In Hoc Signos Vinces

What do you think? Did I see something off the corner of Jonestown and Hanes Mall?

Look closely at the sky.

The Archbishop of Canterbury's Second Presidential Address

Click here to read the Archbishop's address at Lambeth Conference. He took a risky (as he himself said) move in trying speak the thoughts and feelings of both sides in the Anglican debate on human sexuality.

This Week's Video

Yesterday's Sermon

Romans 8:26-39

Our daughter Abby is now at the point where every word out of her mouth is in the form of a question. Every day, all day, we hear something like this:
“Daddy what is that?”
”What does it do?”
“Why?”
Sometimes I can handle it pretty well.
“Abby that’s a pencil. It writes words. It writes words so we can say things.”

That may not be the best existential answer, but at least it satisfies her for a little bit. Some of her questions are harder.
“Daddy, what is that?”
“It’s a pickle.”
“Why?”
“Why is that pickle?”
“Uh huh.”
“Because God wanted to be” (I know that’s an easy way out – but it works).
“But why?”

She’s got me on that one. It’s easy to say something is the way it is because God made it that way or because God wanted that way – but it’s something else to explain why.

One Sunday after church I went to see Emma in the hospital. Emma was five and for the bulk of her short life she had spent much of it in hospitals. I had been visiting Emma in the hospital for days. Sometimes she would be sleeping and sometimes she would be wide awake. Sometimes she would laugh and smile and call me “Monkey Boy” although I’m not sure why and sometimes she just wasn’t in the mood.

But in these last few days Emma was having more bad days than good days. She was sleeping more than laughing. And the doctors had somber looks on their faces. The parents and I talked. We talked about prayer and miracles. They fasted and prayed. We all prayed. Emma slept.

The parents were convinced. They were convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Emma would walk out of that hospital. They were convinced that she would be in school plays and get skinned up knees playing soccer. They were convinced she would graduate from high school, get married and have little five year old girls of her own. And why wouldn’t they be? What parent would not hold on to the very fiber of hope – pleading, praying, and bargaining with God in face of doctors walking around quietly with somber faces?

But on Monday, the phone call came. Emma’s fight was over. She had finished her race. When I arrived her parents were inconsolable. Who wouldn’t be? Words fail at moments like this. Explanations are insults.

And they looked at me and asked WHY, why did God let this happen? Why did God let their child die?
I don’t know. I don’t know.

It’s much easier to look at little child playing and laughing and growing and acknowledge and be thankful that God gave that child life and laughter and love – that God is responsible.
But in the face of death, in the face of prayers not answered, it’s hard.

The theological word for all of this is theodicy. Theodicy is our attempt to explain why there is evil in the world, or why if God is so good and loving, there is suffering. In other words, theodicy tries to explain why planes are hijacked and crashed into buildings, why people must endure with cancer, Alzheimer’s or ALS. Theodicy seeks to explain out why five year old girls die.

In the past I’ve said that ‘everything happens for a reason.’ Have you ever said that? On one hand, it sounds good because it says that nothing happens in vain. When someone dies or suffers or goes through any hardship – there is a reason for it. And we hope that that reason will be made clear as soon as possible.

But on the other hand, I have a problem with that. If God is responsible for the suffering and evil in the world and God allows certain things to happen for my benefit, I would rather God come up with another way to make me a better person.

I don’t want someone else to suffer or to even die so that I might benefit. But as soon as I say that sentence out loud – I realize something. As soon as I say I do not want someone else to suffer or die so that I might benefit – I realize I am summing up the whole of Christianity.

Someone did suffer and die so that I might benefit. Someone suffered and died so that we all might benefit – that benefit being life here and life everlasting, and that someone is Jesus.

St Paul tells the Church in Rome that ‘all things work together for good for those who love God.’ I don’t think that is the same thing as saying God makes certain things happen – that God causes suffering and evil. I think St Paul is saying that even in a fallen, broken, hurting world – where we have war and disease and poverty and the far too early deaths of beautiful children – even in THAT – God’s power and love is present and is working and that those who love God have the perspective to see that power and love working.

God gave us his only son, St Paul says, and he did it for us. If God gave us his son – if God gave up himself so that we might know the fullness of love and freedom – then we can have the assurance that God will never leave us – that God will never forsake us – and that even in the midst of the most abject pain and suffering and death – God is here!

As for me, I don’t know the answer to pain, suffering and death. I don’t know why the most evil, heinous people in the world can live for years and years and the most innocent, loving, life-filled people have their lives cut short. I don’t know why and I don’t think it’s fair.

I don’t know why God allows us to harm each other and harm ourselves and to be subject to disease and decay – other than to say that God lets us choose our actions and throughout the history of humanity we have tended to choose poorly.

But this I do know. I do know that in the midst of his pain and suffering – as he faced death – Jesus himself asked the Father the same question that I and billions of others have asked – WHY? Why, God? Why have you forsaken me? Why have you allowed this happen? Why have you given me this cup – this path – this task?

And I know how the Father used the Son. I know how the Father used the pain, suffering, and death of his Son to be for us the fount of life and love. I know how the Father used pain, suffering and death to not only change the course of history – but to transform the people who make it.

And I know that through our baptism we are joined with Christ and that means joining with his suffering and his questions of WHY? But it also means joining with his resurrection and his redemption and his new creation. It means joining with his role in changing the course of history and transforming the people who make it.

It means that suffering, pain, and death no longer have power. They no longer have dominion. They no longer have us.

I know that while we may be at the foot of the cross or nailed to it – even for us the tomb will be empty. Even for us, the angels will roll back the stone. Even for us – there will be shouts of Alleluia.

Why?
That one is easy.
Because God loves us.

Amen.

From this morning's scripture readings...

We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Each of us must please our neighbour for the good purpose of building up the neighbour. For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:1-6

Bishop Curry at Lambeth

Click here.

Organic Breakdown

This morning as I returned home from the morning run, I noticed the carport smelled of something that is hard to describe. I instantly knew the cause because Cherilyn has been commenting on it for days. It has taken a little while to get our yard waste trash can from the city so in the meantime, I have bagged grass clippings and small branches in large contractor bags and placed them in the carport until the can arrived. The problem is - I now have a compost pile in my carport. The grass clippings in those bags, bound up on 95 degree days, have started to break down, decompose, compost - STINK! I honestly do not know if I have ever experienced a smell quite like this one.

I took the bags to the backyard and emptied them just over the fence (still on our property, I wouldn't do that to a neighbor!). Now I officially have a compost pile. While holding my breath and reflecting on events from the previous days I was reminded that the stinky grass will one day be great fertilizer. Those organic compounds that are breaking down will do wonders in building up new organic wonders. When we are compressed, stressed, and bound to the point that we feel as if we are breaking down and life just STINKS, have hope. What we are going through now may one day be the same substance that really makes things grow.

Sermon for Sunday, July 20, 2008

as requested, please note, this is not edited for spelling or grammar

When church is over today and after I have lunch, I’m going to the Home Depot. I like going to the Home Depot because the Home Depot makes me feel manly. There’s something about the smell of potting soil and PVC pipe that makes me want to go build something. The problem is, I may be in the top ten of the least handy people in the world. My wife likes to say that the only thing I can do with my hands around the house is to call someone who can.

I can’t even change a light bulb without first having a tense conversation about whether or not I actually know how to change one. But today, I’m going to buy a weed eater. I didn’t need one at our last house, because my mother-in-law would come up a lot.

I kid with my mother-in-law that there must be Billy Goats in her family because nothing satisfies her more than sitting on a towel in the grass all day pulling weeds. All she needs is a screwdriver and wide-brimmed hat and she is set for at least six hours.

Friends and church members would drive by and fuss at me for making my mother-in-law sit out in the hot sun pulling up weeds all day. But that’s what she wants to do, I’d say. And it is true. She loves to just pull weeds.

Winston-Salem is a little far to drive on a whim, so until she gets her plane tickets, I’ve got to pull weeds the old fashioned way – with a rotating piece of clothes line powered by a gas engine.

But here’s my concern. And I have yet to meet a man who hasn’t done this – there are flowers that aren’t blooming that look like weeds to me. The only thing I know about flowers is why roses look like and I know what those look like because I buy them on Valentine’s Day and when I’m in trouble, but beyond that I couldn’t tell you the difference between a hydrangea, perennials, annual, and a dandelion.

My mother used to have to give me a briefing before I would weed the garden. This can go, this has to stay, and if you cut these, you won’t leave the house for two weeks.

And that is why I’m buying the weed eater today – because Cherilyn is out of town.

I don’t remember how many years it ago it was, but it’s been a few. I was standing outside of an Orthodox Christian bookstore in Columbia, South Carolina. The owner of the store lived in the back room and was sort of a mystic. He had a long beard, fasted most days, and would hum old Russian hymns. This day as I was standing outside his store, he was pulling weeds in his garden.

Now I must tell you, his store was right in the middle of Five Points in Columbia. Every college student in South Carolina knows about Five Points, because it is lined with one bar after another, and in the middle of this college mecca is a small Orthodox bookstore and in front of this store, inches from a four lane highway in the middle of the state capital, is a tiny garden. And he was pulling weeds.

“You know after our Lord’s Resurrection, he was mistaken for a gardener,” he told me. And I had forgotten that, but he’s right. Just after the resurrection when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb, she thought Jesus was the gardener.

Maybe that’s why Jesus is so good with plant stories. Last week we heard Jesus tell the story of a sower casting seed. Some fell on the path, some in rocky soil, some among the thorns and some in the good dirt.

And today, here we are again. A sower put good seed in the ground. At night, an enemy came and scattered weed seeds all over the place. So when the sun and the rain pulled those plants from the ground, there was the wheat that was planted, but side by side with the wheat there were the weeds.

The servants of the sower asked him, do you want us to go and pull the weeds? No one wants weeds in their garden. They can choke out the good plants. They aren’t pretty to look at. They don’t belong.
And the master of the garden told them not to touch the weeds. When you pull the weeds, he said, you will also pull the wheat.

My very good friend called me the other day – he’s a United Methodist pastor and a great friend, he called to tell me about one of the churches in his town. A parishioner had confessed to the pastor that she had an affair. The pastor told her that she needed to confess this to the elders of the church. She needed to get all of this out and in the open so there could be reconciliation and healing in the church. In other words, there can’t be any weeds growing amongst the wheat.

She was so full of remorse that she was willing to do anything. So she went before the elders of the church and confessed – and she confessed everything. And before it was all said and done, it came out that three of the elders also had a relationship with her.

And now the whole church, the whole town is rocked. That’s what happens when we pull weeds. There will always be collateral damage. It’s one thing to confess and repent and work for reconciliation – which is something we should do, but it’s something else to uproot a whole community. When you start pulling weeds, you might miss and pull up a daisy or a geranium.

I’m not saying there is no right or wrong or that we shouldn’t proclaim what is holy and righteous and good, but what I am saying is that we aren’t gardeners. Christ has been called the Good Shepherd, and the Prince of Peace, and the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But I think we can also call him the Good Gardener.

Jesus is the only person who truly knows which one is a weed and which one is not. We don’t know. I don’t know. And truth be told, aren’t we all products of cross pollination from time to time? Are we not wheat growing strong on some days and greedy shoots of weeds on the next? In fact, when in his story when Jesus mentions the weeds, he uses the word zizania, which a weed that looks exactly like wheat until the ear appears. Until then they are identical.

How do we know which ones to pull? We don’t.

My constant prayer for the Church is that we stop trying to be the gardeners that we are not. In the Church and outside of the Church we are very quick to point our fingers and declare what is growing strong in God’s pasture and what needs to be pulled. And many times we can’t wait to crank up our weed eaters or get our screwdrivers or even to use our bare hands to pull those weeds and separate the good and the bad.

But that is not our job. Jesus is the one that will separate the weeds and wheat. Jesus is the one that will separate the sheep from the goats, not us. Not bishops, priests, deacons, vestries, or baptized Christians – that is not our job.

Our job is to be as faithful and loving as we can. Our job is to help others be as faithful and loving as they can.
And when we think there are weeds among us – we are to pollinate and not pull.

You know there is peace in that? There is peace in not having to worry or stress over who is in and who is out, over who is right and who is wrong? There is peace in trusting that Christ is the Good Gardener and that in the fullness of time all things will be made right. There is peace in not having to be the judge and jury. There is peace in just being a laborer in the vineyard, planting and watering and fertilizing.

There is peace and not anger.
There is peace and not division.
There is peace and not despair.

There is peace in simply trusting that God knows what he is doing.

Amen to that. Amen.

The Lambeth Conference

What is the Lambeth Conference?

It is the meeting of the archbishops and bishops of the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Communion is a family of churches around the world. Most bishops within the communion look after a diocese, or a region of parishes. If every such bishop attends the Lambeth Conference, it is as if every diocese in the Anglican Communion is meeting with every other. The conference is one of the ‘instruments of communion’ , which means that it is one of the ways in which churches in the Anglican Communion relate to one another and are held together. The first Lambeth Conference was held in 1867 at Lambeth Palace (hence the name), the Archbishop of Canterbury’s residence in London. One takes place approximately every ten years.

Lambeth is going on right now. You can keep up with the conference and learn more by going here.

End of Life

The Episcopal Church has put out a wonderful document, Planning for the End of Life, that walks us through issues and details that while we aren't excited about addressing, are necessary. The document helps us with our medical directives, funeral liturgy, and writing out wills. In the Spring we will have a Going Away Party where we will go over these issues. I'll hand out copies of Planning for the End of Life and together we will go over common questions. We'll have an attorney and other professionals who can help answer some of your questions. Once you have filled everything out, you may leave a copy in the church office. Many times your priest is one of the first persons to be contacted in times of emergency and death. Having your wishes at the church office may actually be one of the best places to keep them. Please feel free to get a head start and download the document.

The Loft - 7/16/08

Fall Adult Programming Preview

The theme for 2008/2009 is "Rekindle the Gift" taken from 2 Timothy 1:6. Everything in our programming will tie into rekindling the gifts that God has given us. With that in mind, here's a preview of Wednesday night adult programming through Decemeber:

September – Rekindle Faith
9/3 – Why God? (how do we know there is a God?)
9/10 – Why Christianity? (what makes Christianity valid?)
9/17 – Why Church? (why be a part of a church?)
9/24 – Why St Tim’s? (why the Episcopal Church?)

October – Rekindle the Bible
10/1 – Don’t know much about the Bible! (a look at the Bible for the first time)
Blessing of the Animals, Saturday, October 4
10/8 – Old Testament for Dummies (and Idiots, too) (the Old Testament overview)
10/15 – The New Testament is New Again (the New Testament overview)
Sunday, October 19 – the Blessing of the Hands
10/22 – Fitting the Bible in where nothing else fits (making the Bible a part of life)
10/29 – Halloween Carnival

November – Rekindle Spirituality
11/5 – Saints, Angels, and Demons (oh my!) – (a look at saints, angels and demons)
11/12 – As Long as there are tests, there will always be prayer in schools (a look at prayer)
11/19 – Fasting, Confessing, Abstaining, is all Confusing! (a look at spiritual disciplines)
11/26 – night before Thanksgiving, no programming

December – Rekindle Bethlehem
12/3 – Jolly Ole St Nick (the real St Nicholas)
St Nicholas Day – Saturday, December 6
12/10 – There’s Something About Mary (digging deeper into Mary)
12/17 – Why did God become Man? (the mystery of the Incarnation)
12/24 – Christmas Eve - Masses

What a story...

Did you see Josh Hamilton, a NC native, hit 28 homers in the first round of the home run derby last night? Click here to read his story. Worth a read.

We Love You

Yesterday afternoon my inbox was flooded with notifications from this blog that several comments had been left on some of the posts. Every time a comment is made, an email is sent to me just to let me know. When I read the comments I was shocked. Saddened, really. The comments were hateful, blasphemous, and violent. They have been deleted. When I looked at the person's web page, it was dedicated to diatribes filled with hate, blasphemy, and violence against Christianity and the things we hold sacred.

If the person comes back to this blog - I hope they know we love him. So much hate must come from so much brokenness. Our prayers are that you will find healing and hope.

Fore!

Did you know that St Timothy's has an evening golf league? Every Thursday at 5:30, golfers gather at the Reynolds Park Golf Course (by WSSU) for nine holes. The cost is only $12 (this even gets you a cart) and the rules are made for people like me. First, it's 'ready play' golf, which means when you're ready - hit! This keeps the game moving. Secondly, and for me the most important, we play for points. Depending on your handicap, you are assigned a quota. I received the lowest quota a golfer can have. If you bogey a hole, you get a point. If you par, two points, birdie, three points, etc. If you are unable to bogey, you just pick your ball up and go on to the next hole. It's a lot of fun and if you are a bad golfer, new golfer, or semi-pro, you'll find what you are looking for in this great evening of fellowship. What to know more? Call the church office (765-0294) and we'll put you in touch with the leaders of this ministry.

Being Involved, Part II

One of the most common comments I either hear directly or indirectly is that critique that church really isn't that relevant. So many of the issues that face each of us every single day were not specifically addressed in the Bible. The Bible is a very ancient compilation of documents and their specific context is by and large irrelevant to us now - so the line goes. How do we deal with a changing economy or family issues? How do we deal with conflict on a local, familial and international level? How should we view major ethical issues - cloning, genetic engineering, among the many that are popping up? How do we raise our children in a changing world in which growing up is a completely different experience from what we went through? How do we make decisions in taking care of our aging parents?

I'll grant you the Bible does not have chapter and verse on many of the hot topics that we encounter, but that does not mean the Bible does not guide us and ground us. The Bible is the story of God's love for his creation. It is the story of God's redemption and restoration of humanity. It is the story of a relationship. In this story - in the person of Christ who is the perfect revelation of God (for Christ is God) - we find great truths with applications that are universal. Jesus summed up all of the law and the teachings of the prophets when he told his followers to love God and love one another. Sounds simple, almost too simple doesn't it? But what doesn't that cover? The hard part is taking these simple commands and living them out to their fullest. What does it mean to love God - fully? What does it mean to love each other - fully?

Now we see the great need for community. As a community we wrestle with the current issues and ethical questions. Some of them are obvious. Some of them are not so obvious. But coming together, bound by a common faith in God and made new in Christ, we work to live out our baptismal covenant - which in summary is to love God and each other.

We shouldn't reduce Christianity to something as small as being just an ethical community or the Bible as just a guidebook or instruction manual. Our faith - God - is so much larger, deeper, wider, higher, and broader than that. The traditions of our faith - the wisdom from holy men and women - will shock us at how relevant and applicable they are. We just have to look, taste, see, feel, and listen.

PS:
Every week when the E-News goes out (the E-News is our midweek email update), a video will come along with it. This first video is coming out a day after the E-News, but we had technical difficulties. Here 'tis.

Being Involved

Rarely a day goes by when I do not engage in or overhear (I'm not really an eavesdropper) a conversation about faith, the practice of faith, and/or church. While many times the conversations center around the happiness and fulfillment that comes from being involved in church or how the foundation laid by the church has been so stabilizing during difficult times - many of the conversation focus on the opposite: Church has not been the force they were hoping it to be. The people of the church let them down. As much as they really want to have a vibrant and honest faith, they 'don't get' much from it. All of things brings me to the non-rhetorical question - what keeps people from being involved in church?

I have some ideas.

1. They feel the church is judgemental. Sometimes churches can be judgemental, there is no denying that. Even when churches are trying to be faithful to the teachings of Christianity, it can come out condemning one thing while ignoring another. Our faith does teach us that there is right and wrong. And our faith grounds us with the ability to know what is right and wrong (the 10 commandments quickly come to mind). But which of us is not broken? Which one of us has not fallen and failed? All of us. The moment we become judgemental is the moment we indict ourselves with pride. At St Timothy's we strive to achieve spiritual clarity as to what is loving and holy through humility. We will never say - "We are the winners and those who disagree are losers!" We will strive to always remove the logs from our eyes before addressing the sawdust in another's eye (Matt. 7:1-5). We will not pull the weeds that are standing amongst the wheat (Matt. 13:24-30.

Number 2.....check back tomorrow...stay tuned!

Customer No-Service

One of the 'joys' of moving into a new house is the lengthy process of getting utilities turned on or transferred and getting this or that set up, and invariably hiccups will happen or balls will be dropped and things fall through. It's human nature and as reasonable, understanding people, we smile politely and exercise the virtue of patience (for those who have it).

However...sometimes it gets ridiculous. Last night at 8pm, my household had tv for the first time. We closed on our home over a month ago and we have only been able to watch movies as we have had failed attempt after failed attempt in getting our telly hooked up. On a side note, it's been actually nice not have the television dominate home life for a while (although we have felt completely in the dark as to what's happening in the world - save for the newspaper and internet).

In watching my wife plead logic and common sense with customer service on the phone, I began to wonder how we, as the church, would match up in customer service. As a large and growing organization lead by human beings, there will always be hiccups and balls will be dropped and it is always unfortunate when those occur. We should (and will) always strive to eliminate those to the very best of our ability.

As your vestry, staff and I head toward our retreat this weekend, we will look at how 'user-friendly' we are and what things we can do to make sure we deal with every situation using compassion, competence, and common sense. In the meantime, as I heard my wife ask to speak to a supervisor time and time again - I invite you to call direct for any customer service issues you may have. :-)

Office: 336-765-0294

Email: frsteve(at)sttimothys(dot)ws - please use the @ and ., this reduces spam to our email!

1662 Book of Common Prayer

Tomorrow we are celebrating the Eucharist from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the 5th Prayer Book and considered by many to be the 'classical' Prayer Book. As the Anglican tradition spread outside of England with colonialism and missionaries, this was the Prayer Book that crossed England's borders.

We are using the 1662 Prayer Book on the Sunday closes to July 4 to not only celebrate our rich Prayer Book history but to join our prayers in a similar fashion as our founding fathers and mothers. 30 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Anglican. When they prayed, their prayers would have come from the 1662 Prayer Book.

I like the 1662 version, although I greatly prefer the 1979 BCP. I know that the 79 revision was controversial in many circles and some consider it to be so different from other Prayer Book structures that it shouldn't even be called the Book of Common Prayer. But the recovery of the centrality of baptism and liturgies for the Eucharist as well as the inclusion of other pastoral offices and prayers, makes it not only (in my opinion) solidly Anglican, but catholic. Plus, I always stumble when saying "didst" and "inestimable."

PS: Here's an advanced preview of this week's bulletin insert on "Why do we do that?"

Collect for Independence Day

Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ ourLord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, oneGod, for ever and ever. Amen.

On a sad note, Mr. Arthur Johnston passed away this morning at Forsyth Medical Center. May his memory be eternal!

From St C.S. Lewis

A great book I've recently found, "Yours, Jack," contains the personal correspondence of C.S. Lewis, including spiritual direction given to so many who sought his wisdom. Here's a snippet towards the end of his life:

To Mary Willis Shelburne: On Lewis's own rule for assisting panhandlers; and on the suffering and eternal destiny of animals.

I do most thoroughly agree with your father's principles about alms. It would not bother me in the hour of death to reflect that I have been 'had for a sucker' by any number of impostors; but it would be a torment to know that one had refused even one person in need. After all, the parable of the sheep and goats makes our duty perfectly plain, doesn't it? Another thing that annoys me is when people say 'Why did you give that man money? He'll probably go and drink it.' My reply is 'But if I'd kept [it] I should probably have drunk it.'...
I am sorry to hear of the little dog's death. The animal creation is a strange mystery. We can make some attempt to understand human suffering: but the sufferings of animals from the beginning of the world till now (inflicted not only by us but by one another) - what is one to think? And again, how strange that God brings us into such intimate relations with creatures of whose real purpose and destiny we remain forever ingnorant. We know to some degree what angels and men are for. But what is flea for, or a wild dog?

pp. 360-361

Ultimately

Not wanting to be morbid on this beautiful Wednesday morning, but I wanted to share two of the most memorable images from my Italy trip (and like I said Sunday, I promise I won't make this blog my family vacation slide show!).

Many know about the ancient city of Pompeii. In the year 79AD, a volcano (Mt Vesuvius) erupted burying Pompeii and her sister city in a wall of ash that hid the city for 1700 years. In 1748, Pompeii was accidentally discovered, showing the world perhaps the best preserved site of an ancient Roman civilization. Believe me, the preservation is incredible. When many think of Pompeii they think of the plaster casts. That's what I thought of. When uncovering the site, many voids in the ash were found with human remains. The workers injected plaster into the voids and the result was a near perfect recreation of the people who died from the gas and ash, frozen in their last moment (including animals).

The second picture is from St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. I can't remember the altar or the tomb. Having to look at one of the largest and most important churches in the world in 30 minutes, I could really take note of everything - except for this. A part of a great work of sculpture is a hand reaching out from a shroud holding an hourglass. The guide called our attention and said it is to remind us that life, basically, is short.

Again, not wanting to be morbid, but it's true. It's a fact the people of Pompeii continue to share with their city and plaster casts and it's fact the skeleton hand teaches to each pilgrim that walks by. But we should not be full of anxiety or worry. Life is fleeting, it is short, it will end - but it will not be over.

There is great freedom in knowing this and letting go all the attempts to control and stop what will ultimately happen. Live today. Live fully and joyfully. Smile today. Make someone else smile. Enjoy life and be thankful. For this is only the beginning.

Angels Among Us

Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
To whom God's love
commits me here,
Ever this day,
be at my side,
To light and guard,
Rule and guide. Amen.






photo from the Cathedral in Pisa, Italy