The Family Monastery

This morning the mail brought me the September 2008 issue of the Forum Letter, a newlsetter published monthly by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau. One wonderful essay caught my attention: "The family monastery" by Pastor Brad Everett. It first appeared in The Forum, a publication of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada's Synod of Alberta and the Territories. Inasmuch as it's available on the Web, I'm trusting it's all right (editing it ever-so slightly) to post it here for your convenient reading. I hope you like it as much as I do.

The Family Monastery

When asked what was the difference between a monk and a married man, St. John Chrysostom replied, “The married man has a wife.” I don’t think any violence would be done to this sentiment if the terms “nun” and “married woman” were inserted instead.

Think about that for a minute. Not in terms of the obvious difference between the two states of life, but what it says about those things they have in common. The monastic life conjures up images of a life set apart for simplicity, prayer, work, service to others and above all service to Christ, which, if Chrysostom’s statement is correct, should be said about families as well. But truth be told, those likely aren’t the first things that come to mind when talking about families these days—even Christian families.

But why not? Why shouldn’t our families and homes be places of prayer and work, simplicity and service? Some might say that comparing monastic and family life I am comparing apples to oranges, and besides, Chrysostom was an unmarried bishop in the 4 C, so what does he know about Canadian famil life in 2008?

No one told us

A reading of his book On Marriage and Family Life (a collection of his sermons and letters on the topics) shows the good bishop did understand families and proves the truth of the saying “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Of course, there are differences between then and now, monasteries and family homes, but the question remains—why shouldn’t our families and homes be places of prayer and work, simplicity and service?

Picking from the variety of answers to that question I’d choose this one. No one told us our families and homes could be like that, or that it was within our power, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to do it. Overwhelmed by stresses, strains and societal pressures, our judgment was sufficiently clouded to prevent us from seeing this very real possibility.

While certainly much in our lives is beyond our control, we lost sight of those things we do have within our grasp—for example, our schedules. Life in a monastery is built around prayer; that is, the times for prayer are established first and then the rest of the day’s activities are slotted in around those times. Many of us unintentionally or otherwise, do the exact opposite. Appointments and activities get first priority in the schedule and prayer is slotted in afterwards (or not at all).

Yet there is nothing stopping us from reversing this process—from sitting down with a day-timer or calendar and establishing times and opportunities for family prayer, and letting the rest of life fit in around them.

Fair warning—this is hard and for the most part thankless work. We live in a world where one’s value is measured by what and how much we “do.” Prayer and devotions are not understood to be “doing” much of anything and so are not valued. But we need to remind ourselves that the world around us is not the final arbiter of what is important and necessary for our lives. Our time as individuals and families in this life is finite. We need to prayerfully set our own priorities for how to spend it, rather than allowing someone or something else to do it. We find time for those things most important to us. So before claiming a shortage of time, we might want to see if our practice reflects our priorities.

Removing the obstacles

Having set aside time for prayer the next question is often “What do we do?” In monasteries this is an easy one since services of prayer have developed over the centuries and are simply followed as a matter of course. But things like praying all 150 Psalms each week isn’t a realistic option for most individuals, let alone households with pre-schoolers. Unfortunately this is where many homes get hung up—obstacles block their view of the options.

So instead of being intimidated by what you can’t do, look at what you can. As a first step, take a look at your home, the personalities, gifts, inclinations and of course ages of the people that make it up. Looking for resources, the Lutheran Book of Worship has orders for the daily prayer offices, with notes on how to modify them for family use. This might not be for everyone, but don’t dismiss it out of hand as, at the very least, it’s a place to begin. It gives a framework
families can adapt to their situations and for those starting out, it will be trial and error, but that’s half the fun, because you are doing it as a family.

One family's way

Further, the times of prayer and practices of devotion a family develops are not necessarily all formal. By way of example (and not the best example by any stretch) here are some things our family has done. At every meal we hold hands and pray grace in unison. Doesn’t matter who is here or how old they are, the practice is the same. Before bed-time we gather at the kitchen table, light the candle in our Camp Kuriakos lantern and read a story from a children’s Bible. Now that the older two kids are reading we share this duty. We then sing a song of their choosing, usually “God Our Protector” or during Advent/Christmas “Angels We Have Heard on High.”

Prayer follows, sometimes everyone takes a turn, or requests are shared and I’ll pray. The time ends with the blowing out of the candle (or candles if it is Advent) and heading off to bed where we pray before tucking children in. Sometimes we sing the Nunc dimittis from the service of Compline (“Guide us waking O Lord, and guard us sleeping, that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace. Lord now you let your servant go in peace…”). Yes, our children can sing Compline, much like they can sing most of the Sunday liturgy—kids pick up things much quicker than adults, it’s just a matter of them hearing it regularly.

At the bedside we pray the same prayer every night. “Dear Jesus, thank-you for today and for all the fun that Christopher, Maren, Bennett and Abbey had. Give them good night sleeps and happy dreams. Help them be all warm and snuggy and sleep all the night through. Help them to know how much you love them and how much mommy and daddy love them. In Jesus name, Amen.”

Oodles of blessings

We conclude with kisses and making the sign of the cross on their foreheads. We have blessed our children in this manner from the time each was born. As each child grows older, they do the same for their mom and me. And such blessings aren’t restricted to bedtime. Blessings are exchanged when one is going on a trip or staying overnight somewhere else. When guests leave our home, or we leave a home where we have been guests, our kids will regularly give blessings, something they started doing of their own accord.

These are some of our family’s practices. Some were intentional and others not, but the goal behind it all was to make the home a place of prayer. Or at the very least a place where prayer could happen, trusting that the other points of work, simplicity and service would grow out of the practice of prayer. We are not where we want to be in our family prayer life, because there is always room for growth. But we know there is the possibility and promise.

Pr. Brad Everett, lives in Standard, AB, with his wife Manny and children: Christopher (9), Maren (7), Bennett (4) and Abbey (11 months) and a large orange cat named Jens. He has served Nazareth Lutheran for over 7 years.

Pray for and help our Haitian neighbors

As you know, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike ravished the little country of Haiti. Many died, many are suffering, many are hungry. Our Haitian brothers and sisters need our prayers and help. Visit my September 16 posting at Peaceful Christians for information.

September 17: Hildegard of Bingen, Visionary

On September 17 we remember, celebrate, and thank God for Hildegard of Bingen, Visionary and Abbess, d. 1179.

Hildegard of Bingen, also known as Blessed Hildegard and Saint Hildegard, was a German abbess, artist, author, counselor, linguist, naturalist, scientist, philosopher, physician, herbalist, poet, visionary, and composer. Elected a magistra in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165.

She is the first composer in the Western world with an extant biography. One of her works, the Ordo Virtutum, has been called the first form, and possibly the origin, of opera. She wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and the first surviving morality play, while supervising brilliant miniature illuminations. Listen to her O aeterne Deus, 1. Antiphon with Ps 109/110 from Vespers by von Hildegard von Bingen.

Source: prosepp's Channel on uTube

O God, by whose grace your servant Hildegard, kindled with the fire of your love, became a burning and shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Preparing for Next Sunday: September 21

To prepare you for attentive listening to this coming Sunday's lectionary readings, Daniel B. Clendenin offers this essay: "Are You Envious Because I am Generous?" The Economy and Geography of God's Grace.

Clendenin also reviews The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a movie June and I watched about two weeks ago. Well worth the watching!

As some readers of this blog are likely aware, Thomas Keating founded the spiritual community of Contemplative Outreach and has been the central figure in guiding it.

Each year the community convenes a conference. This year it is scheduled for 24-28 September 2008, in Pittsburgh and the theme is "Unity: Oneness in Contemplation." Fr. Thomas and Fr. Laurence Freeman of The World Community of Christian Meditation are featured presenters. Their presentations will include dialog on how Centering Prayer and Christian Meditation (involving the use of a Christian mantra) each have distinctive features as methods yet serve a common purpose.

There will be a conference blog this year. Here is part of its Welcome message:

Guest bloggers at the conference will share session updates, perspectives and reflections to provide you with a window on the proceedings and a form of participation" even if you are not present. It is hoped this outward extension serves to share community.Words, still and moving images and sounds will be
posted daily.

The communities of Contemplative Outreach and WCCM are invited to visit here throughout the five days of the conference, read the latest posts and share comments, conversation and community." You are invited to visit the conference blog at http://contemplativeoutreach2008.blogspot.com/

Ron Barnett (Blog Host)

"What it is can't be said, but you have to say something." Thomas Keating

September 1-13: A Quiet Few Weeks

Looking at my calendar, I see that the days ahead are relatively quiet ones. Lutherans will be remembering several of our fathers in the faith: September 2, Bishop Gruntvig, Renewer of the Church, d. 1872; September 4, Albert Schwitzer, Missionary, d. 1965. Among those of other traditions in our calendar over the next two weeks: on the 9th, Anglican Peter Claver, Priest, d. 1653; on the 13th, Bishop John Chrysotom, d. 407. On September 8th, we remember the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and on September 14, we celebrate Holy Cross Day. At Faith Lutheran Church in Lexington, we have a good tradition for Holy Cross Day; weeks in advance, parishioners bring any old, extra, unused crosses to church, and then on Holy Cross Day, we take them out and around the city, to be given to those in need, the poor, the house-bound--anyone who wants a cross to remind them of God's love. As I have time and opportunity, I'll post a few remarks about each person and/or day.

In the meantime, I'll be posting some reflection on The Attentive Life that you might like to read. The book, by Leighton Ford, is a joy to read.

In the middle of this week June and I are driving down to Georgia by way of Nashville (to visit my son, Kirk), and on Sunday morning next, we board a bus for a tour up the coast to New York City. Sponsored by the Senior Center in Barnesville, Georgia, the whole thing is a ride with some of June's girl friends. "O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'

On the way I'll be working on a few more lessons in my study of The Benedictine Rule and reading a few books to while away the time. When we unload along the way, I'll try to get online with my laptop and share a few thoughts. In case you're interested, in addition to Benedict and Ford, here's what I'm taking along to read: John Chryssavgis, In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality ofo the Desert Fathers and Mothers, Brian McLaren, Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices, Graham Greene, The Comedians, Mark Galli, Beyond Smells and Bells: The Wonder and Power of Christian Liturgy, and Matthew Levering, Ezra & Nehemiah (newly published from the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible).

We'll be staying three nights at some casino in Atlantic City. Can you imagine? I find no joy in gambling (nary a dime in a slot), so I suppose I'll watch in amazement. Or be up in the room, reading. Thank God for the psalms.

August 29: The Beheading of St. John the Baptist

And when Jesus received [the news that John has been beheaded], he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where he and his disciples could be by themselves" (Matthew 14.13).

Matthew in Chapter 14 tells the story of the beheading of John the Baptist; it's a grisly tale that takes place during a birthday party--Herod's. Not unsurprisingly (if I have the details right), this is the Herod who is the son of the man who butchered the babies when Jesus was a toddler. Things do run in families. It must have been quite a good party: lots of booze, pole-dancing girls, loads of bawdy talk, a few salacious eye-winks, a table full of gifts, great food: in short, a blast of conspicuous consumption. And eventually John's head brought in with a lots of "O, look! Salome has got her wish!" Herod's wife smiled. John, telling truth to the Powers, had really irritated her.

You can imagine how saddened and depressed Jesus must have been upon getting the news. After all, John and Jesus were not only cousins; John had been been a "pastor" to Jesus. They knew each other well, so well that when Jesus comes over the horizon at the river and asks to be baptized, John, knowing Jesus from childhood on up, first wants nothing to do with such an apparently inappropriate baptism. Jesus insists, goes down into the soaking water, and comes up with the Father's blessing.

Now his pastor is dead: executed. Shocked, traumatized, in deep sadness, Our Lord wants to get away. Understandably. He heads by boat for the desert, the Silence of God. It doesn't work. Hoards of people are on his trail, eventually disrupting His solitude, forcing him to see them with pity, begging him to heal them. Whoever said grief was easy?

Then comes the great contrast: the other party, the party that begins with scraps of food and ends with baskets of leftovers. The contrast is startling: Herod at his night club, Jesus in the desert. A birthday party with John's unwrapped head as grisly gift. A picnic with thousands who receive bread and the Bread of Life.

I imagine that while Jesus was feeding those people, going around shaking hands, making sure that everyone got blessed and fed, that He did all of that in spite of the sadness in His heart. Jesus pressed on to bless in spite of knowing what happened to His pastor. Jesus fed everyone while the memory of His mentor's death went unabated.

Jesus still presses on today while knowingly bearing the suffering all martyrs. And when we made and make him a martyr, he surely loved, loves, and blesses us. As I wonder about all of this, I also ask myself, "Did the Man who asks us to love our enemies also love Herod and his family?" Did He pity and have compassion on those who killed His pastor?" Did he want to be alone to find out? Did the compassion and forgiveness He came to know for Herod's family find expression within his feeding of the thousands? Were the two compassions connected? I think so. When we love our enemies, it becomes inevitable that we love our neighbors, the thousands near to us.

Image: Carravagio, The Beheading of St. John the Baptist

August 28: St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, d. 430

On Thursday we give thanks to God for Augustine, the great late fourth-century theologian, whose writings have influenced the western Church perhaps more than any other Christian. In my collection of books is one I especially treasure: Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, ed. Allan D. Fitzherald, O.S.A, with a forward by Jaroslav Pelikan, who says:

[Augustine] is . . . "the only church father who even today remains an intellectual power." The reason for this unique position is that "irrespective of school and denomination [Augustine] attracts pagans and Christians, philosophers and theologians alike by his writings and makes them come to terms with his intentions and his person" (xiii). That being said by this century's most famous Church historian, I too like Augustine, not so much because he's brilliant (he is!), but because he's also so deeply human as a Christian. On his memorial day, I always read Chapter 9 of his Confessions and began doing so early this morning. In Chapter 9 Augustine tells the story of his turning to God, his baptism, and development of his new life in Christ. I hope a sentence or two will give you a sense of his new-found joy as he prays his autobiography to God:

During the days that followed [my baptism], I could not get enough of the wonderful sweetness that filled me as I meditated upon Your deep ddesign for the salvation of the human race. How copiously I wept at your hymns and canticles, how intensely was I moved by the lovely harmonies ofyour singing Church! Those voices flooded my ears, and the truth was distilled into my hdeart until it overflowed in loving devotion; my tears ran down, and I was the better for them.

Today lots of voices are thanking God for Augustine, and one of the best is that of Padre Mickey, a Panamanian missionary/priest who a year ago on his blog, Dance Party, nicely introduces us to the best of Augustine. Admiting that at first he didn't warm up to Augustine, his posting for the feast day will help you appreciate Augustine as much as Padre Mickey does now. Once there, you find that the collect of the day is at the top of Padre's posting:

Lord God, the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the hearts that serve you: Help us, following the example of your servant Augustine of Hippo, so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

August 27: St. Monica

On August 27 we remember St. Augustine’s mother, Monica. She was born at Thagaste in Africa of a Christian family. She was married young, to Patricius, and among her children was Augustine. He had a brilliant intellect and uncertain morals and his wayward spiritual career saw him at one time a Manichee and then a Neoplatonist. With many tears she prayed unceasingly to God for his conversion and her prayers were answered shortly before she died. She had a deep faith and outstanding virtue and is a wonderful example of a Christian mother.

I first met St. Monica fifty years ago and later renewed by acquaintance of her when I began teaching The Confessions of St. Augustine thirty years ago. The course was World Literature I, and our text had substantial excerpts from The Confessions, one of which was most of Book IX containing Monica’s story, their days at Ostia, her death, Augustine’s grief and his eventual coming to peace. The story is a good one, and I’ve often taken comfort in knowing that God hears my prayers for my children, like Monica’s for her son Auggie; though things often seem uncertain with the kids, I can be certain that God will bless my family. If you haven’t read The Confessions, you might well give it a try.

Here’s a prayer by which the Church gives thanks to God for the life of Monica:

God of mercy, comfort those in sorrow, the tears of Saint Monica moved you to convert her son Saint Augustine to the faith of Christ. By their example, help us to turn from our sins and to find your loving forgiveness. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Looking Ahead: Monica, Augustine, and the Beheading of St. John the Baptist

Most liturgical/church calendars this week urge us to remember the lives (and one death) of three witnesses to the Faith: On Wednesday, the 27th: Monica, the mother of Augustine, d. 387; on Thursday, the 28th, her son, Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, d. 430; and on Friday, the 29th, the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. If your prayerbooks take note of these days, you may wish now to anticipate the readings and prayers. On the night before each day, I'll post reminders and additional helpful information about each of these Christians.

The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things

A quick reminder: at The Attentive Life we've set up a new blog for those who are interested in discussing Leighton Ford's new book. The new link on the right will take you there.

Pericopal Politics

Here's something interesting that came in from getreligion@getreligion.org this morning; I think you might enjoy it!

Pericopal politics

By: Mollie

Considering how many Christians follow the liturgical calendar, the media seem not to get it. In a news environment that seeks change and conflict, the liturgical calendar is a constant.

Each year, liturgical congregations — which include, Roman Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran churches, work through every major part of the Holy Bible and the story of salvation accomplished through Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection. The church has, through tradition, assigned Old Testament, New Testament and Gospel readings that are to be read to the congregation. Each week also has its own Psalm and other liturgical elements unique to the day. The sermon is built around these readings.

Keep that in mind as you read this Los Angeles Times report of Barack Obama’s visit to a church yesterday:

Barack Obama began his campaign day in Eau Claire, Wis., surprising most of the congregation at the town’s First Lutheran Church by attending service there. But Pastor John Kerr had been tipped that his listeners might include the almost-official Democratic presidential nominee, and he was ready with an on-point message.

Obama brought his own Bible and settled into an aisle seat in the fourth row. Kerr’s then offered as his first reading Romans 12:1-8 — which preaches humility.

Indeed, according to pool reporter John Broder of the New York Times, Kerr summarized its thrust as counseling against cockiness because one is a good singer or public speaker. And the passage urges one “not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.â€?

In his 13-minute sermon, Kerr refrained from any mention of Obama or politics.

Um, no, the pastor didn’t include Romans 12: 1-8 as his “first” (first?) reading because he’d been tipped off that Obama might attend. I’d be willing to wager that the pastor follows a three-year lectionary. Some congregations, like mine, follow a one-year calendar. Others use a three-year cycle so that you repeat the readings every three years. Anyway, it just so happens that the first year of the three-year lectionary lists the following readings for August 24, the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost:

Is. 51:1-6
Psalm 138
Rom. 11:33-12:8
Matt. 16:13-20

Liturgical calendars are created precisely to help pastors avoid preaching on whims or fancies that may detract from the overall message of Christ and his crucifixion. And while I’m sure any pastor and congregation would be excited to have Barack Obama or any other major political figure in their midst, sermons aren’t supposed to be composed for one individual. Lutherans believe that the Romans passage applies to everyone, not just high-profile members of the day’s congregation.

I know that reporters like to think that everything is about politics. But some things are more important than politics.

August 24: St. Bartholomew, Apostle

Today is one of those Sundays which can go in two directions. As the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, some parishes will keep time holy as does Daniel B. Clendenin at Journey with Jesus with his commentary on the appointed readings: Isaiah 51:1–6, Psalm 124 or Psalm 138, Romans 12:1–8, and Matthew 16:13–20. Many pastors will be preaching on the Gospel narrating Peter's confession that Jesus is "The Christ, the Son of the living God." Other pastors, however, may ask us to observe that today is also a time to remember St. Bartholomew, one of the twelve Apostles known to us only by his being listed among them in the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. What we know about Bartholomew, as the Lesser Feasts and Fasts tells us, is very little:

His name means "Son of Tolmai," and he is sometimes identified with Nathaniel, the friend of Philip, the "Israelite without guile" in John's Gospel, to whom Jesus promised the vision of angels ascending the descending on the Son of Man. Nothing more is heard of him in the four Gospels.

There are, not unsurprisingly, a good many legends about Bartholomew, one being that he was flayed alive at Albanopolis in Armenia. On the whole, however, there's really not much to say about him.

It seems to me, however, that "not much" says a lot, both about Bartholomew and about us. Not much will be said about most of us. We may get an inch or two in the local obituary listings after our deaths, but after a decade or two, "not much" will be about all that can or will be said of us. Who were you, Andy? Not much. Who were you, Bill, Mary, and Sam? Not much. Except, of course, in God's remembering and mercy. God will always remember us in Christ, and that is the great comfort of this Sunday for those who remember "not much" Old Bart, as a friend of mine once named him.

After all, it is always God who does the Great Remembering. He "re-members" us; that is, moment by moment He puts our "members" (the parts of us: body-parts, spirit-parts, soul-parts, mind-parts, heart-parts) together, especially by placing us in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus. As the people of God gather for worship and Holy Communion this morning, God will again "re-member" us, turning Bartholomew's and our "not much" into the Body of Christ, partakers of His divine nature, the "muchness of Christ."

No wonder we want to pray one of this day's collects:

Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to prach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

August 20: Remembering Bernard of Clairvaux

Tomorrow is one of my favorite days for remembering great Christians. Although I’ve only read one of his books (his commentary on the Song of Songs I, a collection of sermons), I fell in love with St. Bernard's wisdom and insights. Take this, for example, from Sermon 12, “The Grace of Loving Kindness”:

And you too, if you will permit us your companions to share in the gift you have received from above, if you are at all times courteous, friendly, gentle and humble, you will find men everywhere bearing witness to the perfumed influence you radiate. Everyone among you who not only patiently endures the bodily and mental weaknesses of his neighbors, but, if permissible and possible, even plies them with attention, inspires them with encouragement, helps them with advice, or, where the rule do not so permit, at least does not cease to assist them by fervent prayers—everyone, I repeat, who performs such deeds among you, gives foreth a good odor among the brethren like a rare and delicate perfume. (81)

An abbot in the Cistercian order, St. Bernard's puritan-esque biblical reliance and work ethic make plain the reasons why Calvin and Luther held him in high esteem. As a monastic forerunner of the Reformation, St. Bernard of Clairvaux stressed the love of God as central to any theological undertaking or Christian living. Theo M. M. A. C. Bell nicely summarizes Luther's relationship to Bernard:

On his road to the reformation Bernard was a true companion to Luther; but also in his later years Luther remembered Bernard as the greatest of all the fathers of the church after Augstine.Certainly Luther must have been aware also of several differences between himself and Bernard, but to Luther these were matters of minor importance. Their theologies circled around the same focal point of personal experience of the Holy Writ. William of St. Thieny states in his hagiography that Bernard often used to say, "It is better to drink from the source itself than from the many streams." Almost four hundred years later a doctor of Scripture at the University of Wittenberg would make this saying very much his own. ("Luther's Reception of Bernard of Clairvaux," CTQ, 59:4: 267)

St. Bernard's writing and numerous other contributions to the Church are chronicled in this info-saturated issue of Christian History & Biography.

If you like that sermonic excerpt and want to know more about St. Bernard, you can find out more about him here and then perhaps offer this prayer in thanksgiving to God for giving us such a Christian father in Christ:

O God, by whose grace your servant Bernard of Clairvaux, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Leighton Ford, The Attentive Life

Today I received my copy of Leighton Ford's The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2008). This is the book Mason Smith has recommended for those of us in a small Sunday School class that meets in the undercroft of First United Methodist Church, Richmond, Kentucky.

Inasmuch as I'm not a typical evangelical (for me, the word evangelical is always hyphenated with the word catholic so as to describe one who is evangelical-catholic), I must confess that although I faintly knew that Leighton Ford is an evangelist, long associated with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, it came as something of a surprise (oh, heck, say "big surprise"!) to find out that Ford's Attentive Life is a wonderfully compelling invitation to a life of prayer he discovered at Mepkin Abbey by the Cooper River in South Carolina. With chapter subtitles like "ONE WHO PAID ATTENTION: Simone Weil on a Postage Stamp," one quickly intuites that Ford knows how to share the "hours" with witful intelligence, charm, and winsome conviction.

While I've only begun to dip into this delightfully well-written book (and will certainly plunge into it more fully tonight), I must tell you that I think nearly everyone will enjoy it, find it exceptionally helpful in encouraging an attentive prayer life, and provide any group with a host of insights, provocations, and layered viewpoints for discussion. I'm delighted that we're about to discuss the book at some length. Thanks, Mason, for suggesting that we read it.

August 11: Clare, Abbess at Assisi, 1253

In many church calendars today we are asked to remember and thank God for Clare of Assisi. In honor of her feast day, Paraclete Press provides us with these words from St. Clare:

Keep Doing What You Are Doing

What you are doing, may you keep on doing and do not stop. But with swiftness, agility, and unswerving feet, may you go forward with joy and security knowing that you are on the path of wisdom and happiness. Believe nothing, and agree with nothing that will turn you away from this commitment. Nothing should be allowed to prevent you from offering yourself to the Most High in the perfection to which the Spirit of God has called you. Amen.

--from The St. Clare Prayer Book: Listening for God's Leading.

The Collect

O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant Clare, may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Looking forward to next Sunday, the Fourteenth after Pentecost

It's always good to wake up to Dan's Monday a.m. posting; here it is:

JwJ Readers,

Click here for our home page: http://www.journeywithjesus.net/.

"All the Ends of the Earth" is the title of this week's essay. What are the practical implications of the global nature of God's kingdom?

I review a book on Eastern Orthodoxy called Encountering the Mystery (2008) by Patriarch Bartholomew, and a crazy film that's well worth watching called What Would Jesus Buy? For poetry we've posted "A Nation" by the Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004).

Don't miss Dave Werther's new music review of the indie folk-rock group Southeast Engine and their CD "A Wheel within a Wheel."

For August 24: "Positively Maladjusted" (Romans 12:1-2)

Don't forget our comprehensive archives of more than 1,100 essays, reviews, and poems---all free, all the time. You can "Search our Site" by entering any key word, name, passage, etc.

--Dan

Daniel B. Clendenin, PhD
265 Cambridge Avenue, PO Box 60781
Palo Alto, California
https://www.journeywithjesus.net (a weekly webzine for the global church; 220 countries served)

More Words and Pictures from Haiti

On July 28, after visiting with Fr. Andre Augustine at St. Francis of Assisi parish, George Derval, the mayor of Ranquitte, asked us to drive out with him in his pickup to meet Harry Chel-Hilaire (known as "Capo") and his four-year-old son, Capito. Capo has been severely lame since birth. Capito's mother died several years ago. The two of them live in a small hut, about the size of a large dog-house; it's roof consists of large palm leaves. When it rains, as it had with torrential downpours during the week, Capo and Capito are resigned to living and sleeping on a mud floor.

"Surely this is intolerable," George quietly told us. "We must do something right away--perhaps now--to help Capo and Capito." Within a few minutes it was agreed that Capo and his son needed immediate temporary quarters, and arrangements were made for a temporary home of posts, tin roof, and wood siding be built within the week. Something much better, although admittedly temporary, could be built for 380 U.S. dollars. George promised to make sure that within a day or so, Capo and his son will sleep on a dry dirt floor.

And inasmuch as Capo was literally "squatting" on someone's else property, it was also decided that he should be provided with some property, the cost of which would be about 250 U.S. dollars. And in addition, because Capo and Capitoare depend entirely for food on the help of their neighbors, provisions for a month's store of rice and beans was made.

Capo makes his way around by sitting on a large palm branch, and by using two short poles, he is able to push himself along the ground (provided, of course, that it is not to rocky or rough). He scoots around rather quickly in his small dirt yard. And Capito follows along, his hand on the head of his father. The love between this father and son is wonderful to behold.

When our team goes back to Haiti in mid-January, we will build a more permanent home for Capo and Capito, a home with a concrete floor, concrete blocks (made on site), a tin roof, small rooms for cooking, sleeping, and storage--and a real door. All on a bit of land Capo may call his own.

Capo makes his meager living by weaving rope, and it is hoped that my moving him and his son closer to the village of Ranquitte that perhaps a way will be found to Capito to go to school in a year or so.

We are grateful to George Derval for introducing us to Capo and Capito, two of God's beloved poor. As we remember this father and son in our prayers, we ask you to join us in remembrance of their needs.

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).

Praying for Others, for One's Self

As I think I mentioned in my earlier post, providentially on the way down to Florida we managed to stop at a bookseller, and I had the good fortune to buy the first two volumes of The Collected Letter of C.S. Lewis. They stood me in good stand nearly the whole week. I’ve underlined quite a few good quotables. Take this, for example, from a letter dated Jan 8th 1936 to Dom Bede Griffiths (whom, by the bye, my friend Jon Kessler, knew personally):

Have you found, or is it peculiar to me, that it is much easier to pray for others than for oneself? Doubtless because every return to ones own situation involves action: or to speak more plainly, obedience. That appears to me more and more the whole business of life, the only road to love and peace—the cross and the crown in one.

That's often true, and is one of the reasons why I drift to the Litany or some version of it in the evening. Praying for ones self (in reading the letters, I notice that Lewis often left out a good bit of punctuation; you shan't mind either, I hope) is difficult. I find it requires silence, considerable interior focus, and not a little careful examination as to motives, intensions, desires, and the like. After ten or minutes of such reflection, I find myself agreeing with Arsenius:

My God, do not abandon me. I have done nothing good before Thee, but grant me, in Thy compassion, the power to make a start.

Back in Georgia on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

June, Chelsea, and I are back in Georgia, having driven all day yesterday from Port Canaveral, Florida. Now good to be home. Sometimes I think we go on holidays simply to come back to our tables, chairs, and beds with new appreciations, many gratitudes. While away, I spent most of my "deck days" reading the collected letters of C. S. Lewis, concentrating on Volume II (1931-1949), underlining as I went. In the next few days, I hope to share with you some of my thoughts and reactions. Unhappily, I've also returned with a nasty head cold and of necessity will not be able to participate in the Eucharist this morning. I had so much hoped so because the readings for this morning's worship are some of the best in the year, and I encourage you to slip over to Daniel Clendenin's commentary. Having read Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling many years ago, I am delighted to remember how exciting the Dane's four-fold response to the inscrutable story of Abraham and Isaac. Surely few have entered the story so well, so bravely and committed to making some sense of it all. As I will need to be satsified with Morning Prayer this morning, I'll be thinking about the sorts of sacrifices God is asking of me, surely a "son of Abraham" who needs to wonder about his spiritual "great-great-great" grandfather in the Faith.

Pray for Tichaona Musindo and Zimbabwe

This morning I received the following email letter from Plan USA and wish to share it with you because it indicates how much we need to include the people of Zimbabwe in our prayers. For several years I have been providing a small monthly support for a young Zimbabwean boy, Tichaona Musindo, via Plan USA. As you know, the election process in Zimbabwe has turned violent and cantankerous in the past months. This letter clearly indicates the depths of misery Zimbabweans are experiencing and how much they need our intercessory prayers.

Dear Mr. Harnack,

Thank you for your continued sponsorship of Tichaona Musindo from Zimbabwe. Our colleagues have confirmed the decision made by the Zimbabwean government on June 5th to suspend the operations of all humanitarian organizations in the country until further notice.

Since the March 2008 general elections, which resulted in the opposition winning the majority of seats in parliament and the scheduling of a run-off presidential election, the security situation in the country has steadily eteriorated. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more wounded. Unfortunately, efforts by humanitarian agencies and their partners to provide relief have been hampered because of restricted access to communities, heightened tension and localized outbreaks of violence. Most recently, the government has accused aid agencies of using food aid and humanitarian assistance to sway votes in favor of the opposition in the run-up to the June 27th presidential election run-off.

We know you are concerned for the safety and well-being of your sponsored child, Tichaona, and his family. To date, there are no reports of any sponsored children being attacked. Plan USA will contact any sponsor whose sponsored child or family is directly affected by this volatile situation.

Plan Zimbabwe, like many other agencies in the country, continues to take a cautious and measured approach that puts the security and safety of the staff, children and their communities first. Under the present circumstances, all program activities in Zimbabwe have been temporarily suspended. Our offices will remain open, however, and non-essential staff will be requested to take leave while we continue to monitor the situation over the next two months. Given the recent history of elections in Zimbabwe, there will likely be a period of uncertainty after the June 27th voting date as the nation awaits the results. Our best estimate is that full program operations should resume by August 1, 2008.

Due to the situation in Zimbabwe, we will be unable to forward communications to sponsored children until further notice. If you have sent a letter or gift within the last month, it will be held at the Plan office in Zimbabwe and delivered as soon as the situation is safe. We will provide you with an update on the situation in August, or as soon as we are able to resume program activities.

We appreciate your support of Tichaona Musindo. Please know that your sponsorship contributions are still needed, as we have every intention of resuming programs as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please contact our Donor Relations Executives at 1-800-556-7918. Our office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm Eastern Time. Regular updates will also be posted on our website at www.planusa.org.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Sincerely, W. Ahuma Adodoadji
President/CEO

Please include Tichaona, his family, and his nation in your prayers.

Getting Ready for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost: June 15

To prepare for this coming Sunday's listening to the lectionary readings, visit Journey with Jesus where Daniel B. Clendinen has published "God Has Brought Me Laughter:" Sarah, "The Mother of Nations."

Each week Clendinen sends me a preview of his Journey with Jesus commentaries: Here's what he sent on Monday:

I rarely read fiction, but this week I review the Pulitzer Prize-winner "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. What a book! For film I review "Barrio Cuba." For poetry we've posted "A Timbered Choir" by Wendell Berry. My essay honors Sarah as "The Mother of Nations" (Genesis 17:16).

June 30 ends the fiscal year for JwJ. Every day over a thousand readers from 45 countries enjoy our "weekly webzine for the global church." More than a million readers from 220 countries have visited us since we launched in 2004. Generous donors make JwJ avaliable free of all advertisements and free to all readers all the time. I hope you'll consider supporting us. To make a donation using PayPal, go to our website and click on "Make a Donation." Or make your check payable to "JwJ" and mail it to the address below. As a 501c3 non-profit organization, your gift is tax deductible. Thanks!

dan

Daniel B. Clendenin, PhD
265 Cambridge Avenue,
PO Box 60781
Palo Alto, California

http://www.journeywithjesus.net/---a weekly webzine for the global church; 220 countries served---

If you too appreciate JwJ, consider sending a donation.

June 11: St. Barnabus, Apostle

In my Lutheran church calendar, June 11 is high-lighted in red, indicating that it's an exceptionally important day in the church's prayer and worship life. Among many Christians, June 11 will be celebrated as the commemoration of Saint Barnabas, one of the more remarkable Apostles of Our Lord. If your prayerbook alerts you to this feast day and you wish to give thanks to God for the life and witness of Saint Barnabas, you will appreciate reading the following from Lesser Feasts and Fasts as you prepare for your daily prayers:

"Joseph, a Levite born in Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabus (which means son of encouragement) sold a field he owned, brought the money, and turned it over to the apostles" (Acts 4:36-37). This first reference in the New Testament to Barnabas introduces one whose missionary efforts would cause him to be called, like the Twelve, an apostle. As a Jew of the Dispersion, he had much in common with Paul. When Paul came to Jerusalem after his conversion, the disciples were afraid to receive him. It was Barnabas who brought Paul to the apostles, and declared to them how, on the road to Damascus, Paul had seen the Lord, and had preached boldly in the name of Jesus (Acts 9:27). Later, Barnabas, having settled in Antioch, sent for Paul to join him in leading the Christian Church in that city.

Barnabas and Paul were sent by the disciples in Antioch to carry famine relief to the Church in Jerusalem. Upon their return, the Church in Antioch sent them on their first missionary journey beginning at Cyprus. At Lytra in Asia Minor, the superstitious people took them to be gods, and Barnabas to be Jupiter, the chief of the gods, a testimony to the commanding presence of Barnabas. The association of Barnabas and Paul was broken, after their journey, by a disagreement about Mark, who had left the mission to return to Jerusalem. After attending the Council of Jerusalem with Barnabas, Paul made a return to the Churches he and Barnas had founded in Asia Minor. Barnabas and Mark went to Cyprus, where Barnabus is traditionally honored as the founder of the Church.

It seems that Barnabas continued his journeys for the Gospel, because Paul mentions him several times in his letter to the Galatians, the Corinthians, and the Colossians. Tradition has it that he was martyred at Salamis in Cyprus.

Homily Grits provides you with a very good homily that concludes with a final paragraph about Saints Barbabas and Paul by the Rev. Grant M. Gallop. It was originally preached on May 20, 2007, and may be not quite like the sermons you're used to hearing. But read it anyway. It'll help you image some things, some very good things.

The Prayer for the Day

Grant, O God, that we may follow the example of your faithful Servant Barnabas, who, seeking not his own renown but the well-being of your Church, gave generously of his life and substance for the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Image source

Some thoughts on praying "alone"

Now and then--sometimes for many, all the time--one is obliged to pray the daily office without the physical company of others. That's what happening to me this week because I'm in Kentucky, and my wife June is in Florida. Usually we pray the daily offices together. For nearly three weeks now, I'll be praying by myself.

In saying that I'll be praying "by myself," I realize two realities. First, none of us really prays alone; we are always in deep communion with the whole Church on earth and with the heavenly hosts. Each evening I am reminded of that reality because near the beginning of Evening Prayer in my prayerbook, after singing a portion of Psalm 141, I am asked to reflect of the day's events and observe some "silence for meditation," and then I say these words to God:

Let the incense of our repentant prayer ascend before you, O Lord, and let your loving kindness descend upon us, that with purified minds we may sing your praises with the Church on earth and the [with] the whole heavenly host, and may glorify you for ever and ever.

While making this short request, I can't help but notice that all the pronouns are plural: our, us, and we. Deliberately the prayer reminds me that I'm in prayerful union with "the Church on earth" and with "the whole heavenly host." I am not alone.

Then too, during this prayer I am also aware that you, my friends, are praying with me, as are many others whom I know in my parish and family, including my Benedictine friends, my pastor and several priests whom I have the privilege of knowing. Quite clearly, I am not alone.

And yet is some real sense, I am indeed alone. In the morning, I go outside to sit in the emerging dawn, and I sense that I'm the only one stirring in the neighborhood. It's just me and the birds chirping away. In the evening I sit in my chair, and no one else is in the house. When I'm quiet I can hear the clock tick. All of this means that in a very real sense it's up to me to pray; no one will notice if I don't; no one will notice if I do. Somewhere Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, I think, that it's what you do when you're alone that signifies what sort of a person you are. Alone, I can decide not to pray. Or I can pray. Noticeably, my wife June is not with me for encouragement. I am alone.

It's at such times that I think of many of you who are, more so than I, alone. Some of you live alone most of the time; some of you do not have the support of a spouse to help you pray. As a consequence, entering your daily prayers is a matter of considerable personal discipline and habit. At times you may not say the office. At times you have to force yourself to open the prayerbook, psalter, and Bible. At times you can't wait to pray. You actually look forward to entering the prayer-life of God.

Perhaps, like me, you settle in for the prayers that way I do. Often I take a preliminary look at what the day's readings will be, sometimes with the last sips of a cup of coffee. If your prayers include the singing of a office hymn, as mine do, perhaps you'll pick one that's familiar, one that you can sing quietly with some confidence if knowing the melody. Perhaps you light a candle. And then you begin.

What happens for me is this. When I'm praying the office alone, I find that I do things much more slowly. The rhythmic rush of group or corporate prayer tends to disappear. If I want to stop in the middle of a psalm to enjoy its grace, I do so. If I want to look around and enter the Presence, I let myself go. If I need to pause to examine my life while reading something from a Pauline letter, I do so. If I want to cover a large landscape in intercessory prayer, I can do so. If I want to sit and do nothing but enter centering prayer, I have the opportunity. All of this means that often praying alone, all by one's self, has its openings, its times and spaces for honesty, it's clouds for unknowingly resting in God, its searching movements of the heart and mind.

So praying by oneself (not really) has its blessings, as does corporate prayer. Jesus leads us to both kinds of communion with God. He gives us the communal "Our Father" and prays with us during the assembling of believers; he also recommends that we enter a closet to be alone with God.

Image: Marc Chagall, Solitude

This month at Journey with Jesus

At Journey with Jesus, Daniel B. Clendenin publishes "The Journey Without, The Journey Within: Ignorance, Inclusion, and Impotence," a commentary on the lectionary readings for Sunday June 8, 2008. Take a look at the essay; it explores one of the most salient texts in the Bible, Genesis 12 and the call of Abraham.

At Journey with Jesus this week Dave Werther considers "The Swell Season," featuring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from the Irish film Once. And Clendenin reviews "For the Bible Tells Me So," a documentary about five Christian families whose children came out as gay. See what you think. He also takes a look at The Elephant and the Dragon (2007), a book about the rise of India and China. His series of poems by Wendell Berry continues with "Sabbath Poem VII."

For the Sundays in June, Clendenin announces the following essay titles:

June 15: Sarah: God Gave Me Laughter

June 22: The Crisis in Burma, by physicist Brad Keister

June 29: A Father Sacrifices His Son; A God Tests His Disciple (Genesis 22)

Image: Paradise with Christ in the lap of Abraham,13th century Germany.