"At the End of the Day"
by Fr. Gerry Blackburn
FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 26, 2007
Peace-loving congregation adopts a U.S. Army platoon
that is heading to Iraq
Holy Trinity Church describes
itself as a "...vibrant, growing and caring
community in the Anglican
tradition". I found it to be that and more!
It is a relatively small congregation in a ethnic
diverse neighborhood called Inwood in the upper
tip end of Manhattan, New York City, which has
a most hospitable welcome for all who pass through
its doors.
The church nearly folded a few
years ago. However, the Episcopal bishop of the
Diocese of New York wisely appointed a new vicar,
the Rev. Johanna Johansson -- a very passionate,
positive leader whom the congregation obviously
deeply respects and loves. She, and the small
handful of others who were the congregation at
the time, bonded together in their commitment
and the church is experiencing a new vibrancy
in attendance, worship, fellowship and mission.
Nowadays on any Sunday there are about 40 or so
regular worshippers and the congregation is once
again a viable presence in the community with
important local ministries which are described
on their web site, http://www.holytrinityinwood.org/.
The age and culturally diverse
members make up one of the most friendly congregations
I have encounted. The members --young, old and
in between -- seem genuinely happy to greet each
other and visitors before and after worship. And
the same is true during the well-attended coffee
hour (which is actually a pot-luck, sit-down lunch
each Sunday!) where almost everyone stays and
enjoys the fellowship in their simple, crowded
parish hall and kitchen. Genuine love and acceptance
seems to abound at Holy Trinity.
During the two Sundays I visited
the congregation I have witnessed beautiful, spirited
singing by "the pew-choir" -- i.e. the
entire congregation (their only "choir");
well-done, non-elaborate Episcopal Church liturgy;
and a conversation-style homily by their gifted
communicator-preacher-vicar, Mother Johanna. At
the time of the homily, a chair is brought to
the center aisle amidst the congregation and she
"preaches" conversational style while
seated. The listeners are very attentive to the
Gospel-centered, engaging sermon. Some even audibly
respond to her occasional question and all warmly
laugh at her natural humor.
I was invited to Holy Trinity
in my role as the Director for Federal Chaplaincies
in the Office of the Bishop Suffragan for Chaplaincies.
(The Rt. Rev. George Packard is my "boss"
and also happens to know Mo. Johanna.) Apparently
the majority of the members at Holy Trinity are
opposed to the war in Iraq, yet they decided they
should not fail to non-judgementally reach out
in some way to those men and women of the U.S.
armed services who have bravely volunteered to
serve and now are asked to put their lives on
the line in an unpopular war.
Janis Handte, one of Holy Trinity's
outreach-ministry leaders, contacted our office
about their already in motion plan to "adopt"
a platoon at Ft. Drum, NY -- a unit which is about
to deploy to Iraq. She said this is venture "outside
the box" for Holy Trinity and asked me to
discuss it with me. Among other things, I told
her of our HoST (Home Support Team) program suggestions
we have placed on our web page, http://www.tec-chaplain.org/,
for congregations desiring to engage in outreach
to those directly touched by the war.
None of Holy Trinity's current
membership is part of the military and none has
immediate friends or family serving in Iraq or
Afghanistan. The church is "feeling its way"
into this ministry of platoon support. It has
resulted in the church establishing rapport with
Second Lieutenant Paul Moeller of the 2nd Platoon,
Company 57 (Transportation) of the 10th Mountain
Division Light Infantry at Ft. Drum, NY -- located
more than three hours north of New York City.
On Sunday, October 21, the congregation
met LT Moeller for the first time. He worshipped
with them at their 10:30 AM Holy Eurcharist and
during the service Mother Johanna blessed 2o copies
of the Episcopal Church's "A Prayer Book
for the Armed Services" and 20 Church Service
crosses which can be attached to a service member's
"dog tag" ID. These were presented to
LT Moeller for him to make available to the platoon
members. Prayers were offered on behalf of the
platoon as it prepares to deploy to Iraq very
soon. Throughout their 15-month deployment the
congregation hopes to stay in touch with LT Moeller
and the other members of the platoon -- supporting
them with regular prayers and with "care
package" items from time to time which hopefully
will brighten their days a bit.
Christian hospitality
is at the very center of being Christian and being
church; of living out the Great Commandment of
Jesus to "love God and to love our neighbor
as we love ourselves." Holy Trinity, Inwood,
is beautifully demonstrating Christ-like hospitality
to its neighborhood and to a platoon that is heading
into harm's way.
SUNDAY,
SEPTEMBER 30, 2007
Jesus,
make it easy to follow you, please
During the nearly 22 years I served as a chaplain
in the U.S. Navy I, like other chaplains, spent
a great deal of energy and time preparing Sunday
homilies and Eucharists for field or chapel services,
leading Bible studies and retreats and counseling
young individuals and couples who had been referred
by the command or simply sought "the chaplain"
out for assistance.
When appropriate and without
proselytizing, I tried hard to find ways to effectively
communicate the grace-giving (and thus joyful),
reconciling, deep, and yes, demanding truths of
faith in God as lived out in Jesus. I wish now
that I had been open to using verse, especially,
solid, contemporary poetry, in those efforts.
In recent years -- since retiring
from chaplaincy and in my current role as one
who helps recruit, develop and support Episcopal
Church priests for chaplaincy service at federal
prisons, VA hospitals, and in the military --
I have come to read and appreciate some contemporary
poetry by writers such as Mary Oliver and Jude
Simpson, in addition to the classical poets like
T. S. Eliot and George Herbert.
Both Mary Oliver and Jude Simpson
have helped me see that poetry can sometimes communicate
the mystery of truth in an economy of penetrating
words that mere prose writing simply cannot. I
have come to believe that poetry for youth and
young adults -- who almost all are attracted to
song lyrics including rap and hip-hop -- just
may be a mode of communicating truth that they
will more readily consider.
For instance, the young female
poet Jude Simpson is truly amazing when it comes
to writing poetry which both entertains and speaks
with deep passion and insight. She is a British
writer who is described on one web site as a "comic
poet, entertainer and all-around lover of words."
The Church of England web site
folks asked Jude to write "five 'funny' poems
about Jesus" and to also document her creative
process in an audio diary. (All five poems and
the audio can be enjoyed at www.rejesus.co.uk/expressions/jude_simpson/index.html.
For yet more info on this gifted and humorous
poet, you can also visit her own web page, www.judesimpson.co.uk/.)
When I read her poems recently,
I found my heart and mind greatly engaged by some
of her rhythmic, metaphoric word choices such
as these lines in the poem "You won't find
Jesus on Myspace":
Jesus doesn't have a Myspace
page.
He hasn't composed a profile
which sums him up in fifty excruciatingly well-chosen
words
making him sound like God's gift.
All of the five poems are humorous
yet have a depth of truth that sort of sneaks
up on you. For instance in perhaps her best of
the five Jesus poems -- "Not cut out for
religion" -- she has some really penetrating
lines, especially for those of us in the "first-world"
Western culture with our addiction to getting
lots of things fast, if not easy. Simpson writes:
Give me bite-sized thoughts
in a faith shape sorter,
No more spilt blood or living water,
just a pint-sized god who's a straight talker.
Make it easy to follow.
I want fruit-flavored shots
of the Holy Spirit,
bite-sized, trite truths in Boyband lyrics
"love" and "above" -- yeah,
that should fill it.
Make it easy to follow.
Then a few lines later she writes,
You say, "you are not my
servant, now you are my friend".
You say, "I will be with you until the bitter
end".
And I'm like, "why bother?" -- I wanted
happiness on prescription.
Isn't that the whole point of getting religion?
Enough said.
Thanks be to God for poets like
Jude Simpson who speak truth powerfully to youth
and young adults -- and to us "formerly young"
folks too!
Jesus doesn't have a Myspace
page.
He hasn't composed a profile
which sums him up in fifty excruciatingly well-chosen
words
making him sound like God's gift.
All of the five poems
are humorous yet have a depth of truth that sort
of sneaks up on you. For instance in perhaps her
best of the five Jesus poems -- "Not cut
out for religion" -- she has some really
penetrating lines, especially
for those of us in the "first-world"
Western culture with our addiction to getting
lots of things fast, if not easy. Simpson writes:
Give me bite-sized thoughts
in a faith shape sorter,
No more spilt blood or living water,
just a pint-sized god who's a straight talker.
Make it easy to follow.
I want fruit-flavored shots
of the Holy Spirit,
bite-sized, trite truths in Boyband lyrics
"love" and "above" -- yeah,
that should fill it.
Make it easy to follow.
Then a few lines later she writes,
You say, "you are not my
servant, now you are my friend".
You say, "I will be with you until the bitter
end".
And I'm like, "why bother?" -- I wanted
happiness on prescription.
Isn't that the whole point of getting religion?
Enough said.
Thanks be to God for poets like
Jude Simpson who speak truth powerfully to youth
and young adults -- and to us "foremerly
young" folks too!
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