O Magnum Mysterium

As a part of my preparation for Christmas, I listened to this YouTube video of a performance of "O Magnum Mysterium", a chant composed by Giovanni Gabrieli in 1536 in Venice. The performance is ethereal and haunting. The blend of the voices and the admirable restraint in the soft portions lead to a tremendous buildup in sound about two thirds of the way through.

The words in English are:

O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament,

that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in a manger!

Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Christ the Lord.

Alleluia!

I was struck not only by the beauty of the performance, but by the fact that I, a white middle-class American Protestant, was able to listen to a choir from the Philippines singing medieval chants composed in a cathedral in Venice almost 500 years ago. Such a beautiful constellation of music, technology, culture, and spirit.

The wonder and mystery of the birth of Jesus in a humble stable is made present in this gorgeous music. What soul can listen to this and not be touched by the Spirit?
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Harrison Hospital waiting room

Harrison Hospital

Today I accompanied a parishioner to Harrison Hospital where she was to have knee replacement surgery. I met her and her son when they arrived, and we prayed in the waiting room before surgery. We prayed for the surgeons and anesthesiologists, the nurses and technicians, and the whole surgical team, and we asked that the surgery be successful and the recovery complete.

There's a lot of anxiety about surgery because we're allowing the surgeon to enter our body and remove something that is integral to us. It's good to have spiritual support when we're in surgery.

Her son and I spent the morning and part of the afternoon in the lobby, reading and chatting. I said silent prayers occasionally. After an hour and a half in surgery, the doctor came out and said everything went smoothly and the surgery was successful. Thanks be to God! Medical science is truly marvelous and this surgery will improve her quality of life immeasurably.

While we were waiting, I did a sketch of the hospital lobby (above) to pass the time.
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Vicar's Bible study

Today we're having our second session of the Vicar's Bible Study. This group meets every Thursday at noon to study the scriptures with the Vicar. Currently we're studying the story of Ruth.

Ruth's story is worth reading for its storytelling value. It's a story of two women who become widowed and bond with each other for survival. It encompasses grief and loss, the bonds of human affection, grit and pluck, the response of a righteous man, and a love story of sorts.

At our first session, we began to learn how we'll work together. I enjoyed it tremendously and I hope we'll continue with the same sense of inquiry, wonder, and exploration. I usually try to craft a series of questions that help us explore the text and go behind the text so we can relate it to our own lives today.

A good small group is a joy and a treasure. I think we've got a good one here, and I hope we'll build a strong sense of community among ourselves.
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The atmosphere of Advent

Advent is one of my favorite seasons of the church year because of the yearning feeling it offers. Advent feels incomplete. It has no fullness or completeness to it, but it looks forward to something that is coming.

I think the most predominant feeling I had as a teenager and young adult was a feeling of yearning. I felt like I was trapped in my constrained circumstances, but if I could just break free of them I could experience great and wonderful things. I yearned to experience the freedom I heard other people talking about.

This yearning was a powerful motivator for me. I traveled and did a lot of things I wouldn't have otherwise. Yearning for something that's not yet here motivates us to seek new things. Yearning is a lean, hungry feeling, a sense of not-yet-but-very-close, a desire for something more.

That's the feel of Advent for me. We're waiting for the birth of Christ, and we yearn for it. We're waiting for the second coming of Christ, and we yearn for it. We want more of God and we yearn for God.

Many of the Advent hymns say, "Come," as a way of expressing this yearning: "Savior of the nations, come!"; "O come, O come, Emmanuel"; "Lo, he comes"; "Come, thou long-expected Jesus."

Yearning for God means to wait with hope and longing. That's the feel of Advent for me.
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Burnout and recovery

From flickr.com

Last week I preached five sermons in eight days. I delivered two normal Sunday sermons, plus two memorial service sermons, plus the sermon at the Thanksgiving Eve community service.

The preparation for the sermons and worship, plus the normal press of duties has left me pretty drained. I was pretty anxious about the community service because I knew it would be a lot of people, and I would be preaching in a setting unfamiliar to me.

In addition, memorial service sermons are somewhat difficult to deliver because I'm usually preaching about a person I didn't know well to a family who is grieving. I want to offer something that honors the life of the person who died; I want to say something that's honest about the person's life; and I want to remind us of the resurrection of Jesus.

So after such a slew of preaching, I'm ready for a week without any special sermons. Next Sunday Bishop Nedi will preach at the 10:00 Eucharist when she visits St. Antony's, so my duties are lightened.

So this week I'm looking forward to a little relief from the pressure of preaching and a little more attention to some of the usual parish details.
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Thanksgiving Eve service

Tonight at 7:00 We'll join the local Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist congregations for a Thanksgiving Eve service at Central Kitsap Presbyteran Church. We'll have a combined choir, liturgical dancers, a trumpet ensemble, a bell choir, holy communion, lots of cookies...and I'll be preaching.

I'll be talking about gratitude as a spiritual practice, remembering some of the times I've failed to be grateful and thinking about ways to slow down and look at what we have. The scripture text is the story of the ten lepers healed by Jesus in Luke 17. Only one of them stops and realizes what God has done for him. Stopping, I'll suggest, is the key to gratitude.

Everyone is invited to bring a non-perishable food offering for the Central Kitsap Food Bank. Sounds like a good event.

Al Stedman, "Bee Man"

Al Stedman, "The Bee Man"

Yesterday we had the memorial service for Al Stedman. There were over 200 people present - far more than we could seat in the church. Al was known throughout the state as "The Bee Man" because of his work as a beekeeper and a teacher of beekeepers.

In additional to his large extended family, we had quite a number of beekeepers present. Like Al, they're colorful and independent characters. Beekeepers work for themselves and they work outdoors...a good combination for people with an independent streak.

Two of Al's granddaughters gave a eulogy for him and his daughter Nancy also spoke. All three offered heartfelt memories of Al. They admitted he could be stubborn and obstinate, but they also remembered his warmth and support.

Al and his wife Barbara lived in their house on Anderson Hill for over forty years. It was a center for beekeepers from all over this area, and the local beekeeping association has met there for years. Al had his shop there and sold beekeeping products. His son will keep it going.

It was a privilege to be with this family in their loss and grief, and to see how a closely connected extended family draws close in times of need.
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