May 2007
This month
FOUR STORIES
• Help for veterans and their families
• A broadcast journalist and a judge find the sacred in the everyday
• An appeal for help from Kashmir
• A team plays “Trivia” for their leisure mission
RESOURCES
• Jurgen Moltmann: “The Final Judgment: Sunrise of Christ’s Liberating Justice” and “The Presence of God’s Future: the Risen Christ”
• Elizabeth Hall: “Taking Next Steps in Member Mission”
• eMinistry Network
FOR MEDITATION
• An adapted Franciscan blessing
STORIES
Help for veterans and their families
Phil, a vice-president at his local American Legion post, looks out for soldiers returning from Iraq who need medical help but find it slow in coming. One needs a prosthetic arm; another has a mental health problem. They need help now; not in six months. So, they turn to the Legion for help. The Legion has people in Washington – their own organization and responsive representatives in Congress – who can get the help the returnees need. These Washington people also respond to appeals from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The needed help then comes through the regional and state hospital centers for veterans.
The Legion also helps families of service people in Iraq. If a family member dies, the family turns to the post to notify the soldier. The post works through the Veterans Administration in Washington to secure his or her return home for the funeral. Other families in serious financial need come for help with a mortgage, with food, with medical bills, or with fuel for home heat. The post has limited funds donated by local banks to help. The VFW, the Red Cross, and the United Way also help with such needs.
Where is God at work here? “Often, the first words from the people helped are ‘Thank God for helping!’ God is giving these people a chance.” One veteran with a large family had lost both legs from a roadside bomb. A National Guard member, he had been a guard at a nearby state prison before service in Iraq. The Legion and the VFW worked together to secure a job for him in the prison that could be done from his wheel chair. With prison guards, they also redid his house; added extra rooms for the children; and started a college scholarship funds for them. In tears, the family said, “Thank God we have people like this.”
Contact: Reach Phil through Member Mission by email, phone, or USPS.
A broadcast journalist and a judge find the sacred in the everyday
Loyola Press of Chicago asked Judy Valente, a broadcast journalist, to put together an anthology of poetry on finding the sacred in the everyday. It was to be geared particularly toward the working person who is trying to slow down, find more balance in life, and become more attuned to the sacred in the world. The Press connected it to the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola who wrote of finding God in all things.
“As I started, I asked my then fiancé, now my husband, if he would like to work with me on it. As an elected circuit court judge for five Illinois counties and a former state attorney, he, too, worked in the hectic professional world. He was also a published poet and very interested in how we find the sacred in the everyday. Further, he added the needed male voice. We put together Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul (Loyola Press, 2005). Eighteen of them, in one way or another, influenced our lives and, in some cases, changed the course of our lives. Each of us selected half of the poems and wrote personal reflections for each poem to illumine the sacred in the ordinary for us. The publisher asked each of us to include one of our own poems. Charles’ poem, ‘Juvenile Day,’ is in a section of the book where we reflect on the sacredness of work. He reflects on his first year as a judge in juvenile court. My poem, ‘Body and Soul,’ in a section by that name, calls readers to remember that we are not just a body in this life but will go on forever.
We had no idea what publishing this book would lead to. Just about every weekend we give either a mini-retreat or a workshop on discovering the sacred in daily life through poetry. The people who come are busy professionals hungering for a way to connect the sacred with what they do every day. We now have bookings through the next five months. They are at churches, Protestant and Catholic; at retreat centers; the Carl Jung Institute in Evanston, IL; colleges; and monasteries.
In these presentations, we use poems that illuminate the sacred in the ordinary and tell our own stories about how some of these poems have helped us in a major crisis in our own lives. Then, participants write their own reflections or poems – if they feel comfortable doing so. It is as if people have been waiting for permission to write these things down. They say things like, ‘I never did this before;’ ‘I don’t know anything about poetry;’ and they come up with powerful pieces of writing.
We got started in these weekends by a reader in the publishing world who invited us to The Catholic Writers’ Retreat which meets annually in January in Tucson, AZ at the Redemptorist Renewal Center. The poets in the group had asked for their own retreat and we were asked to lead the Catholic poets’ retreat in 2006. When the leader of a conference for retreat center directors heard of that session, he asked us to meet with this group to offer something fresh and new. That led to invitations to other centers and to churches. Also, I’m on the board of the Institution for Spiritual Leadership which trains spiritual directors across several denominations. Word of our book has led to invitations to Protestant churches, as well. It’s all by word of mouth.
Charlie has done a workshop for lawyers who are writers and is part of such an ongoing group. Recently, the University of Illinois held the first conference for lawyers who write poetry. Charlie was present and will lead the next conference. He finds that writing poetry helps him through the complexities of being a just judge in today’s world.
We’ve been ministering to lots of different professional people while continuing our own day jobs. We believe that’s what makes our work important. We have to deal with all the stresses of the workday world.
As for how our church helps us, we seldom hear about the working person and the working world in the homily at Sunday Mass – in spite of the great writing on the sanctity of work and the dignity of the working person by Catholic popes and theologians. We get our nourishment from groups connected with the church but separate from it. For example, the Crossroads Center for Faith and Work in Chicago consists of working people who want to connect faith and work.
Charles and I were fortunate to have been exposed to the Jesuit tradition of St. Ignatius who was one of the first to connect daily work with our spiritual life. The motto of the Jesuit schools we attended – St. Peter’s College for me and Loyola University Law School for Charles – was ‘For the greater glory of God.’ That meant let everything you do be done for the greater glory of God, not just what you do in church on Sunday. Everything is a spiritual act. We are to act out of a higher calling – not just personal achievement and career advancement. Gerard Manley Hopkins, the Jesuit poet, wrote, ‘All work gives glory to God – even carrying the slop pail.’ That was the attitude Charlie and I carried into the world of work.”
Contact: Judith Valente; 309-824-0614; jvalente17@msn.com; www.judithvalente.com
[Comment: Not just in the sermons Judith and Charlie hear but in too many sermons, the worker and the working world are seldom mentioned. Further, finding the sacred in each area of daily life is the place you begin for discerning your mission there. See Question #1 on the worksheets at Basic tools 3A and 3B. Then comes the most important question of all – what do you sense the sacred is asking you to do, to be, or to change in that area; what is your mission there. Questions #2 - 8 on the worksheets help you to work through to that answer. – Editor]
An appeal for help from Kashmir
“Dear Shwab Wayne,
Greetings to you in the most precious name of Jesus.
This is to inform you that the ministry in Kashmir is going with a very slow pace due to the prevailing fundamentalism of Islam and presence of militancy. Just couple of months ago one of our believers from the Muslim background was shot dead because of his proclaiming the faith in Christ.
Another believers from the same background who took baptism secretly and was growing suddenly got the brain tumor and the doctors say it is not curable here and probably he need to be taken to Chandigarh for surgery. We don't have medical insurance and so we generally yield to the circumstances.
Some of the believers are hesitant to come to the church due to fear of being spotted out. Our church is located [in an area where] one has to come first to the security and then can enter the church. As a result I sometime get discouraged. I am praying that I should start a regional church in Kashmiri with local cultural liturgy. I need lot of prayer and other material support.
Since I am without a transport and so every time I go then I hire the local transport which is quite expensive. Pray that the Lord may grant me a vehicle for better mobility for the Lord's kingdom.
Our social work of erecting 1000 permanent shelter for the earthquake victims with the help of Help a Child of India is going to be accomplished by November this year.
Our valley is due to 15 years of militancy has brought unemployment and youth are without job. They need to be kept busy and be trained for enterpreneurship for self help. Recently I went to Nagpur to learn the Micro Development Programme and Micro Finance Development. I am praying that the Lord may encourage me to start the programme with the help of Lord's stewards. Pray that some finances be raised to begin the motivational programme.
Conflict Resolution training among the Kashmiris will take place in June 4-6 at Kargil, a deep remote area in Ladakh. Revd. Brian Cox of International Centre for Religion and Diplomacy will convene and I shall be the intercessor along with Storm Harvey. Pray that this workshop will bring peace and understanding among young people in the valley of Kashmir.
I now you to pray specifically for my family need. My daughter is getting married in October 2007 at Jammu. I am without any finance as my own salary from the diocese has not reached me since September 2006. I need both your prayer and financial support so that I may fulfil my parental duties. I am sure you can understand my plight and you through your friends can be an answer to my needs. Thank you. Revd. C.M. Khanna”
[The Rev. C. M. Khanna serves All Saints Church in Srinigar in the valley of Kashmir, India, a largely Muslim area. I (AWS) met Mr. Khanna at a conference in 1995 and have been in touch since. He is hard-working and effective. Can you help him? share some of your resources with him? To reach him: The Rev. C. M. Khanna, All Saints'Church (C.N.I.), Church Lane, Srinagar, Kashmir, INDIA - 190001; Tel: 0091-194-2475194; email: cm_khanna@yahoo.co.in. Forward monies via Western Union. Brian Cox can carry gifts in cash. He leaves for Kashmir on May 29.]
A team plays “Trivia” for their leisure mission
Maggie, Steve, Dana, and Shannon form one of the teams as Tuesday night’s Trivia game begins at the Southgate Lounge in Plattsburgh, NY. All members of Trinity Church, Plattsburgh, they are known as the “God squad.” Joined later by two others from Trinity, they came in fourth. Maggie, on the left, reflects as follows.
Where is God in this situation?
“In my job, in family life, and at church, I try to add a happy note. At times, it’s good to let your guard down and not seek an outcome or goal. The idea is to share time with other fun loving people. God’s having fun with us, too.”
How is God helping you?
“God has equipped me to socialize and to see that people are included – to bring disparate people together.”
RESOURCES
Jurgen Moltmann: “The Final Judgment: Sunrise of Christ’s Liberating Justice” and “The Presence of God’s Future: the Risen Christ;” two lectures from the January 2007 Trinity Institute on CD and DVD. The end times as good news and encouragement for faithful living today; an antidote for the Left Behind series. Episcopal Media Center, 644 W. Peachtree St., Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30308; 800-229-3788; f 404-815-0495; www.episcopalonline.org; DVDs $19.00, CDs $13.00.
Elizabeth Hall: “Taking Next Steps in Member Mission” – a talk to open a Friday night, all day Saturday workshop at Trinity Church, Milford, MA in March 2 - 3, 2007. Trinity had written into its parish profile their desire for a rector who would continue their development of member mission. Their new rector arrived in November 2006 and quickly set the dates for the workshop. At membermission.org > Making the Vision Work > Sermons and Talks > “Taking Next Steps . . . ”
eMinistry Network; among current offerings for learning by telephone:
• “Hometown Hunger: A Guide to Fixing the Holes in the Nutrition Safety Net” on becoming an effective advocate for nutrition assistance programs, May 21.
• “Building Congregational Support for an Outreach Project” on how to raise awareness in, and communicate to, the congregation about your outreach project , May 22.
For more information and to register: http://www.eministrynetwork.org/
FOR MEDITATION
[The Rev. Michael Lapsley, director of the Institute for the Healing of Memories in Cape Town, South Africa, ended his address at the Towards Effective Anglican Mission (TEAM) conference in Boksburg, South Africa, March 10, 2007 with this adapted Franciscan blessing.]
May God bless you with discomfort…
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may live deep within your heart
May God bless you with Anger…
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people
so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with Tears…
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness…
To believe that you can make a difference in their world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
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