tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57031911404133808472024-03-19T05:20:29.472-05:003:15"Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you." 1 Peter 3:15Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.comBlogger152125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-83127557032507752322023-02-20T11:51:00.007-06:002023-02-20T12:14:38.780-06:00A Lenten Message to SGSB from Fr. Ethan<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGxgK9VsybXejjw5ObZ7DrC1VPsJzrUIiy-84ePes1JLjNyAIqCeJNemfrBv0O86LsHI6hNP8-6zyLlK5CvWwbo3IlW3YMuTNlki-tx8SRid1e1e7Nrhli9ituj_HTpWO9NOH9Y6moEtoqNLxRNQxfPRfskKDarEFgon6UACcoCxk3q15GB5ZHs5Qabg/s2364/IMG_7312.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1330" data-original-width="2364" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGxgK9VsybXejjw5ObZ7DrC1VPsJzrUIiy-84ePes1JLjNyAIqCeJNemfrBv0O86LsHI6hNP8-6zyLlK5CvWwbo3IlW3YMuTNlki-tx8SRid1e1e7Nrhli9ituj_HTpWO9NOH9Y6moEtoqNLxRNQxfPRfskKDarEFgon6UACcoCxk3q15GB5ZHs5Qabg/w400-h225/IMG_7312.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My dear siblings in Christ,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It is hard to believe that it has only been six weeks since we started our journey together as priest and parish at St. George St Barnabas. I have been overwhelmed by your kindness and generosity; and it has been so easy for me to feel comfortable and settled, even though there is still so much for me to learn. I am really grateful that we have had a bit of time together before the start of Lent to get to know and trust each other; because this season, perhaps more than any other, makes demands on us, both spiritually and physically, that require the bond of community. As that old Beatles' song goes, "I get by with a little help from my friends." Lent is an intense period of soul-searching and reflection that is made easier by the presence of companions walking the same road, propping each other up when we get weary and encouraging each other when we get discouraged.</div><p></p><p>Lent is not only a time of reflection, but also one of exploration and discovery. During Lent, we will walk with Jesus through his many struggles, listen as he teaches, and explore the mysteries of his Passion and death on the Cross. Our walk with Jesus will help us to know him and ourselves better. At the same time, we will continue to get to know one another better by exploring what we want our common life as a parish to look like going forward. In many ways, St. George St. Barnabas has been in a holding pattern for a few years, brought on by the pandemic and the pastoral transition. But now that a rector is in place, we can start to resume some of the normal features of a settled congregational life. This includes hosting weekly fellowship or coffee hour after Mass, a return to Christian formation for adults, and more robust community outreach. It is my hope that all of you will share your honest feedback on these and other aspects, as we live into them and make adjustments.</p><p>My immediate goal as your rector is to make sure that your cherished customs of worship and community are preserved, while also inviting you to experience some new things that might stretch and enrich us. I am excited, for instance, to restore the laying on of hands and anointing as a common feature of the Prayers of the People during the Sunday Mass and to introduce some of you to the transformative experience of Ashes-to-Go on Ash Wednesday. Most of all, though, I want to hear your stories, of your own lives, of your spiritual journeys, and of the high and low moments of your time at St. George St. Barnabas. I want to hear what you are excited or worried about, and what you would like to see for the parish in the years ahead. Lent is a wonderful time for us to dig deep and share what is in our hearts as we look expectantly toward the hope and joy of Easter and the empty tomb.</p><p>May God lead us in the years ahead to boundless discoveries and moments of grace in our walk with each other.</p><p>Peace and blessings,</p><p>Ethan Alexander +<br />IV Rector SGSB</p>Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-10726250074553940562020-06-05T14:07:00.002-05:002020-06-05T14:07:55.756-05:00The Holy Trinity in the Wake of George Floyd's Death<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>"Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God."</b> These were the words printed on a homemade sign at last Saturday's Black Lives Matter demonstration that began in Federal Plaza in Chicago to protest the police killing of George Floyd. The sign was carried by a mom, dad, and their young son as we all milled about in the plaza before the marching and chanting began; and I wondered whether these parents had brought their child to the event in order to show him what democracy-in-action looked like. Perhaps that's just what they had done, I thought to myself, and I smiled broadly underneath my mask. But to invoke the prophet Micah's words as a fitting commentary on the values that we are supposed to embody, not only as people of faith, by as members of a civil society, that was truly extraordinary. Great work, Mom and Dad.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">These three commands from Micah--act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God--are all about how human beings are meant to be in relationship with each other and with God. Trinity Sunday, which we will celebrate this week, explores the deep mystery of the Holy Trinity. That God should exist as three persons, and yet still be one God, boggles the mind when we try to think about it in our limited, compartmentalizing, human way. The Trinity expresses the dynamic of God's action in creation. God's loving, life-giving force is the product of the cooperation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which in theological terms we call, <i>perichoresis</i>, a Greek word that means "mutual indwelling." </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the reasons that I have been averse to referring to the persons of the Trinity with the non-gendered language of "Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier" is that to do so leads us into the heresy of either tritheism (three Gods) or modalism (describing God according to different aspects or modes). To reduce God to three of God's functions is to deprive God of God's fullness. To assign a specific function--say, redemption--to one of the three persons of the Trinity is to suggest that only the Son had any hand in redeeming humanity, because the Father only created and the Holy Spirit only sanctified. It's as if we distilled a human being's identity down to one salient characteristic, instead of acknowledging the richness of their personhood, with its infinite variety, complexity, and nuance. It's dehumanizing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">And yet, that is exactly how we act in our society, when we stop treating people like the full human beings they are and only as Black people, or trans people, or women, or immigrants. We sterotype and essentialize them according to one or a few characteristics, rather than honoring the vow we make in our Prayer Book's Baptismal Covenant to respect the dignity of every human being. To respect a person's dignity is to avoid lumping individuals into a convenient and yet sloppy category like Hispanic, or gay, or even Sanctifier. The society we create is not the product of one person, but the cumulative contributions we complex human beings make (or fail to make) to act justly, to love mercy, or to walk humbly with our God and each other. If we are made in God's image, then we cannot relegate responsibility to create, to redeem, or to sanctify to just one person. It must be the result of our mutual indwelling. The Holy Trinity is not just a theological brain-teaser, it is an image that we are expected to embody in our society's systems and in our daily lives.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abundant blessings,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Ethan+</span></span></div>
Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-78315373808212068092019-11-01T14:21:00.003-05:002019-11-01T14:21:58.678-05:00For All the Saints<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you want to know what Episcopalians believe, all you have to do is open the Book of Common Prayer--or as it is more casually known, the Prayer Book or BCP. It takes some practice to know how to flip effortlessly back and forth between the different parts of the Eucharist service, as well as the BCP's other resources. The more you do, however, the deeper an understanding you will gain of the "faith once delivered to the saints," as the Letter to the Hebrews puts it. The same could be said of the Hymnal 1982. It, too, is a good reflection of Episcopal belief, and on a day like All Saints' Day, when we sing so many classic favorites, our theology jumps out from the page.<br />
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In churches that only gather for worship on Sundays, it's difficult to differentiate between the two holy days of All Saints' Day (November 1) and the Commemoration of All Faithful Departed (November 2). Parishes with a daily Mass are able to keep them distinct; but for parishes like ours, we have to make the most of that one day when we're all together at the Lord's Table. The hymn we're going to sing at the Gospel on Sunday begins, "I sing a song of the saints of God, patient, and brave and true, who toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew. And one was a doctor, and one was a queen, and one was a shepherd on the green: they were all of them saints of God--and I mean, God helping, to be one too." The saints comprise a dazzling variety of people, both the lofty and the humble.<br />
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All Saints' Day, strictly speaking, commemorates those that the Church over the centuries has seen fit to add to its official Calendar of Saints. As this Sunday's offertory hymn, "By all your saints still striving," notes, it includes "apostles, prophets, martyrs, and all the noble throng who wear the spotless raiment and raise the ceaseless song." Yet it's not only the greats like the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Luke, St. Francis, or contemporary luminaries like Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King, Jr., but also the unsung heroes who have done great things without official recognition. The verse of the offertory hymn fittingly ends, "for them and those whose witness is only known to you--we give you praise anew."<br />
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The Commemoration of All Faithful Departed, on the other hand, remembers all who have died: my Grandma Kibby; my eighth-grade teacher, Mrs. Cortese, and so on. They may not have had a global impact like St. Joan of Arc or St. Thomas Becket--my patron saints--but they made a huge contribution to the person I am, and I am eternally grateful to them. So, it's wonderful that the Church offers a place in its calendar to commemorate them, too. One of the consistent messages of these two days is that we are called to remember both the Church's greats, and the people that were great for us, inspiring us to strive to become the best versions of ourselves, saints in our own way. And it is an expression of the Church's belief in the communion of saints, or as the Letter to the Hebrews calls it, "so great a cloud of witnesses." We pray for them as they reside with God in heaven, as we ask them to pray for us while we continue our earthly journey, hopeful that we will join them some day.<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-90275357558781689232019-09-25T14:55:00.000-05:002019-09-25T14:55:11.327-05:00Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This Sunday, in addition to observing the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, we will commemorate the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Angels are a curious feature of Holy Scripture and the Church's tradition. The Greek word, angelos, means "messenger;" and indeed, the Bible usually depicts angels as holy couriers, bearing God's messages to humans. Angels are also described as doing God's bidding, such as fighting the Evil One, as St. Michael the Archangel is depicted here in a famous painting by Renaissance master, Guido Reni. But, of course, the angels' primary function, like ours, is to praise and worship God, "Holy, holy, holy Lord. God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest!"</div>
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Whether you think that angels are flesh-and-blood heavenly beings or simply a metaphor for God's divine communications, angels express human beings' frequent experience of God as distant, inaccessible, and unknowable. Remember, that Moses could not look upon God's face directly, because it would have been too mindblowing to behold, and so could only look upon God's hindquarters, so to speak, as he passed by. Even after that, Moses' face shone with the light of God, which was so overpowering that Moses had to wear a veil whenever he descended the mountain, so that the other Israelites would not be blinded by the light.</div>
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In a similar fashion, angels serve as a kind of opaque veil between the unknowable God and our limited human understanding. They represent our need for the message to be tempered in some way, the light dimmed and the content simplified, so that we can process it. That's probably a key reason why God speaks to patriarchs and prophets in their dreams or at night. There are so many more possibilities when we don't limit ourselves to logic and literalisms. Angels and dreams make the barrier between God and humans a bit thinner, so that enough of the light can shine through without blinding us completely.</div>
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I think that many of us imagine an embodied, real messenger delivering the divine message, because the messages at times feel so personal to us. Angels transmit not only God's message, but the feeling of God's presence and care. It is as if angels amplify for us the emotional, relational content of God's speaking, not just the words or images themselves. And that gives me a certain joy, knowing that God not only wants me to understand, but to feel in my heart his reaching out to me in love.</div>
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Abundant blessings,</div>
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Fr. Ethan+</div>
Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-89784095321110197762019-09-04T09:22:00.000-05:002019-09-04T09:22:13.361-05:00A Story of Belonging<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Anniversaries are a good time to take stock of things. Whether it's a birthday, wedding anniversary, or the commemoration of some other major watershed moment, these days urge us to reflect on where we've come from and where we're going. St. Helena's turns 60 this month, and so I've been doing a lot of reflecting on the parish's long life and the path that lies ahead for us.</div>
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I spent some time yesterday at the Starbucks in Burr Ridge Village Center sipping an almond-milk decaf cappuccino and poring over some old dog-eared histories of the parish. I smiled at Peggy Anderson's reverence and wit as she recounted in her elegant, lyrical style some of the high points of the parish's history: the first meetings at Pleasantdale School and Fr. Soukup's study, the burning of the mortgage on September 12, 1976, and the various social and outreach events we hosted: pig roasts and salad luncheons and autumn festivals. Peggy also spends a lot of her history documenting the origin and meaning of many of the features and furnishings of the church building, for as Fr. Johnson put it, "the church has an opportunity, even a responsibility, to encourage beautiful artistic expression as a means of recognizing and experiencing the divine image in creation." It would seem that she and Fr. Johnson were of the same mind on such things. One only need look back at our Advent Service of Lessons and Carols last December to know that the aesthetics of worship have always been and continue to be an important current running through the parish's life.</div>
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But what was most compelling about Peggy's history were the affectionate vignettes of the people who have belonged to St. Helena's family over the years. And there were some characters! Fr. Johnson returning from Europe yet again with a statue or another set of gorgeous vestments to support the parish's high-church worship. The arrival of the Petraseks and the Oommens. The wedding of my fellow priest and friend, Mark Geisler. Fred Boskovich dressing up as a clown on the Fourth of July at Pleasantdale Park. A lot of life has unfolded within these walls. Peggy documents meticulously each priest who served the parish over the years, some with long, distinguished tenures and others for a short season, with never an kind word or uncharitable comment. As an historian, she is always professional and gracious. It's a rarity to experience such writing nowadays. What a privilege and a pleasure.</div>
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But both priests and parishioners came and went, and most of the people she talks about are no longer around. That should not make us sad. Churches shrink and grow. People are born and die. As I've said to many of you, Jesus started the Church with just twelve of his friends, and so similarly, we are no less St. Helena's because we are few. Most Episcopal churches are small, as it happens. As we cross the threshold of our 60th anniversary, I want to tell you that I think great things are ahead for us, even if we remain small and intimate. Great things lie ahead, because St. Helena's is stiil full of great people, you, who will continue our story of belonging.</div>
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Abundant blessings,</div>
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Fr. Ethan+</div>
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Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-3491115203319711362019-08-20T21:27:00.000-05:002019-08-20T21:27:25.763-05:00Breaking the Law<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In this Sunday's reading from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus heals a woman who has been crippled and bent over by an evil spirit for 18 years. The leader of the synagogue gets quite indignant with Jesus, because he heals the woman on the Sabbath, when the Torah (also known as the Pentateuch--literally, five books) specifies quite clearly that no work is to be done. This provides yet another opportunity for Jesus to call out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, who favor a legalistic reading of the Torah, rather than taking a common-sense or pastoral approach, as Jesus does. This story is meant to help us reflect on what it means to apply the rules of our faith to real life.<br />
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It is important to remember that the Torah that Jesus, the Pharisees, and ordinary Jewish people followed was not a legal code. We often translate that word, "Torah," as "Law," such as when we recite "the Summary of the Law" in the Book of Common Prayer, in which Jesus says that loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves are the greatest commandments, on which hang all the Law and the Prophets. Yet the word, "Torah," is more accurately translated as "teaching," "instruction," or "guidance." The longstanding practice of translating the word, "Torah," as "Law" in English is actually a translation of the Greek word, nomos, which was chosen when Jews first translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek. This translation, which we know as the Septuagint, rendered "Torah" as "Law," and so have we.<br />
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Fortunately, we know better now; and incidentally, so did the learned Jews of Jesus's day. The Torah was not just the Five Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), "the Written Torah," but also the tradition of scholarly rabbinic interpretation of those five books that has been passed down through the generations and is now enshrined in the writings of the Talmud and Midrash, "the Oral Torah." Both the Written Torah and Oral Torah represent an attempt to apply holy wisdom to real-life situations. Jesus reminds the religious elite of his day that the Torah doesn't offer us a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach to every situation. Real wisdom requires a person to apply the Torah's instruction and guidance creatively to each new situation, not just to offer a pat answer that will fly in the face of common sense and common decency.<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-1232286129319444802019-07-08T22:21:00.000-05:002019-07-08T22:21:15.318-05:00Bearing Fruit<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KjPuGx1n899GQPi6ZCheKs4jBQnAsLu5S1nFw-2d5sD3mbrHucMQhWnPb78LC1ZirKiFQnLTEFHB6PwB61M88W2NqydPkytIT9jumQa_IxAn6HWReXZDnf8BztUS8iqOzhyIZZwUl1Zf/s1600/fruit+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="460" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_KjPuGx1n899GQPi6ZCheKs4jBQnAsLu5S1nFw-2d5sD3mbrHucMQhWnPb78LC1ZirKiFQnLTEFHB6PwB61M88W2NqydPkytIT9jumQa_IxAn6HWReXZDnf8BztUS8iqOzhyIZZwUl1Zf/s200/fruit+tree.jpg" width="200" /></a>In this week's reading from the Letter to the Colossians, the author says, "just as [the gospel] is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God." The gospel, as the author understands it, is the story of Jesus's redemption of humanity and his promise of a better future for all of us. Once we've heard this Good News, it begins to work on us and shape us into a new creation. But what does this new creation, this fruitfulness, look like?<br />
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Some would have us believe that God rewards dutiful Christians with financial prosperity and good fortune; but this week's readings suggest something very different. The story of the Good Samaritan, which will be our Gospel reading on Sunday, illustrates that true fruitfulness comes from an inner spiritual richness, because that richness fosters life in everything and everyone it touches, not just ourselves. The fact that a Samaritan, considered an outcast among the Jews of Jesus's day, offered such abundant mercy and generosity to a stranger affirms that it's the love within us that matters, rather than wealth, social status, or power. After all, a priest and a Levite both passed the wounded traveler by without so much as a glance; but the Samaritan is moved by compassion. He binds up the travelers wounds, conveys him to an inn, takes care of him, and instructs the innkeeper to spare no expense in looking after the injured man until he returns.<br />
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This story of the Good Samaritan is Jesus's answer to a lawyer's question, "who is my neighbor," after Jesus reminds him that the greatest commandment is to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The Church teaches that it is each Christian's duty to attend to both "spiritual works of mercy" and "corporal works of mercy." Corporal works of mercy attend to people's physical needs: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, and bury the dead. The idea in Colossians is that we do good works, not because we feel guilty or pressured by others, but because we feel an overwhelming gratitude for God's care and nurturing of us. And maybe, like the robbed traveler, we too were saved unexpectedly by a stranger in our own moment of crisis. Similarly, the message in our Gospel reading is that we do works of mercy out of a sense of shared humanity and love for each other as neighbors. Love generates love. Our own experience of fruitfulness makes us eager to see others fruitful, too.<br />
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Even though we have entered a more leisurely season at St. Helena's, we will still need to be planting seeds this summer, so that the parish can bear new fruit. We already have a rich soil and a healthy climate to allow these seeds to flourish. So, we'll build on our spiritual richness, by learning to invite, to greet, to orient, and to incorporate newcomers better. We'll draw on our own experience of God's abundance so that others can be fruitful, too.<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-64510174381253458192019-06-07T14:46:00.000-05:002019-06-07T14:46:53.469-05:00One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This Sunday, Christians all over the world will observe the Feast of Pentecost, which people often call the Church's birthday. Our reading from the <i>Acts of the Apostles</i> recounts the day that the Holy Spirit alighted on Jesus's followers, equipping them for ministry. The story illustrates what we call the four Notes or Marks of the Church : that the Church is (1) ONE, (2) HOLY, (3) CATHOLIC, and (4) APOSTOLIC. We affirm these qualities every Sunday when we recite the Nicene Creed; but many of us say the words without really reflecting on what they mean.<br />
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The statement that the Church is ONE, emphasizes its fundamental unity, such as when St. Paul refers to us as "the Body of Christ." It is often hard to appreciate or even believe that the Church is one, when there are so many divisions among Christians into different denominations, theological views, and worship styles. Nonetheless, we affirm that, however much we human beings may have fragmented the Church over the centuries, God is working through us to restore it to wholeness, which is why ecumenical work, for instance, is so important. Remembering that the Church's essence is to be ONE should impel us to seek out unity where we can.<br />
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The Church is also HOLY, in that it calls us into a particular kind of living. This lifestyle is modeled on the example of Jesus, who showed us how to spread peace, justice, and harmony by fashioning mutual, moral relationships with God and among all human beings. The Church's teachings, its sacramental life, and its mission in the world are tools for us to live as Jesus did, so that we can inhabit that holiness.<br />
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The Church is CATHOLIC, according to the original definition of the word, which is "universal." The Church is not limited to one locale, one denominational tradition, or one worship style; but rather embraces all Christians everywhere. The Pentecost story in <i>Acts </i>is a testament to the fact that Jesus's disciples were commanded to spread the Gospel to every family, tribe, language, people, and nation, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.<br />
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Finally, the Church is APOSTOLIC, meaning that the Christian faith we practice is a legacy from the first apostles that has been handed down from generation to generation. Known as the "Vincentian Canon," St. Vincent of Lérins in the 5th century affirmed the universality of this apostolic faith by claiming that it is "what has been believed everywhere, always, by all." Now, that may seem like a pretty bold and sweeping statement that may not hold up under scrutiny; and yet it is easy to perceive even in our own Sunday services the enduring legacy of the apostles: the reading of Scripture; the blessing and sharing of bread and wine; prayers for the Church and the world. There are still many common features between our faith and that of the apostles, as the Baptismal Covenant in the <i>Book of Common Prayer</i> makes clear.<br />
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Although the Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, it is only so in an imperfect way. The Church is often prone to schism and disunity, corruption and vice, denominational prejudice, and theological error. When we recite the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds, there's always a hint that we are making an aspirational statement, that we will work to make the Church a better and fuller embodiment of those four essential qualities that we claim for it. The <i>Acts </i>story is clear that the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to all who were present, without distinction--men and women, slaves and free, old and young, worthy and unworthy. The apostolic ministry has been given to each one of us, and each of us is called to serve. Each one of us is called to embody the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church as we go about the ordinary activities of our daily lives. That should give us something deep to reflect on this Sunday, as we recount the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus's followers in the gust of wind that brings God's holy fire.<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-80159633849040723392019-02-26T20:59:00.000-06:002019-02-27T15:22:17.323-06:00An Appeal to Justin Welby<div>
<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">27 February 2019</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">Primate of All England<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">Lambeth Palace, London, SE1 7JU<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">Your Grace:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">Many of us in the Episcopal Church first greeted the news of the upcoming Lambeth Conference with great excitement. When I was in England this past summer and visited Canterbury for the first time, I was deeply moved by the palpable bonds of kinship and affection created by our shared belonging to the Anglican Communion. I felt incredibly proud and connected. It was with great sadness and distress, therefore, that I read the recent statement from Dr. Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Secretary-General of the Anglican Communion, announcing that same-sex spouses of active bishops would not be invited to attend the 2020 Lambeth Conference along with opposite-sex spouses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">I am, of course, keenly aware that not all Anglicans are of the same mind on issues of human sexuality, as well as a wide range of other issues. We are living in an age, however, in which the Church stands largely discredited among the people to whom we are called to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Having often found ourselves on the wrong side of history, the Church has developed a reputation for being prejudiced, retrograde, and oppressive, a reputation that, I fear, is well justified. How are we to look people in the eye and say that our God is a God of love, and the Bible is the divinely inspired container of God’s loving Word, when the leaders of the Anglican Communion countenance and perpetuate the homophobia and discrimination that hurts so many LGBTQ members of our Christian family? How are we to defend the Church against the legitimate claims of outmoded and pharisaical legalism?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">I know that you, like I, take seriously St. Paul’s affirmation in his Epistle to the Galatians (Gal. 3:28-29) that “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” Are LGBTQ people not also heirs of Christ’s promise, Your Grace? I came to the Episcopal Church in 2004 after having wandered for twenty years in a spiritual wilderness following a traumatic departure from the Judaism of my upbringing. I fell in love with the Anglican form of Christianity, because I witnessed in Holy Scripture and experienced in the embodied life of the Church a Jesus who loved and fully included the poor, the marginalized, and the rejected without any qualification and in defiance of the religious and civil authorities of his time. And I fell so in love with Jesus that I have dedicated my life to him as a priest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Sunday lectionary recently included the Sermon on the Plain from the Gospel of Luke, in which Our Lord says, “blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets” (Lk 6:22-23). Our Lord did not judge us worthy of being hated, excluded, or reviled. Must we wait for heaven to see our Lord’s promise of inclusion fulfilled? Are we to be bullied, as the prophets were, by people who are ignorant and frightened by the ongoing revelation of God’s truth, as Our Lord said in the Gospel of John:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:12-13).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">God is speaking to the world; but many do not want to listen. As the spiritual head of the world’s 85 million Anglicans and Episcopalians, Your Grace, please guide me: what am I to tell my flock? When the chips are down, and we have to choose what is just and what is expedient, how am I supposed to defend the Anglican Communion? Must I tell my LGBTQ folks that Cantuar believes them to be expendable, or will I be able to say with pride that you and other Anglican leaders stood up for them? I hold out the deepest hope that you will take a courageous stand and echo the resolute words of the Most Rev’d Edmond Lee Browning, 24<sup>th</sup> Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, who said “I want to be very clear – this church of ours is open to all – there will be no outcasts – the convictions and hopes of all will be honored.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">I have great compassion for the very difficult situation in which your find yourself, Your Grace, in trying to keep the Anglican Communion together, as did your predecessors in office. I will pray for you in love for the formidable vocation which has been entrusted to you, as I hope you will pray and advocate for all those who have been materially harmed by the Church’s exclusionary policies. With this in mind, I implore you to consider adopting the fairer and more equitable policy of inviting no spouses of active bishops to the Lambeth Conference, if you do not feel you can invite the same-sex spouses. This would at least mitigate the sting of our continued exclusion from full membership in the Church at the highest levels. It would remind me and others of why we are still proud to be Anglicans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">I thank you, Your Grace, for your consideration of my comments. I wish you and all of our family in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion a transformative Lent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">Your humble servant in Christ,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Rev’d Ethan Alexander Jewett, SCP</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">VIII Rector, St. Helena’s Episcopal Church, Burr Ridge, Illinois<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century schoolbook" , serif; font-size: 11pt;">Episcopal Diocese of Chicago</span></div>
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Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-45080120497162546852019-02-23T15:46:00.000-06:002019-02-23T15:46:50.442-06:00Bless Those Who Curse You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last Sunday, Deacon Daryce and Deacon Miguel led us in reciting the Litany in the Wake of a Mass Shooting to commemorate the victims of the 38 mass shootings in our nation's recent history, including the one last Friday in Aurora, IL. Many people said what a moving and overwhelming experience it was to bring to mind so much wanton violence within the context of the church's worship.<br />
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This week's readings likewise address a variety of human tragedies. The reading from Genesis recounts Joseph and the Israelites' want during a period of famine. The psalm acknowledges human anxiety in the face of wickedness. The epistle reading from 1 Corinthians confronts head-on the reality of physical death and the promise of resurrection. And finally, our Gospel reading from Luke offers encouragement to those who are the victims of persecution and oppression.<br />
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In each case, the author tells us not to lose heart; because the moment we give up on hope and goodness, evil wins. The way we vanquish wickedness is by being kind and loving ourselves, by not letting ourselves be corrupted by the influences that destroy God's creation. If we rely on God to sustain and support us in the midst of adversity, if we follow God's guidance for a virtuous life, we will bring more joy, peace, justice, and mercy into the world to defy the evil forces that separate us from God and each other. By being faithful to the teachings of Jesus, we will offering the best, most effective resistance to the powers of darkness.<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-90056907352568787322019-02-15T11:22:00.000-06:002019-02-15T11:22:09.718-06:00A Blessed Sacrifice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Lent will be upon us in a few weeks, and sacrifice will be a key theme of the season, as you will see in the Lenten news items below. I realize that sacrifice is not a popular concept, because it communicates suffering and deprivation. But the fact of the matter is that in this Sunday's Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus openly acknowledges the reality of human suffering in the world. Jesus never tries to avoid talking about difficult things, like sacrifice.</div>
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In his "Sermon on the Plain," like his "Sermon on the Mount" in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus heals the sick and addreses a large crowd of people to offer them comfort and hope in the midst of their very real suffering. Recalling the words of the prophet Isaiah, Jesus assures the poor and downtrodden that their suffering will not be eternal, and that the wealthy and powerful will cease to enjoy their undeserved privileges. What Jesus is doing here is reminding everyone--rich and poor alike--of God's mercy and justice.</div>
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But we will not be passive observers of God's mercy and justice, Jesus teaches us, but rather, the agents of that mercy and justice. We are preparing for the Lenten season when we will be asked to repent, to "turn back" toward the path of God's mercy and justice, to mete it out to those we meet, and to embrace them as our fundamental values, the values that will drive our thoughts, words, and deeds. As followers of Jesus, we are called to a good kind of sacrifice by risking something precious of ourselves to alleviate the suffering of others. By denying ourselves on occasion, we make room for the other, that he or she may have enough, too. The Lenten disciplines of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer are intended to teach us to make due with less, so that others might enjoy relief from suffering, have full bellies, and find cause to laugh and rejoice.</div>
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Abundant blessings,</div>
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Fr. Ethan+</div>
Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-4044941267399476022019-02-08T14:58:00.000-06:002019-02-08T14:58:25.711-06:00Candles, Throats, and Confirmation<div class="gl-contains-text">
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This week's reading from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians emphasizes the faith in Christ that Paul received, which he has in turn passed on to them. He gives a very short summary of the foundational beliefs of Christianity, or as the Jesus movement was originally known, "The Way." The Church has a word for this <span style="font-style: italic;"></span>handing on of the faith from one generation to the next, <span style="font-style: italic;">paradosis</span>. It is a sacred process that continues to this day.</div>
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Last Sunday was an abundant example of <span style="font-style: italic;">paradosis </span>with the full panoply of ancient rituals that embody that faith that Paul is describing to his friends in Corinth. Our Candlemas Masses in English and Spanish included festive processions with banners, lit candles, and incense to remember the presentation of the infant Jesus by his parents in the Temple, a ritual in which they offered their first-born son to God's service in observance of Israelite tradition. We also blessed throats to commemorate the Feast of St. Blaise, a fourth-century martyr, bishop, and patron saint of illnesses of the throat to ask for God's protection from sickness over the coming year. In the Spanish liturgy, we blessed a statue of the Christ child and placed him on the altar, followed by a wonderful feast of tamales.</div>
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Christian communities across the ages and throughout the world have enshrined rituals and traditions like these to give substance to their faith in Christ. In March, we will enact another series of rituals to mark the solemn season of Lent: the imposition of ashes, walking the stations of the Cross, and the intense liturgies of Holy week, among many others. We will also be fortunate to greet our bishop, the Rt. Rev'd Jeffrey Lee, on the Second Sunday in Lent, when we will confirm and receive people into the Episcopal Church. In this very moving ceremony, the bishop will very visibly pass on to new Christians and Episcopalians the faith of which he is the steward, as the successor of Paul and the other apostles. This Sunday, I will preach on the sacrament of confirmation and offer some thoughts on how we might understand it within the larger scope of our daily life as Christians.</div>
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Abundant blessings,</div>
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Fr. Ethan.</div>
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Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-48557482897212887712019-01-18T17:43:00.000-06:002019-01-18T17:43:50.780-06:00Water and Wine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This week, we hear one of the miracle stories from the Gospel of John: the story of Jesus transforming water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana. It is one of the many stories we tell during the season of Epiphany that manifest Jesus's divinity. Epiphany is the season when we contemplate the implications of the Incarnation, that God became human out of love for us.<br />
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The point of this miracle story, like many others, is that Jesus didn't just live among us so that God could share our humanity. God came among us as one of us, so that he could transform us into a new creation. The effect of Jesus on ordinary people was that he showed them what lay hidden inside of them. Sometimes, what he showed them was untapped potential. Just as water could become wine, people could become more than they appear to be on the surface. Sometimes, Jesus showed them the less pleasant things inside of them, like hypocrisy, fear, and selfishness. He got into a lot of trouble for that.<br />
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Overall, though, the message is a positive one; because Jesus always maintained that we could choose the kind of person we became. We don't have to accept superficial appearances. We could aspire to be something different, something new, something surprising. We don't have to be just water; we can be wine--the very best wine. That is a message for each of us, as well as for our parish as we embark on a new year, full of untapped potential and endless possibilities.Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-22256392244451603442018-09-22T11:14:00.001-05:002018-09-22T11:14:14.081-05:00Back to School<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've always loved fall. Back-to-school meant new school clothes, textbooks that SMELLED new and cracked when you opened them for the first time, and relief from the oppressive heat of the Florida summer. So, I'm really happy that I'm going to be getting a hint of that experience again. With the end of summer vacations and the beginning of the parish's program year, we will be launching our exciting new Christian formation program, <i>Hogwarts Academy</i>, based on the magical world of Harry Potter. After attending the Evangelism Matters conference this past March, I realized that the Church has to do a better of job of inspiring people to engage with the Christian faith in a deeper, more personal way.<br />
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Back in the day, bookstores organized elaborate midnight launch parties for the latest Harry Potter books that were media events, with lines winding down the block, filled with kids and adults dressed as favorite characters from the wizarding world. The books encouraged a new generation of young people to pick up a book and read, sometimes all night, because they just couldn't get enough of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Lord Voldemort. The Harry Potter phenomenon tells us something important: that people are ravenous for a world of enchantment and imagination. The contemporary world has starved us of magic, and we need to be fed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjULQ7L6QRxB88mDmb2sIN-fZpxUwjsAyZvp1iJ-OTDABfOz6NCZ1BGNyLDMrSZMbf963gL4DyXCNGZ4Smc8LRvF_anWazQvVMdMNhP9kHwDCAn9fzdW9yxle1mY62eDYwxlYTyZKVFB6UX/s1600/IMG_6155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjULQ7L6QRxB88mDmb2sIN-fZpxUwjsAyZvp1iJ-OTDABfOz6NCZ1BGNyLDMrSZMbf963gL4DyXCNGZ4Smc8LRvF_anWazQvVMdMNhP9kHwDCAn9fzdW9yxle1mY62eDYwxlYTyZKVFB6UX/s200/IMG_6155.JPG" width="200" /></a>The Church is by nature conservative, cautious, risk-adverse. Stepping outside of established norms is uncomfortable. We sometimes feel that if we give in to popular culture or try to spin who we are in a different way, we are sacrificing essentials, diluting our identity, or dumbing down the faith. But I don't think it has to be that way. I'm not proposing that we give in to fads, but rather that we take a hard look at how well we've communicated our passion for the Christian story and identity. The epic tale of God's salvation of humanity and Jesus's self-giving love for us on the Cross is as compelling as anything J. K. Rowling has put on paper.<br />
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So, the fault lies with us, and now that we know that, we can do something about it. And the big advantage for us is that unlike the magical world of Harry Potter, our story really happened. When we gather together as a community, when I dress up in robes of red, purple or gold, when we say incantations over bread and wine or each other, we are not play-acting. We are doing a real thing, for we know that real magic lies in God's infinite, real power to transform us and the world. And this power is not God's alone. God has given us the power to be co-creators with him, by giving us a range of spiritual gifts. As Paul says in his First Letter to the Corinthians, "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."<br />
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Those of you who are familiar with the Harry Potter books or films may remember that each of the four houses at Hogwarts is known for specific gifts, based on the virtues of their founders. Hufflepuffs are loyal. Ravenclaws are smart. Slytherins are resourceful. And, of course, Gryffindors are brave. The Christian tradition likewise credits certain people who have gone before us with spiritual gifts, known as charisms, that have inspired and strengthened subsequent generations. We look to these people to serve as exemplars of holiness and companions for us on our own journeys of faith. Their stories help us to understand our stories better, to see where God may be calling us to serve.<br />
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Therefore, one of the fundamental goals of our Christian formation this fall is to help each person identify his or her spiritual gifts and to discern how God is asking us to use them. It's not magic, just attentive listening to God's voice and going where it leads us. Our journey of discernment as individuals and as a community of Christians begins today. And for those who will undertake this journey, they should be mindful when the Sorting Hat is placed on their heads that they are making a commitment to learn and grow into a new creation. So, let's ask God to activate our imaginations and get sorted into our houses!<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-23670969693644197782018-07-27T13:21:00.001-05:002018-07-27T13:22:06.780-05:00Plenty to Go Around<div class="gl-contains-text">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2-bct7ICoFVBVq-CtQX4BU3hudnyxKeWw4tWhIZLEt6spq2tgElP1m1rrH6Xy-Y0D_0uQHkvn3r96FVvAgtYwofGGsm42Ca8dxgiAC_elCdkHEJa0pVd4jSm6QidbCZnnoOKETe26jex4/s1600/IMG_4761.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2-bct7ICoFVBVq-CtQX4BU3hudnyxKeWw4tWhIZLEt6spq2tgElP1m1rrH6Xy-Y0D_0uQHkvn3r96FVvAgtYwofGGsm42Ca8dxgiAC_elCdkHEJa0pVd4jSm6QidbCZnnoOKETe26jex4/s320/IMG_4761.jpg" width="320" /></a>This week's reading from the Gospel of John features the famous story of the feeding of the 5000. Jesus knows that his disciples will assume that there isn't enough food to feed everyone, and indeed Philip and Andrew fulfill our Lord's expectations. Philip admits that the needs are more than they could possibly meet-- particularly with only 5 loaves of bread and two small fish, Andrew chimes in. But, of course, Jesus proves that their assumptions of scarcity are false. There is more than enough for everyone, with twelve baskets of food left over! Jesus is simply showing his disciples how to let go of their usual ways of thinking and perceiving so that they can embrace other possibilities.</div>
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Last week, we had an honest conversation about what it means for everyone in the parish to feel spiritually fed. At times, the needs of so diverse a community of faith can seem overwhelming--balancing English and Spanish; satisfying personal tastes around music, liturgy and Christian formation; responding to the needs of different generations. These conversations will continue in the coming weeks as we plan for the return to our normal Sunday pattern of worship and learning. And we have already created some new opportunities for Christian formation and outreach to feed people during the week.</div>
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What Jesus asks of us is generosity, to consider the needs of others, as well as our own needs--to share our loaves and fishes with each other, so that all are fed. Generosity fosters a belief in abundance, and that builds community, the Body of Christ.</div>
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Your rector and friend,</div>
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Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-50340656078737003352018-06-28T16:04:00.000-05:002018-06-28T16:04:12.577-05:00Open Hearts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Have you ever had a week where you feel good energy emanating from everyone, and everything seems in harmony? That's how I felt this past week. I'm not exaggerating. So much good is happening at St. Helena's that I am convinced the Holy Spirit is leading us toward an abundant new life. I am absolutely glowing with pride.<br />
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First of all, the very fact that we were able to celebrate LGBTQ Pride on Sunday is a huge achievement. Many parishes would be afraid even to mention the word "gay" or "lesbian," but I was proud of those who set aside any personal discomfort and showing up for Mass with open and generous hearts. I have been delighted, moreover, by the visitors we have had over the last few weeks, which testifies to the good energy we are generating. I was also proud on Sunday when one of our youth was unexpectedly injured while the adults were in the vestry meeting, and everybody--Anglos and Latinos--pulled together to care for her. Coming together in a moment of crisis is one of the things we do best. And I was incredibly proud that we were able to be honest at the vestry meeting about the "pinches" we are all feeling as a result of the changes we are implementing. Nobody said it would be easy.<br />
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Then, on Wednesday night our longstanding book/discussion group engaged once again in a completely improvised discussion that began with "why do bad things happen to good people?" and concluded with a discussion of the sacrament of reconciliation, after having covered sin, gluttony, biblical anthropology, and the skeptical approach to Biblical interpretation called "the hermeneutic of suspicion!" It was a vibrant and energizing discussion, and my conversation partners shared with me that, after years of trying a variety of formats, what we had just done was exactly what they needed to feel spiritually fed during the week. A slam dunk.<br />
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I also continued my ministry of presence this week at the Starbucks on Lagrange Road in Countryside, where I've been keeping office hours three afternoons a week. The number of people who have stopped for the "free prayer" on my table sign, and have shared with me their deepest concerns--for refugee children divided from their parents at the border, for their own children unable to find jobs after college, for their personal desire to follow Jesus faithfully--has been awe-inspiring. The good energy is building and I am so amped for what the future holds for us. Again, nobody said change was easy, and there will continue to be challenges and disagreements, anxieties and uncertainties. But I ask you to keep your hearts open and TRUST that God is leading us somewhere very, very good.<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-32211911620593413032018-06-21T10:28:00.002-05:002018-06-21T10:28:44.032-05:00Open Wide Your Hearts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Wednesday of this week, I walked into the Starbucks on the corner of Lagrange and Joliet Roads in Countryside to do some work on my laptop and just be visible to the community. This was only my second visit, but the barrista had remembered my order from two weeks before, because she said she remembered the large cross I wore around my neck. After about an hour, a man came and sat next to me. "José!" I shouted. This was the same man with whom I had spoken two weeks ago on that first visit. I asked him how his preparation for his mechanics certification exam was going, and then he opened up about his concern about our current political and social climate.<br />
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In the midst of our conversation, a mom with two kids, probably about 6 and 8 years old, named José and Antonio, came up to me. The mom said she and her boys would like one of my free prayers. "What should we pray for?" I asked. "We'd like to pray for all of those children being taken away from their families at the border." My heart was crushed. So, we stood in the middle of Starbucks, our hands on each others' shoulders, and prayed for those children being imprisoned in an abandoned Wal-mart, heartlessly ripped away from the comfort and safety of their families. Even through the sadness, I felt joy that we could share our anxiety and prayers together.<br />
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Our reading from 2 Corinthians this week ends with the words, "We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return--I speak to you as children--open wide your hearts also." There is so much Christ can do, if we only open our hearts wide to the anxieties, experiences, and needs of others. José's and Antonio's request for a prayer is a sign of a need for comfort in a time of crisis and despair. In a similar way, our celebration of Gay Pride is a recogntion of the adversities that LGBTQ persons have suffered and an affirmation of the truth God has led them to embrace. As the Lord says in 2 Corinthians, "at an acceptable time I have listented to you, and on a day of salvation, I have helped you." May we open our hearts to receive the salvation that God is offering us through each other.<br />
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Blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-71556255269700617912018-04-13T22:43:00.000-05:002018-04-13T22:43:26.187-05:00An Easter People<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The last several weeks have been extremely busy for all of us preparing for and experiencing the most important liturgies of the Church's year. As wonderful as Holy Week and Easter Day are, they are also emotionally and physically exhausting, and so when the vestry members and I arrived at the Nicholas Center for our vestry retreat, I wasn't sure how much energy we would have left to do the hard work of planning for the parish's future. Perhaps it would have been more sensible for us to rest for a couple of weeks before tackling this huge responsibility; but the retreat center was available, that weekend was the most convenient for the vestry members, and we didn't want to wait too long and risk losing the momentum and intimacy we had built during Lent.<br />
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It turns out that we still had energy--A LOT OF ENERGY--for the work before us. We did talk about mission and evangelism, including multigenerational Latino ministry, but mostly we shared deeply personal things about our lives; and we discovered as we told our stories, that each of us had arrived at St. Helena's, because someone had invited us. That was a key discovery, and we agreed that our primary focus moving forward needed to be an exploration of different ways to invite new people to join us, just as we had been invited.<br />
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We realized that telling the stories of our spiritual journeys and inviting people were intimately connected, and once we had connected those dots, we began to connect others. Our imaginations ran wild, and we began writing all of our hopes for the church on a white board, from grandiose projects for improving the building to smaller goals like holding hands during the Lord's Prayer at 9 am or restoring the labyrinth. This twenty-four-hour conversation was only the first of many, and we will be encouraging all of you to imagine and dream with us. There is virtually no limit to the things we can create, if we simply give ourselves permission to believe in them. That is what it means to believe in the new life that Jesus's resurrection has made possible. That is what it means to be Easter people.<br />
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Easter blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-64778122824814370412018-04-13T22:41:00.001-05:002018-04-13T22:41:28.385-05:00Alleluia! Christ is risen!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Alleluia! Christ is risen! What a joy and relief it is to say those words after the long journey through the Lenten wilderness. We encountered despair, doubt, fear, death, and much more during Lent and Holy Week, and now that all that unpleasantness is behind us--now that we have survived our walk with Jesus to the Cross and death--what do we do next? We focus on the new life that Christ's death and resurrection have made possible.<br />
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This Holy Week and Easter Day have been the best of my life, because all of you responded to my invitation to be vulnerable and to share your deep stories of faith. You have showed me and others, your feet, your wounds, your scars, and your Good News of new life, as I have showed you mine. Vulnerability and authenticity are best foundations I know for building a healthy and vibrant congregation. We have survived much, and that has given us the strength to explore this new life at St. Helena's, which we marked on Sunday with the dedication of our new sign, a wonderful gift from our sisters and brothers at Grace Episcopal Church in Hinsdale.<br />
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During Eastertide, we will be focusing on our new life in a variety of ways. Today, our vestry will begin its two-day retreat on evangelism and mission at the Nicholas Center downtown. Adult and children's formation will focus on deepening our understanding (and practice) of our Baptismal Covenant. We will host a number of community events, including our Day of the Children celebration with a kung fu demonstration and folkloric dancers on April 29, followed by the Blessing of the Bikes on May 6. And we will begin our work on our evanglism grant from the Episcopal Church on sacred storytelling. I hope that all of you will help us to continue the momentum of our Lenten and Holy Week experience, so that we can all be signs of the abundant life that Jesus has given us.<br />
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Easter blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-87485502203720464442018-03-29T15:28:00.000-05:002018-03-29T15:28:53.213-05:00I Will Go, Lord.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On the Tuesday of Holy Week, Bishop Lee, the clergy, and laity gathered at St. James Cathedral for the annual renewal of ordination and baptismal vows. The bishop also blessed the holy oil called chrism for use in baptisms. The closing hymn of the Chrism Mass was "Here I Am, Lord," and it was very moving to sing the chorus, "Here I am Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart." Those verses have always resonated with me in a very personal way, much as the words of another hymn we sang at that liturgy, "Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God, he to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood."<br />
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The essential message of those hymns is that, left to our own devices, we wander aimlessly, but if we rely on God to lead us, he will lead us toward new life. We are all called to serve, and God leads each one of us to serve in different ways; but as we enter the Easter Triduum, we must not lose sight that we are taking this journey together, with Jesus and with each other. We will wait together in the Garden of Gethsemane. We will walk together along the path to Calvary. We will witness the crucifixion and mourn together. And we will greet the resurrection with abundant joy--together. And through it all, we must be attentive to God's promptings to each one of us to go where God directs, and respond, yes, "I will go Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart." God calls each of us. Where is God leading you? That is part of the Paschal mystery that we will explore together.<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-19756793007359353682018-03-22T11:21:00.003-05:002018-03-22T11:21:45.603-05:00A Sign of New Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Tuesday, we received and installed our new sign for Wolf Road (see video), which I hope will tell everybody in the neighboring community that great things are happening in our parish. Many thanks to our mission partner, Grace Episcopal Church in Hinsdale, for its incredible generosity in helping us to improve our visibility in the community, so that we may invite new people to join us and be better agents of God's boundless love.<br />
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We will dedicate our new sign on Easter Sunday. It seems appropriate that we should mark the new life of our parish on the same day that we celebrate Jesus's Resurrection. I know that St. Helena's has endured several years of struggle and doubt about its future. I can tell you that when I came to St. Helena a year ago, I experienced a parish that was suffering from grief, anger, and distress. In the year that has passed, I have watched these emotions give way to healing, hope, and increased energy for mission. That change has filled my heart with joy.<br />
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Holy Week can be a deeply painful and emotionally exhausting experience, as we find in our own lives resonances of Our Lord's suffering as he walks to the Cross on Golgotha and submits to a cruel death. What his mother, Mary, and the disciples don't know is that on the other side of Jesus's death is a life more abundant and abiding than anything than they could have ever imagined. Our new sign on Wolf Road is a symbol of the new life that you have earned through your determination to survive and grasp that glimmer of light beyond the suffering and despair. In the liturgies of Holy Week, we will descend into darkness, but we will also pierce that darkness with the flicker of light from the Paschal Candle, to affirm that Jesus descended to the dead and brought all of Creation out of the darkness to redeem them and give them a future worth celebrating. That is the legacy that we will enjoy in the first Mass of Easter, and in an act as simple as dedicating a new sign that says that St. Helena's, has be pulled out of its grief and suffering to become a new creation.<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-72526727761256634332018-03-16T21:12:00.000-05:002018-03-16T21:12:20.814-05:00We Wish to See Jesus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This past week, at the invitation of Bishop Lee, I have been in Cleveland, Ohio attending the Evangelism Matters conference hosted by the Episcopal Church. Bishop Lee nominated my friend, Mthr. Mo O'Connor, Zach Dyrda, and me as the three "evangelism catalysts" from the Diocese of Chicago to bring back ideas and learnings from the conference to inspire and share with others. We have spent the last three days with about 400 clergy and lay leaders from across the church to learn how to invite people to join us as followers of Jesus, to network and to form new friendships, but most of all to share our stories about how God has transformed our lives. That is the essence of evangelism: to share our Good News with others, ask them to share their own stories, and then invite them to experience MORE, more belonging, more acceptance, more love, more redemption.<br />
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In this Sunday's Gospel reading, the Greeks come up to Philip and say, "sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip runs to Andrew and tells him about the request, and then the two of them tell Jesus. Our Lord's response is sobering. In order to see Jesus, we have to let go of much that makes us feel safe. We have to let go of our egos. We have to let go of our mistrust. We have to let go of our sense of entitlement. We have to learn to be vulnerable, to share and entrust our stories of pain and redemption with each other, and then go out into the world to invite others to be vulnerable with us, for there is no true community without vulnerability and trust. Let me be clear, the goal of evangelism is not to grow the church, to fill our pews. The goal of evangelism is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and bring Jesus's unconditional love to the lost, the despondent, and the discarded people of the world. With such good news to share, we hope that other people will want to join us. But the work before us is to learn to be faithful followers of Jesus by loving others as he has loved us. If we want to see Jesus, then we must speak, and walk, and live as he did.<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-35258030353307719122018-03-10T12:19:00.000-06:002018-03-10T12:19:08.714-06:00This Sunday, We Wear Pink!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Recently, I was re-watching the 2004 teen comedy, Mean Girls, in which a previously home-schooled teenager raised in Africa, Cady Heron, attends a public school for the first time. On her second day of school, Cady is befriended by a group of popular girls known as "the Plastics," who introduce her to the highly nuanced pecking order of high school and the rules of the in-crowd. One of the Plastics, Karen Smith, tells her, "on Wednesdays, we wear pink!" I laughed and remarked that we in the church have a similar set of rules. Twice a year we wear pink or rather--in the language of the Church--"rose" vestments, to signify that we are taking a much-needed break from the austerity and penitence of Advent and Lent.<br />
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Advent 3 is called "Gaudete Sunday," and Lent 4 is called "Laetare Sunday," both roughly translating as "rejoice." These Sundays are meant to remind us that even in the midst of temptation, sin, and death, there is a reason for joy, because God is with us in those moments. This Sunday will be special for me personally, because I will be presenting a gift to the parish, a new red cope, in memory of my grandmother, who died three years ago at this time. The cope will be used for the first time on Palm Sunday, when the church again changes colors, from the violet of Lent to the red of our Lord's Passion. Even in the midst of darkness, it is important to remember the light. In response to temptation, God offers us strength. In response to sin, God offers us redemption. In response to death, God offers us life. And that's a reason to pause and rejoice. So, on Sunday, we'll wear pink.<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-49187607362940219112018-03-01T12:05:00.000-06:002018-03-01T12:05:20.274-06:00A Long Walk<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Tuesday was an unseasonably warm and sunny day, so I decided to drive to one of the large neighborhoods behind St. Helena's to deliver the postcards announcing our Lenten services. The weather was beautiful, and the ground was dry and free of snow, so I wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to do some hands-on evangelism and outreach. I drove to the middle of each street, got out of my car, and walked to each house, leaving a postcard and one of my business cards underneath the doormat. I very much enjoyed being outside for several hours, feeling the breeze blow through my short-sleeved shirt and doing something that priests have always done, walking the streets of their parish, being visible. It gave me time to just rest and let my mind wander.<br />
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The interesting challenge of many suburbs, however, is that this neighborhood, like many others, was deserted in the middle of the day. It was like an incredibly well-manicured ghost town filled with huge houses with tidy lawns and luxury cars parked up steep semicircular driveways. I was shocked, though, to see how many houses still had Christmas decorations up at the end of February! I left cards at probably about 150 houses, and I thought that if the people in only 2 or 3 of them would visit us, it would be worth it. The only other souls on the sidewalk was the occasional person walking a dog. I felt a bit like Jesus wandering in the desert, albeit without Satan appearing, and fortunately, only for a few hours instead of 40 days. Most houses had a doormat with the word, "welcome," on it, and I wondered, that if anyone had been home, how true that message would have been. The optimist in me hopes that most people would be kind and friendly.<br />
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At the end of my walk, my shirt was sweaty and my legs ached, but in a good way. It occurred to me that my walk was a good metaphor for ministry, particularly during Lent. Despite all of our technological advances, sometimes there's just no substitute for an old-fashioned technique like walking the streets of one's parish. It's incredibly inefficient and time consuming. It's not particularly glamorous; in fact, it made me feel pretty awkward and vulnerable, as it always does. I realized that I might hear things I didn't want to hear, and so I had practiced beforehand what I would say if anyone reacted negatively to my presence. The fact is that the Lenten journey, like old-fashioned evangelism, is hard. It requires endurance and there's no getting around doing the hard work. It is meant to be fatiguing, because that's the only way we grow, by putting in the time and energy required to be transformed and to transform others. So, who wants to go with me next time?<br />
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Abundant blessings,<br />
Fr. Ethan+Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703191140413380847.post-15872300196494578572018-02-09T14:21:00.002-06:002018-02-09T14:21:36.222-06:00On the Mountain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This Sunday will be the last Sunday of Epiphany, when we hear the story of Jesus's transfiguration. Jesus ascends the mountain with Peter, John, and James, and then is suddenly transformed from the teacher they knew and loved to a heavenly figure in dazzling white standing between Moses and the prophet Elijah. The disciples feel both excitement and fear by this unexpected transfiguration that manifests Jesus's divinity.<br /><br />In all of the media coverage this week, there is certainly excitement that St. Helena's is receiving recognition for the hard work we are doing to transform the parish and the world. Perhaps there's some apprehension, too, for all the work that lies ahead. We have committed to doing some difficult things, and despite our careful preparation, we don't know how those things will turn out. Like in the Transfiguration story, we must follow the command God gives to the terrified disciples, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" This is the same message God proclaimed to the world at Jesus's baptism.<br /><br />It would be comfortable to us to do as Peter suggests, to put down roots and stay where we are: "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." But we can't just congratulate ourselves and sit on our laurels. We must constantly listen to Jesus and move forward where he beckons. God will require us to challenge ourselves and be receptive to the transformation God offers us. Next week, we will enter Lent, when God invites us to strip away the trappings and pretensions of the world and seek an inner transformation through repentance and holiness. It is hard work, but Jesus's voice will always be with us to lead us forward. I wish you all a most Holy Lent.<br /><br />Abundant blessings,<br />Fr. Ethan+</div>
Fr. Ethan Jewetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10302362445432045572noreply@blogger.com0