The Good News from St. John’s Kingston

The Importance of Observing Holy Week

Dear Ones,

Like the other Abrahamic faiths (those faiths who claim Abraham as our ancestor – Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Christianity has a an important yearly observance that helps us all to ground ourselves deeply in our faith.

For all faiths, these holy days are meant to be a spiritual journey – one that helps us touch the edges of sadness so that we can come to know joy more and more completely. Jewish people have the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Muslim people have Ramadan (happening now) which culminates in Eid ul-Fitr. And Christians have Holy Week.

I invite you, as your priest, into this important observance. I recognize that we all have full lives. And coming to church is usually a social event, as it should be. But Holy Week is not about being social.

The reason we take this time every year is that it’s important for your spiritual lives. The rituals we participate in during Holy Week are ancient and deeply meaningful ways of claiming your own place in the larger story of God’s hope. The phrase “God’s Love” can be used so often that we start to lose perspective on exactly what that means so we perform these rituals every year because we, as humans, need to be reminded of what we’re talking about when we say “God’s Love.” And as I plan for our time together, I’m praying for you as individuals, as well as for us as the larger community of St. John’s.

All the days and times are listed above and I hope you will come to observe and participate.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

The Good News from St. John’s Kingston

A Lenten Space

On Women Priests and the Story of Holy Week

Dear Ones,

When I first started attending the Episcopal Church in the early 00’s, it wasn’t long before I learned that our church had been ordaining women since the 1970’s. I remember feeling good about that (women’s rights!) but also a little uneasy. Strange, right? Admittedly, it’s simply because it was a new concept to me. I did not attend any church up to that point. So I had to rearrange my thinking a bit so that I could open myself up to what God was up to in the Episcopal Church: Women priests! Who knew?

Then, after I had heard a call to the priesthood, it wasn’t until I was already in seminary that I found out more about how much those first women priests went through. I had simply never thought about it and had never been asked to think about it. But in learning this story, I not only have a deeper appreciation for those women and for those who stood with them, I also have a deeper understanding for the events that led up to the crucifixion of Jesus.

First, they chose to do those ordinations without widely communicating it so the threat of violence would be reduced. Unfortunately, a few days before, the press go hold of the story and immediately, problems arose – threats of violence, bishops backed out of their promise to be there, letters and telegrams were sent and two male clergy appeared at the ordination itself declaring it to be an abomination.

Those first women priests regularly received death threats. The male clergy who supported them were disciplined, maligned, fired, and/or ostracized. The bishops who ordained them were considered to have betrayed their brother bishops. And it was a long time before those women were allowed to preside at a Eucharistic Table. All of them were told they were destroying the church. All of them were told they were evil.

When change is needed because of oppression, and God’s Holy Spirit begins to inspire that change, those who have privilege based on “the way things are” are automatically threatened. Sometimes the privileged are able to see what God is up to and use their privilege to help others. But most often, what we see is a dangerous mix of jealousy, fear, anger, and shame that culminates in violence. That violence is always going to be relational and economical (as I’ve described above) and sometimes even becomes physical. This is the cycle of human sin.

And this cycle of human sin is the story of Holy Week. Jesus was that person – that scapegoat – who became the focus of hatred during a time of extended crisis when the way of life for Jewish people was being threatened by the Roman Empire. Chosen by God, Jesus saw that, during this time of crisis, the religious leaders were further ostracizing those who were in need so that they could gain favor with the Roman leadership. And, at the risk of his own life, he spoke out. He was killed for his teachings and his actions because they threatened the powers that be – both the state and religious leaders.

This is why movies like The Philadelphia 11 help me to reflect on exactly what we are doing in Holy Week. It’s not just a story that happened a long time ago. It’s something that continues to happen… over and over and over again. So the reason Holy Week is so important to me, personally, is that it’s an opportunity to remember just how lost we are capable of becoming as humans. And how God continues to work through those who are willing, in order to overcome human sin so that we can be resurrected into new life. In so doing, God’s Love rains down to save us from ourselves once again.

Especially, at this time in our society’s history, we need to tell this story. So I hope you will join us for Holy Week this year and help us all remember this cycle so that together we can also remember God’s Hope for us.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle

The Good News from St. John’s Kingston

A Lenten Space

The Long Exhale

Dear Ones,

I’ve been thinking a lot about breath lately – for several reasons. I’m still dealing with the lingering upper respiratory infection I contracted in January. Ana is practicing her breathing with a device called a spirometer, a common post-surgery/injury exercise. Those are a couple of very practical reasons.

But I’m also aware that there is an emotional aspect of this. I’ve noticed that, over this past week, my own breath has become deeper and deeper and, just in the last 2 days, I’ve realized that it’s like I’ve exhaled. Finally.

Every week during Centering Prayer, I invite everyone to gradually take deeper breaths and then invite them to take a longer time on the exhale. The reason for this is simple biology: a longer exhale engages your parasympathetic nervous system, which signals to your entire nervous system that it’s ok to “stand down.” It’s time to relax.

And, as I reflect, it’s as if I have been holding my breath for the entire month of February. And, if I’m honest, I’ve been holding it even longer than that. Of course, this has so much to do with all of the health issues my loved ones are going through.

I wonder if you’ve ever felt like that? A time in your life when there was so much happening that, despite your best efforts, it felt like you could never really get to the the place where you could experience the long exhale. A time when you could never really relax and know, on a cellular level, that all will be well. There are people who live their entire lives and never really feel what it’s like to have this kind of exhale.

For now, I am grateful for the long exhale.

In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle