Where are you taking me?

Felix, my partner, had never experienced the flavors, and the brilliance of Julia Child’s famous recipe for Coq au vin. So, as a New Year’s Eve treat, I decided to make this dish from her world renown book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I.” Though Coq au vin has become associated with gourmet cooking, it is basically a chicken stew cooked in wine, and comes from a humble origin. My person take on the recipe is to add an extra two cloves of garlic, and to prepare the dish a day in advance, allowing it to sit in the refrigerator over night, allowing the ingredients to merge, and reach a peak of flavor. At first taste, Felix’s eyes lit up, and he gasped as though he were given the gift of newly minted taste buds.

As we ate our New Year’s Eve dinner, we began to talk about Julia, and how she was one of the first to systematically prepare recipes so that if directions were followed, they would taste the same each time. Each measurement had been tested, and researched so that anyone who prepared food from her cookbook would achieve the desired taste. Julia also wished to create dishes with ingredients anyone could find in a supermarket without having to shop at specialty stores. Outside the fact that she created a fantastic cookbook, she brought French Cuisine to the masses.

After  our meal was consumed, and after dishes were washed, and put away, I came to realize that through our conversation, we were actually giving thanks, and blessing the gift of a human life, acknowledging a personal gift for a life’s work. When we offer thanks to Julia Child, we are at the same time thanking God for the brilliance of creation, and the glorious gift of an other human being’s time and talent and impact on our lives.

With the new year upon us, let us remember in our own way, each time we think of a good, each time we speak well of someone, whether it be their work, or just being a friend, and neighbor, we are offering a secret blessing.

Let us hope, that this year, we are more aware of how much thanks we truly have, and how important gratitude is in the wake of every day life. We may find the lives of many filled with a bounty of blessings.

Latin American theologian Leonardo Boff once said that the Holy Spirit always works in groups. His statement, I believe, is true, and is evident within the Occupy Movements springing up in cities across the  United States and the world.

If there is a mantra to the movement, it seems to be centered around the concept that 1 percent of people have the money to buy power and retain control over the remaining 99 percent of humanity.  As far as I can tell, no solutions have been expressed, and no demands have been made. It’s a movement without centralized leadership, but the message expressed is strong:  those who have, have too much and the powers that be are complacent, allowing one small fraction of humanity to flourish while the remaining 99 percent struggles.  If the reader thinks slavery is no longer viable, think again.  Slavery is flourishing under the name of consumerism entirely backed by corporations, and the banking industry.

The Occupy Movement is, on the whole, secular. I would venture to say that few involved could, if pressed, place a theological name on anything taking place.  The movement, however, has strong theological implications. One connection to be made can be found in The Lord’s Prayer:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. “

Aside from the patriarchal nature of the word “Father”, which was natural in the century in which the prayer was written, the sub-text of the word “Father” denotes a leader, the head of a household. Since God is holy, we are then reminded that we are not given the name for God as this Father is beyond our capacity to know in the fullness of being. It was believed knowing a person’s name gives up some of their power. God is hallowed (holy, set apart) so we are not given a chance to take from God any power. As the one who is hallowed, and head of the cosmic household we pray God’s will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. What then is God’s will? What is God’s kingdom?

A theme which permeates Biblical Literature is what John Dominic Crossan calls “distributive justice.” This is not justice as we know from judicial courts, but justice in the form of all people free of want, all given according to their need — not out of personal emotive gluttony, but enough to flourish. This is very much in tune with what the Occupy Movement. If this movement is truly an act of the Holy Spirit, then it must not ask for justice in the name of retribution, but a paradigm alteration exploring what it means to have “enough.” It is asking us to define, within God’s kingdom, the meaning of having enough. What is enough, and can we live within these boundaries. It is asking us to consider, or reconsider the meaning of success.

The Lord’s Prayer bids, “give us today our daily bread.” I highlight the word “today”, as it appears that some people, or corporate entities feel as though having daily bread means that it should be enough to last three life times, and should also include the bread of their neighbors, or for that matter, the bread of other countries as well. The famous prayer merely asks for enough bread for today building upon the trust that there will be enough daily bread for the next day as well.

At the present time it is not known if the wellspring Occupy Movement will last. I highly doubt it will become a political movement  and I don’t think it was intended to become an organized political entity. But, as a theological expression, the cries of the people are viable enough to push against the rampart of the one percent, displaying cracks in this fortress of gluttony.

Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.

I am amazed as to how our special service, Celebrating National Coming Out Day, has grown. In 2004 we began holding the service in the chapel at St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church, Huntington Beach, CA with about 25 people attending. This year we held the service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Long Beach, CA with almost 200 people in attendance.  2011 marked the second time a Bishop of the church officiated with the Rt. Rev. Mary Glasspool leading the service, and offering a homily.

Our service revolves around four people sharing their coming out experience as it pertains to their faith journey. All four of the people speaking this year touched each and every person in attendance with their honesty, and their struggle, but each story ended on a positive note which in some ways included their hope to be honest with themselves, and people they come into contact, and at the same time sharing their life within a community of faith.

Music is a key element to the service as after each person speaks, and as the people in attendance ask for God’s blessing on their journey of faith, an anthem is sung allowing people a chance to reflect on what they heard. Christopher Gravis, an extremely talented choral conductor put together a stellar group of singers from all over the southland. The anthems selected were fresh, and unique. Two of the musical pieces are a gift from God.  Frank Tichelli’s opus, “There Will Be Rest” is the kind of music which draws you inward, offering an opportunity to rest with the holy. As people make their way to the high altar, to offer prayers written on slips of paper, the choir sang this remarkable work by Johnathan Dove “Seek Him that Maketh the Seven Stars.” As people made their way to the holy space, the choir intoned the text “Seek him….seek him…seek him.”

This service always includes a dramatic story, and this year was no different. I was told, after the service, that a mother and a daughter were in the congregation, but seated on opposite isles of the church. After the sharing of four stories, a few hymns, and Bishop Glasspool’s homily, the mother and daughter reunited, reconciling their differences, sitting together arm in arm.

Each year I am told of these touching stories, stories of reconciliation, of transformation, and of hope. This year people were told they were to Shine…and shine they did. All throughout the service people, maybe some for the first time, were introduced to God’s “YES!”

Delivered at St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church, Huntington Beach, CA on July 3, 2011

Zechariah 9:9-12
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

I have to admit; I really, really miss the beach.  Since I was ten years old, I’ve enjoyed looking out at the ocean at sunrise, when the morning breaks through last strains of the night. And as I thought about this experience, and our readings for today, I realized that the writings found in the bible are enormous and deep like the ocean, filled with the wealth of thought, ideas, stories, lessons, and deep ambiguities.

If we take into account the matrix surrounding today’s gospel reading, we become aware that Matthew is talking about something more than a comparison of John the Baptist and Jesus. There is more going over and above John’s message saying that the Kingdom is coming, and Jesus claiming that the Kingdom has come. In fact, we really have four kingdoms in tension with one another! Read More »

Los Angeles Times Headline, June 13, 2011

Growing up, I remember when newspapers routinely included a person’s race as part of a news story. For example, an article might begin this way:

“Ronald Jones, black male age 23, was arrested today out side Johnny’s Liquor Store along the 2300 block of 6th and Temple in Los Angeles.”

Read More »

Delivered at St. George’s Episcopal Church on June 5, 2011

- Honoring Grads -

Psalm 68:4-5, 33-36, Luke 24:44-53, Ephesians 1:15-23

And so it had come to pass….the events predicted over these past 3 to 4 years had come true….it is finished, and it was time to rejoice. The anxieties were greatly diminished, and the future was bright, and clear…the sky was blue……yes, I had just graduated from High School!

The next morning I had lucked out; I had the house to myself. I was all alone, and to this day remember waking up late, confidently walking into the day feeling new, and transformed.

I remember playing the original Broadway cast album from the hit show 1776. Basking in the march-like overture, I could inwardly sense a kindred parallel between the birth of a new nation, and my own private declaration of independence; a break from the past, and looking with confidence toward the future.

I walked out the front door into what seemed like the first warm strains of a glorious summer, and looking out at the patchy white clouds of the late morning sky, reality took hold, and slapped me square on the face…….oh no….yes, community college starts in the fall, but…….what am I going to do next?
Read More »

Boy, it’s been a while! I didn’t conceive of this blog to be a personal diary, but I thought I would share an aspect of my life which has turned out to be quite interesting. In March of 2010 I was told by my landlord that he was planning on selling his home, and that he no longer wished to rent his back house; a place where I had lived for three years.  This gave me a month to find a new place to live. Needless to say, I was in a panic to find something I could afford, but was also clean, and somewhat safe. I was then surprised to find an offer from two wonderful snowbird parishioners who invited me to look after their house during the summer. So, from March through December, I was happily ensconced at their small and cozy home in Montrose. Read More »

Martha Nussbaum, though not a lawyer, is a Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, a chair that includes appointments in the Philosophy Department. She also holds Associate appointments in Classics and Political Science, is a member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, and a Board Member of the Human Rights Program. She previously taught at Harvard and Brown.

Nussbaum the 1980′s along with economists Sudhir Anand and James Foster, created a new paradigm with regard to Human Development entitled The Capabilities Approach. These functional capabilities are a list of freedoms eventually became known through the United Nations as the Human Development Index. This work eventually led to her book entitled, Cultivating Humanity which espoused multiculturalism,  and a universal ethic. Read More »

Over the past month or so I’ve had a chance to do some reading, and I thought I’d share what books have gone before my eyes.

An Improbable Life: Memories by Robert Craft

For Craft, assistant and surrogate son to one of the musical greats of all music; Igor Stravinsky, had his musical beginnings at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingston, New York. It was not religion, or the Episcopal Church which drew the young boy to music, but a fine music program. Craft’s parents were not Episcopalian, and it appears Craft only joined the choir at the behest of his parents to gain some culture, but this experience was the impetus of what would become a life vocation; musicologist, and conductor.

As is with much of Craft’s various works, the writing style is urbane, cultured, broad, and filled with excursions into a complex dialectic kaleidoscope of people, places, remembered, and re-created quotes from the world’s creative personae.  If, however, one reads this book to answer the blazing old question revolving around the rumor that Craft actually co-composed music of Stravinsky’s serial period, the reader with gain no crumbs or insight to the debate. Craft does not speak openly in this arena. In fact, much of the book reminds me of other works surrounding Stravinsky and their relationship; almost written in his former “diary-style”. The end of the book, which to me appears to be a literary allusion akin to the final notes of Petrushka, trails off into a pianissimo with no formal conclusions—it just ends. Read More »

Like most, I am still pondering the tragic events which took place in Tucson this Saturday, and as a human being, and a person of faith, my deepest sympathy and prayers are with all who were killed, and those gravely injured by the actions of what can be described as unmitigated lunacy. My heart goes out to all who have been touched by this madness.

Over the next few weeks, and months to come, we shall read a magnitude of words of pointing fingers adding to further name calling. One side will point fingers at Conservatives as though they are a blight which must be removed, and there will be an other group blaming Liberals who are the true cause of all ills. The blame game will continue.

There are many causes which helped stir this weekend’s emotional stew, bringing the pot to a boil, and there will be some truth in each reasonable conclusion. Yes, words are important, and the rhetoric of hate can and will cause harm, and should have no place in a republic. This blog will state my own thoughts. Read More »