St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church is seeking our next part-time Director of Music Ministry. The position is 12 hours/week with initial compensation of $23 – $25/hour, depending on experience and qualifications. The only fixed hours at present are Sunday mornings (9AM – 12PM); additional hours are flexible or TBD based on availability. St. Dunstan’s is a warm, lively and inclusive congregation with both in-person and Zoom (online) worshipping congregations. The Director of Music Ministry supports our worship life by selecting music, playing piano or organ in worship to support congregational song, working with singers and musicians within the congregation to prepare special music, collaborating with the Rector to plan special liturgies, and continuing to develop our practices of shared music-making for all ages. As a staff member involved in liturgical leadership, the Director of Music Ministry contributes to an atmosphere of welcome and warmth in the life of the congregation. Our musical repertoire at St. Dunstan’s includes both the full range of the Episcopal hymnals (from medieval chant though modern hymnody), “paperless” music, and sacred music from various folk traditions and from around the world. We are striving to build a parish musical culture that makes room for everyone from the highly trained to the untrained-but-enthusiastic to participate in music-making. We are looking for someone creative, collaborative, skillful and playful to join us in this work. Our ideal candidate may or may not be a trained church musician, but will be someone collaborative and curious, who will get to know us, learn the music and ways of music-making that are important to us, and help us grow, explore, and build. 

Read the full job description here below! 

To apply, send a cover letter and CV to . 

JOB DESCRIPTION: DIRECTOR OF MUSIC MINISTRY

Effective 2/1/23

TITLE: Director of Music Ministry

REPORTS TO: Rector, St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church 

HOURS:  12 hours/week: 9AM – 12PM every Sunday; additional 9 hours/week on average of planning, collaboration (possibly including a regular weekly practice time), and communication weekly, on average. Additional compensated hours may be negotiated for other special services, events, or trainings. 

COMPENSATION: $23-$25/hour, depending on experience & qualifications. 

STATUS: Regular Part-time, Non-exempt 

POSITION SUMMARY 

Under the supervision of the Rector, the Director of Music Ministry supports the worship life of St. Dunstan’s Church by selecting music, playing piano or organ in worship to support congregational song, working with singers and musicians within the congregation to prepare anthems and other special music, collaborating with the Rector to plan special liturgies, and continuing to develop our practices of shared music-making for all ages. As a staff member involved in liturgical leadership, the Director of Music Ministry contributes to an atmosphere of welcome and warmth in the life of the congregation. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

1. I. Plan, Prepare & Lead Music in Worship (40%) 

The Director of Music Ministry shall: 

1. Play the piano and/or organ* for the 10am Sunday service. The service usually includes hymns, service music, a sung or chanted psalm, and sometimes a choral anthem or other special musical offering. Music just before and after the service (sometimes called the prelude and postlude) is welcome but not our highest priority. 
2. Prepare music for use in Sunday 9AM Zoom worship. This usually consists of one new hymn each Sunday, and one piece of service music that is used for several consecutive weeks. Music can be offered “live” on Zoom or prepared ahead of time as sound files or videos. 
3. Select hymns, anthems and worship music, in a timely fashion, in consultation with the Rector and others involved in worship planning; and provide all necessary information, including copyright notices, to those preparing bulletins. 
4. Prepare for and play for these seasonal services: Christmas Eve (2 services), Maundy Thursday, and the Easter Vigil; the 8am service on Easter Sunday; and on Christmas Day only when it falls on a Sunday. 
5. By mutual agreement with the Rector, and with additional compensation as negotiated, prepare and play for additional special services and events.
6. Arrange for a substitute in the event of absence on a Sunday or other occasion. 

* A note regarding instruments: The primary instrument used to support congregational singing and smaller ensembles at St. Dunstan’s is a grand piano. We also have a small Allen electric organ and we enjoy hearing its voice now and then, but there is latitude for someone to take some time to learn to play the organ for occasional special pieces and occasions. 

II. Work with musicians and ensembles within the congregation to prepare special music (30%) 

7. Work with singers and instrumentalists to plan and prepare special musical offerings for worship; these may include mixed-age and mixed-ability ensembles of various sizes.
8. Schedule and lead in-person rehearsals as needed, and when appropriate, find or prepare practice resources for those who prefer to rehearse at home or asynchronously. 
9. Collaborate with the Rector to plan a monthly music learning and play session for children. This is not a traditional children’s choir, though preparing music to share in worship is welcome.
10. (10) Potentially, convene and lead choir rehearsals to prepare an anthem for Sunday worship, starting on a monthly basis. A possible schedule might include two weeknights per month and one or two Sunday morning 9AM rehearsals per month. We have not had a choir that meets regularly since before the pandemic, but believe there may be sufficient interest at this time to try it out again. 
11. (11) Coordinate with instrumental musicians in the congregation to share their gifts and enrich the musical life of the parish. 

III. Participate in Planning the Musical & Liturgical Life of the Parish (20%)

The Director of Music Ministry shall:

1. Work collaboratively as part of a team, including the Rector, other staff, and parish volunteers, to offer seasonal, appropriate, well-presented, well-integrated music and liturgy. 
2. Meet with the Rector monthly, at a mutually-convenient time, to review and plan the musical and liturgical life of the parish. 

IV. Maintain the parish’s Music Library, licenses, and instruments (10%)

The Director of Music Ministry shall be responsible for the following tasks, either as part of their work or in collaboration with volunteers: 

1. Maintain the music library in an orderly and usable condition. 
2. Maintain the necessary copyright licenses for our regularly-used music and manage any necessary usage reporting. 
3. Oversee instrument maintenance, in collaboration with the Office Coordinator. 

Note: This description is not intended to include all responsibilities, as additional duties may be assigned and existing duties may be adjusted at any time. 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Commitment to building and sustaining community
• Commitment to excellence, beauty, and joy in worship music 
• Commitment to engaging with, supporting and empowering music makers of all abilities
• Training (formal and/or experiential) in conducting an ensemble and running a rehearsal
• Caring and responsive; able to give feedback kindly and effectively 
• Flexible, resourceful and creative
• Familiar with, or willing to become familiar with, the Episcopal Hymnal and other church music and frequently-used resources
• Familiar with, or willing to become familiar with, the “paperless music” approach 
• Willing to follow and support parish Covid policies 
• Demonstrated organizational skills, including calendaring, project coordination, and prioritization. Ability to effectively manage workload within compensated hours. 
• Effective communication skills, both verbal and written 
• Able to plan musical undertakings congruent with musicians’ energy and interests, and to identify musical gifts and skills and look for opportunities to build them into the program.
• Collaborative; able to work well with Rector and volunteers/helpers
• Open to exploring how music-making can be a vital part of the life of a congregation with both in-person and online members
• Committed to helping create a welcoming and inclusive environment, including socioeconomic diversity, neurodiversity, and full welcome of LGBTQ+ people.

Qualifications 

Previous experience supporting or leading vocal ensembles 

Accompaniment & keyboard skills 

Requirements

• Full background check (paid for by the church) 
• Completion of Safe Church training within first six months of employment. (This training, authorized by the Episcopal Church, outlines how to recognize warning signs and minimize risks of child sexual abuse.) 

References will be required if selected for an interview.

Prepared by the Rev. Thomas McAlpine.

Readings here. 

Good morning, and Merry Christmas!

The puzzle in today’s Gospel reading: why does light need a witness (and how does that work)? I’m going to wonder about that in this sermon slot, but since at best I’ll only scratch the surface, I’d encourage you to take the bulletin home to wonder about it yourselves.

Why does light need a witness? That light [pointing] is on. If that’s my shtick, I’d better have a day job. Light doesn’t need a witness—unless we’re visually impaired. And that theme, it turns out, shows up elsewhere in John’s Gospel. In the arguments after Jesus heals the man born blind: “Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see,” your sin remains’” (9:40-41).

So even if we’re talking about “the light of all people,” or—as our epistle puts it—”the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being,” we need witnesses—like John the Baptist.

If we wonder how to unpack this metaphor there’s this aphorism: “We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.” “We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.”

Chew on that, and it’s not hard to despair. We like to assume our vision is 20/20. But we see things as we are, so why do I assume that I’m seeing things clearly, that I’m reading situations correctly, that I have a reliable idea of who I am or what I need? We can spend a lifetime observing the visual problems others have without it registering that we’re vulnerable.

It’s not that we’re totally blind. John’s Gospel explores the ambiguities. Sometimes the obscurity is elective. From early in the Gospel: “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil” (3:19). Sometimes it’s a strange combination of prophetic clarity and blindness. From later in the Gospel: “But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’” (11:49-50). From one angle Caiaphas sees more than any of the disciples, but is blind to Jesus having anything useful to show him.

The good news of the Gospel: God can deal even with our lousy vision, as evidenced repeatedly in the Gospels, whether with James and John (“sons of thunder”), who are all for calling down fire on a village that doesn’t receive them (Lk 9:54), or Thomas, the resident Eeyore, who greets the upcoming trip to Bethany with “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (Jn. 11:16).

How does God deal with it? By sending folk like John the Baptist that nudge us towards Jesus, and then putting us together with others who are fumbling towards Jesus.

It’s not that John the Baptist gets everything right; he has his doubts about Jesus (Matt 11:3), but he points folk to Jesus, and that’s enough. The folk God sends to play John the Baptist’s role in our lives don’t get everything right, but that doesn’t mean they can’t nudge us towards Jesus.

And God puts us together with others who are fumbling towards Jesus. I like how Paul puts it: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). And that’s on our good days.

As you may recall, this comes toward the end of Paul’s description of “a still more excellent way” (love). The description is often read at weddings, but what Paul wrote it for was to help the Corinthians get through their thick heads the sort of practices needed to not self-destruct as a church: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful” (1 Cor. 13:4-5 NRS). We might hear those verses as a sort of warning label: churches—marriages, for that matter—can be difficult, and flourish only with liberal amounts of patience and humility. As the African proverb has it, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

My favorite example of what God achieves in putting us together comes toward the end of John’s Gospel. One week after the resurrection the disciples don’t even agree on whether Jesus is dead or alive. But there’s enough patience and humility—enough love —that they stay together, and together meet the risen Lord.

It’s John’s Gospel that has that memorable “God so loved the world.” The word ‘love’ doesn’t appear in today’s reading, but it’s the motor for the action. God loves, and the Word reaches out to us. God loves humbly, and the Word takes on human flesh. God loves humbly, and sends John the Baptist to nudge us towards Jesus. And as the text lays it out, we need some corresponding humility to engage the story: humility to recognize our need for various versions of John the Baptist, however off-putting we may find them, humility to hang with others fumbling towards Jesus. We’re not alone. The Holy Spirit who came upon Mary has come upon us. As Spufford puts it “Far more can be mended than you know.” One day we will see face to face.

Merry Christmas.

It’s one week till Christmas Day!

That means it’s almost time for our pageant.

Every year on Christmas Eve we do a special little play of the Christmas story. Some of you are here, some of you are traveling to see family. (So we usually do another pageant in January.) 

This year we’re trying something new – instead of acting it out, we’re going to have our performers make pictures of the different scenes – not by drawing but with their bodies – costumes, etc. 

Getting ready for this – interesting to think about what people in the story would have been feeling. 

Chance for our actors to really think about that –  not just to stand in a particular place or pose, but how to show with their faces and their bodies how they would have been feeling. 

I thought today maybe we could practice that a little bit. 

Let me give an example. 

First scene in the story the way we usually tell it: An angel comes to Mary to ask her if she is willing to become pregnant with God’s son who is also God, Jesus. 

What do angels look like?…

In pictures they usually look like very pretty people, with wings, right?

Angels are messengers for God – that’s what the word angel means. They are God’s helpers. 

In the Bible sometimes they look like people, like in the Tobit story. Sometimes they are invisible, like in the Balaam story. Sometimes they look blindingly bright and strange and terrifying! 

One thing people have noticed is that a lot of the time, when an angel appears to a person, the first thing the angel has to say is:

Fear not! Don’t be afraid!

Which makes it seem like something about angels must be kind of scary, at least at first!

Here is one of my favorite pictures of this scene when the angel comes to talk to Mary. 

The artist is named Henry Ossawa Tanner. 

What choice did he make about how to show the angel?…

I like that part of the picture. 

But what I really like about the picture is how he painted Mary.

Look at her face and her body. What feelings do you think she is feeling? …

I like how this painting invites us to think about all the big mixed-up feelings Mary might have been having, when the angel asked her to do this big thing for God. 

Let’s try on a couple of those feelings with our faces and bodies. 

Mary might have been afraid of what the angel was asking her to do, and what it would mean for her. 

Not, like, I just saw a ghost afraid, but, this changes everything about my life, afraid. 

How can we show afraid with our faces?…

With our bodies?….

At the same time, Mary feels hopeful! 

That’s why she says Yes!

We hear that later when she sings her bold song of hope to her cousin Elizabeth, about how she will be remembered and blessed by future generations because of what she is doing, and how God is working to raise up the lowly and feed the hungry. 

Can we show hopeful with our faces? Our bodies? … 

Mary says Yes, to the angel, right? She agrees to do it. To become God’s mother. What a huge thing to do!

But then Joseph comes into the story. 

Mary is engaged to get married to Joseph, but now she is pregnant and Joseph doesn’t know anything about it. He’s upset!

Maybe he doesn’t believe her story about what happened. 

So God sends an angel – maybe the same angel? – to talk to Joseph too. To tell him, It’s OK. Go ahead and get married. This baby who is also God will need a human daddy. 

I wonder what Joseph would have been feeling?

I think he was probably kind of sad. 

Getting married is a big deal, and this wasn’t how he thought things were going to go.

Can we show Sad with our faces? 

Our bodies?….

He was probably also confused, right? 

He didn’t know what to think! 

Mary’s story didn’t make sense.

The angel’s story didn’t make sense but it’s hard to argue with an angel.

How could God have a baby, or be a baby? 

Why would his fiancé be chosen to be involved? 

Why would HE be chosen to be involved?

It’s a lot to take in and figure out!!

Let’s show confused with our faces… and our bodies.

Okay, let’s do one more scene! Later, in the story, after the baby is born, the angel shows up AGAIN to tell some shepherds all about it, and that they should go visit the baby and worship him.

God wants ordinary, poor people to be the first to know the good news about God coming into the world to dwell among us and share our lives.

The shepherds were just sitting around, waiting for the next sheep to be ready to have her lambs so they could help her, and making sure wolves or lions don’t come steal the lambs that have already been born.

And suddenly there’s an ANGEL!

And then there are a LOT MORE ANGELS!

How would they have felt?….

We already did Scared; let’s show SURPRISED with our faces and bodies! …. 

And then when the angel tells them that God is doing a wonderful thing, and that they should go visit the baby Jesus, they feel so EXCITED! They can’t wait to go! 

Let’s show EXCITED with our faces and our bodies!….

There are so many feelings in this story!  Lots more than we’ve talked about today. I think that’s one reason why even though we tell this story every year, I’m always glad to see it again.

Thanks for exploring those feelings with me! Maybe this will help some of our pageant actors when we start our work later today. 

Now, I have something I want to say to the bigger kids, before we go on. So while I’m doing that, I have a little project for you.

I thought you might like to make some angel ornaments.

We talked about how in pictures and paintings, people usually make angels look like pretty people with wings.

But some people have found that there are some pretty weird descriptions of angels in the Bible. Like, angels that have six wings instead of two, and are entirely covered with eyes!

So if you’d like, you can take these ornament bases, and use some sticky dots to stick on feathers for wings, and some eyes… and make a biblically accurate angel ornament for your family. 

* * * * * * 

Okay, now I want to say a few words to the bigger kids.

I gave a longer version of this sermon a few years ago but I think maybe it’s important to talk about now and then. 

There’s a word we’re going to hear a lot over the next couple of weeks. 

That word is Virgin.

We heard it once today already, in our Gospel.

Matthew thinks he’s quoting Isaiah, though actually the word in Isaiah is just “young woman.” 

And we’ll hear that word a lot in hymns and carols, as Christmas approaches. “Round yon virgin tender and mild,” and so on. 

We know several things about Mary. 

God chose her to bear Godself as a human infant.

God respected her enough to ask her permission.

She was bold enough to say Yes.

In the song of faith we call the Magnificat,

She celebrates being chosen by God – 

“All generations will call me blessed! How cool is that!!”

And she talks about the things she hopes to see God do:  

Tear down the powerful from their thrones! 

Raise up the powerless! 

Fill the hungry with good food and send the rich away empty! 

Nothing mild about all that. 

Much later in the Gospels, we see her struggling with her son’s mission. Fearing for him. 

Later, she follows him to the cross and watches him die.

She goes on to be one of those who tells his story. 

And, yes, at the very beginning, here, she is a virgin. 

Somebody who has not yet had that special kind of physical closeness with another person that they teach you about in … is that sixth grade Health? 

She says so herself in Luke’s Gospel: 

“How exactly am I going to get pregnant with this special baby? Because….” 

Out of all the things that we could say about Mary, the fact that she is a virgin is what churches have chosen to say over and over again, down through the centuries. 

It’s kind of strange that the historical Church managed to make Mary this icon of purity, when in Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph nearly abandons Mary because he doesn’t know how she got pregnant! 

That shame and struggle is part of what Mary agreed to face, 

when she said Yes to the angel.  

It’s important to Matthew, our Gospel writer, that God works through situations that humans find awkward and shameful. 

We learned that through the stories we heard last week, of the women Matthew names in his genealogy of Jesus. 

But somehow, through the ages, that’s not the message that churches have taken. 

And churches have not only obsessively focused on Mary’s virginity; they have made it an ideal for all young people – especially for those categorized as girls and young women. 

Many of our sibling churches still put a heavy emphasis on virginity and purity. You may meet people who are wrestling with those “purity culture” messages as they try to build healthy intimate relationships. 

Physical intimacy and our choices about it matter, of course. 

But I think a lot of the reasons for this focus among some churches and church leaders, over the centuries, are more people-reasons than God-reasons. 

Reasons like controlling young women’s behavior, and making sure men know whose children they’re raising. 

When the word virgin starts cropping up all over the place in our churches as Christmas approaches, it’s weird because it can evoke or trigger all that stuff. 

And it’s weird because out there in the culture virgin is also often used as an insult, especially for young men and amab folks. 

When I was in my teens, the message was pretty clearly that girls are bad if they’re not virgins and boys are bad if they are – which was a heck of a double-bind, especially for the straight kids.

My sense is that today the cultural messaging around all that is more complicated, but not necessarily better.

And that there’s still a lot of potential for confusion and shame. 

Here’s what I want for the youth and young people of this church. I want physical intimacy to be something you are able to choose freely, if and when you want it, with joy and curiosity and safety, and with somebody who thinks you’re amazing. 

I want you to know that your value, your worth, in church and in the world and before God, does not depend on what you have or have not done with your body. 

And I want you to be able look to Mary, the mother of God, and not see some icon of purity and perfection we can never live up to, but a young woman – youth group aged! – whom we honor for her courage, her faith in God’s purposes, and her vision for a better world.

The fourth week of Advent, December 18 – 24

This Week’s Song: “Enter, enter, holy pilgrims!”           Traditional

Enter, enter, holy pilgrims! Welcome to my humble home! 

Though ’tis little I can offer, all I have please call your own!

Entren, santo peregrinos, peregrinos! Reciban este rincón. 

Aunque es pobre la morada, la morada, os la doy de corazón. 

 Learn the tune here:

(Note that the English translation of the Spanish words is a little bit different than ours, in this video.) 

About the song

Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 

– Luke chapter 2, verses 4 – 7

The word posada means inn or lodging, and traditionally posadas are a celebration of the Christmas story. They take place on nine nights from December 16 to 24 and commemorate the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph’s search for a place to stay where Jesus could be born. At the beginning of a posada, people are divided in two groups, the ones “outside” representing Mary and Joseph, and the ones “inside” representing innkeepers.  Sometimes two people dress up to represent Mary and Joseph. Then everyone sings the posada litany/song together, re-enacting Mary and Joseph’s search, going back and forth until they are finally “admitted” to an inn. After this tradition, the party proper starts. Posadas parties in Mexico feature hot food and drinks, sweets, music, and piñatas. Throughout Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, churches and communities celebrate these festivities with their traditional, religious elements. Today almost any party held around Christmas is called a posada. Schools often host posadas as end-of-the-year parties for students and teachers.

Source: https://www.journeymexico.com/blog/posadas-in-mexico-christmas-tradition

The Posadas song has verses that go back and forth between the pilgrims and the innkeepers. The first innkeepers are suspicious and don’t want to let in Mary and Joseph. But finally Joseph sings, “My wife, Mary, is the Queen of Heaven, and she is going to be the mother of the Divine Word.” The innkeepers sing back, “Are you Joseph? Your wife is Mary? Come in, pilgrims! I didn’t know who you were!” Then everyone sings a welcome song – the song above: “Enter, enter, holy pilgrims! Welcome to my humble home! Though ’tis little I can offer, all I have please call your own!” 

Watch a video of a wonderful storybook about Posadas here: 

(Or go to YouTube and search for “The Night of Las Posadas”.) 

WORD FOR THE WEEK: WELCOME

How to say “Welcome” in American Sign Language… 

The sign “WELCOME” is done by holding one hand out from your body, flat with your palm up, off to the right a bit, and then bringing the hand in toward your torso/belly. 

(Note that this is different from “You’re welcome,” which is a sign some people might know. To say “You’re welcome,” hold your flat hand to your mouth and then drop it down.) 

PRAYER PRACTICE for this week…

Christmas and the days before Christmas can be very busy. We may be wrapping things up at work or school, preparing for travel, finishing buying or making gifts, preparing for guests or special events, and much more. Some of those things may be joyful, some may be stressful, some may be both! 

Christmas is a lot of things. It’s a secular holiday as well as a religious holiday. It’s a time when many people have a break from work or school. It’s a time when many folks travel to spend time with family, which may be joyful and/or hard; and when many people are missing loved ones who are not present. There are so many feelings and so many things to do. 

The good news of the Feast of the Nativity, the Feast of the Incarnation (God becoming embodied), is that God is with us in the messiness of our human lives. We are not alone. We are known, loved, held, and accompanied. 

As a prayer practice, take a little time this week to ask yourself or each other what would help you feel ready to receive and celebrate the good news that God is always with us. Maybe it’s a quiet walk around the block (even if there are things to do). Maybe it’s a conversation or reflective time around the Advent wreath one evening. Maybe it’s listening to some favorite music, or reading Scripture or Christmas poetry, to help you hold in your heart what this time means for us as Christians. 

HANDS-ON PROJECT: 

When we welcome someone we let them know they are cared for and that they matter. Brainstorm one simple way you can show care to somebody, in the days leading up to Christmas – or in the days after it: remember that Christmas is 12 days long! Here are some ideas. 

• Send a card, note or friendly email to someone you haven’t been in touch with for a while, just to let them know you’re thinking of them.
• Look at the wish list for a local agency that serves those in need and buy some small items to help them with their mission. 
• Make or buy a small gift or card for a coworker, classmate, teacher or school staff person, to express gratitude for their place in your life. 

SOMETHING TO LEARN…

Why is Advent four weeks long? 

Advent always has four Sundays in it. This year (2022) Advent as long as it can possibly be, since Christmas Day is on a Sunday! 

The Church developed special holy seasons during the first few centuries after the time of Jesus. When Advent (which is based on the Latin word for “Coming”, because Jesus is coming!) was first established, maybe about 1600 years ago, it was the same length as Lent, the season of preparation before Easter. Lent is forty days long, not counting Sundays, based on Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness in the Bible. 

Advent and Lent were both observed as penitential seasons, meaning people would focus on simplifying their lives, repenting and making amends for their sins, and giving to those in need.

Eventually Advent was shortened from about seven weeks to four weeks, and began to become more different from Lent – just as Christmas is very different from Easter. But we still make sure to give to those in need, in this season, and we reflect on the ways the world continues to need God’s presence among us. 

RESONATING TEXTS

These texts offers another perspective on welcome. 

Poem: O Sapienta    by Malcolm Guite

https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/tag/o-sapientia/

Poem: A Tale Begun      by Wislawa Szymborska, 1923 – 2012

This poem uses lots of strange allusions; you don’t have to understand them all to understand and enjoy the poem!

http://inwardboundpoetry.blogspot.com/2007/05/410-tale-begun-wislawa-szymborska.html

Poem: Advent Calendar (Rowan Williams, b. 1950)

Rowan Williams: Advent Calendar

The second week of Advent, December 4 – 10

This Week’s Song: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” verses 1 & 2    

This song is #56 in our church’s hymnal. 

O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, 

That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, thou Wisdom from on high, who orderest all things mightily.

To us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

ABOUT THE SONG…

EMMANUEL is a Hebrew name that means, “God with us.” 

This is an old song! The words are based on a poem that might be as much as 1500 years old. The tune is from the 15th century, about 600 years ago. We usually sing this song (and its many verses) spread out on the Sundays of Advent, as we light the Advent candles at church.

The verses of this song are based on the O Antiphons, which are an ancient Christian text, going back perhaps as far as the 500s. They are a series of verses for the days before Christmas, calling on Jesus to come and save us – and using different images from the Bible to describe Jesus, like Wisdom, Key, Dayspring, and so on. They are called the “O Antiphons” because each one starts with the exclamation, O!  There are some O Antiphons in our Advent prayer booklet. 

WORD FOR THE WEEK: REJOICE

How to say “Rejoice” in American Sign Language… Hold your hands in front of your shoulders, palms towards you, fingers together and thumbs up. Then make a circle outward with your hands and bring them back to place, twice.

ASL is an expressive language! Show joy with your movement and your face. 

Note there are several versions of this sign; this one seems to be the most common. Here’s a video!

BONUS ACTIVITY: Celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas!

Santa Claus is based on a saint – a man named Nicholas who was a bishop, a church leader, in a city in Turkey, about 1700 years ago. December 6 is the feast day for Saint Nicholas. One custom is for children to leave out their shoes on the night of December 5 – and find them filled with candy the next morning. Chocolate coins are a good St. Nicholas Day gift – in memory of how St. Nicholas shared coins with those in need! 

Here is the beginning of a story about Nicholas, written by Rev. Miranda’s mother, Pamela Grenfell Smith:

Long before your grandparents’ grandparents’ grandparents were born, back when years were counted in only three numbers, in the city of Myra there lived a fine and generous Bishop named Nicholas. He was in charge of every church in Myra – every single one. He lived in a fine house in the nicest part of town, and he never had to worry much about money. When he could not finish his dinner he would say to his cook, “Here, Cook, give these leftovers to some hungry family.” If he had old clothes he would say to his washerwoman, “Here, Washerwoman! I don’t need these things any more. Let them be given to some poor fellow!”

Every year on Easter Sunday a grand procession of deacons, acolytes and torch-bearers paraded out of the great church at the top of the hill and all around the streets of the city. Bishop Nicholas walked at the end of the procession, the position of greatest honor, wearing a splendid cloak of silk brocade and carrying a mighty silver-and-cedarwood staff. On these occasions, if he saw beggars in the streets he would tell his deacons, “Come, brothers, toss those poor souls a coin or two.”

Oh yes, Nicholas lived in comfort and ease, but it was his daily habit to turn his heart and mind towards the great mystery at the center of all things, the mystery that loves us and knows our names. This mystery was working a change in him. As Nicholas sat down to his meat and wine he found himself wondering if anyone in the city of Myra had only a crust of bread for dinner. As he went to sleep in his soft bed with its warm woolen blankets, he wondered if anyone in Myra had to sleep on the hard, cold ground…

To read the rest of the story and learn more about St. Nicholas, go to http://www.baba-yaga.org/Nicholas-A-Garland.pdf . 

SOMETHING TO LEARN… Seeking Joy. 

Joy is a special feeling. The American Psychological Association defines joy as “a feeling of extreme gladness, delight, or exaltation of the spirit arising from a sense of well-being or satisfaction.” It’s different from happiness, although they are related. The author J.D. Salinger wrote, “The most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy is a liquid.” One of the things that is special about joy is that we can feel joy at the same time as we feel more negative emotions, like grief or pain. 

The author Ingrid Fetell Lee has spent several years investigating joy and where people find joy. Here are some of the kinds of experiences that many people find joyful. Read over the list; does it bring any joyful moments to mind? 

• Abundance – lushness, multiplicity and variety
• Freedom – nature, wildness, and open space
• Harmony – balance, symmetry, and flow 
• Play – color, bubbles, whimsy
• Surprise – contrast and novelty
• Transcendence – elevation and lightness
• Renewal – blossoming and expansion 

SOURCE: https://badgesforall.org/2020/03/30/the-science-of-joy-and-happiness/

PRAYER PRACTICE for this week…

Naming Joys. 

Joy is holy; it’s something that God wants for us. Noticing where there is joy in our lives can help us feel gratitude – and be more alert to opportunities for joy.  You can reflect on these questions quietly, discuss them with a friend or family member, or write or draw your responses. 

• What’s a recent joyful moment that comes to mind for you? (Maybe the list above made you think of one!) 
• Who are the most joyful people in your life? 
• What activities bring you the most joy?
• Are there places – in your daily life or in the wider world – that you connect with feelings of joy? 
• Can you name a big, special joy?
• How about a little, everyday joy? 

HANDS-ON PROJECT: Plan and do something that gives you joy!

Think of something you would really like to do, either on your own or with your household or a loved one or friend. It could be an outing – or a special treat – or a small project that would feel good to do. Here are some ideas: 

• Go for a walk in a new neighborhood and look for Christmas lights. Take a canine or human friend with you! 
• Look for an exhibit in a local museum that catches your attention, or seek out some wonderful art online, and spend time taking it in.
• Cue up some music that you really enjoy listening to. (Maybe you could share a few favorite songs with a friend, and ask for theirs!) 
• Make plans with a friend or loved one to play a game, meet for a treat, or do a simple art or craft project together. 
• Dive into a really good book, TV show, or movie. It’s OK if it’s one you’ve already seen or read, as long as it’s something that gives you joy. 

Make a concrete plan to do something, even if it’s not this week, and try to follow through. 

RESONATING TEXTS

These texts offers another perspective on Advent/Christmas joy. 

Poem: The Glory, by Madeline L’Engle

Poem: Mary’s Dream, by Lucille Clifton

An Orthodox prayer to St. Nicholas

Let us all say: Rejoice, O guardian of the people of Myra,
Their head and honored counsellor, 
The pillar of the church which cannot be shaken.

Rejoice, O light full of brightness, 
That makes the ends of the world shine with brightness. 

Rejoice, O divine delight of the afflicted, 
The fervent advocate of those who suffer from injustice.

And now, O all-blessed Nicholas, 
Never cease praying to Christ our God 
For those who honor the festival of your memory with faith and with love. 

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

And so I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!”

– Martin Luther King, Jr., April 3, 1968

Today is Christ the King Sunday. I like to remind people that this is the youngest of our holy days – just a few years short of its hundredth birthday. It was instituted by Pope Pius the 11th in 1925, in the Roman Catholic Church, and spread to other churches from there. It was a direct response to World War I and the horror of seeing Christian citizens of majority Christian nations take up arms and slaughter one another. The holy day was intended as a reminder that for Christians, our primary citizenship is not that of any particular earthly nation, but of the kingdom of God. And as we heard last week, God’s holy realm is a place of peace: they shall not hurt or destroy on all My holy mountain! 

The Gospel lessons for Christ the King Sunday are all chosen to highlight the paradoxical kingship of Christ, so different from the ways we usually see power and dominion exercised in this world. This year’s Christ the King Gospel brings us Jesus hanging on the cross, crucified as a criminal. 

It’s so much the opposite of where a king should be that people are mocking him for it. Because what kind of king gets the death penalty, to die in shame and agony? 

And what kind of Messiah – the long-promised Anointed One whom God will send to execute justice and righteousness in the land, in Jeremiah’s words – what kind of Messiah dies at the hand of the Roman occupying forces, instead of throwing them out and liberating his people? 

It’s always a little startling to read this passage out of context. The Church usually reads about the Crucifixion in the context of Holy Week – on Palm Sunday or Good Friday. But I’ve come to welcome the opportunity to reflect on the scene on its own terms. 

I’m able to notice different things about it when I’m not caught up in the trajectory of the Great Story of Holy Week, and to tune in to details that might bring new understandings, or new questions.

One of the things I think is really important to remind ourselves about, now and then, is that following this King – this one, the one hanging from a cross – should give a certain skepticism, a kind of critical distance, to our views of any human king, or president, principal, mayor, bishop, et cetera. Really, ANY leader – the ones we like as well as the ones we fear. 

On Good Friday afternoon, every year, I invite kids here to walk the Stations of the Cross with me. And when we come to the eleventh Station, Jesus is Nailed to the Cross, I tell the kids a really important truth: Sometimes the people in charge are wrong. 

Maybe they’re wrong because of a mistake or a failure. Maybe because their priorities or intentions are not good. Maybe they’re just exhausted or distracted or don’t have all the information they need. 

But one way or another, sometimes, the people in authority – our leaders, teachers, principals, moms and dads, policemen, presidents – can be wrong. 

We all know this is true; it’s just hard to admit to our kids. But it should be easy for us to remember, as Christians. Our God was executed as a criminal. We must be prepared to question our leaders and the structures of power in our time, holding them up to God’s standards of justice and mercy. 

And let it be noted, please, that the leaders in Jesus’ day weren’t just wrong because they condemned and executed Jesus, the Son of God. They were wrong because they perpetuated a system that punished minor crimes with brutal public execution. 

It’s not clear from the text whether the criminals crucified with Jesus were simple burglars or violent bandits. But it is clear in ancient sources that crucifixion was routinely used as the punishment for theft, fraud, and other non-violent crimes, especially when committed by those of low status, the socially and economically vulnerable. 

The criminal justice system in Judea under Roman rule was wrong because it murdered people for minor crimes. The leaders of that time and place were unjust, because they created and reinforced a political and economic status quo that drove people into poverty and desperation, and then punished them harshly when they did the things that poor and desperate people sometimes do. 

If that sounds familiar, it probably should. We execute a lot fewer people than the Romans did, but our criminal justice system routinely destroys lives for trivial reasons.  And our system is most certainly weighted against those with fewer resources and opportunities – as well as against people of color. If you’d like to learn more about all that, Bryan Stevenson’s book Just Mercy is a great place to start. 

Reading this so-familiar story this year, I noticed something I hadn’t thought about before. There are two criminals crucified with Jesus, right? The first one joins in mocking Jesus because everybody says he’s a King and a Messiah, but look at him now! “Come on, Messiah, save us!” 

The second criminal rebukes the first – “We have been condemned justly, and we are getting what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 

I’ve always heard it preached and taught that the first criminal is wrong and the second criminal is right. But you know what? They’re both wrong. 

The second criminal – no: the second person, who has been found guilty of a crime and condemned to death – the second person is wrong about what he deserves. Whatever he did that landed him on a cross at the Place of the Skull, he thinks he’s getting what he has coming to him. That he’s been condemned justly. 

Look: Whether the death penalty is ever justified is something on which people of good conscience can disagree. Though I personally think it’s tough to make the case for it as a Christian, whose God was literally executed by the state. 

But regardless: the second man here is almost certainly not some remorseless brutal killer. Maybe he’s a thief. Maybe he’s a political dissident. Maybe he committed fraud. Maybe he hurt somebody. Maybe he even killed somebody. 

It does not follow that he deserves death. 

And it’s a sign of his bondage to the regime of death that he believes this. And it’s a sign of our imprisonment to that same cruel master that we continue to accept this logic so readily. 

I hope that when this man awakens in Christ’s presence in Paradise, he knows that he did not deserve to die. That his life and worth are so much more than the worst thing he’s ever done.

Did you notice that the word save occurs over and over again in this Gospel passage? Four times – uttered in mockery, each time.  “He saved others; let him save himself is he is the Messiah of God.” “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 

That word “save” – sozo in Greek – it’s the root of the word that the church translates as salvation. This is core vocabulary for the  New Testament. Save: rescue, deliver, free, help, heal, sustain, restore – all of that wrapped up in one word. 

It’s the right word for this moment. But the people taunting him are pointing it in the wrong direction. Jesus will not save himself. The people mocking him think he’s powerless. “Save yourself!” is a joke because how could he? Look at him. 

With the Gospel writers, we know better. We know he has chosen this. Could he have used divine power to step down off the cross? To cast himself into the arms of angels, as Satan tempted him to do, way back at the beginning? Maybe; or maybe he had laid down divine power and protection, as he turned his face towards this moment. 

Regardless, it’s very clear from the Gospel accounts that Jesus chose not to resist this death. Chose, even, to walk towards it. Praying in the Garden, submitting his fears to God’s purposes. Rebuking his disciples for resisting his arrest. Silent when asked to speak in his own defense. As human, and as God, he gave himself over to this. Saving himself was never the point. 

I don’t claim to understand the meaning, the power, of Jesus’ death on the cross. But I accept the mystery that something salvific, something saving, happens here. 

There’s another important word in our Colossians text, in verse 19: Fulness. “In Jesus, all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell.” It’s easy to read right past it, but it turns out there’s a lot of theology packed into that word. 

Fulness, pleroma in Greek, is used a number of times in the Epistles, the letters of the first Christians. So is its opposite, Kenoo, which means emptiness, inadequacy, incompleteness. Those words, dancing around each other, trace the outline of a theology of the cross: In this moment, the human part of Jesus empties himself (Phil 2:7), to make room for the fulness of God. His weakness makes room for God’s strength, his brokenness opens the way for God to restore and heal. 

And early Christian leaders and teachers see in this a path of discipleship. They urge one another, especially in times of struggle and fear, to empty themselves. To let God’s fulness work in them. To trust, in the words of Paul, that whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:10) 

We heard a hint of this in Jesus’ advice to the disciples in last week’s Gospel: “When you are arrested for your faith, make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.” (Luke 21)

This idea of self-emptying is mystery and a challenge for me. When something is difficult, I tend to respond by trying to put more of myself into it. But I do believe – despite myself – that sometimes the wiser response would be to put less of myself in. To let my inadequacy, my weakness, my uncertainty drive me to a more profound openness to God. To serving God less like an independent contractor – and more like a musical instrument, or one of the tools I use in my jewelry workshop. 

This is the paradoxical kingship of Jesus, of God on the cross. Following this Christ, serving this King, calls us to carry lightly any earthly loyalties or deferences which may mislead or distort. It calls us to freedom from our bondage to the logic of death and retributive justice. It calls us not to settle for saving ourselves, when others are suffering and struggling. 

And it challenges us to find grace and possibility even in the moments when we feel like we have nothing to offer. For in this Kingdom, emptiness is fulfilled, brokenness can reconcile, and dying can lead to eternal life. 

WAIT 

The first week of Advent, November 27 – December 3

This Week’s Song: “Wait for the Lord”     The Taizé Community

Wait for the Lord, whose day is near; wait for the Lord: keep watch, take heart! 

Learn it and sing it here!

About Taizé

The Taizé Community (pronounced tah-zay) is an order of monks based in eastern France, with a strong devotion to peace and justice through prayer and meditation. The monks come from many different Christian traditions, including both Roman Catholics and Protestants, and from 30 countries around the world. The Taize Community was founded in 1940 by its leader Brother Roger, who died in 2005. 

Today Taizé is one of the world’s most important sites of Christian pilgrimage. Each year tens of thousands of pilgrims, many of them youth and young adults, flock to the small village of Taizé to share in the community’s worship and way of life. Young people from every corner of the globe are encouraged to live out the Christian gospel in a spirit of joy, simplicity and reconciliation.

Taizé has spawned a unique style of worship that has become popular in churches and other settings around the world. Taizé music highlights simple phrases, usually lines from the Psalms or other pieces of scripture, repeated over and over again. The repetition is designed to help meditation and prayer. Songs often have text in many different languages, including French, Latin, Spanish, and English. We have sung other several Taizé songs in worship at St. Dunstan’s, such as “Within our darkest night,” “Jesus, remember me,” and “Ubi caritas.” 

(Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/priests/taize_1.shtml) 

WORD FOR THE WEEK: WAIT

How to say “Wait” in American Sign Language… 

The sign for “wait” holds the hands up and off to the side a bit, with palms up; then wiggle the fingers.

You can see the sign by Googling “ASL Wait”, or click this link. 

PRAYER PRACTICE for this week…

Practice quiet. You can do this by yourself or together with a family member or friend. 

Sit somewhere comfortable. 

Ask God to help you rest in holy silence. 

Set a timer and try just being quiet for one minute.  (If you feel like you can do more, try two minutes, or three, or five!)

Pay attention to your breath. In… out.

It’s OK if your mind wanders, but when you notice it wandering, try to gently bring your attention back to your breath. In… out. 

When the timer goes off, don’t rush back into normal speed and activity. 

Notice: how did that feel? Would you like to do it again? 

HANDS-ON PROJECT: Do a project that involves waiting!

There are so many possibilities!

Paint a picture with watercolors and wait for it to dry. 

Bake cookies and wait for them to cook – and then to cool!

Put vinegar in your teakettle… and wait for it to dissolve the lime. 

Wash your sneakers in the washing machine… then put them near a heating vent to dry out. 

Order a perfect gift for a loved one, then wait for it to arrive.

Some things just take as long as they take! 

SOMETHING TO LEARN… Practicing Patience. 

Did you know that patience is a skill that people can practice and build? 

Some ideas to help kids practice patience… 

• Name the situation and set expectations. It helps to acknowledge that waiting is necessary and, sometimes, hard. Give a concrete sense of how long the wait will be, whether that’s a timer or a calendar page – and if it’s uncertain, talk about why it’s uncertain. 
• Do something else. Draw a picture, build with Legos, fix a snack.
• Pretend. Research has shown that kids can handle a difficult task better when they’re pretending to be a favorite character. (Maybe it works with grownups too!) 
• Brainstorm ways to pass the time. For example, if you’re stuck in traffic, could you look for things that are green, or start finding letters of the alphabet? Coming up with ideas for handling the situation is itself a tool for handling the situation. 
• Work on skills for quieting your body. I love this idea: Lie on your back on the floor or your bed. Put a stuffed animal on your stomach and rock it to sleep with your breaths. Start with 30 seconds of quiet breathing; if that goes well, you can try more next time.

Source: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_help_your_kids_be_a_little_more_patient

And there are some great tips about practicing patience for grownups here at this link.

RESONATING TEXTS

These texts offer some other ways to think about holy waiting. 

Our time is a time of waiting; waiting is its special destiny. And every time is a time of waiting, waiting for the breaking in of eternity. All time runs forward. All time, both history and in personal life, is expectation. Time itself is waiting, waiting not for another time, but for that which is eternal. – Theologian Paul Tillich

With inward pain my heartstrings sound,  My soul dissolves away – Dear Sovereign, whirl the seasons round, And bring the promised day. – Early American hymn

Poem: Black Rook in Rainy Weather, Sylvia Plath – click to read

Poem: This is the Dream, Olav Hauge – click to read

Poem: I sing to use the Waiting, Emily Dickinson – click to read

This Week’s Song: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” verses 1 & 2    

This song is #56 in our church’s hymnal. 

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel, 

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, thou Wisdom from on high, 

Who orderest all things mightily.

To us the path of knowledge show,

And teach us in her ways to go. 

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

This parable of Jesus – one of these little stories he tells to get people thinking – this is one that can seem superficially straightforward. It’s about prayer! Or maybe, it’s about justice! 

But if you look at it more closely, it starts to get messy fast. 

I want to share three things that I notice about this story, today.

The first thing I notice is that the judge in this story does not represent God.  There are parables of Jesus in which someone DOES stand for God, or at least the story is clearly meant to tell us something about God – like the Lost and Found parables we heard recently. And there are parables that point us to the kingdom of Heaven – to how God’s ways are different from human ways. 

And then are parables of Jesus that are more meant to call our attention to how things work here, in this world. How people treat each other. We’ve had some of those recently too; Luke’s Gospel contains quite a few. 

This parable is pretty clearly about the way things sometimes are in this world, rather than the way God means for things to be. A judge can’t be bothered to grant justice, until he is literally pestered into it.And then Jesus says, Listen, if even a judge like that can be badgered into doing the right thing, do you think you have to convince God to respond to the cries of God’s beloved ones? 

This judge is a contrast with God – not a likeness. I love the description of the judge as having “no fear of God and no respect for anyone.” He’s like the rich man in the Lazarus story that we heard a few weeks ago. He’s an extreme type, almost a caricature. He’s a judge who genuinely does not care about justice. Literally the ONLY way anyone can get through to him is by disrupting his presumably comfortable life. 

So that’s what this woman does. We don’t know her situation. Somebody is taking advantage of her. It’s significant that she’s named as a widow, one of the core categories of social vulnerability in the Bible, along with orphans and immigrants. In a society where men held all property and legal authority, being a widow could mean she had nobody to protect her or advocate for her. She was at real risk of becoming totally destitute. She’s pestering this judge not out of strategy, but out of desperation. It’s the only thing she can do – for herself, perhaps for her children. 

So if the judge isn’t God, where is God in this story?  I think God is the courage and dogged determination that keeps this woman showing up and demanding justice, against all odds. God helps her get up every morning and try again. Nevertheless. And God is the force that makes the judge relent and do the right thing, if only to get some peace and quiet. 

God is in the capacity of people and systems to change, to be transformed. God is the Source of holy persistence, of faithful courage. God is in the nudge that reminds us of our need to turn, to change, to make amends and set things right. Even if sometimes we do it for the wrong reasons. 

The second thing I notice about this story is that this widow is demanding justice FOR HERSELF. Presumably because nobody else cares; there’s no one to stand with her, to join her in her daily visits to the unjust judge. So she shows up and pleads her own case.  Saying – probably SHOUTING: I’ve been treated unfairly! Give me what I need, what I deserve! 

That kind of behavior can be a cultural stretch for those of us who are middle-class white Midwesterners. It can be hard for us to do that for ourselves. It can make us feel uncomfortable or disapproving when we see others doing it. We’re all in on advocating for others, that’s great! But to speak up for YOURSELF… for your own needs… that’s a little unseemly. It’s not part of “Midwest nice.” 

A commentary on this Gospel pointed me to a speech by Frederick Douglass, given in 1857. Douglass escaped from slavery as a young man and became a famous speaker and writer against slavery. He is one of the great voices of our nation’s history. In this speech, he is responding in part to arguments that protests and insurrections on the part of enslaved people in the American South, were “prejudicial to their cause” – in other words, were turning public opinion against the plight of enslaved people. (Those familiar with Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement, a century later, may note some resonances.) 

He talks about so-called white allies who want to take the lead and call the shots in the abolitionist movement, instead of African-American leaders like Douglass: “This class of Abolitionists don’t like [Black] celebrations, they don’t like [Black] conventions, they don’t like [Black] antislavery fairs for the support of [Black] newspapers…They don’t like any demonstrations whatever in which [Black] men take a leading part. They talk of the proud Anglo-Saxon blood as flippantly as those who profess to believe in the natural inferiority of races… I hold it to be no part of gratitude to allow our white friends to do all the work, while we merely hold their coats.”

He continues to an often-quoted passage about the necessity of responding to injustice and bondage with struggle: “The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle… If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning…

“This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to, and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

Douglass talks about the case of the British government ending slavery in the West Indies. He says it took both William Wilberforce’s moral pleas AND the agitation of the enslaved people – showing the British government that slavery is wrong AND costly AND dangerous. Because knowing something’s wrong might not be enough to lead to change, on its own.

And he argues likewise that no one should expect the enslaved peoples of the American South to just wait for others to advocate or fight for them: “In the great struggle now progressing for the freedom and elevation of our people, we should be found at work with all our might, resolved that no man or set of men shall be more abundant in labors… than ourselves.”

Douglass doesn’t mention this Gospel text, but this speech almost feels like a commentary on this parable. When a judge, a government, an institution, a system, is unmoved by knowing what is right, then those who are wronged are called to struggle – moral, physical, or both. To pushing back against their own oppression, and demanding better. 

We all have opportunities for allyship – for listening to those who are crying out for justice today – especially in the lead up to a significant election! – and choosing to stand with them or respond to their calls. This parable might invite us to notice what we feel when we see people and groups speaking up for their needs, naming their demands. If that makes us uncomfortable, if that makes us pull back a little – maybe that reaction is something to sit with, and examine. 

And I think this parable could invite us to wonder whether there’s anyplace where we could dare to speak up for ourselves. Is there someplace you could be more bold advocate for yourself, or for a group to which you belong?cBecause that can feel very frightening. Very counter-cultural, depending on your culture! But it can be important to find your voice and name your needs. 

The third thing I want to notice about this parable is that it may or may not actually be about prayer. Luke, our Gospel writer, says it’s about prayer: “Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” But that’s, like, just his opinion. This is one of the parables that’s only in Luke’s Gospel, so we can’t compare how it’s told or framed elsewhere.

It seems to me that a plain sense reading of the parable and the teaching that follows – without Luke’s gloss – would be something like this: Look, even the worst possible human authority figure will eventually cave and do the right thing if the demands of justice are sufficiently persistent and annoying. So, even when you feel lost and unheard, know that God, who is loving and just, hears you and will help you. 

I don’t think what we should take from this parable is that we have to annoy God into responding to our prayers! But the question about the relationship between prayer and justice does come up pretty often.

I found a short piece written by Abdullah Shihipar of Brown University’s People, Place, and Health Collective. He observes the “exhausting routine” that follows mass shootings and other tragedies: politicians offer “thoughts and prayers,” and frustrated activists and members of the public demand ACTION. 

Shihipar writes, “When people—especially those in power—call for thoughts and prayers without doing anything more, it’s meaningless. But prayer can be more than just a figure of speech; in its best form, it combines reflection with intent to act.”

He talks about how in both Islam and Christianity, prayer must be partnered with action. He tells a story about the Prophet Mohammed meeting a man who was leaving his camel without tying it up. The man explained that he was putting his trust in God. The prophet told him that he should trust God AND tie up his camel. Likewise in our Bible, the letter of James says that if you see someone in need, cold and hungry, and you say to them, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” what good is that? Faith without action is as good as dead. 

Shihipar says that prayer without action is “asking God to take care of something we won’t.” 

So what is the role of prayer, for people of faith, in the face of tragedy or injustice? Shihipar writes, “All humans will falter at times—but that’s why prayer is a starting point, at which we clarify our goals and values and ask for God’s help along the way. And then, in tandem, we try.”

God is in the capacity of people and systems to be transformed; the Source of holy persistence and faithful courage; the One who calls us to repentance and renewal of life. And prayer, in its many forms, is how we open our hearts and our minds and our lives to that Source, that One, the Almighty and Merciful. 

Prayer is a starting point, a pause in which we clarify our goals and values and ask for God’s help along the way. 

And then, in tandem, with God’s help, we try.

SOURCES

Frederick Douglass: 

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1857-frederick-douglass-if-there-no-struggle-there-no-progress/

Abdullah Shihipar’s piece: 

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/06/only-thoughts-and-prayers-we-should-offer-uvalde/661156/