Thought this was nice!

            Christians  

 By Maya  Angelou  

   ‘A woman’s heart should be so hidden in Christ  

 That a man should have to seek Him first to find her.’  

 When I say…  ‘I am a Christian’ I’m not shouting ‘I’m clean livin”  

 I’m whispering ‘I was lost,  Now I’m found and forgiven.’  

 When I say…  ‘I am a Christian’ I don’t speak of this with pride..  

   I’m confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.  

 When I say…  ‘I am a Christian’ I’m not trying to be strong.  

 I’m professing that I’m weak and need His strength to carry on.  

 When I say…  ‘I am a Christian’ I’m not bragging of success.  

 I’m admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.   

 When I say…  ‘I am a Christian’ I’m not claiming to be perfect,  

 My flaws are far too visible but, God believes I am worth it.  

  When  I say…  ‘I am a Christian’ I still feel the sting of pain..  

 I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.  

   When I say…  ‘I am a Christian’ I’m not holier than thou,  

  I’m just a simple sinner Who received God’s good grace, somehow!  

  Pretty is as Pretty does… But beautiful is just plain beautiful!  

Practice Resurrection

Yesterday,  I started reading Eugene Peterson’s newest book, Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ (the latest and last book in his Conversations series; see below).   The emphasis is on started. I made it through the Introduction last night, and that’s enough to keep me reading.

Scheduling retreat

This week, I had a new experience:  scheduling and planning an individual retreat.

I’ve been on a number of programmed retreats – journaling, labyrinths, etc. – and have helped to plan and lead a programmed retreat.   More recently, I’ve been on silent, directed retreats.  Even these, while less structured than programmed retreats, had all of the details worked out by others and I was one of a group of people who were on the silent retreat together. Last year, I decided that my next silent retreat needed to be different than it had been in the past.

How does God direct your attention?

This week, I’ve been thinking about new year’s resolutions.  I know, not particularly spiritual of me,  but in our culture, how can I avoid it?

The Twelve Days of Christmas

For a long time (even when I was an adult),  I was always a little disappointed when December 25 was over.  All that anticipation, then it was over.

I know the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (the SNC variation!) but never realized that there actually were twelve days of Christmas until I started attending St. Mark’s.  Christmas lasts until Twelfth Night, January 5, with Epiphany (celebrating the arrival of the Magi) beginning on January 6.

What has this meant for me?  I can better appreciate and celebrate Christmas over the twelve days (this was hard to do when I thought of Christmas as one day only, especially with that one day being packed with activities), which flows naturally into Epiphany.

If you are accustomed to thinking of Christmas as one day or a weekend, try thinking of it as a season, twelve days from December 25-January 5.  How does this change your experience?

For a guided experience of these twelve days, check out Chris Erdman’s  Journey of the Wise Men: Twelve Days and Twelve Ways to Deepen Your Life of Prayer.

Have a blessed Christmas!

Christmas message from KJS

From our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori:

The mornings are dark, pitch black until after most of us have begun our days. The hints of dawn in the eastern sky, those streaks of rose and pink that promise more and brighter light, bring hope even in the dark mid-winter. Where do you look for that kind of hope borne on slim rays of light?

Jesus is already abroad, even in the darkness. The hungry one fed, the street people who have their feet cared for, the humble and honored guest at your dinner table — each one offers a glimpse of that dawn, if you look closely enough.

What we have waited long for, ages and eons for, has been born among us. He comes among us quietly, almost stealthily, in an obscure barn, long ago. This child holds all our hope for light. This tiny frame seems too frail to bear our yearning. Yet the nations come streaming to this light even before he is weaned. The divine has come to dwell in our midst, and God’s eternal promise of peace, restoration, and home is made flesh.

Where and how will you seek out this light of the world? In what other frail frames will light expunge darkness? The light grows with our own eager searching, light reaching out to light, divine reflection yearning for its source. May the light of Christ light your way in the darkness, may his light spread through nations besieged by war and hunger, may we continue to search out his light in the dark places of our own hearts.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church

The only proper response to the Good News of the Incarnation…

I think of this story every year at this time, though I can’t remember where I first read it:

John Shea tells the wonderful story of five year old Sharon’s rendition of the Christmas story.  It goes something like this:

She was five and sure of the facts, and recited them with slow solemnity, convinced that every word was revelation.

She said, “they were so poor, they only had one peanut butter and jelly sandwich to eat, and they went a long way from home, without getting lost.The lady rode on a donkey and the man walked, and the baby was inside the lady. They had to stay in a stable with an ox and an ass (hee-hee), but the three Rich Men found them because a star lifted the roof. Shepherds came and you could pet the sheep but not feed them. Then the baby was borned. And do you know who it was?”

With that her quarter eyes inflated to silver dollars. She said, “The baby was God.” And then Sharon jumped into the air, whirled around, dove into the sofa, and buried her head under the cushion, which is the only proper response to the Good News of the Incarnation.

(retold in this post, Being the Incarnate Body of Christ)

As Advent winds to a close for another year, don’t forget to jump in the air, whirl around, dive into the sofa, and bury your head under the cushion!

Online Advent Resources

Here are some online resources for your Advent journey this year:

Calendars

• Trinity Wall Street
• BeliefNet
• Grace Cathedral
• Episcopal Diocese of Washington
• Hand-drawn Advent calendar (PDF, from Thomas Mousin and Merry Watters)
• Hubble Space Telescope (this is from 2008, so the images are all there, but they are still amazing!)

Devotional materials

• Prepare ye the way of the Lord (PDF, from All Saints-Chapel Hill/Durham)
• Devotions for Advent and Christmas (PDF, from St. Mark’s-Glen Ellyn, IL)
• Daily Video Meditations (from Episcopal Divinity School)
• Praying Advent (from Creighton University’s Online Ministries)
• Pray-as-you-go podcasts (actually, a great resource throughout the year)
• Following the star (from d365.org)
• Why we are waiting (from the Church of England)
• Virtual Advent retreat (from RevGalsBlogPals)

Music

• Selections from the Diocese of West Texas
• Advent Lessons and Carols (from the Washington National Cathedral; service leaflet can also be downloaded)

Blogs and reflections

• go to bethlehem and see…
• don’t eat alone

From the Diocesan Regional Gathering

On Wednesday, April 16, a group of people from St. Mark’s gathered at St. Paul’s-Maumee with many others from the Toledo and West Deaneries to meet with Bishop Mark and his staff members.  The main topic of discussion was the diocesan mission strategy resolutions that were approved by Diocesan Council.  (You may remember that a couple of years ago, the Diocesan Mission Strategy Task Force was charged with developing a 25-year vision for the Diocese of Ohio.  The findings and recommendations of the Task Force has been discussed at previous meetings and in Church Life.  The full report of the Task Force can be found on the diocesan web site: http://www.dohio.org. Click on Resources > Downloads > Article/Report/Guide.)

Two broad themes that came out of this process were the need to be creative and the need for collaboration; you’ll see both in these resolutions.  Here is a much abbreviated overview of the approved mission strategy resolutions (the full text of these resolutions can be found on the diocesan web page).  In the square brackets is one of three categories into which the resolutions fell.

1a.  Christian formation programs for children, youth, and adults  [congregational vitality]
1b.  Natural Church Development  [congregational vitality]
2.  Other models for priestly formation  [congregational vitality]
3.  Model for facilitating discussions about congregational reorganization and church closings  [congregational vitality]
4. Review of deaneries; new model for collaborative mission and ministry  [parish collaboration]
5. Three-year covenantal relationships between parishes  [parish collaboration]
6a.  Greater geographic diversity in diocesan committees and commissions   [parish collaboration]
6b.  Using technology to allow people to participate in these committees and commissions  [parish collaboration]
7. Diocesan Advocacy Committee  [diocesan collaboration]
8. Covenantal relationships between the Diocese of Ohio and at least two other diocese in other parts of the world  [diocesan collaboration]
9. Increasing diocesan budget for domestic and international mission work  [diocesan collaboration]
10a.  Evangelism Working Group (to help people reflect on and share their faith experience with others who are seeking God)  [congregational vitality]
10b.  Starting new congregations, using new models of ministry   [diocesan collaboration]

We divided into small groups to talk about how we saw these resolutions benefiting the diocese, benefiting our parish, and what the parish might need to do.  Gatherings in the three other regions of the diocese will be having similar conversations;  a summary of the comments will be shared.

It was great to hear about how the Diocesan Mission Strategy is progressing.  This is a really exciting time in the Diocese of Ohio.  This is an exciting time to BE the Diocese of Ohio (which we all are).

~  ~  ~

PS—It was great to hear others talk about how excited they were to hear about Natural Church Development and to know that we at St. Mark’s are already at work with NCD.

Welcome to St. Mark’s Blog!

Welcome to the blog of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Toledo, Ohio!  If you attend St. Mark’s and would like to post reflections and/or announcements to the blog, email Jolene Miller at jolene278@gmail.com to be added!  (If you want, you can post with a pseudonym and a secondary email address, rather than your real name and primary email address.  Interested, but not sure how this all works?  Jolene can help with that also!