Sunday, February 28, 2010
Pilgrimage News
(Note: this was my "pastor's reflection" in the Good shepherd Parish Bulletin for February 28, 2010.)
Many of you have asked about how plans are progressing for the Early Christian World Pilgrimage that I will be leading during April. Last week we closed registration with eleven participants, plus myself. This is a much smaller group than I had hoped for, a little more than half of the twenty that I had originally set as the minimum. Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Ersan Atsur, owner of Orion-Tour, our agency in Istanbul, and AmericanTours International, our agency here, we are able to make this pilgrimage, in spite of our reduced number, with no increase in the cost.
About half of our Pilgrims are professional religious educators, a group that I really want to engage in this Pilgrimage experience, so that they can in turn influence young people. The only reason why I am committed to leading this Pilgrimage, and have done so three times in the past and hope to continue in the future, is that I firmly believe the future of humankind in our world today depends on building bridges of understanding among people of diverse backgrounds and convictions.
This kind of understanding can come only through first knowing and being comfortable with our own faith. And quite frankly, that's not an easy task. Learning and integrating our faith into our lives is a life-long task, and an important part of it is exploring our heritage, including what history has to teach us about why we believe as we do.
The other requirement for building bridges is to understand those who are different from ourselves, especially those whom we find difficult to understand or threatening -- or who see us that way.
Turkey is the perfect place to immerse ourselves in both of these essential dimensions of pilgrimage: touching our own heritage and discovering the identity of the other.
One of the opportunities given us by the small size of the group is that we can have more lively interaction with one another and our guide, Aydin Eroglu. Aydin is not only an expert in everything we need to know about Turkey, he is also a devout Muslim who is deeply committed to interfaith dialogue and understanding.
My goal in planning this pilgrimage is to share as widely as possible the insights and results of our explorations. One of our teachers at Good Shepherd School, Maddie Murphy, is coming, and we are designing ways that she can be in constant touch with her fifth-grade students and the rest of the school community. At the same time, I am working on putting a "virtual pilgrimage" on the web, and you'll be able to follow us at http://ecwpilgrimage.org. If, for whatever reason, you can't make the trip physically, you can still come along in spirit through the modern miracles of the internet.
Also, you might want to look at your calendar and see if you can join us for the Pilgrimage next year. We always begin during Easter week, and so next year our Pilgrimage, God willing, will begin on Wednesday, April 27, 2011. Because several people could not make it this year because of the length, it will undoubtedly be shorter, probably sixteen days rather than twenty-two. You can be back home by Saturday, May 14.
We are all pilgrims in life, and I pray that everyone here at Good Shepherd will be able to learn and benefit in some way from our Pilgrim journey to Turkey's Early Christian World sites. Please pray for us who will be traveling as we prepare for this life-changing experience. May God bless you all.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Parking and Together in Mission
(Note: this was my "pastor's reflection" in the Good Shepherd Parish Bulletin, February 21, 2010.)
Sorry I didn't write any reflections last week. Enough of you asked about it to make me happy to know it's being read. Sometimes I get a bit overloaded, and something's gotta give . . .
Last Tuesday, I celebrated Mardi Gras by spending the whole evening at the City Council, along with pastors and representatives of the other churches in Beverly Hills, waiting for the parking meter issue to come up. This was the third time we were there, after having waited in vain until 2:00 am two weeks earlier.
The heart of the proposed ordinance would authorize the operation of parking meters throughout the city from 6:00 am to a minute before midnight, seven days a week. The actual times of operation within that range would be determined by the Traffic and Parking Department. The position of the churches -- ourselves and our neighbors All Saints and Beverly Hills Presbyterian here on Santa Monica, as well as Mt Calvary Lutheran on Beverly Drive and Olympic -- was not to oppose the ordinance itself but to support the recommendations for implementation proposed by the staff, who had met with us beforehand to be sure our needs were accommodated. After considerable discussion and clarification from the staff, and our own input from pastors and members of the various churches, the Council unanimously voted to support an amended version of the ordinance that would ensure that any changes to the hours of operation for the parking meters be given thirty days' public notice and subject to the approval of the City Council.
The bottom line, as it impacts us church members, is that there will be no change in the operation of the parking meters of the parking structures across Santa Monica Boulevard. Evenings and Sundays will continue to have free parking in these structures as well as the streets with meters near the churches. Because the text of the ordinance was amended, it will have to have another final vote in two weeks, but that will, I think, be merely a formality. The real issues were hashed out last week, and the whole Council supports the accommodation for the churches.
Thank you for your attentiveness last week to Dr. Karen Kallay's presentation on Together in Mission and its importance to Ascension Catholic School in South LA, where she is principal. And thank you for your pledges to this important annual appeal. I must share with you that, as a result of her moving talk, I reconsidered my own pledge, and increased it from $1,000 to $1,500. Do you think you could do something similar?
Thank you all for the many ways you participate in and support the life and mission of our Catholic Church as a whole, and our Good Shepherd Parish community in particular. May God continue to bless you, especially as we seek, during this season of Lent, to empty ourselves so that God may find greater welcome in every aspect of our lives. I love you.
Sorry I didn't write any reflections last week. Enough of you asked about it to make me happy to know it's being read. Sometimes I get a bit overloaded, and something's gotta give . . .
Last Tuesday, I celebrated Mardi Gras by spending the whole evening at the City Council, along with pastors and representatives of the other churches in Beverly Hills, waiting for the parking meter issue to come up. This was the third time we were there, after having waited in vain until 2:00 am two weeks earlier.
The heart of the proposed ordinance would authorize the operation of parking meters throughout the city from 6:00 am to a minute before midnight, seven days a week. The actual times of operation within that range would be determined by the Traffic and Parking Department. The position of the churches -- ourselves and our neighbors All Saints and Beverly Hills Presbyterian here on Santa Monica, as well as Mt Calvary Lutheran on Beverly Drive and Olympic -- was not to oppose the ordinance itself but to support the recommendations for implementation proposed by the staff, who had met with us beforehand to be sure our needs were accommodated. After considerable discussion and clarification from the staff, and our own input from pastors and members of the various churches, the Council unanimously voted to support an amended version of the ordinance that would ensure that any changes to the hours of operation for the parking meters be given thirty days' public notice and subject to the approval of the City Council.
The bottom line, as it impacts us church members, is that there will be no change in the operation of the parking meters of the parking structures across Santa Monica Boulevard. Evenings and Sundays will continue to have free parking in these structures as well as the streets with meters near the churches. Because the text of the ordinance was amended, it will have to have another final vote in two weeks, but that will, I think, be merely a formality. The real issues were hashed out last week, and the whole Council supports the accommodation for the churches.
Thank you for your attentiveness last week to Dr. Karen Kallay's presentation on Together in Mission and its importance to Ascension Catholic School in South LA, where she is principal. And thank you for your pledges to this important annual appeal. I must share with you that, as a result of her moving talk, I reconsidered my own pledge, and increased it from $1,000 to $1,500. Do you think you could do something similar?
Thank you all for the many ways you participate in and support the life and mission of our Catholic Church as a whole, and our Good Shepherd Parish community in particular. May God continue to bless you, especially as we seek, during this season of Lent, to empty ourselves so that God may find greater welcome in every aspect of our lives. I love you.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
What are you doing for Lent?
(Note: this was my "Pastor's Reflection" column in the Good Shepherd Parish Bulletin, February 7, 2010.)
Lent is just a week and a half away.
The Gospel reading for the Mass of Ash Wednesday gives us a clear direction for our Lenten practice. Jesus speaks about almsgiving, prayer, and fasting (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18), and how we should do all three of those practices without calling attention to ourselves.
Almsgiving means that we should pay special attention to the needs of others. I think Jesus is asking us to put the needs of others, especially the less fortunate, ahead of our own needs at this time. And to use this time of Lent to practice how we might do that all the time.
This might mean paying particular attention to our favorite charity, and making our contributions more intentional, and even more sacrificial. Or perhaps we should look around for needs of others that aren't being met, and find ways of doing something about that.
Almsgiving is the way we can put into practice our belief in the Mystical Body of Christ, that you and I are together members of the Body of Christ, fulfilling our responsibility to care for one another as we would care for Christ himself.
Let is also a special time for prayer. Not so much that we say extra prayers at this time or engage in extra religious practices, and then abandon them after Easter. No. This is a time to acquire new habits of praying in ways that can continue throughout the rest of the year.
Fasting isn't simply giving up something. Fasting rather is a way of creating an emptiness, an opening in our lives where God can come in and fill us with himself. Fasting can also sharpen our awareness of our limitations and our oneness with those who are deprived without choosing it. Fasting should make us feel empty . . . and free.
Faithful Muslims have a lot to teach us about all three of these practices that Jesus and his Church ask us to do during Lent. Three of the five practices (called the"five pillars") of a faithful Muslim's life correspond to these three Gospel commands.
Muslims pray, devotedly and outwardly with particular gestures and movements as well as words, five times a day. The discipline of marking the major points of the day with prayer is also an ancient Christian monastic tradition, which may have influenced Islam in adopting this intentional commitment to regular prayer. If we don't pray, we become forgetful of God, taking him for granted and becoming negligent in our responsibility to acknowledge him as the Lord of our lives. Can you honestly say that Jesus is Lord and at the same time neglect to pay attention to him in prayer regularly through the day?
Perhaps we Christians can learn from Muslims the importance of frequently turning to God during our day, to acknowledge him as Lord and Savior.
Faithful Muslims fulfill the obligation each year to give 2.5% of their total wealth -- not just of their income, but of their "net worth" over and above a certain amount needed for basic sustenance of their own life. This must be given to the poor and for works that benefit the poor.
Can we as Christians, who are commanded to do to the "least" of our brothers and sisters as we would do to Christ, take on a Lenten practice of opening our eyes and paying greater attention to those in need on our very doorstep?
Perhaps the most well-known practice of faithful Muslims is to fast during the month of Ramadan. This is a rigorous fast, more so than our Catholic rules. No food or even water from dawn to sundown, and the fast is broken after sunset each day with a simple meals. Fasting for Muslims is a way of giving thanks to God the giver of all good by acknowledging our dependence on him. (Note that Muslims strictly follow a lunar calendar of 28 days, so Ramadan starts about ten or twelve days earlier each year. This year Ramadan is from August 11 to September 9. It is noteworthy that Islam forbids fasting for those whose health would be damaged or find it a serious hardship.)
Our own Catholic rules of fasting during Lent are simple and minimal: only one full meal on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstain from meat on the Fridays of Lent. Those are the rules, the minimum. Anyone who is serious about their relationship with God is going should work at finding more ways of creating emptiness so that God can fill it.
I realize of course that not all Muslims follow these practices faithfully, and there are those who seriously distort the meaning of Islam, which is a word meaning both submission to God and peace. But just as not all Christians faithfully imitate Christ and some do violence under the guise of Christianity, we cannot judge the true practice of the best by the distortions of the worst. We must learn from one another.
Please take advantage of these last days before Lent to plan what you are going to do in order to make this truly a season of grace.
Lent is just a week and a half away.
The Gospel reading for the Mass of Ash Wednesday gives us a clear direction for our Lenten practice. Jesus speaks about almsgiving, prayer, and fasting (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18), and how we should do all three of those practices without calling attention to ourselves.
Almsgiving means that we should pay special attention to the needs of others. I think Jesus is asking us to put the needs of others, especially the less fortunate, ahead of our own needs at this time. And to use this time of Lent to practice how we might do that all the time.
This might mean paying particular attention to our favorite charity, and making our contributions more intentional, and even more sacrificial. Or perhaps we should look around for needs of others that aren't being met, and find ways of doing something about that.
Almsgiving is the way we can put into practice our belief in the Mystical Body of Christ, that you and I are together members of the Body of Christ, fulfilling our responsibility to care for one another as we would care for Christ himself.
Let is also a special time for prayer. Not so much that we say extra prayers at this time or engage in extra religious practices, and then abandon them after Easter. No. This is a time to acquire new habits of praying in ways that can continue throughout the rest of the year.
Fasting isn't simply giving up something. Fasting rather is a way of creating an emptiness, an opening in our lives where God can come in and fill us with himself. Fasting can also sharpen our awareness of our limitations and our oneness with those who are deprived without choosing it. Fasting should make us feel empty . . . and free.
Faithful Muslims have a lot to teach us about all three of these practices that Jesus and his Church ask us to do during Lent. Three of the five practices (called the"five pillars") of a faithful Muslim's life correspond to these three Gospel commands.
Muslims pray, devotedly and outwardly with particular gestures and movements as well as words, five times a day. The discipline of marking the major points of the day with prayer is also an ancient Christian monastic tradition, which may have influenced Islam in adopting this intentional commitment to regular prayer. If we don't pray, we become forgetful of God, taking him for granted and becoming negligent in our responsibility to acknowledge him as the Lord of our lives. Can you honestly say that Jesus is Lord and at the same time neglect to pay attention to him in prayer regularly through the day?
Perhaps we Christians can learn from Muslims the importance of frequently turning to God during our day, to acknowledge him as Lord and Savior.
Faithful Muslims fulfill the obligation each year to give 2.5% of their total wealth -- not just of their income, but of their "net worth" over and above a certain amount needed for basic sustenance of their own life. This must be given to the poor and for works that benefit the poor.
Can we as Christians, who are commanded to do to the "least" of our brothers and sisters as we would do to Christ, take on a Lenten practice of opening our eyes and paying greater attention to those in need on our very doorstep?
Perhaps the most well-known practice of faithful Muslims is to fast during the month of Ramadan. This is a rigorous fast, more so than our Catholic rules. No food or even water from dawn to sundown, and the fast is broken after sunset each day with a simple meals. Fasting for Muslims is a way of giving thanks to God the giver of all good by acknowledging our dependence on him. (Note that Muslims strictly follow a lunar calendar of 28 days, so Ramadan starts about ten or twelve days earlier each year. This year Ramadan is from August 11 to September 9. It is noteworthy that Islam forbids fasting for those whose health would be damaged or find it a serious hardship.)
Our own Catholic rules of fasting during Lent are simple and minimal: only one full meal on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstain from meat on the Fridays of Lent. Those are the rules, the minimum. Anyone who is serious about their relationship with God is going should work at finding more ways of creating emptiness so that God can fill it.
I realize of course that not all Muslims follow these practices faithfully, and there are those who seriously distort the meaning of Islam, which is a word meaning both submission to God and peace. But just as not all Christians faithfully imitate Christ and some do violence under the guise of Christianity, we cannot judge the true practice of the best by the distortions of the worst. We must learn from one another.
Please take advantage of these last days before Lent to plan what you are going to do in order to make this truly a season of grace.
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