First Reading:
Henri Nouwen in Reaching Out
Prayer, therefore, is far from sweet and easy. Being the expression of our greatest love, it does not keep pain away from us. Instead, it makes us suffer more since our love for God is a love for a suffering God and our entering into God's intimacy is an entering into the intimacy where all of human suffering is embraced in divine compassion. To the degree that our prayer has become the prayer of our heart we will love more and suffer more, we will see more light and more darkness, more grace and more sin, more of God and more of humanity. To the degree that we have descended into our heart and reached out to God from there, solitude can speak to solitude, deep to deep and heart to heart. It is there where love and pain are found together.
Tim Hawkins:
To lead a reflection on prayer for an interfaith chapel gathering, I started to wonder last night, might be navigating too close to theological shores.
But, on the other hand…when most surveys of American religious life indicate that between 95-99% of people would describe some part of their engagement of the spiritual life as “prayer” (I’m sure there is not consensus on what this means exactly), it certainly would seem that prayer would offer a deep place for us lower the anchor for a moment.
So, think less about this reflection as having a thoughtful takeaway, and more of this as prompting a conversation.
Dallas Williard, Professor in the School of Philosophy at the University of Southern California in LA, has described prayer this way, “Prayer is the method of genuine theological research.”
I wish I had known that before going to seminary, I would have saved a lot of money and time.
And that is the ongoing tension of prayer…it is both as simple as that…and as complicated as that.
It is at the same time, profoundly personal and effectually public.
It carries our most ecstatic shouts of gratitude and our deepest groans of sorrow.
It anchors us in troubled waters and disturbs our selfish tranquility.
It is both sounds that we cannot speak, and articulate words spoken and written by others that say what we feel.
So, when I think about prayer…and our ongoing theme of whole or holy lives, I do find, at least in my own life, tension over prayer.
I remember being in second grade at Linn Co. R-1 playground with my friend Shane and Ray. Shane and Ray were as cool as they came in my book. And, Shane and Ray could swear as naturally as the adults around me…without reservation or hesitation.
I remember thinking, “I wish I could swear like Shane and Ray.” At which point I remembered something I had heard in Sunday School. “Whatever you ask in Jesus name shall be given to you.” At least that is how I remember tucking that prayer away in my head.
So, I did what any 2nd grade boy wanting to be more like his buddies would do, I prayed. “God, please help me to swear like Shane and Ray.”
And, God answered that prayer.
Before I knew it, swearing was as natural to me as Shane and Ray, and flowed in inappropriate places that left me questioning why God would answer a prayer that would get me in so much trouble.
The story is true, and I would like to think that this many years removed from being a second grader that my prayers reflected a maturity from the 2nd grade playground.
And at times, I suppose they do…and then the tension of prayer reminds me of that 2nd grader.
Like many who grew up in our around the Christian tradition, we have tucked away in our head…at least a general outline of something called The Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father.
I sometimes resonate with the comedian Jim Gaffigan who complains that church is too much memorization and he confesses, I’m not very good at it. “I'm always like, 'Our Father who art in heaven without the approved written consent of Major League Baseball.”
Which, is not exactly how that prayer goes.
It is certainly one of the more well-known prayers and goes like this:
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from evil.
When the gospel writer tells us this story, it is that Jesus is telling his disciples, “This is “how” you should pray.
And, I’ve been stuck on that word for awhile, because this seems like a “what” to pray.
And maybe there is not much difference.
But, I also know that “how” I speak to others is radically different than “what” I say to others.
The word “how” is full of potential!
What we pray is limited to a reflection on language.
How we pray brings the fullness of life experience to the conversation…and that life has been shaped by and continues to shape the world around me.
How we pray, calls for an integration of language and orientation to the world around us.
It is in this sense, I think about Willard’s words that prayer is our personal theological research. And maybe the extension of that research is that our lives become the published biographies of holy prayer.
Second Reading:
Shane Clairborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove in Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers
The first word of the Lord's Prayer is Our. That's important. The prayer Jesus taught us is a prayer of community and reconciliation, belonging to a new kind of people who have left the land of "me." This new humanity is an exodus people who have entered a promise land of "we", to whom "I" and "mine" and "my" are things of the past. Here our God teaches us the interconnectedness of grace and liberation in a new social order. Here we are judged in as much as we judge, and forgiven as we forgive.
Tim Hawkins
Sojourners Collegiate Ministry
MIT
Monday, April 4, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Peter Gomes
March 7, 2011
The death of Peter John Gomes of Harvard marks the closing of a chapter at America’s oldest college. Peter and Archie Epps, the last and long time Dean of Students at Harvard, were the vanguard of racial change at the University. Beginning in 1970 they were the face of what we now talk about as “diversity” in the academy. Good friends, they touched the lives of thousands of students during their time as officers of Harvard. Epps died in 2003. For Peter his passing was a great personal loss. Peter felt he was witnessing the passing of a revered old guard. With Peter’s death the inclusion mantel is given to others; beyond the classroom few will have the impact on student life at Harvard that The Reverend Professor had.
A graduate of Bates College, Peter came to Harvard Divinity School in 1965, graduated and spent two years at Tuskegee Institute (now University) learning the ways of the South and returned to Memorial Church as Assistant to Charles Price. When Price left and Derek Bok assumed the Presidency, Peter navigated a time of uncertainty and emerged as Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Minister in the Memorial Church. Pictures tell the story. Price, monochromatic, pale and dour, Peter, youthful, black, a modest afro complemented by facial hair that in retrospect is noteworthy as the only time he ever tipped his cap to contemporary trends. The times had changed.
He was not a radical, but he was a Christian and sometimes those things go together. He preached regularly to large crowds, mostly white, each Sunday during the school year. He challenged them by reminding that being Christian meant more than going to church on Sunday. He encouraged them by telling truths that others often ignored. Being mighty was not always being right; being at Harvard did not mean you did not have much to learn. Privilege was a grace and to whom much was given much was expected. In return they loved him with a broad affection that allowed him to be one of Harvard’s premier fund raisers. He would tell Harvard audiences across the country that he knew their secrets and they believed him. They needed, he said, to give back and they did.
In the pulpit he had the support of Harvard Presidents, the advice of Divinity School professors who reminded him that they needed to be told they were sinners as well as saints, and the love of students who listened to him as they prepared to leave Harvard. He could tell them what they needed to know and they heard him at Senior Chapel. When they came back as alums he celebrated their fallen and as the years passed he was the constant presence who remembered who they had been. An old alum asked the other day “Who will do that now?” That is a tough question to answer.
As an author he wrote a number of books widely read. His sermons travel far in print and are good for a sharp insight or barbed quip. The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart changed the lives of many for its practical theology that made the Bible relevant again for many who had forgotten its wisdom. The Good Life: Truths that Last in Times of Need argued that sometimes failure was a great teacher. For those who had cut their teeth on only success, it was a lesson needed.
For all of his wisdom and for his pastoral skills, he will be remembered, but it is for his courage that he rises above the crowd. At a moment in 1991 on the Harvard campus when homophobia was pulsing, Peter had the courage to tell people he was gay. It was not thought to be a career enhancing move. His words shocked his more traditional Christian friends who were forced to deal with a man they knew to be Christian, but who now told them he was gay. Celibate himself, he supported the right of gay men and women to enjoy the pleasures and burdens of marriage. His stature and measured words were heard by many who otherwise would have tuned him out. His reputation grew.
A son of Plymouth, Massachusetts, he called himself a black Puritan; born to Peter Lobo and Orissa White Gomes, she the daughter of a Baptist minister, he was nurtured in the Baptist Church of Plymouth on Sunday morning. But he went as well to the small African Methodist Episcopal congregation. He was always a bit puritanical in the way he noted rules and traditions. Immersed in the waters of baptism as a young man, he always was wary of other baptismal traditions fearing he might drop a squirming infant. He would remind me that he had learned to baptize the right way! The rules of dress also mattered. The decision to wear a straw hat in his presence before Memorial Day or after Labor Day was not a decision to be made lightly. The economic argument did not carry much weight and he had no experience with western heat in May or September. It was simply not done.
His memory will fade but he will not be forgotten. He has joined the line of Harvard immortals called up over sherry and on moments of reflection and celebration. To be remembered with the likes of Nathan Pusey, Mason Hammond, Elliot Forbes and Zeph Stewart would surprise and please him. The awkward little boy from Plymouth who went from being an outsider to the President of the Pilgrim Society is now at rest and at home. Harvard is better, we are all better for having been in his company.
Robert M. Randolph
Chaplain to the Institute
The death of Peter John Gomes of Harvard marks the closing of a chapter at America’s oldest college. Peter and Archie Epps, the last and long time Dean of Students at Harvard, were the vanguard of racial change at the University. Beginning in 1970 they were the face of what we now talk about as “diversity” in the academy. Good friends, they touched the lives of thousands of students during their time as officers of Harvard. Epps died in 2003. For Peter his passing was a great personal loss. Peter felt he was witnessing the passing of a revered old guard. With Peter’s death the inclusion mantel is given to others; beyond the classroom few will have the impact on student life at Harvard that The Reverend Professor had.
A graduate of Bates College, Peter came to Harvard Divinity School in 1965, graduated and spent two years at Tuskegee Institute (now University) learning the ways of the South and returned to Memorial Church as Assistant to Charles Price. When Price left and Derek Bok assumed the Presidency, Peter navigated a time of uncertainty and emerged as Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Minister in the Memorial Church. Pictures tell the story. Price, monochromatic, pale and dour, Peter, youthful, black, a modest afro complemented by facial hair that in retrospect is noteworthy as the only time he ever tipped his cap to contemporary trends. The times had changed.
He was not a radical, but he was a Christian and sometimes those things go together. He preached regularly to large crowds, mostly white, each Sunday during the school year. He challenged them by reminding that being Christian meant more than going to church on Sunday. He encouraged them by telling truths that others often ignored. Being mighty was not always being right; being at Harvard did not mean you did not have much to learn. Privilege was a grace and to whom much was given much was expected. In return they loved him with a broad affection that allowed him to be one of Harvard’s premier fund raisers. He would tell Harvard audiences across the country that he knew their secrets and they believed him. They needed, he said, to give back and they did.
In the pulpit he had the support of Harvard Presidents, the advice of Divinity School professors who reminded him that they needed to be told they were sinners as well as saints, and the love of students who listened to him as they prepared to leave Harvard. He could tell them what they needed to know and they heard him at Senior Chapel. When they came back as alums he celebrated their fallen and as the years passed he was the constant presence who remembered who they had been. An old alum asked the other day “Who will do that now?” That is a tough question to answer.
As an author he wrote a number of books widely read. His sermons travel far in print and are good for a sharp insight or barbed quip. The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart changed the lives of many for its practical theology that made the Bible relevant again for many who had forgotten its wisdom. The Good Life: Truths that Last in Times of Need argued that sometimes failure was a great teacher. For those who had cut their teeth on only success, it was a lesson needed.
For all of his wisdom and for his pastoral skills, he will be remembered, but it is for his courage that he rises above the crowd. At a moment in 1991 on the Harvard campus when homophobia was pulsing, Peter had the courage to tell people he was gay. It was not thought to be a career enhancing move. His words shocked his more traditional Christian friends who were forced to deal with a man they knew to be Christian, but who now told them he was gay. Celibate himself, he supported the right of gay men and women to enjoy the pleasures and burdens of marriage. His stature and measured words were heard by many who otherwise would have tuned him out. His reputation grew.
A son of Plymouth, Massachusetts, he called himself a black Puritan; born to Peter Lobo and Orissa White Gomes, she the daughter of a Baptist minister, he was nurtured in the Baptist Church of Plymouth on Sunday morning. But he went as well to the small African Methodist Episcopal congregation. He was always a bit puritanical in the way he noted rules and traditions. Immersed in the waters of baptism as a young man, he always was wary of other baptismal traditions fearing he might drop a squirming infant. He would remind me that he had learned to baptize the right way! The rules of dress also mattered. The decision to wear a straw hat in his presence before Memorial Day or after Labor Day was not a decision to be made lightly. The economic argument did not carry much weight and he had no experience with western heat in May or September. It was simply not done.
His memory will fade but he will not be forgotten. He has joined the line of Harvard immortals called up over sherry and on moments of reflection and celebration. To be remembered with the likes of Nathan Pusey, Mason Hammond, Elliot Forbes and Zeph Stewart would surprise and please him. The awkward little boy from Plymouth who went from being an outsider to the President of the Pilgrim Society is now at rest and at home. Harvard is better, we are all better for having been in his company.
Robert M. Randolph
Chaplain to the Institute
Friday, February 18, 2011
Saying Thank You
Tuesdays in the Chapel
February 15, 2011
Be Thankful
Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary
Because it means you've made a difference.
It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.
GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.
~ Author Unknown ~
The Power of Saying Thank You
So as I contemplated what I might say today I reflected on Bobs charge of talking about the things in our lives that make us Whole, like the , family, work, friends
So like any modern person I turned to Google for inspiration.
My search for being whole led me to links on, “Prepare and Believe – Gods words makes us Whole - to Whole foods makes us lazy cooks.
So having my inspiration somewhat jump started by the internet I turned to the next best thing my own thoughts
Recent incidents made me begin to think about gratitude and in fact the act of saying “Thank You” as important elements in making our life whole.
With this inspiration…. I tried Google again and found that saying thank you is indeed powerful. The links I found this time ranged from “fulfilling yourself and those you praise”, to becoming a more powerful sales person”.
Needless to say my comments today will be around how saying thank you helps us become whole
For this moment I want to make the distinction between being grateful and saying thank you. Again for this moment , the act or art of being grateful has profound effect on how you live your life day to day.
Gratefulness ranges from being thankful for what you have and what you don’t have both views can lead you to contentment. Being thankful for peace as well as adversity can lead to contentment, and wholeness.
But saying thank you is both self fulfillment as well as an empowerment of others which in turn helps to make you whole
I have been struck lately by the simple acts of kindness that I have seen in traffic letting another driver navigate a snow drift and then letting them move “ahead” in Boston no less, and the return of a “thank you waive” is, Amazing.
Since I have been thinking about this topic of thank you I have taken the time to listen to my own “thank yous” and to those who thank me rather than just letting it disappear in the normal discourse of the day.
I often would tell my teams, and my children that if someone gives you a complement you must say “thank you” (humbly) because it takes great strength, energy and commitment to give a compliment and as you take that energy in you want to give it back balance.
They become whole you become whole.
So my message today is that wholeness which is a journey and not a destination can begin with grateful contemplation and saying “thank you”
I suggest that we all take a moment today to think about who we may not have thanked most recently and maybe begin with our family members and work out from there.
because it is those who are closest to us that we all too often take for granted but if we believe in the power of thank you we must begin with those that mean the most to us.
Then look outside your family circle and find that person who says hello every day that performs every day , day in day out that we hazard to take for granted let them know how they make a difference in your life.
We all have a person in our life like that, find them tell them thank you.
And remember…The power that is given……….. is also received…………..
=========================================================
So it is impossible for me to end this morning without sharing a sporting quote or two of inspiration
My first is from John Wooden who said about gratitude–
Things turn out best for people…………. who make the best
of the way things turn out.
And finally an anonymous quote that I like very much –
People don’t care how much you know……………..until they know how much you care……….
Show someone how much you care today………….tell them ………Thank You
Thank you for joining me today.
John Benedick
Assistant Director of Athletics
READING 2:
When we face the fact that every life worth living has its discouragements, its own “unfairness” if you like, we have then taken a giant step towards happiness.
We are no longer crushed or consumed by the injustices and discouragements of life. We expect them. We learn not to let those discouragements distract us from focusing on the great goals we have set for our lives. When I asked a varsity football player this fall if he was discouraged by a nagging injury, he said to me, “Yes, sometimes it gets to me. Then I think, well, this is football, you have to expect that you’ll be hurting a lot of the season, and then I think about getting up for next Saturday’s game and it really doesn’t bother me that much.” In any life worth living, we will be hurting much of the time. But as we mature, we acquire the faith, the perspective, that the discouragements, the injuries, cannot break us, cannot make us lose sight of the great things we are determined to achieve. With our minds on the goal of winning Saturday’s game, we are able to endure the injury. That faith grows stronger and stronger every time we overcome discouragement and pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and go on. That’s why Sanderson could write at the end of his time as headmaster of Oundle School: “Faith is the belief in the ultimate triumph of right-doing, [faith is] not a formal assent, but a living belief acquired by endurance, by ‘hardness’ of life. It is belief which is forced slowly upon the individual; it is the result of experience, of actions tested in the past. It becomes the basis of his future.”
~ F. Washington (Tony) Jarvis, former Headmaster, Roxbury Latin Academy, from With Love and Prayer: A Headmaster Speaks to the Next Generation ~
February 15, 2011
Be Thankful
Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary
Because it means you've made a difference.
It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.
GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.
~ Author Unknown ~
The Power of Saying Thank You
So as I contemplated what I might say today I reflected on Bobs charge of talking about the things in our lives that make us Whole, like the , family, work, friends
So like any modern person I turned to Google for inspiration.
My search for being whole led me to links on, “Prepare and Believe – Gods words makes us Whole - to Whole foods makes us lazy cooks.
So having my inspiration somewhat jump started by the internet I turned to the next best thing my own thoughts
Recent incidents made me begin to think about gratitude and in fact the act of saying “Thank You” as important elements in making our life whole.
With this inspiration…. I tried Google again and found that saying thank you is indeed powerful. The links I found this time ranged from “fulfilling yourself and those you praise”, to becoming a more powerful sales person”.
Needless to say my comments today will be around how saying thank you helps us become whole
For this moment I want to make the distinction between being grateful and saying thank you. Again for this moment , the act or art of being grateful has profound effect on how you live your life day to day.
Gratefulness ranges from being thankful for what you have and what you don’t have both views can lead you to contentment. Being thankful for peace as well as adversity can lead to contentment, and wholeness.
But saying thank you is both self fulfillment as well as an empowerment of others which in turn helps to make you whole
I have been struck lately by the simple acts of kindness that I have seen in traffic letting another driver navigate a snow drift and then letting them move “ahead” in Boston no less, and the return of a “thank you waive” is, Amazing.
Since I have been thinking about this topic of thank you I have taken the time to listen to my own “thank yous” and to those who thank me rather than just letting it disappear in the normal discourse of the day.
I often would tell my teams, and my children that if someone gives you a complement you must say “thank you” (humbly) because it takes great strength, energy and commitment to give a compliment and as you take that energy in you want to give it back balance.
They become whole you become whole.
So my message today is that wholeness which is a journey and not a destination can begin with grateful contemplation and saying “thank you”
I suggest that we all take a moment today to think about who we may not have thanked most recently and maybe begin with our family members and work out from there.
because it is those who are closest to us that we all too often take for granted but if we believe in the power of thank you we must begin with those that mean the most to us.
Then look outside your family circle and find that person who says hello every day that performs every day , day in day out that we hazard to take for granted let them know how they make a difference in your life.
We all have a person in our life like that, find them tell them thank you.
And remember…The power that is given……….. is also received…………..
=========================================================
So it is impossible for me to end this morning without sharing a sporting quote or two of inspiration
My first is from John Wooden who said about gratitude–
Things turn out best for people…………. who make the best
of the way things turn out.
And finally an anonymous quote that I like very much –
People don’t care how much you know……………..until they know how much you care……….
Show someone how much you care today………….tell them ………Thank You
Thank you for joining me today.
John Benedick
Assistant Director of Athletics
READING 2:
When we face the fact that every life worth living has its discouragements, its own “unfairness” if you like, we have then taken a giant step towards happiness.
We are no longer crushed or consumed by the injustices and discouragements of life. We expect them. We learn not to let those discouragements distract us from focusing on the great goals we have set for our lives. When I asked a varsity football player this fall if he was discouraged by a nagging injury, he said to me, “Yes, sometimes it gets to me. Then I think, well, this is football, you have to expect that you’ll be hurting a lot of the season, and then I think about getting up for next Saturday’s game and it really doesn’t bother me that much.” In any life worth living, we will be hurting much of the time. But as we mature, we acquire the faith, the perspective, that the discouragements, the injuries, cannot break us, cannot make us lose sight of the great things we are determined to achieve. With our minds on the goal of winning Saturday’s game, we are able to endure the injury. That faith grows stronger and stronger every time we overcome discouragement and pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and go on. That’s why Sanderson could write at the end of his time as headmaster of Oundle School: “Faith is the belief in the ultimate triumph of right-doing, [faith is] not a formal assent, but a living belief acquired by endurance, by ‘hardness’ of life. It is belief which is forced slowly upon the individual; it is the result of experience, of actions tested in the past. It becomes the basis of his future.”
~ F. Washington (Tony) Jarvis, former Headmaster, Roxbury Latin Academy, from With Love and Prayer: A Headmaster Speaks to the Next Generation ~
Thursday, February 10, 2011
//Wholly (Holy) Presence//
Tuesdays in the Chapel
February 8, 2011
Opening Reading
Occupation and not empty space is what most of us are looking for. When we are not occupied we become restless. We even become fearful when we do not know what we will do the next hour, the next day or the next year. Then occupation is called a blessing and emptiness a curse. Many telephone conversations start with the words: ‘I know you are busy, but…’ and we would confuse the speaker and even harm our reputation were we to say, ‘Oh no, I am completely free, today, tomorrow and the whole week.’ Our client might well lose interest in a man who has so little to do.
We indeed have become very occupied people, afraid of un-nameable emptiness and silent solitude. In fact, our preoccupations prevent our having new experiences and keep us hanging on to the familiar ways. Preoccupations are our fearful ways of keeping things the same, and it often seems that we prefer a bad certainty to a good uncertainty. Our fears, uncertainties and hostilities make us fill our inner world with ideas, opinions, judgments and values to which we cling as to a precious property. Instead of facing the challenge of new worlds opening themselves for us, and struggling in the open field, we hide behind the walls of our concerns holding on to the familiar life items we have collected in the past.
~ Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out, pp. 50-51
Defining the term culture is a lot like defining the term “love”. Definitions are varied, complex and sometimes personal. So, at the risk of oversimplification…I offer a couple of broad definitions to anchor what it means to speak about “culture”.
Culture, as a body of learned behaviors common to a given human society, acts rather like a template, shaping behavior and consciousness within a human society from generation to generation.
University of Washing Dept of General Education
Culture is a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior -- an abstract "mental blueprint" or "mental code.
Eastern Oregon Dept of Education
Though thorough and academic I prefer the more evocative definition offered by Philip Bock, Prof. Emeritus, NM Univ.
Culture is what makes you a stranger when you are away from home.
Culture is the framework, or the mental blueprint that makes one place familiar and easy to navigate and another place that almost holds us out…keeps us at a distance. The first we feel at home, like we are belong, like are presence is welcomed. The latter we feel like a stranger, and often unwelcomed.
Which brings me to an intersection of our topic this morning.
What does it mean to be wholly/holy present?
The Gospel writer, Luke, chronicles a story of Jesus visiting the home of a woman named Martha and her sister Mary.
It is a relatively quick story…so, I’ll read it to you from Luke’s gospel in chapter 10.
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
That the template of our modern Western world is one that values production and commodies is reflected in an experience I had as a young minister serving in my first church. (And, I found this church is not the only one.)
Churches, appreciating the work ethic of Martha created “Martha’s Meetings” to attend to the hospitality work of the church. It tells us something that these churches did not have Mary’s Meetings.” I don’t mean that as a criticism of great people, but a reflection of our cultural template. Valuing production and commodity over presence.
Hospitality and presence become jobs of the head and hands…problems to solve and things to do, which quickly becomes a service to offer.
Hospitality, presence, helping someone be at home when they are a stranger, is no longer a way of orienting our lives, it is an industry. And once there is money to be made, once a virtue becomes a commodity doesn’t it change the way we think about offering it?
Now, Martha does not have money to make…but a reputation to uphold…much like Nouwen describes. What would happen if I spent the next week answering the phone saying I had nothing going on and nothing to do?
Having worked as a chaplain for 14 years, I’ve witnessed students lives dramatically changed when professors and administrators go beyond providing a service for students and allow themselves to be present WITH students.
Often conversations about life/meaning/vocation/family/depression are relegated to the counseling center or spiritual care-givers who have a limited amount of time and are being present as part of a system of care rather than out of a virtue of presence.
It is easy for us to be somewhere and not be present.
Often, I’m in one moment but thinking about the next meeting. Often while I’m with people I have access to text messages, emails and Facebook messages and Tweets from others. I do believe social networking can increase the quality of presence, but they are often a diversion from presence.
Jesus emphasized the holiness of our presence with others when He says, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
This is a compassionate and personal presence.
To talk of the spirit, the heart or faith in a science and technology context…may not always be the language of currency in the classroom…but our lives are not lived within the confines of the classroom or lab guarded by formulas and equations.
Eventually, we will face issues of the heart and soul that cause us to ask whether or not the head and the hands can solve all of the world’s problems without the heart.
Will global justice prevail, will compassion prevail, will mercy or peace prevail because we have stumbled upon an algorithm for them or because, (even in academia) we begin to create a culture of personal presence that celebrates solidarity over production?
Closing Reading
We cannot truly care for those who are oppressed without being moved by their suffering. But mercy as a principle also requires closer proximity to those who suffer. We must struggle alongside of the suffering in the pursuit of justice-making, knowing that by being in closer proximity relationally and physically more may be asked of us than we had anticipated.
~ Brita Gill-Austern, Injustice and the Care of Souls
Tim Hawkins,
Chaplain, SojournCollegiateMinistry
February 8, 2011
Opening Reading
Occupation and not empty space is what most of us are looking for. When we are not occupied we become restless. We even become fearful when we do not know what we will do the next hour, the next day or the next year. Then occupation is called a blessing and emptiness a curse. Many telephone conversations start with the words: ‘I know you are busy, but…’ and we would confuse the speaker and even harm our reputation were we to say, ‘Oh no, I am completely free, today, tomorrow and the whole week.’ Our client might well lose interest in a man who has so little to do.
We indeed have become very occupied people, afraid of un-nameable emptiness and silent solitude. In fact, our preoccupations prevent our having new experiences and keep us hanging on to the familiar ways. Preoccupations are our fearful ways of keeping things the same, and it often seems that we prefer a bad certainty to a good uncertainty. Our fears, uncertainties and hostilities make us fill our inner world with ideas, opinions, judgments and values to which we cling as to a precious property. Instead of facing the challenge of new worlds opening themselves for us, and struggling in the open field, we hide behind the walls of our concerns holding on to the familiar life items we have collected in the past.
~ Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out, pp. 50-51
Defining the term culture is a lot like defining the term “love”. Definitions are varied, complex and sometimes personal. So, at the risk of oversimplification…I offer a couple of broad definitions to anchor what it means to speak about “culture”.
Culture, as a body of learned behaviors common to a given human society, acts rather like a template, shaping behavior and consciousness within a human society from generation to generation.
University of Washing Dept of General Education
Culture is a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior -- an abstract "mental blueprint" or "mental code.
Eastern Oregon Dept of Education
Though thorough and academic I prefer the more evocative definition offered by Philip Bock, Prof. Emeritus, NM Univ.
Culture is what makes you a stranger when you are away from home.
Culture is the framework, or the mental blueprint that makes one place familiar and easy to navigate and another place that almost holds us out…keeps us at a distance. The first we feel at home, like we are belong, like are presence is welcomed. The latter we feel like a stranger, and often unwelcomed.
Which brings me to an intersection of our topic this morning.
What does it mean to be wholly/holy present?
The Gospel writer, Luke, chronicles a story of Jesus visiting the home of a woman named Martha and her sister Mary.
It is a relatively quick story…so, I’ll read it to you from Luke’s gospel in chapter 10.
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
That the template of our modern Western world is one that values production and commodies is reflected in an experience I had as a young minister serving in my first church. (And, I found this church is not the only one.)
Churches, appreciating the work ethic of Martha created “Martha’s Meetings” to attend to the hospitality work of the church. It tells us something that these churches did not have Mary’s Meetings.” I don’t mean that as a criticism of great people, but a reflection of our cultural template. Valuing production and commodity over presence.
Hospitality and presence become jobs of the head and hands…problems to solve and things to do, which quickly becomes a service to offer.
Hospitality, presence, helping someone be at home when they are a stranger, is no longer a way of orienting our lives, it is an industry. And once there is money to be made, once a virtue becomes a commodity doesn’t it change the way we think about offering it?
Now, Martha does not have money to make…but a reputation to uphold…much like Nouwen describes. What would happen if I spent the next week answering the phone saying I had nothing going on and nothing to do?
Having worked as a chaplain for 14 years, I’ve witnessed students lives dramatically changed when professors and administrators go beyond providing a service for students and allow themselves to be present WITH students.
Often conversations about life/meaning/vocation/family/depression are relegated to the counseling center or spiritual care-givers who have a limited amount of time and are being present as part of a system of care rather than out of a virtue of presence.
It is easy for us to be somewhere and not be present.
Often, I’m in one moment but thinking about the next meeting. Often while I’m with people I have access to text messages, emails and Facebook messages and Tweets from others. I do believe social networking can increase the quality of presence, but they are often a diversion from presence.
Jesus emphasized the holiness of our presence with others when He says, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
This is a compassionate and personal presence.
To talk of the spirit, the heart or faith in a science and technology context…may not always be the language of currency in the classroom…but our lives are not lived within the confines of the classroom or lab guarded by formulas and equations.
Eventually, we will face issues of the heart and soul that cause us to ask whether or not the head and the hands can solve all of the world’s problems without the heart.
Will global justice prevail, will compassion prevail, will mercy or peace prevail because we have stumbled upon an algorithm for them or because, (even in academia) we begin to create a culture of personal presence that celebrates solidarity over production?
Closing Reading
We cannot truly care for those who are oppressed without being moved by their suffering. But mercy as a principle also requires closer proximity to those who suffer. We must struggle alongside of the suffering in the pursuit of justice-making, knowing that by being in closer proximity relationally and physically more may be asked of us than we had anticipated.
~ Brita Gill-Austern, Injustice and the Care of Souls
Tim Hawkins,
Chaplain, SojournCollegiateMinistry
Thursday, February 3, 2011
FRIENDSHIP
February 1, 2011
Friendship
A friend of mine wrote the other day to tell me of an illness he was dealing with. We have known each other for over 50 years and our parents had been friends before we were born. My life has been enriched by his friendship and I can remember several times when his wisdom and thoughtfulness has had a qualitative impact on actions I have taken.
I am sure you all have had similar experiences and I invite you to think about them this morning. With my own sensitivity to the topic heightened, it seems recently that every time I turn I have been touched by comments and insights about friendship. Weather and cold has given all of us a bit of time inside and as a result I have watched more than my share of new and old movies. In Kevin Costner’s film Wyatt Earp (1994) the occasion of his meeting with the legendary dandy, gambler and alcoholic, Doc Holiday is framed by Holiday asking Earp, “Do you have any friends?” and Earp responds, “Not many.” Holiday tells him he will be his friend and a thread in this dark retelling of a legend is that whatever else he may be, Holiday, is a friend to Earp.
But over the holiday break we also go to movies and see a few films before they go to Netflix. One of the films we saw was The King’s Speech a tale I had never heard about the travails of George VI dealing with his stammer. The threads are many: the relationship of fathers and sons, the burdens of leadership, the love of family, the developing friendship between Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) and the King (Colin Firth).
“What do I call you?” asks Logue? “Your Highness, “ says the King, “then Sir.” “What about Bertie?” asks Logue. “Only my family uses Bertie”, says the King. “Bertie it is then” ,says Logue. His notion is that for the treatment to be effective they need to be equals working on the same problem. The treatment is effective, friendship grows despite travail and the power of relationships is clearly depicted. It is an inspirational tale in the time of The Social Network.
The Social Network is, as many of you know, about the founding of Facebook. It may well make you think twice about friending anyone. Both The King’s Speech and The Social Network are nominees for the best film of the year. As a tale of how to make money, as a story about randy escapades up the street, the film succeeds brilliantly. But would you want to be friends with any of the main characters? We probably all know folk like the characters in the film. My favorite scene is when Mark Zukerberg learns he is being sued by his friends.
The take away from the tale is that friendship is fragile and costly and finally that it can be bought if you have enough money. But in fact it is clear that such friends do not have your back nor your best interests in mind. It is a cautionary, if entertaining tale.
Emily Dickenson wrote: "True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island….to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing."
It will not surprise you that I find Dickenson compelling. My best friends are folks with whom I can begin conversations in mid-sentence where we left off the last time we visited. Life it seems to me is made whole by good friends who both watch our backs and enrich our futures. Good friends tell you what you do not want to hear and what you need to know. May you be blessed with such friends.
Readings:
Friends
by J. Barrie Shepherd from Diary of Daily Prayer
Friends were with me today, Lord,
people I love,
and who love me,
people I trust,
and who trust me,
people I enjoy being with,
no matter where, or how, or why.
Friends were with me today.
I thank you for my friends
and for all they bring to my living.
For the way they give of themselves to me,
for the way they help me give of myself,
and even be myself, and more than myself,
I give you my deepest thanks, Father.
I thank you, Lord, for the simple
but real kinds of support,
and comfort, and strength I can draw
from my friends.
But most of all I thank you
for the ways in which you reveal yourself
to me through friendship,
for all of the moments in which,
through frail but wonderful human instruments,
you sing to me of grace and mercy,
of the risk of commitment
and the challenge of response,
of the strong, sure knowledge of acceptance
in the heart of a true friend,
in the heart of a true father,
in your heart, my God and my Redeemer.
Grant me now a restful night,
that grace to rise refreshed tomorrow,
and the faith to be a friend to all I meet.
Robert M. Randolph
Chaplain to the Institute
at Tuesdays in the Chapel
Friendship
A friend of mine wrote the other day to tell me of an illness he was dealing with. We have known each other for over 50 years and our parents had been friends before we were born. My life has been enriched by his friendship and I can remember several times when his wisdom and thoughtfulness has had a qualitative impact on actions I have taken.
I am sure you all have had similar experiences and I invite you to think about them this morning. With my own sensitivity to the topic heightened, it seems recently that every time I turn I have been touched by comments and insights about friendship. Weather and cold has given all of us a bit of time inside and as a result I have watched more than my share of new and old movies. In Kevin Costner’s film Wyatt Earp (1994) the occasion of his meeting with the legendary dandy, gambler and alcoholic, Doc Holiday is framed by Holiday asking Earp, “Do you have any friends?” and Earp responds, “Not many.” Holiday tells him he will be his friend and a thread in this dark retelling of a legend is that whatever else he may be, Holiday, is a friend to Earp.
But over the holiday break we also go to movies and see a few films before they go to Netflix. One of the films we saw was The King’s Speech a tale I had never heard about the travails of George VI dealing with his stammer. The threads are many: the relationship of fathers and sons, the burdens of leadership, the love of family, the developing friendship between Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) and the King (Colin Firth).
“What do I call you?” asks Logue? “Your Highness, “ says the King, “then Sir.” “What about Bertie?” asks Logue. “Only my family uses Bertie”, says the King. “Bertie it is then” ,says Logue. His notion is that for the treatment to be effective they need to be equals working on the same problem. The treatment is effective, friendship grows despite travail and the power of relationships is clearly depicted. It is an inspirational tale in the time of The Social Network.
The Social Network is, as many of you know, about the founding of Facebook. It may well make you think twice about friending anyone. Both The King’s Speech and The Social Network are nominees for the best film of the year. As a tale of how to make money, as a story about randy escapades up the street, the film succeeds brilliantly. But would you want to be friends with any of the main characters? We probably all know folk like the characters in the film. My favorite scene is when Mark Zukerberg learns he is being sued by his friends.
The take away from the tale is that friendship is fragile and costly and finally that it can be bought if you have enough money. But in fact it is clear that such friends do not have your back nor your best interests in mind. It is a cautionary, if entertaining tale.
Emily Dickenson wrote: "True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island….to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing."
It will not surprise you that I find Dickenson compelling. My best friends are folks with whom I can begin conversations in mid-sentence where we left off the last time we visited. Life it seems to me is made whole by good friends who both watch our backs and enrich our futures. Good friends tell you what you do not want to hear and what you need to know. May you be blessed with such friends.
Readings:
Friends
by J. Barrie Shepherd from Diary of Daily Prayer
Friends were with me today, Lord,
people I love,
and who love me,
people I trust,
and who trust me,
people I enjoy being with,
no matter where, or how, or why.
Friends were with me today.
I thank you for my friends
and for all they bring to my living.
For the way they give of themselves to me,
for the way they help me give of myself,
and even be myself, and more than myself,
I give you my deepest thanks, Father.
I thank you, Lord, for the simple
but real kinds of support,
and comfort, and strength I can draw
from my friends.
But most of all I thank you
for the ways in which you reveal yourself
to me through friendship,
for all of the moments in which,
through frail but wonderful human instruments,
you sing to me of grace and mercy,
of the risk of commitment
and the challenge of response,
of the strong, sure knowledge of acceptance
in the heart of a true friend,
in the heart of a true father,
in your heart, my God and my Redeemer.
Grant me now a restful night,
that grace to rise refreshed tomorrow,
and the faith to be a friend to all I meet.
Robert M. Randolph
Chaplain to the Institute
at Tuesdays in the Chapel
Friday, January 14, 2011
Tucson
Mark Miller recently wrote in The Washington Post: "Sensible responses to senseless violence come more from preachers than pundits. I suppose that's because clergy are called on routinely to comfort their flocks in the face of life's inexplicable horrors and loss. Wisdom, they seem to know from experience, lies in accepting that there are few answers, only questions and fears."
Miller offers a worthy challenge for those of us in the God game. Response does not come easily. It is a mark of our world when violence touches us. It is always been that way. We have just passed through the season when Christians point to the coming of one who promised peace on earth and yet we do not experience such. In fact the followers of the Prince of Peace often justify violence as a means of advancing their agenda. You have only to remember a Sunday morning in Kansas to know what I mean.
I for one am inclined to the notion that the Divine Presence we seek to discover and understand is a bit beyond our reach. We see God's hand in the journey of Abraham, the ministry of Jesus, the message of Mohammed and maybe even the work of Joseph Smith. There are others reaching out with mind and hand and we are left always still looking. Note the doctor who recently reminded us that we needed to have room for miracles in our understanding of the world.
I affirm the notion that the presence of God in our lives is in fact best seen in our willingness to give miracles a place in our world view. We are not all powerful. What we will and wish we often cannot make real but we continue to try--and to know--and I believe that in so doing we walk anew with Abraham who left father and kin to pursue a dream. We learned in Tucson that like the ministry of Jesus, suffering is part of our lives.
There is much to know and part of learning is living. And living sometimes hurts terribly. It is not enough to say there is no meaning nor is it enough to say we are not God and therefore will never understand. We must role back the edges of mystery, and by living well, creating a world worthy of our children. That is, as our President reminded us, good work. It may even be God's work.
Robert M. Randolph
Chaplain to the Institute
Miller offers a worthy challenge for those of us in the God game. Response does not come easily. It is a mark of our world when violence touches us. It is always been that way. We have just passed through the season when Christians point to the coming of one who promised peace on earth and yet we do not experience such. In fact the followers of the Prince of Peace often justify violence as a means of advancing their agenda. You have only to remember a Sunday morning in Kansas to know what I mean.
I for one am inclined to the notion that the Divine Presence we seek to discover and understand is a bit beyond our reach. We see God's hand in the journey of Abraham, the ministry of Jesus, the message of Mohammed and maybe even the work of Joseph Smith. There are others reaching out with mind and hand and we are left always still looking. Note the doctor who recently reminded us that we needed to have room for miracles in our understanding of the world.
I affirm the notion that the presence of God in our lives is in fact best seen in our willingness to give miracles a place in our world view. We are not all powerful. What we will and wish we often cannot make real but we continue to try--and to know--and I believe that in so doing we walk anew with Abraham who left father and kin to pursue a dream. We learned in Tucson that like the ministry of Jesus, suffering is part of our lives.
There is much to know and part of learning is living. And living sometimes hurts terribly. It is not enough to say there is no meaning nor is it enough to say we are not God and therefore will never understand. We must role back the edges of mystery, and by living well, creating a world worthy of our children. That is, as our President reminded us, good work. It may even be God's work.
Robert M. Randolph
Chaplain to the Institute
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Year's End
When the year ended it struck me that I had just come through some moments worth thinking about. The first was a funeral for a woman who died at 88; we had buried her husband earlier in the year but as the year wound down this good wife, mother, grandmother died. She had come to Boston 44 years ago and made a good life with her husband of 56 years. They were from Barbadoes. She loved to travel, to dance and to shop; and she enjoyed a good walk around Jamaica Pond.
I left the funeral service to attend a Comic Relief benefit here at MIT; there were over 600 people in the audience and the money collected for tickets went to support flood relief in Pakistan. The comics were funny, sharp and self-deprecating. Change a few phrases and you could have been in the Catskills or in Nashville at the Opry.
Both experiences gave me insight into what it means to become an American. You have to work hard and you have to keep a sense of humor. And in both cases it pays to remember your religious roots. Our faith traditions help us make sense of what it means to be a stranger in a foreign land. Sometimes we laugh; sometimes we cry and in the end we move forward into the new year. Now may be time to examine anew our spiritual resources and to think about how we use them for good or ill.
In my experience one of the strongest components of the Christian tradition is the call to self-examination. We often confront it around the new year when we think about resolutions we might wish to make and keep. We resolve to change behaviors or attitudes that leave us lessened in their presence. On Tuesday mornings when we at MIT gather in the chapel for a few moments we often talk about matters that help make us whole human beings. Resolutions and introspective reflections keep us honest and moving forward.
There are moments in our lives when our religious traditions do not serve us as well. These moments include those times when our religious views cause us to expect less than their best from friends who might be different from our norm. "You know how those people are." Maybe here is a time for some serious introspection; do we really know how "they" are? I doubt it and the new year is a time to share our common humanity and expect the best of one another.
That could be a loud resolution or simply a quiet commitment.
I left the funeral service to attend a Comic Relief benefit here at MIT; there were over 600 people in the audience and the money collected for tickets went to support flood relief in Pakistan. The comics were funny, sharp and self-deprecating. Change a few phrases and you could have been in the Catskills or in Nashville at the Opry.
Both experiences gave me insight into what it means to become an American. You have to work hard and you have to keep a sense of humor. And in both cases it pays to remember your religious roots. Our faith traditions help us make sense of what it means to be a stranger in a foreign land. Sometimes we laugh; sometimes we cry and in the end we move forward into the new year. Now may be time to examine anew our spiritual resources and to think about how we use them for good or ill.
In my experience one of the strongest components of the Christian tradition is the call to self-examination. We often confront it around the new year when we think about resolutions we might wish to make and keep. We resolve to change behaviors or attitudes that leave us lessened in their presence. On Tuesday mornings when we at MIT gather in the chapel for a few moments we often talk about matters that help make us whole human beings. Resolutions and introspective reflections keep us honest and moving forward.
There are moments in our lives when our religious traditions do not serve us as well. These moments include those times when our religious views cause us to expect less than their best from friends who might be different from our norm. "You know how those people are." Maybe here is a time for some serious introspection; do we really know how "they" are? I doubt it and the new year is a time to share our common humanity and expect the best of one another.
That could be a loud resolution or simply a quiet commitment.
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