Best Practices

I’m part of a liturgy discussion group and a recent thread has begun talking about vestments. Our seminary education regarding the mechanics of worship and liturgy were somewhat lacking since our instructor was in the process of being fired when I was in my first year there. We also only had half a term of required instruction in liturgics.

Someone asked what others do and know as far as how we vest ourselves. One question was whether the stole is worn over or under the chasuble. Apparently there’s a rule for this and I almost always break the rule. My chasubles are almost all plain, that is they have no decoration on them. But the stoles are almost all decorated. So I wear the stole over the chasuble. One chasuble, the white one which the church owns (I don’t have my own white chasuble yet), is decorated and the stole is plain so I wear it the other way around. So only during Christmas and Easter and on Baptism of Our Lord, Transfiguration, Christ the King and other white festivals am I vested properly.

I also used to wear a pectoral cross over my chasuble (except the white one because it would hang over the decoration). The "vestment police" once informed me that it was only a bishop’s prerogative to wear a pectoral cross. I continued to wear it anyway. I haven’t worn it for some time because the chain broke and I haven’t replaced it but I do intend to wear it again.

I wrote about this on the discussion site and one pastor responded rather vehemently decrying my lackadaisical practice. He intimated that anything less than BEST PRACTICE was akin to irreverence in worship. As if someone seeing me with a pectoral cross showing would mistake me for a bishop and that would confuse them to such a degree as to distract them from their worship. As if wearing my stole over my chasuble would be so off-putting that it would hinder the proclamation of the gospel.

I responded to his criticism. Regarding the pectoral cross, most people are unaware that it might be a symbol of a bishop’s office and that’s not high on my list of things that need to be taught to my congregation. But in baptism we are marked with the cross of Christ forever and rather than an invisible mark on our foreheads Christians might choose to wear a visible cross on the chest.

And talking about symbols of office then an argument can be made for wearing the stole over the chasuble rather than hiding a symbol of the pastoral office. I don’t find anything irreverent about wearing alb, chasuble, stole, and pectoral cross when presiding at worship. At the beginning of worship I begin with announcements (another no-no according to the liturgy police) and when I conclude them I say, "Let’s have a brief time of silence to prepare our hearts to worship God" and I sit down and pray. Part of my prayer is "May our words become your Word and may the things we say and do proclaim your love and grace." That’s what I believe worship is about. It’s about joyful worship and praise and proclaiming the gospel. I don’t think following some legalistic rules about the order of my vestments does anything to further that. Failing to follow them to some contrived letter doesn’t detract from that either.

...School's Out!

This is scheduled to appear in our local newspaper tomorrow.


I’ve always loved summer holidays. I was always a pretty good student but I still preferred being out of school to being in school. There may be some who prefer it the other way around but I’m pretty sure they’re in the minority.

Now that my kids don’t have to get up for school I don’t have to set my alarm. I don’t have to get up and make them breakfast. I don’t have to hurry them through their morning routine (sometimes by yelling at them) so that they get to school on time. In the evening when I come home and want to play Rock Band or Guitar Hero with them or watch a movie together I don’t have to think about whether they’ve done their homework.

For ten weeks life will be much more relaxed in our household. We’ll go away camping for a couple of weeks, something we’ve been looking forward to since the winter. We might go for a picnic in the park, maybe a day at the beach, swimming in a friend’s pool, an evening at the drive in.

For a couple of months life will be different. The regular routine of the rest of the year takes a break. We have the flexibility to do some different things, to be more spontaneous, to experience something out-of-the-ordinary. The summer holidays are a time when we can enjoy surprises and not be thrown for a loop by the unexpected, when we can be more relaxed and take things in stride because life is less regimented and we won’t be thrown off when things are out of the ordinary.

The readings and stories that we will hear in the Bible often bring us images and ideas that are out of the ordinary, that are surprising, that are unexpected. Jesus says that when God rules in our lives we’re in a strange place. The way we usually think of things, the way the world works, our normal ideas of power and glory, are turned upside down. The regular routine is disrupted.

A poor widow’s coin is valued more than the riches of the wealthy. Children are welcomed and the important and wealthy are humbled. The greatest of all is the servant of all. The one who has power over the wind and the waves empties himself of that power and follows a path in life that will lead to his death on a cross. It seems backward. It seems upside down. It’s out-of-the-ordinary.

The biblical story can seem an odd story. But for people of faith, people for whom the biblical story becomes their story, it becomes a life giving story. I enjoy the summer holidays. I enjoy the break from the routine. I enjoy the spontaneous interruptions. I enjoy the time to experience the out-of-the-ordinary. John Lennon wrote, and sang, that "Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans." It’s the unexpected and unplanned that is often the most life giving and joy filled.

The story of the Bible, like many of our summer experiences, is not necessarily what we expect, not what we’re used to. But the story of the Bible teaches us that a relationship with God is fulfilling, that Jesus came to give abundant life, that his love makes us new. May our summer experiences give us renewal and refreshment. May the stories of our faith and our life in God do the same.

An acceptable time ... a day of salvation

Our church's spring newsletter was published last week. This was my cover article.


Has the gospel changed your life? Are you a different person because of God’s grace, because of the love and mercy and forgiveness and generosity of God? I mean, are you a different person from the person you would be if Jesus hadn’t become a part of your life?

Most of us were baptized as infants, some of us as toddlers or even older children, maybe even a few of us as adults. What does that mean? We say that in baptism God sets us free from sin and death and that after baptism we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God. We are raised to new life and joined with Christians throughout the world in God’s mission for the life of the world. How has that been working for you?

On the Third Sunday after Pentecost, in the second reading, St. Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah and then puts a new spin on those words. In Isaiah 49:8 we read:
“In a time of favour I have answered you,
on a day of salvation I have helped you.”
This was part of a prophecy about God delivering the people of Israel from exile in Babylon and wherever they are scattered in the world. God promises to bring them back to their home, back to the promised land.

When Paul reads this prophecy he finds new meaning in those words and in the promise. Because of his faith in Jesus Christ he understands the prophecy in a new way. It’s no longer just about captives being set free to return to their homes. In this prophecy, and in the death and resurrection of Jesus, he sees a new homecoming and a new restoration. Now when Paul reads about “a time of favour” and “a day of salvation” he sees a restored relationship with God. So instead of “a time” and “a day” Paul writes:
“See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6:2).

Paul also urges his readers not to take this for granted. The preceding verse says, “we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor 6:1). God has given us a marvellous gift. The good news is that through Jesus Christ we are reconciled to God. In him there is grace and help. God’s anger and wrath at our sinfulness is turned away. Instead we receive love and generosity and good. We receive forgiveness of sins and mercy and reconciliation.

Just as Isaiah announced that God would set the people of Israel free, we are set free from sin and death and all that would separate us from God. Martin Luther wrote a document titled Christian Liberty. In it he wrote about the freedom that we have in Christ but he goes further than simply writing about what we are set free from. He also writes about what we are set free for.
“I will therefore give myself as a Christ to my neighbour, just as Christ offered himself to me; I will do nothing in this life except what I see as necessary, profitable, and salutary to my neighbour, since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ.
“Behold, from faith thus flow forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love a joyful, willing, and free mind that serves one’s neighbour willingly.”

When Jesus meets us and the good news of God’s grace impacts our lives we are set free and changed and now our lives aren’t about US anymore. Now we live for others and for what we can do to make a difference in the world, for what we can do as gospel people, spreading the good news of God’s love and mercy.

“See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation.” The time and the day are here for us to worship, learn, witness, serve, and share. The time and the day are here to make a difference in the world. The time and the day are here to be and do and live for others just as Christ was and did and does for us. How will that be working for you?

Wascally Wabbits

So, after posting links to the newspaper articles that refer to our church vegetable garden I wonder just what we'll be able to harvest.

The beans we planted came up quickly. The sprouts appeared about a week after we planted them. They pushed up and put out a couple of leaves on each stem. Now more than half of them are just stems, with the leaves stripped off by a rabbit or rabbits in the neighbourhood.

A few years ago they took off the leaves of the pepper plants we planted. I asked an old woman who lived next door (she died a couple of years ago) who always had a beautiful vegetable garden if she ever had trouble with rabbits. She answered, "Oh, you vouldn't believe how many rabbits I've killed over ze years!"

I don't want to start killing anything and I don't want to spend the money on an electric fence so I'll have to do some research into how to discourage the rabbits from destroying our garden.

Rose

I know I'm kind of blowing my own horn, but after the article in the paper on Thursday, on Friday the editorial page did it's weekly "Roses and Thorns" about the week's news and we received the first rose. You can read it here.

Loving our neighbours

My wife and I are in the paper today. They did a story on our church's vegetable garden from which we take the produce to the food bank. You can read it here.

Too nice outside

I just can't get into work this week. My oldest daughter has her last exam and is done grade 10 at the end of this week. The other three kids are done a week from tomorrow. After a pretty cool spring it's finally looking and feeling summery out there. And I'm in the office working on items for the newsletter and putting off working on my sermon. I'd rather be at home, out in the backyard, either relaxing or even actually doing some yard work. I'm planning to repaint and rebuild part of the picket fence, build a new gate at the side yard. Or I could be out at a golf course somewhere just eating up the glorious weather.

I'm searching for inspiration for my front page newsletter article. I haven't even thought about my sermon yet and I like to have them done by the end of Thursday so that I can take Friday and Saturday off. Five weeks from now we'll be camping. Three-and-a-half months from now we'll be at Disney World. I like my job but lately I've been pining a lot more for the not-job stuff.

Ho hum. I guess I better get at it.