I used the three-leafed clovers above on Sunday to teach the children about the Holy Trinity, borrowing from St. Patrick, who did the same 1500 years ago in Ireland.
In that spirit, I commend to you "Mysteries, Yes," a poem in Mary Oliver's most recent collection.
I hope you saw Kathleen Parker's "Whose Prayers Carry More Weight in Heaven's Realm?," talking about Franklin Graham's unfortunate comments (to put it politely) about other religions. Lame, lame, lame, Mr. Graham. And, more to the point: un-Christ-like.
David Bena (see yesterday's Word from Grace Street) is coming from the same place, in truth, as Graham. It is the place of fundamentalism, which is to say, a place of legalism and literalism and narrowness, a place where there's not enough oxygen in the room for the Spirit to operate freely.
Friends, let's pray for some fresh air.
As St. Paul put it, the letter kills, but it's the Spirit that gives life.
Goodness is stronger than evil.
Love is stronger than hate.
Light is stronger than darkness.
Life is stronger than death.
Victory is ours through him who loves us.
--Archbishop Desmond Tutu
"Any day is a good day to pray Archbishop Tutu's prayer. That said, with news of the murder at UVA, the attempted terrorist attack in Times Square, and the oil spill in the Gulf, perhaps this week his prayer is especially welcome. As is "A Prayer of Desmond Tutu," a new composition, by the English composer James Whitbourn..." ... read more.
NPR Reviews James Whitbourn's Celestial Sounds
Includes audio clips from "A Prayer of Desmond Tutu," including a prayer read by the archbishop.
Two columns in particular from last week, while I was away, are must-reads: Nicholas Kristof talks about finding "the great soul of the Catholic Church" at the grass roots; and very much in the same vein, Leonard Pitts writes about people like Richmonder Dorothy Height bringing about change.
"Thanks to an unlikely confluence of history and genetics — the fact
that he is African-American and president — Barack Obama has a unique
opportunity to reshape the debate over one of the most contentious
issues of America’s racial legacy: reparations, the idea that the
descendants of American slaves should receive compensation for their
ancestors’ unpaid labor and bondage.
There are many thorny issues
to resolve before we can arrive at a judicious (if symbolic) gesture to
match such a sustained, heinous crime. Perhaps the most vexing is how
to parcel out blame to those directly involved in the capture and sale
of human beings for immense economic gain."
Kristof offers a refreshing, heartening reminder that the Vatican, whatever it is or isn't doing well, is not the whole story of the Roman Catholic Church today:
In my travels around the world, I encounter two Catholic Churches. One is the rigid all-male Vatican hierarchy that seems out of touch when it bans condoms even among married couples where one partner is H.I.V.-positive. To me at least, this church - obsessed with dogma and rules and distracted from social justice - is a modern echo of the Pharisees whom Jesus criticized.
Yet there's another Catholic Church as well, one I admire intensely. This is the grass-roots Catholic Church that does far more good in the world than it ever gets credit for. This is the church that supports extraordinary aid organizations like Catholic Relief Services and Caritas, saving lives every day, and that operates superb schools that provide needy children an escalator out of poverty.
This is the church of the nuns and priests in Congo, toiling in obscurity to feed and educate children. This is the church of the Brazilian priest fighting AIDS who told me that if he were pope, he would build a condom factory in the Vatican to save lives.
This is the church of the Maryknoll Sisters in Central America and the Cabrini Sisters in Africa. There's a stereotype of nuns as stodgy Victorian traditionalists. I learned otherwise while hanging on for my life in a passenger seat as an American nun with a lead foot drove her jeep over ruts and through a creek in Swaziland to visit AIDS orphans. After a number of encounters like that, I've come to believe that the very coolest people in the world today may be nuns.
So when you read about the scandals, remember that the Vatican is not the same as the Catholic Church. Ordinary lepers, prostitutes and slum-dwellers may never see a cardinal, but they daily encounter a truly noble Catholic Church in the form of priests, nuns and lay workers toiling to make a difference.
Last week, Wallace+ devoted his Word from Grace Street to the scandal (scandalon) facing the Roman Catholic Church. "A scandal made all the more a scandal as a result of
the
Vatican's approach to the situation over the course of Holy Week, namely
avoidance and defensiveness," he wrote.
In that message, in seriousness and with no hint of disrespect to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, Wallace+ offered his thoughts on how different Holy Week might have been had the
Vatican taken a different approach to the situation. If, instead of avoidance and defensiveness, the Pope had embodied repentance:
Some have suggested that Pope Benedict should step
down; something, of course, that has never happened before; and
something that
is not going to happen now. Given the nature and magnitude of the
scandal; the
obstacle now laid bare before the whole world; something more
courageous,
something more radical, is called for. Imagine if the Pope were to go
about
embodying, in his own person, the repentance that is, in truth, the only
appropriate response to the scandal.
Imagine the message that would have been sent if
the Pope had done public penance in St. Peter's Square every day
throughout all
of Lent, saying prayers of repentance for the Church, and prayers for
the
victims of abuse. And imagine if, on Easter, the Pope had spoken right to the
crisis, making appropriate commitments to change and speaking about
healing and
hope for the victims, for the Church, and for the
world.
Pernessa Seele, Founder & CEO of The Balm in Gilead, sent a note of thanks to people of faith throughout Richmond who participated in the National Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS. I, in turn, share her note with all people of St. Paul's, thanking you for your prayers.
To My Family in Faith:
We greatly appreciate and sincerely thank you for your participation in the National Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS (2010 NWPHA).
Because of the participation and enthusiasm generated by faith communities and organizations such as your own, NWPHA 2010 was a tremendous success. As a result of our combined efforts, over 20 million people throughout the United States received our message of prayer, education, advocacy and service for the healing of AIDS. Across the nation, communities were educated about HIV prevention and testing while encouraged to support the availability of compassionate care and treatment for those living with the disease; and to love unconditionally all persons affected by HIV/AIDS.
Click on 'read more' to continue reading her letter.
I hope everyone has seen the President's speech in Cairo. It was remarkable. As he said, "Blessed are the
peacemakers."
Following are a few passages:
"America
will align our policies with those who pursue peace."
"Violence is a dead end. It is a sign of neither
courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old
women on a bus. That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is
surrendered."
And he quoted Thomas Jefferson, "I hope that our wisdom will
grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it
will be."
In addition to quoting the New Testament and the Torah, the
President quoted the Koran several times (five, I think), including this
passage, to much applause, "Whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has
killed all mankind. Whoever saves a
person, it is as if he has saved all mankind."
Another Koran reference was to "the story of Isra, when
Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, joined in prayer."
And, of course, this Christmas, tonight, and tomorrow, new memories are being made; a Carol sung, pure and exquisite; an old friend; warm, endearing words exchanged; a first Christmas for a new grandbaby; a candle lit, a face aglow, eyes agleam.
More than fifty times, in his published writings, Barth refers to the Grunewald image; and, indeed, usually, it is precisely in reference to John, and John’s relation to the figure of Christ; as he points.
Barth (and Grunewald before him) understood John’s sole purpose to be to serve as a pointer to Christ, a reference to Christ, a witness to Christ.
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Posted by Wallace+
In my travels around the world, I encounter two Catholic Churches. One is the rigid all-male Vatican hierarchy that seems out of touch when it bans condoms even among married couples where one partner is H.I.V.-positive. To me at least, this church - obsessed with dogma and rules and distracted from social justice - is a modern echo of the Pharisees whom Jesus criticized.
Last week, Wallace+ devoted his 
Posted by Wallace+
