers, at the ripe old age of 86.

Here is a portion of the Oratorio de Noel written in 1858 when Saint-Saens was only 23 years old.

Love One Another - Brian

PS - As John Duns Scotus put it, “Christ was the first idea in the mind of God!”

On the Sixth Day of Christmas - Ralph Vaughan Williams - Hodie A Christmas Cantata

I was singing in the Montclair Boys' Choir (under the direction of Charles Hunter) when I first encountered Vaughan William's stunning Christmas Cantata "Hodie". If you do not know the piece, here is the first portion as your gift on this Sixth Day of Christmas.

The poetry for today is “The Oxen” by Thomas Hardy

Christmas Eve and twelve of the clock.

"Now they are all on their knees,"

An elder said as we sat in a flock

By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where

They dwelt in their strawy pen,

Nor did it occur to one of us there

To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave

In these years! Yet I feel,

If someone said on Christmas Eve,

"Come; see the oxen kneel,

In the lonely barton by yonder coomb

Our childhood used to know,"

I should go with him in the gloom,

Hoping it might be so.

Love One Another - Brian

The Fifth Day of Christmas - King's College Cambridge - Ding! Dong! Merrily on High

How many of my readers pause on the morning of Christmas Eve to listen to the live broadcast of Lessons and Carols from Kings College, Cambridge? It is an annual ritual for me. Here is a gift to you to celebrate the Fifth Day of Christmas.

Love One Another - Brian

On the Third Day of Christmas - Linus Shares the Story of Christmas

Do you love Charlie Brown? The characters in Charles Schultz’s comic strip are each memorable and recognizable in our daily culture. This scene, from the classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, allows Linus the chance to be an evangelist and offer to us the true meaning of the season.

Love One Another - Brian

On the Second Day of Christmas - J.S. Bach - Christmas Oratorio Part I (John Elliot Gardner)

The music of J.S. Bach is glorious! This gem is taken from the Christmas Oratorio written in 1734. John Elliot Gardner is one of my favorite conductors.

The poetry is a fragment from John Milton’s poem “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.”

It was the winter wild,

While the Heaven-born child,

All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies;

Nature in awe to him

Had doffed her gaudy trim,

With her great Master so to sympathize:

And waving wide her myrtle wand,

She strikes a universal peace through sea and land.

No war or battle's sound

Was heard the world around,

The idle spear and shield were high up hung;

The hooked chariot stood

Unstained with hostile blood,

The trumpet spake not to the armed throng,

And Kings sate still with aweful eye,

As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.

But peaceful was the night

Wherein the Prince of light

His reign of peace upon the earth began:

The winds, with wonder whist,

Smoothly the waters kissed,

Whispering new joys to the mild ocean,

Who now hath quite forgot to rave,

While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmèd wave.

Love One Another - Brian

On The First Day of Christmas - December 26, 2011 - Handel: Messiah, For unto us a child is born (Sir Colin Davis)

What a perfect way to begin the Twelve Days of Christmas with this portion of Handel's Messiah. Enjoy and give thanks.

Love One Another - Brian

A Tease - check in tomorrow for more wonderful music and a bit of poetry.

Advent 4 - Listening Part III - December 24, 2011

Text:  Matthew 1:18-25 (See below)

As we come to the morning of Christmas Eve, ending our Advent observance, we prepare our hearts to worship God tonight in church’s all over the world, I offer to you the third and final segment of Brother Kevin Hackett’s sermon on active listening. Kevin concludes his thoughts by stating,

“We Brothers do a fair amount of listening in our ministries of hospitality and spiritual formation. It’s good work, meaningful work, and very hard work, and it is really only possible because we spend as much our day as we do in silence. In our Rule of Life we read in Chapter 27,

“Silence is a constant source of restoration. Yet its healing power does not come cheaply. It depends on our willingness to face all that is within us, light and dark, and to heed all the inner voices that make themselves heard in silence.

“Listening—even to things we’d rather not hear—has been central to the monastic tradition from the beginning. The desert fathers and mothers were men and women of few words, which is why when they did speak, it was worth your while to give ear and pay attention. Why else would pilgrims venture into the hostile desert that was their home? And why else did those who came to see them write those words down so they would not be forgotten? St. Benedict builds on this tradition in his Rule, beginning, “Listen, my child, to your master’s precepts, and incline the ear of your heart.”

“I’m convinced that the primary reason so many of us fail to hear the voice of God speaking to us—whether that is in the sanctuary of our own hearts, in the homes we inhabit, or in the places we worship—is that we are assaulted by noise, literally and figuratively. Most of us don’t have a clue how to really listen, to God or anyone else. And the remedy for that is simple—but oh so challenging—and does it ever require patience—and a whole lot of practice!

“We try to get it right. But most of the time we don’t. But we still keep practicing. God comes and meets us where we are. And God still speaks. And sometimes we even hear it! And you know what else? We don’t have to wait until the end of time for Jesus to show up. We don’t even have to wait until Christmas. If he’s not already here, he will be in a moment. Seriously. Right now. Tonight.

“Listen. Could that be God speaking through the Occupy Movement? Listen. Could that be God speaking through the color of that glorious sunset we had earlier this afternoon? Listen. Could that be God speaking to you through that friend who had the courage to ask you about that annoying little “problem” that you’ve thought you kept so well hidden? Listen. Could that be God speaking through that phrase from psalm, oh, I don’t know which one—but I just can’t get it out of my mind? Could that be God speaking in that oh-so-uncomfortable silence that scares me so much? Listen. Be still. Listen. Listen. Listen.

“Speak, Lord, your servants are listening.”

Have a blessed Christmas. Watch this site daily over the next twelve days of the Christmas season as I share a musical offering each morning. Lots of fun and joy as we celebrate together the birth of our Lord, Jesus.

Love One Another - Brian

Incarnation

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

No priest, no theologian stood at the cradle in Bethlehem. And yet all Christian theology has its origins in the wonder of all wonders that God became man. Alongside of the brilliance of the holy night there burns the fire of the unfathomable mystery of Christian theology.

Source: quoted in Bonhoeffer: Pastor Martyr Prophet Spy by Eric Metaxas

Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:  ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,  and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Advent 4 - Listening Part II - December 23, 2011

Text: Malachi 3:1-5 (see below)

This is the second portion of a sermon by Brother Kevin Hackett on active listening. The first part was printed yesterday and can be seen in the post below. Kevin is a member of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He writes,

“I don’t know anyone in crisis or pain who turns to Facebook when a loved one is dying, for guidance in vocational discernment, or for the joys and warmth of physical embrace. Nor are we likely to search out a casual business colleague to explore a gut-wrenching personal decision. We want people who know us—our histories and dreams, our joys and griefs, our hopes and fears—to be our guides through uncertain and choppy waters, for we are indeed “sorely hindered by our sins.”

"In an article in The Christian Century, Greg Jones reported that,

“A sociological study found that between 1985 and 2004 the average American’s number of close confidants declined from three to two, and that those reporting “no close confidants” jumped from 10 to 25 percent. Lynn Smith-Lovin, one of the study’s authors, noted that “you usually don’t expect major features of social life to change very much from year to year or even decade to decade.” But the data suggest a “remarkable drop” in the number and quality of friendships in American culture. The findings also confirm and amplify my anecdotal sense that more and more “connected” people, from CEOs to talented youth and young adults, are struggling with loneliness.

“The destructive consequences of loneliness will likely afflict that 25 percent of Americans who have no confidants. Loneliness becomes a spiral downward that diminishes a person’s capacity to relate to others and to envision a hopeful future. Luther wrote that “a lonely [person] always deduces one thing from the other and thinks everything to the worst.” The loneliest people I know are the most cynical, and it is often difficult to befriend them or even to be around them.

“In his little book, The Art of Christian Listening, Thomas Hart speaking of the famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger, notes that

“…after decades of work in psychotherapy, [Menninger laid] aside all learned talk both of psychic maladies and of therapeutic techniques, and utter[ed] one simple overarching truth: It is un-love that makes people unwell, and it is love and love alone that can make them well again.

“[Menninger’s] contention is buttressed by more general studies and surveys, in which it has been shown that those therapists are most successful in bringing health back to their clients who are best able to convey love. Their theoretical framework may be Freudian, Jungian, Rogerian, Gestalt, Transactional Analysis, or anything else; but the most telling factor is still the ability to communicate care, reverence, and hope to a troubled person. This explains in part why some psychotherapists seem to do so little for people even after months and years of appointments, and some complete amateurs are able to make a significant difference in a short time.

“The secret is no secret: when someone knows that they have been heard, that someone has truly listened to them, remarkable transformation is possible.”

Brother Kevin’s final thoughts on listening will appear in tomorrow’s posting.

Love One Another – Brian

A Beginning

Thomas Merton

The word of God...penetrating our inmost being is more than a communication of light: it is a new birth, the beginning of a new being.

Source: Opening the Bible

Malachi 3:1-5

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Advent 4 - Listening for God - December 22, 2011

Now that Saint Thomas Day as come and gone and our preparations for Christmas are completed, we have three days to focus on the spiritual life and preparing our hearts and minds for the coming of the Lord.  Brother Kevin Hackett of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts recently preached a sermon on patience and active listening. I am going to reproduce for you, over the course of the next three days, portions of this thought provoking sermon to assist you in your practice of listening. I hope you enjoy Brother Hackett’s words as much as I have.

“The word patience, you may know derives from a Latin root which means “to bear or to endure or to suffer (especially pain), without complaint.” As with any spiritual discipline, our ability to be patient does not come without practice, which simply means “something done routinely, habitually, or normatively; or something done repetitively in an effort to improve facility, skill, and familiarity.” Both senses pertain here in the practice of patience. To listen, then, for our purposes this evening, is a spiritual exercise that can equip us to persevere and endure and bear the “changes and chances of this life” that always seem to be accompanied by their first cousins, “confusion and loss.”

“The biggest challenge for most of us is that we do not really know how to listen. Carl Jung has said that an essential aspect of being human is to be able to tell our story to someone else and to know that we have been heard, that we have been deeply understood, that we have been known in a profound way. It used to be the case—and what I am about to say is not an exercise in nostalgia—that such listening happened in the course of daily human life, in ordinary conversation at the level of the domestic, the village, the church, the county. With advances in industrialization and communication, came the loss of natural venues in which one learned to listen and to tell and to interrupt the stories that were told and heard.

“Now, the world has never been so connected, at least by technology—and there is certainly much good that can come from its prudent use. It is a gift whose capacity to shed much brightness and light casts a shadow that is as black as pitch. There is still much we do not know about the long-term effects of virtual social networks replacing face to face relationships with friends and peers and mentors and confidants who listen to our stories and reflect back to us the truth of them, truth about ourselves that we often do not and cannot otherwise know.

“As creatures made in the image and likeness of God, we are created for relationship, with a built-in desire and longing to be known and loved and encouraged. Surely one of the darkest aspects of our growing love affair with technology is how it enables a kind of unbridled isolation. It is no accident that we do not have wePods, wePads, and wePhones. No, it is I, I, I. With more to come.”

The second portion of Kevin’s sermon will be offered tomorrow.

Love One Another - Brian

Listening to Whispered Promptings

Thomas Kelly

When we say Yes or No to calls, on the basis of inner guidance and whispered promptings of encouragement from the Center of our life, or on the basis of a lack of any inward 'rising' of that Life to encourage us in the call...then we have begun to live in guidance.... The Cosmic Patience becomes, in part, our patience, for after all God is at work in the world. It is not we alone who are at work in the world, frantically finishing a work to be offered to God.

Source: A Testament of Devotion

Luke 1:57-66

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.  On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’ Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, ‘What then will this child become?’ For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

Advent 4 - Feast of Saint Thomas - December 21, 2011

Text: John 24-29 (see below)

Happy Saint Thomas Day!

Today is one of my favorite days of the year and one of my favorite saints in the calendar. For those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere, December 21 may be the shortest day of sunlight; but, tomorrow the daylight begins to increase and more and more light overcomes the darkness. Spring is on its way and nature reminds us of that promise each day.

Thomas, the disciple and apostle, had followed Jesus in faith from anywhere between one to three years (depending on which Gospel you read). He was obviously a passionate follower of our Lord for he makes bold statements like: “Let us go with him, that we might also die with him” (John 11:16). Thomas’ grief after the events of Good Friday must have been monumental for he is not with the disciples when Jesus makes his first post-resurrection appearance to the group. Where was Thomas? What was he doing? Why was he separated from the body of believers?

A week later, as the scripture below reminds us, Thomas was back in the fold. He has an encounter with the risen Lord that will forever change him. Transformed by his experience with the Logos, Thomas would go on to become one of the great evangelists of the early Church. Tradition places him in India after the end of the Gospel stories. There, he preached to the people converting many to the faith. Even today, you will find a colony of Christians in India who claim descendants from Christians converted by Thomas.

In that Upper Room, with the doors locked for fear that the authorities might arrive, Thomas has a momentary experience of the divine. He embraces the mystery of faith. Thomas begins a spiritual odyssey that will change his life forever. The spiritual life is an amazing adventure where every once and awhile you catch of glimpse of the “mysterium tremendum”. You feel it in the very depths of your being, but you don’t understand it. You think you know what is going on, but in reality you are mistaken. You try and put into words your experience and realize that you have said nothing at all. The mystery of God and the transforming power of resurrection must be embraced with all humility on our part as Thomas bears witness to. Once each and every one of us dies to our self then we are ready to receive love in all of its beauty and be empowered for ministry.

Love One Another - Brian

We are called by the Ancient Church to have all of our preparations for Christmas concluded by the end of this day. I hope that many of you have embraced this tradition so that the next three days may be spent in quiet reflection, anticipation, and hope for the coming of Christ. 

 

The Heart of the Journey

Thomas Keating

God wants to share with us even in this life the maximum amount of divine life that we can possibly contain. The call of the gospel, 'Follow me,' is addressed to every baptized person.... The attempt to do this--to reach more deeply toward the love of Christ within us and to manifest it more fully in the world--constitutes the heart of the spiritual journey.

Source: Invitation to Love

John 20:24-29

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

Advent 4 - The O Antiphons - December 19, 2011

Text: Zephaniah 3:14-20 (see below)

Have you ever heard of the O Antiphons?

Most of you probably have never heard of these antiphons used at Evening Prayer before the recitation (or singing) of the Magnificat. And yet if you went to church services yesterday and sang the hymn O come, O come, Emmanuel, you sang an actual paraphrase of the O Antiphons. These antiphons are used only during a seven day period just before Christmas. They are a reminder, a foretaste, of the joyous event which is to occur at the end of this week, the annual observance of the birth of our Lord, Jesus.

The history of the O Antiphons is quite obscure. The first reference dates to the fifth century CE in the writings of Boethius (480-524 CE). Scholars have discovered that these antiphons were sung by the monks of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire near Orlean seven days before Christmas. When I was twenty-three years old, residing in France, and had decided to tour the Loire Valley by bicycle, I had the good fortune of visiting that beautiful Abbey. Researching this post brought back fond memories of an experience long, long ago.

It is clear that by the eighth century, the O Antiphons had made their way to Rome. By this time, their usage was universal so much that the phrase “Keep your O” became a common saying amongst the religious. While not included in the Prayer Books of the Anglican tradition, the O Antiphons are regularly used at Evensong during this last week of Advent.

Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. They are:

December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

December 18: O Adonai (O Lord)

December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)

December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)

December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)

December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)

December 23: O Emmanuel (O God With Us)

Today we recite the third antiphon at evening worship: O Radix Jesse.

Latin:

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,

super quem continebunt reges os suum,

quem Gentes deprecabuntur:

veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

English:

O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;

before you kings will shut their mouths,

to you the nations will make their prayer:

Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

These O Antiphons make sense if you know the Hebrew Scriptures for the prophet Isaiah had foretold that a “shoot would sprout from the stump of Jesse” (11:1). Jesse, of course, was the father of David, the King of Israel. The prophecies of Micah had promised that the Messiah would rise up from the house of David and be born in the town of Bethlehem, David’s original home (5:1).

Williams Saunders, at his very thorough website entitled “What are the O Antiphons?” provides a final thought:

“According to Professor Robert Greenberg of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Benedictine monks arranged these antiphons with a definite purpose. If one starts with the last title and takes the first letter of each one - Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia - the Latin words ero cras are formed, meaning, “Tomorrow, I will come.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus, whose coming we have prepared for in Advent and whom we have addressed in these seven Messianic titles, now speaks to us, “Tomorrow, I will come.” So the “O Antiphons” not only bring intensity to our Advent preparation, but bring it to a joyful conclusion.”

Love One Another – Brian

There are only two days left until Saint Thomas’ Day. I hope you are almost finished with your preparations for Christmas so that you may enjoy the remaining days of quiet refreshment with friends, family and most importantly, God.

Broad Concern

Martin Luther King, Jr.

No man has learned to live until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Length without breadth is like a self-contained tributary having no outward flow to the ocean. Stagnant, still and stale, it lacks both life and freshness. In order to live creatively and meaningfully, our self-concern must be wedded to other concerns.

Source: quoted in The Heart Has Its Seasons edited by Louis Savary and Thomas O'Connor

Zephaniah 3:14-20

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord. 

Buglers Holiday - U.S. Coast Guard Band

Advent 4 - December 18, 2011

Today is the Sabbath – Go and worship God at your home church or a church of your choosing.

Love One Another - Brian

The Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Advent 3 - December 16, 2011

Text: Romans 12:17-21(see below)

There is a poignant moment in the Broadway musical “1776” when John Adams sitting alone at night in the chamber of the Continental Congress sings: “Is anybody there? Does anybody care?”

On Thursday, the war in Iraq came to an end after nine lengthy years.

“Is anybody there? Does anybody care?”

I was struck by the little fanfare there was to mark such a significant event in the course of history.  No church bells pealed in the morning air. Schools were not called off so that children and their parents might be together to welcome home troops or reflect on the end of the war. Businesses continued their holiday sales as if nothing had happened. Not one church in the town I live in offered a worship service to give thanks to God for the end of war; to honor the dead; and to pray for healing for those who have suffered casualties.

“Is anybody there? Does anybody care?”

The numbers regarding this war are staggering:

·         3,187 Days the U.S has been in Iraq

·         1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) Cost in dollars of Iraq war

·         1,500,000 Number of U.S. citizens who have served in

               Iraq since beginning of the war

·         170,000 Number of U.S. troops in Iraq at peak in 2007

·         4,485 Number of U.S. military members killed in Iraq

·         32,226 Number of U.S. service members wounded in

               hostile action

·         113,728 Number of Iraqi civilians killed in war

·         1 Number of U.S Iraq or Afghanistan veterans who try to

               kill themselves every 80 minutes

Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, wrote: "War represents a vice that mankind would like to get rid of but which it cannot do without. Man is like an alcoholic who knows that drink will destroy him but who always has a reason for drinking. So with war." Martin Luther, the great theologian of the Reformation penned:  "War is the greatest plague that can afflict humanity; it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable to it.”

“Is anybody there? Does anybody care?”

Why did we go to war in the first place? Does anyone remember? Was it for a good cause or selfish ambition? In the end, did the United States liberate a people or like the arrogant alcoholic, mentioned above, create more of a mess? What have we learned from these nine years of battle and how will it affect our future together as a nation and as a world?

I am glad that the brave men and women of our armed forces are coming home. I give thanks for their willingness to serve, for their bravery, and for their courage. I mourn for those 4,485 souls who made the ultimate sacrifice and who now reside on another shore. I weep with their families and pray for healing in their lives as they try to move forward. To the 32,000 men and women of our armed forces who have come home wounded, I pray for your healing and hope that the Lord will guide me in ways that can reach out to you and offer the solace of the Gospel in word and deed.

“Is anybody there? Does anybody care?”

But where are the churches as the end of war has come? Where are the Christian leaders calling the faithful to worship, prayer, and reflection about the nature, horror, and effects of war? As a priest in the Church, I question myself as to why I was so silent over the course of nine years? How will the Church influence society so that our nation will end the current war in Afghanistan and persuade to limit its participation in future wars only as a last result?

Origen, an early Christian scholar of the third century wrote:"Christians no longer take up the sword against nation, not do we learn war any more, having become children of peace, for the sake of Jesus, who is our leader." Tertullian, another early Church Father said, “When Christ disarmed Peter in the garden, he disarmed all Christians.”

“Is anybody there? Does anybody care?”

Love One Another - Brian

Five days remaining to Saint Thomas’ Day and an end to our preparations for Christmas. How are your plans coming along?

Facing the Paradox Squarely

Norman Angell

“Let us face squarely the paradox that the world which goes to war is a world, usually, genuinely desiring peace. War is the outcome, not mainly of evil intentions, but on the whole, of good intentions which miscarry or are frustrated. It is made, not usually by evil men knowing themselves to be wrong, but by the outcome of policies pursued by good men usually passionately convinced that they are right.”

Source: The Words of Peace

Romans 12:17-21

"Do not return evil for evil. Avenge not yourselves, but rather give way to wrath; for it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink: for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Advent 3 - Feast of John Horden - December 15, 2011

Text: Luke 5:1-11 (see below)

Today, the Church remembers John Horden, a missionary Bishop who served the Cree people in Canada during the nineteenth century. Born in England, Horden received a call from the Bishop of Rupert’s Land to serve as a schoolmaster in the town of Moose Factory. He was told that before he was to leave for Canada, he should marry so that his wife might assist with the teaching. While he was not thrilled by this appointment, he dutifully set about getting ready to sail for Canada. He found a young lady who also had a passion for the proclamation of the Gospel and she agreed to marry him.

The rest of Horden’s story is a remarkable adventure of faith. He and his growing family (five children) ministered to the Cree people of Canada. Horden translated the Bible, Prayer Book and hymnal into the Cree language. He was successfully learned the Cree speech in less than eight months from the time of his arrival and had no need of a translator. He was later elected a Bishop to the Church of Canada in 1872.

Every evangelist I have ever met has been a person of hope. When you are proclaiming the Good News of God, it’s hard not to be hopeful. Evangelists have an expectation that God is about to do something new and wonderful. Since I received such assuring comments yesterday about my reflection on prayer, I thought I would share with you some words again by Henri Nouwen on Prayer and Hope from his book With Open Hands.

Nouwen writes: “In the silence of prayer you can spread out your hands to embrace nature, God, and your fellow human beings. This acceptance means not only that you are ready to look at your own limitations, but that you expect the coming of something new. For this reason, every prayer is an expression of hope.

“When we live with hope we do not get tangled up with concerns for how are wishes will be fulfilled. So, too, our prayers are not directed toward the gift, but toward the one who give it. Our prayers might still contain just as many desires, but ultimately it is not a question of having a wish come true but of expressing an unlimited faith in the giver of all good things.

“In the prayer of hope, there are no guarantees asked, no conditions posed, and no proof demanded. You expect everything from the other without binding the other in any way. Hope is based on the premise that the other gives only what is good. Hope includes an openness by which you wait for the promise to come through, even though you never know when, where, or how this might happen.

“This hope gives you a new freedom that allows you to look realistically at life without feeling dejected. This freedom is expressed through words of a student who wrote: ‘Hope means to keep living amid depression and to keep humming in the darkness. Hope is knowing that there is love, it is trust in tomorrow, it is falling asleep and waking again when the sun rises. In the midst of a gale at sea, it is to discover land. In the eyes of another, it is to see that you are understood. As long as there is hope there will also be prayer. And you will be held in God’s hand.”

Love One Another – Brian

There are only six days left to the feast of Saint Thomas’ Day. How are those Christmas preparations coming?

Living Deeply

William Clemmons

Journeying more deeply into our deepest center and into the world around us pushes us into seeing more deeply into all of life. Not only are we forced to deal with the illusions of our false selves, but also of society.

The one who begins to live deeply as a contemplative begins to see things as they really are. We are called to deal with the illusions of ourselves, so we can enter into a loving dialogue with the world. We are called to embrace the world as we journey deeper and deeper into ourselves and God. We turn with a singleness of vision, to see God in each new situation, in every person, and every experience--seeing all those things in a truer perspective.

Source: Discovering the Depths

Luke 5:1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Advent 3 - Feast of Saint John of the Cross - December 14, 2011

Text: Colossians 4:2-6 (see below)

Today, the Church remembers one of the great spiritual leaders of Western Christianity, John of the Cross.  He was born in Spain in the sixteenth century and embraced mysticism becoming a Carmelite friar and priest. John was a prolific writer and is considered one of Spain’s greatest poets. His works include Dark Night of the Soul, Spiritual Canticle, and Ascent of Mount Carmel. These writings are filled with rich symbolism and imagery that continue to inspire generations of Christians to contemplation and prayer. If you have not read any of the writings of John of the Cross, I encourage you to do so for these works are spiritual treasures.

The lessons assigned for John’s feast day all center on the subject of prayer and thanksgiving. Over the course of twenty-five years in active ministry and seminary study, I have read a fair number of books on prayer and the spiritual life. Most of my reading has been helpful, and some was way over my head. But, one work in particular, which I read for the first time thirty years ago, continues to stimulate my thinking and challenges me to go more deeply into prayer. The book is Henri Nouwen’s, With Open Hands.

Nouwen writes: “Prayer is a way of life which allows you to find a stillness in the midst of the world where you open your hands to God’s promises and find hope for yourself, your neighbor and your world.” In his marvelous introduction to the book, Nouwen offers the image of first prayers being like clenched fists. “The resistance to prayer,” he writes, “is like the resistance of tightly clenched fists. This image shows a tension, a desire to cling tightly to yourself, a greediness that betrays fear.”

Nouwen goes on to say that when we begin to open our fists in prayer we discover that God wants to give us nothing but love, “unconditional, everlasting love.” Other chapters in the book explore Prayer and Silence; Prayer and Acceptance; Prayer and Hope; Prayer and Compassion. The book is less than 125 pages long but it has held my interest and imagination for many, many years as it has for hundreds of thousands of readers and seekers as witness to the fact that the book is now in its twenty-seventh reprint.

Be about prayer today, open up your fists so that God can give you nothing but unconditional everlasting love.

Love One Another – Brian

There is one week left to Saint Thomas’ Day. Complete your preparations for Christmas by December 21 so that you may have time for contemplating what is the true meaning of Christmas.

Going Into Oneself

Rainer Maria Rilke

The necessary thing is after all but this: solitude, great inner solitude. Going into oneself for hours, meeting no one – this one must be able to attain.

Source: Letters to a Young Poet

Colossians 4:2-6

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should. Conduct yourselves wisely towards outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.