Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Antidote to Anglican Anxiety


Overwhelmed by the details of life?

Stressed out by the imminent arrival of Super Tuesday?

Eating the bread of Anglican Anxiety?


Whatever ails you today, I have an antidote. Sit back. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes and remember that you belong to the God of all hope. And then ...


and read this brief essay by Diocese of California high-school student, Jasper Goldberg.*

And THEN ...
... give thanks for the witness of the youth of this church who are being raised up to SPEAK up. Give thanks for the spirit of hope Jasper brings to those anxious about what the future holds. And most of all, give thanks for the Spirit of the Living God who continues to pour out grace and power and courage upon those anointed to speak truth to power, to give voice to hope and to make justice roll down!


And let us all say together:

Thanks be to God.

Alleluia.

Amen.


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*thanks to Jim White for sending this my way and to Fr. Jake for spotlighting Jasper's words of witness.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Anyone who can read this and not get a little teary eyed (in some form or another) must be a little off track. I have the box of Kleenexes out right now! Thank you Susan for providing this and reminding us about our youth. It is, indeed, wonderful that God has used Jasper as an instrument to encourage each of us to stand up. We should also be reminded of young Timothy, the Apostle of Christ, who worried about his age that no one would listen. And yet God used him profoundly. I pray that others will hear the words of Jasper. And yes, Susan, Thanks be to God. Alleluia. Amen!!

Jack Sprat said...

One of the most valuable (and ephemeral) qualities of youth is an enthusiastic belief that things can change for the better.

Sometimes I think the reason that we abandon this optimism so early in adulthood is that we don't want to be hurt by the world when our dreams don't come to pass. And society responds by passing judgement on optimism as being "unrealistic" and cynicism as being truthful.

I want the Jaspers of this world to hold on to that hopefulness and to infect us with this spirit of goodness and light. We can help him/them by honoring their contributions and listening to them (as Rev. Susan is doing in this blog).

I don't know about you, but I just feel like being hopeful today.

Unknown said...

Jack I think there is truth to what you are saying. However, we as adults have bought into this adopted reality that in particular areas of life things will never change - so nothing ever gets done. It is appearing more and more that the generation that Jasper is part of doesn't accept that mindset. What is interesting is that my mother's generation (the hippies) didn't accept that mindset but now most of them do. Ghandi reminds us time and time again in the eternal proverb "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." I think that we can apply that same sentiment to the church. And yes, Jack, I do feel like being hopeful today as well.

Jack Sprat said...

"The truly orthodox Anglicans reject the selective literalism of the biblical exegesis propounded by the new religion, as well as the hypocritical morality based on that kind of hermeneutics."

Translation: Being an Anglican has NEVER included taking the Bible as the word-for-word literal truth of God and then using it to punish others.

Unknown said...

I agree, Jack. This is exactly what The Rev. Tom Woodward speaks about in his booklet "The Undermining of the Episcopal Church," in that the orthodox take scripture literally and those of us who are revisionists understand the scriptures metaphorically.