Way of the Cross

We often use the language of path or journey to describe the shape of our spiritual life, and we understand ‘walking with Jesus’ to mean living our lives in accordance with his. Walking with Jesus is a metaphor, and yet there is a sense in which walking is also not a metaphor – we must quite literally take steps toward God sometimes. Nowhere did this concept become clearer for me than on a particular walk in January when I joined my fellow pilgrims on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem’s Old City. This walk is commonly called “The Stations of the Cross,” but those who have prayed the Stations know that experience of it can be both literally and metaphorically the Walk of the Cross.

Our walk began at St. George’s College at 6:00AM, early enough that the city was still dark and quiet. We carried with us an eight-foot-tall wooden cross as we silently made our way to Station I where Jesus is judged. (For those who may be curious, the Old City has all fourteen stations marked on along the Via Dolorosa leading to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is the traditional site of Jesus’ death and resurrection). Our group walked from one station to the next, pausing at each one to read Scripture and to pray.

Growing Self-Awareness

As we walked, the sun began to peak over the outer wall of the Old City, vendors began to unlock their shops, and residents and tourists alike began to walk the narrow cobblestone streets. I noticed that my self-awareness (and perhaps my self-consciousness) grew as the commotion about us grew. Even in a city where public displays of religion are so common that they are basically expected, I was seeing just how public our Walk of the Cross had become. When it was my turn to carry the big wooden cross to the next station, I was aware of the gaze of every passerby along the way. I was aware of the cross’ weight in my hands. I was aware of how slow my pace was, how awkward my grip on it felt, and how deafening the silence was in between stations.

Gratitude for the Opportunity

My self-consciousness on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem was quickly matched by my gratitude for the opportunity to express my faith in this profoundly visible way. I wear a cross sometimes, I tell people I am in seminary, and I read my Bible in coffee shops on occasion, but walking down a busy market street carrying a cross that is taller than I am brought a whole new level to my public faith-sharing. Those who have left an Ash Wednesday service to go to the grocery store may know what I mean here. Such experiences are rare gifts – they can bring discomfort at first, but they invite us to encounter God through our physical bodies in visible and unavoidable ways.

Closer to God

This Holy Week we will gaze upon and venerate the cross and we will remember Jesus’ death. I doubt any of us will be carrying a big wooden cross down the street during Holy Week, but I know that our walk with Jesus these past 40 days has (literally) brought us closer to God. May God continue to bless and surprise us as our Lenten journey comes to an end this week, and may our steps bring us ever closer to our risen Lord!

Dorota Pruski

The Sharing of Gifts

Every time I walk into my nearby Walgreen’s, I am reminded by Hallmark what holiday is “in” for celebration and giving. If you get into the Hallmark tradition, would you become a constant giver of material things? After a brief nod at New Year’s, you move into Valentine’s Day, then St. Patrick’s Day, then Easter, then Mother’s Day, then Father’s Day, into a brief summer free of Hallmark Days, then into Halloween and a quick nod at Thanksgiving, already surrounded by Christmas!

The questions that keep coming up in my mind are twofold. Are these the kinds of gifts that God would have us share? And, do we need a “holiday” to just give gifts of ourselves, or is this an everyday part of being a Christian?

To answer the first question, we have but to look to God as the ultimate giver. We start with God the Creator, who created all of creation. And, within that creation, the creation of humankind, with the ability to think and the ability to feel and most of all, the freedom to do the same: to enable us to understand the greatness of His love. He placed constant reminders of His presence and power in our lives. We need only to enjoy the beauty of a sunset to be aware of the beauty of creation. We look at the majesty of the mountains and know the majesty of God. We look at the oceans and seas and see His overwhelming power and love. All of these are reminders of God’s love which transcends the physicality of creation and is planted within each one of us.

If all of this is not enough, God gave us the gift of Himself in His son, Jesus Christ, to live in our world. He came to show us how He would have us live and to teach us about God’s love. He came to heal God’s people. Then God showed His ultimate love for us and sacrificed Jesus for us on the cross that our sins might be forgiven and followed with the resurrection of Jesus, that we might have the hope for eternal life.

Our Part of the Action

Having seen the gifts we have from God, having the realization, as followers of God and Jesus Christ, that these gifts are there for us to use and to guide us and share with others, does it take a Hallmark moment for us to act? Can we, with all these gifts at hand to share, really think that our part of the action is only an occasional thing? No!

We may each have special gifts we can share every day of our lives no matter where we may be. I would suggest, however, that there are some gifts we all have that we can add to those. Some may need cultivation. Some may make us step out of our comfort zone.

To aid us in our gift sharing, we always have Jesus at our side. We have His example to follow. We have His love in our hearts to strengthen us.

Let us look then at some of those gifts which we have within us that we can share as conduits of God’s love.

God’s Love

Each one of us has experienced God’s love. It may have been that feeling within that has lifted us up when we were troubled and enabled us to move forward. God was there for us. Or it may have been that overwhelming swelling up of joy and love at a time of success. If we recognize in our hearts that God’s love was within us and acting for us, we now can share this gift with others. Walk into St. James at any given time and you will feel it from everyone you meet.

We can share the joy we feel from knowing we have Jesus in our hearts. Dick, a 29-year volunteer at The Gathering reminds the volunteers of the importance of their smiles in the lives of our guests. With our smiles we project the joy we have serving them and sharing the time we are with them.

We can give the gift of hope that grows within us as we strengthen our faith. As we live our lives with hope, we show others that they, too, can have the gift of hope.

Listening Hearts

We can share the gift of a listening heart. God listens to our prayers. We all have times when we need someone to listen. Just as God listens to us, we can be there to listen and in listening share our love and understanding.

Just as Jesus sent His disciples out to serve, we, too, know that we are called to share our gifts in service to others.

We Can Share God’s Presence

God is present in our lives 24/7. We feel His presence. We are reassured by this presence. We also can be present in the lives of others. Being there to stand by others in times of need assures them they are not alone.

None of these gifts is designated for a special day. None of these gifts call you to a “Hallmark moment”. By their very nature they are always a part of every day of our lives. By their nature we are constantly cultivating them as we grow in our faith.

The best reminder that we have to keep God’s gifts a part of our lives is not a card but that word we feel in our hearts that needs to be filled and our lives refreshed.

Deacon Ned Howe

Worship Time Changes

Starting Wednesday, April 18, 2012, our Wednesday Evening Eucharist will begin at 6:30PM. Why change the time for our Wednesday Evening Eucharist? Usually, we have two to four members from our community at the Wednesday service. When asked why they do not attend the Wednesday service, many have responded, “I can’t get from work to church by 5:30PM.” If you haven’t worshiped on Wednesday evenings, we invite you to come. The Wednesday service is an intimate service of prayer, reflection and Holy Communion.



Starting Sunday, June 3, our Sunday worship service will begin at 10:00AM. Why change the time for our Sunday worship? In our history as a parish, we have changed the service time in the summer, due to the summer heat. This year, come September, we will keep the 10:00 AM service time. Sunday School for Children and Adults will be after the service, ending by noon. The main reason for this change is that providing Christian education for children or parents with children is difficult with our current schedule. Parents with children cannot attend morning class because childcare is not offered. With only one service, teachers do not worship, because they are in class. You will receive much more information on the Child and Adult Christian Education in the coming months. We know that changes to the schedule make a change to routine. We pray that through our communications in the coming months, we will make this a smooth transition, rich with opportunities to grow in faith.

The Rev. Lisa Saunders

Youth in our Diocese

Here are some highlights of upcoming youth events in the Diocese of Milwaukee:

May 19, 9:00AM to 4:00PM
Happening Reunion
Happening is a Christian experience presented by teenagers for teenagers with the help of clergy and lay adult leadership. It challenges youth to find their spiritual realities based on the love of Jesus Christ. Happening’s purpose is not only to have a fantastic weekend, but also to build a foundation for a lifelong commitment to Christian living – a life based upon Christian values, beliefs and actions. Happening is a weekend full of fun and fellowship, but it is also a weekend full of learning, sharing, growing, loving and experiencing the gifts of God.
http://www.diomil.org/christian-formation

June 11, 9:19AM to 6:46PM
Middle School Youth Event
This Middler’s Event is a special day put together for people in grades six through eight and the adults who work with youth. Its purpose is to help them grow in love of themselves, others, and Jesus Christ. Activities include laughing, sharing, playing, praying. Youth who attend will learn to grow while having the time of their lives. More details coming soon!



Leadership Camp (9th - 12th grade) June 17 - 22
Intermediate Camp (3rd - 6th grade) June 17 – 22
Middle/Senior High Camp (7th – 12th grade) June 24 – 29
Camp Webb
Camp Webb is an outdoor ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee. Everyone who comes to Camp Webb is given the opportunity to learn more about themselves and others, to discover more about the Episcopal Church, to develop a greater spiritual awareness, and to encounter Christ through living and learning in God's creation. Campers learn new skills, make new friends, create lasting memories and explore who they are and who God is in their lives. This year camp will be held at the beautiful and centrally located Lutherdale Camp near Elkhorn. It is has a lake, large playing fields, basketball court, archery range, large campfire pit, volleyball court, ropes course and more.
http://www.campwebb.org/

For more information, contact Kate McKey, Youth and Camp Coordinator at 608-770-5299 or McKey@diomil.org. You can also sign up for emails by clicking on the “Diocesan E-News” link on the right side of the www.diomil.org webpage!

Robert Wilson

Music Notes

Beginning April 15 (Easter 2), members of the parish will see the blue Hymnal 1982 in the pew each Sunday, alongside the red Book of Common Prayer. The Hymnal 1982 will be our anchor hymnal, and the one a visitor will always see. Ministers of Hospitality will no longer need to hand out hymnals. However, we will continue to incorporate music from other hymnals and traditions (“Gather”, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, “Wonder, Love and Praise”, and various Christian contemporary or folk hymns for which we either have copyright permission or do not need it.) The musical selections that are not in Hymnal 1982 will be in the worship booklet.

We will continue to change service music by season. It will be like the weather in Wisconsin: if you don’t like it, don’t worry; soon it will change…

We will also try to have a song leader each Sunday to help us with congregational participation. So, sing out joyfully!

Music Director

We have begun the search for a part time music director for St. James Parish. A short advertisement for the position has been approved by the Rector and is being posted at local music venues and with the American Guild of Organists. The Rector will review the applications and she, along with a committee comprised of Paul Cooke, Lucy Cooper, and Robert Wilson, will interview candidates. We are looking for a musician proficient on organ and piano. If anyone reading this article has a candidate in mind, contact the Rector and she can send that person the job announcement. We are hoping to have a Music Director by August.

Lucy Cooper

Spiritual Spring Cleaning

When the weather turns to Spring-like warmth during the day and lengthening opportunities of sunshine, does part of your brain turn to “spring cleaning”? As this was a routine of my life when growing up, spring cleaning has certainly come to my mind early this year along with the wonderful weather. As much as I want to spend more time outside our home cleaning up, I also need to pay attention to sprucing up inside the house.

Focus More on Growing

As we come to the end of Lent and head into Holy Week, the weather coincides perfectly with the thought of spring cleaning our spiritual home: ourselves! We should be eying our spiritual habits and lives with a slightly more discerning view than we typically do at other times of the year. We pray for guidance to take on a Lenten discipline – abstaining (fasting) from something that may take our focus away from God and/or taking on something that we hope to help us focus more on growing our relationship with God. This is the clean up opportunity of our spiritual home, and it often creates more of a mess or chaos in our routines – which is similar to when we take on a cleaning project around the house. But we keep at it because we are looking forward to the end result being better (cleaner, less clutter) than what we had previously. We want our spiritual selves to be more presentable to celebrate the risen Christ at Easter!

Preparing Ourselves

Perhaps the best opportunity to put the ‘final touches’ on preparing ourselves for that celebration is participating in Holy Week. Walking along with each other, together with Jesus, opens our eyes even further to the fine details in our spiritual lives that we might need to address. Participating in Holy Week we transition and transform: from shouting “Hosannah!” to screaming “Crucify!” – from the joy of singing “Gloria” to humbly allowing our feet to be washed to intimately share in Christ’s Body and Blood only to abandon Jesus – from acknowledging the Cross to leaving in silence.

Christ Cleanses Us

When we follow Jesus as He walks to His death, Christ cleanses us as we allow Him into our hearts. Although this is true throughout the year, take on the opportunity to offer yourself, your heart… and this spring cleaning will result in a deeper and broader relationship with God that will make Easter that much more of a celebration.

Deacon Terry Garner

Communion Bread

Sunday, March 25, was a Sunday all about BREAD for the children of our parish. They learned of Jesus’ presence with us in bread that is blessed. They made communion bread, with their own hands, and with much joy and concentration (as you can see in the photos on this page).

During Holy Week and throughout the season of Easter, we all will see that it is through bread, and other pieces of our daily lives that Jesus is made known to us.

We give thanks to Deacon Terry (and helpers Liz, Loraine, Sue and Tim) for sharing our faith with our children in such a beautiful, joyful way. We give thanks to the children, for making bread which we will bless and receive on Easter morning.

 

This Holy Week and Eastertide, may you experience the Risen Jesus very near to you,

The Rev. Lisa Saunders

Some History of the Sabbatical

Have you ever wondered why peoples of the Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) specify one day out the week to not work and to pray together? Although we may designate a different day (Sunday, Saturday, and Friday, respectively) to do this, it is due to our common origin in faith – observing the Sabbath: “16Therefore the Israelites shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant. 17It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” -Exodus 31 (NRSV)

Jewish Observance

You might be interested in how our Jewish sisters and brothers consider this today: From my favorite source on practicing Judaism: http://www.jewfaq.org/shabbat.htm:

“The Sabbath (or Shabbat, as it is called in Hebrew) is one of the best known and least understood of all Jewish observances…to those who observe Shabbat, it is a precious gift from God, a day of great joy eagerly awaited throughout the week, a time when we can set aside all of our weekday concerns and devote ourselves to higher pursuits.”


“Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in Judaism. It is the only ritual observance instituted in the Ten Commandments. Shabbat is primarily a day of rest and spiritual enrichment. The word "Shabbat" comes from the root Shin-Beit-Tav, meaning to cease, to end, or to rest.”

Another way that we observe Sabbath, although this is not a common practice, is that in our professional life we designate a time to cease, to end and to rest. We call this Sabbatical. It is when one takes the time to break away from the routines of life and work to rest, to refresh, to rejuvenate. (In today’s world I only know of two professions that still acknowledge or observe this practice: the Church, and collegiate academia.)

Seven Years

We encourage our clergy to take a Sabbatical every seven years. (So 6½ years from now we should be encouraging Mtr. Lisa to go on Sabbatical.) It is not vacation – it is far more intentional for renewal of direction, gifts of the Spirit, and study, as well as for rest.

It’s Time

In my twenty-five years as a deacon, I have taken one Sabbatical. I feel that it is time (way past time, actually) for me go on Sabbatical, now that St. James has a rector. I have not worked out details around this yet, except that I am planning to do this after our Easter celebration. I will work with Loraine, Bp. Miller, and Mtr. Lisa on this and will pass on the details as we get them set. I ask you to pray for me as we discern how best to use this opportunity to refresh and renew.

Deacon Terry Garner

Soul Friends

On Saturday, March 3, seven couples participated in a special Lenten retreat day, “The Romance Between our Hearts and Souls with God.” Developed and led by Deacon Terry Garner (with a little help from wife Loraine), the day began with a lively discussion, with each couple telling how they met, and how each person knew that their partner was special. The tag-team of Robert and Susan Wilson told their story in flawless symmetry, completing each other’s thoughts in absolute agreement. Some of the other couples, however, had very different recollections about the circumstances of their meeting, with highly entertaining results.

Morning Prayer

During Morning Prayer, we focused on the famous readings about love from I Corinthians 13 and the Song of Solomon. Afterward, we took a self assessment using a tool from Dr. Gary Chapman’s “Five Love Languages” program. The purpose of the exercise was to identify what makes each person, as well as their partner, feel most loved: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving of Gifts, Physical Touch, or Quality Time.






Scriptural Passages and Quotes

We took time after lunch to examine as a couple several scripture passages and quotes from the Cowley Fathers about how Christ is a part of our couple-hood, a union of three rather than two. The day concluded with Eucharist with Mother Lisa, with sharing about the day’s experiences. Deacon Terry shared this quote from Irish poet John O’Donohue, “In the Celtic tradition, there is a beautiful understanding of love and friendship, the idea of soul-love; the old Gaelic term for this is anam cara. Anam is the Gaelic word for soul and cara is the word for friend. With the anam cara you can share your innermost self, your mind, and your heart. In everyone's life there is great need for an anam cara, a soul friend; in this love you are understood as you are without mask or pretension. Where you are understood, you are at home.” In every Christian home, Christ desires to be the anam cara to each individual, couple, and family.

Loraine Garner

Redirection

Recently, when I went to hear the Milwaukee Symphony, I found the seating arrangement for the orchestra was all new. Before the concert started, the conductor explained that after trying several plans, the new arrangement was done to 1.) create better sound for the audience, 2.) allow the audience to hear different sections of the orchestra better, and 3.) allow members of the orchestra to hear each other. All of the changes were meant to improve the quality of the orchestra’s performance. It worked!

We are now in the season of Lent in the calendar of our church year. It is a season for us to reflect upon ourselves and our relationship with God. It is a season to make changes in our lives perhaps as a result of reflection. It is also a time when we give up, be it food or a bad habit, for 40 days. The “giving up” part is probably what most of us are most aware of.

As a kid, I always gave up candy. Why? Because that’s what kids gave up even if it wasn’t really a sacrifice. I would dutifully put what I might have spent in my mite box being sure it was suitably full when turned in at Easter! That became more difficult when I learned from my neighborhood buddy who came from a devout roman Catholic family, that Sundays were free days so my candy penance did not apply. So, of course, I hit the candy store across the street from church on Sunday!

The way the words “give up” can be a roadblock. They sound so definite. They don’t allow for wavering. They don’t allow for a period of adjustment.

I shudder to think of the number of times I said, “I’ve got to give up smoking.” The thought of having no room for failure made action on those words seem impossible and gave rise to enough excuses to foreclose actions.

We all have at some time or other realized that we needed to change our eating habits. Diets always had items we had to give up. Again it became easy to let “give up” become a roadblock.

Perhaps, then, as with Lenten discipline and every day living disciplines, we need to think in terms of redirection, not “giving up.”

A starting point may be to redirect where we put our emphasis during Lent: away from symbolic “giving up” to a time of reflections upon our relationship with God and Jesus Christ in our lives. And, based on these reflections, how can I redirect my life to strengthen that relationship.

Redirection can take many forms. For example, we may look at our priorities in our life. Do we need to redirect our lives away from self towards God? Do we need to consider where we put our emphasis in daily living as between the material and spiritual? Do we need to redirect our feelings towards others from tolerance to acceptance? Do we need to redirect ourselves from passive believers to activist believers?

We may want to reflect on our living habits and how we can redirect them towards a healthier lifestyle. Diets, for example, are less give up, give up, give up and more eating healthy and measuring quantities and including some of the “no nos” in limited ways.

We all throughout lives have intentionally or by osmosis from those around us adopted attitudes. Perhaps, here too, we may want to reflect upon and redirect these attitudes, I.e. towards race, towards sexuality, towards homelessness, towards those who disagree with us. Upon reflection, we should begin to really realize how contrary these attitudes may be to what we profess to believe Jesus taught and stood for and still stands for.

The conductor of the symphony changed the seating of the players. In doing so, he redirected the sound to benefit his audience. He placed the orchestra’s sections in a better position so all would be heard by the audience. By his redirection, he allowed the players to bond into a better orchestra because they could hear each other better and create a cohesive sound.

Instead of symbolic “giving up”, perhaps we can rearrange our lives with reflective redirection this Lent that will continue as a part of our lives beyond 40 days and without “free Sundays” to run to the candy store.

Deacon Ned Howe