Canapes & Conversations

 

Red Bags

Our present Outreach Red Bag endeavor is to support

Galena's Women and Friends Making a Difference (WFMAD) in their drive to provide feminine products for the women in our community in need. On Sunday, May 5th, the bags were distributed at church. A suggestion list of what items are wanted are in each bag. Please return the filled bags on Thank you for your generosity.

   

James Gates Percival International Poetry Festival

So, today will be an attempt at an interactive Ramblings. I have not done this in a very long time--in part because I did not get much in the way of interaction. Oh, our dear, departed friend, Richard Babcock often responded. And there is one member who shall go unnamed who advises me of liturgical and ecclesial missteps. But, despite tips from social media experts who encourage such, this has not been so here at Grace. Nevertheless, I shall try again.

    This is prompted by conversation at the most recent Worship Ministries meeting--about reverence. Specifically about what that means in terms of Sunday morning worship at Grace. In the context of a meeting with an Episcopal worship committee, you might imagine that it had to do with quiet for prayer and meditation before the service begins, and, certainly, during the prelude. And yet, this is one of those congregations where people are eager to greet one another, the space is small, and the acoustics are such that sound carries.

     I volunteered to write something for the e-Blast, thinking it would be a simple thing. Well, of course, that was wrong. There is not a single way of thinking about reverence. It is variously defined as respect, veneration, awe, and fear (though fear in this sense is probably more akin to awe.) It is also described in terms of both feeling and action--or both. If we feel a sense of awe when we come into God's presence, is that it? A momentary feeling? Or is it expressed somehow in our lives and actions?

    For some, reverence in church is like I described above: quiet awe and respect for God and for those worshipers who are in a posture of prayer. This quiet may be accompanied by bodily motions like genuflecting or kneeling. From the Episcopal Glossary on the Church website: "Ceremonial gestures to express reverence. In some parishes, it is customary to reverence the altar or the consecrated elements of the eucharist with a genuflection or a solemn bow. A gesture of reverence may be made as one approaches or departs from the altar or at other times. A gesture of reverence may also be made by the celebrant at the conclusion of the eucharistic prayer. These gestures are not required by the BCP."

     Other people of faith, though, might express reverence and awe with clapping and waving of arms, particularly in music and prayers.

I have worshiped in Episcopal congregations that had the highest of ceremonial where I was transported--yet in others, where the liturgy was perfect, I did not sense reverence at all. In other places, where the liturgy was imperfect, where there was laughter and some messiness, there was still a lively sense of reverence.

     This has been a very long prelude to the interactive part. What I want is to know: what does reverence in, before, after, around worship means to you? Where do you find it? I am, of course, particularly interested in worship and church, but other things are okay, too.

Is it this?

 

	Is it this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Or is it something else--or both? 

 

 

See you in church for the rest of the 50 days of Easter,

The Easter message shifts this week from Jesus' offer of life to us, to the way we seek to live out that life as we follow him - and it's a startling message of inclusivity and love. Jesus' new commandment is frequently sung and quoted, but the "one another" that Jesus' calls us to love is often limited to Christian believers. Now, in the lectionary, as the Gospel is laid aside the other readings, we realise that this "one another" goes much further. In Acts, we discover that the previously excluded Gentiles are now included in God's Kingdom. In the Psalm, all of creation is included in this "one another" as the entire creation is exhorted to offer praise. And in John's Revelation vision, we discover that God so includes all, that God moves God's dwelling place ("heaven") into our earthly neighbourhood. There can be no greater, all-encompassing statement of love for all from God. We have no more excuses for turning the Gospel into an exclusive message!

     This message is so relevant today in our world where one of the big questions is "who is in and who is out?". Global economic and trade regulations are designed to favour some (who tend to be

the wealthy) and disempower others (who tend to live in third world countries). Political conversations are always being drawn in partisan ways with clear lines indicating who is on which side - and woe betide those who try to cross those lines. Religious communities and power structures, equally, have tended to focus on who is with us and who is against us. From geographical to economic to political to religious to racial to sexual to generational lines, our world is built on defining who is in and who is out. The prophetic Church, the Church of the resurrection, of love, of the God who lives among us, must be a Church that blurs every line, and invites everyone into the grace and love of God - and a Church that challenges the lines that exclude and oppress. This is what Jesus calls us to when he instructs us to love one another, and it is what is demonstrated in Peter's willingness to minister to the Gentiles in Cornelius' house, and in God's gift of the Spirit to these "outsiders". In practical terms, then, we are called to be those who will reach across the lines to welcome and embrace those who believe, think, dress, behave and live in ways that we would consider different.

The thumbnails and reflections excerpted from sacredise.com