Reflections
As I write this newsletter I am on the 9th floor of the Windsor Hotel, just a block or so from the French Quarter in New Orleans. I am here, not because of what you are thinking, but because I am participating in the consecration on Saturday of the Rev. Shannon Duckworth as the 12th Bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana. Shannon was one of the first young people that I sent to Seminary early in my tenure as bishop, and Kathy and I spent a total of 7 years during two separate tours of duty here in the “City that Care Forgot”. Our son, Duncan, was also born here, so our roots run deep.
As I ate in Mandina’s restaurant tonight, just three doors down from our former home on Canal Street, I remembered so very fondly our time living in that former rectory of Grace Episcopal Church. Grandchildren came to love the city on their multiple visits to see us( For some reason, Jackson never seem to have the same appeal!). City Park, the Zoo, the Aquarium, street car rides, Mardi Gras parades passing by our front door-all were very special attractions to grandchildren. Poppi and YaYa will never be as cool, ever again, as when we lived in New Orleans!
But I also began to remember our dogs who were near the end of their lives in New Orleans-Henry and Maggie. Maggie, our beagle, was nearly blind when we lived there, and dug out of the back yard and escaped her confines more than once. Nothing was wrong with her smell, though, and after a quick tour of the neighborhood restaurants I would always find our blind, runaway dog who had somehow avoided four lanes of traffic to follow the scent of fried oysters and turtle soup, being cared for lovingly by the various restaurant wait staffs who would take shifts to hold on to her until some one called and I arrived.
Many more memories flooded my mind tonight, and more than a few tears were shed as I got on the streetcar to go back downtown to the hotel. After tonight I am absolutely convinced that that block on Canal Street between Telemachus and Cortez is holy ground and that God was pouring out grace that I didn’t really have eyes to see until I moved away.
How much of my life is like that? What have I missed in my efforts to do so many things, and try to do them well? These days I have discovered just how much I enjoy these pilgrimages to my own personal holy sites. It’s as if I am finally finding time for God.
Sunday’s Scriptures-A few brief thoughts
Christ the King Sunday
Jeremiah 23:1-6
The prophet looks forward to the return to the fold of the many scattered sheep and their care and nurture by many loving shepherds (Sounds a lot like the prayer I and many bishops I know prayed! ). Beyond their return is David’s descendant who will execute justice and righteous. Sometimes the aforementioned bishops forgot that David’s descendant is not he/she!
Psalm 46
The contrast between the raging and foaming of the waters along with the shaking of kingdoms in this life, and the presence and steadfastness of God through it all, allows us the security that can be found nowhere else. “Be still, and know that I am God,” quotes the Psalmist. When I say this psalm, it comes out sounding like this, “Be still and know that I am God…and you’re not.”
Colossians 1:11-20
Here the mysterious and miraculous paradox of the kingship of Christ is simply proclaimed, not explained. “He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together…[T]hrough him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”
A bloody cross is the throne of this king. That’s not how we usually understand power.
Luke 23:33-43
This King spent most of his days with the poor, the outcast and the marginalized. How appropriate it is, then, that he should spend his last hours dying between between two criminals. The one who recognized in his own behavior, who he truly was, was given a promise by Jesus. On the other side of my own self-recognition is an opening that allows God’s grace to enter. Refusal to see myself as I truly am is one of the many ways that I build barriers to being loved.
Other Matters of Interest
Advent Is Near! Christmas Is Coming!
Evening Prayer:
Each Wednesday at 5:30 pm during the four weeks in Advent,
Evening Prayer will be read in the church. We will begin November 30. In the midst of the noise and chaos of this time of year, Nativity will be doing a radical and profoundly counter cultural thing- providing a quiet place for silence and prayer. This quiet service will take no more than 20 minutes, and may be just what your soul deeply yearns for.
Calling All Musicians!
Brenda Prager, our coordinator of all things musical, is asking anyone who sings or plays an instrument, to contact her if you are interested in being a part of the Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols service on Sunday, December 18,
and/or our Christmas Eve service at 5:30 pm. Brenda can be reached at 662-816-6092, or brendaprager@gmail.com.
See you Sunday!
Peace,
Duncan
601-260-1937
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