The Reverend Philip W. Dougharty is Rector of St. John's-Grace Episcopal Church. Here you can read some of his thoughts on theology, spirituality, community and church.
December 2006
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman
If there is one message that I have tried to live out since becoming rector of St. John’s-Grace, this comes the closest to articulating it. The fact that we are creative beings, ourselves, created in the image of God, demands that we scrape off all the culture-imposed expectations of who we are, what we do, what we want, what we aspire to, which gods we serve, and relate to God directly, acting out of a genuine Passion for Life.
This came to me clearly as I was looking at a passage from Philippians (2:12-13), the few verses that follow the famous hymn to Jesus, where Jesus has been named above all for his laying aside Glory for Servanthood. Paul says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” This is often misunderstood to mean that we are responsible for “working it out for ourselves,” a trap that will lead us to arrogance and condescension toward others. Rather, we look to the second part of the verse, “it is God who is at work in you, enabling you to will and to work for his good pleasure,” or, in other words, to motivate and to equip us to find our Passion and do it. It reminds me of one of my other favorite benedictions from the Letter to the Ephesians, “Glory to God, whose power, working through us, can do more than we can ask or imagine….”
The big problem is that it is hard work “working out our salvation with fear and trembling.” It is not a matter of adhering to some external set of rules or standards to bring us closer to God; rather it is a matter of getting to the core of what it is that God has created each one of us to be with authenticity and integrity – a moving into Wholeness, if you will. External expectations leave us fragmented and weary of the struggle. A quest for integrity with God and with others gives us life – and changes the world in which we live, instead of allowing the culture to determine who we are.
How different the Church would be if each of its members was on the journey to finding and following their own passions. One thing we would notice is how messy it would be, discovering how to act out of true conviction without manipulation or coercion, confronting and reconciling conflict and fragmentation and honoring each person’s contribution to the whole. However, the payoff would be the dynamic ways in which the culture would be changed in terms of reconciliation, compassion, justice, and love.
The greatest joy for me, as rector of St. John’s-Grace, is not in seeing large jumps in attendance or some success of a particular program. The real joy for me is in accompanying people on a journey of discovery – discovery of new passions and gifts that have lain dormant. When these gifts and passions enliven the members of the church through their being offered to God as a gift of Integrity, then the church comes alive and moves into new ways to turn the world right side up.
October 2006
In October and November we will celebrate the glories of Creation and the abundance that it provides. The five Sundays that begin on October 22 and go through our Thanksgiving celebration will focus on our connectedness with the Cosmos, and hopefully give us a new appreciation for Life and the gifts of Creation and, at the same time, give us a new commitment to preserving those special gifts.
There has been quite a lot of work put into the preparation of the liturgical materials that we will be using, which are designed to focus our minds and hearts on the riches of Creation. Many times worship that is created for this purpose is heavy-handed and “preachy” regarding how the earth is being treated. We are hoping to emphasize the response of praise to God’s goodness in Creation and, at the same time, find a perspective on the brokenness that humanity has imposed. Our Confession will be a time to enumerate that brokenness, but will hopefully be a time to truly grieve the losses that we have sustained not only for ourselves but for generations to come.
Our celebration of Creation begins on October 22 with – most appropriately – a baptism! What better way to talk about the goodness and ideal of God in the Natural World than in the Wholeness of a newborn infant. You won’t want to miss it.
Already this fall we are sensing an increasing depth and vitality to our community. Things seem to be falling into place as we learn how to coordinate all of the activities brought by our neighbors and colleagues to this place. Our attendance in September has been consistently the highest it has been in several years. Pledged income is running ahead of where it has been this time over the last several years. As I mentioned this past Sunday (September 17), this seems to be a place where people are finding the Words of Life. We anticipate the coming of God’s Kingdom in this neighborhood.
See you in Church!
September 2006
We have had the conversation in several circles that it seems a shame that so much of our life together in church “goes on vacation” in the summer. It does seem to be true that it is harder to get together from week to week in the summer with, it seems, someone always out of town on vacation. Family times together in the summer are precious, and somehow we just want to reflect the song from Porgy and Bess, “Summertime and the livin’ is easy!” I do hope that your summer has been restful. School starts soon, productivity picks back up in most walks of life, and church programs pick back up as well.
This fall we have decided to keep a bit of summer in our Sunday morning schedule. Instead of going back to 11:00 as we usually do, we will have our second service at 10:30. Our Christian Formation sessions for children, youth and adults will meet after the second service instead of before and during. I hope that this will mean a fuller participation both in the service by children and youth, and in the discussion and education opportunities by all! We are looking for a variety of ways that the threads of our lives as Christians and as members and seekers at St. John’s-Grace may be strengthened as we continue to weave the tapestry of God’s Kingdom in this place.
There are many opportunities opening to us to knit our lives with others in the community. The Grant-Ferry Association is very active and in need of our witness. David Smith is our representative to that organization, and there are many projects with which you can connect as we seek to revitalize this area of our neighborhood. Ann Graham who, as you know, has been involved with refugee ministries for many years, is in contact with Journey’s End regarding how we can extend hospitality to those coming to this country with not much more than the clothes on their back. Both of these programs have been highlighted in this Newsletter, and I hope that you will read about them prayerfully to see if they are areas you may be able to invest in.
The summer saw some dramatic effect on our building, as we weathered a flood in the basement. Thanks to Martha Robinson, Kathy Stelter, Irv and Stephen Reed, and our Parish Administrator Pam Legge, things are just about back to normal and even improved. Life moves on for us here. We continue to remain a lovely lighthouse on Colonial Circle, reaching those who are called to become part of this community, making our influence known as far as we can.
In September, 1981, a new organist came to serve in this beautiful sanctuary. It has been a wonderful 25 years since, and David Mathewson is part of the very foundation of the community. In fact, he has agreed to share some of his knowledge of the church and the features of the building with the diocesan altar guild meeting on November 1. Thanks, David, for many years of faithful and competent service.
Does it sound like I am in a reflective mood as I write? I guess that, as we begin a new program year together I am reminded of just how grateful I am to be part of this community. We have so many opportunities ahead. As I mentioned on Transfiguration Sunday, we need a vision of the future – and the assurance that we will not sleep through it!
August 2006
Many of you have commented on the change in style of my preaching over the past several weeks. Everyone is polite, but it is somewhat obvious that this more formal approach is not a welcome change for everyone. I want to let you in on the journey I am on so that you can enter prayerfully with me as I move forward in this most important area of sharing God’s Word for this community.
I think that an effective preacher and leader of a community of faith is one who successfully conveys his/her perspective of the Gospel and how it is to form the community in which the preaching takes place. It should be no secret by now that I see the Gospel, the Good News, as the possibility of restoration of the Wholeness of Creation - with Jesus, the Christ, as the example of God’s intention for Humanity. I tend to read the Bible in those terms, so it is no surprise that my preaching reflects a cosmic vision of a Kingdom of God in which justice and peace are the ruling priorities. When I initially approach the biblical texts for the week the question I ask is: “What does this say about healing the brokenness of Creation?” And then I proceed to figure out what questions, dilemmas and quandaries need to be addressed.
There are several things that I feel a sermon is NOT: it is not a teaching tool, an entertainment, a lecture, or an ego trip for the person delivering the sermon. It is not an opportunity to “grind axes” or to advance one’s own agenda. I once knew of a preacher on national television who very often took his critics to task publicly from the pulpit. We always knew what the dissensions in his congregation were because he addressed them so forcefully and personally. What the sermon IS is a little more difficult to define. I see these ten minutes (give or take) of the service as an Event – much more than the words or personality delivering them – in which our lives are cracked open so that God’s Spirit can rush in and fill the newly open places. Over time it is the catalyst for deep and lasting transformation of our lives and the life of the community.
Needless to say, effective use of this short period of time demands the very best effort that a preacher can bring to the Event. I consider it the single most important preparation that I make on a weekly basis, as it is the one time I have to share with the largest segment of the community. It cannot be “off the cuff” remarks. It requires the best research possible, an active prayer discipline to discern what needs to be said, and organization that gets to the heart of the texts at hand. Since coming to St. John’s-Grace I have enjoyed approaching this responsibility by organizing well enough in my head to be able to speak extemporaneously and passionately. While I love the informal style to which you have become accustomed I have felt a need to include more substance and challenge as we move more deeply into our quest to know who we are and who we are to become At this stage, I feel that I have more to contribute than my memory will serve without a formal presentation. I really feel that I am on a journey through which a more powerful presentation style will emerge.
How can you participate in this journey? I would say, first of all, listen carefully and prayerfully to every part of the sermon. Its various parts may be laying a foundation for something larger. Dialogue with the sermon: do you agree, can you identify with parts of it, does it raise questions regarding your own experience? Listen for God’s voice speaking to you, raising new issues for you, changing your mind, speaking to your heart. Pick up a copy of the sermons and let’s together find opportunities to talk together about them. Become an active participant in the Sermon Event as I try to articulate a vision of who we are becoming as God’s People in this place.
General Convention 2006
As many of you know, I spent a couple of days last week in Columbus, Ohio, taking in as much of the General Convention as I could. Several other priests and I drove down and stayed in a dorm at Ohio Dominican University to save on expenses. It has been a very long time since I slept in a top bunk! I was most interested in getting a sense of the mood of the convention since I did not attend any of the last one in ’03, which “rocked the world” in some ways. Here are my impressions of some of the events which occurred while I was there.
The first night, Thursday, was a forum sponsored and hosted by the Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold. Of it, I was most impressed by the keynote address by former senator The Rev. John Danforth of Missouri. He quoted one of my favorite scripture passages, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself….and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation,” and challenged the Episcopal Church to the Ministry of Reconciliation. More profound observations could not be made regarding the place in which we find ourselves now. Debates over our response to the Windsor Report continued to be held after I came back home. Dissenting Episcopalians held alternative Eucharist services indicating a refusal to be in “communion” with others in all senses of the word. Television interviews, as you know, continued to be centered on homosexuality and sexual issues generally, robbing us of our ability to focus on our role in the world to “reconcile the world to God’s self.”
It is more and more apparent that reconciliation will happen as more, rather than less, are included around the table of Christ. This is so evident in one event that has become a cornerstone for General Convention, simply known as the Integrity Eucharist. Integrity is an organization founded by my friend Louie Crew many years ago to give voice to gay and lesbian concerns in the convention. While it has in many ways completed that task as evidenced, among other things, by the calling of your present rector, it continues to host a celebratory Eucharist that is attended by hundreds of convention participants. I have attended twice when the services are standing room only. The message of hope for our church for the future is that the Integrity Eucharist attracts people from almost every walk of life. Gays and lesbians are possibly in the minority at the service, because the cause of “radical inclusion” has taken hold in our convention. Integrity Eucharist seems to have taken on the meaning that we try to express every week in the invitation to the Table: You are welcome! When I am in that service, singing among the hundreds who are there, it seems clear that a mood of joy and celebration in who we are as God’s People is the driving force in our convention. I hope this is true because that is the only way we will succeed in the “ministry of reconciliation.”
As you also are aware by now the House of Bishops has elected The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada, as the first female Presiding Bishop in the history of our Church. How exciting it must have been to be part of that audience as the election was announced! This means that we move further into full inclusion of people in leadership positions on the basis of their giftedness rather than on previously accepted norms or expectations. But it will be a test of our resolve toward reconciliation with parts of the Communion for which her election will present challenges, both moral and theological. Exciting and frightening days are ahead!
Pentecost 2006
I know it is early to mention it, but beginning on October 22 we will celebrate five weeks of a Season of Creation. It is timed to end with our celebration of Thanksgiving at the end of November, just before Christ the King Sunday. In Lent we spent some time looking at some liturgical elements that facilitate acknowledgment of Creation and our place in it. We found that much of what we read and studied did not fit our needs as a worshiping community, so we are working toward creating some elements that will serve our purposes in the fall.
I mention this now because some of the texts coming up in June reveal biblical cultural connection with Nature and use much more of Creation's language than we are used to. The very language of Pentecost which reports "a sound like the rush of a violent wind" and divided tongues "like fire" resting upon their heads are pictures of two of the natural elements coming to play in power on the experiences of those who are experiencing the work of God. Like Elijah's experience of God's "passing by" which included "wind so great that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces," earthquake and fire, and God's Presence in "the sound of sheer silence," reporters of God's working in the early Church experienced God in natural elements.
Jesus, as well, used elements of nature to reveal God's working. He healed with mud made on the spot, he compares (on June 11, Trinity Sunday) the moving of the Spirit with "the wind [which] blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes." It seems clear that these natural powers were honored and held in awe by our forebears who bear witness to God's working in the world. The elements were seen as evidence of God's presence and power.
Somehow humans have cultivated a sort of arrogance when it comes to the Natural Order. We have taken very seriously the Genesis admonition to "fill the earth and subdue it," taking that to mean that we should exploit and waste for our own gain the resources of Creation. We seek to control the elements or, if that is not possible, to see the results of their power as personally devastating or punitive. We have not figured out that Creation simply IS, and that we are part of it, subject to all of its characteristics - abundance and devastations. We are called to be faithful stewards of Creation, but not to control it. This has been particularly clear to us in the past year when tsunamis devastated parts of Southern Asia and hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused so much havoc in the U. S., but it also speaks to the opening of Alaska wilderness to unfettered oil development, strip mining and other human catastrophes that will, in the short and long run, deplete the resources of Creation and cause catastrophic scarcity.
I am reading a book by J. Philip Newell entitled Listening for the Heartbeat of God, a text on Celtic spirituality, in which the author traces the development of the spirituality of a people in which Creation is not only central to spirituality, but also leads humanity into a recognition of Creation as central to all of life. This fabric of spirituality leads us to see not only Creation as ultimately good and whole, but the human person as created in God's image good and whole. Speaking of the work of Pelagius, early theologian and nemesis of Augustine (and deemed a heretic), Newell cites Pelagius' thought that "the image of God can be seen in every newborn child" and that, although obscured by sin, ("brokenness" in our vocabulary), "it exists at the heart of every person, waiting to be released through the grace of God." I don't much see that as heretical! I would much rather ponder this picture of humanity and all of Creation than the prevalent thought that we are "bad at the core," as is our natural environment.
As we move through this journey together, I continue to invite you to discover what such a view of God and our relationship with God means in our everyday lives and relationships, and to find language to express our experiences of God.
Easter Season
I am beginning to look at the lectionary texts for the Third Sunday of Easter, the next time I am to preach. The season of Easter gives some choices since we read from the Acts of the Apostles either in the first lesson slot or the second lesson. This choice was a bit difficult because both the Old Testament and the New Testament texts are rich with pictures of God, particularly in the light of the Resurrection. I decided to read Acts first and include the Epistle lesson, leaving the Old Testament lesson "out in the cold" for this time. It is so great, though, that I decided to talk a little about it in this column.
The prophet Micah speaks to a nation that has forgotten true worship and the meaning of being God's People. In the text that begins in chapter 4, he talks of the "days to come" when "the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills." In those days, says the prophet, people will come from all over to worship in the "correct" ways, learning what it truly is that God wills for humanity. It is this text that portrays the hope of people of goodwill in all faith traditions everywhere: "they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."
This is an interesting picture for those of us who are reading through the Bible on Thursday mornings in Bible 101. It appears to us that God is always telling someone, some prophet or king, to totally conquer and subdue a particular land or nation, killing everyone, leaving no survivors for generations to come. This seems so out of character for the God we have come to know as a God of love and abundance, of limitless forgiveness and mercy. To tell you the truth we really don't know what to make of this vengeful God. Perhaps these passages are examples of people who do what they think is right and justify their actions by saying, "But God told me to!" Examples of such behavior exist in everyday life and they are, frankly, difficult to argue against! If God tells someone to do or believe or assume a particular position, who are we to say that they are wrong? The Bible is, at any rate, full of actions and attitudes of a God that we cannot trust because we never know where we stand with Him.
I rather think that this passage is one of those places where the essence of God shines through in the expression of God's hope for humanity and humanity's place in the larger Creation. Instead of spending time learning how to war against one another, weapons are converted to instruments of agriculture and productivity. This can perhaps be translated to our own attitudes and actions: that our own lives are transformed from instruments of hatred and destruction to vehicles for healing and wholeness. This is really the product of the Resurrection! If we die to the things that are destructive we can live to the things that are Life-giving!
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen indeed!
Holy Week 2006
I have taken several opportunities during this Lenten season to talk about the "mythology" that helps to shape and, perhaps, explain our faith. It needs to be understood that mythology does not mean untrue stories of magic or divine misbehavior. Rather, mythology is defined as "a traditional story accepted as history that serves to explain the world view of a people." As I have said, mythology is stories that explain who we are and why we are the way we are. One of the important words in that statement is that myths are stories. In fact, they are first and foremost stories!
We have encountered the Transfiguration event, the Baptism of Jesus, the Binding of Isaac and Jesus' explaining to his disciples his impending "sacrifice" or "making sacred" - even the cleansing of the temple. This mythology does not have as its purpose evidencing or proving certain historical events, but rather leaving us with the deeper feeling that life is, after all, not to be explained in formulas or rules followed or in historical proofs, but in the living of it! It is in the living and reflection upon all of the exigencies of life that we find God and God's working to realize the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
This happens as we read the biblical texts, but it also occurs as we tell our own stories, reflect on our own experiences, reflect on the experiences of others -- sometimes in relation to our own -- and discover who we are as God's People. We are people who have somehow discovered that Jesus, the Christ, is more than ordinary folks, that he is demanding, upsetting, personal and communal. We have learned that our covenant or contract with God is to recognize Christ in others with whom we come in contact, and we have learned that our lives become sacred -- are in effect sacrificed -- when we loose our control on them.
Now we are headed to the most profound time of the Christian year: Holy Week and Easter mythologies are the most disturbing and empowering of all. When we find a way to sacrifice our lives we find that Life sprouts out of death! Unbelievable! We have spent our lives dreading not only our physical deaths and those of our loved ones, but the everyday deaths of dreams, financial security, relationships, grasps of power over ourselves and others and endless others. Easter is the reminder: Death is not the end -- Spring forces the blossoms up through the deepest snow.
Lent 2006
As I write this I am living with the Isaiah text for Epiphany 7, February 19: "Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." As we approach the season of Lent - (can you believe it?!) -- it is well for us to consider this text in relation to our "desert journey" of the next couple of months. We often approach Lent with a sense of "awful me -- there's nothing good about me and so I will beat myself up for six weeks in ‘repentance' to prepare for Easter." This seems to be the opposite of what Jesus taught about who we are as children of God. He seems to be more interested in our realizing the divine DNA implanted deep in us -- to the point that we begin to live up to our potential!
I rather think that the repentance that God requires is an acknowledgment that God is doing a New Thing in our lives, our relationships, and our community. The admonition in Isaiah is that we forget the brokenness that defines our past and move into new worlds of Wholeness and Integrity. We are transformed. Our lives become "ways (highways?) in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" as we move into new experiences of God.
If I could suggest a Lenten discipline for this year it might be this: spend the next few weeks leading up to Easter realizing and acknowledging ways in which the direction of your journey is clearer than it has been -- or how your way is being nurtured ("rivers in the desert") in ways you have not previously experienced. Are your relationships stronger? Dreams evolving? Career more gratifying? Emotional interiority more secure, stable, calm? Spend some of this Lent taking inventory and being grateful for new steps along the road to a New Thing.
Is this true also for our faith community? We have been using the phrase "An inclusive community of faith and compassion" to describe who we are for some time now. Does this description hold deeper meaning for us now than it did a year ago at the beginning of Lent? We have certainly expanded our ministry opportunities, and our finances are in a stronger place than they were a year ago. There are new people, new life, new possibilities that we did not know existed for us last year. To what New Thing will God's "way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" lead us in the upcoming year? To what will we point at the beginning of Lent 2007 and say, "I never would have believed what I see now happening in this community!"
Lent is really about reflection, inventory, evaluation and repentance -- a new and transformed commitment to living into God's New Thing for us.
Epiphany 2006
Most of you know that I have an ongoing love affair with the Bible. When I was young there used to be a sort of religious litmus test that went something like "If you were stranded on a desert island and could have only one book of your choosing, what would you choose?" The correct answer, of course, was the Bible -- mainly because it would show some special allegiance to God if you were to choose His Word in a time of deprivation and need. There was almost a sense of magic in the Bible's ability to keep one safe from harm and (more importantly) sin. Many of the Bible quoters who occupy the media and other public forums still use the Bible in the same way, choosing specific verses or phrases (or chains of verses and phrases) to undergird arguments or persuade to a certain stance.
I really did fall in love with the Bible at some point in my journey, though, not for those reasons, but because I found it to be so rich with the huge variety and vagaries of human existence -- the idea that the Creator works through the complexities of human relationships and situations to enrich our existence and that of others. Because of this it is probably unproductive to use the Bible to draw "life lessons" or to moralize certain events. The outcome of particular acts or situations may yield very different results in another similar situation.
Our study group on Thursday mornings has taken a novel approach to the Bible: we are reading it! Beginning with Genesis a couple of years ago we have simply met to read and react to the Bible verse by verse, episode by episode, chapter by chapter. We are now into the reign of King David as recorded in 2 Samuel. The deliberate reading in this way really raises more questions about life and relationships than it gives answers for. One example: we are struck by the absence of those "biblical family values" that we hear so much about. So far, and to my knowledge the same will hold true throughout even the New Testament, there is no example of a "nuclear family" that reflects the standard held by some for today. Men take, give up, trade, multiple wives like they would livestock. Women's value is measured by her ability to produce sons. There is very little talk of pairing for the reason of Love. (A wonderful example of the aberration is how Jacob is described as "loving" Rachel, as though it is a strange thing!)
The only example of anything resembling a marriage ceremony -- where two people stand before God, declare their love for one another, and pledge fidelity to one another even to generations to come -- is between Jonathan and David! I do not note this as a support for same-sex unions - though I have a hard time seeing a difference between them and "traditional" unions -- but because in it God seems to be much more concerned with the quality of the relationships among people than the rules by which the relationships are structured. In other words, marriage in the Old Testament seems to be an institution in which men can do whatever they wish with women or children because of the nature of the institution, while a truly devoted relationship is consecrated outside any formal institution.
I use the example of marriage and family since it is the most visible of the human relationships we have. It appears that, indeed, God is really more interested not only in how we treat each other, but in our ability to give ourselves to one another for the enrichment of the relationship itself and those involved in it. This seems to be a reflection of how God sees the ideal for our relationship with the unnameable Creator. I invite you into this conversation regarding the Bible. What is God's Word for the Church and for us as individuals for today? I have said before that I see the Bible not so much as "God's Word," as it is a "window through which God's Word can be seen and heard" in the lives of the occupants of its pages, thus helping us to discern God's purpose for us. That is an important distinction because it once again focuses our worship on God and not on the pages of a book.