Shrove Tuesday

This day is named for the "shriving" or confessing as it was traditional to confess sins and receive absolution just before Ash Wednesday. This day has become more synonymous with sins in need of absoultion through "Mardi Gras" and "Carnival." Mardi Gras, which means "Fat Tuesday" is the New Orleans version (begun in that city in the 1820s by art students recently returned from Paris which offered wild parties in the street on that night) and Carnival, which means "farewell to meat" is the decidedly Brazilian take on the party leading up to Lent. There are similar celebrations in other parts of the world.

"Fat Tuesday" was a time for eating the things from which one would abstain during Lent. Pancake suppers are traditional as they were a way of using up some of the ingredients not needed during Lent. King of Peace will have a pancake supper tonight at 6 p.m. followed by a rousing round of bingo for prizes.

Lent begins tomorrow. The custom is to mark the season of Lent by giving up some things and taking on others. Both can serve to mark the season as a holy time of preparation. Some examples of things people give up for Lent include sweets, meat for all or some meals, and alcohol. In most cases, giving up something for Lent can be made more meaningful by using the money or time for another purpose. For example, meal times on fast days could be spent in prayer. Another example is that if you give up meat during Lent, the extra money that would go to meat dishes can be given to a group, such as World Vision, which works to end hunger worldwide. Some things which may be added during Lent are daily Bible reading, fasting on Fridays, additional times of prayer, or taking a course of study related in some way to spirituality.

Note that the season of Lent is forty days plus the six Sundays. This is because Sundays are celebrations of Jesus’ resurrection and are always an appropriate day to lessen the restrictions of Lent. So that if you have, for example, given up chocolate for Lent, you could indulge in a weekly candy bar on Sunday.

Read The Good Book Lately?

Another Lenten discipline to consider is to read the Bible each day. It is amazing what a difference it makes to just pick the Bible up and read. In about 15 minutes a day, you can read through the Bible in a year. The worst way to go about this, and one generally doomed to failure, is to pick up the 66 book collection of the Bible start at the front with the goal of reading straight through to the back. Better is a pattern of reading which has you reading smaller passage from the Old and New Testaments each day.

I recommend two different methods. The first, and more traditionally Episcopal one, is to read the Bible following the pattern for daily readings set by the Book of Common Prayer. These are also printed in the quarterly Forward Day by Day booklets available for free at King of Peace. There is also an online version of Forward Day by Day. In addition to the Bible, you get a brief meditation each day to enhance your scripture reading.

The alternate method, which has worked well in the past for me and my wife, Victoria, is The One Year Bible. There are daily readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. A typical day's reading is 15 minutes, though some are little shorter and a few a little longer. The One Year Bible linked here is the very readable New Living Translation. It also comes in New International Version and King James Version.

What patterns of reading scripture do you follow?
Have you seen benefits for the time spent reading scripture?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

The Gift of Fasting

One of the most meaningful gifts I have received was a note from someone while I was on a retreat promising to fast and pray for me that day. This person went without food for a day to pray for me and my retreat. What an awesome present.

Fasting itself is a gift not everyone has. Some people can not fast and if you have health problems including diabetes or a condition including pregnancy which procludes fasting, don't worry about it. But for the rest of us, Ash Wednesday, which is a few days away, is one of two days each year which the Book of Common Prayer suggests as fast days (the other is Good Friday).

You may observe this by not eating (but still drinking water or juice) during the entire 24 hours of Wednesday, which is my usual practice for fast days. You may also introduce yourself to the practice by skipping lunch or with perhaps a sunrise to sunset fast. The time without food is more meaningful if you make it a time of prayer and fasting by using the time in which you would be eating to pray.

I find fasting a good way to focus myself back on my relationship with God, with each grumble of my belly as a reminder that I desire to put my need for time with God first. Fasting is not about spiritual heroics or earning God's favor. It is a meaningful way to begin the season of Lent and for those who have no physical impediment to at least a partial fast, I suggest that you prayerfully consider some type of fast for Wednesday.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

Olive Branch Online

The latest issue of our newsletter, The Olive Branch is now online here: kingofpeace.org/vol7no3.pdf and will be at church for pick up tomorrow and go into the mail on Monday.

Listening

Tomorrow is the last Sunday before Lent. On this final Sunday of the Season of Epiphany, the Gospel reading tells of Jesus' transfiguration. As at Jesus' baptism, a voice from heaven speaks, this time adding a clause to pay attention, for the voice says, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"

Paired with this admonition to listen to Jesus is a reading from the Old Testament in which Elijah is told to stand on the side of the mountain as the Lord passes by. There follows a great wind, an earthquake and a fire, yet God is in none of these. At last Elijah hears the still small voice of God.

Today we have so much noise around us that it is amazing we can hear God at all. Statistically, we make little to no room for God. In a lifetime, the average person spends:
• 11 years watching TV
• 3 years in the bathroom
• 3 years getting dressed
• 2 years on the phone

In contrast:
• In a lifetime, the average Christian spends less than 6 months with God.

Lent is an intentional 40 days of making more room to hear God's voice as Easter approaches. It is a time for following the advice of the voice from heaven which said to listen to Jesus as well as following the example of Elijah who discerned the still small voice of God. In the coming days, this blog (and items in the entry hall at King of Peace) will help you prepare for a more meaningful Easter.

In the archives is the Tribune & Georgian religion column Preparing for Easter's Joy.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

Ongoing Inspiration

Scripture is a value of King of Peace. We say,

We believe that the Bible is the Word of God and can help us see how to gain meaning and purpose in our lives through a relationship with God as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

We know the scripture of the Old and New Testaments to be inspired by God. This does not refer to a one-time act on God's part.

The comparison I like to make is to communion. I have baked communion bread. I know that it consists largely of whole-wheat flour and honey. There is no secret "Jesus ingredient" in the bread. And yet, in Communion I do feel God’s presence. God is made known to me through the very human bread and wine. Jesus is then present even though he wasn't in the wheat flour or the honey or even the baking powder.

God is also made known to us through otherwise human words in sermons or the godly counsel of a friend. We can recognoze those human words as God’s word for us. Even more so, I believe that God breathes life into Scripture and into the reader of Scripture, now as much or more than when they were written. The original act of inspiration apparently felt no different to Luke than to Shakespeare (if you read Luke 1:1-4), or other authors who feel inspired to write. Yet the effect of their writings is very different. Shakespeare has been proven time and again to effect the emotions of audiences and readers. But Luke’s Gospel has done quite a bit more.

The Gospel of Luke and the rest of our Bible has changed lives dramatically and those lives stayed changed. This is not due merely to the inspiration at the time of authorship, but it is due to the ongoing inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

How have you experienced God's ongoing inspiration of scripture?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

Polycarp, Bishop & Martyr

Today we remember the Polycarp, a Bishop of Smyrna (in present-day Turkey) who was put to death by the Roman Empire in 156 a.d. for his Christian faith. We are told in a contemporary account, The Martyrdom of Polycarp, that when the arrest party came for him, the 86-year old life-long Christian,

went down and conversed with them, the bystanders marveling at his age and his constancy, and wondering why there should be so much eagerness for the apprehension of an old man like him. At that, he immediately gave orders that a table should be spread for them to eat and drink at that hour, as much as they desired. And he persuaded them to grant him an hour so he might pray unmolested.

Polycarp refused to offer incense to Caesar, worshipping him as a God and so was sentenced to be burned alive. The flames did not consume him and one of the executioners stabbed him through the flames.

We know of Polycarp, who himself cherished memories of hearing Jesus' disciple John teach and preach, not just through his death but also through his letter to the Philippians, which says in part,

If then we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive; for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and "we must all appear at the judgment-seat of Christ, and must every one give an account of himself." Let us then serve Him in fear, and with all reverence, even as He Himself has commanded us, and as the apostles who preached the Gospel unto us, and the prophets who proclaimed beforehand the coming of the Lord [have alike taught us].

The full text of Polycarp's Letter to the Philippians is online here.

There is a saying that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. Their witness in death was such a powerful example of the real power behind the Christian claims that many took notice. It was through the peace in the face of death shown by martyrs like Polycarp that many person came to faith in Jesus Christ. In many parts of the world today, Christians continue to be persecuated for their faith. May the God who gave peace to Polycarp to face flame and sword continue to grant that same peace to those who must be faithful unto death.

Be Holy

You shall be holy,
for I the Lord your God am holy.
Leviticus 19:2
One theologian described Holy as mysterium tremendum, a mystery inexpressible and above all creatures. That makes for a rather lofty goal for God to hold out to us. No wonder people have trouble even defining the holy, much less aspriring to it. In a recent survey by the Barna Group researchers found that when asked to describe what it means to be holy, respondents said:

“I don’t know” (21%)
“being Christ-like” (19%)
making faith your top priority in life (18%)
living a pure or sinless lifestyle (12%)
having a good attitude about people and life (10%)
focusing completely on God (9%)
being guided by the Holy Spirit (9%)
being born again (8%)
reflecting the character of God (7%)
exhibiting a moral lifestyle (5%)
accepting and practicing biblical truth (5%)

The researchers concluded that

the results portray a body of Christians who attend church and read the Bible, but do not understand the concept or significance of holiness, do not personally desire to be holy, and therefore do little, if anything to pursue it.

But, we are not holy and can not become holy through becoming "a better person" or "a nice guy." Any holiness in ourselves is due to the presence of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. So it is not by our own merit or works that we achieve holiness. The more we are open to God's presence in us, the more holy we become. In the archives is the sermon Becoming Like God.

One self test—the holier you think you are, the further you are likely to be from true holiness. For holiness is at the far end of the spectrum from a holier than thou attitude. Humility is one of the marks of the truly holy.

How do you define Holy? How do you pursue it?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

The Question of God

How we live our lives is to a degree determined by how we answer the question, "Is there a God?" as well as further questions for those who do believe in God about who God is and what God expects of us. I just read a book, The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life, which deals with this central question through the lens of two great thinkers and writers of the last century—Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis. Freud represents a secular materialistic worldview while Lewis represents a Christian one.

The book is from Harvard professor and practicing psychiatrist Dr. Armand M. Nicholi, Jr. who has taught a course on the subject for more than 25 years. I hope to offer a class (this fall at King of Peace) on the book using the PBS series on the book as a guide. In the meantime (and for those not at King of Peace) you may want to encounter the book on your own.

As the author says in the prologue

Whether we realize it or not, all of us possess a worldview. A few years after birth, we all gradually formulate our philosophy of life. We make one of two basic assumptions: we view the universe as a result of random events and life on this planet a matter of chance; or we assume an Intelligence beyond the universe who gives the universe order, and life meaning. So each one of us embraces some form of either Freud's secular worldview or Lewis's spiritual worldview....

Are these worldviews merely philosophical speculations with no right or wrong answer? No. One of them begins with the basic premise that God does not exist, the other with the premise that He does. They are, therefore, mutually exclusive—if one is right, the other must be wrong. Does it really make a difference to know which is which? Both Freud and Lewis thought so.

It is an enjoyable and thought provoking read.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

41 Things to Know

At his blog, A Place for the God-Hungry, the Rev. Jim Martin has posted 41 Things Ministers Ought to Know. His points are good ones and seem as though many readily translate into other places of work. Here are the top five:

1. Don’t go on and on talking about your church! Learn from other people. Maybe God is working in their church as well. Ask them questions.

2. Forget trying to be a big name. Most of that stuff is about who you know, anyway. Stop playing the game.

3. It’s all about relationships. If you don’t treat people right, it really doesn’t matter what else you do.

4. Someone else can teach you something. Pay attention. Don’t overlook those who are much older or much younger than you.

5. Be careful about what you say. If you say, “Let’s go to lunch. I’ll get back with you,” you need to do just that. Avoid making promises you don’t intend to keep.

and here are a selection of others from down the list:

8. Pay attention to the invisible people. I mean the quiet, unassuming people in your church.

14. Know that you are dispensable. Don’t take yourself too serious. After all, if you are hit by a Dr. Pepper truck today, the church will soon replace you.

18. Play to your strengths. No one can do everything well. What do you do particularly well?

27. Thank people. Consider about all of the people around you who need to be thanked. In far too many churches, there is a critical shortage of people who express gratitude to others.

32. Nurture your prayer life. I came across this line the other day, “Pray is not the only thing we do…but it is the most important thing we do.” Nothing is more important than paying attention to one's own interior life before the Lord.

Here is the full text in four parts: Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.

How forgiving are you?

Jesus taught his followers to forgive us just as you want God to forgive you. It is something we pray each time we pray The Lord's Prayer. But how forgiving are you? Find out at the latest in the unending series of online quizzes, How Forgiving Are You?

This quiz is at Beliefnet.com

The Power of We

In tomorrow's Gospel reading four friends lower a paralytic man through the roof to get him to Jesus for healing. Rather than seeming to notice either the hole they tore in the roof, or the paralysis, Jesus tells the man his sins are forgiven. What sins? The hole in the roof? The other guys did that.

In a sermon on this passage three years ago called The Power of We, I used a video clip from The Lord of the Rings and pointed out that

The group seeks out Jesus, convinced that he can help their helpless friend. Not only do they get him to Jesus, but it is the group’s faith that Jesus recognizes. The paralyzed man’s faith may or may not have been part of the faith of the group. He had some faith, or he would never have tried to follow Jesus’ directions and stand. But the real faith in this story is the faith of a group. It is the power of we.

Just like in the Lord of the Rings, there are things that I cannot do on my own. To apply the lesson of the quest from our video clip to more spiritual matters, I may not have the faith to pray for healing, but we can. I may not have the faith to see past obstacles in my way, but we do. I may not have the faith to say that I believe, but we have the faith.

I think that is why it is so important that the Nicene Creed uses the word “we.” We will recite the Nicene Creed in just moment as we do most Sundays of the church year and as we say the words, you will not say, “I believe,” but rather “we believe.”

If you don’t have the faith to recite the creed, don’t stay home feeling like coming to church will force you to be a fraud. Come, stand with us and say, “We believe.” Of course, you could also just listen as others recite the words. That is perfectly fine. Even if you don’t have the faith to believe part of the creed or any of the creed, that’s OK, we do. We believe in God. We believe in one lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Trinity, a community of divine persons who is willing to draw you into that divine life even in your doubts as you join us in saying “We believe.”

Christianity is not a solo sport. Even a hermit living off in a cave somewhere is connected to the rest of us and as Christians we know celebrate that essential connectedness among people. That’s why it is crucial to gather with other Christians. That’s why you need a community of faith to support you. We can mourn with you in grief. We can rejoice with you in times of celebration. We can hold you up and have the faith that you can’t have on your own in times of doubt.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

Being boring is a sin

I think being boring is a sin,

says Jeff Henderson, CEO of Atlanta's Buckhead Church. In the current issue of Vision, a magazine of church technology, Henderson opens up about why some churches might not be reaching non-Christians. He goes on to say,

If we really believe that Jesus is who He says He is, we have to be the happiest, most creative, most joyful people around. The reason the world has given up on the church is that they see through us. I don't think they think we really believe what we believe. I would rather go down smiling and laughing than being boring and antagonistic with each other...creativity and having fun are essential. I think that's what Jesus did.

As someone who has said on more than one occasion, "If laughter is not involved, I'm not going," I'm not in a position to take exception to the idea that church should not being boring. But none of us could readily agree on which part of a worship service might be boring and which part is the part where God is speaking to you.

Back in Atlanata, Henderson's church is a campus of Andy Stanley's growing North Point Ministries. Like many mega churches, they understand the goal of reaching a lost and dying world with the Gospel and are unafraid to adapt their methods to reach this goal.

North Point, bridges this gap, in a pattern common to mega churches, in using small groups that create the space for more serious discussion on life changing issues to continue. These small groups turn down the volume on entertainment and crank up the expectations of follow through during the week. At least for those who sign up and regularly attend their small group.

I admire this. I also wonder when the methods begin to teach. When that happens, it will begin with the main services of the church, through which people identify their church. When the medium becomes the message, we could come to see God as a great entertainer and can't find God in those times that are not so joyfilled? Certainly in very different churches from Buckhead, some people have come to see God as stained glass, pews and organ music.

How can we break beyond the confines of the worship space to teach as we believe that God is present throughout the creation and that God is definitely NOT boring. Is there a way to teach in a way that we come to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and not in a given church or that church's methods of conveying the Gospel?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

I still believe

The following was quoted in my Tom Logue's (My Dad's) daily readings from Celtic Daily Prayer and he sent it in as a post to this blog. It also serves as a reminder that anyone can submit quotes or original writings to be posted in this space. This text was quoted in the daily readings from the Rev. James Kavanaugh's book A Modern Priest Looks at his Outdated Church,

I still believe in the power of the priesthood, where sinful men are helped by sinful men. I believe in an authority that stoops to wash a poor man's feet. I believe in a banquet where sinners learn to love, eating in company with their God. I believe in parents who teach their children the beauty that is life. I believe in the words that God has left for man, words that can fashion hope from darkness and turn bitter loneliness into love. And I believe in man fashioned in mystery by God. I believe in the beauty of his mind, the force of his emotions, the fire and loyalty of his love. I know his weakness, his cowardice, his treachery, his hate. But I believe in him and his thirst for acceptance and love.

Most of all I believe in God and the power of His victory in Christ. I believe in a Resurrection that rescued man from death. I believe in a joy that no threat of man can take away. I believe in a peace that I know in fleeting moments and seek with boldness born of God. I believe in a life that lingers after this, a life that God fashioned for His friends.

I believe in understanding, in forgiveness, in mercy, in faith. I believe in man's love for woman, and hers for him, and in the fervor of this exchange I hear the voice of God. I believe in friendship and its power to turn selfishness to love. I believe in eternity and the hope that it affords.

This quote was paired with the following readings:

Psalm 35:27-28, "Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication; And let them say continually, "The LORD be magnified, Who delights in the prosperity of His servant." And my tongue shall declare Your righteousness And Your praise all day long."

Song of Songs 5:4, "My lover tried to unlatch the door, and my heart thrilled within me."

and Luke 13:29, "Then people will come from all over the world to take their places in the Kingdom of God."

Please be encouraged to send in things you think or read to be included here at Irenic Thoughts. This is not my space, but ours.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

Hearing God's Voice

Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson is featured on the cover of the February 18 issue of World, a Christian magazine. The article says in part,

At the heart of some of his disputes with other Christians is a theological difference. All evangelicals believe that God answers prayer (although often not as we in our fallenness might choose) and speaks to us through the Bible. Mr. Robertson, like some other charismatics, believes that God speaks to him directly "all the time": For example, "The Lord spoke to me last year. Israel is entering into the most dangerous time in its history as a nation."

Mr. Robertson explains, "It's not conceited. We ask for leading . . . God did speak to me directly concerning this university, and it was real simple. He said, 'I want you to buy the land and build a school for My glory.'. . . This is the heritage of every Christian believer. If some people haven't had that blessing, I'm sorry, but I have. . . . You read Jeremiah. He said, 'The word of the Lord came to me.'. . . You read the Torah, 'the word of the Lord came to Moses,' 'The Lord said to Moses, tell the people.' The Lord spoke to Joshua. The Lord spoke to David."

The full text of the article is online here.

As one who has felt led by God to seminary, to start King of Peace Church, to create The Preschool, etc. I can't dismiss Robertson's assertion that God still speaks to the faithful. But how does God speak to us?

The traditional Anglican answer is that God does still speak to us and we come to hear God's voice in community. We discern God's will together knowing that God will not send The Answer to one person alone, but will also confirm the message in other ways. As I often put it, "God speaks in stereo." So in determining whether God is leading us (rather than me doing the leading alone) we trust a community of the faithful, which through scripture and the traditions of the church is broader than those who are alive today. And we pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us as we discern what is God's will and what is our own will. It's not easy and can be messy in fact, but I do believe that it is a faithful way to ensure that we are hearing God's voice and not our own inner monologue.

Back in the interview linked above, Pat Robertson admits that he now listens to other voices to prevent having to take back the strongest of his rhetoric. The article states,

Mr. Robertson said he was taking precautions to avoid more eruptions: Before broadcasts "I didn't use to review the news. Now prior to the air we go over the news stories. . . . I now have a former news producer from Good Morning America. I'm going to have an earpiece in my ear . . . he's going to be whispering in my ear . . . he's going to be in the control room, as the news comes up [he'll say], 'why don't you say this, why don't you suggest this, let's discuss this.'"

Now Robertson has someone speaking to him during his broadcast to help him discern what he should say. Not exactly the Anglican ideal of communal discernment, but it's closer.

How do you hear and discern God speaking to you?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

Justice, not charity

U2 rocker Bono not only recently swept through the Grammies, he also spoke at The National Prayer Breakfast, giving what has been called "Bono's Best Sermon." Through the book Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog we've seen how preachers can blend U2 lyrics with the Gospel to create powerful sermons. Now it was Bobo's chance to preach and here is some of what he said,

Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives.

Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone.

I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill. I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff. Maybe, maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. "If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places."

He went on to say later in the sermon

A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying, you know, "I have a new song, look after it." "I have a family, please look after them." "I have this crazy idea..."

And this wise man said: stop. He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing. Get involved in what God is doing - because it's already blessed. Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing. And that is what he's calling us to do.

He went on to put in a plug for the Millennium Development Goals supported by Episcopal Relief and Development and recently reaffirmed by the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.

The full text of Bono's talk is online here.

Unmixing Mixed Marriages

An article in yesterday's New York Times said that the largest and most liberal Jewish group in America, Reformed Judaism wants to unmix mixed marriages by converting the spouse of a Jewish husband or wife. The concern is that the future of Judaism may be at stake.

In the Times article, Rabbi Jeffrey Sirkman says,

"It's always been in the pot that's simmering," he said. "Maybe now this gives us a little bit of the O.K. — in Hebrew, hechsher, which means the validation or the stamp of approval — to elevate for discussion, or at least put it out there in a way that says this shouldn't be something we are afraid to do or talk about in a public setting."

What about Christianity? What should we do when a Christian is married to either a non-believer or a person of another faith tradition? The one directly applicable piece of scripture is in I Corinthians 7:12-14 where Paul writes,

Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a Christian man has a wife who is an unbeliever and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her. And if a Christian woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him. For the Christian wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the Christian husband brings holiness to his marriage. Otherwise, your children would not have a godly influence, but now they are set apart for him. (New Living Translation)

I know this can be an ongoing struggle within a family. How can a church assist a faithful Christian spouse as he or she seeks to pray their wife or husband into a real and lasting relationship with God through his Son Jesus Christ?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

Mutual Incomprehension

This term—mutual incomprehension—is one I found in an economist.com article describing the escalating worldwide tension over cartoons of the Islamic prophet and founder Mohammed. Muslims can't comprehend our apathy. The rest of us have trouble comprehending the ongoing riots and deaths the editorial cartoons touched off.

I thought Christians were pretty thick skinned, and we probably are. But then I read the discussion over humor at Ship-of-Fools and found myself offended, which doesn't happen easily. It turns out that I can be offended by jokes in poor taste which feature my own faith. Turn Jesus' suffering and death into the subject of a tastless joke and you can turn my stomach. I'm not ready to riot, but I have been humbled down off my high horse, which is always a good thing.

But how do we move forward. On the one hand, free societies depend upon a free press and other forms of free speech. On the other hand, one is not permitted to yell "Fire" in a crowded theater, so we do already acknowledge some responsible boundaries. I wonder if, as picturing Mohammed at all goes against Islamic faith, perhaps the harsh cartoon depictions of a religious leader beloved by those in a different faith tradition are not out of bounds.

I know that as a Boy Scout, I was taught to be reverent, which meant not just respect for my own faith, but that I am to treat other faith traditions with respect as well. Perhaps we can never fully comprehend the deep offense taken by the Muslim faithful any more than they can understand our apathy in the face of what appears to them to be obvious blasphemy. But I don't think it is too much to ask that we do try to understand where their anger is coming from. What do you think?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

The mystery of our disabilities

In tomorrow's Gospel reading Jesus heals a leper. John Kavanaugh, S.J. of St. Louis University writes of this passage,

We may even someday wish to present ourselves to God as spotless milk bottles, clean, whole, pasteurized, and uncontaminated: a sad delusion. For not only is the aspiration impossible; the whole point of Christ's redemptive life is missed.

The gospel invites us to enter the mystery of our own disabilities, hidden or otherwise. We need not fear those moments of being secret "lepers" ourselves, those parts of our being we hide away and lock up: our failures and sins, our vanities and deceptions, our jealousies and fakery. He will reach out to touch us there. It is only our denial that prevents the cure.

The gospel is also an invitation for us to enter into the being of Christ himself. If he is indeed our way, our truth, our life, then we make his person our own. We too can heal. We need not fear the visibly wounded who only remind us of our human frailty. The excluded and marginal, the ostracized and hidden, await our own touch. The very old or very ill need not threaten us if we allow them to name the truth of our shared inability to stand invulnerable before the world.

All of us are old. And all of us are frail. All of us, indeed, are handicapped. It's just that some of us can pretend better than others.

Protecting our moms for life

You are called by scripture to "Honor your father and mother." Researchers believe they have discovered a way in which even the blackest sheep in the family offers a life-long benefit to his or her mom. The full story is here, but the short version is that fetal cells remain in a mother for four or five decades and provide an extra boost to the system in dealing with immune problems.

As Dr. Diana Bianchi, chief of genetics for New England Medical Center in Boston puts it, a scientifically correct Mother's Day card might read, "Although you think I am far away, I am always with you." As the article above states,

It's not a far-fetched idea. These cells may behave like those famous embryonic cells: They can turn themselves into any cell mom needs. If she's got a bad heart, they can be healthy heart cells. Bad lungs? No problem, they can be lung cells. Fetal cells may be the ultimate repairmen (or repairwomen).

The news doesn't fit within the usual posts at Irenic Thoughts, but it seemed worth sharing.

If you were looking for something more inspirational, try a visit to the Faith Stories section of the Episcopal Church's website. The story there, Confessions of a Reluctant Apologist deals with a woman having to answer some faith questions on the fly from her sister-in-law. The other stories are also short and intriguing.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

A Sacramental Showdown!

The Episcopal Church USA has a new ad campaign with its own website here: Come and Grow. That TV and print campaign for large markets around the country asks people to "Come and Grow in understanding, in gratitude, in service, in peace."

Yesterday I was emailed a link to a more challenging invitation. It is an ad for St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama which uses a style of advertising more common for a tractor pull to invite people to a Sacramental Showdown at St. Andrews. The sound file is located here: http://www.bradbrad.com/mt.mp3.
The audio ad was presumably created just in jest, but it is laugh out loud funny and might just get the Anglo-Catholic church in Birmingham some visitors. King of Peace's own advertising emphasizes questioning rather than going for a laugh. Take a look and a listen at the three ads (the two above and the link to King of Peace's) and let us know which ad would get you in church on Sunday.

Another way of asking the question is, "Are you looking to grow? to question? or for a sacramental showdown?"

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

Inspirational coffee creamer

I noticed we need more hazelnut creamer at King of Peace (It is our most popular flavor of creamer by far, with French Vanilla second and Irish cream third). The hazelnut reminded me of the revelation God gave Julian of Norwich (1342-1413) who wrote,

And in this the Lord showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand. . .In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it, the third is that God preserves it.

While the properties do not apply to the creamer, they do apply to all creation, including you and me. God made, loves, and preserves all creation and God made, loves and preserves you and me.

It is probably an occupational hazard that a coffee creamer reminds me of a 14-15th century English mystic, but I don't think that is all that is going on here. I find that the most ordinary things can remind us of God and I am convinced that the Holy Spirit is in on that inspiration. No matter how insignificant it may seem, it is pretty cool that a coffee creamer can remind you of God's love.

Has anything unlikely reminded you of God lately? Be on the lookout. It happens all the time if you are open to it.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

Assessing Commitment

A recent survey by The Barna Group reveals that while most pastors think their flocks are committed to God, those in the pew disagree. The overview of the survey is found here. The Barna Group surveys discovered that

On average, pastors contend that 70% of the adults in their church consider their personal faith in God to transcend all other priorities. Amazingly, as many as one out of every six pastors (16%) contends that 90% or more of the adults in their church hold their relationship with God as their top life priority!

Surveys found to the contrary that only 15% of people describe God as a top priority and when the answers are limited to those who regularly attend church, the percentage rises to only 23%, still well below the 70% assumed by the shepherds.

Why the disconnect? Barna's results suggest that pastors assess their congregations based on Sunday attendance and participation in other church functions. But attending church might not make one a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes one a car.

Further, pastors surveyed base assumptions of how their churches are doing on how the church handles inreach than outreach, surving the people already in church rather than those who have not yet found a church home.

How should pastors determine whether or not their congregations are committed to God? What can a pastor do to help boost the numbers of people actually committed to their faith? Should we take those not in church into account when determing the health of our congregation?

The Martyrs of Japan

We remember today The Martyrs of Japan, whose feast day of February 5, was transferred this year as the 5th was a Sunday. Their story is from 1597, when the absolute ruler of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, sentenced 24 Christians to die. They would be marched to Nagasaki, center of Japanese Christianity where they were to be placed on crosses and then speared to death. The six European missionaries together with some of their converts were to serve as a warning to all Japanese Christians.  

At the time these Christians were sentenced to death, the 24 were the tiniest fraction of the estimated 300,000 baptized Christians in Japan. The ruler of Japan feared European colonialism more than Christianity, but he sought nonetheless to kill off Christianity in his nation. 

On the march to Nagasaki, two Christians dared to openly encourage the condemned Christians. For their encouragement, those two were sentenced to death, bringing the total of martyrs to 26. The youngest of the group were 12-year-old Louis Ibaraki and 13-year-old Thomas Kozaki. Father Francis Blanco wrote of the youngest of the group on the eve of execution, “We have little Louis with us and he is so full of courage and in such high spirits that it astonishes everybody.” 

Each of the martyrs had a custom made cross and the boys arrived at the site looking for the smaller ones, meant for them. Each of the condemned men literally embraced their crosses before lying out on them. One by one the prisoners were fixed to the poles. No nails were used. Hands and feet and neck were kept in position with iron rings and a rope around the waist kept the victim tightly bound to the cross.  

Once the martyrs had been tied to the crosses, all twenty-six were lifted simultaneously and dropped into the ground with a thump. Father Paul Miki straightened himself on his cross, looked at the crowds and said in a loud voice:

All of you who are here, please, listen to me. I did not come from the Philippines, I am a Japanese by birth, and a brother of the Society of Jesus. I have committed no crime, and the only reason why I am put to death is that I have been teaching the doctrine of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I am very happy to die for such a cause, and see my death as a great blessing from the Lord. At this critical time, when, you can rest assured that I will not try to deceive you, I want to stress and make it unmistakably clear that man can find no way to salvation other than the Christian way. The Christian law commands that we forgive our enemies and those who have wronged us…. I would rather have all the Japanese become Christians..

Paul then turned to, his companions, the ones nearer to him exchanged a few words with them and greeted a friend he could identify among the crowd. And then lifting up his heart to heaven: “Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit. Come to meet me ye Saints of God. . .” 

The executioners worked their way along the line of crosses, quickly killing each man in turn, in many cases silencing voices still praising God in song.

The hillside became a pilgrimage site. This situation continued until 1619, when the executioner cut down the martyrs' trees. Then more than 650 Christians and missionaries were put to death on the same hill of Nishizaka and its surroundings.

Even with 650 crucifixions, the church did not die in Nagasaki. Forced underground, the Christian message was passed from parents to children verbally. With no books or formal teaching, Christianity remained underground, passed along this way for 276 years. When Christianity was no longer persecuted the church resumed public ministry already claiming thousands whose faith had been handed down through the generations.

This post is taken from the sermon in our archives, Take up your cross daily

Woodbine Willie

Probably because Woodbine is the name of our county seat, the name Woodbine Wille recently caught my attention. His real name was Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929) and in 1917, the Anglican priest won the Military Cross for running into No-Mans-Land to provide comfort to those injured during an attack at Messines Ridge. Once out in no-mans-land he offered comfort to the injured, English and German alike under threat of fire.

Kennedy became known as Woodbine Willie as he distributed Woodbine brand cigarettes to soldiers when he visited them in the trenches. Beloved by the soldiers he served, Woodbine Willie wrote this advice to military chaplains:

Live with the men.
Go everywhere they go...
The more Padres die doing Christ-like deeds,
the better for the Church...
Take a box of fags in your haversack
and a great deal of love in your heart...
You can pray with them sometimes,
but pray for them always.
Arthur Savage, an English soldier in the war, later told his memories of the Rev. Studdert Kennedy.

A man I recall with great affection was Woodbine Willie. His proper name was Reverend Studdert Kennedy, an army chaplin he was and he'd come down into the trenches and say prayers with the men, have a cuppa out of a dirty tin mug and tell a joke as good as any of us. He was a chain smoker and always carried a packet of Woodbine cigarettes that he would give out in handfuls to us lads. That's how he got his nickname. At Mesines Ridge he ran out into no man's land under murderous machine-gun fire to tend the wounded and dying. Every man was carrying a gun except him. He carried a wooden cross. He gave comfort to dying Germans as well. He was awarded the Military Cross and he deserved it.

He came down the trench one day to cheer us up. Had his bible with him as usual. Well, I'd been there for weeks, unable to write home, of course, we were going over the top later that day. I asked him if he would write to my sweetheart at home, tell her I was still alive and, so far, in one piece. He said he would, so I gave him the address. Well, years later, after the war, she showed me the letter he'd sent, very nice it was. A lovely letter. My wife kept it until she died.

He worked in the slums of London after the war among the homeless and the unemployed. The name Woodbine Willie was known to everyone in the land in those days. Died very young, he did, and at his funeral people placed packets of Woodbine cigarettes on his coffin and his grave as a mark of respect and love.

At www.kingofpeace.org you'll find our web pages with a prayer vigil for soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines serving in the Middle East.

Responding to love

In tomorrow's gospel reading Jesus goes to Simon Peter's house after attending synagogue worship services in Capernaum. There he heals Peter's mother-in-law. The Rev. Barbara Beam, Vicar of St. Nicholas' Church, in Noel, Missouri has a first person sermon from the perspective of Peter's mother-in-law which says in part,

He took my hand. He smiled. He lifted me up. I forgot about my fever. I forgot about my aches and pains. I forgot that I was worried about Simon. I just wanted to do something for this man who had touched me in a way that no one had touched me before. I had to make some kind of response to his love. So I did what I best knew how to do. I got up and I served him; yes, and his friends, too.

The full sermon is well worth reading.

The democracy of the dead

The 184th annual convention of the Diocese of Georgia began last evening at Christ Episcopal Church in Savannah and continues today at the nearby DeSoto Hilton. A 184th annual anything is quite a tradition. That's fitting. The Episcopal Church is considered a traditional church, though sometimes in a sense that makes that seem negative.

G.K. Chesterton writes in Orthodoxy

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father.

All of which is to say to me that there is a collective wisdom in traditions and while we would not want to blindly follow tradition just because "we always did it this way" neither should we blindly throw out the ways of the past. I find one of the great attractors to me in the Episcopal Church is to be nurtured by prayers that have nurtured Christians for centuries. As with other liturgical churches, the roots of the words and actions of our worship services go back to the early days of Christianity and deeper still into Jewish tradition in some cases. So while for some see the word "tradition" as standing for something of the past, or even something dead, done without a memory of why. I feel that tradition is a living thing which carries its own memories with it even as new memories are added. As the 184th annual meeting has its main business session today, we'll add to the memories of this diocese while keeping in mind the decisions of those who have gone before us.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor King of Peace Episcopal Church

Perspective

I'm back from Biloxi, having driven 8 hours yesterday to arrive in time for Wednesday evening worship and then Bible Study. So I'm too tired and its a bit too soon for real perspective. Instead, I offer the following photos, with more to follow at our web page on Church of the Redeemer recovery.

Know that the scope of the disaster is beyond a small group of photos to show. With the exception of the bridge photo above, I offer instead a few photos of the ruins of Church of the Redeemer in Biloxi and also photos of Camp Biloxi, which is an important part of the Lutheran Episcopal Disaster Response.


A panorama of the church ruins.


Father Harold Roberts stands in a Sunday School room that was recently licensed as a day care (prior to Hurricane Katrina that is). It's in the ruined Christian Education/Office building behind the slab and steel beams, which are all that is left of the church building. Marks on the wall show the flood damage.


An Episcopal flag flies from the ruins of a Hurricane Camille memorial which was on the grounds of Redeemer.

Camp Biloxi

A view of the bunk house tents in Camp Biloxi, which is on the grounds of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. Nearby Bethel Lutheran houses a clinic and volunteers as well. One is a Missorui Synod Lutheran Church, the other is ELCA. Both are joined with Episcoplains in their response through Lutheran Episcopal Disaster Response. It is amazing to see the level of cooperation and the commitment to a sustained response on the ground in Biloxi.


Inside one of the bunk-house tents. Each will sleep 64 workers.


Here Bethel Lutheran has volunteers sleeping in the sanctuary and Sunday School rooms and eating three times daily in their fellowship hall. They hold nightly communion services for the workers, who do move the beds out for Sunday worship and Sunday School.

I am humbled by the commitment of the churches and the Christians on the Gulf Coast and pray both that we could respond as well to tragedy in our community and that we won't have to do so.

peace,

Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor
King of Peace Episcopal Church