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.

Hi everyone,
Sorry it has been awhile since I posted, school is heading down to the wire so I have been swamped. a few updates:

• the 30 hour Famine run by the Niagara Youth Group was great. They had a good time and we talked about doing something together with them in the coming year
• Speaking of lock-ins and overnights, would any of you be interested in doing a lock-in overnight this summer? We would pick a theme, like world hunger, world peace or some other topic and we would do activities related to that topic while staying overnight in the Cathedral. Let me know.
• Doug Giordano is doing Happening next weekend (May 2-May 4) so we need to reschedule the youth group social gathering. Does May 11 work for folks?
• On May 4 we will have a newcomer's brunch, if you have any friends who might be interested, bring them that day. We'll have a table just for us and I am preaching that day. Food and a sermon, what more could people want?
• This Sunday, April 27, Grey, Jeremy and John are serving. Grey does bells, Jeremy serves and John is crucifer.

Several Things

• The 30 Hour Famine is NEXT weekend. We had a mis-print on our calendar at the Cathedral.
• I am now on Facebook. I feel like a complete nerd. But there you have it.
• I think last week's cookout and walk were fabulous--thanks for making it fun.

See you all Sunday! Juliette and Cullen are acolytes at 9 AM.

THIS SUNDAY'S J2A

We're having a BBQ and croquet. OK, I know it isn't that warm out yet, but let's cook out anyway. Hot Dogs Hamburgers and Veggie Burgers. I'll provide the pop, Ellie already bought the food, so all we need is dessert!

Myesha and Noel wanted to be at J2A. That's why we scheduled it for last night. Then they realized that they couldn't be there last night, and last night was a really terrible time for both Cathy and Allie. So we changed it to next Sunday, April 6, which would be our regular time anyway. Confused? Me too. Next Sunday 4:30 pm-6:30 pm.

HELP!!!!
I need someone to help in the nursery on Sunday April 13. Noel will be the only nursery worker in town and we need to have at least one other person. Contact me if you are interested. The nursery is open from 8:30-12:30.

PIPER
We batted around some ideas for fundraisers to help Piper. The ideas on the table are: A Garage Sale, A Book Sale, A BBQ, a Recylcing Drive. We need to decide by next Sunday so think about it and be ready to discuss it Sunday morning.
Also it is time to firm up your confirmation sponsor--it cannot be one of the clergy (although I will stand with you as a clergy representative) and it cannot be a family member (although you can have siblings or cousins, you just need another person from the Cathedral congregation.). Email or call me if you have any questions--thanks!!!!!

Phew!!!

Sorry I have been a bit out of touch. Holy Week was really busy and this week I am at school Monday through Friday.
A couple of things:
Sunday is our monthly social gathering--4:30 pm-6:30 pm in the parish house.
Saturday (I know I am working backwards) is the EYE event at St. John's Grace--it is a dance and it costs $5 to get in. It runs from 7 pm to 10:30 pm. Cullen and John are going.

Hope to see you all this weekend!

Finally, I gave a sermon on Holy Saturday, here it is:


JESUS IS DEAD

Jesus is dead. He has been laid in the tomb.
Where is the good news in that?
Surely disbelief filled all those who loved him.
Peter plagued by his guilt of being the denier.
Judas dead by his own hand.
The beloved disciple, wracked with grief.
Mary of Magdala, inconsolable.
And then there’s his mother. Is there a pain worse than that of a parent who has lost a child?
Where is the Good News in that?
It is all so sad.

But this morning we aren’t here to lament, we aren’t here to weep, we aren’t here to mourn.
No, we gather this morning to marvel at Jesus. Not at his miracles, not at his stirring rhetoric, not at his parables. Not at Jesus, Son of God. No, we gather in our quiet exhaustion to marvel at Jesus the man. For today Jesus has made the most human of journeys. Jesus
has plunged into the depths of death. He has fallen into the abyss of nothingness, of desolation and of loneliness so that, once and for all, we will never be alone. Because Jesus has been, is and will be everywhere we could ever go.
Think about it. Feeling abandoned? Jesus has been there. Been spit upon? Jesus has been there. Been denied by your own? Jesus has been there. Raged in frustration? Jesus has been there. Jesus, on this Holy Saturday has been everywhere. For today he has descended to the dead. Today he looks death square in the eye and says, no
more, no more will death be a thing to fear, a thing to worry about, a thing to hate.
Never again do we have to feel the loneliness of Mary. Never again do we have to feel the abandonment experienced by Job. Never again will we be shrouded in the darkness of Jonah. Never again will we wail our laments alone. Because today Jesus has filled the last of our emptiness, today Jesus has plummeted himself into the abyss of darkness, despair and death so that each of us, when we inevitably fall into those dark spaces of our minds, into those hells of our humanity, into the depths of grief, is not alone. Jesus has been there. And Jesus remains there.
For Jesus, the son of the living God, the Word made
flesh, the author of our salvation has been to the heights and the depths of our human existence so that we will never again be alone. So today in the quiet solitude of this day of rest, be comforted in knowing that even as his body lies in the tomb, Jesus is with us. Tomorrow, next week next month or next year when you feel the desolation of pain, the fear of abandonment or the despair of grief,--the ups and downs of our human existence--know that you are not alone for Jesus, our Jesus, has been there too and will not, no matter how much we resist his love, abandon us. And today? Today that is good news indeed.
Amen.

Palm Sunday

This week Cullen and Eric are the two youth acolytes at 9 am.
At Confirmation we will finish our discussion of the Eucharist by going through the Eucharistic Prayer. Be prepared--you may be asked to play the role of priest---

Below is the sermon I was supposed to preach at St. Phillip's Church last Sunday. But they were closed because of snow so I am preaching it tonight at their Lenten study:


Lazarus Laughed.
Lazarus Laughed?
That’s the title of a play written by Eugene O’Neill: It is the playwright’s thoughts about what Lazarus did upon his resurrection. And the first thing he thinks Lazarus would have done? Laugh.

When my friend Lynn tries to tell a joke she starts to laugh about halfway through. Usually you never hear the punch line but it doesn’t matter if you don’t hear the rest of the joke, you’re laughing right along with her, because laughter is contagious.
My nephew, John, who has cerebral palsy can’t speak. But boy can he laugh. He has this deep down, belly laugh which shakes his entire body. He has tipped over laughing so hard. No one can resist that laugh when he gets going. His laughter is infectious.

People who are depressed have a hard time laughing. The trigger in the brain which causes laughter is broken, so laughter doesn’t come easily.
Can you imagine that? Not being able to laugh? Rarely if ever tossing your head back howling in laughter? Laughter is good for us. It is a medically proven fact. Laughing is contagious, infectious and absolutely necessary to our health

Now, laughter isn’t an unfamiliar action in the Bible, Sarah laughed when she heard God tell Abraham that she—at 90 years old—would have a baby.
Absurd! Outrageous! Ridiculous! How could such an old couple have a baby?
But they did, and they even named him after laughter-----translated
Isaac means “God laughed.” Surely, God laughed, right? After all it was indeed outrageous, unbelievable and quite comical for a baby to be born in such a circumstance.

But babies do that don’t they?

They bring smiles, giggles and laughter.
We call them bundles of joy.
Think about a baby’s laugh-- Isn’t it the greatest thing? The worst day at work melts away at the sound of a baby’s giggle. It is pure and full of delight.
It’s a little bit of heaven right here earth.

So to me it makes sense that Lazarus, upon exiting the tomb, laughed. I bet it was a low guttural chuckle building up to a good ol’ belly laugh. In the play, all Lazarus does for the first day or so after resurrection is laugh.
When he finally speaks Lazarus says he laughed because, after death all he heard was laughter. The laughter of Jesus filled his heart.
Laughing Lazarus proclaims that there is no death, there is no fear, there is only life and that life is full of laughter. Lazarus has been to the other side and what he saw there was a life full of laughter.
Nothing else, just eternal life and laughter.
In the play, Lazarus exclaims:
Laugh! Laugh with me! Death is dead! Fear is no more! There is only life! There is only laughter!

Yes, Lazarus laughed.
But Jesus? Jesus wept.

As Jesus saw the sadness of all those who loved Lazarus, he was overcome with sorrow. Was it remorse for being late, for not being able to save his friend?
Or was it sadness at the lack of faith displayed by Mary and Martha? They both had yelled at Jesus---“if you had been here, he wouldn’t have died.” Talk about guilt. They were laying it on Jesus. But that wasn’t it, he wasn’t guilty or ashamed or remorseful. He was sad…sad that people were still so afraid of death, sad that people still didn’t get it.
Jesus said it as clear as can be:

I am Resurrection and I am Life.
Jesus, through his Father, and through the Holy Spirit, assures us that there is no death, no end, just life eternal.
That’s the whole point isn’t it? Christianity 101: believe in Christ and have eternal life.

But, really, why would Lazarus laugh?
Because it was so absurd that he had been brought back to life?
That could be it.

But in the play he laughs is because that is what heaven is full of: laughter. God laughs all the time, and so everyone else does too. After all, laughing is contagious. But back among the living on earth? Lazarus’ laughter was not funny. Those first few days outside of the tomb everyone was trying to snap him out of it: Lazarus, stop your laughing, there is nothing funny about what happened to you.

But Lazarus says he laughs because there is nothing to fear. Death is not the end; death is not the enemy, death is not scary. Death, says Lazarus, is really nothing at all. Now that is a pretty outrageous thing to hear: death is nothing at all! Death is certainly something for those who have experienced it, those who have lost a loved one or someone who is struggling with the imminent death of a loved one.

So when Jesus calls Lazarus out from the tomb, he is telling him that it isn’t time yet, that he has more to do on earth. So Lazarus comes back. With a new attitude, one free from fear. One free from death. For death is just a human construct, it is of human design. Life, a life in Christ, a life in love with our Creator God—is not complicated. It is simple. Let God’s love wash over us. Be tickled by that love.


I think this story is telling us to die.
We must die.
We must die to death.
Jesus wept because that is what we don’t get .We don’t get that dying is just another step toward the full glory of God.
At baptism, we are figuratively plunged into the deep, into the depths of a life without living, of an existence marred by sin and sorrow and regret. But, during the Easter Vigil when new Christians across the world emerge from those waters and are sealed as Christ’s own forever they are alive in a new way. Christians have died to the old way and been born into the new.

In a little while when we approach the altar for the nourishment of communion we must die to everything we fear-- everything we cling to. At the Eucharist we let go of this world and are transformed into the new world of everlasting life.

When Jesus told Lazarus to come out of the tomb! He was telling him to die, die to the shackles of a life without hope, die to a life filled with fear, die to a life with limited love. And Lazarus did, he died to all of that and was born anew to an everlasting life full of indescribable happiness. He was born anew to a life full of eternal love and never ending laughter.

This is what we are called to do, tonight at communion, tomorrow at work and next week at the grocery store. We are called to die to all the petty jealousy, the fear of each other, the old hurts and resentments Because nothing, not death, not dry bones, not doubt and not despair is enough to keep us from the giggling, chuckling never-ending love and laughter of God. That’s why Lazarus laughed and why we should too, for the joy of a new life in Christ is contagious, infectious and absolutely necessary to our health. So join me in chuckling at death, giggling away fear and embracing a God who laughs and loves us forever. AMEN