Farewell Good and Faithful Servant

Easter 2008, Pappaw, Chad, and Tucker

His name is Charlie.  He's my Pappaw.  He's dying of cancer, it has spread to the bone and has now left him in a morphine-induced state of life.  Hospice is 'on-call' and we are ready.  A veteran of the Pacific theatre of World War II, he fibbed about his age in order to join the war effort--he was a Naval bomber pilot.  He never speaks much about his military service, in fact if it weren't for the poorly inscribed anchor tattoos on his forearms, you would never know about it.

Charlie is an extraordinary gift to the world, a child of God whose faith in people and in Our Lord was unswerving.  His wife Nancy, married for 51 years, was the love of his life.  He had everything and worked to build it with honest, hard work.  Steel Products, a small custom steel fabrication company, was the fruit of that labor.  Following the war, he did not accept the government's handout with the G.I. Bill.  He did not want any payment for his service in the Navy.  He claimed that he knew others that needed the money more than he did (which was also a fib).

So he saved and built his own first house along with a family in Huntington, West Virginia.  He saved some more and eventually bought his ownership in the steel business.  He saved even more and expanded the business while growing a reputation for quality service 'after the sale.'  A devout Episcopalian, he spent the better part of his entire life in faithful service to St. Peter's Episcopal Church in the west end of Huntington--giving money, time, and dedication to seeing the mission of Christ happen in an otherwise impoverished part of town.  Charlie was the sort who preferred to stay behind the scenes, he didn't care much for lavish attention or even who got credit for anything.  He just liked to do it.  And he did an awful lot of doing.

I cannot recall a single momentous occasion in my own life where he was not present.  Pappaw was seemingly always there.  Family was a top priority for Charlie.  Another priority was Marshall University athletics, football in particular.  He was quick with a joke to lighten the mood and was ready to lend his listening ears too.  He simply loved people and he loved to learn.  Everyday presented Charlie with something new, something to learn, and something to praise God for His handiwork in everything.

His life leaves me gasping.  Is he a modern-day prophet, the quiet example-setting sort?  How could such an ordinary person have such a profound, extraordinary impact on so many lives?  I don't know the answer just yet.

Each day he dies a little more.  My prayer for Pappaw is for a holy death.  He said to me back in June that he was ready to die--he recalled his full life of blessings and with few (if any really) regrets.  I cherish that month spent at home near him.  He knows my love for him, my admiration for who he is and who he came to be.  It makes saying good-bye seem irrelevant, at least to me.  I carry him with me everywhere, everyday.

Farewell, good and faithful servant.  Truly, he was apart of the 'Greatest Generation.'

The Benedictine Abbey of Fontgombault

Dew Dreams

'tis the soul's August,
whose roots are tightly compact'd--
water stagnates and rots the soil.
Nothing seems to pass through it.

In dreamy night air does
it imagine,
a haze of soft rain,
to refresh the hell
of the hot day.

Autumnal glimpses
are found deep within,
deadening the murmuring
below.

And nothing sticks to it,
vanishing up like
morning dew.

Dirty Faith

Faith without dirty hands is meaningless.
Dig just a little and feel the creed of life,
buried in the sand.
Rub it between your fingers,
play with it some,
smell its sweet rawness.
There's life there,
for sure.
Burrow down.
Persevere till you find the roots.
Harvest the bounty, it's there for a reason.
Fear not,
water will wash your hands clean.

Gone Fishing

I must apologize for neglecting my blog and explain.

Following seminary, I've moved twice, landing back at my first alma mater, Hampden-Sydney College where I am hard at work reconstructing the College's annual giving program.  I am serving in an interim capacity.  My life is still packed in boxes, spread out between my apartment and storage.

Bear with me, please.  Pray for me, please!  Transitions in life, as you probably know, are often fraught with multiple challenges.  Maintaining one's sanity and sense of rootedness is chief among them.

I pray for you and I hope your summer is spirit-filled.  God's blessings to you.  I'm off to the lake for now.

Flies and Lies

The only fisherman who will tell the truth about where the fish are biting is your father.  And if your really lucky, which fly to tie on.  Don't bother asking anyone else, you'll get a fish story.

The annual father-and-sons fishing adventure saw another season in 2010 on the remote rivers in southwest Virginia.  Knee-deep in the summer stream with cowpies about and copperheads sunning on nearby rocks, I ask what more could any fisherman ask for?  Well, fish, of course.  Trout to be exact.  

Fly fishing is like learning to drive a standard--it requires both hands, some coordination, and a lot of finesse.  It's easy to get hooked (yes, I know--last pun) on what feels like a more artful way to fish.  Rhythm is essential in casting your line, soaring over the water with grace and precision.  My first fly fishing expedition took place in 1994, chest deep in the freezing waters of the Eagle River near Vail, Colorado.  Amid the falling snow, my guide helped me land a large, trophy Rainbow trout which afforded me familial bragging rights for eternity.  Ever since that audacious beginning, I managed to lose my way back to the streams--life and all the familiar distractions got in the way.                                                                

I admit there were times when I begrudgingly went along on those fishing trips with my dad and brother.  It seems my older brother was always eager and I was always looking for excuses.  I could not for the life of me understand why my dad was insistent upon this annual venture.  What is it about taking your sons out into the wilderness in search of these slimy, cold water fish?  Understandably, no teenager could solve that riddle, it took becoming a father myself to grasp an answer.  It goes without saying that fatherhood changes the game of life completely--it's no longer about YOU but about THEM. Sharing your passions with those you love is a profound exercise of trust and fidelity, especially when you reveal the choicest fishing holes or that a copperjohn fly is the best for this stream.   

So the answer of course is priceless.  A bad day fishing is always better than any good day at work.  Adding your son or daughter (or both in my case) only sweetens the deal.  It's not about catching fish, even though that's always the stated premise.  It's about doing something timeless together without distraction and without the pressures of everyday life.  And yes it's true, time manages to stop temporarily as you wade deep into the streams.    

Time, flies, and lies make up the passion of fly fishing.  It's magic worked on me, I no longer drag my feet at an invitation.  I get it now and it makes sense.  Something tells me that my own children will probably act just as I did.           

Summer Work

Following the hectic move from seminary, I've been enjoying a few weeks of rest while visiting my family in West Virginia.  I'm determined to start a vegetable container garden in an effort to eat better and live, as Saint Benedict urges, "by the sweat of your brow."  I've grown from seed green beans, arugula, green onions, and hopefully some of my baby spinach seeds will pop.  I've added an established tomato plant as well as a jalapeno pepper plant.  Maybe by late July or early August I'll have some food to show for my labor.

I found a pile of old wood from a clapboard fence that was ripped out at my parent's house.  I decided that I wanted to try my hand at some more woodwork by recycling and repurposing old wood.  So far, I've built a potting table, a bench, and two plant stands.  

  

The potting bench was really fun to build and I did not make any drawings as such, just went forward with what I had envisioned in my mind.

The bench and plant stands are for my parent's house, they were built for a side porch that needed some pizazz.  I'm going to paint these in a milky-green antique color to give some curb appeal and pop.

All in all, I'm managing to stay pretty busy and the work is relaxing.  Having free labor around the house is not going to waste, for sure.  I find that I rather enjoy the challenge of repurposing old wood in order to create new and useful things.

Warning: Be Careful What You Pray For

Saint Francis of Assisi knew something of the power of prayer.  Recorded in the biographical work on the saint, The Little Flowers of Saint Francis, we learn of Francis' prayer before receiving the wounds of Christ.

The next day came, to wit the day of the most Holy Cross, and St. Francis, betimes in the morning, or ever it was day, betook himself to prayer before the entrance of his cell, and turning his face towards the East, prayed after this manner: "O my Lord Jesus Christ, two graces do I beseech Thee to grant me before I die: the first, that, during my lifetime, I may feel in my soul and in my body, so far as may be possible, that pain which Thou, sweet Lord, didst suffer in the hour of Thy most bitter passion; the second is that I may feel in my heart, so far as may be possible, that exceeding love, whereby Thou, Son of God, wast enkindled to willingly bear such passion for us sinners"

It's a beautiful prayer for broken people; broken people like me find these words searing.  I learned about this prayer my first year in seminary.  On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14), The Rev. Dr. Bob Hughes spoke of Francis' prayer and its efficacy during his sermon in our seminary chapel, Chapel of the Apostles.  It was a favorite of the late Fr. Mychal Judge, OFM of blessed memory who died ministering to NYC firefighters during the 9-11 attacks.  It is also a favorite of mine and helped me greatly during those early seminary days.  In fact, I used to pray it nightly.  There was something so powerful that struck me about Francis' cry of the heart: let me know that pain that delivered the world by your death, but even more fill my heart with the love that brought you to the cross.  I distinctly recall leaving chapel that day and having those words running through my mind.  I could not let them go.  I don't think I wanted to.

It turns out that you have to be careful for what you pray for, if in God's providence it is deemed necessary, it could come true.  I don't boast the stigmata, I am too unworthy of that mark but at least in metaphor I think I have come to know something of this prayer.

Death and resurrection, love and pain, wounds and healing, separation and reunion all encircle those provocative words from Francis.  To be so bold to proclaim Christ crucified and resurrected is to share in that tension where we find our own lives struggling each and every day to be wholly loved.  The marks of the crucified Lord are brought to bear in the lives of the least, the last, and the lost even now.  Some bear those marks deep within.  The Kingdom of God has indeed come near, but it has not yet been consummated in the dance of creation moving ever so closely to fulfilling God's destiny.  And so those scars remain, present reminders of infinite love mingled with mortifying pain.

I prayed those words because I believed that I needed to know that pain of being stuck out on a limb to die, to give up one's own life so that others may have life and have it abundantly.  And yet even hanging out there, God's love is poured into the heart to fill up those leaky cracks--wounds and all. You get both, and both you shall have.  There is no warning label on the baptismal font and perhaps there should be one.  This life in Christ is not all fun and games, it's real and it's really life-saving.  But.  But the cost is death and the return is resurrection.  No one said it would be easy or even remotely pleasant for that matter. The tears somehow turn to joy bringing the cross to bear under the weight of true and lasting freedom in the Redeemer.  Since praying that prayer in seminary, I have known days of extreme and total agony, crying out in dereliction with Christ.  Still there are days which swell my heart with profound, speechless grace.  Today, at least, I sense both at work.  I know them to be inextricably bound together.  Today, at least, I get those words in all their fullness and I'll take it.  Both.

Lord Christ, may I feel in my body as much as possible the pain you endured on the cross, but even more may I know in my heart the love that brought you there.  Amen.

The Monk Runner

I decided that I needed an additional motivational tool for me to help prepare for the 2010 ING New York City Marathon, so I've created a running blog simply called The Monk Runner.  Check it out, though it's still very much a work in progress.

Anglican Church of Canada: General Synod 2010

On June 3, the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada opened its triennial meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  You can follow the events of the General Synod 2010 online through the Synod's website.  The communications that come out of the Synod are great.  I followed the 2007 Synod with great interest and I believe it is important to pray for and support our Canadian brothers and sisters while they are meeting in their major legislative body.

Click here for the daily video files.

New Liturgical Movement: Reforming the Reform

Reforming the reform?  Huh?  Well, if you believe that the Second Vatican Council went too far in its *cough* liturgical reform, than the New Liturgical Movement (NLM) blog may be for you.  Actually, I rather like the information, its attention to detail, and of course all the lovely pictures and videos of all things liturgical throughout the church catholic.  If you can stomach it's decided slant towards all things "Benedictine," then you will treasure the wealth of resources compiled together at NLM.  It took this old-hearted Anglo-Catholic some time to discern that Benedictine was not in fact monastic, but referring to Pope Benedict XVI's zeal for the ancient liturgical tradition of the church.  

There has been, for instance, an interesting thread going through the blog considering what liturgical tradition the new Anglican ordinariates will follow and as such examining the Sarum use along with many other English forms.  The trailer above for the Solemn Requiem in the Dominican Rite (which is a religious order!) is an example of the rigor with which this spirit for "reforming the reform" has and continues to build.

Regardless of your position, and take heart, I am an ardent 1979 BCP man myself (with a high ceremonial), NLM is a rather interesting blog to check out from time to time.  

Me, Age 6

My parents are to thank for this photograph, taken in May 1986.  I used to stand on the dinning room chair and pretend it was my pulpit.  I would make my parents sit in the living room and listen to me preach!  I even passed around a bowl asking for a collection, though I padded it with pennies to pretend that money was in there.  I thought of everything, down to the grape juice and saltine crackers for the Eucharist.

In Sunday school class at St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Huntington, WV) where I grew up, we made these felt stoles which all the children wore in a grand Palm Sunday procession.  We even had a wooden donkey on wheels that some lucky child got to ride!  While I don't think that I would do this now, liturgically speaking, it was something to behold as a child.

The lesson, I suppose, is that you never know what can really speak to a child about holy things.

New York or Bust: Preparing for the 2010 NYC Marathon

It begins today.  On Sunday, November 7th, me and 40,000 of my closest running buddies will be zigzagging through all five boroughs of New York City in the 40th running of the New York City Marathon.  How many miles is a marathon, you ask:  26.2 glorious, painful miles!  Founded in 1970, the NYC Marathon is considered one of the "majors" in the marathon world.

I started running--seriously--during my first year of seminary.  I ran a 5K during sunset in Key West in 2008, I've run Central Park, and added cycling to the mix of activities.  Last year, I ran five half-marathons (13.1 mi.) across Tennessee and Alabama.  I over did it, you could say, and got burned out. Logging over 500 miles was sometimes fun, sometimes painful, but always exhilarating.  I took much of this past year off from running and the weight crept back on. Running quickly became more than just a physical release from stress--it became an important part of my prayer life.

I won the lottery in order to secure my spot in 2009.  Because of burnout, I was able to delay my acceptance until 2010.  Last year, I was asked to serve as one of the Chaplains for the ecumenical service prior to the start of the race.

In just 116 days, I'll have completed my first full marathon.  NYC, the Big Apple, will be mine!  The race begins on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on Staten Island and finishes in Central Park.  I am excited, a bit nervous, and looking forward to commencing the long training schedule to get ready.  No more sweets, extra nibbles here and there, no more good beer.  Nope, it all starts today.

Praying Our Goodbyes

Following Commencement with the Chancellor of the University of the South, 

Bishop J. Neil Alexander (Bishop of Atlanta).

The day came and went as fast as you could imagine.  Graduation day, family, and all the goodbyes.  A day that seemed as though it would never happen, finally did.  And it happened quickly.  How did three years disappear so fast?  Can I get that time back?  Just one more hour in the theology library?  Well, no. Time's up.  

Attending The School of Theology at the University of the South was both an honor and a privilege.  I was stretched in so many ways, taught to expand my own theological and spiritual dimensions while complimenting a formation for priestly ministry in the church.  It hurt at times, the stretching and letting go of all those views that I felt important, and then there were those profound moments of clarity.  Seminary did not "take away" anything of mine, but rather challenged me to go deeper and deeper into Christ's ministry.  Formation, I used to believe, was a bad word; feeling as though I was an empty mass of clay that needed to be shaped into some pre-determined earthen vessel.  What I discovered was that the faculty and curriculum was in fact meeting me where God had begun the work, and the formation naturally takes off. 

While the degree title can be misleading, "Masters of Divinity," I leave Sewanee probably with more questions than answers, deeper questions probing the Christian life and witness.  And yet, I have gained a clearer sense of my own call towards ordained ministry along with a deeper faith in Christ.  I could not even begin to summarize all the experiences, encounters in ministry, and relationships in community that evolved over these three short years.  But I have learned something about death and resurrection, love and betrayal, and what the risks entail for living a life of faith in Christ.  "Comfort the afflicted," you hear often in the seminary halls, "and afflict the comfortable."  There is nothing glamorous about ministry, as you know:  the pay is lousy and the hours are consuming.  But, there is profound joy and wholeness that fills those earthen vessels with overflowing life--however cracked though they may be.

One step that I took this year towards my formation was professing vows in a new, emerging monastic community based in the Diocese of Atlanta--the Order of St. Anthony the Great, OPC.  The order was formed in 2006 and I liked the idea of being apart of an order whose history has not yet been written.  We shall soon have 11 brothers and will be petitioning General Convention in 2012 for formal recognition in the wider body.  I wanted to adapt my life to a written "rule" and live under vows of simplicity, obedience, and chastity (celibacy in singleness and fidelity in marriage).  There is a great freedom, believe it or not, in this life.  Free to love chastely, to obey the rule and the authority over me, and live simply is really life-giving.  I began my discernment with the community in Lent 2009 and my vows are annual.  The monastic "me" compliments my calling to be a priest.  And yes, we do have monk-priests in the Episcopal Church! 

Praying my own goodbye has been hard but ultimately proved fulfilling, a way in which I am reminded to let go and put trust in God's hands again.  The idea is not mine, it comes from a remarkable little book that I discovered this past semester on loss and goodbye written by Sister Joyce Rupp, simply called Praying Our Goodbyes (Ave Maria Press, reprinted in 2009).  Just remember, there is always a "hello" to be heard if your ears are opened to the Spirit.  I feel as though I am able to listen now and sense those hellos echoing daily.   

What an incredible, holy, and life-giving three years seminary proved to be. Formation, as it turned out, wasn't so bad after all.  Of course, it's still ongoing, though you must be willing to trust God and be open to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit--she'll work hard on you and trust that!  

On the Baptismal Covenant

Brother Karekin Yarian, BSG is a member of the Brotherhood of St. Gregory the Great (BSG).  He's an avid blogger and you can find him over at Sandals at the Gate. 

My Latest Projects

Before I pack up my tools and leave Sewanee, I had several wood projects that needed to be finished for some friends.  I wish my high school taught "shop class."  This new prayer discipline really took off this year and it seems with each project, I see a marked improvement in my technique.  Still, I know I have a lot to learn about woodwork.  

I created a simple, working pattern for what I call "book desks."  These are great for writing papers, sermons, etc.  They are made from pine which is very easy to work with, though the staining is somewhat tricky.  For seminarians, I have been burning the Saint Luke's cross into the wood as a center piece.

I have now built a few of these "prayer benches" which are modeled after the pattern found in Martin Smith's (former SSJE) seminal work, The Word is Very Near You: A Guide to Praying with Scripture. (Cambridge: Cowley Publications, 1989).  These are great for contemplative prayer.  I've also burned the Saint Luke's cross in the center.  I've used poplar since these require support.

The "Saint Luke's Cross" is the official cross of the School of Theology, Luke being the patron of our community.  Why it's Celtic, I have no idea.  A metal, pectoral version is presented to all graduates during Commencement.  I'll have mine in two days!  These are wall crosses done in pine.

Finally, I am excited to begin work on my summer project, an icon crucifix.  This is a Western-style San Damiano but written in the Byzantine tradition--I really like blending the two.  I went ahead and cut the wood and prepared the icon board so that I don't have to fiddle with it once moved.  This will be my first crucifixion scene.  I wanted to make this large so as to inhabit a chapel one day.

This is what I'm after here.  This icon cross is found in the lower church of the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.  When I first saw it there I knew that I wanted the challenge in trying my hand at writing one.  We'll see...

I guess you really can do anything with an Masters of Divinity degree!

May is for Mary

Lady Month, or the month of May is especially marked by catholics with devotion to the God-Bearer (Theotokos).  May 31st, after all, is the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin to her cousin Elizabeth whereby Luke recalls that famous ave and the glorious Magnificat (Luke 1:39-57).  Later this month in Walsingham, the National Pilgrimage will be held.  May is the month of Mary.

There is an old catholic tradition of building and maintaining a "May altar" dedicated to Our Lady throughout the month of May.  The photographs of these May Altars come from the home of my brother, Fr. Robert-James, OPC.  The following excerpt comes from the webpages of The Marian Library/The International Marian Research Institute in Dayton, OH.

To the specific characteristics of the May devotion is to be counted the specially set up May altar - be it as an addition to or specially decorated altar in the church or as a "house altar" in the family circle. Like the May devotions themselves, the custom to highlight this type of May altar stems from southern European countries. A report from France in 1842 speaks of Our Lady's altar in May showing off in rich splendor, while the families also erected and decorated small home altars. 

All of nature awakened to new life in springtime is presented to honor Mary, who is herself "a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys" (Song of Songs 2,1). This form of devotion was influence and furthered, for example, in Treatise on True Devotion to Mary by Louis de Montfort, who, among other things, counted the decoration of Marian altars a chief exercise of Marian devotion.

The development of "home altars" seems to have naturally grown from churches specially dedicating altars within the worship space to Our Lady.  The above citation continues:

When erecting a May altar in a church, one distinguishes between the special decoration of an existing Marian altar, the erection of an altar set up specifically to serve this May devotion, or the transformation of the main altar into a May altar. The Handbook of Church Rituals (Regensburg 1846) notes under May altar that these devotions be held at an altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and decorated "to the full." If there isn't any [altar dedicated to Mary], another  altar is to be set up and furnished with a picture or a statue of Mary.  In Strasbourg, in 1855 for the first time, a special "Mother of God altar" was set up before the chancel.

With the development of May altars in churches, the custom spread to set up this type of "altar" also  in the home. The authors of both private publications and of official publications refer to this practice, encourage them, or assume that there are such.  While some devotional books encourage the user to decorate an image of Mary found there and to pray there--a custom "that belongs anyway in every good Catholic home"--others depict the "prayer room" as "a shrine dedicated to Mary." 

A side altar of this type was drawn into the celebration in that the blessing frequently was given from this altar. By carrying the Blessed Sacrament from the main altar, the precedence of the main altar was clearly visible. 

Pick some flowers, find an icon or statue, and light a candle.  Place Mary as the "spiritual fireplace" of your home this month.  Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us all!   

A New Walsingham Icon

Today I received my new icon of Our Lady of Walsingham.  I had commissioned this through an iconographer that I discovered in Bulgaria via the internet.  Not only was the price reasonable, but the quality is simply amazing.  I have much to aspire to in my own iconography.  The iconographer, Krasimir Kostov, does excellent work and I commend him to you.  If you would like his email address, drop me a line.

In this icon, I wanted to blend together two of my favorite icon depictions of Our Lady--namely the checkered floor which struck me as both odd and out of place.  But it grew on me over time!  The size is large, 12in. x 15in. and the colors are brilliant.  I hope to have the icon properly blessed soon.

A Newman Prayer

O Jesus,

flood my soul with Your Spirit and Life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly

that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me and be so in me

that every soul I come in contact with may

feel Your presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me 

but only thee, Jesus.  Amen.

This is an abbreviated version of Cardinal Newman's prayer that he used following the Eucharist.  I learned about this prayer while in the sacristy at the seminary, it was fancied by one of our more Anglo-Catholic professors.

A Home We Build Together

Members of the Class of 2010 from The School of Theology 

with Br. Ron Fender, BSG.

What do graduating senior seminarians from the School of Theology, a Gregorian monk, and a house for homeless men have in common?  The answer, the Body of Christ.  Members of the Class of 2010 from The School of Theology, The University of the South partnered with Br. Ron Fender, a monk in the Brotherhood of Gregory the Great, to help furnish the new Brandenburg Chapel at the House of All Souls in Chattanooga.  The seminarians designed and constructed an altar and furnished all the necessary items for worship in the new space.  Senior Chris Caddell (Diocese of West Texas) was the designer and carpenter for the project.  "Building this altar was a gift of love to help this new community become a family."  Caddell notes, "I am so honored that our class was able to help in a very meaningful way." 

Brother Ron has been tending and washing the feet of the homeless in Chattanooga for the past seven years as his ministry.  He serves as a case manager at the Community Kitchen, a Chattanooga refuge for the hungry and homeless.  He has been featured on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, which was chronicling the stories from main street USA. Inspired by such projects as the Brother Bernard Fessenden House in Yonkers as well as Common Ground in New York City, Brother Ron sought to build an intentional community to house homeless men using a monastic model to instill community.  Brother Ron discovered in his time at the Community Kitchen that many who completed recovery programs and who were eventually placed into apartments as a way to rebuild their lives, quickly fell back to street life.  Fender notes that, “putting a homeless person in an isolated room or apartment without supportive services, or even furniture or household goods makes no sense whatsoever… the most successful model for ending homelessness is to create community for the homeless.”  Brother Ron is doing just that.

With a grant from The Rosewood Foundation, a new house in Chattanooga was constructed and named the House of All Souls, a clear statement that this house that has brought together eight homeless men along with Brother Ron is a home for all.  The Brandenburg Chapel is named in memory of Edward Brandenburg, a homeless resident of Chattanooga who inspired Brother Ron to begin the whole project.  Brandenburg died in 2008 and so All Souls is a living tribute to his vision and ideal of what a home should look like.  At the foot of the altar rests Brandenburg's brick memorial.  The new residents were screened and agreed to live in this intentional community and continue in their recovery programs.  This new family offers mutual support and love centered on Jesus Christ. 

"All it takes is to spend five minutes with Brother Ron," notes seminarian Br. Chad Krouse, OPC (Diocese of Southern Virginia), "and you will feel the presence of the living Christ through his work and ministry in Chattanooga."  For the seminarians, it was important that their senior class gift go out into the world for mission.  Reactions from Br. Ron and the men of All Souls were powerful and inspiring for this future class of ordained ministers.    


P.S.  I made the candlesticks and altar missal stand.  And yes, there is an icon of Our Lady of Walsingham in the new chapel.  ;)   

Desert Spirituality, A Lenten Class

Today at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, TN, I led an Adult Education class on desert spirituality.  Originally the class was to take place at the start of Lent, but scheduling conflicts caused me to move towards the end. Knowing that it was a big topic and time a significant factor, I plowed ahead to do the best that I could do.  

For a long time, I have wanted to teach spirituality and contemplative prayer in the Episcopal Church.  I have long felt impoverished in my own upbringing in the faith by a serious lack of Christian education in this important area for discipleship.  Needless to say, one class on a Sunday morning only begins to scratch the surface.  Alas, I was grateful for the opportunity to broach the subject.    

The basis for the class was a reading of Henri Nouwen's The Way of the Heart, a primer for contemplative prayer by gleaning from the life of the fourth century desert mothers and fathers.  Here are some of my notes.  The page numbers refer to my copy of Nouwen's book (New York: Seabury Press, 1981).    

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A Brief Overview of Desert Spirituality
The Christian life has its many trials and temptations.  We struggle in our daily lives with the temptations for better jobs, material possessions and wealth, and the ultimate pursuit of happiness.  The culture today shares this with the late Roman world of the fourth century.

With the toleration of Christianity under the Edict of Milan in 313, the narrow door that Jesus spoke of was flung far and wide, opening the gates to thousands of new Christians.  The Church no longer faced bloody persecution from Rome.  With this peace and growth came a prevailing sense that the Christian standard was deteriorating, the faith was becoming too common and lapsed, so it seemed.

Monasticism appears on the scene in the fourth century as an impulse to reform the church from the relaxed standards of the Christian life.  Subversive to the culture of material wealth and power, life for the desert fathers and mothers was a search for solitude in the wilderness of Egypt to find a deep, abiding union with God in Christ.  Their testing was to renounce the world's priorities in search of the richness of Christ founded upon a strict dedication or rule of life. 

Nouwen's The Way of the Heart  

In classic Nouwen form, The Way of the Heart presents five short chapters with straight-forward reflective insights into the spiritual tradition that grew out of the desert in the fourth century.  It is a misreading of Nouwen, here, to see the interior life and growth through silence apart from ministry within the Kingdom of God.  Nor, however, is this implying or espousing the Platonic ideals of mind/body dualism, or the Manichaeism heresy. 

Desert spirituality is quite clearly a primer for discipleship which Our Lord calls and invites us all to live.  The result of desert spirituality in practice is a well-spring of compassion, a capacity so widened by transforming silence that we are able to bear one another's crosses in solidarity with Jesus Christ. 

Class Outline

I.  Opening Silence and Prayer

II. Overview of Desert Spirituality

·       flee, be silent, and pray, the three main ideas of desert spirituality.

III. Prologue

·      What is required of us as ministers of the Gospel in our day (pg. 12)

·      Subversive Prayer, the actions of the desert fathers and mothers subverted the established culture

·      Romans 12:1-2 "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect."

·      New kinds of martyrs, witnesses against the destructive powers of evil and witnesses for the transforming power of Christ.

IV. Solitude

·      Thomas Merton (p.21)

·      Society as molding us for seductive powers

·      Take a look at our own weekly routine in order to see our priorities

·      Two main enemies of the Spiritual life: anger and greed

·      The Furnace of Transformation

·      "My soul 'too cramped for you to enter it--widen it out." St. Augustine's Confessions

·      Jesus' Temptations in the desert

·      Matthew 9:9-13   "As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’"

·      Dying to the false self

·      Spirituality and Ministry meet in compassion

V.  Silence

·      Have words lost their power?  Is language our only ability to communicate with God?

·      What value does our culture place on silence?

·      What value does our worshipping community place on silence?

·      What would our lives look like without distractions?  What would our ministry look like?

·      "Silence is the home of the word."  Nouwen

·      "God's first language is silence, everything else is translation" Thomas Keating  

·      John 1:1-5   "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

·      Vincent van Gogh (p.55)

VI. Prayer

·      How does silence manifest itself in prayer?

·      How does this square with community prayer and worship?

·      "Arrow Prayers" (p.80)

·      Via Negativa or the Apophatic tradition

The Last Anchorite Part 2

The Last Anchorite Part 1

After delving into the ancient world of St. Anthony and meeting the present-day anchorite, Fr. Lazarus in James Cowan's book, Desert Father: A Journey in the Wilderness with Saint Anthony, I went searching for more.  I came across a short documentary film (less than 20 minutes), "The Last Anchorite," which I commend to you.  Because of the time constraints on YouTube, the video is divided into two sections.

You will encounter the expanse of Mount Colzim where the cave of Saint Anthony rests as well as peek inside Saint Anthony's Coptic Monastery.  Hear the wisdom of Fr. Lazarus.  No commentary, I think, is needed.  

The Monastery of Saint Anthony

Here's an interesting look inside the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of Saint Anthony in Egypt, one of the oldest monasteries in all of Christendom.  Built around 356, the monastery is the burial site of St. Anthony.  The monastery sits at the base of Mount Colzim, the mountain which holds the cave of Abba Anthony.

Extensive renovations have been underway at the monastery for the past 8 years.  The news agency, Zenit, carries an interesting article concerning the renovations at this ancient holy site.  Click here to go read the article.

Hungry For Change: Food, Inc.

The documentary film, Food, Inc., came out this fall and is the work of filmmaker Robert Kenner.  I rented it last night on i-Tunes and was captivated.  Think you know the real source of your food?  Do you know how many products in the grocery store contain corn or corn-related by-products?  Do you realize how few companies are controlling the food sources--from seed to supermarket--in this global economy?  

While I don't think this film will turn you into a vegetarian, it will certainly make you think twice when you are in the check-out line buying food for you or your family.  The film is well made, I think, and covers poultry, pork, beef, corn, and soybeans.  My favorite is the philosopher-farmer in Virginia, you'll know him when you see him!  Join the chase of the "seed nazis" who stop at nothing to protect their patent rights in the farm fields of America.  Be advised, there are some scenes showing how animals are slaughtered, but it's not the end of the world.  Watch it, it's well worth the hour-and-a-half of your time.

The makers of the film have created a website, Hungry For Change, where you can find out more information and ways to make a change in your food.