Faith to perceive: In your great compassion

In your great compassion give to us all a sense of your eternal Presence and with the prayers of all the Saints bring us at last to that place of joy and peace; through Christ our Lord. 

Each weekday since this new age began, Fr. Kevin sends an email to everyone in the parish. It’s a form of the Daily Office—a psalm, a reading, a reflection, a hymn, the prayers. I think people make use of it in a variety of ways and times. On days when I do two or three offices, I’ve used it at noon. At other times I’ve used it as Morning Prayer. On occasion I’ve used the BCP Morning Prayer and stopped to read the refection and play the hymn. I’m told that many in the parish use and value it. It’s our common prayer.

In the email we receive there is a section prior to the Daily Prayer. There are pictures of two people or families of the parish community. There’s an invitation to send them greetings. And there’s the prayer –

racious God, we remember before you this day all members of our Saint Clement's Parish Family - their families and friends both living and departed - especially during these times of uncertainty and concern - focusing our prayers today on N.   and  N.. In your great compassion give to us all as sense of your eternal Presence and with the prayers of all the Saints bring us at last to that place of joy and peace; through Christ our Lord.   Amen.                                  

It’s got this Ascension sensitivity. We ask for “a sense of your eternal presence.” It’s akin to the Ascension Day collect, “Mercifully give us faith to perceive.”  To perceive that Jesus Christ abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages. We pray for a “sense” of it; to “perceive” it. In God’s great compassion; in God’s mercy.

In my posting “Missing the Eucharist” , “I’m out walking—from home to California Avenue, walk among the mostly closed stores, you can get cupcakes and Starbucks is open for take-out, notice those with and without masks. Humming-- “Abide with Me.”

"Abide with Me" was in my head in part because on several days Fr. Kevin had it as the office hymn. And in part because these days have much darkness, fear, tears and death.

It’s a hymn grounded in an Ascension hope. Though it’s not the hope of discipleship or martyrdom. It’s not heroic. It is needy and weak. It’s sung at funerals and times of national tragedy. The author was Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847)[i]. The priest was in poor health throughout his life. His parish declined in numbers when he was drawn to the Oxford Movement. The hymn was written as a friend was dying and kept repeating the phrase “abide with me.” It was first played at Lyte’s own funeral. The hymn is rooted in Our Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension. The opening line refers to the story on the road to Emmaus , "Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." (Luke 24:29).

On the Feast of the Ascension we pray, “Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages.” Even in weakness and death. Even in the pandemic. Even when the foundations are shaken. Abide with me.

In the past few days Father Kevin shared a sense of what that abiding is like,

Our humanity is what it is.  We cannot change that.  What we can change is our perception and interpretation of that humanity… What we can change is how we interpret our humanity with all its foibles and flaws from guilt and self recrimination to the reality of how God sees such things.  God has no desire that rocks, thorns and/or manure be our lot.  But God knows that it is what it is, that it is part and parcel of the humanity in which God takes the risk in creating us.  Instead of judgment and condemnation, God reaches down, takes our hand and walks with us, even through and in the manure; no judgment, no blame, just embrace.  Fr. Kevin Smith

In this time of the Ascended Christ I’d ask your prayers for Fr. Kevin and St. Clements Parish, for Sister Michelle and the Order of the Ascension, for the Church, that we might perceive that He abides with us even to the end of the ages.

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[i] In his life Henry Francis Lyte pastored several parishes, opposed slavery, moved from being an evangelical to a supporter of the Oxford Movement, and wrote several hymns that we still sing –in addition to “Abide with Me” there is "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" (Psalm 103), "God of Mercy, God of Grace" (Psalm 67),

Postings on the inner life and the virus

You know, and they know, that they are offering their lives      

Intercessions and the virus  

Solitude

The mystery of the cross

Solitude in Surrey 

We'll meet again

God's not indifferent to our pain 

Endures all things

Becoming an Associate of a Religious Order

People Touch

Spiritual vitality and authenticity 

The path of servanthood

Down into the mess

Missing the Eucharist 

In you we live

Faith to perceive

Faith to perceive: In your great compassion  

Turn everything that happens to account

We no longer know what to do

Postings on Parish Development during the Virus

Power from the center pervades the whole 

To everything there is a season

Faith to perceive: Remaining inseparable

Communities of love, prayer and service 

Faith to perceive

This morning I sat on my balcony looking at the apartments and Safeway across the way. Drinking coffee and saying Morning Prayer. In the background from within my apartment hymns were playing on Mac. Hymns are one way I persist and stay grounded. I know that tears come more easily as we age. At least that’s true for me.

And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long,
steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

I welled up.

Earlier I had read the story of a Haitian immigrant. Gerald Timothee delivers groceries in New York City. When he heard the news of the pandemic and how the city was going to shut down he called his family back home in Port-au-Prince. “I told them I was going to die. I thought my life was over. I didn't know how I could work with this. … It's all about us right now. We are holding this city together. I feel like a hero.”

In the comment section of that article there was one person who saw another aspect of the truth.

I don't think Timothee is a hero. He is brave and willing to do what ever is needed to survive. I think he is exploited as a modern working slave.

Obviously there's some truth in that. All societies have exploited, and if we Christians are correct about sin and human limitation, that will always be true and something to fight. However, the tone of the comment made Mr. Timothee a victim and was offered in an angry self righteous fashion. Mr. Timothee had decided to see himself and his work differently.

Perceiving is a choice. It’s one part not turning my head away into oblivion, sentimentality or cynicism. It’s another part making choices about the lens through which I see.

I don’t have a clue ... I’ll figure it out

I’m a Professed Member of the Order of the Ascension.  It’s a dispersed religious order in the Episcopal Church. We take a Benedictine Promise and live a Benedictine spirituality. Over the past 37 years we’ve developed ways of living our life. Ways of prayer and discernment and formation. The Rule says we are to be at the Eucharist this Thursday, Ascension Day. That would normally be in our home parishes. But not this year. This year we didn’t gather for retreat and chapter. And we’re guessing we won’t gather next year either. This year on Ascension Day we will for the first-time worship together on the feast day—saying the Office on Zoom. This year we elected our Presiding Sister by Survey Monkey and email. This year we will find new ways to stay connected, live the Promise and Charism, and do the novitiate.

I don’t have a clue. But I and you will find ways to improvise, adapt, and overcome. At least that’s my hope. I hope we will do more than survive; though survival would be a worthy achievement.

The Order’s journey is the church’s journey. In the wilderness again. Incompetent again. In the dark again. Yet, with the whole church we know what Charles Williams knew—we live by an energy not our own. The phrase is from Charles Williams’ He Came Down from Heaven.  Williams wrote, “The Church (it was early decided) was not an organization of sinless men but of sinful, not a union of adepts but of less than neophytes, not illuminati but of those that sat in darkness. Nevertheless, it carried within it an energy not its own, and it knew what it believed about that energy.”   

An energy not its own

That’s what we have. And it does matter that we know and trust what we have. Come Thursday, on the feast day, we will pray, “Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages.” Even in the pandemic. Even when the foundations are shaken. Even when we feel alone and fearful, clumsy and ineffectual, myopic and bleak.

The Latin root percipere means "to receive, understand," from the prefix per- "thoroughly" plus capere "to seize, take."

In the Order of the Ascension we seek to receive and understand the ancient wisdom of faith and practice and the contemporary wisdom of the behavioral sciences. Because our charism has to do with shaping healthy parishes, we seek to discern the Body, to see and understand the inner life of parish churches.

In the end it’s all so we might “remember Jesus Christ.” So we might “perceive that he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages.”

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Postings on the inner life and the virus

You know, and they know, that they are offering their lives      

Intercessions and the virus  

Solitude

The mystery of the cross

Solitude in Surrey 

We'll meet again

God's not indifferent to our pain 

Endures all things

Becoming an Associate of a Religious Order

People Touch

Spiritual vitality and authenticity 

The path of servanthood

Down into the mess

Missing the Eucharist 

In you we live

Faith to perceive

Faith to perceive: In your great compassion  

Turn everything that happens to account

We no longer know what to do

Postings on Parish Development during the Virus

Power from the center pervades the whole 

To everything there is a season

Faith to perceive: Remaining inseparable

Communities of love, prayer and service 

In you we live

In you we live and move and have our being[i]

In these days of the pandemic we worry. Of course, we do! We worry about getting ill. About loved ones getting ill. About the once unimaginable incompetence and self-serving of some national leaders.

Today’s West Seattle blog takes note of a wave of ATM break-ins in this part of Seattle. The Seattle Times takes note of the threat to renters unable to pay and fearing eviction. The stock market has been down.  Will there be a vaccine? Will there be a treatment? Will there be enough testing? Do I have enough toilet paper?  We worry. 

People try various methods to manage their worrying. Deep breathing. Walks. Netflix. Pie. Exercise. Avoid reading the news. Be angry at the Republicans, the Democrats, the mask wearers, the non-wearers, those you have been locked up with for the past month.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear ... But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:25, 33-34

It’s a different method—strive first for the kingdom. Our Lord knows we will worry. Worries will come to mind. He invites us to replace those thoughts with striving for the kingdom.

Contemplation and proclamation 

For some of us a way of striving for the kingdom would be to give ourselves to contemplation and proclamation. 

St. Catherine of Siena and St. Thomas Aquinas were both Dominicans. Thomas was a professed brother. Catherine was a tertiary, a lay associate. 

Catherine engaged in a dialogue with God that has to do with our worrying and trusting--

Why do you not put your trust in me your Creator? Because your trust is in yourselves. Am I not faithful and loyal to you? Of course I am. . . . But it seems they do not believe that I am powerful enough to help them, or strong enough to aid and defend them against their enemies, or wise enough to enlighten their understanding, or merciful enough to want to give them what is necessary for their salvation, or rich enough to enrich them, or beautiful enough to give them beauty, or that I have food to feed them or garments to re-clothe them. Their actions show me that they do not believe it.[ii]

The commentary on Matthew that I read each morning says this --

While being concerned about these basic human matters is important, we can become preoccupied with them in a way that is unhealthy for our spiritual lives. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, concern for an earthly affair can become sinful if we view it as an end in itself, as for example, in thinking to oneself, “I can’t be happy without this job, without this relationship, without this level of income.” Concern over earthly things is also sinful if the worry distracts us from the spiritual life. We can become so preoccupied by a problem or decision that the worry dominates our thoughts, even at Mass and prayer—such that we begin to neglect the worship we owe God. And in constantly trying to solve our problem we fail to listen to what God may be trying to teach us in this particular moment of difficulty. [iii]

Strive first for the kingdom

One concrete act we can take in our striving is to become an associate of a religious order. Maybe join Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Thomas Aquinas in becoming a Dominican. Do you have a deep “desire for a bond with a spiritual community founded on contemplation and proclamation?’ If so look into the  Anglican Order of Preachers.

Information on Dominican Oblates and Associates (scroll down the page a bit) 

Becoming an associate of other religious orders.

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our
being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by
your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our
life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are
ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

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Reflection on the Feast of St. Dominic

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[i] Acts 17:28 and Collect for Guidance, Morning Prayer, BCP

[ii]   St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue 140, trans. Suzanne Noffke (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), 287.

[iii] "Gospel of Matthew, The (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture Book 5)" by Curtis Mitch, Edward Sri.

Postings on the inner life and the virus

You know, and they know, that they are offering their lives      

Intercessions and the virus  

Solitude

The mystery of the cross

Solitude in Surrey 

We'll meet again

God's not indifferent to our pain 

Endures all things

Becoming an Associate of a Religious Order

People Touch

Spiritual vitality and authenticity 

The path of servanthood

Down into the mess

Missing the Eucharist 

In you we live

Faith to perceive

Faith to perceive: In your great compassion  

Turn everything that happens to account

We no longer know what to do

Postings on Parish Development during the Virus

Power from the center pervades the whole 

To everything there is a season

Faith to perceive: Remaining inseparable

Communities of love, prayer and service 

Missing the Eucharist

I’m out walking—from home to California Avenue, walk among the mostly closed stores, you can get cupcakes and Starbucks is open for take-out, notice those with and without masks. Humming--“Abide with Me” or "The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended.”  

For years I’ve noticed this spontaneous, unconscious habit. A piece of music gets into me and I hear it in my head as I walk. Often it’s been a rock & roll hit from another time—Love Letters, Band of Gold, Be my Baby, Reflections; sometimes folk—Catch the Wind, Follow, Oh Freedom; sometimes from my parents time—I’ll be Seeing You, We’ll Meet Again; on occasion--The Marine Hymn. And sometimes a hymn—Requiem IV. Pie Jesu, Praise to the Holiest in the Height, Lead Kindly Light, For All the Saints. For three weeks now it’s Abide with Me and The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended.”  

“Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26) Ten years ago “Praise to the Holiest in the Height” got me through cancer. For this moment it seems to alternate between two other hymns.

In this no-Eucharist time I’m thankful for God’s goodness. The music in my head isn’t a practice I decided upon and learned. It just happens. I’m sure I’m not alone in that. “For his mercy endures forever.”[i]

The music, along with the daily office and spiritual reading, have been the habits that have held me these past two months.

I miss the Eucharist. I miss the gathering. I miss the liturgy. I’m grateful for the touches of Eucharist provided in my parish—virtual mass, consecrated hosts for home, spiritual communion. Still, I miss the Eucharist.

Bishop Peter Eaton this morning,

Even in this time of isolation, solitude, even loneliness, while we are waiting for the time when we may gather again, we may receive grace from Jesus in other ways, too.  In prayer.  In meditation on the Scriptures.  In the reading and studying of the spiritual masters of our tradition.   In prayer together over the internet and the phone.   In reaching out to those whom we know need us.

For we worship the One for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred, and who longs not just to dwell in our hearts, but to change them.

Even in this time when we cannot gather, we can still be true to this vocation, and grow more and more like Jesus.  And we find that we have grown in that great virtue, perseverance.

During the Second World War “The Day Thou Gavest” was sung every Sunday by British prisoners of war held by Japan. The hymn was sung "to give them comfort and strength to carry on".  In 1945 when Japan surrendered in Tokyo Bay “the ship’s band of HMS Duke of York, the British flagship, was joined by the massed bands from all the Royal Navy ships present and struck up a hymn as the flags of all the allied nations were lowered from the signal yards. The name of the hymn was “The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended.”

"The music inspired the Navy’s official historian, Admiral Morison, on board the Missouri, to pen this benediction to the American sailors, but also to all the American soldiers, airmen and Marines of the Second World War:

Nothing could have been more appropriate to the occasion than this Sunday evening hymn to the Author of peace and lover of concord. The familiar words and music, which floated over the now calm waters of the Bay to the American bluejackets, touched the mystic chords of memory and sentiment, reminding all hands of the faith that had sustained them through travail and sacrifice. It brought sailors back to base and made them feel their Navy had achieved something more than a military victory.[ii]

The hymns, the rock and roll, the Office, spiritual reading, grieving, hoping—both now and then—knowing who we are and whose we are. Achieving something more.

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[i] Psalm 136

[ii] From a blog –The End of the Second World War - Part 6 of 6 "The Proceedings ... are Closed"

Postings on the inner life and the virus

You know, and they know, that they are offering their lives      

Intercessions and the virus  

Solitude

The mystery of the cross

Solitude in Surrey 

We'll meet again

God's not indifferent to our pain 

Endures all things

Becoming an Associate of a Religious Order

People Touch

Spiritual vitality and authenticity 

The path of servanthood

Down into the mess

Missing the Eucharist 

In you we live

Faith to perceive

Faith to perceive: In your great compassion  

Turn everything that happens to account

We no longer know what to do

Postings on Parish Development during the Virus

Power from the center pervades the whole 

To everything there is a season

Faith to perceive: Remaining inseparable

Communities of love, prayer and service 

Associates of the Order of the Ascension

The renewal and development of a parish is a process of entering more deeply into the life of Christ and the nature and mission of the Church. A parish is being renewed as it enters into and reflects the mind, heart and work of Christ. A parish is being renewed as it enters into and reflects the unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity of the Church. A parish is being renewed as it pursues the mission of holy unity. Parish development is our striving, as a community of Christian people, toward God. It is not primarily something we do, or create, or make happen. It is the way in which a parish, a local manifestation of the Holy Catholic Church, shares in the Divine Life. It is living the Christian life, not simply as individuals, but as a people. Robert Gallagher, OA

Associates participate in the life of the Order of the Ascension in their love of the people of their parish church, as they seek holiness of life, and increase their ability to contribute to the parish by a life of Christian proficiency and basic competence in the work of parish development and revitalization.

           Learn more

For stability means that I must not run away from where my battles are being fought, that I have to stand still where the real issues have to be faced. Obedience compels me to re-enact in my own life that submission of Christ himself, even though it may lead to suffering and death, and conversatio, openness, means that I must be ready to pick myself up, and start .all over again in a pattern of growth which will not end until the day of my final dying. And all the time the journey is based on that Gospel paradox of losing life and finding it. ..my goal is Christ.   Esther deWaal

A Rule for Associates 

The Prayer Book Pattern

Our life in community, our reflection, and our service are nurtured from the soil of the Daily Office and Eucharist. The day-by-day connection with Scripture and common prayer and the weekly receiving of Body and Blood orient us to the ways of eternity and feed us for faithfulness in our life at work, with friends and family and in civic life.

Learning

Read two books each year in the field of ascetical/pastoral theology and/or organization development/psychology. 

  
Action

According to their vocation and gifts, Associates engage in appropriate forms of service, evangelization and stewardship in their daily life (work, civic life, family and friendships, the parish). Make a yearly financial contribution to the Order.

                 The details of the Rule, and how to join

For the fully Christian life is a Eucharistic life: that is, a natural life conformed to the pattern of Jesus, given in its wholeness to God, laid on His altar as a sacrifice of love, and consecrated, transformed by His inpouring life, to be used to give life and food to other souls.  Evelyn Underhill

Associates in the Parish Church

Associates of religious orders are scattered throughout the church. There are clergy in charge of parishes and laity who serve on vestries, in liturgy and programs to assist the poor and most vulnerable. There are those whose service is primarily in their daily life with family and friends, co-workers and citizens. All help ground their parishes in a life of prayer. 

You may feel called to serve as part of the Order of the Ascension by joining in our work of shaping healthy and faithful parish churches. Associates give themselves to a rule that involves prayer, learning and action. All of that specifically in relation to the parish church. It is a way for some to more fully give themselves to a Eucharistic Life.

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