DIFFERENTATION

farewell chausble left behind
Growing Yourself Up & Calming Yourself Down
John Sewell

February 27, 2018

I retired 27 days ago from public ministry as a rector of a parish.

As I pass the end of public ministry, my pace slows. My hands sorts papers from forty year old files. I notice that I seldom say, “I might need that later.” Oh, I do not go empty handed into ACT3, but what I choose to carry with me are tools, reference and memories. I consider it fair trade the unconsidered energy of the sobriety of my youth. Today I sit amid the debris of five churches, sermons from twelve revolutions of the three year cycle of Eucharistic readings, the papers are dog eared, faded and fit for kindling, not much else. The impulse to be done and hurl the contents of boxes into the fires of Gehenna tempts me. Maybe tomorrow.

While it is the same old stuff of my life it is in a new place. For the first time since 2002, my office address has nothing to do with the consecrated ground of the tax-free institution called church. 1049 Cresthaven Road, Memphis, TN 38119 is my place now. It is a very nice thousand square feet with abundant windows and good lighting from sun and fixtures. From here we launch counter-offensives against chronic anxiety.

JWS+

Tuesday – February 21, 2018

Cotton-Patch-Gospel

Mark does not tell us what happened to Jesus in the wilderness, only that the angels waited on him. In the Cotton Patch Gospels, (the Gospels recast in Georgia in the 1950’s), an angel arrived bearing a chili cheese dog for Jesus.

Each of us is driven into our wilderness, there we are tempted & there we are waited on by angels. We will face adversity, find subtle temptations and run into angels along our way. What angel (messenger) will bring us consolation today?  Wait, watch & enjoy! Thanks be to God.

Meditation – Monday in Lent I

1200px-Temptations_of_Christ_(San_Marco)

Temptations in San Marco, Venice

February 19, 2018

Mark does not tell us what happened to Jesus in the wilderness, only that he was tempted by Satan, not how the evil one did it. Temptations are tailor made for us. Perhaps an inventory of temptation and weak points is order. What are they (there is always more than one)? Foretold is forearmed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside heaven is a can with a sign – discard all tickets here

stough-rt-rev-furmanThe Late Bill Stough, Eighth Bishop of Alabama, used to say that outside the gates of Heaven there are huge trash cans with big signs beside them saying “DISCARD ALL TICKETS HERE!” Because you can’t get into heaven with a ticket. There are no tickets good enough to get us in. That’s not how you get in. In fact those tickets which we have spent our lives getting punched WILL KEEP US OUT IF WE INSIST ON PALMING THEM EARN OUR WAY IN! The tickets we have spent our very lives trying to get are as useless as lottery tickets the day after the winning ticket is drawn.

Of course,  all humanity has won the lottery of God’s love. It’s rigged that way.  All one need do it accept the gift of the already.  I appreciate God’s folk who have given me taken my had, inviting me into the Household of God.  Men like, Bill, who loitered by the door of the Kingdom to invite the unexpected wanderers into God’s house.  He ordained me over 36 years ago setting me onto the way of a servant of God’s people.  Having come to the end of that 2nd Act, I press on the ACT3!

JWS+

theotokos

The Theotokos (God Bearer)

“A person, whether human or divine, cannot be known — as a person rather than an image except by immediate presence.  If we want to project an image, either of Christians or the Church, we can do that by means of television, magazines, books, billboards, movies, bumper stickers, buttons, records, and posters.  If we want people to know Christ, we must be there face-to-face, bearing Christ within us.” 

Virginia Owens – “The Total Image or Selling Jesus in the Modern Age”  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote

The symbols of the sacraments no longer simply point to something: they also enable us to participate in it.

David Brown & David Fuller, Signs of Grace: Sacraments in Poetry and Prose, [1x]

Christ Trumps Everything!

leafing corss

At present I cannot ascertain where the following analogy entered my collection of such. I’ll continue to look for the source.  I’ve come to believe that this principle, this reality is the root of all genuine faith.  If we are in Christ and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ then nothing, no nothing must separate us from each other.  Christ trumps everything.

“An analogy can be helpful here: Imagine a woman, whom we shall call Betsy, who has a heart the size of the Grand Canyon.  She is gracious, loving, devoid of prejudice, and with an understanding and empathy wide enough to encompass everything and everybody.  Because she is so loving, she has a very wide variety of friends and one night she decides to have a party and invite them all. She rents a hall to hold everyone.  And her guests begin to arrive. Men, women, and children show up, of every description, ideology, background, temperament, taste, social standing, and religion.  A curious mixture of persons fills the hall. Liberal and conservative, fundamentalists and feminists, Promise Keepers and New Agers, priests and anti-clerics, union presidents and bankers, animal rights activists and persons involved in the seal hunt, meat-eaters and militant vegetarians mingles with each other.  Present is president of the local pro-life association, but the president of pro-choice is also there. Ian Paisley is there, as is the leader of the Irish Republican Army.  Alt-right and Al-left are there keeping one eye Betsey and one on each other.

Given the mix, there is a fair amount of tension, but because Betsy is there, because she is the center of the room, and because they respect who she is and what she stands for and is enough engulfed in a certain spirit of tolerance, respect, decency, and charity to stretch them beyond how they would normally feel, think, and act.

As you can imagine, such a gathering would work only while Betsy was actually present. Should she have to excuse herself and leave, or should persons get preoccupied in ways that would make them forget the real reason why they were there, you would soon enough get a combination of fireworks and dissipation that would empty the room.  This particular mix of persons can be brought together and kept together only around one person, Betsy.  Everything depends upon her presence and upon those present having her wide empathy whole they are in that presence, that is, upon being in her spirit.” [Pp. 119-120]

  Of course the point is that the apostolic community is built around the person of Jesus, the Christ, and nothing else. Outside of a focus on his person and happens in us and between us when we sense his presence, we get into terrible conflict and play sick and destructive games.

SOULWorks 6

SOULWorks Healing Service

To be church is to celebrate the word of Christ and the Eucharist.  This is more than just going to church on Sunday. To build our life around Jesus means that there has to be real sharing of life together, namely that we pray together; that we celebrate some of our everyday joys, fears, and feasts together; that we are responsible to each other and open to each other as regards mutual correction and challenge; that we are responsible together for the ministry of the church; that we have some common sharing of finances (even if this means only that we contribute to the support of the local congregation and its work.)

The First Weekend

 

farewell chausble left behindThis is the first weekend of retirement.  For almost four decades I have lived, working weekends, forgetting what a “weekend” was although I heard of them regularly. I’m told by others, ahead of me in this journey, that it will take about six months to become used to this rhythm of life.

What to do tomorrow?  I could visit the Quakers? I could visit my Egyptian Coptic friends at Saint Mary and Saint Roulis?  I could spend time at “Bed-springs Baptist” as a friend put it long ago when he slept in on Sundays.  I want to systematically visit the churches in the Memphis Christian Pastors Network and see what I can learn.  Exciting possibilities and I thank God and the Church Pension Group for making it possible.

Pray for me as I pray for you. In hope, in spite of the facts.

John+