Email, July 20, 2014

Last Sunday (Pentecost 5, Year A, July 13, 2014)   

July 20 – 11:00am,  Holy Eucharist, Rite II,  Pentecost 6

Calendar  

This Sunday at St. Peter’s – Servers, Readings   


 This week we are looking at the human spirit which is all around us and expressed in countless deeds remembered in word and image. I hope you can draw inspiration in the stories in this email as I have and find other examples to motivate you.

The Bible says that the human spirit is the very breath of God and was breathed into man at the beginning of God’s creation: “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). It is the human spirit that gives us a consciousness of self and other remarkable, though limited, “God-like” qualities. The human spirit includes our intellect, emotions, fears, passions, and creativity. It is this spirit that provides us the unique ability to comprehend and understand (Job 32:8, 18).

Literature is full of examples. Witness Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte’s novel of the same name.  Through poverty, lost love, homelessness, unemployment, she kept the faith, receiving help from others. Scarlett O’Hara in "Gone With The Wind," relied on herself to get through the destruction, poverty, starvation, death and three marriages that she’d endured. Ultimately, she’d gotten through everything with the knowledge that "tomorrow is another day", leaving some realities to "think about tomorrow".

Beyond literature there are countless reminders this week of this spirit. This week is the 45th anniversary of the landing of the moon certainly a culmination of the work of many people over many years. It was also a triumph rising from disaster with the Apollo 1 fire that claimed 3 astronauts.  While a scientific triumph,  there is a spiritual quality of that mission and other Apollo missions that should be recognized and celebrated as well. It was not obvious at first but has become apparent from the memoirs of those involved.

Another anniversary this week is that it has been 20 years since the Rwanda genocide. During the approximate 100-day period from April 7, 1994 to mid-July, an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 Rwandans were killed. We have an essay by  Dan Clendenin on this tragedy but under that,  the story of a movie "Rising from Ashes" about how a bicycle team helped to revive the human spirit in the war torn land.   

A "final" anniversary is the 70th anniversary as of July 9 of Raoul Wallenberg’s arrival in Budapest in 1944 as a Swedish diplomat to begin a rescue mission that would result in his saving 100,000 Jewish lives.  On that anniversary in 2014  he was honored posthumously by a Congressional Gold Medal. He is one of the so-called  "righteous gentiles"  non-jews that helped save Jews in the holocaust.

Back to the present, one of the best example of human spirit is ESPN announcer Stuart Scott winning the Jimmy Valvano perseverance award this week.  Like Valvano, the former revered basketball coach of NC State, his life has been a testimony of the spirit, fighting hard against the enemy cancer.

A part of our journey is seeing the many expressions of the human spirit even when we are involved in activities that destroy the body. The moving display of 20 letters we found last weekend in Norfolk from 20 who served in the armed forces is a testament of those who talk about their lives within an environment of death and destruction. They searched for meaning in far away places and these letters preserve their memory for us. 

Spirit is also shown in the lectionary readings. The readings emphasize that God is with us, support us in all the things of our lives and is involved with us throughout our lives helping through his Spirit to maximize our potential. As Paul shows there is inevitable suffering. Everything won’t be magically fixed that needs fixing but God is with us on the path.

Let’s get started.


Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins

"Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were launched away in space
 Millions of hearts were lifted, proud of the human race
 Space control at Houston, radio command
 The team below that gave the go they had God’s helping hand" 

– Zeke Manners, Scott Seely (Recorded by the Byrds, 1969)


This Sunday, July 20 marks the 45th anniversary of the landing of Apollo 11 with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing on the moon and Michael Collins above in the command ship.

1969 was a divisive year with an unpopular war in Vietnam, racial strife and assassinations. The Cold War continued and many wondered about the growing expenses of the space program. Events had moved quickly – it was just a little over eight years since the flight of Alan Shepard, followed quickly by President Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon before the decade is out. Maybe too quickly!

However, Apollo 11 brought the world together for one short week in the middle of summer in July. We focused not on our individual conditions but the spirit of humankind. A half a billion people watched the ghostly images Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon as they explored the moon.

One of the best indicators of the larger meaning of the event was the plaque left on the moon. "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."

Although faith and science have often been in conflict in the past and many see the mission as only a triumph in science, there are examples of faith a part of the Apollo program.  

Apollo 8

The spiritual side of Apollo 11 really began earlier in December, 1968 with Apollo 8.

Since the lunar module was not yet ready for testing, NASA officials made the bold decision to fly a manned crew around the Moon to test the Saturn V booster. This historic flight was the first time that humans had reached beyond the confines of the Earth’s orbit. This was the first time that people had seen the Moon up close. Moreover, it was the first time people had seen the Earth from the distance of the Moon, as a small blue marble amidst the blackness of space.

Apollo 8 orbited the Moon on Christmas Eve, 1968. In a special TV report viewed by people around America and the world, the crew of Apollo 8 sent a Christmas greeting, and a special message — a reading from the first chapter of the book of Genesis. The first message ever received by astronauts visiting another world was the Biblical account of the first three days of Creation.  You can hear their message.  Command Jim Lovell also remembers the event.

Brian Cox, British physicist talked about the important of exploration in a 2010 TED talk and cited Apollo 8:


 

"A famous picture; many people have said that it’s the picture that saved 1968, which was a turbulent year — the student riots in Paris, the height of the Vietnam War. The reason many people think that about this picture, and Al Gore has said it many times, actually, on the stage at TED, is that this picture, arguably, was the beginning of the environmental movement. Because, for the first time, we saw our world, not as a solid, immovable, kind of indestructible place, but as a very small, fragile-looking world just hanging against the blackness of space." It was the first color picture of taken of Earth as it became visible as the spacecraft came from behind the farside of the Moon.   Here is Goddard’s recreation of the event.

I like to think Eucharistic Prayer C in the Prayer Book came from this and later Apollo missions in the use of the phrase "this fragile earth, our island home." However, later generations have called this the “Star Wars Prayer:”

“At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.

“From the primal elements you brought forth the human race, and blessed us with memory, reason, and skill. You made us the rulers of creation. But we turned against you, and betrayed your trust; and we turned against one another.”

Howard Galley actually wrote Eucharistic Prayer C while doing his laundry at a laundromat!

Prayer C  reminds us the power of God to not  creating our world but the rest of the universe.  Most importantly, the phrase at the heart of Prayer C asks of God this: “Open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us. Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal.”

Apollo 11

One of first acts performed on Apollo 11, after first landing on the Moon, was a celebration of the Communion by astronaut Buzz Aldrin. In 1969, Buzz Aldrin was an elder at Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston, where he was given the communion kit that he took to Sea of Tranquility. Upon landing on the Moon in the Eagle LM, Buzz made the following announcement to Mission Control:

Read more about Apollo’s spiritual side…


The Armed Forces Memorial, Norfolk VA, an inspiring memorial

Two letters from this memorial were quoted by Catherine in her homily on Sunday for parishioner Genevieve Davis who died last week. We have more information and all of the letters in a slide show. 


"Even the trenches can be beautiful when they are trimmed with flowers, and the barbed wire forms a trelis for rambling vines, and shelter for innumerable thrushes and other songsters-one explanation, no doubt of why the cats have a penchant for No-Man ‘s-Land…At the base of one of the birches is a flourishing wild rose which I sneaked up and picked-keeping not only head but also the rest of me carefully DOWN during the process…. Here are some of them for you, also some daises and yellow asters from the edge of my trenches. 

-Quincey Sharpe Mills, 1918, a letter to his mother


The Armed Forces Memorial is a 160-foot monument with 20 bronze cast letters scattered across the base of a flagpole in Norfolk on Town Point Park along the Elizabeth River. The letters are actual letters cast in bronze written by members of the Armed Forces who never returned from war. They are scattered, like the wind blew them in position.  Being situated on the Elizabeth River makes this plausible.

Erected in the summer of 1998, the memorial is dedicated to veterans of American conflicts from the Revolutionary to Persian Gulf War. It was designed by James Cutler and Maggie Smith. 

 

The key phrase to consider, a part of the memorial is a quote "We leave you our deaths, give them meaning" – Archibald MacLeish

Read  the letters…


Another Anniversary, "Kwibuka" — Remembering Rwanda 

Essay by Dan Clendenin in Journey with Jesus

More on the geneocide through "Raindrops over Rwanda", a documentary about the history of Rwanda. This was done through explore.org

 

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the end of the Rwandan genocide on July 18, 1994. Philip Gourevitch called it "one of the defining outrages of humankind."

"At no other time in the history of our species," writes Gourevitch, "were so many of us killed so fast or so intimately: roughly a million people in a hundred days, most of them butchered by hand, by their neighbors, with household tools and homemade weapons — machetes and hoes and hammers and clubs. The killing was programmatic, a campaign prepared and orchestrated by the state to exterminate the Tutsi minority in the name of an ideology known as Hutu Power."

Photographs of genocide victims displayed 
at the Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali.

For the last three months, as it does every year, Rwanda has held public mourning rituals. All around the country banners proclaim a single word — "kwibuka" or "remember."

Remembering can be difficult. About half of Rwanda’s population wasn’t even born at the time of the genocide. And as Gourevitch points out, memory is a two-edged sword. Remembering can facilitate national reconciliation, but it can also re-open festering wounds.

Read more about Rwanda


Resurgent Spirit with the Rwandan Cycle Team

From the Film site –

"Rising from Ashes" is a feature length documentary about two worlds colliding when cycling legend Jock Boyer moves to Rwanda, Africa to help a group of struggling genocide survivors pursue their dream of a national team. As they set out against impossible odds both Jock and the team find new purpose as they rise from the ashes of their past.

"The documentary feature film Rising From Ashes was created with a common goal, to tell a story of redemption, hope, and second chances. It was not about the bike, however, the bicycle became a tool that has changed a nation.

"Team Rwanda started out as a cycling organization however they quickly learned they had to care for the greater needs of each athlete. Many of the riders could not read or write, lived in homes without water, electricity, were malnourished, and had never received healthcare, or even knew what a dentist was. But there was still a greater issue, the issues of the heart. These riders were all recovering from the traumatic psychological effects of the 1994 genocide. Team Rwanda had to look deeper.

"Team Rwanda has not solved all of these problems but it is making a difference. Riders are provided a modest salary to help provide for themselves and their families, equivalent to three times the national average income. Riders are given English lessons and taught how to read and write. Healthcare is provided for the ongoing issues of malaria and water born diseases. When funds are available, the riders are given regular health checks and dental care. The riders are given the responsibility of being ambassadors for their country to the World.

"While the team has taken care of the physical and mental issues it has provided something greater… hope. Rwanda is a country recovering from one of the World’s most devastating genocides and they have longed for heroes. The riders of Team Rwanda have become more then just a cycling team, they have become ambassadors of hope and men to look up to. They have given the country a vision of something greater then themselves and a renewed sense of purpose. 

Check out the movie trailer


Remembering Raoul Wallenberg and the "Righteous Gentiles" 70 years afterwards

July 9th marked the 70 year anniversary to the day of Raoul Wallenberg’s arrival in Budapest in 1944 to begin a rescue mission that would result in his saving 100,000 Jewish lives. On that day in 2014, Wallenberg received posthumously the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award of the US.

Links:

1. More about the "Righteous Gentiles"

2. Congressional Luncheon honoring the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

3. US Holocaust Museum article on Wallenberg


Moving speech from Stuart Scott in winning the JimmyV perseverance award

Stuart, an ESPN host since 1993, was recognized towards the end of the ESPY awards show for his efforts in sports journalism. He has been battling a rare form of cancer for 7 years. He won the JimmyV Perseverance Award.

For Scott, giving up is not an option; he has refused to backdown. He has not allowed the disease to dictate how he lived. Fighting is winning and not quitting.

He has continued his work as an announcer with ESPN through it all doing what he loves and remaining a devoted father at the same time.

Here is his story and speech this week. We keep him in our prayers. 

Jim Valvano’s acceptance speech in 1993  in accepting the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award is moving now as it was then. He died only months later.
 

Valvano was a legendary coach at NC State and later announcer. His  speech at the 10th anniversary of that institution’s university’s 1983 NCAA championship stressed the importance of hope, love and persistence, and included his famous "Don’t give up, don’t ever give up" quotation.

 

Other Voices on the Human spirit

"The greatest achievement of the human spirit is to live up to one’s opportunities and make the most of one’s resources."- Luc de Clapiers

 

" Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit."- e. e. cummings 

 

" Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us."  -Wilma Rudolph 

 

" It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated… it is finished when it surrenders." – Ben Stein 

 


 Lectionary, Pentecost 6, July 20

I.Theme –   Conquering fear and uncertainty

 "Parable of the Wheat and Tares" – Lucas Gassel, 1540

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – Isaiah 44:6-8
Psalm – Psalm 86:11-17 Page 710, BCP
Epistle –Romans 8:6-11
Gospel – Matthew 13:24-30,36-43 

These texts speak eloquently to the problem of fear, and fear is what many people are currently experiencing. We are confronted with fear in our jobs, our homes and our world. It is ever present and diverts us from productive activities. Despite our increasing knowledge and interconnectedness, fear is very much a part of our world and maybe even more in the last generation. We look to someone, something for security. 

So what causes the fear ? There is an “enemy” in each of these readings – Isaiah – Babylonians since the Jews were in captivity, Psalm – by a force that nearly killed the writer – Romans – “flesh” Gospel – “Devil” . In the latter we can be our own worst enemy by our propensity to judge others. The truth is that none of us are qualified to judge, only God has that privilege!  The Gospel also emphasizes that it is often difficult tell the good from the bad and separate them.  The Psalm indicate our enemies cause us to turn from God.  We feel the absence of God’s grace and we petition for this to return.

The readings emphasize that God is with us in all the things of our lives and is involved with us throughout our lives helping through his Spirit to maximize our potential. We will not be abandoned!

There is no guarantee that God who will step in and magically fix everything, but God is intimately present and actively at work in our lives, taking what is and steadfastly aiming at what can be. This process of transformation is not always something we can see, but something we can trust. And trust, like hope, is the divine alternative to fear. Isaiah maybe expresses the best of all – “Is there any god besides me ? There is no other rock; I know not one."

The Gospel this week contains the parable of the weeds, following closely on the parable of the sower last week. Weeds grow amidst the harvest. It is difficult to separate them.  Jesus emphasized that the pure and impure, righteous and unrighteous exist together and there is no way to separate them.  Indeed we need to work hard with all.  The mission should be to spread the Gospel and not worry about the weeds. All will be sorted out in God’s time and not ours.  And we shouldn’t judge – it is difficult to figure out if they are weeds. 

In Paul’s terms, it’s all a matter of how we live. We should live by the spirit and its values. The crucial point  is the realization that we are children of God that will propel us into new life. The idea of “new life” can be approached in three ways: in eschatological, evolutionary, or worldly terms. Each is full of promise. The implication is that when we know, really know, who we are as children of God, we will act differently, and creation itself will be set free from its bondage—a condition resulting from the Fall, or, stated differently, from our misuse and exploitation.

In the midst of all this there will be suffering. Paul talks about the the mutual suffering of all creation: the whole creation that groans together and suffers together, "and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies."

The Old Testament readings prop this up with images.  Isaiah uses the "rock" drawn from Deuteronomy-connoting stability, security, safety. The Psalm emphasizes God’s love and ability to teach us the ways, listening to our petitions.  We request a sign of God’s favor to us based on the fact that God has helped and comforted us in the past.  

Read more about the Lectionary…


Vacation Bible School, July 28-31, 10am-12pm

by Becky Fisher

VBS time is almost here. I can’t wait. The kids are going to have a great time hearing stories all about hospitality and welcoming. We will be learning about people who welcomed travelers, cared for strangers, and demonstrated peace. The children will hear about Sarah making bread for visitors (Genesis 18:1-15), the Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), and many other great stories. There will be music, hands on activities and great games, too. So bring the kids and grandkids out July 28-August 31, from 10:00 a.m. to noon.  

A note for adults. Now is a great time to reflect on ways that people have welcomed us, shown us hospitality, and demonstrated peace. Someone told me, several months ago, about how welcoming Genevieve Davis was to her once at church even though she was a stranger. It was a positive impact of God’s great love. I also recently heard about some nurses in our congregation who stopped and helped an unknown traveler, whose car had broken down on Route 17. These are examples of God’s great love. Can you think of ways that you’ve been touched by someone’s hospitality, welcoming, or peace? Was it God’s great love? That’s what the kids will really be learning about!


Concert coming, Sept 16, 2014 7pm at St. Peter’s

 

Lyra are four singers but a larger community from St. Petersburg, Russia.LYRA’s 25 members have split up into smaller groups to reach more places on an international tour. LYRA has two meanings the group believes meld together well. The first refers to a musical instrument called a lyre. The second meaning, in Russian, deals with inspiration or romance.

Since their beginnings in 1994, the "geography of our performances has become pretty wide. We perform not only in Russia, but also outside it. Thanks to the friends who help us arrange trips, we regularly give concerts in the countries of Western Europe – Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden. We also make annual concert trips around the USA. Apart of our concert activity, we also take part in worship services at churches of different Christian confessions.We consider this not only as interesting multicultural events but also as a wonderful and important ecumenical experience." 

"LYRA’s main goal is exploring and popularizing Russian choral music from the ancient songs of the Orthodox Church to works of little-known, but remarkable composers of the 18th–20th centuries. The well-known masters: Bortniansky, Tchesnokov, Gretchaninov and Tchaikovsky are well represented. Folk songs of lyric, dancing and ritual nature are performed not only in the composer’s original arrangements, but those of LYRA’s as well. Secular songs of Russian classical composers Taneev, Tchaikovsky, and Rakhmaninov represent yet another side of LYRA’s creative activity.

"In 2001 we were awarded the Montreux (Switzerland) international choral festival diploma. In 2005 our group was also a winner of Coleraine International Choral Festival (Northern Ireland)."


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