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The Newsletter of Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Toledo, Ohio NOVEMBER 2014 What owns you?
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CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT
Sunday, November 9 1:30p
Free and open to the public.
CONCERT WITH CHORUS & PIANO
Tuesday, December 2 7:00p
Adults $6, student/senior $4
The young musicians of Toledo’s own School for the Arts
share the fruit of their studies with the community.
Recurring Programs:
AA – Monday-Friday at 12:00n (basement; entry on St. Clair St.)
Bible Study – Wednesdays at 10:00am (1st floor, Walbridge Rm)
Food for Thought –
Fridays at 6:00pm: lunch packing (2nd floor, My Brother’s Place)
Saturdays at 10:00am: lunch sharing (Adams & Michigan)
Men’s Group – 2nd Saturday of the month at 9:00am (Rick’s City Diner, 5333 Monroe St.
at Nantuckett)
Midweek Eucharist – Wednesdays at 12:10pm (around the altar in the sanctuary).
Small Groups – Twice a month for 3 months, then a month off. Days/times/locations
chosen by the groups.
FEAST OF ALL SAINTS Sunday, Nov. 2 One Service Only @ 10:30 SUNDAY, NOV. 2 — ALL SAINTS
Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1-10, 22; 1 John 3:1-3;
Matthew 5:1-12
10a Youth Formation
10a Choir Warm-up
10:30a One Parish Eucharist only
SUNDAY, NOV. 9 — PROPER 27A
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25; Psalm 78:1-7;
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13
8:30a
10a
10a
10:30a
Parish Eucharist
Youth Formation
Choir Warm-up
Parish Eucharist
SUNDAY, NOV. 16 — PROPER 28A
Judges 4:1-7; Psalm 123; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11;
Matthew 25:14-30
8:30a
10a
10a
10:30a
2
Parish Eucharist
Youth Formation
Choir Warm-up
Parish Eucharist
LITURGY OF THE TABLE ‐
THANKS/GIVING EDITION Sunday, Nov. 23 One Service Only @ 10:30 SUNDAY, NOV. 23 — THE REIGN OF CHRIST
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Psalm 100; Ephesians 1:15-23;
Matthew 25:31-46
10a Youth Formation
10a Choir Warm-up
10:30a One Parish Eucharist only
SUNDAY, NOV. 30 — 1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9;
Mark 13:24-37
8:30a
10a
10a
10:30a
Parish Eucharist
Youth Formation
Choir Warm-up
Parish Eucharist
SUNDAY, DEC. 7 — 2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a;
Mark 1:1-8
8:30a
10a
10a
10:30a
Parish Eucharist
Youth Formation
Choir Warm-up
Parish Eucharist
Most clergy, due to the nature of the discernment and the work, have had lots of spiritual direction
and therapy and counseling, and much of the time we know our shadow sides. But it is another
thing entirely to say that the potential for good and life that God has made in each of us is more
powerful and more true than the limitations we have allowed to squat in our heads.
This issue of Topics rotates around these questions: What owns you? Is it of God? To some, that
language just may sound a little too dramatic, a little too much like exorcism. If we stop and ask
God to look with us, what will we find drives us toward despair and away from God’s light? Fear,
social status, desire for approval, the nagging voices that we are not good enough, the relentless
self-berating that we are somehow supposed to be exactly the opposite of what God has created us
to be: those are the Pharoahs that can rule us forever. The even more tragic part is that they don’t
just bind up individuals: these demons drive whole economies, whole governments. In the mean
girls of seventh grade, the politician who lies about his education, and the insane dictatorship of
whole countries, the common demons of Not Good Enough and Must Have Power to Justify
Existence can destroy countless lives. And here is the hard part: it is only in getting those voices
silenced that we can then get better at what God would have us be and do.
¥ÙÊà 㫛 ٛ‘ãÊÙ
Less than two weeks ago, I spent time at River’s Edge, a retreat house in Rocky River owned by the
Community of St. Joseph. I now think of River’s Edge as the Cleveland Clinic for the soul: For a
very reasonable price you get room, board and daily spiritual direction, and you can add on a
variety of learning experiences from Art Therapy to Yoga. It was overwhelming to be welcomed
so warmly and helped so much by so many people I had not met before. I went with some specific
discernment in mind, but suddenly found myself being led by God through others into looking at
much under the surface that had been owning me for some time. It became clear that
somehow God was working through others to free me from something.
In my own case, I have had many voices tell me I was good and intelligent and loved and all of
that, but had let the few who had the opposite message own me. One voice in particular from way
back made sure I knew that I should not even exist. And for well over 40 years that voice owned
me. Enough. In the name of God, and through the help of many, that voice is hereby evicted from
my soul. But 40 years of habit will die hard. That voice, that demon, will slink back onto the porch,
then try and come in through the side door or even slither down the chimney, and I will have to
keep shooing it away. I will, with God’s help.
Forty years is a long time, but all is not lost. In the midst of my
retreat time, there was a wake, open casket vigil, and funeral for a
99 year old nun. Sr. Angela had taught 8th grade for most of her
career. As I went past the chapel during the vigil, another nun who
had also taught (and was around 90) invited me to sit with her. I
tried to make a little small talk, asking about her teaching, when
she looked at me right in the eye. “One thing I always told my
students,” she said, “was that God created you for freedom. They
needed to hear that, again and again. God created us all for
freedom, for good.” As I heard this, I looked at Sr. Angela, who,
for being 99 and dead, looked...great. There was a deep joy in her
that death could not erase. A small cross with a welcoming Christ
was above Sr. Angela, secured on the lining of the open lid of the
casket. Directly above it, and matching it perfectly, was a large
risen Christ on the cross above the center of the chapel. The
invitation to all was clear: Life is long. The party is just beginning.
Claim your freedom. Follow me.
3
‘ÊĦٛ¦ƒã®ÊÄ/ó Ê Ù ½ —
MEMBER MATTERS
Remembering All the Saints
We will celebrate the Feast of All Saints
& All the Faithful Departed on Sunday, Nov. 2.
We’ll have one combined parish Eucharist on
this morning.
You’re invited to
bring a memento of
deceased loved
ones to this service
of solemn
remembrance, but
remember to take it
home with you
after the liturgy.
A Thanks+Giving Community
On Sunday, November 23, we
will once again celebrate
God’s generosity and our
Thanksgiving, Trinity-style.
We’ll celebrate the Eucharist
together in one service at
10:30 and then share a
potluck lunch.
We’re asking you to bring a few things with you:
A dish to share with friends. You’re encouraged
to bring a dish according to your last name:
A-G appetizer or salad
H-M main dish
N-R dessert
S-Z
side dish
In thanksgiving for all that God has given, bring
your completed pledge card. We will consecrate
the pledges on this day.
Bring a little extra time too, to celebrate, give
thanks, laugh, feast together, and just like on
Thanksgiving Day, help with clean-up!
4
Clarence “Bud” Gartz entered new life on Oct.11 and
Sally Key entered new life on Oct. 18th. May Bud, Sally
and all the saints, through God’s extravagant mercy, rest in
peace.
We wish a fond farewell to Rose Dutkevicz, who has
moved to Fairmont, West Virginia. Olivia is still with us
and remains our Associate for Youth Formation.
Congratulations to Greg Shumaker, named Toledo’s
2015 “Real Estate Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers, the
most respected peer evaluation publication in the legal
profession.
Team Trinity (Kyle Grefe, Marsha Manon, Matthew
Oster and Becky Roth) enjoyed lunch, spirited
competition and abundant goofiness at last month’s Blade
Corporate & Community Spelling Bee. Proceeds from the
spelling bee support Read For Literacy, Toledo’s volunteer
literacy agency.
Topics Update
We’ve heard lots of comments suggesting that
fewer people are reading the Trinity Topics newsletter
since it is no longer distributed by mail.
You can now pick up a copy of Topics on the
curved wall in the nave on the first Sunday of each
month, and from the tract racks thereafter. It will
continue to be available online, where you can read it
or print a copy any time.
Birthday Blessings
November 8 .. ... ....... Phyllis Hatton
November 12 ... ....... Taylor Tennant
November 13 .... ...... Daniel Davis
........................ .......... James Petlow
........................ .......... Julie Sanders
November 18 .... ...... Scott Peck
November 27 ... ....... Patricia Bechtel
November 28 .... ...... Ben Davis
........................ .......... Isabella Salander
If your October birthday isn’t listed here, or
isn’t shown correctly, please contact the office
by phone or email (see back cover) to let us
know.
Necessary Conversations
Update on Hogar Enmanuel
Have you told the
people closest to you what
you want when you reach
the end of your life?
Making some basic plans
around your death and
funeral can make your
current life richer and less
stressed.
For the last several years, Trinity has sponsored two
children who live at Hogar de Ninos Enmanuel orphanage
in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. A few members of the
Trinity community have visited, met the children and
worked on various projects
there.
Our series on end-of-life planning will wrap up
this month with gatherings on two final
Wednesdays, Nov. 5 and Nov. 12. This series is
based on The Conversation Project (theconversation
project.org). Sessions are held at 10am, and then
repeated at 6pm with a light meal. All are welcome.
A Note from Gary Franklin
Thanks to the many
members of the Trinity
community who generously
sponsored my involvement
in the 2014 Toledo “Walk to
End Alzheimer’s” on
Sunday, Oct. 19. With your help, I exceeded my goal of
raising $1,000 for patient and family support services
through the Alzheimer’s Association.
Gary
Lauren Farrell, who is
on the staff at Corpus
Christi University Parish,
the Catholic church that
serves the University of
Toledo, spent two years at
Hogar de Ninos Enmanuel.
She returns there each year in late December for a weeklong service trip with a group of UT students.
Farrell will speak at both of our worship services on
Sunday, Nov. 16 to tell us what’s going on at the children’s
home. Next to New has filled two suitcases with children’s
summer clothes for the UT group to take with them on
their trip.
Do You Hold the Key?
We’re working to create an inventory of all of
Trinity’s keys. If you have keys that unlock anything
in the church building, contact Jamie in the Trinity
office and let him know how many keys you have
and which locks they open.
Budget Update — September 2014
Income:
Our actual YTD income is $267,789.
Compared to budget, our income is $24,142 worse (lower) than budget.
Only 35% of our income is from our pledges; the balance is from investments and other sources.
Expenses:
Our actual YTD expenses are $323,118.
Compared to budget, our expenses are $22,948 better (lower) than budget.
Nearly all of our expense categories are under budget right now – even Buildings & Grounds.
Bottom Line:
YTD, we have an actual operating loss of $55,329, which is $1,194 worse (higher) than budget.
We began the year with a $39,850 cash balance.
2014 Outlook: The total 2014 budget for our expenses is $480,056.
The outlook is for a net operating loss of $13,979.
Pledge Status: Pledge payments are $17,002 worse (lower) than budget. What can you do about that?
Nave Loan Balance as of 9/30/14: $357,520
The financial health of our community is a shared responsibility, and we welcome your questions or comments.
Contact Jane Bueche, Parish Accountant, or Greg Shumaker, Finance Committee Chair.
5
‘ÊĦٛ¦ƒã®ÊÄ/ó Ê Ù ½ —
UTO Ingathering Nov. 9
Outerwear for Students
Twice a year, we offer you a funky blue envelope
or a tiny blue cardboard box. Why? We want you
to use one of these powerful tools for good.
It’s time to collect new cold weather gear for
the students of Glenwood Elementary, King
Academy for Boys and Stewart Academy for
Girls. Here’s what’s needed:
The girls need hats, gloves, scarves and
mittens. All colors are welcome—the brighter
the better!
The boys need hats and gloves only. Navy
blue and black are the top color choices for
the boys—and please, NOTHING RED to
avoid gang-related problems.
It’s for the Episcopal Church’s UTO—United
Thank Offering—a personal and family
devotional program which has been around for
130 years. It’s intended to represent the sum of
our daily thanks for the blessings in our everyday
lives. There are so many things for which we can
be thankful; offer prayers of thanks and put
offerings into your blue UTO box or envelope
(which are available in the nave year-round).
UTO ingatherings take place twice a year. The
Episcopal Church uses every penny of UTO gifts
to award grants around the country and around
the world.
What should you do with your UTO box or
envelope? Pray first. Notice all the instances of
God’s generosity in your life, and give thanks for
them. Pray about the needs of the people of this
community, this nation,
this planet, especially the
ones you normally try to
avoid thinking about
(because thinking about
them is disturbing). Then,
on Sunday, Nov. 9, turn
your gratitude into action by bringing your offering of
thanks to church and dropping it in the collection plate.
The simplest way, even without a blue envelope, is to
write an extra check to Trinity and show “UTO” on the
memo line.
UTO will send your gift out into the world to
accomplish amazing things. And lots of people will give
thanks to God for your loving generosity.
Altar Flowers
You’ll find the Flower
Chart outside of the
church office. That’s
where you can let us
know which Sunday(s) in
2015 you would like to donate Altar Flowers in memory
of someone, or to honor a person or event. The requested
donation (our cost) for Sunday flowers is $45.
8
6
The students at these
K-8 schools range in age
from 5-15. Do your
shopping now, and bring
these wintertime
essentials to church to be
blessed on Sunday,
November 16.
Next to New will be
having a sale that morning,
so you can purchase these
items and take them right
up to the altar—you’ll help
NTN and save yourself a shopping
trip. Being generous has never been easier.
Christmas Angels 2014
Trinity will serve as Christmas Angels to
FOCUS clients again this year. Information about
Christmas Angel recipients will be available early
this month. Each recipient will receive two gifts, a
“want” and a “need,” so there will be 2 gift tags
for each recipient. Each tag
includes several options, but
you’re only asked to buy one
gift.
The gifts should be new items,
and a limit of $25 per item is recommended. Some
clients ask for gift cards, allowing them to make
their own gift selections or buy gifts for others. If
you have questions about the information on any
card, contact Valerie Garforth.
Bring the wrapped gifts (with the gift tag
firmly attached) to church on Sunday, Dec. 7 to be
blessed prior to distribution.
Whose Way Do You Follow?
WHAT IS A PLEDGE?
A pledge is your personal commitment to return to God a particular and defined amount of time, talent, and treasure
through the life and ministry of Trinity. It is your direct, tangible response to God’s extravagant gifts. Your commitment
enables God’s work in the church, the community and the world. It allows our community to make a financial commitment
to God’s mission and provides the talented hands and hearts to fulfill that mission.
WHAT IS PROPORTIONAL GIVING?
The Bible instructs us to tithe, returning to God the first tenth of all we receive. This is based on the principle that all
that we have, indeed all of creation, comes from and belongs to God. We honor God’s incredible generosity by returning
the FIRST one-tenth to God’s church.
Giving 10% may seem daunting, and more than some of us can begin to consider. However, when we don’t prayerfully
consider tithing, we miss the opportunity to walk the way of Jesus – putting our hearts, our finances, and indeed our
whole lives, fully into the trust and care of God.
Take the first step toward tithing by making a careful examination of your household income, spending, and giving
practices. Consider the spiritual discipline of proportional giving, which is unique to the income of each household. Divide
the amount you give to God’s church by your total income, or use the proportional giving chart to determine your
current percentage of giving.
If you’ve never pledged, consider starting at 2-3% of your household income. The national average is 2.6%, so this
starting place gives you a first step that is in line with many church-goers in our country.
If your current pledge commitment is not 2-3% of your household income, we ask you to prayerfully consider making
2-3% of income the goal for your 2015 pledge. If your current pledge is over 2-3%, please prayerfully consider increasing
your total amount by 1% of your income for your 2015 pledge.
This is the journey: how can we be better stewards today than we were yesterday?
Proportional Giving
8
Annual
Income
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
15%
$10,000
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,500
$15,000
$300
$600
$900
$1,200
$1,500
$1,800
$2,250
$20,000
$400
$800
$1,200
$1,600
$2,000
$2,400
$3,000
$30,000
$600
$1,200
$1,800
$2,400
$3,000
$3,600
$4,500
$40,000
$800
$1,600
$2,400
$3,200
$4,000
$4,800
$6,000
$50,000
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
$5,000
$6,000
$7,500
$60,000
$1,200
$2,400
$3,600
$4,800
$6,000
$7,200
$9,000
$70,000
$1,400
$2,800
$4,200
$5,600
$7,000
$8,400
$10,500
$80,000
$1,600
$3,200
$4,800
$6,400
$8,000
$9,600
$12,000
$100,000
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
$10,000
$12,000
$15,000
$150,000
$3,000
$6,000
$9,000
$12,000
$15,000
$18,000
$22,500
$200,000
$4,000
$8,000
$12,000
$16,000
$20,000
$24,000
$30,000
$250,000
$5,000
$10,000
$15,000
$20,000
$25,000
$30,000
$37,500
7
An Invitation to Forgive
by Desmund Tutu
As a young boy, I spent many nights watching helplessly as
my father verbally and physically abused my mother. I can
still recall the smell of alcohol, see the fear in my mother's
eyes, and feel the hopeless despair that comes when we see
people we love hurting each other in incomprehensible
ways. I would not wish that experience on anyone,
especially not a child.
If I dwell in those memories, I can feel myself wanting to
hurt my father back, in the same ways he hurt my mother.
My mother was a gentle human being who did nothing to
deserve the pain inflicted upon her. It is perfectly normal to
want to hurt back when we have been hurt. But hurting
back rarely satisfies. We think it will, but it doesn't. If I slap
you after you slap me, it does not lessen the sting I feel on
“Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering‐‐
remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you dont want to repeat what happened.” ‐ Desmond Tutu my own face, nor does it diminish my sadness as to the fact
have done, is to contravene the very laws of our humanity.
you have struck me. Retaliation gives, at best, only
And those who shred the web of interconnectedness
momentary respite from our pain. The only way to
cannot escape the consequences of their actions.
experience permanent healing and peace is to forgive.
In my own family, sibling squabbles have spilled into
When I recall the story of my father's abuse of my mother,
intergenerational alienations. When adult siblings refuse to
I realize how difficult the process of forgiving truly is.
speak to each other because of some offense, recent or
Intellectually, I know my father caused pain because he was
long past, their children and grandchildren can lose out on
in pain. Spiritually, I know my faith tells me my father
the joy of strong family relationships. The children and
deserves to be forgiven as God forgives us all. But it is still
grandchildren may never know what occasioned the freeze.
difficult. The traumas we have witnessed or experienced
They know only that "We don't visit this aunt" or "We
But it is okay to forgive... live on in our memories. Even years
don't really know those cousins." Forgiveness among the
later they can cause us fresh pain
members of older generations will open the door to
each time we recall them.
healthy and supportive relationships among younger
That pain is only compounded by
an unforgiving heart.
If I choose not to forgive, I will
always pay a price for it. When we are uncaring, when we
lack compassion, when we are unforgiving, we don't just
suffer alone for that choice. Our family suffers, our
community suffers, and ultimately our entire world suffers.
We are made to exist in a delicate network of
interdependence. We are sisters and brothers, whether we
like it or not. To treat anyone as if they were less than
human, less than a brother or a sister, no matter what they
8
generations.
Anger and bitterness do not just poison you, they poison all
your relationships, including those with your children. I
invite you to bring forgiveness into your own family. But
the invitation to forgive is not an invitation to forget. Nor is
it an invitation to claim that an injury is less hurtful than it
really was. Nor is it a request to paper over the fissure in a
relationship, to say it's okay when it's not. It's not okay to
be injured. It's not okay to be abused. It's not okay to be
violated. It's not okay to be betrayed.
But it is okay to forgive.
I would tell him how what he did to my mother affected me,
how it pained me. Perhaps he would hear me out; perhaps he
would not. But still I would forgive him.
Since I cannot speak to him, I have had to forgive him in my
heart. If my father were here today, whether he asked for
forgiveness or not, and even if he refused to admit that what
he had done was wrong or could not explain why he had
such a thing? I would walk the path of forgiveness with him
because I know it is the only way to heal the pain in my
boyhood heart. Forgiving my father frees me.
ãù֛
done what he did, I would still forgive him. Why would I do
We are called to forgive each other time and time again; it is
the nature of being in a relationship. Yes, it can be very hard
to forgive others, but often it can be harder still to forgive
ourselves. When I reflect back across the years to my father's
drunken tirades, I realize now that it was not just with him
that I was angry. I was angry with myself. That small boy,
The invitation to forgive is an invitation to find healing and
peace. In my native language, Xhosa, one asks forgiveness by
saying, "Ndicel' uxolo" (I ask for peace). The locution is quite
trembling in fear, I had not been able to stand up to my father
or protect my mother. So many years later, I realize that I not
only have to forgive my father. I have to forgive myself.
beautiful and deeply perceptive. Forgiveness opens the door
When I no longer hold his offenses against him, and can also
to peace between people and opens the space for peace
forgive myself, those memories of him no longer exert any
within each person. The victim cannot have peace without
control over my moods or my disposition. His violence and
forgiving. The perpetrator will not have genuine peace while
my inability to protect my mother no longer define me. I am
unforgiven. There cannot be peace between victim and
not the small boy cowering in fear of his drunken rage. I have
perpetrator while the injury lies between them. The invitation a new and different story. Forgiveness has liberated both of
to forgive is an invitation to search out the perpetrator's
us. We are free.
humanity. When we forgive, we recognize the reality that
there, but for the grace of God, go I.
I invite you to look within your own heart, within your
own family, and within your own community, and consider
If I traded lives with my father, if I had experienced the
stresses and pressures my father faced, if I had to bear the
burdens he bore, would I have behaved as he did? I do not
know. I hope I would have been different, but I do not know.
the relationships that are in need of a forgiving heart. We
each have the capacity to write a new story, and to
experience the healing and freedom that comes when we let
go of our grievances -- when we forgive.
My father has long since died, but if I could speak to him
today, I would want to tell him that I had forgiven him. What
would I say to him? I would begin by thanking him for all the
wonderful things he did for me as my father, but then I would
~from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
tell him that there was this one thing that hurt me very much.
9
Bricks, Breaks, and Brakes
by Victoria G. Curtiss
Putting on the brakes means doing less…. Through the Ten
Commandments, God has set some limits for us. “Thou
shalt not work” is in the same set of teachings as “Thou
shalt not kill” or “Thou shalt have no other gods before
me.”
Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann says that the
most important and most difficult of the Ten
Commandments to obey is “Remember the Sabbath day,
and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your
work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your
God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your
daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the
alien resident in your towns.”
We are commanded in our faith tradition to rest from
work by keeping the Sabbath. Some of us remember when
stores were closed on Sundays. And some of you grew up
in families where certain activities were prohibited on
Sundays, such as playing cards or seeing movies. It could
lead one to feel that what the Bible says is instead
“Remember the Sabbath, and keep it boring.” But there is
good reason why certain disciplines were practiced around
the Sabbath. Honoring the Sabbath requires setting limits,
putting on the brakes, and saying no to constant busyness.
Why is it so hard for us to live within limits, to say no to
more activity? Partly it is the pleasure of saying yes. Saying
yes acknowledges that someone wants you – wants to be
with you, wants you to do something that you do well,
wants to do it with you. We also live in a can-do country,
where the ability to do many things at high speed is not
only an adaption to our fast-paced culture but the mark of
a successful human being. Even though many of us complain
about having too much to do, we harbor some pride that
we are in such demand. I speak as a recovering workaholic
myself. I know the “high” that comes from feeling
productive or achieving a job well done.
The spiritual practice of saying no is difficult to do.
“No, I want to stay home tonight.”
“No, I have enough work for
now.”
“No, I have all the possessions I
want to take care of.”
The spiritual practice of saying no is difficult to do. These can sound like death
wishes. If there is nothing more
you want to do or have, then why go on living? As Barbara
Brown Taylor says, if you are going to say no to perfectly
good opportunities for adding more to your life, then what
is the point? (Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World, p.
122).
The ancient wisdom of the Sabbath commandment – and
also of the Christian gospel – is that we cannot say yes to
God without saying no to God’s rivals. No, I will not earn
my way today. No, I will not make anyone else work either.
No, I will not worry about my life, what I will eat or what I
will drink, or about my body, what I will wear. Is not life
more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Brueggemann says the reason that keeping the Sabbath is so
difficult is because we live in a world that follows the
narrative of scarcity. In the time of Moses, Pharaoh was a
lead figure of the scarcity narrative. The scarcity story goes
like this: A sense of scarcity leads to anxiety. Anxiety leads
to accumulation. Accumulation leads to monopoly.
Pharaoh feared scarcity. In his anxiety he accumulated more
and more wealth, which led to his building a monopoly.
Monopolies always need cheap or slave labor. Pharaoh’s
royal anxiety permeated the nation. Pharaoh drove his
slaves to make more bricks, make more bricks, make more
bricks. Such an anxiety system rules out the Sabbath. Can
you imagine Pharaoh choosing to lose a day of production?
The Deuteronomy basis for Sabbath-keeping is that our
ancestors in Egypt went for 400 years without a vacation
(Deuteronomy 5:15). Never a day off. The consequence
was that they were no longer considered persons but
slaves. Hands. Backs. Work units. As Eugene Peterson
notes, they were not people created in the image of God,
but equipment for making bricks and building pyramids.
Humanity was defaced (Eugene Peterson, Working the
Angles, p. 49).
The Sabbath restores us to our true selves, valued as
human beings made in God’s image and not just for our
usefulness, our productivity. The blessing of the Sabbath is
that it helps us remember that our lives have a focus and
meaning larger than day-to-day activity. The Sabbath is a
time to regain perspective and recognize that God’s
goodness permeates all of creation and life (Don Postema,
Catching Your Breath, p. 33).
8
ãù֛
Jesus, says Walter Brueggemann,
issues an invitation, “Come to me.” It is
not an altar call. It is a call to an
alternative existence, away from deeds
of power, away from brick quotas, away
from things “too great,” away from
Jesus taught, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are
control and domination and success.
carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
Away from the way the world wants us
upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in
to be. . . . Imagine yourself away from
heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Doesn’t that
your wisdom, your intelligence, your
sound good to us, who are so weary? We are overly busy and
capability, your drive, your effectiveness,
overly anxious, says Walter Brueggemann, “because we
and imagine yourself a good respondent
believe one more . . . call, one more committee meeting, one
to the one who invites, the one who is
more polished article, . . . one more staff review, one more
gentle and humble in heart. (Walter
check to make sure the lights are out and the dishes are
Brueggemann, Mandate to Difference, p.
washed and the mail answered, one more anything will make
42)
this a better place and enhance our sense of self” (Walter
Brueggemann, Mandate to Difference: An Invitation to the
There is still a yoke that Jesus invites us to carry, but it is an
Contemporary Church, p. 42).
easy yoke. It is not the yoke of Pharaoh’s bricks or Jewish law
or Roman demands or capitalist competition or the Protestant
Brueggemann says we bear heavy burdens “because…we are work ethic or constant online access. It is an easy yoke of
coerced, driven kinds of folk, responding to the endless
trusting discipleship. Our life need not be lived as a victim or a
echoes of some Pharaoh in our present life or from our past
perpetrator of always seeking more. We can put on the
life. Pharaoh, of course, has insatiable demands, and as long as brakes to anxiety. We can move away from “make more
we live in the regime of some great Pharaoh, we will never
bricks” to “take more breaks.”…
make enough bricks.”
We find ourselves weary because we are anxious. We are too Barbara Brown Taylor encourages us to honor the Sabbath
anxious to rest or take refreshment. We do not trust in the
this way:
abundance that God has woven into creation. We imagine we
At least one day in every seven, pull off
know better than God. “We spend ourselves in the futility of
the road and park the car in the garage.
trying to take the place of the life-guaranteeing God. We are
Close the door to the tool shed and
weary because in the end we can guarantee the life of no one
turn off the computer. Stay home not
and certainly not the life of the church” (Walter Brueggemann,
because you are sick but because you
Mandate to Difference, p. 43)….
are well. Talk someone you love into
being well with you.
God gives us life, and we receive it.
Take a nap, a walk,
Jesus taught, “Come to me, an hour for lunch.
God creates life and renews us when
we’re tired. God even takes a break to all you that are weary and are Test the premise
rest when God is depleted, confident
that you are worth
carrying heavy burdens, and I more than you can
that there is provision for all and all is
well. Creation will perform its lifeeven
will give you rest.Take my produce—that
giving exuberance without us, as long
if you spent one
as we do not get in the way. Like birds
whole day being
yoke upon you, and learn
and lilies, we are called to trust the
good for nothing
from me; for I am gentle and you would still be
abundance of God. We need to allow
God’s goodness to come to us, rather
in God’s
humble in heart, and you will precious
than our trying to make it, or the
sight—and when
find rest for your souls.” you get anxious
world around us, on our own.
because you are
The Sabbath allows us to stop and give thanks, to praise God.
convinced that this is not so, remember
When we keep the Sabbath we are living outside the “Royal
that your own conviction is not
Anxiety System” of Pharaoh. We embody an alternative to the
required. This is a commandment. Your
plot of scarcity. Trusting in God’s abundance leads to
worth has already been established,
thanksgiving. Thanksgiving leads to freedom to rest and praise
even when you are not working. The
God. Praising God leads to remembering that it is God, not
purpose of the commandment is to woo
we, who is the Source of life.
you to the same truth.
I repeat: your worth has already been established, even when
you are not working. Keep the Sabbath holy. It will free you to
revel – and rest – in God’s abundance.
http://www.fourthchurch.org/
sermons/2012/090212.html
9
4 Things That Perfection Costs Us
by Elizabeth Hagan
Several years ago I heard a TV special in which actress
Jane Fonda said this about life: “We are not meant to
be perfect. We are meant to be whole.”
Hearing it was one of those stop-me-in-my-tracks kind
of moments. What truth!
I need to say it again: We are not meant to be perfect. We
are meant to be whole people. And being whole is not
about “Bam! Now I’ve got my stuff together” but
rather a really long journey. In my faith tradition, we
call this spiritual formation.
Yet, how much of our lives do we live striving for
perfection?
A diet that starves us. A
succession plan at work that
enslaves us. And keeping a
pristine yard that exhausts
us.
And not only this. Some of
us won’t go out of our house
without our makeup. We
Photoshop our Christmas
card photos. We don’t say
what is troubling us in the
church prayer request time
or even around the table at
lunch with girlfriends.
And as a result, sure, we might look good in public
and be the envy of others for our wonderful lives. But,
perfectionism costs us something. Here are 4 things:
1. We slowly lose the respect of others.
I can smell a fake from 50 feet away, can’t you? I don’t
respect (or follow for that matter) people who aren’t
telling the truth. Fakers are not those who make it to
the top in the very end. Fakers are not the friends you
call in the middle of the night. Fakers are not the ones
who are cared for in community when life hits its most
rocky patches.
2. Our objectivity is gone
In the race toward perfection we begin to “see
ourselves more highly than we ought” as Paul warns
against in the book of Romans. You know those
perfect friends of yours who always have the best plan
for how to make their spouses do exactly what they
want to do on Friday night, or how to start potty
8
training a child at 18 months old, or who achieve the
highest percentage of weight loss in only a month?
They are living the lie. And what is worse is they don’t
even see it. Sure, there are times when out of the norm
things happen that are wonderful, but to be human is
to not have your surroundings exactly aligned as if we
were in charge of our own universe. We all have bad
luck sometimes.
3. A compassionate presence
Those who are in the rat race to be perfect often don’t
have the time for others. They don’t have time to stop
and help a co-worker. They don’t have time to
consider the recent losses experienced by a friend.
They don’t have time to simply sit with a person
through long-term crisis.
Why? Because all of these
things slow a perfectionist
seeker down. And not
only this, I don’t know
how many times that
people have said to me as
a pastor, “I’d wish I could
help ____ who needs help
but I can’t. I’m not sure I
would know what to say
or do.” Perfectionism often
paralyzes us from what
could be human to human
encounters of love.
4. We lose the gift of vulnerability for ourselves!
Brene Brown has become the queen of talks about
vulnerability. Her book The Gift of Imperfection became
a national best seller (if that tells you anything about
American culture and what we most crave). She says
this about vulnerabilities’ gifts for us: “Owning our
story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as
spending our lives running from it. Embracing our
vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as
giving up on love and belonging and joy – the
experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only
when we are brave enough to explore the darkness
will we discover the infinite power of our light.”
Simply put: in perfectionism, we miss out on the
possibility of tapping into our own full worldchanging potential.
Show more of your warts today!
http://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/
archive/2014-09/4-things-perfection-costs-us
Balance and privilege
by Peter W. Marty
Amos spoke of scales weighted in favor of the well-todo and of God holding a plumb line to measure
crooked lives. I have this level on my wall telling me to
get inside the skin of those harmed by my privileged
life. I am an unwitting participant in far too much
systemic injustice, more than I’d like to believe. Every
system, societal practice, purchase and piece of
legislation that benefits me at the expense of the
dignity of some other human being is wrong.
I remember Tim Wise once saying that there are a
whole lot of us who were born on third base yet think
we hit a triple. That’s good. Maybe next week I’ll have
to put up a picture of a baseball diamond, right next to
Rudy’s level. There is space on the wall.
ãù֛
Among some interesting pictures and sculptures—
you’ll have to see them sometime—I have a
construction level mounted on the wall. It’s actually
very precious to me. A contractor in my congregation
named Rudy gave it to me as a symbol of the need to
keep life in balance. He knows I have enjoyed
construction in the past. So here is this Stanley level
cherry is tipped in my favor and against the favor of so
many people who get stepped on by my way of life.
And this gap is a lot more than 1/8 inch.
You can tell a lot about people by what they hang on
their walls. If it’s someone with an office, it gets even
more interesting. In my office at the church I serve, I do
not have any diplomas hanging. No awards. No
trophies or medals either—not that I ever won any. Not
even my ordination certificate is on the wall. I figure
that if I or anyone else has to look at some framed
document to see or remember my orders before God,
I’m in trouble.
http://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2010
-07/balance-and-privilege
from the 1880s, crafted of beautiful cherry wood and
brass. There is also, of course, the little bubble inside,
which keeps reminding me that I mounted it about 1/8
inch off level.
I can’t be the only one needing balance in my life.
Every day something is out of whack in every soul’s
scheduling or decision-making. It has to be, given life’s
many pressures. This 24-inch chunk of lumber on my
wall is my daily conscience check…. I am beginning to
think it is staring me in the face not just to highlight my
many challenges to the balanced life. (My wife would
be happy to point those out to you.) My level from
Rudy is also staring at me to point out the dreadful
imbalance that exists between the privilege of my own
life and the struggling needs of others. Its gorgeous
“The people you have to lie to, own you. The things you have to lie about, own you. When your children see you owned, then they are not your children anymore, they are the children of what owns you. If money owns you, they are the children of money. If your need for pretense and illusion owns you, they are the children of pretense and illusion. If your fear of loneliness owns you, they are the children of loneliness. If your fear of the truth owns you, they are the children of the fear of truth.” —Michael Ventura 9
The Sacred Can Be Found in the Sound of Silence
by Elizabeth Eisenstadt-Evans
As silence threatens to become as extinct as the
passenger pigeon, what is its absence doing to our
spiritual lives?
Is wordless reverence relegated to the sidelines of a
world in which many of us are wired 24/7 to devices
that, every day, seem to become smarter and smarter
than we are?
What has happened to the prayerful moments that
allow us to be fully present to wonder and to grace?
We Americans love our gadgets. Yet increasingly, even
with the best intentions, we're prisoners of the virtual
din of Facebook friends, a ticked-off colleague with a
lead thumb, or a crisis 3,000 miles away.
While the virtual world provides many avenues for
spiritual exploration, constant access to it makes it
possible for those rendered anxious by silence to avoid
it altogether.
Yet both our sacred Scriptures and our faith traditions
demonstrate that silence is often that pause that allows
breathing room for the divine, a window to the
possibilities that God wants to put in front of us.
In eastern traditions, such as Buddhism, meditation can
reconnect us to our authentic selves. Even in the secular
arena, meditation, the practice of presence, has become
a way of focusing on what is happening around us,
rather than anxiously projecting ourselves into an
unpredictable future.
Christianity has a long and profound history of
contemplative prayer, reaching back beyond the great
silences of the monasteries to the witness of Jesus
himself, who often evaded the crowds and went into
the desert to communicate with his Father.
Although the Episcopal Church, of which I'm a member,
owes much to the practices of the contemplatives,
there often seems to be little room for silence, either in
our liturgy or in community life.
Quiet prayer may make us anxious, bespeaking a lack of
firm evidence that the Holy Spirit is present in our
midst. Yet how will we know that we are in the
presence of the sacred if we don't stop and listen?
Now and then (less often than I used to) I encounter
someone who has gone on a silent, three-day or 30-day
retreat. It's rare that they aren't surprised and enriched
by what they discover.
Ironically, I pondered the paucity of silence while sitting
in a local Starbucks, where the rise and fall of table
conversations alternated with the low roar of a Jackson
Browne CD and the hiss of the espresso machine.
A bid to simplify our family life by ditching the 350 cable
channels we never use had led to what is almost sure to
be a temporary loss of Internet, television and landline
service at home. Though I had not chosen it, the lack of
connectivity forced me to recognize that unlimited
access to information and virtual community had
crowded out the space where wonder could enter in.
I don't think I'm alone.
We may be able to trace the decline of quiet, or the
reign of constant noise, back much further. Perhaps our
addiction to distraction really began with the advent of
radio or with the ubiquity of the living-room television.
But there's nothing in our sacred cultures that exalts
constant busyness and din. On the contrary, all three of
the Abrahamic traditions value prayerful silence.
14
We Americans love our gadgets. Yet increasingly, even with the best intentions, we're prisoners of the virtual din of Facebook friends, a ticked‐off colleague with a lead thumb, or a crisis 3,000 miles away. "We need more silence in prayer. The words have
been piling up for millennia; there are simply too many
of them. … We need fewer words — and more
room for silence."
A few days ago, I drove to a local residence for older
Catholic nuns. On my way to meet the sister who
was to show me around, I walked by the chapel.
About a half-hour before the scheduled Mass, several
straight-backed residents (these women of faith seem
to have fantastic posture) sat silently in the pews.
If we are willing to take the risk, both individually and
communally, of excavating those words to see what
lies underneath, we may find that we have created
another room in which the holy may dwell.
ãù֛
We expect quiet prayer to occur in such a setting.
Yet there is nothing in Christian tradition to suggest
that such devotion is the sole province of Catholic
monastics. Instead, it is a treasure and a privilege open If we continue to fill that room with clutter and garage
-sale junk, it may be that when God shows up, we
to all of us.
won't even hear him — too busy to take the call.
I like to believe that silence births creativity and may
even have been the seedbed for creation itself.
http://lancasteronline.com/religion/column-the-sacredHonestly, I'd rather imagine that than speculate on
can-be-found-in-the-sound-of/article_9e620320-3511what members of the Trinity were saying to each
11e4-9a8b-001a4bcf6878.html
other before the dawn of time.
In an excerpt from his book "God and the Big Bang:
Discovering Harmony Between Science and
Spirituality," Jewish scholar Daniel Matt challenges
fellow practitioners:
15
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In thanksgiving for: the marriage of Jonathan Lowrey and Michelle Schroeder
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vision & mission
Trinity is called to be a progressive, inclusive, creative urban faith community.
 We will practice radical hospitality.
 We will be engaged in the life of our city.
 We will stand with those in need: the poor, the sick, the friendless, the marginalized.
 We will actively invite all to experience and celebrate God’s living presence.
 We will journey together toward a Christ-centered life, pursuing personal ministries
that connect us to God, to one another, and to the world around us.