Praying

It doesn’t have to be the blue iris,
it could be weeds in a vacant lot,
or a few small stones;
just pay attention,
then patch a few words together and don’t try

to make them elaborate,
this isn’t a contest but the doorway

into thanks,
and a silence in which another voice may speak.

by Mary Oliver
book titiled Thirst

Therese desCamp

The Longing of Mary, the Mother

Beneath this withered tree – branches cross the sky

My heart breaks open for even

God cannot protect the Son

from the crimes of humanity.

Beneath this withered tree – branches cross

as my heart breaks open watching

the soul of my son fly

into the sky.

Beneath this withered tree –  

hope crosses my broken - open heart

as I feel the shelter of a God  that does not control

but bears with us the sorrows of our humanity.              (by Rev. Dr. Sally Harris - 22/4/11)

                    

Obituaries and Eulogies

                I’ve reached an age where I religiously read the obituaries.  I never know what sort of story I’ll find; they run the gamut from succinct to saccharine, poignant to pontifical, as if volume or vocabulary will somehow express the very being of a life and the significance of its loss. Dates are noted, geography reviewed, families and loved ones named.  Accomplishments are boasted, significant changes woven through, illness acknowledged as a venue for bravery and as a reason for gratitude at care received.  I can only speculate what of the story has been omitted, changed, emphasized, downplayed.  “Never speak ill of the dead” is an adage that has held its own, even in these post modern times.

                Speaking of the dead, eulogy is the oral cousin of obituary, a verbal rendering of honour to the deceased.  In the absence of public funeral observance and memorial gathering, eulogy has seeped its way into obituary as the only opportunity to praise the life of the dead. Blurred though they may become, each stands with its own integrity: obituary a written telling of biography, eulogy a lived experience of honouring someone at the end of their life.

                It seems to me that the gospels stand as Jesus’ obituary - written witness to the events of the life of the One whom we title Messiah.  Distinct from that, our lives as disciples and the life of the church that springs up from his death, are Jesus’ eulogy, a continued telling of the story of God’s grace and an honouring of the life of the dead.

(Rev. Dr.) Murray Groom

Tenebrae

Those who know Latin know that it means “darkness” or “shadows.” I know it as some of the most profound worship of my year.

The format is simple: 15 candles are the only light in the darkened sanctuary. As the passion story of Christ is read, one vignette at a time, the candles are slowly extinguished. When Jesus dies on the cross the last candle goes out. All is in darkness. A cymbal is crashed and fades into silence. Eventually a single light reappears with the reading “surely this man was God’s son!” All exit in silence.

In the service I will lead Thursday evening I add some music – beautiful, solemn, reflective music that helps us to go to the depths, to be “pro-found” (from the Old English meaning “bottom”).

The music has power. The darkness has power. The silence has power. More than anything, the story has power… simply told, simply heard… in a brief moment simply lived.

There is lots of room in Christian worship for joy and happiness, for noise and drums and guitars and chatter, for perky songs and constant musical bridges between and through prayers and readings.

Surely there is also room for silence, the simple word, the darkness… for tenebrae…

…because the darkness is not absent from the depths of my life, and to discover it within the depths of Jesus is somehow saving.

Shalom, Doug Goodwin

Holy Week Begins

While at the recent Conference Leadership event, ‘Sowing Promise, Growing Leaders’, we heard Chris Corrigan, from Birkana, talk about being part of change in a living system, like the church.  He offered us some models that are motivating and speak to the nuts and bolts of effective leadership in times of flux and uncertainty.  All of it was inspiring.  The part that keeps ringing in my head is one comment that he made.  He said that the experience that we are having as the church in this time and place is similar to other systems that have been formative of our culture and are now being shaped differently by the culture itself.  He said that our church, the United Church, in all that we are doing to respond to our present experience, is doing hard work for more than just the church.  Our struggle, our heartache, our questioning, our innovating, our risk taking is all important work for the world in which we live.

As we begin Holy Week, let us be mindful, that the struggle for life in which we find ourselves, is important work for the whole world.  And…we are not alone.

Lori Megley-Best