A New Year's Resolution: To love both lightly and tightly

Had every intention of writing something marking New Year's Eve 2012 -- but between watching the paint dry on the "#fiscalcliff" saga and fighting off a pesky head cold I've run out of time, energy and steam all at the same time.

So ... in lieu of something orginal from me, let me commend this lovely, thoughtful, feels-really-true-to-me piece on Love & Grief by Deanna Vandiver ... which says, in part:

The truth is that life is mystery, change is constant, control is a figment of the human imagination. When I can be present to the truth that nothing is promised – all life is gift -- then despair has a harder time getting a grip in my psyche. Each involuntary and thoughtless breath is amazing, is unearned and unearnable. Grace, by another name.

Years ago, I read the words of Anne Lamott, “I do not understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.” “Ah,” said my soul. “Yes!” My source of hope lies in that mystery. I trust the universe to be endlessly creative, to be rife with paradox, to seek generativity. Life will! In the most inconceivable places and times and situations, life insists most creatively and assertively. And death will too. Two sides of the same coin, much like love and grief.

And so, I live holding all that I love lightly and tightly. Lightly enough that it may take its own path, tightly enough that it never doubts my love.

It is a spiritual practice.
It is a daily struggle.
It is a daily joy.

To risk loving both lightly and tightly is the only resolution I'm making this year. Happy New Year, All!

"Not On Our Watch" -- Pasadena/Altadena Rally to End Gun Violence

Honored to stand with civic, church and community leaders calling for a community wide response to ending violence in the streets of Pasadena/Altadena.

Press reports:
LA Times
Pasadena Sun
Star News photos
Channel 7 video clip

Let Your Light So Shine | Sermon for the First Sunday After Christmas

December 30 | All Saints Church | 7:30am

And the Word became flesh

That was my Christmas Day sermon.
I’m not going to re-preach it this morning
but I do want to start by reprising this bit:

Because what we celebrate on Christmas –
and today is the 6th Day of Christmas, so we’re still celebrating! –
is nothing less than the promise of new life
in the birth of the Christmas baby.
We are called to wonder again
at the power of a love
great enough to triumph over death
as we claim a Christmas Truth
greater than any of the traditions it inspires:
the mystical longing
of the creature for the creator –
the finite for the infinite –
the human for the divine.

It is a longing that transcends
culture, religion, language and custom –
and it is a longing that is represented for us as Christians
in this Christmas baby
all wrapped up in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.

The sudden, amazing and incomprehensible gift of grace:
a God who loved us enough
to become one of us
in order to show us
how to love one another.
Loved us enough to become human
in order to show us how to become fully human.
Loved us enough to yearn for us
to become the creatures we were created to be
rather than settle for being
the creatures we had become.

And the Word became flesh.

And the traditions we inherit
the rituals we practice
the customs we claim
are all designed to point us to that truth.

That’s part of what I preached on the First Day of Christmas.
And what want to talk about on this Sixth Day of Christmas
is the “therefore” part
the “so what” part
the “what now” part
the “meaning of life” part?

And my favorite story to illustrate that point is from one of my favorite writers: Robert Fulghum of Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten fame.

It’s a story about a Greek philosophy professor.
It seems that it was his custom to end each lecture
by asking the class, “Are there any questions?”

One day a student raised his hand and – half jokingly said,
“Yes, I’ve got a question. What is the meaning of life?”

The professor replied, “I will answer your question,”
and he pulled a small hand mirror out of his pocket and he told this story:

"When I was a small child, living during the war
we were very poor and we lived in a remote village.
One day, on the road,
I found the broken pieces of a mirror.

A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.

I tried to find all the pieces
and put them back together,
but it was not possible,
so I kept only the largest piece.
And by scratching it on a stone I made it round.
I began to play with it as a toy,
and became fascinated by the fact
that I could reflect light into dark places
where the sun would never shine –
in deep holes and crevices and dark closets.

It became a game for me
to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.
I kept the little mirror,
and as I went about my growing up,
I would take it out in idle moments
and continue the challenge of the game.

As I became a man,
I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game
but a metaphor for what I might do with my life.
I came to understand that I am not the light
or the source of the light.
But light - truth, understanding, knowledge - is there,
and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it.

I am a fragment of a mirror
whose whole design and shape I do not know.
Nevertheless, with what I have
I can reflect light into the dark places of this world
and change some things in some people.
Perhaps others may see and do likewise.
This is what I am about.

This is the meaning of my life."

That was the meaning of his life
and it can be the meaning of ours
if we are willing to let our light so shine.

Like the man in the Gospel for today,
the man sent from God,
whose name was John.
He came as a witness to testify to the light.
He himself was not the light,
but he came to testify to the light.

A light that is for all nations and all people
as the song goes:

Creator of the stars of night
Your people’s everlasting light
O Christ, Redeemer of us all
We pray you hear us when we call.

Hear us when we call asking how and when and where
we can best reflect the light we have been given
can best testify to the light we have experienced.

For we are a people claimed by God.
We come as witnesses to the light.
We are not the light but we testify to the light
whenever we take God’s healing grace
and God’s inclusive love into the dark places
they will never shine without us to reflect them.

We testify to the light:

When we speak out against the drones in Afghanistan
and when we stand against gun violence in Altadena.

When we preach family values that value all families
and when we petition for the end of the death penalty.

When we light candles at vigils for our homeless neighbors
and when we light fires under politicians
and call on them to refuse to solve the “fiscal cliff” problem
by balancing the budget on the backs of those with the least resources.

In these and all the other actions
we take out from this place into the world
it is the light of Christ we shine:
as we go out to let our light so shine
as the word made flesh
as the Body of Christ in the world.

To God Creator, God the Son
And God the Spirit, Three in One
Praise, honor, might and glory be
From age to age eternally.

Amen.

"Demand a Plan" ... Seriously!

In case you're not one of the over 5 million people who have already seen this it's a "must see."



"Demand a Plan" is a project of the "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" coalition. Click here to see if your mayor is on the list. If so, take a minute to email him/her and say "thanks." If not, find out why not. Demand a plan. Enough is enough. Seriously!!

R.I.P. Jane Holmes Dixon

1937 - 2012

Tribute by Washington Bishop Mariann Budde

I have a handfull of voicemails that are "saved" on my office phone -- a voicemail version of not wanting to wash your hand after you've shaken the hand of one of your heroes. And the oldest one is from Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon.

+Jane took time on Ash Wednesday 2007 -- when we were in the vortex of "the inclusion wars" -- to call with words of support and encouragement after the PBS NewsHour aired a segment I was on with Kendall Harmon. She was an extraordinary leader, pastor, pioneer and cheerleader. Her legacy will live on in all those who continue to work to make God's inclusive love, justice and compassion made tanglible in the work and witness of the Episcopal Church and beyond. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.

"And the Word Became Flesh" | Sermon for Christmas Day 2012

And the Word Became Flesh

Christmas Day 2012 | Susan Russell | All Saints Church, Pasadena

And the Word became flesh … the scriptures tell us.

And a weary world rejoices … the hymn sings to us.

Familiar words

Comforting words
Christmas words
Words we’ve sung, said and heard
(many of us)
for as long as we can remember …
maybe even before we can remember.

And so,

on this Christmas Day in the morning,
it is the very familiarity
of these familiar words
that can become their challenge.
It is the challenge to hear them …
to actually hear them …
on this Christmas morning
as words not just describing a once upon a time
long, long ago moment to us –
but as words that are for us –
words that are about us
in this time, in this place, in this moment.

It is a very real challenge for us – for me –

because the Christmas story IS so familiar
that the amazing impact
of its glorious message
can ironically become lost
to those of us who know it best.

And I don’t want that to happen.

I don’t want that to happen to me.
I don’t want that to happen to you.
And I don’t want that to happen to us.

Because, my brothers and sisters,

the world we live in is too weary,
the challenges we face are too great
and the opportunities we have are too enormous
for us to claim anything less this Christmas Day
than the full promise of what we gather to celebrate
with our prayers and our praises,
our hymns and our hopes,
our carols and our candles.

What we welcome this morning

is nothing less than the promise of new life
in the birth of this Christmas baby.
We are called to wonder again
at the power of a love
great enough to triumph over death
as we claim a Christmas Truth
greater than any of the traditions it inspires:
the mystical longing
of the creature for the creator –
the finite for the infinite –
the human for the divine.

It is a longing that transcends

culture, religion, language and custom –
and it is a longing that is represented for us as Christians
in this Christmas baby
all wrapped up in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.

The sudden, amazing and incomprehensible gift of grace:

a God who loved us enough
to become one of us
in order to show us
how to love one another.

Loved us enough to become human

in order to show us how to become fully human.

Loved us enough to yearn for us

to become the creatures we were created to be
rather than settle for being
the creatures we had become.

And the Word became flesh.

And the traditions we inherit

the rituals we practice
the customs we claim
are all designed to point us to that truth.

And so I don’t want to lose them, either --

because the world we live in is too weary,
the challenges we face are too great
and the opportunities we have are too enormous
for us to claim anything less
than absolutely every resource at our disposal --
including the beloved traditions
that are good things
holy things
sacramental things.
Those things that are for us
“outward and visible signs
of the inward and spiritual grace”
of God’s love come down at Christmas –
those things that it just wouldn’t be Christmas without:
things that sometimes defy logic or elude explanation.
And for me, the icon of “those things” has become:
The Santa Candle.

It is a story I’ve told before

but this morning I believe
it is one that bears retelling.

A number of years ago,

as I was engaged in the task of decking the halls
with the familiar stuff of Russell Family Christmases
I came across the Santa Candle:
A jolly, rotund wax figure
who had presided for many years
from the top of the highest bookcase in the living room.

Every year, someone would ask,

Can we light the Santa Candle?
And every year I would explain
that if we lit the candle,
Santa’s hat would melt into Santa’s face
and there would soon not be much of Santa
left for next year.

Well, you guessed it:

the year before,
someone had been unable to resist
and Santa was indeed a shadow of his former self.

After a moment of irritation

at having my well-reasoned instructions
so blatantly disregarded,
I tossed the half-melted candle
into the trash bag
without much more than a second thought.

And that’s where Jamie

(who prefers to be Jim)
my then-17-year-old son -- found him.
“You threw away the SANTA CANDLE?”
he said in horror.
And dusting him off
began to clear a space
on the top of the bookshelf.

“Look at him.” I protested.

“He’s half melted away!”

But paying no attention to his mother,

my 6’2” son carefully placed the Santa Candle on the shelf.
“He ALWAYS goes on the bookcase!” he said.
And so, there he sat.

There was in that beat-up, half melted Santa Candle

something that spoke to Jamie
of what is valuable, dear, worth preserving in a Christmas tradition ...
assuring me in that moment that
the seeds his father and I had endeavored to sow

throughout his childhood

had actually taken root:
seeds that say family matters, traditions matter,
CHRISTMAS matters.

Seeds that have continued to take root and to flower in him

as he has turned into an adult
making his own path,
and finding his own traditions
as he has grown and matured
through life’s challenges and changes.

For there are indeed few things

more certain in life than change.
And this year we know that all too well in my family
as we continue to meet the challenge
of finding joy in the shadow of loss.

The months since my partner Louise

lost her battle with cancer
have been equally full
of deep grief and deep gratitude. 

And in striving to live intentionally

in the tension of that profound “both/and”
for me this Advent has been blessed
with an abundance of words rich with both hope and healing.

 In the song I heard by Roseann Cash reminding:

              “God is in the roses and in the thorns”

 In the reflection I read by Bishop Steven Charleston promising:

              Joy is not the denial of sorrow,

              but the affirmation of hope over hurt,

              life over death,

              good over evil

In the hymn we sang on the First Sunday of Advent asking:

Can it be that from our endings, new beginnings you create?

Life from death, and from our rendings, realms of wholeness generate?
Take our fears, then, Lord and turn them into hopes for life anew:
Fading light and dying season sing their Glorias to you.

And in the poetry of Madeline L’Engle contextualizing:

He came to a world which did not mesh,

to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.

We cannot wait till the world is sane

to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

And the Word became Flesh

not because the world was sane or anymore ready for it
in first century Palestine than it is in 21st century Pasadena
where we struggle to make meaning
out of the violence, polarization and fears that surround us
across the country in Newtown, Connecticut
and across town in Northwest Pasadena.

And to help with that “make meaning” part, I turn to the words

of theologian Marilyn McCord Adams
who writes:

"We can’t make Sandy Hook meaningful

by looking backward,
but only by moving forward,
by working alongside
a God Who is for us,
resourceful
to make good on the very worst
that we can suffer, be, or do.
God knows,
God has created us
in a world where ghastly evil interrupts,
despite our best efforts to control.

God not only creates;

God resurrects.
God makes the worst count for good
by bringing life out of death.

To be on God’s side,

we must bend ourself
to efforts that foster life,
inclusive community,
and creativity.

Collaboration revives hope

because it convinces us: 
we are safe because,
and only because,
we are loved by God!"

And that, my brothers and sisters,

is the essence of the amazing gift
we celebrate this Christmas morning in
the amazing gift of our brother Jesus
born of our sister Mary.

The Word made flesh

in order to convince us
that we are safe
because and only because
we are loved by God.

And it is out of that safety –

out of the sure and certain knowledge
that absolutely nothing
can separate us from that love –
that we can risk –
we can dare .

We can be the change we want to see in the world

that is crying for change:
for hope, for light and for joy.

It is out of that safety

that we can risk trying again:
countering the powers and principalities
of violence, discrimination and fear
with love, justice and compassion.

It is out of that safety

that we can risk loving again:
allowing the promise of being fully alive
to trump the fear of loss and vulnerability.

And it is out that safety

that can we dare to claim for ourselves
the holy work
Howard Thurman calls
“The Work of Christmas:”

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

And so on this Christmas Day in the morning

I pray that you can hear the familiar words of Christmas
not as once-upon-a-time long-long-ago words
but as words that are for you
words that are to you
words that are about you
in this time, in this place, in this moment.

Because, my brothers and sisters,

the world we live in is too weary,
the challenges we face are too great
and the opportunities we have are too enormous
for us to claim anything less this Christmas Day
than OUR call –
each and every one of us –
to become
the word made flesh
as the Body of Christ
sent out to do the work of Christmas.

Merry Christmas. Amen.

"The Glory of Christmas @All Saints Church, Pasadena

Just a little look at the "Glory of Christmas: All Saints Style:"

All Saints Church: Where there's room at the inn for everyone!

As we shift into getting-ready-for-Baby Jesus-overdrive, I couldn't think of a better "Christmas Eve Card" than this:

"Welcome; Whoever you are, and wherever you find yourself on your journey of faith, there is a place here for you." Photo by Betsy Winchell [MPAC Convention 2012]

Nothing "puts the Christ back in Christmas" like attacking gay people!

Because there's no greater challenge to "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All" than the lesbian couple down the street. Seriously!!

At his annual Christmas speech to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI called same-sex marriage a “manipulation of nature” to be deplored and an attack on the “essence of the human creature.”

It was the second time this week that Benedict took aim at marriage equality:

People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.

The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned.

Read the rest here ... and [for the record] I do not in any way "dispute" the idea that we have a nature that serves as a defining element of the human being. However, I believe that our sexual orientation is morally neutral and does not define us but is part of what equips us to live our lives in alignment with God's love, justice and compassion. And so what I DO dispute is the prerogative of the Bishop of Rome to project his homophobia on to what defines me as a human being. And that is -- quite simply and rather traditionally -- "created in the image of God and called to walk in love as Christ loved us." Not your job, Dude: back off!

GOP question du jour: WWSD? (What Would Solomon Do?)

#GOP Remedial #fiscalcliff Bible Reading Assignment: 1Kings3 -- wherein Solomon smoked out false mother (congressional representatives) willing to kill the baby (economy) rather than compromise. Seriously, people. Lead, for heaven's sake!

Dear Dr. Dobson: Your God isn't irrelevant -- He is anathema!

Today Focus on the Family founder James Dobson joined Mike Huckabee and some other conservative Christian leaders in blaming Friday's shootings on God who -- Dobson said on his radio broadcast -- "has allowed judgment to fall upon us."

Our country really does seem in complete disarray. I'm not talking politically, I'm not talking about the result of the November sixth election; I am saying that something has gone wrong in America and that we have turned our back on God.

I mean millions of people have decided that God doesn't exist, or he's irrelevant to me and we have killed 54 million babies and the institution of marriage is right on the verge of a complete redefinition. Believe me, that is going to have consequences, too.

And a lot of these things are happening around us, and somebody is going to get mad at me for saying what I am about to say right now, but I am going to give you my honest opinion: I think we have turned our back on the scripture and on God almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us. I think that's what's going on.

And uncounted legions of people yearning for a spiritual home and connection to the God of love, justice and compassion are given yet another reason to "pass" on Christianity -- because if Christianity is about a God who would kill children because He's angry about gay and lesbian people building families together then who wants any part of that God? Not me... said the Episcopal priest. Not me.

This would be the same God who "intends" a rape victim to bear the child of her rapist and who supports a bill that advocates killing gays in Uganda. Just to name a few.

Well, I don't have a radio show. But I have a blog. And I have news for Dr. Dobson: that God isn't irrelevant to me -- He is anathema to me. That God has nothing whatsoever to do with the God of love, justice and compassion who "came down at Christmas" incarnate in the Prince of Peace who became one of us in order to show us how to love one another.

And if we let Dobson -- or Huckabee or Buchanan or any of the other followers of that hateful, hurtful, homophobic judgmental God with an anger management problem -- speak for Christianity, then we fail to counter the toxic theology masquerading as the Good News of God in Christ and we fail to stand up, stand up for Jesus.

And we can do better than that. So let's do it. Seriously.

"These tragedies must end. To end them we must change."

This was a "weekend away" for me ... so these photos were ones snapped down in Laguna Beach: icons of the collective grief, mourning and increased determination to find the will to find a way to BE the change we must see to end the scourge of gun violence in this country.

Ed Bacon offered a profoundly powerful sermon from the All Saints pulpit yesterday. You can watch that here.

President Obama was exquisitely present in his role as both "Comforter and Challenger in Chief" -- comforting the grieving and challenging the nation to change. You can read it here. You can watch it here.

And Madeline L'Engle is still one of the places I turn for language to apprehend the holy in spite of the horrible:

First Coming
by Madeleine L’Engle

He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.

He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine.

He did not wait till hearts were pure.
In joy he cameto a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.

He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.

We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

Marilyn McCord Adams on Sandy Hook

With thanks this morning to Episcopal Cafe's Daily Episcopalian for "The slaughter of the innocents" -- reflections on the unspeakable tragedy of the Sandy Hook shootings by the inimitable Marilyn McCord Adams. She concludes:

"We can’t make Sandy Hook meaningful

by looking backward,

but only by moving forward,

by working alongside

a God Who is for us,

resourceful

to make good on the very worst

that we can suffer, be, or do.

God knows,

God has created us

in a world where ghastly evil interrupts,

despite our best efforts to control.

God not only creates;

God resurrects.

God makes the worst count for good

by bringing life out of death.

To be on God’s side,

we must bend ourself

to efforts that foster life,

inclusive community,

and creativity.

Collaboration revives hope

because it convinces us: 

we are safe because,

and only because,

we are loved by God!"

#Newton

"We should really stop pretending that guns don't kill people." Hilary Rosen

• Reply

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A Matthew 5:16 Moment

In these waning days of Advent we're busy, busy, busy at All Saints Church with preparations for the annual Christmas pageant extravaganza, three Christmas Eve services plus one on Christmas Day, a coat drive for our homeless neighbors in Pasadena in addition to all the year-end stewardship, pastoral care and administrative "stuff" of a parish of 4000 members.

AND we're hosting the 12th Annual Nat'l Convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council tomorrow -- an event that organizers estimate will draw between 800 - 1000 participants and has drawn no small amount of controversy and attention over the last two weeks.

To be completely honest, when we booked the event months ago, the only controversy we expected was managing the space challenges on our busy campus of a choir rehearsal in the morning with a conference beginning at 11:30 a.m. But the opportunity to provide hospitality to our friends at MPAC -- and to participate in their desire to make this year's convention an historic opportunity to celebrate interfaith peacemaking by not just talking about it but incarnating it by the fact of meeting in a Christian church for the first time -- outweighed the calendar juggling so we happily booked the event.

And then the Crackpot Christians got wind of it and all hell broke loose.

As soon as the IRD sponsored critique of MPAC and All Saints hit the Internet, we started getting a stream of the most ugly emails we've ever experienced at All Saints Church. (And do bear in mind that we've been on the front lines in the Culture Wars for lo these many years and so have gotten way more than our share of ugly emails over the years.) Just a couple of examples:

Islam is satanic garbage, indistinguishable from Nazism. Do not welcome the muzziescum into your church. They're like Body Snatchers.

Any effort by a Muslim organization to align themselves with Christians has nothing at all to do with a sense of common faith or building bridges, but rather everything to do with co-opting uninformed Christians as a credible shield for their indefensible ideology. It's like a pedophile joining the Boy Scouts.

God helps those who help themselves, and the only way he will love his brethern is we actively advocate the extermination of Muslims worldwide. Praise Jesus.

Seriously.

If you've been following the story, you'll know that we held a joint MPAC/ASC press conference last week to address the hate mail and to make the case that it exposes exactly the kind of ugly underbelly of Islamophobia in this country we are standing together to counter with our ongoing witness to interfaith peacemaking.

This week the L.A. Times weighed in with an editorial that said in part:

"It seems perfectly reasonable for All Saints to offer up its home for the convention this Saturday of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. In fact, it's something of a mitzvah."

And this morning the NYTimes ran a feature article drawing further national attention to what we really thought was going to be just another interfaith gig at All Saints Church. Go figure. I'm considering it a Matthew 5:16 moment (that's the "let your light so shine" passage to save you looking it up) as we stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters and let the light of our shared values of God's love, justice and compassion shine in the darkness of fear, polarization and Islamophobia.

And because I want to end on a positive note, I also want to share a couple of the supportive email we're received ... and to report at this point the positive and negative are trending just about equally:

Hi. I am not part of your church. Nor am I a Muslim. (In fact, I am more or less an atheist at this point.) And I don't even live in Pasadena. But I was appalled to read in the LA Times that your church is getting hate mail, or hate email, simply because you are hosting a convention put together by the Muslim Public Affairs Council. So I just gave you $20 via your web site.

Merry Christmas! Thank you for the courage your church has shown in recent days! You are setting an example of what a peaceful world can look like. Much love, light and God's blessings to your church next Saturday and every day!

Thank you for demonstrating the true love of God by hosting the Muslim conference. More Christian churches, and individuals, need to show the courage required to live Christ's message. Peace and Blessings be upon you, Pat (Carthage, Mo.)

Happy Advent, Everyone! And Tick Tock Christmas!

Brian McLaren's Open Letter to Rebecca Kadaga

So delighted to see this VERY strong "Open Letter" from Brian McLaren to the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament. Please read, mark, learn, inwardly digest and then like, share, tweet, blog and email!

(And DO note that Brian will be with us at All Saints Church this coming Sunday, December 16th as the speaker in our Rector's Forum. If you can't be with us in person, you can live-stream the presentation which will begin at 10:15 am (Pacific) and afterwards it will be available on our YouTube Channel.)

The Christmas gift that would honor Christ would be this: to drop your stones. To see Christ in the most vulnerable people of Uganda ... rich or poor, powerful or powerless, straight or gay. To banish the darkness of prejudice and scapegoating and let in the light of compassion, respectful listening, and mutual understanding.

So my prayer this Christmas is that you and the people of Uganda set an example to the world - by turning away from what has been planned, by turning toward compassion and understanding, and by making your country not more dangerous and hateful, but even more welcoming and loving.

I am especially touched by the threat of this law because in my own family and among my closest circle of friends, there are many gay people. Like you, I was raised in a cultural and religious tradition that condemned them. But I have come to see that our tradition was wrong - just as it was wrong about slavery, segregation/apartheid, colonialism, and chauvinism.

I would hate to think that in the future, if I again have the pleasure of visiting Uganda, I might be thrown into jail for seeking to follow Jesus by speaking against a misguided tradition and standing with the vulnerable.

Read the rest here.

Hope, Peace & Hate Mail

From my inbox:

"This is not "hate mail. I don't hate you, and I don't hate Muslims. [But] any effort by a Muslim organization to align themselves with Christians has nothing at all to do with a sense of common faith or building bridges, but rather everything to do with co-opting uninformed Christians as a credible shieldfor their indefensible ideology. It's like a pedophile joining the Boy Scouts."

Yes, this is what we're up against, people. And yet today we lit the second Advent candle -- so now we have both Hope and Peace shining in the darkness of a world clearly in desperate need of both. So Hope for healing and work for Peace. And pray for the people who send us this kind of polemic -- that they be healed of the fear that blinds them to the neighbor God loves just as much as God loves them.

Kyrie eleison.

Comment on Breaking Supreme Court/Marriage Equality News

Today’s announcement by the Supreme Court that they will consider not one but two marriage equality cases is a great day for justice and a significant step for the movement toward equality.

As a Californian I am thrilled that the solid case presented by Ted Olson and David Boies against Prop 8 will be heard by the highest court in the land. I am confident that the irrefutable argument that singling out a class of Americans violates the basic principles of who we are as nation will be upheld by the Supreme Court and that we are on the cusp of consigning marriage discrimination to the dustbin of history.

As an Episcopalian I am thrilled that my church overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for the repeal of DOMA in July at our General Convention and stands solidly in support of civil marriage equality for ALL Americans. At All Saints Church in Pasadena we will be praying for justice to roll down like waters and look forward to the day when we can once again offer both equal blessing and equal protection to all couples coming to us as they commit themselves to God and to one another. But for today, we rejoice in this opportunity for our Justices to affirm our Constitution's promises of liberty, equality and human dignity as we watch the arc of the moral universe continue to bend toward justice.


The Reverend Canon Susan Russell
All Saints Church, Pasadena

Yes, Virginia: Thank You Notes are ALWAYS Appropriate!

I grew up in a family where gratitude was a primary value and "thank you notes" were practically a sacrament. The Christmas wrap would still be on the living room floor or the birthday cake still on the kitchen counter and my mother would have the cards and pen out for us to write our notes to Grandma in Minnesota or the neighbors down the street for whatever gift we had received we were grateful for.

Old habits are hard to break.

And so this morning -- full of gratitude for all the blessings of yesterday's amazing outpouring of prophetic witness and support for the upcoming Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) convention at All Saints Church -- I got my 21st century version of my Crane's Informal Notes out and sent the following email thank-you to Ryan Mauro* ... whose IRD sponsored article criticizing our relationship with MPAC kicked off the events of the week:

Dear Mr. Mauro,

With apologizes for the tardy reply to your email of December 4, I am sure you will understand that we have been unusually busy here at All Saints Church in response to the publicity about the upcoming MPAC Convention – generated at least in part by your online article. And for that I want to offer my deep and heartfelt thanks.

We knew that having the national convention of Muslim Public Affairs Council here at All Saints Church would be a beacon of hope to those who are yearning to believe that it is possible to move beyond polarization over differences into mobilization around shared values of love, justice and compassion shared by faithful Muslims and Christians around the world. However, drawing the attention of the media and the world to “good news” stories is, as I’m sure you know, a challenge. Thank you for helping us overcome that challenge and giving us a national platform for the message that we actually can be the change we want to see in the world. We are so very grateful!

With all best blessings for a Holy Advent and Joyous Christmas,
(The Reverend Canon) Susan Russell
Senior Associate, All Saints Church

Mother would be so proud!

===

* Ryan Mauro is RadicalIslam.org's National Security Analyst and a fellow with the Clarion Fund. He is the founder of WorldThreats.com and is frequently interviewed on Fox News.

KTLA on the upcoming MPAC Convention @All Saints Church

If you can get past the fact that the anchors and the graphics folks have All Saints Church, Pasadena located in Glendale for some reason, this is a really good segment from yesterday's press conference on the MPAC Convention (after the 30 second commercial!)

Click here to watch.

 

 

"We Get Mail" -- A report from the All Saints Church Front

The fact that All Saints Church has been on the receiving end of hate mail in response to our hosting the 12th Annual National Convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has been ... to put it mildly ... in the news.

Although the event has been on the calendar for months -- and All Saints Church being actively involved in interfaith activities is hardly "news" -- last Friday, November 30 an article appeared on a conservative blogsite critiquing both All Saints and MPAC. Entitled "California Church to Become Site of Islamist Convention" the article was sponsored by the Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD) and full of mischaracterizations about MPAC and an organization and our friends Dr. Maher Hathout and Salam Al-Marayati as individuals.

Immediately after the article was posted, we began receiving emails protesting All Saints' involvement in the MPAC Convention and containing -- as Ed Bacon aptly named it  -- "some of the most vile, mean-spirited email I’ve ever read in my life."

Because the polemic nature of the correspondence so perfectly made evident the need for exactly the witness MPAC and All Saints are making by having a Muslim convention at a Christian church, we made the considered decision to go public with the challenges we were receiving -- to turn toxic rhetoric into teachable moments.

Ed preached about it in his sermon on Sunday.
Susan blogged about it in the Huffington Post on Monday.
All Saints and MPAC sent out a joint press release about it on Tuesday.
KNBC ran a story about it on Wednesday.
And on Thursday, we held a joint press conference where dozens of faith leaders stood in solidarity while
All Saints and MPAC leaders spoke to a bank of cameras representing every local media outlet and a national live-streaming audience.

Video of the press conference will be available on the All Saints YouTube Channel, and a number of news outlets have already posted stories, including:

The Los Angeles Times
The Washington Post
The Associated Press

"So how bad were the emails, actually?" is a question we've gotten. Some of them were quite honestly so bad that they are not going to see the light of day. But in the interest of transparency, here are a few select quotes:

The subject lines in the emails ranged from: “Don’t be gullible suckers” to “Muslim Public Affairs Council Convention -- a grave mistake”

“Islam is satanic garbage, indistinguishable from Nazism. Do not welcome the muzziescum into your church. They're like Body Snatchers.”

“I am dismayed that you would allow your church facilities to be used for the annual convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. When Dr. Maher Hathout of MPAC spoke at your sister church, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Los Angeles his address was filled with lies and misleading statements. Dr. Hathout cannot tell you the truth about Islam because you would be offended and revolted.”

“You are Consorting with the Enemy that is Killing Christians Worldwide”

"It is not my purpose to call you names. It IS my purpose to recognize you for true stereotypes of the "useful idiot," first recognized and exploited by Lenin. The problem is that by providing cover and legitimacy to an organization dedicated to overthrowing the Constitution you endanger my country and my grandsons' future. And for that I cannot forgive you."

"You are contributing to the demise of all of Western (Christian based)civilization. You are making a grievous error."

As noted -- these are the printable ones. For more information on the MPAC Convention visit their website. And do keep our human race in your prayers. Clearly it has a ways to go until it becomes a human family.

Advent, MPAC and the Armor of Light

Advent.

ad·vent/ˈadˌvent/Noun:
1.The arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.
2.The first season of the church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.

Yesterday at All Saints Church in Pasadena we lit one candle -- as we always do on the First Sunday of Advent: the Candle of Hope. But this year -- 2012 -- at All Saints Church we lit one candle for two reasons.

The second part of the definition above was the first reason we lit the Candle of Hope: the first season of the church year leading up to Christmas. And it occurred to me today that the first part of the definition was a second reason: the arrival of a notable event. And that notable event is one filled with Hope -- the 12th Annual Muslim Public Affairs Council convention being held at All Saints church on December 15.

It is a first ever. From the MPAC Convention website:

All Saints Church is a symbol of ideal religious coexistence and pluralism in America. This year’s convention promises to bring our communities together to discuss the important issues we face today involving religious pluralism, violence and bigotry. The future of our country is dependent on work with both the interfaith and civic leaders, now more than ever.

A national Muslim Convention in a Christian Church. Now that's hope we can not just believe in but touch. Feel. Participate in.

Hope that there actually are people of faith refusing to be polarized over differences and instead choosing to mobilize over shared values of love, justice and compassion.

Hope that the armor of light we put on during Advent is a light to ALL people.

And hope that in our coming together to shine that light we can particpate in bending that arc of the moral universe a little closer to justice by our shared witness to the God who created us all in love and called us to walk in love with each other.

Not everyone is as excited about this as I am.

A Google Alert hit my inbox on Friday morning with a link to something called "Right Side News." The headline was "California Church to Become Site of Islamist Convention" and it turned out the piece was "sponsored by the Institute for Religion and Democracy."

Yep. IRD. Our old friends who have been working oh-so-diligently to "return mainline churches to biblical orthodoxy" are back. Only now they're not after "the gays" ... they pretty much lost that one. Now they're after the Muslims with this opening shot: "Yet again, the Islamists are taking advantage of naïve Christians with a desire to show off their tolerance."

Seriously. I've been at All Saints Church for over a decade and we've been called MANY things -- but naive just doesn't come up. If you want some background on the IRD here's a start ... a blog I wrote back in 2009 (when Kendall Harmon would still let me comment on Titusonine) and also here's some brief context from a piece by Daniel Webster in The Witness back in 2006. It was entitled "This Schism Brought to You by the IRD."

There's no better description of how the IRD works than Hard Ball on Holy Ground, The Religious Right v. the Mainline for the Church's Soul (Boston Wesleyan Press, 2005). This book, edited by Stephen Swecker, is a compilation of articles by several authors who expose the IRD for what it is. "In the end, the IRD is not a program grounded in faith but, rather, in fear -- both fear of change in general and fear of loss by those who benefit most from the status quo, i.e., the wealthy and the powerful," writes Swecker in his closing article.

Yes, we know these folks. And now -- having failed to recreate our churches in their own image -- having failed to keep women in their place and LGBT people as strangers at the gate -- they're turning their attention to our Muslim brothers and sisters. They are at this point nothing less than an organization looking for an "other" to scapegoat and persecute. And that's why we at All Saints Church are getting out our armor of light. Because we're going to need it.

The emails we've started getitng in response to the article are, as Ed Bacon said in his sermon on Sunday:

"... some of the most vile, mean-spirited email I’ve ever read in my life, talking about All Saints participating in terrorism by being hospitable to Muslims. To be a member of All Saints Church is to be a member of the peacemaking community in the world, and to that end, I also believe that to be religious in the 21st Century is to be interreligious. MPAC is one of our integral partners in interfaith peacemaking."

So stay tuned. Keep awake. Put on your armor of light -- and join us, won't you?

Join us in lighting a Candle of Hope that people of faith not only can but will stand together against polemic and polarization by focusing on instead on the mobilization of God's values of love, justice and compassion. Join us in speaking out against Islamophobia with all its hatred and ugliness. And join us in trusting together we truly can turn the human race into the human family.