Meeting Wisnel

I got to have lunch today with the seminarian from Haiti that All Saints is sponsoring. Wisnel Dejardin (on the right) arrived in the U.S. just as we left for Haiti. He is doing two months of intensive English at Northern Virginia Community College, then will begin at VTS in August to work on an MTS degree. He has some English already (more than I have French or Creole, anyway!) and he will have to learn fast, since he will start writing papers in September, in English, about theology and scripture.

Joseph Constant (on the left) is the Assistant Dean for Multicultural Relations at the seminary. I am also proud to call him my friend of many years ... he was a seminarian at my former church when he was a student at VTS. Joseph and Wisnel and I had an interesting conversation about Haiti, Mirebalais, and some of the things we might hope to do to support Wisnel and also to reach out back to Haiti.

+ Kit

Seek the Truth ...

"Seek the truth, come whence it may, cost what it will ..."

This phrase, which has become my prayer prior to preaching, comes from the entryway to the library at Virginia Theological Seminary. It is a quote from William Sparrow, an early dean.

The new dean of VTS, Ian Markham, is thinking a lot about this word "truth." It appears in its Latin form, veritas, on banners hung on light poles around the campus (with the VTS in VeriTaS emphasized). But he has also said that the truth sought and taught at this seminary is two-fold:

The truth handed down to us in our tradition and scripture.

The truth alive and ever-new, always being discovered and re-discovered for our time.

That pretty much describes my approach to preaching, seeking the truth as it unfolds in the scripture given to us for the day, but also seeking what the truth for us today is in that ancient text.

+Kit

Saint of the Week -- Augustine of Canterbury

Not to be confused with Augustine, Bishop of Hippo and author of The Confessions and City of God. This Augustine was sent to Britain by Pope Gregory in 595 to restore the Christian Church in Kent. (Christianity had continued in western Britain even after the fall of Rome, under the influence of Celtic monks in Ireland. The existing Christians in Britain seem not to have been impressed by Augustine and his missionary journey.)

Augustine and a missionary team arrived on the southeast coast of Britain in 597 (they had tried to return to Rome, daunted by their travels, but Gregory wouldn't let them come back). Aethelbert, King of the Saxons, had married a Christian woman, Bertha, and she was allowed to practice her faith. The missionaries were allowed to establish themselves and they began converting the Saxons at a notable clip.

They established a church in Canterbury, England. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and the succession of archbishops has continued in an unbroken line down to Rowan Williams, our current archbishop of Canterbury.

Despite their hesitations, despite their homesickness, Augustine and his team succeeded. It is good to think about their example and how God works through us even when we are not inclined to do that work.

Reading Ahead -- Pentecost 3

We have some choices in this week's readings. In the interest of brevity, we are NOT reading Noah's Ark, but will hear from Deuteronomy instead.

I have to confess to having a problem with the Noah story anyway. Why is this a children's story? There are so many cute pictures, story books, toy sets with the ark and the animals ... but we are talking about a disaster that makes the cyclone in Burma look like an April rain shower. How is it a children's story when every person in the world gets drowned, except for Noah and his family? When every living creature, apart from the two of each kind on the boat, gets drowned? Think of the quantities of floating bodies of people and animals, bumping up against the sides of the Ark. Yuck!

How do you explain that part of the story to small people?

It's like my Old Testament professor said, "I'm sorry. The Bible is not for children."

Please remember in your prayers this week the people of Burma and also of China. Natural disasters continue to plague humanity, and we are so small and so fragile in the face of what our planet can dish out.

+ Kit

Shopping vs. Church -- Shopping Wins

Maybe it's not liberalization of mainline religion. That's the excuse often used by conservative Christians to explain the decline in membership among major denominations.

The real culprit may simply be shopping.

A report from MIT economists reveals that as states did away with their "blue laws" that prohibited shopping and other economic activities on Sundays, church attendance in those states declined proportionately. Also, drug and alcohol use increased, especially in people who stopped attending church.

Since a number of studies, including a recent Harris survey show that religious people are happier than non-religious people, and other studies show that buying things does not make you happy, maybe we should all just get out of the stores and go back to church ...

Of course, I'm biased. What do you think?

+Kit

What's Your Favorite Bible Story?

A person once said to me that she thought everyone should think about what's their favorite Bible story. "Whatever it is," she said, "I'll guarantee you that it reveals something about the boundless love of God."

Well, I wondered about that. My favorite Bible story is Jonah, not only the running away from God and getting swallowed by the fish and sent back part, but the part where he actually does what God wants ... preach to the city of Nineveh. Jonah doesn't want to do it. He knows they'll repent. He knows God won't really destroy them, regardless of what Jonah tells them. He is angry that the city gets spared its just punishment and that God used him, Jonah, to spare those horrible Ninevites.
So he sits outside the city, watching it, KNOWING God won't destroy it. And he sulks under a bush that God causes to grow up in a day to give Jonah shade. Then the bush dies and Jonah sulks more. "Do you do well to be angry?" God asks Jonah. "Angry enough to die," Jonah seethes.

(This is the part I love, that you can be absolutely furious with God and God will just ask you ... "Do you do well to be angry?")

I had never thought about the boundless love of God part. But there it is, right at the end. God points out that Jonah cares about the bush, which he did not plant or help to grow, and which sprung up in the night and died in a day. And very gently and lovingly, God directs Jonah's attention to the city of Nineveh, filled with repentant people and all kinds of innocent bystanders, including its animals.

"And should I not care about Nineveh," God asks, "that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not yet know their right hand from their left, and many beasts as well?"

And that's how the book ends. "Should I not care?" God asks. Of course God should. The boundless love of God ... there it is again.

What's your favorite Bible story? I'll bet it reveals the boundless love of God.

+ Kit

Get Closer to God: Slice Carrots.

That's the tag line for a new ad by the national Episcopal Church that is running today in USA Today. There is a matching TV spot that will be seen on the airport channel of CNN during peak travel times this summer. The campaign, Put Your Faith to Work, focuses on service and outreach as a hallmark of life in the Episcopal Church.

This is a great idea, and helps to remind folks that the Episcopal Church is about much more than fighting over sexuality. But while I love service and outreach in the name of Christ as much as anyone, it's not the only way to get closer to God. Here are some other taglines I came up with. Maybe you could come up with your own.

Get Closer to God: As close as a bite of bread and a sip of wine.
Get Closer to God: Sing loudly.
Get Closer to God: Smile at a child.
Get Closer to God: Read the Bible.
Get Closer to God: Greet a stranger.

What are your taglines? How do we in the church help others get closer to God?