From Nativity's September Newsletter

            People sometimes wonder why I am so joyful, even giddy when I baptize someone.  What’s the big deal?  When visitors get a welcome letter from me they see, “As a community of faith we take to heart our baptismal promises”.  What does that mean? 

            Let me tell you a story. It goes back about 50 years when The Episcopal Church did some soul-searching about what it means to be a Christian in our modern world – a world of racial injustice, immoral wars, disparity between the “haves” and the “have-nots”, and rapid social change.  Then they took a good long look at our liturgy, especially the two great sacraments of Communion and Baptism.  How, they wondered, do our Sunday rituals reflect and inform our Monday-through-Saturday lives?

From this came a renewal of our understanding of Baptism.  It’s no longer thought of as a “let’s-get-the-baby-done-while-Aunt-Edna’s-in-town” social event.   Baptism has become a communal event, done as part of the Sunday liturgy, in which the person being baptized (adult, child, or infant) is brought into full fellowship of the Body of Christ.  No more half-measures that are completed at confirmation, but full initiation. 

 And to make sure that we don’t forget what it means to be a baptized follower of Christ, they added a Covenant – promises that we try to live by and help our children and god-children live by, promises that center on ways we can live out the faith we proclaim, and make a difference in our world.  We are reminded as a community of those promises every time someone is baptized and at every Baptismal Feast day on our calendar.  This is a unique practice of The Episcopal Church.  The promises can be found on pages 304-305 in The Book of Common Prayer. http://www.bcponline.org/ 

There is a church that was built during this time of Baptismal renewal in the Episcopal Church, St. David's in Topeka, KS, and the congregation lived out their baptismal promises very publicly. I was blessed to be a part of the story. 

If you have never heard of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS led by the late Fred Phelps, please take a few minutes and google it.  Although they claim to be Christians preaching the Gospel, they in fact proclaim a hateful god that delights in death and pain.  They are the ones who picket funerals of soldiers.  They have been picketing in Topeka for decades.

Back in the 90s, the folks of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Topeka, let by Fr. Bob Layne, felt called to proclaim the God we know – the God of justice and peace and love.  For three years we stood against the Phelps cult, even going as far as the Supreme Court.  We stood on the sidewalk with signs countering the Phelps’ hateful messages while we endured vulgarity, insults and threats.  We led our community in prayer and non-violent protests, and drew people from all walks of life and every faith tradition (and no faith tradition) to join in the cause.

Others in Topeka, including most churches, told us to ignore the Phelps and they will go away.  The problem with that was the group only got stronger, bolder, and louder when we tried to ignore them.  The other problem, as Fr. Bob reminded us, was “to ignore evil is to acquiesce to evil”.  Besides, we couldn’t ignore them because we had all promised to “persevere in resisting evil”, to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ”, to “seek and serve Christ in all persons and love our neighbor”, and to “strive for justice and peace among all people and to respect the dignity of every human being”.  How could we not do what we did?  As far as I know, St. David’s is the only church who has directly challenged the Phelps’ cult.

All this took place during my discernment period of the priesthood.  It taught me that a Christian community can stand up and make a statement; they can be a unifying force for good, and that we don’t have to be afraid.  I cherish our tradition of promises, our call to live out our baptism publicly in the world.  So that’s why I get so giddy when we baptize people at Nativity, and it’s why we use a version of the baptismal promises as our dismissal from church every Sunday.  It’s because we take to heart our baptismal promises. Alleluia!

Mother Rita

 

From Nativity's Newsletter July 2014

From the Rector: July 10, 2014

 

            In the words of a 70’s song, “I feel the earth move under my feet”.  No, I’m not talking about falling in love, like in the song.  I’m talking about cultural change. I grew up in the tumultuous 60’s, and witnessed enormous cultural shifts – the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, rock-n-roll, the assassination of our President, the Viet Nam war, sit-ins, race riots, bra burnings, love-ins, and distrust of  “the establishment”. Now we, the Baby-Boomers, are “the establishment.

            We are challenged now with a vast array of new and different cultural changes happening at a highly accelerated rate.  This is being pushed, in large part, by technological advances.  The task is no longer to acquire information, but to sort through it and decide what to believe in the mass of “news” stories and competing “truths”.  The way we connect, communicate, work, play, and rest is mediated by technology in one way or another.  The country is polarized, with people of differing opinions treating one another as enemies instead of dialogue partners. There is income disparity, a humanitarian crisis on our southern border, and proliferation of guns. And through all this, religious institutions are trying to navigate the waters of change.  Some say we’re not doing it very well.

  We’ve been experiencing changes in religious affiliation and church attendance for a few decades now.  This era has been called “post-modern” and “post-Christian”, and has been described in terms of secularism, pluralism, and now “digital pluralism”[i]  This era has been characterized by the rise of the “Nones”, those who indicate “none” when asked their religious affiliation. And yet, the human need for connection, meaning, and spiritual nourishment are still there.  It’s just that fewer people feel like they can fulfill those needs in the institutional church. We can bewail and bemoan the fact that church isn’t like it used to be. Or we can find ways to meet people where they are, to share our faith stories, and to help one another figure out what it means to be a follower of Christ in a post-modern, post-Christian, secular, pluralistic, polarized, over-wired-but-under-connected world. We need to find ways to invite people to seek the sacred, mystical, comforting, healing gospel of Jesus in community with other seekers.

We at Nativity have a warm, supportive, open and affirming, delightfully diverse congregation. We can feel the earth move under our feet too.  And we are prepared to extend holy hospitality to those who are new to faith or refugees from religion; to those who want to bring their questions and doubts to a place where they can talk about them; to those who have been beat up, pushed down, or excluded by their former faith communities; to those who are too exhausted to get up on Sunday mornings, or are reluctant to walk in the door of a new church and “try it one more time”. 

On August 3 at 5:30pm, a new service starts at Nativity.  We’re going to try to meet some of those needs and provide a safe place for those who want to try a new community worship experience.  The service will be casual, relaxed, affirming, and participatory.  We will share the scripture, pray together, and make Eucharist. We will share music in different forms – singing in community, chant, guitar, recorded music – and invite participants to share their musical gifts.  Jorge Darr will play guitar and lead music on Aug. 3.

We need everyone’s help to spread the word and invite people to give it a try.  Very soon we will have cards for you to hand out.  And as always, I ask that you pray for Nativity, for this new worship experience, and for all those whose lives may be touched.    

 

God’s Peace,

Rita

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[i] Lose, David. “Preaching at the Crossroads: How the world and our preaching is changing”. Fortress Press. Minneapolis. 2013

For Nativity's "News in the Pews" September 8, 2013.

“. . . they shall beat their swords into ploughshares ,and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”  Isaiah 2:4

                    

            When the kingdom of God comes to fruition, the nations will learn war no more.  Obviously, we are far from the fulfillment of the kingdom.  At this time, war is on the minds of people around the world. There are so many questions, but no good answers.  In my heart, I believe most people want to protect those who are being cruelly killed or forced to flee their homes. The question is, how do we protect a people without killing other people?  How do we keep from killing more innocents, and displacing more people into refugee status?  But, can we ignore the fact that people are dying every day?

            Syria is only one warzone in our world, but in that area alone, over 100,000 people have been killed in the last 2 ½ years.  The heinousness of the weapons ratcheted up recently with the use of chemical and incendiary weapons.  “Conventional” weapons are horrible enough, but chemical weapons can kill large numbers of people (and every other living creature) very quickly.  It took about 45 minutes for 1425 innocent people to die a couple of weeks ago in Syria.  That’s why the world has agreed that no one can use chemical weapons!

            I don’t know about you, but the situation makes me feel anxious, frustrated, disheartened, and worst of all, helpless.  But we are not helpless!  There are things we can do to understand the situation better.  There are things we can do to help.

            First, educate yourself.  There is power in knowledge.  Know as much as you can before you vote, or before you speak out for or against an action.  I found the PBS Newshour (website & TV) helpful, for its explanation of the major ethnic groups in the area, the complexities of the situation, and for its intelligent conversation from a variety of perspectives.  I refuse to listen to those who are angry, strident, and who refuse to consider other opinions.  May I humbly recommend that you don’t either?

            Second, pray.  There is power in prayer.  Open your heart and mind to what God may reveal to you.  Pray for peace.  Speak up for peace. Be a peacemaker.  None of us can know the mind of God perfectly; we all fall short, make mistakes and fail.  When I err, though, I pray that I err on the side of compassion.

            Third, help those in need.  This is one thing on which all followers of Christ can agree. God’s people need help.  The number of refugees from Syria, I believe, has topped 2 million.  Hundreds of thousands were absorbed into the homes of their neighbors in Jordan, Turkey, and other surrounding countries.  But now, there are hundreds of thousands in refugee camps – and that number is growing every day. The U.N. is doing heroic, life-saving, humanitarian work with refugees, providing water, food, shelter, and sanitation.  Those who work with Doctors Without Borders are true heroes.  They bravely walk into harm’s way to care for those who can’t get out of harm’s way.  They were there when the chemical weapons were deployed and the incendiary bombs were dropped on a school. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are working diligently in the area, as well.  We can support those who are helping the victims of war. We can speak up for them, and we can support them financially.

            Living in the already-but-not-yet kingdom is not easy, especially in times like this.  But we can go on because we have hope that comes from the One who preached the Politics of Compassion. We have hope because we believe that Love triumphs over hatred, Light overcomes the darkness, and goodness and the will of God prevails. 

God’s Peace be with you, my brothers and sisters,

Rita