Father Tom Miles, from St. Paul's Episcopal in Manhattan, took the time to write this great reminder about the Christmas season. I'm sure everyone has a list for Santa, at least I know I do, but it is important to remember this season isn't about getting everything on our list, but about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks for this great reminder Fr Tom!
In addition to the pressure of dead week and finals week this year you have the added concern about the amount of money available for your next semester, next year or even next school. In fact we are all wondering how we can get ready for Christmas given the tight budget we are all constrained to follow. Perhaps I can help. There are lots of ways to approach the coming holiday without focusing on costs.
1.Focus on those relationships you value the most and ponder how you can show your love for your most intimate friends and relations by giving gifts that reflect your unique talents. Some times you can produce something that your closest intimates will value more than anything you can purchase.
2.Remember that your time is a valuable asset. What most people long for is someone else’s undivided attention. Spending quality time with the ones you care for can be the most rewarding time this season without spending money.
3.Christmas is a time that brings out nostalgia. One very rewarding pastime, especially with your older friends, is remembering past Christmases. What was the best thing you can remember about Christmases past?
4.Do not, under any circumstances, use your credit cards to purchase gifts, food, spirits or any other things if you do not have the money to pay for them. This only deepens the hole of debt, and you don’t want to face an even larger dept than you already have in January. That’s when folks get really depressed anyway.
5.I could summarize the above by simply suggesting that relationships can be far more rewarding than things, so focus on the relationships.
6.Last and I saved this for the last because it is my favorite, focus on the reason for the season. In most Christian Churches we emphasize this season as a time to wait and watch—for God. Yes, it is a time of preparation. Not preparation for a particular day, but we’re preparing our own souls for the coming of the one who promises to come and live with us. Gathering with those people who worship God actually strengthens our capacity to know and love God. In my book, that is the most important part of celebrating Christmas. All the rest is tinsel and lights.
Good luck on your finals. And have a very merry Christmas.
Fr. Tom Miles
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Week 3 of the Advent Prayer Service!
This past Thursday was the third week of our Advent prayer service. Once again Michael pushed us in our meditation to really re-think the way we look at gifts - both giving and receiving...it was so awesome! I suggest taking a moment to read the bible passages before you read over Michael's meditation - especially 1 Thessalonians.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28, Psalm 126, John 3:23-30
This is our third week of this Advent meditation series. The first week I talked about what Advent is: a coming or arrival, when we celebrate Christ’s first coming into the world and we focus on our waiting for his Second coming into the world. That meditation we focused on a material possession we had and on its meaning and how it contributes to our waiting for Christ’s Second Advent. The second week we talked about preparing the way for Christ’s coming. Our meditation was on the receiving of gifts and how that can be a time of preparation for Christ’s coming by taking a moment to be thankful and realize how that gift continues to spread love in our lives.
The goal of these meditations is to take a moment to be still in our waiting for Christ’s coming and to see how gifts in our lives can be little reminders of God’s greatest gift to us, His son Jesus Christ.
In today’s New Testament reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians there are four verses I would like to focus on while we are meditating about giving a gift. These are verses 15-18. Verse 15 says: “See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.” I think sometimes we give a gift because we feel obligated. This can be a form of evil. Especially if the first gift that was given to us felt like an obligation too. Gifts should not be obligations but reasons of joy and desires to share that joy. Verse 16 speaks to this. “Rejoice always” is all it says. We should rejoice in our gift giving always. Verse 17 says “pray constantly.” This reminds us to remember and invite God into our gift giving. By praying we are seeking Christ to be in the gift. And Verse 18 says “give thanks in all circumstances;; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Many times we expect thanks for our gifts that we give and forget that the gift itself is a representation of thankfulness. Thank you for being born. Thank you for being in my life. Thank you for being my friend. If we think about it more often our gifts are “thank yous” to God for placing that person in our lives.
So let us begin this meditation by closing our eyes and taking some deep breaths
*Think of a gift that you recently gave or are planning on giving.
*Who are you giving it to?
*Why are you giving it to them?
*What is the gift?
*Why did you choose that gift for them?
*How are you thanking God through your gift?
*How is your gift a representation of your wait for the coming of Christ?
Take a few more deep breaths and let us pray:
LORD almighty God we ask you to help us to give gifts of joy and thankfulness. Thank you for giving us your most precious gift, your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28, Psalm 126, John 3:23-30
This is our third week of this Advent meditation series. The first week I talked about what Advent is: a coming or arrival, when we celebrate Christ’s first coming into the world and we focus on our waiting for his Second coming into the world. That meditation we focused on a material possession we had and on its meaning and how it contributes to our waiting for Christ’s Second Advent. The second week we talked about preparing the way for Christ’s coming. Our meditation was on the receiving of gifts and how that can be a time of preparation for Christ’s coming by taking a moment to be thankful and realize how that gift continues to spread love in our lives.
The goal of these meditations is to take a moment to be still in our waiting for Christ’s coming and to see how gifts in our lives can be little reminders of God’s greatest gift to us, His son Jesus Christ.
In today’s New Testament reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians there are four verses I would like to focus on while we are meditating about giving a gift. These are verses 15-18. Verse 15 says: “See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.” I think sometimes we give a gift because we feel obligated. This can be a form of evil. Especially if the first gift that was given to us felt like an obligation too. Gifts should not be obligations but reasons of joy and desires to share that joy. Verse 16 speaks to this. “Rejoice always” is all it says. We should rejoice in our gift giving always. Verse 17 says “pray constantly.” This reminds us to remember and invite God into our gift giving. By praying we are seeking Christ to be in the gift. And Verse 18 says “give thanks in all circumstances;; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Many times we expect thanks for our gifts that we give and forget that the gift itself is a representation of thankfulness. Thank you for being born. Thank you for being in my life. Thank you for being my friend. If we think about it more often our gifts are “thank yous” to God for placing that person in our lives.
So let us begin this meditation by closing our eyes and taking some deep breaths
*Think of a gift that you recently gave or are planning on giving.
*Who are you giving it to?
*Why are you giving it to them?
*What is the gift?
*Why did you choose that gift for them?
*How are you thanking God through your gift?
*How is your gift a representation of your wait for the coming of Christ?
Take a few more deep breaths and let us pray:
LORD almighty God we ask you to help us to give gifts of joy and thankfulness. Thank you for giving us your most precious gift, your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Advent Prayer #2
I am a bit behind with these but this is the seriously thoughtful prayer meditation from our Thursday evening prayer before Thanksgiving! Take some time to really think about gift giving and receiving...
The lesson for today was taken from the Gospel of Mark (1:1-8) and it is talking about the preparation for the coming of Christ. It talks about Isaiah prophesying the coming of John the Baptist who would prepare the way for the LORD. The story in Mark then talks about preparing for one greater than he, Jesus. We prepare in our lives for a lot of things, tests, interviews, dates, etc. Life is a continual process of preparing it seems. Especially as we look at this season of Advent as we prepare to celebrate the first Advent of Christ and we continue our preparation in our daily lives for Christ’s Second Advent. One way to prepare for Christ mindfully this season and as we are in the season of Thanksgiving is to mindfully prepare ourselves in the practice of receiving gifts. Today’s guided meditation will focus on how we receive gifts and our thankfulness for them.
Think of a gift you have received recently. Who was it from? What was your relationship with that person? Was it a special occasion? How did they give the gift to you? How do you think they acquired it? Was it homemade, bought? How is it special to you? What do you use if for? How did you feel when you received if? How did you thank them? Was it an expected gift?
Meditate on the word “gift” and its meaning to you.
LORD Jesus Christ we thank you for all the innumerable gifts of love we have received in this life. Help us to understand their meaning in our life as we prepare a way for You. In Your name we pray. AMEN.
The lesson for today was taken from the Gospel of Mark (1:1-8) and it is talking about the preparation for the coming of Christ. It talks about Isaiah prophesying the coming of John the Baptist who would prepare the way for the LORD. The story in Mark then talks about preparing for one greater than he, Jesus. We prepare in our lives for a lot of things, tests, interviews, dates, etc. Life is a continual process of preparing it seems. Especially as we look at this season of Advent as we prepare to celebrate the first Advent of Christ and we continue our preparation in our daily lives for Christ’s Second Advent. One way to prepare for Christ mindfully this season and as we are in the season of Thanksgiving is to mindfully prepare ourselves in the practice of receiving gifts. Today’s guided meditation will focus on how we receive gifts and our thankfulness for them.
Think of a gift you have received recently. Who was it from? What was your relationship with that person? Was it a special occasion? How did they give the gift to you? How do you think they acquired it? Was it homemade, bought? How is it special to you? What do you use if for? How did you feel when you received if? How did you thank them? Was it an expected gift?
Meditate on the word “gift” and its meaning to you.
LORD Jesus Christ we thank you for all the innumerable gifts of love we have received in this life. Help us to understand their meaning in our life as we prepare a way for You. In Your name we pray. AMEN.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
World AIDS Day Reflection.
So yesterday, if you didn't know, was World AIDS Day. The day is a wonderful way to prayerfully care for those in our global community that have been stricken with this pervasive disease. Yes, everyday we should pray and care for these people but World AIDS Day allows us to really spend time talking about an issue that is taboo and rather hidden typically. In fact, the World AIDS Day campaign is taking the initiative to de- stigmatize this disease so we may continue to openly educate and hopefully eradicate the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
KU's Canterbury House opened their chapel doors to their campus and community to gather for a prayer service yesterday. The intern at KU, Mary Rose Linker, had this to say during her sermon...
"The Body of Christ has AIDS” is what the Anglican church in Ireland calls its AIDS response effort. The Body of Christ has AIDS calls us to the reality that AIDS is not just “their” problem, whoever they are. AIDS is our problem, mine and yours, whether we are infected with the HIV virus or not. AIDS belongs to all of us. A full 5% of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa in HIV-positive, and that is not just “theirs”; it's ours, because we are all part of the body of Christ. And I hope we all understand that the real victims of AIDS are women, who are infected at truly alarming rates, and children who are often born infected and whether or not they actually have the disease are often orphaned by HIV-positive mothers.
We are called into unity and communion with the world, not just in times of celebration but in times of deep sorrow and pain. In the United States, because we can speak more freely about sex, because we are aware and educated, we can prevent infection. We can prevent mother to child transmission. In the United States, 90-95% of HIV-infected mothers can have children without passing it onto them, and in fact, the opposite is true in Africa, where an infected mother has a 95% chance of passing the virus onto her unborn child, because she cannot get the drugs necessary to treat her own infection and because, often, she does not know that she even has it.
Chapter 64 of Isaiah is clearly a lament. Verse 6 is uniquely appropriate to the day: We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like an empty cloth. We all fade like a leaf... And then in verse 8, Isaiah gives us all hope: Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah is telling us what we all know: we are all the children of God, we are all part of the problem, we can all be part of the solution. We all have AIDS.
In our gospel reading, Jesus heals the lepers. Today, AIDS is often equated with leprosy in Biblical times. I imagine that our AIDS patients, especially when the disease has progressed, are treated very much like those lepers. To this day, AIDS patients are completely separated from other patients in many places, and having AIDS has the same stigma. Someone with AIDS must have deserved it in some way, someone with AIDS is unclean, and even in our educated culture there are people who say that AIDS is divine retribution, that God is punishing them. People in Biblical times treated the lepers in much the same way, but not Jesus. This passage remind us that disease is NEVER divine retribution, and that, as Jesus healed the lepers, so the body of Christ can also be healed. As a body, we have all become like one who is unclean, and we must all heal each other.
So, what do we do? We speak. Open your mouth. Youth are on track to be the fastest growing population of HIV-infected people world-wide and in the United States. Before their lives even get started, they have to deal with something that we hardly speak about. The more we talk about it, the more we educate each other and our friends, the more we can do to prevent it in the people we know and love the most.
And we pray. Prayer is underused and underestimated, and if we are Christians, it is possibly the most powerful force we have access to. And we don't just pray one day a year.
We are people of hope, and we are people of the resurrection. As we live through the global horror that is the AIDS pandemic, we know -- because God is faithful, even when we aren't -- that death is not the final word. Amen.
Awesome, right? right. So speak. and if you are so inclined...walk! This Sunday in fact! The KU Canterbury House is sponsoring a TakeTheWalk event (takethewalk.net) in Lawrence this Sunday. Check out the facebook page here and then join us at 1:30 at the South Park Gazebo!!
KU's Canterbury House opened their chapel doors to their campus and community to gather for a prayer service yesterday. The intern at KU, Mary Rose Linker, had this to say during her sermon...
"The Body of Christ has AIDS” is what the Anglican church in Ireland calls its AIDS response effort. The Body of Christ has AIDS calls us to the reality that AIDS is not just “their” problem, whoever they are. AIDS is our problem, mine and yours, whether we are infected with the HIV virus or not. AIDS belongs to all of us. A full 5% of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa in HIV-positive, and that is not just “theirs”; it's ours, because we are all part of the body of Christ. And I hope we all understand that the real victims of AIDS are women, who are infected at truly alarming rates, and children who are often born infected and whether or not they actually have the disease are often orphaned by HIV-positive mothers.
We are called into unity and communion with the world, not just in times of celebration but in times of deep sorrow and pain. In the United States, because we can speak more freely about sex, because we are aware and educated, we can prevent infection. We can prevent mother to child transmission. In the United States, 90-95% of HIV-infected mothers can have children without passing it onto them, and in fact, the opposite is true in Africa, where an infected mother has a 95% chance of passing the virus onto her unborn child, because she cannot get the drugs necessary to treat her own infection and because, often, she does not know that she even has it.
Chapter 64 of Isaiah is clearly a lament. Verse 6 is uniquely appropriate to the day: We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like an empty cloth. We all fade like a leaf... And then in verse 8, Isaiah gives us all hope: Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah is telling us what we all know: we are all the children of God, we are all part of the problem, we can all be part of the solution. We all have AIDS.
In our gospel reading, Jesus heals the lepers. Today, AIDS is often equated with leprosy in Biblical times. I imagine that our AIDS patients, especially when the disease has progressed, are treated very much like those lepers. To this day, AIDS patients are completely separated from other patients in many places, and having AIDS has the same stigma. Someone with AIDS must have deserved it in some way, someone with AIDS is unclean, and even in our educated culture there are people who say that AIDS is divine retribution, that God is punishing them. People in Biblical times treated the lepers in much the same way, but not Jesus. This passage remind us that disease is NEVER divine retribution, and that, as Jesus healed the lepers, so the body of Christ can also be healed. As a body, we have all become like one who is unclean, and we must all heal each other.
So, what do we do? We speak. Open your mouth. Youth are on track to be the fastest growing population of HIV-infected people world-wide and in the United States. Before their lives even get started, they have to deal with something that we hardly speak about. The more we talk about it, the more we educate each other and our friends, the more we can do to prevent it in the people we know and love the most.
And we pray. Prayer is underused and underestimated, and if we are Christians, it is possibly the most powerful force we have access to. And we don't just pray one day a year.
We are people of hope, and we are people of the resurrection. As we live through the global horror that is the AIDS pandemic, we know -- because God is faithful, even when we aren't -- that death is not the final word. Amen.
Awesome, right? right. So speak. and if you are so inclined...walk! This Sunday in fact! The KU Canterbury House is sponsoring a TakeTheWalk event (takethewalk.net) in Lawrence this Sunday. Check out the facebook page here and then join us at 1:30 at the South Park Gazebo!!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Advent Prayer & Meditation
I don't know if you all know this, but every Thursday at 5:45 the Canterbury House hosts an awesome prayer service to allow students to take a break from their lives, their school work, and the pandemonium that is a college students schedule. We here at the Canterbury House really want students to begin seeing God in their lives...everywhere, everyday! and prayer is a wonderful way to take a breath and simply be with God. It is seriously amazing.
Starting last week, and continuing for the rest of the semester our Thursday evening prayer will focus on a special theme for the season of Advent (as we prepare for the birth of Christ!). The fabulous Michael Knoll, one of our peer ministers, will be leading the prayer and meditation each week. While we are exploring the topic of "gifts" over the four-week period, each Thursday will have a different way to look at "gifts" in our lives and some of our consumption practices...Though Christmas is the "season of giving", do we always have to give things? (just a thought.)
Anyway, last Thursday service and meditation were so wickedly awesome I had to share it with you all. I urge you to really think about what Michael is saying here because it definitely needs to be examined.
peace&grace: kiera.
THURSDAY November 13, 2008
If you are like me, and like millions of Americans, you hate waiting. Waiting for the light to turn green, waiting for class to start, waiting for the water to heat up in the shower, waiting for the clothes to be dry, waiting for the gas to pump in your car, waiting for your friend to text you back. And then there is the worst kind of waiting: waiting in lines whether it is for food, coffee, driver’s license exam, tickets, etc. We live in a society that is so fast but yet creates so much waiting. And I am pretty sure I have never heard anyone say that they were happy to be waiting. If they have it is far fewer people than the amount of people that I have heard complaining about it. What is interesting is that no one has found a way to end the waiting. It seems to be a big problem that you would think someone would do something about.
If you think about it though God is all about the waiting. The Old Testament is all about this waiting for the Messiah to show up. Then it is all about waiting for Jesus to do something. There were people always waiting for Jesus to make a mistake. And now it is all about waiting for Jesus to come again. We have been waiting almost two thousand years for that. And we get upset if we stand more than five minutes in the check out line when Christians have been waiting for two thousand years to check out Jesus. And that is what this Advent season we are coming upon is about: waiting. Hopefully instead of complaining about the things we have to do like tests and projects and presents we can enjoy this season of hope.
For the next four weeks of our weekly gathering here at Canterbury we will be exploring the season of Advent. In the Episcopal Church and several churches this time begins on the Fourth Sunday before Christmas Day and ends on Christmas Eve. Since we will not be meeting for half of Advent I thought we would have an advent to Advent as we prepare for the end of this semester and our time off from classes.
Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” The focus of the season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent and anticipation of the return of Christ in his Second Advent. For a long time the Church would celebrate or rather observe Advent as a time of penitence and fasting as the Church prepared itself for the celebration of Christmas or the birth of Jesus but also for it to realize its sins for the Second Coming of Jesus or as it is sometimes called Judgment Day. Today the church focuses more on the hope and anticipation of the season and less on penitence. This does not mean that we are to forget our sins and not be mindful of our humanness but rather celebrate the gift that saves us from those trials in the birth of Jesus.
So the spirit of Advent is this expectation, anticipation, preparation, and longing. It is the expectation that God came down from Heaven in human form to live among us and show us the way to live. It is an anticipation of that gift, the greatest gift given to all humanity because through Jesus, God gave us life. It is through this new life with Christ that we also anticipate the judgment of our sin for the Second Advent of Christ. It is about preparing oneself for this Advent of Christ. And this preparation is what we are going to focus on throughout the next four weeks.
A lot of us are going to start preparing, or are already preparing for the end of the semester’s projects, papers and tests. During that time it is easy to get lost in the mindless value that is placed on hard work, good grades, and money. What we are going to do each week is take a step back from those material things that we have placed value on and try to see them for more than just their physical meaning. We are going to take time to be more mindful of God’s creation and of God’s blessings in our life, being ever mindful of his greatest blessing, Jesus Christ.
Gracious LORD thank you for the many blessings in our lives both material and non-material. Help us to be ever mindful of those blessings and what they mean in our lives as we carry out your work from day to day. Guide us in knowing their true purpose in our lives as we discern our own life’s purpose. Be with us as we prepare for this Advent season and as we wait for your most precious gift Jesus Christ our LORD in whose name we pray. AMEN.
Starting last week, and continuing for the rest of the semester our Thursday evening prayer will focus on a special theme for the season of Advent (as we prepare for the birth of Christ!). The fabulous Michael Knoll, one of our peer ministers, will be leading the prayer and meditation each week. While we are exploring the topic of "gifts" over the four-week period, each Thursday will have a different way to look at "gifts" in our lives and some of our consumption practices...Though Christmas is the "season of giving", do we always have to give things? (just a thought.)
Anyway, last Thursday service and meditation were so wickedly awesome I had to share it with you all. I urge you to really think about what Michael is saying here because it definitely needs to be examined.
peace&grace: kiera.
THURSDAY November 13, 2008
If you are like me, and like millions of Americans, you hate waiting. Waiting for the light to turn green, waiting for class to start, waiting for the water to heat up in the shower, waiting for the clothes to be dry, waiting for the gas to pump in your car, waiting for your friend to text you back. And then there is the worst kind of waiting: waiting in lines whether it is for food, coffee, driver’s license exam, tickets, etc. We live in a society that is so fast but yet creates so much waiting. And I am pretty sure I have never heard anyone say that they were happy to be waiting. If they have it is far fewer people than the amount of people that I have heard complaining about it. What is interesting is that no one has found a way to end the waiting. It seems to be a big problem that you would think someone would do something about.
If you think about it though God is all about the waiting. The Old Testament is all about this waiting for the Messiah to show up. Then it is all about waiting for Jesus to do something. There were people always waiting for Jesus to make a mistake. And now it is all about waiting for Jesus to come again. We have been waiting almost two thousand years for that. And we get upset if we stand more than five minutes in the check out line when Christians have been waiting for two thousand years to check out Jesus. And that is what this Advent season we are coming upon is about: waiting. Hopefully instead of complaining about the things we have to do like tests and projects and presents we can enjoy this season of hope.
For the next four weeks of our weekly gathering here at Canterbury we will be exploring the season of Advent. In the Episcopal Church and several churches this time begins on the Fourth Sunday before Christmas Day and ends on Christmas Eve. Since we will not be meeting for half of Advent I thought we would have an advent to Advent as we prepare for the end of this semester and our time off from classes.
Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” The focus of the season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent and anticipation of the return of Christ in his Second Advent. For a long time the Church would celebrate or rather observe Advent as a time of penitence and fasting as the Church prepared itself for the celebration of Christmas or the birth of Jesus but also for it to realize its sins for the Second Coming of Jesus or as it is sometimes called Judgment Day. Today the church focuses more on the hope and anticipation of the season and less on penitence. This does not mean that we are to forget our sins and not be mindful of our humanness but rather celebrate the gift that saves us from those trials in the birth of Jesus.
So the spirit of Advent is this expectation, anticipation, preparation, and longing. It is the expectation that God came down from Heaven in human form to live among us and show us the way to live. It is an anticipation of that gift, the greatest gift given to all humanity because through Jesus, God gave us life. It is through this new life with Christ that we also anticipate the judgment of our sin for the Second Advent of Christ. It is about preparing oneself for this Advent of Christ. And this preparation is what we are going to focus on throughout the next four weeks.
A lot of us are going to start preparing, or are already preparing for the end of the semester’s projects, papers and tests. During that time it is easy to get lost in the mindless value that is placed on hard work, good grades, and money. What we are going to do each week is take a step back from those material things that we have placed value on and try to see them for more than just their physical meaning. We are going to take time to be more mindful of God’s creation and of God’s blessings in our life, being ever mindful of his greatest blessing, Jesus Christ.
Gracious LORD thank you for the many blessings in our lives both material and non-material. Help us to be ever mindful of those blessings and what they mean in our lives as we carry out your work from day to day. Guide us in knowing their true purpose in our lives as we discern our own life’s purpose. Be with us as we prepare for this Advent season and as we wait for your most precious gift Jesus Christ our LORD in whose name we pray. AMEN.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Thursday Eucharist!
I want to start this post with an excerpt from Shane Claiborne's book Irresistible Revolution. To set the stage, Claiborne, while in college, began traveling regularly from his university to inner-city Philadelphia when the Catholic archdiocese tried to evict forty homeless families that sought refuge in one of the abandoned Catholic cathedrals in the city. Claiborne (& friends) continued their support of the homeless families until all had housing - and their support manifested through small acts of kindness. Essentially Claiborne spent time with the families and his acts proved to be a powerful sign of love and commitment to the community. Each Sunday, visitors and squatters in the cathedral would celebrate the weekly services together...and this is what Claiborne had to say:
So why all this rambling? It is my segway into a short post about our Thursday Eucharist Service at the Canterbury House...get it??
Every Thursday at 5:45pm we celebrate Eucharist/communion/the breaking of bread at the Canterbury House. Our service is a time for you to take a break from the craziness of your school week and be reminded of all that Christ did for us. We share the bread and wine with one another as a testament to our continued support of one another during our busy weeks. It is a wonderful time to simply breathe and revive yourself for the rest of the week. So come join us! Every Thursday at 5:45 - 1823 Laramie Street....and afterward we head down to Chipotle for dinner!
See you there
kiera.
"Every week, dozens of us piled into Sunday services at St. Ed's [Cathedral], where we sang old hymns and freedom songs. It was a revival of sorts...We shared communion...and many of us were experiencing true communion for the first time in our lives. The body of Christ was alive, no longer trapped in stained-glass windows or books of systematic theology...Church was no longer something we did for an hour on Sunday."I think what Shane is saying is that when we stop thinking about church as this place we go to on Sunday mornings, and start thinking of it as this way of life we live everyday, we start to experience a greater communal connection with those around us. Then, when we share communion (or Eucharist) it becomes so much more than the body and blood of Christ - it becomes who we are as Christians, the sacrifices we make for one another and the loving support we pour out to everyone around us. If church becomes the way we live, then sharing communion is not just reminding us that we are all Christians together on Sunday morning, but we are Christians everyday and are willing to do great things for each other (even live in an abandoned cathedral to save some strangers "home").
So why all this rambling? It is my segway into a short post about our Thursday Eucharist Service at the Canterbury House...get it??
Every Thursday at 5:45pm we celebrate Eucharist/communion/the breaking of bread at the Canterbury House. Our service is a time for you to take a break from the craziness of your school week and be reminded of all that Christ did for us. We share the bread and wine with one another as a testament to our continued support of one another during our busy weeks. It is a wonderful time to simply breathe and revive yourself for the rest of the week. So come join us! Every Thursday at 5:45 - 1823 Laramie Street....and afterward we head down to Chipotle for dinner!
See you there
kiera.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Millenium Development Goals...
I wanted to take a minute to write about something awesome I did this week. I spent Thursday fasting and praying, and it was amazing!
Last Thursday the UN convened for a special, high-level meeting to specifically talk about the Millenium Development Goals. That is HUGE! The UN has a lot to talk about but to this group of powerful world leaders, the MDGs are so important that they felt it best to have a meeting only to speak about them! Awesome. Amazing. and so much more.
So what are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? Specifically, they are eight goals:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger .
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and debt relief.
To continue their support, the Episcopal Church observed last Thursday as a day to Fast, Pray, and Witness. ((For those who have never fasted before, "fasting" is a way to actively pray by choosing to forgo some of our daily pleasures (like three square meals, soda, sweets, or any food at all). When you get hungry or tempted by a cold glass of Coke, you use that emotion to pray for those that do not have such pleasures. It is an amazing way to become spiritually connected to people all over the world. For more information on last Thursday check out this website: http://www.e4gr.org/sept25.html
peace+,
kiera
Last Thursday the UN convened for a special, high-level meeting to specifically talk about the Millenium Development Goals. That is HUGE! The UN has a lot to talk about but to this group of powerful world leaders, the MDGs are so important that they felt it best to have a meeting only to speak about them! Awesome. Amazing. and so much more.
So what are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? Specifically, they are eight goals:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger .
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and debt relief.
But, in reality, the MDGs are so much more. They are a recognition by world leaders that something CAN and SHOULD be done about issues of poverty and inequality. Set for the year 2015, the MDGs are an agreed upon set of goals that can be achieved. Poor countries have pledged to govern better, and invest in their people through health care and education. Rich countries have pledged to support them, through aid, debt relief, and fairer trade.
To continue their support, the Episcopal Church observed last Thursday as a day to Fast, Pray, and Witness. ((For those who have never fasted before, "fasting" is a way to actively pray by choosing to forgo some of our daily pleasures (like three square meals, soda, sweets, or any food at all). When you get hungry or tempted by a cold glass of Coke, you use that emotion to pray for those that do not have such pleasures. It is an amazing way to become spiritually connected to people all over the world. For more information on last Thursday check out this website: http://www.e4gr.org/sept25.html
peace+,
kiera
Monday, September 15, 2008
Micah Reflection
I got this prayer and reflection from a wonderful collaboration of the Micah Network and World Evangelical Alliance - the Micah Challenge. The challenge aims to mobilize Christians against global poverty. The campaign aims to deepen Christian engagement with impoverished and marginalized communities, and to influence leaders of rich and poor nations to fulfill their promise to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
‘TV has made us into monsters’ is the title of the above picture of London artist Banksy.
It shows graphically how Christians in the Global North can too easily ignore poverty issues if they are delivered on TV. In our world of mass media we are bombarded with people’s needs from all around the world. How can we avoid turning a blind eye to them?
In Matthew 20:29-34 we read of Jesus’ healing of two blind men. The bible says that Jesus ‘had compassion on them’ and then helped them. As a result of Jesus’ actions the men followed Jesus and praised God; so did all the people who had witnessed the scene.
Let us pray:
Lord, we pray for compassionate hearts so that we can respond to needs close by but also globally. We also pray that we will use our resources wisely and generously.
We pray for Micah Challenge Haiti. Valery Vital-Herne, the coordinator of MC Haiti writes:
‘As you may know the situation is terrible in Haiti. About 8/10 departments had severe floods. We are still counting the dead. The Minister of Finance has estimated the destruction to more than 10 billion US dollars. We were in harvest time, so no need to tell you how great the lost is. There are about one million stricken people. The main roads and bridges leading to the most affected departments are destroyed. So relief is delayed.
Pray also for the church to be courageous and be the heart, hand, feet of Christ to express love and compassion to the most afflicted.’
Meditate on the Statistics
‘Between 1970 and 1990, Asia-Pacific as a whole managed to reduce its annual number of under-five deaths from 10.5 million to 6.7 million. Despite these attainments, major challenges for child and maternal survival remain. Asia-Pacific’s absolute numbers of child deaths, though falling, remain high… Worldwide, of the 9.7 million children who died before their fifth birthday in 2006, more than 40 per cent were from this region. Of the six countries accounting for half of all deaths of children under age five worldwide, three are in the Asia-Pacific region: China, India and Pakistan. India alone accounts for one fifth of under-five deaths worldwide, with 2.1 million in 2006.’
---------------------------------------
Reflection
‘TV has made us into monsters’ is the title of the above picture of London artist Banksy.It shows graphically how Christians in the Global North can too easily ignore poverty issues if they are delivered on TV. In our world of mass media we are bombarded with people’s needs from all around the world. How can we avoid turning a blind eye to them?
In Matthew 20:29-34 we read of Jesus’ healing of two blind men. The bible says that Jesus ‘had compassion on them’ and then helped them. As a result of Jesus’ actions the men followed Jesus and praised God; so did all the people who had witnessed the scene.
Let us pray:
Lord, we pray for compassionate hearts so that we can respond to needs close by but also globally. We also pray that we will use our resources wisely and generously.
We pray for Micah Challenge Haiti. Valery Vital-Herne, the coordinator of MC Haiti writes:
‘As you may know the situation is terrible in Haiti. About 8/10 departments had severe floods. We are still counting the dead. The Minister of Finance has estimated the destruction to more than 10 billion US dollars. We were in harvest time, so no need to tell you how great the lost is. There are about one million stricken people. The main roads and bridges leading to the most affected departments are destroyed. So relief is delayed.
Pray also for the church to be courageous and be the heart, hand, feet of Christ to express love and compassion to the most afflicted.’
Meditate on the Statistics
‘Between 1970 and 1990, Asia-Pacific as a whole managed to reduce its annual number of under-five deaths from 10.5 million to 6.7 million. Despite these attainments, major challenges for child and maternal survival remain. Asia-Pacific’s absolute numbers of child deaths, though falling, remain high… Worldwide, of the 9.7 million children who died before their fifth birthday in 2006, more than 40 per cent were from this region. Of the six countries accounting for half of all deaths of children under age five worldwide, three are in the Asia-Pacific region: China, India and Pakistan. India alone accounts for one fifth of under-five deaths worldwide, with 2.1 million in 2006.’
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Wow. It's been a while and for that I am sorry. This blog will become a great place to look for information about the happenings at the K-State Canterbury House as well as fun facts and some weekly (or so...) devotionals so we can all spend some essential time in prayer...
For now, I thought this would be a great place to introduce myself! Some of you I have met, others I hope to meet soon, and hopefully throughout the year I will be able to sit down and talk with many of you. Me? I am Kiera - this year's Episcopal Campus Ministry Intern. I will be working with you all, the peer ministers, and Craig (the campus missioner) for the school year. (That's me with my Nana...she's great!)
So a little about myself. I am originally from New Jersey and, as hard as it may be for you to believe, I love it there. I grew up outside of a state park and now call the beach ("The Shore") my permanent home. I did my undergraduate work at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA -- I studied sociology. Graduated in 2007 and moved to Vermont to continue my education with an M.A. in Social Justice from an itty-bitty school (School for International Training) in Brattleboro, VT. This internship will help my finish my degree work and I will graduate in August hopefully!
I've got a big 'ol family and they are wonderful. I live with my brother Owen in NJ and talk to my step-brother, Topher, pretty much everyday while he is in PA. My step dad lives in Minnesota. And my Dad lives in Plano, TX...though he enjoys calling sometimes and nonchala
ntly mentioning he is in some random city in some random country for work -- a few days ago he was in Colon Germany. Crazy! So, despite being hundreds of miles apart, we stay pretty close. That's all of us to the left at my brother's wedding a few years ago...we are way more fun than a posed wedding picture could ever say.
It's kind of nice to have a family so spread throughout the country because I LOVE to travel. I have gotten to go to some amazing places, though my travel list is about a mile long still. The best place in the world, I would argue is Argentina! I mean, com'on! Soccer, tango, gauchos...Evita, Maradona, and Lionel Messi all in one place - it can't get much better. And I was lucky enough to study in Buenos Aires for 6 months. I could go on for...hmmm, forever about this country but I will leave you with one last picture. But please, if you want stories, I can give you stories.
So I look forward to seeing you soon! If you have any questions about Episcopal Campus Ministry, what we do at the Canterbury House, or want to talk - just drop me an email at kierae@ksu.edu ...in case you forgot our weekly schedule here it is!
Sunday: 11:30 Contemporary Service at St. Paul's Episcopal (6th & Poyntz) -followed by Free Lunch
Monday: 6:30 Fellowship Dinner at the Canterbury House (1823 Laramie)
Tuesday: 6:30AM Cocina Alegre (we cook and serve breakfast for the community)
Thursday: 5:45 Weekday Eucharist
peace+
For now, I thought this would be a great place to introduce myself! Some of you I have met, others I hope to meet soon, and hopefully throughout the year I will be able to sit down and talk with many of you. Me? I am Kiera - this year's Episcopal Campus Ministry Intern. I will be working with you all, the peer ministers, and Craig (the campus missioner) for the school year. (That's me with my Nana...she's great!)
So a little about myself. I am originally from New Jersey and, as hard as it may be for you to believe, I love it there. I grew up outside of a state park and now call the beach ("The Shore") my permanent home. I did my undergraduate work at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA -- I studied sociology. Graduated in 2007 and moved to Vermont to continue my education with an M.A. in Social Justice from an itty-bitty school (School for International Training) in Brattleboro, VT. This internship will help my finish my degree work and I will graduate in August hopefully!
I've got a big 'ol family and they are wonderful. I live with my brother Owen in NJ and talk to my step-brother, Topher, pretty much everyday while he is in PA. My step dad lives in Minnesota. And my Dad lives in Plano, TX...though he enjoys calling sometimes and nonchala
ntly mentioning he is in some random city in some random country for work -- a few days ago he was in Colon Germany. Crazy! So, despite being hundreds of miles apart, we stay pretty close. That's all of us to the left at my brother's wedding a few years ago...we are way more fun than a posed wedding picture could ever say.It's kind of nice to have a family so spread throughout the country because I LOVE to travel. I have gotten to go to some amazing places, though my travel list is about a mile long still. The best place in the world, I would argue is Argentina! I mean, com'on! Soccer, tango, gauchos...Evita, Maradona, and Lionel Messi all in one place - it can't get much better. And I was lucky enough to study in Buenos Aires for 6 months. I could go on for...hmmm, forever about this country but I will leave you with one last picture. But please, if you want stories, I can give you stories.
So I look forward to seeing you soon! If you have any questions about Episcopal Campus Ministry, what we do at the Canterbury House, or want to talk - just drop me an email at kierae@ksu.edu ...in case you forgot our weekly schedule here it is!Sunday: 11:30 Contemporary Service at St. Paul's Episcopal (6th & Poyntz) -followed by Free Lunch
Monday: 6:30 Fellowship Dinner at the Canterbury House (1823 Laramie)
Tuesday: 6:30AM Cocina Alegre (we cook and serve breakfast for the community)
Thursday: 5:45 Weekday Eucharist
peace+
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Welcome back cookout!!!!
Join us on Wednesday, August 27th, at 6:00 for our welcome back cookout. This is a chance to get to know us if you're new to campus, or to reconnect with your friends at Canterbury House after the summer. We'll have plenty of food, as well as information about our exciting programs and mission trips this year. Hope to see you there!
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