“She stroked his head, asked after his rings. A nurse removed one, a cameo ring his father had found. I removed the other, his wedding ring, given to her to put on his hand by a priest 56 years ago, now removed by a priest and given back to her. She clutched them to her heart and said she’d soon see him again.”
“These days in which we all live, right now, are like that kiln. A crucible of sorts. The pressure is on. The invisible stress-cracks inside each one of us are – because of the intense heat of life’s insecurities – becoming wider, more visible cracks after the firings.”
“This shelter-in-place time has been just such a disruption, but on a planetary scale. It has stopped our normal routines. It has startled a planet of humans and caused us to sit up and look around us. It has pushed us out of our complacency and our busy accumulation into a season of taking-stock.”
“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.”
“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.”