“I am homesick for the family gathered at the Eucharistic Table. I am homesick for the light of Christ shining in the beloved people who gather at that table and share God’s love and light with friends and visitors. I am homesick for the feeling of corporate belonging; for the joy of celebration and sharing the Body and Blood of Christ; and for the strength we gain in community.”
“It was a traditional spring holiday, a time for merry-making and pranks, singing and dancing, lighting bonfires and gathering flowers. Like many folkloric seasonal celebrations it acquired a Christian overlay.”
“There’s also the very real truth that Episcopalians want things done ‘correctly.’ Changes to liturgy, even small ones, are a big deal. When you’re messing with ‘the way we’ve always done things’ the situation can get ugly. It is pretty groundbreaking to bring in new pronouns and new ways of referring to our siblings.”
“As all parents and regular babysitters of toddlers know, no son of Thetis ever ran faster than a toddler intent on eluding capture, and this one was no exception. He streaked down the aisle like Usain Bolt setting a new world record for the 100-metre sprint, legs flashing in the light from the stained-glass windows.”
“Some bishops and priests have called this time in the life of our church, “a fast.” A fast is a chosen spiritual discipline. What if, instead of feeling that losing the Eucharist is something just happening to us, we choose this as a fast, out of love for God and our neighbor?”
“But other impossible things have happened too. Miraculous things. Signs of life overcoming old ways of death. The people who pick and pack and truck our food are understood to be essential. People are giving away their stimulus checks to make sure the unemployed can eat. San Francisco has found housing for homeless people in the newly empty hotels. Jails are setting people free. Grocery stores have special hours for elders and people wait patiently in line. More of us are baking bread and planting seeds, transforming our relationships with our bodies and the earth. Neighbors are connecting, in many places for the first time.”
“When the Hebrew people were dispersed after the Babylonian Captivity, they missed the Temple in Jerusalem on Mount Zion. The psalmist of Psalm 137 said that they did not know how to praise God with their songs if they were dispersed from their community of faith. Perhaps in these days, we feel dispersed as well from our communities of faith as we are quarantined.”
“The bigness of Christ is there but the need to touch a personal Christ has invaded my life and my soul. That need has always been there, but it seems to me that there is something immediate now about needing to know the personal Jesus inside me – to remember him for who he was to Peter – a personal Lord who calls me to try to walk on these waves with Him. All I have to do is try – and He catches me before I sink. I need His immediate promise of redemption. Not a future promise – not a past promise – His immediate redemption of me, now, and my situation, now.”
“I like to have everything planned out, to know exactly what I can expect, and to be forewarned of hardships so that I can mentally and emotionally prepare for them. But, just as Peter could not have known with certainty that a storm was coming, I, too, am unable to know what hardships or changes in my life lies ahead, or what shape each day will take.”
“It’s been a long Good Friday season. It might be still longer. There but for fortune go you and I. It is a season for us to be aware of who we are, on the inside. In that inner spirit, in the true awareness of our soul, we are truly aware of the ever holy God.”