We have Youth Group this Sunday, June 1 from 4:30-6:30. We will fly kites. If it rains, I'll cry.
Hey I am preaching Sunday morning, so come to church too and let me know what you think.
Allie completed the Buffalo Marathon. 3 cheers for her!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
An interesting quotation
Nothing is so important as human life, as the human person. Above all, the person of the poor and the oppressed... Jesus says that whatever is done to them he takes as done to him. That bloodshed, those deaths are beyond all politics: They touch the very heart of God.-
Oscar Romero
March 16, 1980
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
J2A Information
Hi all,
Too bad we got rained out of our kite-flying extravaganza, but never fear we have rescheduled for June 1 at 4:30.
On June 22 we will join Father Paul and some of the 20's 30's group in the NFJC Walk for Unity. The NFFJC is the National Federation for Just Communities and it works locally to combat racism, bias and discrimination in schools, the workplace and the church (yes even the church has racism bias and discrimination. Sad but true.) It is a 3.5 K walk around Elmwood Village. see me on Sunday for brochures and pledge sheets.
Also, the Bison's game outing for this year has been set: June 27th. It is a Friday night so there will be fireworks afterwards. I will have a notice in the Bulletin beginning this week.
Finally, THIS SUNDAY May 18, Mother Liza will present the adult forum on the differences between Rite I and Rite II. Instead of meeting in the Youth Room, we will meet in the Walker Room to hear her presentation. The Youth Room will not be open during this time.
See you Sunday!
Cathy
Too bad we got rained out of our kite-flying extravaganza, but never fear we have rescheduled for June 1 at 4:30.
On June 22 we will join Father Paul and some of the 20's 30's group in the NFJC Walk for Unity. The NFFJC is the National Federation for Just Communities and it works locally to combat racism, bias and discrimination in schools, the workplace and the church (yes even the church has racism bias and discrimination. Sad but true.) It is a 3.5 K walk around Elmwood Village. see me on Sunday for brochures and pledge sheets.
Also, the Bison's game outing for this year has been set: June 27th. It is a Friday night so there will be fireworks afterwards. I will have a notice in the Bulletin beginning this week.
Finally, THIS SUNDAY May 18, Mother Liza will present the adult forum on the differences between Rite I and Rite II. Instead of meeting in the Youth Room, we will meet in the Walker Room to hear her presentation. The Youth Room will not be open during this time.
See you Sunday!
Cathy
Monday, May 5, 2008
Hi everyone,
two more days of school for me! It has been an incredibly busy few weeks, but a lot has happened. Most importantly, Confirmation! I was very proud of all of the youth who were confirmed. Few people know how much work you put into getting ready...but Allie and I know, as do your parents and Fr Paul and Mthr Liza.....and we are all exceedingly proud. Way to Go!
I have two things to post today. One is an article from this morning's Buffalo News. Think about living on $9.25 a day--read the article and then try it. Here it is:
Understand poverty by living in it
Charity Vogel Buffalo News May 5, 2008Updated: 05/05/08 6:37 AM
Nine dollars. One quarter. That’s what it looks like up close, this horrible, hydra-headed beast called poverty that casts its malevolent shadow over Western New York.
Nine dollars. One quarter.
Wake up in the morning with that much money to last a whole day, and you’ll quickly realize how far it doesn’t go.
It’s not even three gallons of gas.
It’s not enough to feed a family on fast food.
It’s not enough for a pair of kids’
shoes at Target.
It’s the bread and the milk and maybe
the lunch meat, but not the strawberries or the cottage cheese or the vitamins.
Yet in Western New York, that $9.25 figure is the harsh reality that many people — too many — live with, day in and day out.
Buffalo, today, is a city of the poor. One in three adults lives below the federal poverty line, which is in the $10,000 range for a single person and $21,000 for a family of four. (Dividing the first number by 365 days yields the $9.25 per day sum, after deductions are made for the average Buffalo rent payment and per-diem clothing cost.) Right now, 43 percent of children in Buffalo are growing up in households that are poor.
But knowing those facts and really understanding them are two different things. Which is why this week presents us a tremendous opportunity.
Starting today, the Homeless Alliance is asking regular folks in Western New York, for the first time, to conduct a grand experiment in what being poor is really like.
The challenge is to live on a poverty-line budget. To see for yourself what being poor looks and feels and tastes like.
You get $9.25. Subtract a few bucks if you plan to drive a car, another few if you want to watch cable TV or have Internet at home. (For complete rules for the challenge, see http://wnyhomeless. org/sitepages/programs_education. html.)
By the time you factor in your daily routine — which, let’s face it, most of us take for granted — you’ll have a dollar or two left for meals, if you’re lucky. Because I have health insurance and a cell phone, I sank $3 in the hole before spending a cent on food.
“It’s frightening,” said Devan DeCicco at the Homeless Alliance. “Some people think poverty here isn’t as dire as it is. Folks are going to find that if you attempt to live on this budget, you just can’t do it. And that’s scary.”
Poverty is peculiar. It reveals its ugliness in the biggest things, and the smallest.
It’s not having a roof over your head, or ignoring a chest pain because you don’t have health coverage. Or, as novelist John Scalzi wrote, “having to keep buying $800 cars because they’re what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there’s not an $800 car in America that’s worth a damn.”
But poverty is in the little things too. Like thin sweaters from the dollar store that pill and sag after one washing. Peanut butter on white bread for lunch, every day, because anything else won’t get you and your kids through the week.
And $9.25 in your pocket, morning after morning, with nothing else to get you through until bedtime but stamina.
“Beans,” said Caroline Degnan, coordinator of the South Buffalo Food Pantry, as she watched a senior citizen in a red sweatshirt and a young man in blue jeans put a few rolls into a plastic bag. “Beans you can do a lot with. Or macaroni and cheese. You can make French toast for breakfast, it’s cheaper than cereal, even though eggs are $3 a dozen now. You can maybe buy a bottle of syrup for it, at the dollar store.”
Nine dollars. One quarter. For you it’s a challenge. For them, it’s called life.
Secondly, here is my sermon from yesterday:
Easter 7 Year A
Newcomer Sunday, St Paul's Cathedral, 4 May 2008
Are we there yet?
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddddddd how much longer?
Drive faster. Aren’t we there yet? Don’t talk, drive!
Those were the pleas of my sisters and I as we drove along on our yearly family vacation south to the Ozarks, or north to Wisconsin. We would leave before day break, I think in the hopes that we four girls would sleep away half the drive. That never worked and before the sun was all the way up, we were chomping at the bit, ready to get to where we were going. We wanted to be there now. We were done. Done riding, done waiting.
Take a breath, enjoy the view my dad would say. He’d invent games for us---who could see the state capitol dome first , how many cows are in the field. How many different state license plates could we spy. It didn’t work. We weren’t buying this waiting game. We had a goal and we wanted to reach it. Now.
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t changed that much. I am impatient. I want it now. When I began seminary, graduation and ordination seemed a lifetime away. And here I am, two more days of school, one ordination down and God willing, one to go. The time of preparation is ending, I am almost at my destination. Almost, not quite yet. One thing the ordination process has taught me is patience. Patience with a process which is completely out of my hands.. This process has taught me a major lesson: it isn’t just about the destination, it is about the journey.
That’s what my dad tried to teach us 40 years ago and it’s what Jesus tried to teach the apostles---pay attention to the journey, realize that the getting there is just as important as the goal. The getting there is not to be rushed through, not to be hurried, it’s not something to endure, It’s something to experience. Because within the journey one finds grace.
Do I remember the specifics of those vacation destinations? Nope. But I sure do remember those journeys. I can recall the taste of cold water in a thermos, of buying bottles of Pepsi from a gas station vending machine. The poking and prodding of the four of us in the back seat. The smell of mile after mile of corn fields in downstate Illinois. All of those memories are full of grace.
And one day, one day I hope the youth who were confirmed Thursday night will reflect on their journey which led them to that night. Perhaps one day those will be grace-full memories. Perhaps one day they’ll realize it wasn’t just the goal of confirmation, but the journey of faith they took to get there.
Think about the apostles. What a journey they had been on. From the first murmurings about this itinerant preacher proclaiming a new way, to the gathering of the twelve, to the debates about who this Jesus was, to the frustrating parables and riddles with which Jesus taught. The miracles, the healings, the feeding, the preaching. The questions. And then those final days in Jerusalem, the trial and crucifixion, their teacher, dead and buried, and then remarkably resurrected to walk, talk and teach them some more. And now this, after 40 days Jesus again says good-bye. This time for good. But not before leaving them with the promise of one last gift: the Holy Spirit will fill and fuel them as they spread the Good News to all the nations. With that they were ready to go.
Not so fast, Jesus says, not so fast. The journey will be long, the journey will be hard. Strengthen yourselves through prayer; nourish yourself within your community before heading out to do the work you have been given to do.
Take time to enjoy the view, to contemplate the next step, to savor all that has happened on this journey. Getting ready is all part of it.
No doubt this was annoying. Like us kids on the drive to vacation, like our youth preparing for confirmation, the apostles had their sites set on the goal and they wanted to be there. NOW. He gets them all riled up and ready to go and then tells them to wait. Jesus knew that waiting, pausing, gathering strength through prayer is a key part of the journey.
How often in the Gospels are we left with, “and then he went off to pray.” In the middle of chaos and uncertainty, when any reasonable person would have panicked, Jesus would retreat, regroup and refresh through prayer. And this is what he wanted the disciples to do—to regroup, to reflect, to honestly consider what was to come, to pay attention to the journey instead of just focusing on the destination.. He didn’t want them to miss a thing.
I don’t want us to miss a thing either. All of us are on a journey, collectively we , as this Cathedral parish ,are on a journey with very specific goals: affordable housing, a literacy program, a thriving music program, a continuation of glorious liturgies. Individually we all have goals, to get a promotion, to see our kids do well, to have the wedding go off without a hitch, to be healthy and happy.
Our journeys to this place have been varied too. Some of us have been part of other churches,other denominations, other faiths or none at all. Some of us were born and raised in Buffalo, others are later transplants. Some of us are here for the first time today, others are long-time members. Regardless of how we got here , we are here now and although it may not be our final destination, we may have many more goals to meet, many longer journeys to take, we are here right now and you know what?. right now, gathered in this glorious house of prayer, at the corner of Church and Pearl, We’re right where we need to be. All of our journeys have brought us here where, together, we are pausing to pray, to refuel before heading out to do the work we have been given to do, We may want to hurry up and get to where our plans are taking us, we may want to hurry and resist the honesty which comes through pausing and praying.
We may not want to wait. But Jesus is calling us to do that. Jesus is calling us to embrace the gift of today, a life in Christ where the destination may not be clear, the journey may be long and the wait hard to take, but before we get caught up in all of that Jesus is telling us to gather, pray and wait.
Are we there yet? No we aren’t, but just look at the view.
two more days of school for me! It has been an incredibly busy few weeks, but a lot has happened. Most importantly, Confirmation! I was very proud of all of the youth who were confirmed. Few people know how much work you put into getting ready...but Allie and I know, as do your parents and Fr Paul and Mthr Liza.....and we are all exceedingly proud. Way to Go!
I have two things to post today. One is an article from this morning's Buffalo News. Think about living on $9.25 a day--read the article and then try it. Here it is:
Understand poverty by living in it
Charity Vogel Buffalo News May 5, 2008Updated: 05/05/08 6:37 AM
Nine dollars. One quarter. That’s what it looks like up close, this horrible, hydra-headed beast called poverty that casts its malevolent shadow over Western New York.
Nine dollars. One quarter.
Wake up in the morning with that much money to last a whole day, and you’ll quickly realize how far it doesn’t go.
It’s not even three gallons of gas.
It’s not enough to feed a family on fast food.
It’s not enough for a pair of kids’
shoes at Target.
It’s the bread and the milk and maybe
the lunch meat, but not the strawberries or the cottage cheese or the vitamins.
Yet in Western New York, that $9.25 figure is the harsh reality that many people — too many — live with, day in and day out.
Buffalo, today, is a city of the poor. One in three adults lives below the federal poverty line, which is in the $10,000 range for a single person and $21,000 for a family of four. (Dividing the first number by 365 days yields the $9.25 per day sum, after deductions are made for the average Buffalo rent payment and per-diem clothing cost.) Right now, 43 percent of children in Buffalo are growing up in households that are poor.
But knowing those facts and really understanding them are two different things. Which is why this week presents us a tremendous opportunity.
Starting today, the Homeless Alliance is asking regular folks in Western New York, for the first time, to conduct a grand experiment in what being poor is really like.
The challenge is to live on a poverty-line budget. To see for yourself what being poor looks and feels and tastes like.
You get $9.25. Subtract a few bucks if you plan to drive a car, another few if you want to watch cable TV or have Internet at home. (For complete rules for the challenge, see http://wnyhomeless. org/sitepages/programs_education. html.)
By the time you factor in your daily routine — which, let’s face it, most of us take for granted — you’ll have a dollar or two left for meals, if you’re lucky. Because I have health insurance and a cell phone, I sank $3 in the hole before spending a cent on food.
“It’s frightening,” said Devan DeCicco at the Homeless Alliance. “Some people think poverty here isn’t as dire as it is. Folks are going to find that if you attempt to live on this budget, you just can’t do it. And that’s scary.”
Poverty is peculiar. It reveals its ugliness in the biggest things, and the smallest.
It’s not having a roof over your head, or ignoring a chest pain because you don’t have health coverage. Or, as novelist John Scalzi wrote, “having to keep buying $800 cars because they’re what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there’s not an $800 car in America that’s worth a damn.”
But poverty is in the little things too. Like thin sweaters from the dollar store that pill and sag after one washing. Peanut butter on white bread for lunch, every day, because anything else won’t get you and your kids through the week.
And $9.25 in your pocket, morning after morning, with nothing else to get you through until bedtime but stamina.
“Beans,” said Caroline Degnan, coordinator of the South Buffalo Food Pantry, as she watched a senior citizen in a red sweatshirt and a young man in blue jeans put a few rolls into a plastic bag. “Beans you can do a lot with. Or macaroni and cheese. You can make French toast for breakfast, it’s cheaper than cereal, even though eggs are $3 a dozen now. You can maybe buy a bottle of syrup for it, at the dollar store.”
Nine dollars. One quarter. For you it’s a challenge. For them, it’s called life.
Secondly, here is my sermon from yesterday:
Easter 7 Year A
Newcomer Sunday, St Paul's Cathedral, 4 May 2008
Are we there yet?
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddddddd how much longer?
Drive faster. Aren’t we there yet? Don’t talk, drive!
Those were the pleas of my sisters and I as we drove along on our yearly family vacation south to the Ozarks, or north to Wisconsin. We would leave before day break, I think in the hopes that we four girls would sleep away half the drive. That never worked and before the sun was all the way up, we were chomping at the bit, ready to get to where we were going. We wanted to be there now. We were done. Done riding, done waiting.
Take a breath, enjoy the view my dad would say. He’d invent games for us---who could see the state capitol dome first , how many cows are in the field. How many different state license plates could we spy. It didn’t work. We weren’t buying this waiting game. We had a goal and we wanted to reach it. Now.
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t changed that much. I am impatient. I want it now. When I began seminary, graduation and ordination seemed a lifetime away. And here I am, two more days of school, one ordination down and God willing, one to go. The time of preparation is ending, I am almost at my destination. Almost, not quite yet. One thing the ordination process has taught me is patience. Patience with a process which is completely out of my hands.. This process has taught me a major lesson: it isn’t just about the destination, it is about the journey.
That’s what my dad tried to teach us 40 years ago and it’s what Jesus tried to teach the apostles---pay attention to the journey, realize that the getting there is just as important as the goal. The getting there is not to be rushed through, not to be hurried, it’s not something to endure, It’s something to experience. Because within the journey one finds grace.
Do I remember the specifics of those vacation destinations? Nope. But I sure do remember those journeys. I can recall the taste of cold water in a thermos, of buying bottles of Pepsi from a gas station vending machine. The poking and prodding of the four of us in the back seat. The smell of mile after mile of corn fields in downstate Illinois. All of those memories are full of grace.
And one day, one day I hope the youth who were confirmed Thursday night will reflect on their journey which led them to that night. Perhaps one day those will be grace-full memories. Perhaps one day they’ll realize it wasn’t just the goal of confirmation, but the journey of faith they took to get there.
Think about the apostles. What a journey they had been on. From the first murmurings about this itinerant preacher proclaiming a new way, to the gathering of the twelve, to the debates about who this Jesus was, to the frustrating parables and riddles with which Jesus taught. The miracles, the healings, the feeding, the preaching. The questions. And then those final days in Jerusalem, the trial and crucifixion, their teacher, dead and buried, and then remarkably resurrected to walk, talk and teach them some more. And now this, after 40 days Jesus again says good-bye. This time for good. But not before leaving them with the promise of one last gift: the Holy Spirit will fill and fuel them as they spread the Good News to all the nations. With that they were ready to go.
Not so fast, Jesus says, not so fast. The journey will be long, the journey will be hard. Strengthen yourselves through prayer; nourish yourself within your community before heading out to do the work you have been given to do.
Take time to enjoy the view, to contemplate the next step, to savor all that has happened on this journey. Getting ready is all part of it.
No doubt this was annoying. Like us kids on the drive to vacation, like our youth preparing for confirmation, the apostles had their sites set on the goal and they wanted to be there. NOW. He gets them all riled up and ready to go and then tells them to wait. Jesus knew that waiting, pausing, gathering strength through prayer is a key part of the journey.
How often in the Gospels are we left with, “and then he went off to pray.” In the middle of chaos and uncertainty, when any reasonable person would have panicked, Jesus would retreat, regroup and refresh through prayer. And this is what he wanted the disciples to do—to regroup, to reflect, to honestly consider what was to come, to pay attention to the journey instead of just focusing on the destination.. He didn’t want them to miss a thing.
I don’t want us to miss a thing either. All of us are on a journey, collectively we , as this Cathedral parish ,are on a journey with very specific goals: affordable housing, a literacy program, a thriving music program, a continuation of glorious liturgies. Individually we all have goals, to get a promotion, to see our kids do well, to have the wedding go off without a hitch, to be healthy and happy.
Our journeys to this place have been varied too. Some of us have been part of other churches,other denominations, other faiths or none at all. Some of us were born and raised in Buffalo, others are later transplants. Some of us are here for the first time today, others are long-time members. Regardless of how we got here , we are here now and although it may not be our final destination, we may have many more goals to meet, many longer journeys to take, we are here right now and you know what?. right now, gathered in this glorious house of prayer, at the corner of Church and Pearl, We’re right where we need to be. All of our journeys have brought us here where, together, we are pausing to pray, to refuel before heading out to do the work we have been given to do, We may want to hurry up and get to where our plans are taking us, we may want to hurry and resist the honesty which comes through pausing and praying.
We may not want to wait. But Jesus is calling us to do that. Jesus is calling us to embrace the gift of today, a life in Christ where the destination may not be clear, the journey may be long and the wait hard to take, but before we get caught up in all of that Jesus is telling us to gather, pray and wait.
Are we there yet? No we aren’t, but just look at the view.
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