And, if we don't consciously work at loving ourselves, how far do we expect to get with our neighbors?
Brother Curtis Almquist, of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, has said, "We love our neighbors the way we love ourselves."
Curtis reflects further,
"The hallmark of solitude is being on good speaking terms with oneself. Solitude invites you to be a very good friend to yourself, to enjoy your own company...Unless I can be a very good companion to myself, I probably cannot be a good member of a community, because I'm going to externalize, I'm going to project, a great deal of my longing, unwittingly and unfairly, onto other people, who simply are never going to be enough...You have to first be reconciled to yourself."
To love one another as God would have us love one another, first we must love ourselves: we must spend time with ourselves; we must, as Curtis says, be on good speaking terms with ourselves.
It's for our own good, yes; and for the sake of everyone around us.
"Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminds us of the midrash that an angel walks in front of every person, no matter man or woman, young or old, straight or gay, black or white or brown, Jew or not, an angel walks in front of us and announces, 'make way for the image of God, make way for the image of God.'" -- Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater
That every person walking the earth, and every person who has ever been, was and is created to show the world the Divine nature. To show all people what love is. To show what mercy is. What kindness and generosity are.
That we all represent God.
That we are all God's own emissaries.
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Of course we forget this sometimes. We forget it, about others.
And we forget this about ourselves.
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And so God sends a messenger, (angelos, in Greek), to remind us, "Make way..."
"If you had to pick, what kind of Christianity would you rather have: a Christianity with the right answers that was dead; or a Christianity, loose around the intellectual edges, that compelled people to act in love?"
Diana Butler Bass, author of the provocative book, A People's History of Christianity, posed that question originally asked by one of her professors, Dr. Lovelace.
"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind." - Mother Teresa
"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." - The Dalai Lama
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When I was a boy, an elderly man lived in the house over our back fence. His name was Mr. Rateree. We moved from that house while I was only in first grade. Though we went a mere six blocks away, that was far enough that I rarely again saw Mr. Rateree. What I remember, however, as though it were just yesterday, is Mr. Rateree coming to our fence on occasion, when he would see me and my brothers playing basketball, or chasing each other around the yard with sticks, or doing whatever we might be doing on a given afternoon, and he would call us over and stuff through the fence a candy bar for each of us.
Thank you to all those who attended this afternoon's Homeless Persons Memorial Vigil in the St. Paul's Memorial Garden, sponsored by Homeward. It was a poignant service as Wallace+ and the Rev. Tyrone Nelson of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church read the names of 17 individuals who died without homes in Richmond this year. The church bells tolled and candles were lit in honor of each life.
In his homily, Wallace+ described the importance of remembering each life:
We remember those who have died, and we hope that by remembering them, that we would also raise awareness—raise consciousness—in our community; that hearts might be moved, and that minds might be opened, so that metropolitan Richmond would become more the compassionate community that God yearns for us to be.
Words from the priest and poet John Donne speak to us now, reminding us of the unalterable bonds that all human beings share. With some gentle editing, Donne’s short mediation, “No man is an island”:
No man, or woman, or child, is an island entire to itself; every woman, every man, and every child is a piece of the continent, a part of the mainland; if a clod be washed away by the sea, America is the less, Richmond is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if any of one’s friends or one’s own family were; any man, woman, or child’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in humanity.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
"God made you the way you are to be who you are. And you are beautiful."
Join the Movement
If you know someone who needs to hear this message, please share it. Or, if you'd like to tape your message that it gets better, call me at the church (643-3589) to set up a recording time. We'll add your video to the St. Paul's YouTube Channel.
In September, 15-year-old Billy Lucas, a freshman at Greensburg High School in Indiana, hung himself after enduring bullying torment for being gay. In response, two individuals, columnist Dan Savage and his partner Terry, released "It Gets Better," a video testimonial demonstrating to teenagers that it does get better if they can hold on. The video went viral and launched a nationwide effort to spread the word that it gets better and prevent teen suicides.
The Church & It Gets Better
Inspired by that movement, faith communities have launched "Faith Gets Better," featuring video testimonials from faith leaders including Bishop Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Church.
In the coming days, Wallace+ will release an "It Gets Better" video as part of this effort. He is also inviting any and all in the parish who wish to record an "It Gets Better" testimonial to call us and set up a brief taping. Let's respond to messages of disparagement with a message of hope.
Contact me at kallen@stpauls-episcopal.org or 545-5405 to set up a time.
Statistics
9 out of 10 LGBT students have experienced harassment at school.
LGBT teens are bullied 2 to 3 times as much as straight teens.
More than 1/3 of LGBT kids have attempted to commit suicide.
LGBT kids are 4 times as likely to attempt suicide then our straight peers.
LGBT youth with "highly rejecting" families are 8 times more likely to attempt suicide than those whose families accept them.
"For all of us make mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes is perfect,
able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into
the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide the whole bodies. Or
look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to
drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will
of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it
boasts great exploits."
Wallace+ then reflects:
The tongue is small, and yet immensely powerful. Words issue forth, for
good, for ill, with less thought, with more: words of all kinds.
Marriages and wars are started and ended with words. Words echo through
our memory and our identity: I love you. You hurt me. I forgive you.
Thank you. You are beautiful. I will. I can't. Goodbye. Help. Bless you.
Peace.
As the German Blitzkrieg rolled into Poland, and World War II began, on the morning of September 1, 1939, W.H. Auden sat in a New York City dive, writing the poem that would take for its name simply the date itself, "September 1, 1939."
In what would become one of the most-widely-known lines in all modern poetry, Auden wrote, "We must love one another or die."
While I love my iPhone (and I use the word "love" advisedly, of course), I also love the feel of a real newspaper in my hand. (Yes, I am one of those people.) That is, the "new media" has a lot to offer, but, needless to say, it doesn't have it all. If you ask me, anyway.
All of which is a way of getting around to saying that I'll sometimes literally set aside a newspaper article or column, knowing that I might want to return to it. And often (usually, really) I've underlined certain passages that resonated for me.
So it was with a column several weeks ago by Kathleen Parker, "Never a Dull Moment," where she tells about a new prime-time cable talk show that she will host with Eloit Spitzer. Yes, Eliot Spitzer. Yes, that Eliot Spitzer!
In this case, it was indeed one particular line that resonated for me, and to which I thought I would probably want to return: "like the rest of us, he is not only one thing."
Like the rest of us. Not only one thing.
Those are golden words.
They are humane words. They are kind words. And they are true words.
After all, whatever else we are, we are also children of God.
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.
On any given day, there are those things that would get our attention; those things that would bring fresh perspective; those things would remind us of what is most important, what is most true. If, that is, if we but notice. We never know when those things, those experiences, those people might come. And so it has always been, so it has always been.
The Rule of 72, they call it. It’s a rule of thumb to figure how long it’ll take to double your money. If you know you can get 5%, on your investment, then you divide 5 into 72 and that tells you: it’ll take roughly 14 and ½ years to double your money. That’s the Rule of 72. Now, sometimes an investor doesn’t want to wait 14 and a ½ years, or however long the Rule of 72 tells you that you have to wait and so increased risks are taken. And sometimes you win, and sometimes you loose.
We all want, in the words of St. Paul, to “lead a life worthy of God.” A life worthy of God. Un-like the lives of the false prophets, of Micah’s day, or the false teachers of Jesus’ day, the scribes and the Pharisees, teachers of the law. Their lives are un-worthy of God, we are told, in no uncertain terms. In their hypocrisy, they serve, not God, not God’s people, but themselves.
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Posted by Laura Woodard
"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind." - Mother Teresa
Thank you to all those who attended this afternoon's Homeless Persons Memorial Vigil in the St. Paul's Memorial Garden, sponsored by 
In 
As the German Blitzkrieg rolled into Poland, and World War II began, on the morning of September 1, 1939, 
Posted by Wallace+