“For as Mikhail dragged himself back from the pigs, across the gloomy barren stage, the father entered stage right and with one stride reached his son and with one arm swept that six foot man up into his arms and over his heart.”
“I take a deep breath trying to remember where I was a year ago – who I was a year ago. Inside, I see the orange card with my handwriting: to stop fighting rest and embrace its renewing qualities.”
I would urge us not to be unsettled by the rising gas prices and other consumer discomforts that we are likely to experience in coming months. Rather we need to focus on the ongoing costs of this “horrific and unprovoked attack”on thousands of our neighbors in the Ukraine.
” This is a woman who did not hide her light under a bushel but put it all on the lampstand for all to see. She certainly shed a little light on me. I am grateful.”
This pandemic year has given me a new perspective on Emmanuel (God with us) for there are moments when the most raw and intimate connections are rooted in presence. There are times when grief is so over-whelming that there are no words. There are times when strength known in self and others can waver. There can even be moments when hope seems to vanish and only presence remains.
“Leaves and acorn caps crunch underneath my feet as the words from the sermon come through my airpods: ‘I can’t not remember the 20th century display of Emmett Till’s brutalized body when George Floyd’s 21st century body is strangled on international television.'”
The descriptions of love in the famous verses, were specifically aimed at partisan, conflicted, badly-behaving Corinthians. In the ancient world. to be called a Corinthian was to be called a person out for trouble, fractious, impious, self-directed to the point of rejecting any authority beyond oneself. A touchy, edgy, difficult community made up the young church in Corinth.
If you are in any kind of leadership position within your parish, whether it be clergy, staff or even a well-known volunteer, people will look to you for guidance. Rabbi Cytron-Walker was praised for his clear thinking and steadfastness as the situation unfolded over eleven hours. Would you be prepared to be thrust in the same role?
“Thank God for Episcopal Churches all over the US that have been providing feeding programs for school children and their neighbors during the pandemic. Now we encourage you to invite young people in your communities that want to make a difference, to join you in creating new forms of neighborhood empowerment in your communities too.”
Spoiler alert: If you want to see Don’t Look Up with innocent eyes, watch the movie before reading this. It is currently streaming on Netflix.