Some Words from Haiti

I'm posting now from Ranquitte, Haiti, where--with Pastors Ron Luckey and Barry Nesse and Dr. Greg McMorrow--I'm to work on a variety of projects at the Calhoun-Spady Missionary School. Ranquitte is a mountain village accessible by forty-minute flight out of Port au Prince in a small-single-engine plane, followed by a ninety-minute drive in a pickup truck on an eleven-mile dirt/rock road. The school, large by Haitian standards, is filled with 1,300 students and a staff of 100 teachers (many of the part-time). While here our team will be working on the water-purification system, repairing equipment, and doing some public-relations photography as I'll be attempting to locate and a promote a sister-to-sister city relationship with a state-side town, comparable in population to that of Ranquitte, some 6,000.

This morning we visited Per Andre P. Augustin, the vibrant catholic priest at the local St. Francis of Assisi parish where we attended the baptisms of six Haitian children. All of this is simply prologue to my request to ask for your prayers and intercessions for Haiti and its people. In special, remember eighty-nine-year-old Ivy Solomon, the "Mother Teresa of Haiti," who began work in Ranquitte thirty years ago and now in her elder years has been blessed with dedicated group of Christian workers, teachers, agronomists, and village leaders who work day-by-day, and pray every morning and evening, singing hymns in French and encouraging one another in Creole, the native Haitian language. If the Holy Spirit every teases you into thinking about coming to Haiti with me sometime, be sure to let the Holy Breath of God fill us with conversation about the possibility.

We'll be attending the 6:00 a.m. Mass tomorrow morning and will certainly turn our thoughts to you and ask God to bless you, even as you ask God to bless us.

I'll post more in a day or two.

Getting reading for Sunday, July 17

Once again I'm sharing Daniel B. Clendenin's Monday announcement that previews and comments on the lectionary readings for this coming Sunday, July 27, at Journey with Jesus, a weekly webzine for the global church. Dan writes:

1. My essay this week is called "Accepting God's Acceptance."
2. I review the Bob Dylan movie "I'm Not There," and pastor Tom Ford reviews Rick Bragg's memoir "The Prince of Frogtown" (2008).
3. Our series featuring the poetry of John Donne continues with "A Hymn to God the Father."

Be sure to visit Journey with Jesus each week.

Good News about Jason

Less than a week ago, many of us began including Jason in our daily prayers, asking God to grant healing to his body, spirit, and mind. This afternoon I received this note from Leslie Ferris, whose note on July 15 asked that we pray for Jason:

Thank you so much for your prayers for Jason. He is much improved and is now home from the hospital. He had been in for over 2 weeks, most of it in ICU. He still has some ground to recover, but he is doing very well at this time. Prayers do make a difference, God bless you all.

Leslie D Farris

136 Stevie's Way
Berea KY 40403

Image source: The Church of the Intercession, Episcopal

550 West 155th Street (@Broadway), New York, New York 10032

The Lambeth Conference: July 16-August 3, 2008

Once every ten years Anglicans and Episcopalian leaders from around the world meet by invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Canterbury, England. This year the meeting takes place from July 16 to August 3; and, as many of you know, the proceedings of this 2008 Lambeth Conference ARE frequently featured in the news media. If you wish to take in what happening, I recommend the following coverage and conversations:

• For background and context, Lambeth Conferences


• The Lambeth Conference Official Website


• The unofficial website for Lambeth 2008: from the producers of CaNNet


• Archbishop Rowan Williams' Pree-Conference Message (text and video)


• Lambeth Conference Daily Account: New Jersey Bishop George Councell


• The Anglican Communion Official Website


• Pope Benedict XVI's message to the Archbishop of Canterbury

Realizing that I'm a tad late in the posting, for those who wish to pray for God's blessings upon the Conference, here's s a prayer cycle, provided by St. James Episcopal Church, Cambrdige, MA, day-by-day offerings of which that might well be included in one's daily prayers:

7/13 Bless the bishops and their spouses as they travel to England to attend the Lambeth conference at Canterbury. Be present with the priests and lay people of the Church of England as they extend their welcome through the Hospitality Initiative, and help us all to entertain the angels in our midst.

7/14 Be present with the bishops and their spouses in their fellowship as they visit with the people of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Guide their shared worship and conversation, and grant that the spirit of welcome will strengthen the bishops for the work of the conference.

7/15 We pray for friendship between bishops and the people of the Church in Wales as they spend time with each other in hospitality and sharing. Bless this encounter between cultures and gather your diverse people to serve together in Christ.

7/16 Guide and protect all who are traveling to the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, that they may be safe in all things from harm or accident, and give a spirit of wisdom and warmth to those who welcome them.

7/17 Bless and inspire Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams as he leads the opening retreat, that he may illuminate, and the bishops present may more fully understand, the meaning of an episcopal calling in service to God's mission.

7/18 Watch over all those bishops who for reasons of health, finance, conscience or domestic concerns cannot attend the Lambeth Conference, that they may join their fellow bishops in shared love.

7/19 Give a spirit of forbearance and understanding to the bishops and colleagues assembled at the opening retreat, that they may open their hearts and minds to each other and to God's mission as they look forward to the deliberations that lie ahead.

7/20 Raise up a joyous Spirit-led fellowship as hosts, bishops and spouses hear the Word of God and share the Body and Blood of Christ in the opening Eucharist of the 2008 Lambeth Conference.

7/21 We give thanks for our common history and your faithfulness to us in our shared history as members of the Anglican Communion. Help the bishops and spouses gathered in Canterbury to acknowledge that which unites us and to discover how they can glorify and serve you as they respond together to God's call to mission.

7/22 Awaken the hearts and minds of participants in this Lambeth Conference to proclaim the good news of Christ's resurrection and of eternal life in you, that all people may hear God's invitation to faith and fellowship.

7/23 Arouse a passion among the assembled bishops for justice, well-being, and healing for all your people. Keep them always mindful that our use of resources can make a difference in the lives of others.

7/24 Be with the bishops and others meeting in London, as they witness to the possibility of reconciliation and human fulfillment in implementing the Millennium Development Goals.

7/25 Help us all, and especially our bishops assembled at Canterbury, to weave our Anglican particularities along with those of all other Christian brothers and sisters ecumenically into the multicolored rainbow tapestry that is the whole Body of Christ.

7/26 Forgive us our abuse of the God-given creation, and help our bishops chart a way forward to heal its wounds, so that we may restore the environment to wholeness, health and a sustainable future.

7/27 Bless and guide our bishops as they seek rest and restoration in Sabbath, so that they may begin again tomorrow with refreshed minds, souls and bodies. Give them new strength and vigor for the final week of the Conference.

7/28 Help the bishops gathered at Canterbury to see the possibilities of dialogue with other religions, and to share the Gospel in loving and generous humility with those who do not yet know Christ.

7/29 Be with the bishops and their spouses, as they engage together the realities of power and authority. Help them find ways to heal the wounds of gender abuse and to restore right relations between men and women.

7/30 Enlighten the bishops to receive the gifts of Holy Scripture with faithful hearts, rational minds and devout spirits, and to discern how these truths can be set forth in their communities.

7/31 Illuminate for us the deep and incomprehensible power of Love manifested in our human sexuality. Help the bishops understand how they may be faithful to that Love in a shared understanding of God's mission.

8/1 Enable the bishops in Canterbury to approach with humility and mutual respect the complex issues inherent in their diverse visions of the Communion. Direct their work so that all may share in an ongoing development of an Anglican Covenant.

8/2 Guide the bishops of the Anglican Communion as they consider processes arising from the Windsor Report that can lead to the renewal of mutual responsibility and interdependence in the Body of Christ.

8/3 Bless all those who shared in and have been shaped by the meetings at Canterbury. Let their participation in the Body and Blood of Christ at the final Eucharist represent a fulfillment of the many conversations and a tangible sign of our unity in faith.

8/4 Keep safe the bishops, their spouses, their advisors, and all those who have made the 2008 Lambeth Conference a reality, as they return home to strive to be leaders in God's mission and thus strengthen the Anglican Communion.

Pray for Jason and Visit Journey with Jesus

Although I'm still without my laptop computer, June is loaning me her computer so that today at the Red Rooster, a local coffee cafe in Barnesville, GA, I'm able to check my email (thanks, Grace, for your longish note!) and let you know that I'm looking into the purchase a new laptop so that perhaps by next week sometime I'll be able to stay more in touch with everyone.

On Saturday Leslie Farris sent the following:

My daughter Jennifer is a caregiver for a young man with cerebral palsy. He is currently in ICU and greatly in need of prayers. He had an adverse reaction to morphin, and is surrently on a ventaltor. His name is Jason. Please pray for Jason, his family - and my daughter. Thanks so much.

Please place Jason among those for whom you intercede.

As he does every Monday mornng, Daniel B. Clendien sends the following announcement:

• David Werther reviews the Wilders' new CD called "Someone's Got to Pay."
• I review the book "The Last Lecture" by cancer survivor Randy Pausch of Carnegie
• Mellon, and a fantastic film from Uganda called "War Dance" (it's not what you think!).
• We continue our John Donne series with Holy Sonnet I.
• My essay [on this coming Sunday's lectionary readings] considers the scale and scope of God's love. I call it "In Heaven and On Earth: Each Person, Every Nation, All Creation, The Entire Cosmos."

If you're getting ready for Sunday's worship, be sure to visit Journey with Jesus, listed in the links of good places to visit.

Finally this: my friend Harry Smiley has reminded me that his Sunday morning group is almost finished discussing Philip Yancey's Prayer. Harry asks if I might be able to recommend another book worth reading and being discussed by a small group. Do any of you have a recommendation?

Lightening has knocked out my computer

This afternoon a horrendous thunderstorm came over the lake, and I--stupid I--was at my computer when a bolt of lightening hit the house while I was at the keyboard; I got a good solid shock of electricity, not enough to hurt me in any way, but good enough to knock the daylights out of my computer. Right now I'm on a backup at June's daughter's home, and able to spend a few minutes letting you know that I may not be online regularly for a few days. I will take the computer to a shop in Covington to see if anything can be done to save it; if not, then I'll need to get another one as soon as conveniently possible. In the meantime, I can work out of the Covington public library to stay in touch.

While things work themselves out, here's a wonderful saying from St. Jerome I think you might like to muse over as the days go by:

Be like the grasshopper and make night musical . . . . Sing with your spirit, but sing with the understanding, too. And let your song be that of the psalmist.

Qtd. Mike Aquilina, The Way of the Fathers: Praying with Early Christians, 75.

July 13: 9th Sunday after Pentecost: Getting Ready

This morning I received the following message from Daniel B. Clendenin.

Journey with Jesus readers, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is one of the best films I've everwatched. It tells the story of Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby and how he dictated a book letter by letter after a massivestroke at the age of 43. Check out my review.

We continue our summer series of poems by John Donne with "For Whom the Bell
Tolls."

For books I review In the Eye of the Storm by Gene Robinson, the openly gay priest who became the ninth Anglican bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003.

My essay this week is called "Family Values, Biblical Style."

Summer Blessings!
---dan

As I hope you know, Journey with Jesus is a weekly webzine for the global church, serving 220 countries. I encourage you to take a look as Clendenin's weekly postings; his commentaries on the upcoming lectionary readings for each Sunday's worship are excellent. And, by the way, you can download his weekly commentary for iPod listening; subscribe by going to Podcasts, MP3 Downloads, and Streaming Audio from the Journey with Jesus.

Some Thoughts on Philip Yancy's Prayer, Chapter 20

During Sunday School in one of Richmond's parishes, six of us have been meeting since early February to read and discuss a chapter each week from Philip Yancy's Prayer. On Sunday, July 6, five of the group (I will be in Georgia) will spend the better of an hour working in Part Five: The Practice of Prayer, especially Chapter 20, Prayer and Me.

In this chapter, after admitting that "by nature” he tends to resist “techniques, especially those relating to spiritual disciplines," Yancey tells us that "if prayer is [his] response to God's presence," it’s quite apparent that he must first somehow “tune in to that presence"(286). Yancey’s “tuning-in” metaphor at first suggested to me what some of us do when we fiddle with a radio dial to catch perhaps NPR’s All Things Considered in the afternoon. But as I mused on the “tuning-in” metaphor a bit more, I find myself more inclined to understand Yancey’s tuning-in metaphor as something more akin to what a musician (perhaps a violinist) does when she or he gets ready to play in an orchestra. In what sounds to some like a pre-symphony bit of cacophony, the musician "fiddles" with her instrument's pegs, tightening and loosening strings, making sure that each string is in tune, ready to be played, ready to go into the actual presentation of whatever is to be played.

Several years ago a friend, Jon Kessler, one of my mentors in prayer (who has since died and is fully with Christ), suggested one evening that I might try to do something quite similar to a musician’s tuning-in before I enter Morning or Evening Prayer. He told me that I might find it helpful before prayer to get things tuned up quite like a violinist. My instrument, he said, is not of course a violin but a prayer book most likely containing a Psalter, readings from Scripture, perhaps even songs and hymns set to musical melodies.

Tuning in, he said, might help if I “warm up” my instruments by quietly giving myself a chance to look ahead to what I and others will be reading, singing, and doing. He suggested that I might like to make sure my prayer book has its pages “book-marked” and ready to be read. That perhaps I might quietly hum the psalm tone or the hymn’s melody so that I have it well in mind when the times come to do those psalms and/or a song. Perhaps, he recommended, I might find it good to know exactly what Scriptures or readings I’ll be reading quietly. Getting ready for the Gospel of St. John, he said, requires a different preparation than moving into St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Jon, who liked to prayer out-of-doors suggested that I might also want to just sit and listen, doing almost nothing but paying attention to the way of the wind, bird sounds, the movement of the clouds. But, most of all, Jon said that I would do well to be “pre-prayerfully” quiet and give myself some time to pre- and review the day, think about whom it is that I want to include in intercessions, what I want to give God thanks for, what I need to confess, and, in short, know somewhat in advance how I am to present myself before God. Then, Jon said, “Enter your prayers.”

Yancey, describing how Anthony Bloom learned to pray, tells us that in Beginning to Pray, this Russian Orthodox Christian describes how he came to begin "each day in quiet and stillness, acknowledging that the day itself was a gift from God, something that had never existed before, a chance for a new start. It stretched before him like a vast expanse of unspoiled snowin his native Russia. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” He prayed to enter that day as God’s own messenger, carrying God’s presence to everyone he met. Then at night he would review all that had happened, committing both the progress and the failures to a gracious god. The day is now spent; it rests in God’s hands” (299).