Now sanctify this water...

Our recent parish survey provided the opportunity to raise questions and offer comments on our common life. One aspect of our life that sparked response is our baptismal pool. As I tried to suggest in the parish discussions that we had a couple of weeks ago, the issue for me is not that we must for some reason use a black plastic backyard pool when we baptize. What is important is that we reflect the Prayer Book understanding of baptism by having a way to gather as a community and to have an abundant use of water. The reality is that things do change in the life and practice of the Church, and our stone font with a shallow bowl and room for six people to stand around simply doesn’t work.

We are entering into the season of Lent, a season that grows out of the centrality and power of baptism in the Christian life. In the early Church, there was a long and careful (up to three years) time of preparation for baptism, which would take place at the Great Vigil of Easter. The catechumens (those preparing to come into the life of the Church through baptism) would come into the last phase of that preparation – eventually set at forty days – as a time of learning, fasting and prayer before they were immersed in the waters of baptism. There they were touched and renewed by the Holy Spirit, there sins and an old life were washed away, there they were mystically united with the crucified and resurrected Christ – there they were reborn. A Sacrament of such power and meaning requires a rich and full celebration. Those baptized at St. Paul’s are no less touched and changed by the presence and power of the Holy Trinity.

The Vestry here has begun a creative conversation about a way to incorporate our historic font with abundant water and to create more space to gather as a baptizing community. What are other parishes doing these days for baptism?

Taizé Prayer

The Taizé religious community in France has given the Christian world the gift of their gentle chants and a service of prayer that is peaceful, engaging and moving. Our next service in the style of Taizé at St. Paul's is this Sunday (February 8) at 5:00 pm. All are welcome; a simple reception follows.

Going on Retreat

It's hard to believe that by the end of this month we will move into the season of Lent. Lent is a time when we seem to pay particular attention to our spiritual journey. It is a time when we look more intentionally for ways in which we can strengthen our relationship with God. Going on a retreat is one of those ways. It is a way through quiet, through prayer, through reading, walking, and even sleeping, to make space in our hectic lives to hear God's voice.

I remember one particularly wonderful retreat about fifteen years ago out at the Episcopal Conference Center. It snowed all weekend long. Sitting on my bed with a book in my lap I realized that time had simply stopped. For those few short days I had all the time in the world to sit with God. Later one of the other retreatants and I silently (yes it was a silent retreat - and yes I can be quiet for an extended period of time) decided to walk in the woods at sunset. We took our walk in silence and somehow it became even more clear why Jesus calls us into community. Together, side by side we walked, in silence and in safety, each enhancing the journey of the other by virtue of simply being there for each other.

As we prepare for our Parish Retreat in March (more information on our website) I'm wondering about other folk's experiences with retreats. Have you made a retreat part of your spiritual journey? If you haven't been on a retreat, what holds you back?

Another take on evangelism

Fr. Matthew Moretz is a young priest in Rye, NY. In this piece on YouTube he shares important thoughts on evangelism. Enjoy.

Bishop Robinson's Prayer

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson (New Hampshire) began the inaugural festivities for our new President with a prayer. As always a faithful and prayerful witness, here is what Bishop Robinson prayed:

Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God's blessing upon our nation and our next president. O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic "answers" we've preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be "fixed" anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion's God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States. Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln's reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy's ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King's dream of a nation for ALL the people.Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times. Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead. Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims. Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters' childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we're asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace. AMEN.

Not your father's pilgrimage

Our Journey to Adulthood class is on its pilgrimage. The photo reveals that pilgrimage-ing may not be what it used to be. But... while pilgrims throughout the ages may not have traveled by Southwest, complete with i-pods and sunglasses (and a New York Yankees hat!?) the destination then and now is the same: a deeper life with God. May they find something of God in Florida - and back in Rhode Island.

Anglican Music?

This Sunday we celebrate the life and witness of the Rev’d Martin Luther King, Jr. Using the Hymnal 1982 and its supplement, Wonder, Love and Praise, we sing music from the African American tradition. We do this not because we are a primarily African American congregation, but precisely because we are not. The work of the Civil Rights movement, both in the church and in the culture, is not finished. It is important to be reminded of this and seek those places where we can make justice and further the work in our own time and place. It is also important for us to sing music from other traditions.

New music, especially music from traditions and places not our own, can raise the question, what is Anglican music? While some might disagree, I think it is music written by Anglicans, primarily for use in Anglican liturgy, and music from other traditions appropriated and/or modified for Anglican worship. This definition includes a lot of music. What unifies it, however, is liturgy. Anglican music is music used to worship God when the community gathers to pray. It does not exist solely for the edification of people (though that may happen); it does not exist primarily to move us (though it may); and it is not to entertain us. The object of Anglican music is God, not us. While we may seek to make the best music possible, it is not for the sake of the performance but to offer the best to God.

So using music in our liturgy from other times and places is an Anglican thing to do if the music is made in praise of God. In the experience of this new music we may be changed. Music has the power to transform: individuals into community; strangers into friends; the weak into the empowered. Throughout time and space music has formed people into cohesive groups, even empowering them to fight oppression. Central to the Civil Rights movement, and other movements around the globe, is the power of music in the resistance of injustice.