Wear Red

On Sunday, 21 October 2007, many churches, including St. Andrew's, prayed for the people of Burma in their struggle against the military junta which has ruled with violence in Burma since 1988. It being a family service, we showed a presentation on the current situation in Burma and on the the lives of the Buddhist monks and nuns of Burma. Their courage in the face of oppression is a witness to us all.

One courageous Buddhist woman in Burma is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who won a landslide victory leading her National League for Democracy Party in an election in 1990. She has been largely held prisoner ever since. The military junta has never let go of power. In 1991 Suu Kyi was given the Nobel Peace Prize and she used the prize money to form a Health and Education Trust for the people of Burma.

What can you do to help? Sign the AVAAZ petition by going to http://www.avaaz.org/en/
Petition for Suu Kyi's release by going to Amnesty International's site here: http://www.amnesty.ca/indiv_at_risk/takeaction.php

Wear red in solidarity with the people of Burma - the colour that the Buddhist monks wear. And tell people why you are wearing red.

And pray for the end of oppression in Burma

God's Slow Pace

It has been a while since I've blogged. I have started to write a couple of times, but was interrupted and never finished. Somehow Spring has folded into Summer while I have been too busy to be interrupted.

I steal moments on the veranda and pretend to be lazy as the world rushes by in car and motorcycle. I want the buzzing of insects to lull me into stillness so I can just be, and be reminded that the spirit can be quickened when the body slows down. Stillness can sink in like the heat and the humidity enters with each breath. God moves with the grace and majesty of the earth pushing forth green life. Sometimes I can slow my body down enough to catch up with God's pace - and be struck - and experience what I am too busy to see.

Silence is golden

I just returned on Saturday from a five-day silent retreat at the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusets, just step away from Harvard U. We were eleven clergy from all over N. America led by two of the brothers, Geoffrey and Eldridge.

It is hard to put the experience of holy silence into words. I felt supported by the old stones and blue stained glass of the Chapel. I felt included into a community of faith as we prayed with the brothers in the chapel and sang the psalms and canticles of the daily office. During my times of meditation in the Holy Spirit chapel I felt the ethereal presence of the Divine. This place is holy, I thought.

I am so grateful for the lives of the brothers who make this place possible for me and for any who would take some time apart to be still and know "I am". These brothers give their lives over to prayer, teaching, mission work, and creating a space for people to experience the holy.

I know that this monastery of the SSJE will remain a place of pilgrimage for me: a pilgrimage which I hope to do every year.

Easter is an attitude

Happy Easter! What?, you say, Easter was ages ago! But Easter is a season - it lasts for six weeks until the Ascension. But even more important than that: Easter is an attitude. Easter is the time and the place and the realization that God's love reigns over death and despair. No matter the circumstances which might try to entomb us, God's love has broken through that tomb, and won for us life and freedom.

There are all kinds of voices telling us that death wins. Voices (sometimes interior ones) which cut down and stomp on and choke off growth. Voices that tell us to get real, or get with the program. Voices that ridicule our naivte.

Easter tells us that the deepest, truest voices are the ones which are noblest: the voices which shout the glad shout of joy at the perfect love which God has for us. Such a love that he could not bear to be apart from us, and so came among us to be with us: to be us.

Knowing this, how can we be anything else but Easter people from now on?

Halleluia in Lent

(Photo: Archbishop Katharine Jefferts Schori - Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church (USA))


Even though it is still Lent, I am moved to say Halleluiah in reponse to the Episcopal House of Bishops' resolutions and letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates' Standing Committee written during their recent House of Bishop's Meeting (March 16-21, 2007)

The House of Bishops have responded with grace and dignity after a barrage of threats and an ultimatum. The bullying tactics from some quarters have been finally met with sanity.

Check out the Communique from the Primates' meeting and the documents from the Episcopal House of Bishops by going to our diocesan website here: http://www.niagara.anglican.ca/index.cfm

May we return to a vison of God's will for all creation, including every human being. And may we be called to work for the dignity of every human being as is our baptismal covenant. In this, we have much work to do.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. At our Eucharist tonight we will wear ashes as a sign of our need to repent which means to change our direction in life and to align it with God's way. It is the opportunity for us to take stock of our spiritual health and to strive for the path which leads to healing and growth.

Why Ashes? In ancient days, wearing ashes was not only a sign of repentance, but also a sign of our own mortality. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust", we say at the grave-side. Physically wearing these ashes on our foreheads is a tangible way to realize that these physical bodies of ours are temporary homes and this helps us to focus on our spirits which will go on.

What can you do to focus on your spirit this Lent? What are your hopes for spiritual growth?

Cuba

I just heard word from our intrepid travellers in Cuba. They have sent me two e-mails, each one with a photo attached which I have put on our bulletin board. Bill and Jean and Anita seem to be doing quite well: melting from the heat and, amazingly, keeping out of trouble: even Bill!

Let's rejoice that Bill and Jean and Anita are helping to form our relationship with our companion parish of San Pablo in Cuba. May they return safely back to us. And may they bring some warmth back with them!

Snow

We all knew it was coming, but there's nothing like experiencing the real thing. Why is it that a storm's winds can howl so much more convincingly around a 100 year-old house. Last night after 11 P.M. I stood at the glass front door of the darkened Rectory, transfixed by the power of the storm. The snow flying through the air showed the turbulence: each eddy and flow of the gusts carried on the strong North-Easterly. I stood, matching sound and motion, and entering into the dance between the two. Darkness and light. God is great, I thought.

School is out and the children rejoice. Time to play. Can the adults remember what children know so easily? And can we, in our play, be in awe of last night's power which created today's sculpted blanket of white?

Clergy Day Today

I Have just returned from a Clergy Day at St. Christopher's in Burlington. The afternoon was the Bishop's time and he started his talk with the announcement that he will be retiring in a year on February 29th, 2008. There will be an electoral Synod in June to elect a c0adjuter Bishop who will serve with Bishop Ralph before becoming the new Diocesan Bishop when Bishop Ralph retires. Bishop Ralph followed his announcement with an hour remembering his past ten years as our Bishop. It was a heartfelt, often humourous talk which ended with the challenge for us to support the new bishop whom we will elect. At the end of his speech we, the clergy, gave him a standing ovation.

I am so grateful for Bishop Ralph: for bringing me to this Diocese and to this great parish of St. Andrew. I am thankful for his pastoral care for me and my family and for the clergy and people of Niagara. We still have him for a year, and I hope that it can be a year in which the people of St. Andrew's Church can show their appreciation for him and his care.

Drew's New Blog

Hi Folks,

I am starting this blog as a way for Parishioners and friends of St. Andrew's Church to participate in our web site. If you have something to say or would like to start a conversation simply post your comment.

I would like to start us off by talking about grattitude. I am gratefull for the great witness of so many people in our parish. Tonight I got to see a new committee meet for the first time. This morning I saw a parishioner share her gift of music with some old folks at a new seniors' residence. Then, in the afternoon, I got to see the same parishioner do it all again for some others at a nursing home. Every day I am conscious of how so many of our parishioners are reaching out to help others: at the hospital, at the food bank, at our worship and in so many other ways.

So I am grateful. What things are you grateful for?