In Clouds Above and on Earth Below: Feasting with the Saints

"Cloud of Witnesses iii" by Ugandan artist Eria "Sane" Nsubuga, 

Mixed Media, 2007.

"For all the saints..." began the service this morning marking the Feast of All Saints' on the Kalendar.  We named the faithful departed in 2009 during the Mass and we gave thanks for the on-going witness of all the "little S-s" saints in our daily lives.  We even had a baptism today, shocking only that this parish would opt to actually follow a rubric on this topic!  Anyways, I digress.

Feasting with the Saints.  I can just imagine that now.  My grandparents, cousins, and other friends whom have died and risen in glory with Christ above, eating their fill, celebrating the goodness of God and God's creation.  I wonder, especially today, what they are saying to themselves about me.  "Oh Lord, there goes Chad again..."

One thing that I miss with newer parish churches is the lack of a parish cemetery.  In most parish churches in England, you cannot take one step without coming in contact with a memorial stone or engraving of some kind.  There's even something commemorating whenever the Sovereign comes inside!  You cannot help but notice the great cloud of witnesses in those bastions of stone and glass.  And yet in the States, we tend to want to keep our dead as far away from us as possible.  "Why would you want to clutter up a nice church yard with grave stones?"  Now to be fair, there are plenty of churches here that have cemeteries--most tend to be historic though.  Many have adopted columbaria as a method of depositing the ashes of loved ones into hermetically sealed containers in a church wall somewhere.  But I wonder why we fear the dead so much?  We don't even like to say the word "death" or "dying."  Instead, many opt for the politeness found in "passing away," and the like.  Our culture fears death, the one certain thing that we can count on that never requires its software to be updated.

For me, I've decided, I want to be cremated and scattered.  No need for a marker or stone anywhere.  "Why clutter up the earth with something that has passed away?" I had to get that one in there.  But seriously, I'm a firm believer in being "green" on this issue.  I just see it as a waste to go through the expense and hassle of it all.  Death is certain, and yet death is not the end.  Resurrection in Christ is our hope and it is what I look forward to follow.  Nothing will be left behind, all of creation is moving towards its fulfillment in the Trinity.  You can count on that.  

From Merton

I recently came across this excerpt from Thomas Merton and I wanted to share it.  As someone who continues to grow in my own monastic calling and in contemplative prayer, I deeply appreciate silence. Peace to you this day.

O my brother[s and sisters], the contemplative is [not] the [person] who has fiery visions of the cherubim carrying God on their imagined chariot, but simply [those] who have risked their mind in the desert beyond language and beyond ideas where God is encountered in the nakedness of pure trust, that is to say, in the surrender of our poverty and incompleteness in order no longer to clench our minds in a cramp upon themselves, as if thinking made us exist.

The message of hope the contemplative offers you, then, is not that you need to find your way through the jungle of language and problems that today surround God: but that whether you understand or not, God loves you, is present in you, lives in you, [abides with] you, calls you, saves you, and offers you an understanding and light which are like nothing ever found in books or heard in sermons.

The contemplative has nothing to tell you except to reassure you and say that, if you dare to penetrate your own silence and risk the sharing of that solitude with the lonely other who seeks God through you, then you will truly recover the light and the capacity to understand what is beyond words and beyond explanations because it is too close to be explained: it is the intimate union, in the depths of your own heart, of God’s spirit and your own secret inmost self, so that you and [God] are in all truth One Spirit. I love you, in Christ.

 Merton, The Hidden Ground of Love, 157-158

Retreat to the Smokies

This past weekend, several seminarian families (with kids in tow) journeyed to the Great Smoky Mountains in Western North Carolina during our Fall Reading Break.  The autumn colors were brilliant and the views simply holy.  Above is the view from our deck at the mountain house.  We were spoiled.  All six children--all under the ages of 3--managed to be good and allow their parents some down time, not too much mind you.

There was every color imaginable on display in the mountains.  Sewanee is only now beginning to change in color.  Fall is certainly my favorite time to be here!

Around One Table: The Episcopal Identity Project

     

In the wake of the recent news from the Vatican, I thought it may be appropriate to open up a discussion on Episcopal identity.  From the National Office:

Around One Table is an invitation into a conversation. It's a conversation about who we are as Episcopalians — our identity, our wellness, our mission — and how our sense of identity is expressed through our lives and the call we explore in ministry.

Around One Table is a conversation that has already begun but is far from over. The 23 themes of Episcopal identity emerged through a four-year study called the Episcopal Identity Project. Do you find yourself and your core values among these themes of Episcopal identity? We'd like to know.

Around One Table is a conversation. We hope you will return here frequently.

Here being this link.  There being also the place where one can download the "Abbreviated" and Full-length reports of EIP.  I just learned of this project and found it interesting to note that there does not seem to be a lot of hype about this in the Church.  Perhaps the moans from the clergy at this past week's clergy gathering was indicative that are saturated with it?

So, what are the 23 themes of Episcopal identity?  Gosh, that sounds so market-speak and official. Let's see:

Core Episcopal identity (most tightly related and central themes): Christ as Central, Sacramental, Book of Common Prayer, Incarnational, Scriptural, and Pastoral. 

Secondary Episcopal identity (somewhat related and central themes): Reason, Inclusive, Tradition, Common Liturgy, Ceremonial, Experience, and Responsiveness to Societal Change. 

Tertiary Episcopal identity (less related and less central themes): Middle Way, Diverse Theological Positions, Ecumenical, Diverse Spiritual Practices, Prophetic, Source of Societal Change, and Dispersed Authority. 

Stand-Alone Episcopal identity (themes not related or central): Elite, Source of Salvation, and A-confessional. 

I don't want to sound skeptical, as a former amateur marketer in my former life, I appreciate data and know that data can drive some good, sound decisions.  But, only 92% of bishops in TEC responded to the survey!  I am guessing that this number included retired bishops which may mess up the numbers.

I do wonder how many Episcopalians in the pews would claim "Incarnational" as their identity?  I certainly would, but my mother who is a life-long Episcopalian probably could not tell you what that word means!

More to come...after an Ethics mid-term...