Hospitality: The Work of the Community

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (Hebrews 13:2)

You shall treat the stranger who sojourns among you as a native, and you shall love him as yourself. (Leviticus 19:34)

Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for he is going to say: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me ” (Rule of St. Benedict and Matt. 25:35).

It takes a degree of courage to walk into a church as a stranger. It takes a degree of risk to show hospitality to a stranger. When we are a stranger, we tend to revert to those basic adolescent questions, “WIll I fit in? Will I feel at home or will I feel like a lonely outsider? Will I call attention to myself?”

Hospitality is a step beyond friendliness with its social niceties, The spiritual practice of hospitality is rooted in empathy and compassion for the stranger, which in Biblical times meant someone not from our tribe – someone with different customs and even values. Hospitality recognizes the loneliness and the awkwardness of the stranger and treats him or her like a “native,” that is, like “one of us.”

So when you see a stranger at church, first ask God for the grace to show hospitality. A simple doorway into hospitality on Sunday morning can be, “Would you have time to join me for a cup of coffee after the service?” Then accompany the stranger into the coffee hour and offer to get a cup of coffee or a refreshment. Spend a few minutes getting to know the person. Then you will be able to scan the room and help him or her connect with others.

Afterwards, follow up – a phone call, an email, a text message, a note, a visit, a rendezvous for coffee. You never know, you might be “entertaining an angel unawares” – that is, someone who carries a special grace or message for you.

Strangers may come back once or twice because of the sermon or the music. Strangers may stay because the community welcomes them and helps them feel like a “native.” And do not forget to keep the person in prayer. You might find some amazing things happening,

I found this short article helpful. You might wish to check it out: http://au.christiantoday.com/article/the-lost-art-of-welcoming-the-stranger/11994.htm

Disturb us, O Lord

Disturb us, O Lord
when, with the abundance of things we possess,
we have lost our thirst for the water of life
when, having fallen in love with time,
we have ceased to dream of eternity
and in our efforts to build a new earth,
we have allowed our vision of Heaven to grow dim.
Stir us, O Lord
to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seas
where storms show Thy mastery,
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.
In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopes
and invited the brave to follow.
Amen.
Prayer of Sir Francis Drake (1577) as he was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.

Becoming Princes of Peace

I gave this talk to the Norfolk Rotary earlier in December. Here it is in its entirety

Isaiah of Jerusalem lived in anxious and dark times. He was aised during the tail end of a period of prosperity and peacefulness in Jerusalem under the reign of Kjng Uzziah, but things began to unravel following the popular King’s tragic death. That same year, the youthful Isaiah had a vision in the temple during the time of the offering of the evening incense. This vision resulted in a sense of call to speak the truth of God to a leadership that had lost the confidence of it’s people because of its anxious reactivity, and a society that had become cynical and fragmented. A mega power to the east, full of the most sophisticated weapons of mass destruction, was threatening. Times were hard economically and the government could not agree on a course of action.

In these dark times Isaiah spoke words that have resounded through the ages and become the leitmotiv of this sacred season through the artistry of composers of the likes of Handel.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The vision was of a prince of peace…but prince of a particular kind of peace.

Later, Augustus Caesar would be called the Prince of Peace, but the Latin word for Peace – Pax – would mean the kind of peace won through military might, retributive justice, strict control, and the prosperity of some at the expense of others.

But the word, Isaiah used was a much deeper and more complex Semitic term, shalom. Shalom was to be the foundation of the throne of the prince of peace.

I have come to believe that the vision of, and the yearning for shalom, or in Arabic, Sala’am, which comes from the same Semitic root, is what underlies the Judaeo, Christian and Islamic faiths.

I have also come to believe, that a worldwide organization like Rotary, transcending religion, culture and language is united by dedication to the bringing forth of shalom/ Sala’am.

So let’s take a couple minutes to travel through the rich landscape of shalom and see what we find.

Paradoxically, the doorway to shalom moves through the landscape of anxiety. Theologians, philosophers and psychologists will tell us that the underlying cause of most pain is rooted in anxiety. “Fear not…be not anxious” is found in most holy writings.

Anxiety is our automatic response to a sense that our survival is threatened – physical, emotional, psychological. The same automatic response can be generated by both real or imagined threats.

Anxiety can become chronic when we are continuously deprived of what we need to sustain our life and our humanity – things like safety, health, boundaries, food, emotional nurture, respect for who we are in creation, the expression of our gifts.

Shalom is the sense of wholeness that comes when we have enough to be free from the constant drumbeat of anxiety which can overwhelm our thought and actions s that we just react, constantly strike out like a serpent or amass endlessly rather than reflect out of our higher brain.

Shalom means a sense of enoughness. We now know that children who are not given good enough emotional and physical nurture early in life, or whose boundaries are assaulted continuously through emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical or sexual abuse, grow up with a sense of profound inner emptiness that never feels that it can be filled. This emptiness creates an immense craving in adulthood. Emotional emptiness can issue forth in a craving for endless recognition, material things and relationships. But tragically, there never seems to be enough to fill the emptiness.

Emptiness and violation can also create immense envy and anger which seeks to turn the tables on others. if invested with power. many who grow up with this sense of emptiness can spend thscapegoats finding scapegoats on whom they can discharge their anger by making them experience the same or greater pain.

Shalom, on the other hand, means physical, emotional and spiritual health. It is rooted in being loved and appreciated as we are, with our particular personality, gifts, abilities and frailties. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, he came up out of the water and heard his heavenly Father say to him, “You are my beloved son.I am so proud of you.” No conditions.

When I was a child we would vacation with my father’s closest childhood friend, Henry Howell, and his family. Henry was a political force of nature in the Sixties and Seventies. But to me, as a child, he always had an affirmative word, “You are the best of the west and the feast fo the east.” Larry Sabbato and I both knew Henry in this way and it had profound effects on our lives. He embodied the forcefield of shalom – affirmation and appreciation.

Shalom means we have what we need to be creative as God is creative. We are free to use our gifts to give life and joy and prosperity and healing to others. As the writer William Blake once said, “Creativity is the highest form of spirituality.”

Shalom is rooted in a sense of a God of grace, forgiveness and redemption. Grace, in that there is a source of wisdom, empowerment and love that is beyond and within us. Forgiveness, in that we will fail, we will stray, our lives will get off course, but there is a home of welcome and understanding always waiting for us. Redemption, in that even our mistakes, our failings and the failings of others can be sources of new understanding, more abundant life, and compassion for self and others.

Shalom is profoundly associated with enough work to be creative and enough space, quiet and rest for reflection, renewal, building community and care.

Shalom was rooted in sabbath rest. We cannot enjoy shalom without sabbath rest – opportunities to step away from production and commerce, time just to be, time to take in as opposed to giving out. Sabbath was a commandment, because God realized that our anxiety and resulting compulsivity will never allow us or others to step away without it being commanded.

Ultimately, we do not know shalom unless others know shalom. Despite the individualism of our post modern period, we can have all the food, housing, creativity, dignity, freedom, health rest, safety, emotional care and nurture, sabbath rest, but if others do not, we will never know its fullness or richness. If nothing else, their resentment, anger, anxiety, attacks, pain and deprivation will keep us in a constant state of anxiety ourselves, with the resulting misunderstandings, conflicts, scapegoating, endless self protective strategies, tribalism. and wars.

So shalom’s greatest richness is found in being drawn out of ourselves to serve others. Jesus said, I come not as one who is served, but as one who serves. Abraham provided his best to three strangers not of his tribe and found they were messengers of God bringing a whole new life of abundance.

Isaiah spoke of a prince of peace, one anointed to bring shalom. Christianity sees Jesus as embodying this prince of peace, but it also believes that the spirit of the prince of peace can spread out to all peoples like fragrant perfume can fill a room with it’s beautiful aroma.

Kwanzaa sees seven values of African culture as contributing to shalom: unity, self determination, collective responsibility for one another, cooperative economics in which no one is left out of the abundance, creativity and faith in a power of love beyond ourselves.

Whatever our faith tradition, we as Rotarians can see ourselves as anointed to bring shalom in very practical ways. Using this word in a non gender specific way, we are to live our lives as princes of peace.

At Hanukkah, the first candle that is menorah the menorah is considered not to count. It is the candle from which all others are lit, day by day, until the room is filled with light. It is so easy in a world of such need for peace to become convinced that the seemingly paltry light we might contribute does not count for much. It is so easy to drop out and become contribute to the post modern cynicism.

But the beauty of Rotary is that we come together, week by week, we contribute our so called useless bit of light, a dollar here, a dollar there, a bit of time here, a bit of time there, our joy in being together, celebrating victories and sorrows. So, like the candles of Hannukah, we light up the world with the light of peace. And so I say to you, Shalom, Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Blessed Kwanzaa, salaam aleikum, peace go with you this holiday season. And pray for the divine spirit to become princes peace, small flames of light wherever you may be.

The Gift of Beauty through Music

Advent Four, and I write in the predawn darkness before heading to church.

Today at 10:00 a.m. we are laying aside our usual celebration of Holy Eucharist for the traditional Advent Lessons and Carols. Earlier in the year, our organist, Dr. Allen Shaffer, asked if we could have a Lessons and Carols on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, and I jumped at the chance. This will be Allen’s last Christmas with us at Christ and St. Luke’s and he wanted to offer this tradition one last time during his tenure, but on Sunday morning for a change.

Christ and St. Luke’s “brand”, if you will, is beauty, Last night I let Matt into the church to set Up for recording today’s service. Walking into the church in out of the evening’s darkness, I heard him catch his breath at the beauty of the space. Add our beautiful music and you have a gift that is utterly transcendent and soul nurturing.

The late mythologist, Joseph Campbell, postulated once that religion began when humans created for the sake of beauty and not just functionality. In this stressed out world addicted to the bottom line, yet not entirely knowing what the bottom line delivers, our souls are starving for beauty. Without the experience of beauty, I maintain, our souls wither, our humanity becomes a thin shadow of what it could be, and our language becomes cliche’ ridden, rather than deep and rich. Without beauty, our hearts fail and our compassion withers.

I suspect our forebears knew this. That is why there is so much in the Hebrew Scripture about the details of the temple in Jerusalem. They knew that without a care for beauty, God’s glory would remain hidden.

Yesterday, I went to the Apple Store at the Mall. Steve Jobs believed that technology needed to be wed to beauty. As I was walking out of the store, I drew pleasure from the simple beauty of the bag, the packaging, and even the design of the keyboard I was purchasing. This commitment to beauty came out of Job’s spirituality and he was obnoxiously uncompromising aout it.

So today we will feast on the beauty of God through music. And it will begin Allen’s last Christmas with us. Over the years, he and the choir have provided such beauty, transforming worship into a “world of wonder in which it is very easy to fall in love with God.”

Next year, we will have entered a whole new era in music and worship. The road leading there makes people anxious, and it makes me anxious – anxious to maintain our commitment to the excellence of soul-nurturing, beautiful music. Like Steve Jobs, we must be uncompromising.

Fortunately, we are blessed with an excellent and uncompromising search committee headed by John Ford and Melissa Thrasher West. The committee has done a wonderful job so far in distilling the essence of the mission of our music, the core values that have made Christ and St Luke’s such a spiritual and cultural center, and a sense of where we need to go to feed the souls of new generations. We have a huge task of discernment and limited resources to work with. But we are clear that we must be uncompromising about our standards. Beauty and excellence in music and worship must continue. They are our unique gift to the soul of this Hampton Roads community.

Here is what the search committee has discerned in their work so far:

MUSIC PROGRAM PROFILE
CHRIST & ST. LUKE’S CHURCH

1. Continue excellence in musical offerings.
2. Increase diversity in musical offerings, appropriate to a variety of liturgies.
3. Maintain and enhance our leadership role in the Arts Community.
4. Improve our intergenerational involvement and reach, including but not limited to youth.
5. Work closely with the Worship Committee.
6. In addition to the Adult Choir, introduce additional choir(s)/instrumentalists, including but not limited to youth.
7. Increase musical offerings outside of the church building; e.g.: Stockley Gardens, Lychgate Garden.
8. Tap into lay resources in the congregation for assistance.
C:\Users\melissa\Documents\C&SL Music Director Search\MUSIC PROGRAM PROFILE v2.doc

MUSIC DIRECTOR PROFILE
CHRIST & ST. LUKE’S CHURCH

REQUIREMENTS:
1. Masters in Music
2. Organ and Vocal/Choral Training
3. Vocal and Instrumental Conducting Experience
4. Administrative Experience
5. Three to five years’ experience in Church Music

PREFERENCES:
1. Director/Assistant Director in a mid-to-large church/cathedral/school
2. Experience with youth choirs
3. Composer/arranger

As we continue to meet, please feel free to use this blog as a way to offer your observations, concerns and feedback. I will take what you offer right back to the committee.

Have a very Blessed Fourth Sunday of Advent – Mary’s Sunday.

Belief Through the Lens of Disbelief

I asked Richard Beauchamp to lead a small group in the study of a systematic theologian. He chose Christopher Morse, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair in Theology at Union Seminary in New York. Dr. Morse is a native of Portsmouth, Virginia.

Entitled, Not Every Spirit- A Dogmatic of Christian Disbelief, he approaches systematic theology through the exploration of what we do not believe as Christians. I am finding this to be a refreshing approach and more timely than some of the theologians who formed me thirty years ago.

Our first gathering with Richard is this afternoon, so I am sitting in Stella’s – yes you heard it – not Starbuck’s, reviewing the first two chapters.

Here is what jumped out at me:

“Today, if one thinks of the church internationally and ecumenically, we hear many voices raised from various quarters essentially repeating the words of Tolstoy, ‘I have no doubt there is truth in the doctrine, but there can also be no doubt that it (church doctrine) harbors a lie; and I must find the truth and the lie so I can tell them apart.’
A teaching that may be true when heard in one cultural context with one understanding can be false when heard in another cultural context with another understanding. And …the people whose voices are being raised most often are those who have experienced an intolerable contradiction between the life to which the gospel calls them and what they see in specific instances being done in the name of Christianity. Their witness is to say, ‘No.’ “
Christopher Morse, Not Every Spirit: A Dogmatic of Disbelief (New York: Continuum, 2009), 12.

Cancun 2: Stepping Outside the Zone of Comfort

Yesterday afternoon Cathy and I ventured off this thin strip of sand, accurately named the “Hotel District,” to head to the center of the city sixteen kilometers around the perimeter of the lagoon. Cathy had finished the one novel she had brought and was in search of more books in English.
Cathy had heard the only nearby option was a Walmart in town.

The bus that stopped in front of the Royal Mayan complex, where we are staying, was nearly empty when we paid our seventeen Pesos and sat down. But as it stopped in front of each hotel, more and more people- mostly hotel workers, boarded the bus until it was crammed. A tired looking woman grabbed the handle by our seat, so I said, “Signora, por favor” and offered her my seat as I joined the crush of bodies in the aisle. As much as we have enjoyed the exquisite beauty and filtered water of this American compound where we are staying, it felt good to be among the residents of Cancun.

Walmart was- well – Walmart, albeit in Spanish, and Cathy was disappointed to find no books in English. But then the adventure began,

We were heading toward the door when a friendly employee called to us in perfect English with very little accent. His name was Angel and he had been part of a study program that rewarded his 4.0 average with an opportunity to change places with a high school student in Chicago – for four years. I figured Angel had an angle, but he was so engaging that we enjoyed chatting with him and besides, we were in no rush. Angel quickly discerned that one of our goals on this trip was to visit the Isla Mujeres, a small island off the Cancun coast where a friend of ours has a vacation home. Cathy had enjoyed a wonderful visit there a few years back and wanted me to see it. Angel led us to the tourist desk in the store and made arrangements for transport to the ferry and for lunch while we were there. Now I am nobody’s fool. I was very wary, but employing all my powers of discernment, I decided that Angel was a man of his word and was doing legitimate promotions. He then told Cathy that there was a used bookstore with English language books around the corner and he would get a cab which would wait for us and then take us back to our hotel for eight dollars.

When the cab driver did not understand the directions, Angel jumped in the front seat and guided him to the bookstore. He was right- the bookstore was crammed with popular paperbacks in English.

On the way back to the Royal Mayan, Cathy and the taxi driver engaged in an animated conversation in Spanish. I picked up bits and pieces. He said the economy had hit the area hard. Its only industry is tourism, and fear of drug violence combined with the economy has kept Americans away. He pointed out that the drug violence was confined to the northern border areas where Americans’ hunger for drugs made it lucrative. I enjoyed listening to Cathy engaging him in his own tongue and she got a kick out of using her rusty Spanish. This will help her bone up before we go to Nicaragua with some of the parish mission team in late February to help discern the future of that outreach ministry.

It was a very satisfying afternoon, and reminded us of how much we enjoy people and their stories. But even more, these unexpected moments – becoming part of the press of humanity on the bus, Angel accosting us and helping us, and the conversation with the cab driver – are the surprising graces that emerge when we step out of our zones of comfort. We wake up, our eyes are opened, and we find sacred visitations – even by an “Angel.” No great epiphanies, nothing earth shattering – just moments of awareness. Stepping out of our comfort zone demands that we, like the bridesmaids in the Gospels, must light our lamps of awareness and openness and keep them lit.

Cancun

Day four of our vacation in Cancun. It is strange to take a holiday this time of year. But last April I was running the laptop at the Rotary fundraiser, when a week at a timeshare in Cancun came up. It included one round trip plane ticket. I quickly jumped on it. The bidding was sluggish and we wound up with a great deal. As it turns out this has been a true God-send at the end of a very busy year. Yesterday I actually slept for 12 hours. A few issues from Christ and St. Luke’s had to be taken care of, but I am grateful for texting and email.