Great Love

On Tuesday evening I went to a clergy event with the Bishop.  This diocese holds them on a regular basis and it enables the clergy to come together with the bishop to discuss certain issues that are relevant and be brought up to date on other concerns.  The speaker, Kevin Lamorieux, was dynamic and engaging.  He made a statement that captured my pondering.  He said that his grandmother passed along a valuable piece of advice to him.  "Love everyone!"  He went on to say that there are lots of people that he likes just fine but he has yet to succeed in loving everyone and all that it implies.

I am sure that we have all been faced at one time or another with someone telling us to love people.  It is easy to command or say but sometimes much harder to put into practice.  And for the speaker on Tuesday evening to say that put an honest perspective on our relationships with others.  It is not easy to love everyone, sometimes we struggle with the very concept in our own families much less with the general public. And yet the sentiment brings strong reaction and thought.

Love everyone and then we need to put a name and face to who it is we love and then we begin to think about the short comings of the person and the time they did something wrong and we can go on and on with good and valid reasons as to why we are holding out.  Then I think about those who say I love  you with relative ease and I find a certain discomfort in the easy ability they have to say those three little words especially if they are more of an acquaintance than what I would deem a very close friend.

Love, the lyrics of one song says, is a many splendoured thing.  I am not sure that we would all describe it in the same way and yet there was something about yesterday's sentiment from a grandmother saying "Love everyone"  that calls not only to the speaker but to all of us to try to do our very best to love and in so doing create world will be a lovelier and kinder place.  It calls each of us to strive to do better by the people that we know and are in relationship with, to do better with those that we will one day meet.  It calls us to strive to be the people that we have been encouraged to become.

Love everyone, at least start with the liking and work towards becoming an even better person and one small step at a time we will succeed in being all that we can be.

Don't look for big things, just do small things with great love....The smaller the thing, the greater must be our love.

• As quoted in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (2007) by Brian Kolodiejchuk

Hunting...

A catchy title to be sure!  And it will have a completely different meaning and significance to my Newfoundland and Labrador friends who are in the midst of hunting season and where the question of "did you get your moose?" is heard frequently.  My hunting has been a completely different sort!  No guns or harm of animals of any kind involved.

As with most arrivals of autumn I have increasingly noticed that I have to go looking for parishioners who are a bit, shall we say, slow to return to the church services and various ministries.  So this past week has been filled with e-mails, telephone calls and follow-up.  My parishioners have discovered that I can only be avoided for so long and eventually I show up at the door -- I'm a lot harder to avoid this way!  And I have discovered that if I show up at the door, even if I have to leave a calling card, there is always a response.

I imagine that some of my colleagues may be less than impressed with my tactics but after more than twenty years in parish ministry it seems to continue to yield results and people do still appreciate the personal contact even if it is only to connect by telephone to make sure that everything continues to be fine.   Relationships are built and slowly grow through contact and checking in.  So, while it may well be slightly manipulative on my part,  people do appreciate the personal touch that is basically pain free but indicates that they have not fallen among the forgotten.

So are you wondering if I have had success?  Absolutely!  I have secured a guitarist and vocalist to participate in a number of special events, had phone calls returned, booked visits, and had telephone conversations to touch base with others.  It has been a good week "hunting" for those who have been off to a slow start to return to the congregations, reconnecting with those who have drifted away and having a number of elderly parishioners make time in their schedules for us to have a home visit.  So hunting friends while you are limited to a quota of one beast to fell its been a bumper week here and I still have a few more to go!

Light

As I finished reading the book the 13th Disciple it said you are light, you are the light.   The premise of the whole book was that the 13th disciple set up a mystery school of people who were at very different stages of faith, brought them together and changed their lives forever.  One discovered that he was a healer, another the speaker of truth and so on.  Each of the members of the mystery school had a gift unique to them and it was up to them to accept and use it.  The over all message for the ordinary person was that the light lives in you and that you have a choice to accept or reject it.

Imagine for a moment that when we look at each other we can see the light of the spirit glowing.  It would positively change how we look at each other and most likely how we treat each other.  It would also change us as we look at others, our self and the whole world differently.  One character in the book wanted to go around telling everyone that they were blessed and while it was a very humorous moment in the book the response of the people was predictable and they all thought she was crazy!

How many of us look for the good in others?  We note all of the things that go wrong, we remark on all of the things that people do wrong.  We are happy to point it out on a regular basis but we seldom emphasize the good that people do.  It reminded me of a poster that a friend had many years ago "When I do good no one remembers.....but when I do bad no one forgets!"  It is a sad reminder that we often get caught up on the negative aspects and give the bad things emphasis when all of the good may well outweigh them. Certainly the media does not help matters when night after night we hear reporting about all that has gone bad in the world and then every so often a good news story gets shared and we are all reminded that there is still good at work in the world.

Yet this book The 13th Disciple reminds all who read it that there is good in everyone... but we have to be willing to look for it.  The light still shines...but we have to be willing to see it.  God still needs messengers and light in the world...but we have to be willing to be open to receive the message.  Give and take, good and bad, messages and silence.  The light of the good news lives it is in each of us,  will you look for the light?  And will you let your light shine?

Four Legged Bundles of Love

I have been noticing the various uses people have for social media for sometime now and quite enjoy some of the things that get posted.  The inspirational quotes intended to send a positive message, the connecting with friends, the wonderful pictures of the places that people travel, the soap box to have your say and sadly the harsh talk or hate talk.  It makes me ask what is the purpose of social media?

I freely admit that I am selective about who I friend, what I post and how much I am willing to follow others but tonight as I was scrolling through the facebook news feed there was a picture of Pope Francis with a dog and the quote, "One day we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God's creatures."  It caught my attention.  When I was a seminarian there was much discussion around this topic and various opinions.  A visiting Bishop, not about to be cornered, responded to our question with a question, "How many angels can dance on the point of the needle?" We were left with no clear answer.   I have not given a lot of thought to the question through out the years and then this evening there is this lovely post and quote.

I have always considered that the one who created all creatures would also be the one who received them when death came.  I enjoy the Blessing of the Animals service in October as people bring their beloved creatures to church for the celebration.  More than any of that though is the intense joy and pleasure these animals bring to our lives.  They sense our mood, our feelings and offer incredible support and comfort.   I also remember being asked, many years ago to describe a time when I have felt close to or in the presence of God.  I remember writing about the experience of having one dog lying on my feet under the desk as I typed and the other lying at the back of the chair.  There was peace and complete harmony in the room.  In that moment I knew that the presence of God was everywhere and it is frequently offered through the companionship that has been shared through the years.

So as memories of beloved creatures that have graced our lives for too short a time come to mind Pope Francis offers comfort to all animal lovers.  The hope and grace of God is extended to all of creation and is not a human monopoly.  The God who creates also receives all of the beloved creatures  back to himself.  So how many angels can dance on the point of the needle?  Who knows, who cares?  Pope Francis has reminded us of a loving God that is bigger than we can hope or imagine, that supersedes our expectations and loves all of creation especially the four legged variety that teach us much about unconditional love.

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself"

Josh Billings 

 

O. G. P.

Sometimes it is hard to get inspired!  This is true of any aspect of life from an exercise program, weight loss, career challenges or in my case this week, the blog.  It is not meant to be cumbersome and it is not that I have not had numerous encounters this week with a variety of people and varying needs.  I have gone from the high points of life,  meeting couples for marriage planning, to low points of life, funeral planning.  Now I get to step back on the merry go round of ministry and start all over again tomorrow.

Inspiration, when it happens is a fabulous thing.  The eulogy at today's funeral ended with the acronym OGP.  The daughter in law, who delivered the eulogy, went on to explain that the deceased always ended his letters this way....Okay, Good, Perfect!  It was a lovely summary of a life well lived, filled with teachable moments and this occasion of his funeral was one more opportunity to leave those gathered with a positive message.  Everything is okay, good perfect.  OGP

I pondered this as I left the service and thought what a happy thought if we could all look at life in this way and have a positive outlook it would make so much difference to how we look at the world and the people in it.  It doesn't mean that we won't have our moments of weakness but three simple letters can change our outlook tremendously.  I am always impressed when families share memories that have such an impact and leave many people gathered with such a strong impression.

So when inspiration seems hard to come by because I have gotten caught up in the demands that get placed in the schedule I am reminded that the everyday and ordinary circumstances of life can be the source.  Ordinary letters of the alphabet can take on a whole new outlook and as a result they will never be considered in quite the same manner again.  So if you are struggling to find some inspiration look to the ordinary, find encouragement from a friend, share a moment of your time and always remember to listen.  Inspiration will come!

"Faith begins as an experiment and ends up as an experience"

William Ralph Inge 

A Chance Encounter

This morning, a nice fall crisp one, I took the dogs for a walk.  I know that you are not supposed to talk to strangers (but I will talk to almost anyone) but as we were strolling along we chanced to encounter a gentleman walking his dog.  This dog was harder to control and the man was trying to get him to sit for me to continue on with my dogs, without much luck.   In the meantime mine were sitting and waiting patiently for the new comer to continue down the street.    This dog, a pure bred Doberman, was making a coughing sound and eager to meet two new furry friends.  The man and I established that the three dogs were friendly and let them meet each other.  They were all happy to make a new friend.

The man was quite curious about the leads that I was using and started up a conversation as the one that he used was not working so well in controlling his dog.  So we discussed the merits of the Halti harness versus the Gentle Leader (my preferred harness).  He was quite impressed with the Gentle leader and the way it controlled the dogs.  He also shared that his dog, now called Bruno, is a rescue, had spent most of his two year life on a chain and had sustained some sort of damage to his throat as he could no longer bark, only make the coughing sound that I had heard.  This dog certainly had a sad story.  I also learned the man’s name and where he lived and that he did shift work.   So as we were chatting I told him that I was a priest with the Anglican Church and without pause he said, I’m Anglican. I quickly figured out that he had not been there in a while since he referred to it as the Church of England.

It was a friendly visit, a chance encounter of two dog owners who happened to be walking the same sidewalk on the same morning but it left me thinking about the comment “I’m Anglican.”  This man, like numerous others that I have encountered, still claim some loose affiliation with the denomination but for some reason are no longer in attendance.  My question is not so much why he doesn't  attend a church but where has the church failed?  Why are we not engaging people?  Why have people walked away?  Is it disillusionment?  Work commitments?  Family engagements?  Hypocrisy of the institutional church?  I am sure that there are any numbers of reasons that people can provide by way of explanation.  Yet, there is still this claim to the denomination even if the person has not been in a while.  The challenge then, I think is to meet the people where they are enter into conversation, it doesn’t have to be deeply philosophical, and let a chance encounter change both parties.  I once read “God meets us where we are, but he doesn’t leave us there” and I hope that chance encounters like the one I had this morning plants a seed in both the man that I encountered and me so that there will be more encounters, more conversations and that we will both be richer for the experience.

Bits, Pieces and Scraps

I opened a drawer in my craft room, quite by accident, as I was looking for material that I had bought to make a fall table cover.  In this little drawer I found a bundle of pieces, already cut into 2.5 x 5 inch pieces.  I had no idea what I had cut them for or what pattern I had envisioned.  Along with the small pieces I found other pieces ready to be cut on the 5 inch mark, many more pieces of left over scraps as well as a series of 6 x 6 inch blocks.  Google is definitely a most useful tool so I entered in my material measurements and up comes the idea of a scrap jelly roll quilt.

 The bits and pieces that I found (trust me there are a lot of pieces here, enough for at least 1 double quilt)

 Scraps ready for ironing and cutting

Apparently you piece it together however you wish upright, sideways, long or short pieces and there is no wrong way because each one is unique to the creator.  So this got me thinking (a most dangerous sport) that I need to go quilting again.

And what I hope it will look like, but with more colors 
(photo thanks to Christa's Quilts Online)


I learned to quilt over 20 years ago when the older ladies of the Parish of Forteau thought it would be fun to teach me how to make some of those works of art that they produced.  At best I was and am a mediocre student, but it was a lot of fun and a good way to get to know some of the matriarchs of the communities and the congregations.  It was also a very pleasant way to pass a winter evening.  So this skill that has lain dormant for the last 10 years or so has emerged and as I looked at the bits and pieces of materials that were ready to be cut up I found a completed quilt top and back ready to go together, another put together ready for quilting (no picture as it will hopefully be someone's Christmas gift) and of course bits, pieces and scraps ready to be made into at least 1 masterpiece.

The Queen size quilt top that I found, ready to be assembled and quilted

Paths to explore, I thought, would be about new ventures.  Today I learned that it is also about the past and what has been learned along the way, skills that have been acquired and visiting with some old and pleasant memories.  Paths to explore with it bits, pieces and scraps are the things that make up the memories of life, add colour and character.   Our interactions and encounters show us that life is not perfect in symmetry, nor is it monochromatic but it is diverse and rich because of the paths that we travel, explore and allow others to enrich when we enter into relationships.