Recently
I have taken to praying with icons. An icon is
a painted image
that we are not so much invited to look upon, but
to see through. See through to the presence of God,
perhaps even the image of God, who is also looking
back through the image to see and embrace us. St.
Benedict, the sixth monk who is widely regarded as
the founder of Western monasticism and Christian
spirituality, said the first task for monks is to
listen – a very important and life giving enterprise.
Orthodox Christianity, rooted in the East, first
calls upon Christians to gaze. To gaze upon the icons
which reflect the presence of the living Christ– in
images and in faces and in lives. These animate and
fixed images have the capacity to transform us – to
the degree that we embody Christ’s presence
and become bearers of Christ’s light. And that
light invites others to see; to see beyond the darkness
of their lives; and to see beyond the barriers that
tragedy, prejudice, ignorance, fear and conflict
inevitably put up.
One
of the gifts of my new role is to see how people
in the diocese
bring Christ’s light into circumstances
and conditions that the wider culture has trained us
not to see:
- The diocesan
prison ministry, a group of deeply committed people
from
across the diocese, brings light
through thick walls and locked doors by offering the
Eucharist, education and care to inmates – and
by bringing the children of female prisoners for regular
visits (mothers and children would literally not see
each other were it not for these missions of mercy).
- A couple
of Saturdays ago I joined with the clergy and some
parishioners
of St. Mark’s, Teaneck
on their twice-weekly ministry to day laborers, who
wait on a side street from dawn until midday – every
day, hoping that someone will come along and hire them – if
not for a day, then at least for a few hours. Not only
are these Latin and South American men not easily seen
(which is one of the reasons that on a good day one
or two get hired), but the would-be patriots who gather
around an American flag across the main street carry
sandwich boards that express a very clear wish that
the 50 or so men not be seen at all.
- The members
of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Wantage, who
describe
themselves as a small congregation – nevertheless
have a rather big ministry with a weekly soup kitchen,
daily food pantry and twice-yearly weeklong shelter
for the homeless. And in the last year they have erected
a bank of solar panels (with consulting help from an
environmental ministry in the diocese) which not only
captures light and turns it into a source for electricity – but
makes a clear – and clean!, announcement to the
people in the northern triangle of the diocese that
they are a congregation that takes environmental stewardship
seriously.
- As I make
my way across the diocese, I am seeing Gospel based,
life
giving ministries – among
people who find themselves in society’s shadows – by
circumstance or by design; and who have neither the
trust or confidence to step into the light -- where
we can all can more easily see the icon of Christ in
one another.
- Just this
week, I invited Del Glover, a member of Executive
Council,
and who is chief operations officer
of Riverside Church in New York (and former operations
officer at Trinity, Wall Street) to spend some time
with most of the Episcopal House staff – for
the purpose of helping all of us see how we can organize
ourselves into a more cohesive and efficient team.
In mid-April, the financial staff will meet individually
with another outside colleague for the same purpose.
- And on March
15 Carol Gallagher and I will travel to Camp Allen
in Texas
for the meeting of the House
of Bishops. There has been a ratcheting up of anxiety
and concern – as we read it in the media and
in the raft of emails on Episcopal News Service and
various list-serves. No doubt there will confusion
and dissension among the bishops about the Primates’ Communique – and
the draft of the Anglican Covenant. Our Presiding Bishop,
the Most Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori, has clearly
indicated that the bishops’ meeting will be about
discussion, and not decision -- at least with respect
to the escalating debate within the Anglican Communion.
I go filled with the light of the many gay and lesbian
clergy and laypeople whose gifts have been such a vital
part of this diocese for as long as anyone can remember;
and I go with the promise that there will be openings – in
faces, in worship, in discussion and debate – for
Christ’s light to break through and illumine
hearts and minds with greater clarity and deeper commitment
to justice and freedom.
Somehow, in
a mysterious and wonderful way, the light of Christ
shines through
the prayers and poetry of
Rumi, a 13th century Sufi mystic: “Out beyond
ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing there is a field.
I will meet you there. When the soul lies down in the
grass, the world is too full to think about. Ideas,
language – even the phrase ‘each other’ doesn’t
make any sense.”
I think we all are committed to live in that field.
Peace,
+Mark
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