#Kingdomtide

[ainsi-soit-il]

I have no idea how widely celebrated Kingdomtide is observed anymore, but I wanted to include it.

[riverdamien]

Saying Yes to God!

Sloughing Towards Galilee!!

Luke 1:26-38

Saying Yes to God in Hard Times

A few weeks after I received my conversion experience I received  Holy Communion for the first time in three years, and I began my move to get off the streets and return to ministry. 

Thereafter, even in moments of poverty, loss, and death, I  would follow Mary’s example with grace, courage, and a mission to serve others.

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38

How easy it is to profess our faith and try to conform our lives to God’s will when all is well and life is going according to plan.

These days, my first activity is to pray the Daily Office and to recite the Angelus in my room, which for me is a sacred space, followed by my own “Yes, God,” when I commit the day to God's divine will. My renewal of the Blessed Mother’s “Yes,” along with my daily activities is a way of renewal and strength.

But lately, my life has been anything but simple or normal. My daily prayers sound like a laundry list of woes, spat out with my arms outstretched, as I plead to God for relief. I should know better than to do this in prayer, but when the problems mount, I can’t help but complain to God like Job, who famously lamented, “I have no peace nor ease; I have no rest, for trouble has come!” (Job 3:26)

During the past season of Lent, it seems I have a million and one reasons to withhold my “yes” to God. So for me, the Solemnity of the Annunciation couldn’t be more perfectly timed.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Mary’s pivotal moment, the event that we celebrate on this Solemnity, in this way:

At the announcement that she would give birth to “the Son of the Highest” without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that “with God, nothing will be impossible”: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word.” (CCC #494)

I guess that when Mary said “yes,” she was afraid and didn’t understand what was to come. Nevertheless, she trusted wholeheartedly in God’s will and participated fully and spotlessly in the divine plan for the salvation of the world.

Despite her tender age and personal circumstances, Mary—later accompanied by St. Joseph—gave herself completely to God, in total trust. It is this outlandish, incomprehensible, marvelous “yes” we celebrate each year.

The Gospel passage for the Solemnity – the first chapter of St. Luke – describes that first fiat, and recalls a few words of encouragement from the angel to Mary that we can also rely on when we say “yes” to God…

“The Lord is with you.”

“Do not be afraid…”

“…nothing will be impossible for God”

Recently I came across Mother Mary Seton’s writings on the presence of God, written for her community, that have helped me unite my morning “yes” to a more faithful following of Mary’s fiat – especially on my most challenging days. I offer it here as encouragement for your own personal “yes” as we journey together into the days of the Kingdom, the Reigh of God, Pentecost and Ordinary Time, or in my old Methodist days, we called it "Kingdomtide".

“Much depends also on our first waking thought if we give them faithfully to God, and resist our distractions before they take possession of our mind we will find it much easier to do it the remainder of the day. The best way to do this is to store our heart with exclamations – my God I open my eyes but for you, and to love you…” 

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint, — even in moments of poverty, loss, and death —followed Mary’s example with grace, courage, and a mission to serve others. May this be the same “yes” you and I strive to receive.

The great challenge and opportunity of the Annunciation is the possibility for a true conversion of heart.

On a chilly night in Los Angeles at the Cathedral I encountered "Our Lady of Guadalupe," and experienced a true conversion of the heart. I invite each one who has struggled with the church, and with all of the male pronouns of God to meet God in the feminine, to feel the love of Mary, and through her God's son! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

============================

Prayer of St. Brendan!

"Help me to journey beyond the familiar

and into the unknown.

Give me the faith to leave old ways and break fresh ground with You. Christ of the mysteries I trust in You to be stronger than each storm within me.

I will trust in the darkness and know that my times, even now, are in Your hands.

Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,

and somehow, make my obedience count for You"

------------------------------------------------

(Temenos and Fr. River seek to remain accessible to everyone. We do not endorse particular causes, political parties, or candidates, or take part in public controversies, whether religious, political or social--Our pastoral ministry is to everyone!

April 12th--Day of (No) Silence 2024: Rise Up. Take Action!

History of Day of (No) Silence: Started in the mid 90’s by two college students, Day of Silence has expanded to reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. Every April, students would go through the school day without speaking, ending the day with Breaking the Silence rallies to bring attention to ways their schools and communities can become more inclusive.

2024 Day of (No) Silence: With more than 800 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced last year, we must Rise Up and Take Action. GLSEN’s Day of NO Silence is a nationally recognized student-led demonstration where LGBTQ+ students and allies all around the country—and the world— protest the harmful effects of harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ+ people in schools.

This year I will remain silent from Midnight on April ll, until Midnight, on April 12. I will carry a sign with me and a flyer to hand out explaining what I am doing. I am writing our Congressional and State Leaders, asking for support. I encourage you not to keep silent with you youth, your friends, your church, your social groups, speak out loud and clear!

Fr. River Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.

415-305-2124

temenos@gmail.com

www.temenos.org

www.paypal.com

---------------

[nprbooks]

“If the chances of dying in a plane crash are pretty slim, being the sole survivor is even less likely,” says our critic Heller McAlpin -- and yet, two novels out this month consider exactly that situation. McAlpin says both Dear Edward and Kingdomtide “are about the aftermath of trauma and how survival against the odds profoundly changes these characters' lives and attitudes.” Check out her full review here.

-- Petra

[firstumcschenectady]

“God's Plumb lines and Our Values” based on Amos 7:7-15 and Mark 6:14-29

There are days when I struggle to care about ancient kings and the problematic things they said and did to ancient prophets. Tracking royal lineages, and power battles in far off lands from times long past isn't actually all that interesting.

And it certainly doesn't seem like a formula for speaking a relevant word to God's beloveds today.

This may even be one of those days.

One of the more distressing parts of the Bible, though, is that when talking about the power battles of men long dead in cultures I need explanatory books to understand, the dynamics of human life appear to be fairly constant over time. We may not have kings. We may not engage in beheadings in this country. But somehow, when it comes right down to it, things aren't actually as different as I'd like them to be.

Which, actually, is the whole point as far as I can tell.

The teachings of Jesus are absurdly brilliant in their social analysis, questioning of norms, and in the way they make space for people to come to their own conclusions and then claim truth for themselves. Much of the rest of the New Testament uses the examples of Jesus to do the very same work. And, Jesus was a product of his Jewish upbringing, a tradition with a wealth of knowledge in asking great questions, using stories to help people think, and using prophets to clarify that God's concern includes concern for those who are marginalized.

Or, to say it more simply, the Bible helps us see things as they are, so we can know what we are up against, and work to change it.

In our text from Amos, Amos is having visions, the king sees it as threatening and thus tries to threaten Amos, Amos responds claiming the King has no authority over him because he is doing what God called him to do.

Well, isn't that power dynamics in a nutshell?

Someone, with God's support, speaks uncomfortable truths. Someone with power gets threatened by it and responds by trying to silence the truth-teller. But the one who is working with God's help isn't silenced by threats. Because God's power isn't a part of human power struggles, and God helps us face our fears. Amos even says, “I'm not a prophet, I'm just saying what God tells me to say.” (Fair question on how we know that, but that's for another day.)

The King Herod / John the Baptist story in Mark is similar in its function. As I was trying to remember all the details of the relationships of the characters and the political plots they were maneuvering, I came across a line in the Wikipedia article on Herodias that made me stop, “Herodias' second husband was Herod Antipas (born before 20 BC; died after 39 AD) half-brother of Herod II (her first husband). He is best known today for his role in events that led to the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.”1

The gist of things is that King Herod had been married off by his father in a political allegiance, and yet he was seeking to consolidate power. He thought that his brother's wife would be more useful to him in that, so he exiled his first wife and Herodias divorced her husband, and they married. Ironically, perhaps, he was eventually displaced by the angry father of his first wife. Similarly, the things he did to consolidate his power and then to protect himself from accusations against him are exactly the things history remembers him for.

So what's that story in a nutshell? The King ignored common decency, political allegiances, family ties, and generally accepted morality in order to seek power. The story told in the Gospels is maybe not factual. Instead, it is reflective of the differences between the moral standards of the common people and the fast and loose dealings of those on the top of the pyramid with the lives of those on the bottom.

Our story says that as Jesus was gaining fame, King Herod was living in fear that he was John the Baptist resurrected. That would mean that the Government's power to KILL wasn't powerful enough. #Foreshadowing. It also suggests that the King feels a little guilty.

Common morality of the day wouldn't have permitted a woman to dance in public. So judgement is also present in that. The story also seems to parody how decisions get made about people's lives. One person is drunk and makes excessive promises, another seeks an easy way out of a difficult situation, and voila, a prophet is killed. As one scholar put it, “A more sarcastic social caricature could not have been spun by the bitterest Galilean peasant.”2

Underlying this story is the knowledge that Jesus was a disciple of John's, that Jesus largely took up John's mantle, that the early Christians think of John as the messenger sharing that Jesus was coming, and that the powers of the world would also kill Jesus, and he wouldn't conveniently go away either.

What strikes me in this story is how many times I've heard it. That is, a person with large amount of power in something – government, an industry, finances – wants to accumulate more, does so by illicit means, and then does even worse things to cover it up. And, usually, they get away with it. And, often, everyone knows but no one feels like they can do anything about it. This is the narrative of much of the #MeToo movement. This is the narrative of cover ups in COVID policies. This is the narrative of pretty much every scandal you read about in the news.

In this case, the prophet is the one willing to share the news that others are too scared to say, and to name that immoral behavior is – in fact – immoral.

I think it is fair to say that being a prophet is no fun. And it is very dangerous. (Although I have friends who I think it is fair to say are prophets, and they tend to think some parts of it ARE fun. It may just be that I'm a naturally more cautious person than they are.)

To bring the world from how it is to how God wants it to be requires prophets though. Did you know that the vast majority of theft in the US is wage theft, which almost always goes unpunished?3 One report concludes that wage theft (not paying workers what is owed to them) costs $50 BILLION a year in the US, as compared to the grand total of all robberies, burglaries, larcenies, and motor vehicle thefts in the nation costing their victims less than $14 billion.

Yet somehow petty theft often results in incarceration, and wage theft – in the rare case it is prosecuted – results in fines. The system that lets those with power and money play fast and loose with the lives of people in poverty is still going strong, and our “justice” system empowers it.

This is, of course, one of innumerable examples of how the structures and systems of the world keep on finding new ways to look the same, and what should be outdated in the Bible turns out to be just the same today.

The world tempt us to look away, to justify the actions of those in power, to ignore the cries of the marginalized, to care more about “the economy” then the lowest paid workers in it, to side with the modern kings of the world. There is something deep in human nature that assumes that the ones in power got their by their own merits and the same is true of those without power. But it isn't so.

God keeps helping us open our hearts so we can see more clearly. God reminds us that the purpose of an economy is to find ways to care for everyone in it, the purpose of a society is to create real justice for everyone so everyone can thrive, and the purpose of a church is to help people expand their own humanity so they can let their hearts be broken by other people's pain. God's values aren't the world's. God sees fully, profound, beloved value in each and every person, and wants good for all.

And we, dear ones, seek to do the same. May God's values transform our own, again and again, and again. Amen

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodias Accessed 7/8/21.

2 Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998 and 2008,) 216.

3 https://www.epi.org/publication/epidemic-wage-theft-costing-workers-hundreds/

July 11, 2021

[bigtickhk]

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

US: https://amzn.to/36g8v0J

UK: https://amzn.to/3aqhrDe

Kingdomtide by Rye Curtis

US: https://amzn.to/30xPXHe

UK: https://amzn.to/2uc8blB

[franklinparkreadingseries]

At this month’s multgenre event on February 10, we’re celebrating outstanding new work by Amber Sparks (And I Do Not Forgive You), Rye Curtis (Kingdomtide), Nicolette Polek (Imaginary Museums), Amanda Leduc (Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space), Marco Rafala (How Fires End), and Stacie Evans (The Rumpus, Jezebel). Join us for a provocative night of surreal short fiction, fairy tales reenvisioned through feminist and disablist lenses, fearless memoir, survival adventures, and more!

[mamilton]

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The readings for this Lord’s Day at Trinity Chapel follow.

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

A good name

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,and favor is better than silver or gold.

The rich and the poor have this in common:

the Lord is the maker of them all.

Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,

and the rod of anger will fail.

Those who are generous are blessed,

for they share…

[judyconda]

#SpiritualSunday: Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe or “Feast of Christ the King” [1st Part] On the 3rd week of Sunday or the last Sunday of each liturgical year in November, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, or Christ the King.  - The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, commonly referred to as the Feast of Christ the King, Christ the King Sunday or Reign of Christ Sunday, is a feast in the liturgical year which emphasises the true kingship of Christ. The feast is a relatively recent addition to the liturgical calendar, instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI for the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. In 1970 its Roman Rite observance was moved from October to the last Sunday of Ordinary Time and thus to the end of the liturgical year. The earliest date on which the Feast of Christ the King can occur is 20 November and the latest is 26 November. - The Lutheran, Anglican, Moravian, Methodist, Nazarene, Reformed and United Protestant churches also celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, which is contained in the Revised Common Lectionary; the Methodist, Anglican and Presbyterian Churches often observe this as part of the liturgical season of Kingdomtide, which runs between the Fourth Sunday before Advent and the Feast of Christ the King. It is also observed on the same computed date as the final Sunday of the ecclesiastical year, the Sunday before the First Sunday of Advent, by Western Rite parishes of the Ru**ian Orthodox Church Outside Ru**ia. - Roman Catholics adhering to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite use the General Roman Calendar of 1960 and continue to observe the Solemnity on the date established in 1925, the final Sunday of October. #catholique #catholiques #romancatholic #romancatholicchurch #catholicmystics #catholicworld #intothemystic #catholic #catholicism #materdolorosa #Spiritique #mindfulness #Spiritual #Spirituality #mystical #mystique #mystic #mysticisim #renaissance #renaissanceart #folk #folklore #folkspirits #folkmystic #sacredmysteries #sacredmystics #catholicart #catholicculture #catholiceducation https://www.instagram.com/p/ClLzvkqS2x8/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[corpusjehovahtriumphinstitutes]

SIX MONTHS SEASON OF PENTECOSTIDE / KINGDOMTIDE OF THE IMMORTAL, IMPERISHABLE, INCORRUPTIBLE, INCONQUERABLE, ZOE JEHOVAH GOD LIFE ||| CORPUS JEHOVAH SOVEREIGN FOUNDATION ||| CJSFCHAMBERS

SIX MONTHS SEASON OF PENTECOSTIDE / KINGDOMTIDE OF THE IMMORTAL, IMPERISHABLE, INCORRUPTIBLE, INCONQUERABLE, ZOE JEHOVAH GOD LIFE ||| CORPUS JEHOVAH SOVEREIGN FOUNDATION ||| CJSFCHAMBERS

OUR CHRISTIAN CALENDAR: MASTER THE SEASONS TO PRIORITISE & OPTIMISE VALUE FROM YOUR TIME==================== SIX MONTHS OF PENTECOSTIDE / KINGDOMTIDE OF THE IMMORTAL, IMPERISHABLE, INCORRUPTIBLE, INCONQUERABLE, ZOE JEHOVAH GOD LIFE – MANIFEST DIVINE AUTHORITY, POWER, FRUITFULNESS, MULTIPLICATION, DOMINION, RULERSHIP, HEALINGS, MIRACLES, SIGNS & WONDERSBE IN THE KNOW, BELIEVE, EXERCISE FAITH…

[lilianeruyters]

Rye Curtis || Kingdomtide

Rye Curtis || Kingdomtide

I can no longer recall who alerted me to Kingdomtide, I am glad though I bought and read the novel. Its content is basic: old lady survives a plain crash and has to find her way home through inhospitable ruggy terrain. One ranger remains convinced she has survived and continues to search for her. The world behind the theme turns out to be a lot more comprehensive.Cloris Waldrip is a god-fearing…

[jmlongworth78]

Still Lent?

In numerous conversations with colleagues, friends, and community members, a theme of endless Lent keeps coming up. It was almost a year ago when we were entering into the season of solemn preparation for Easter that we heard the first whispers of a story that would change our lives, our world, and our future. In many ways it has felt as if we have been living in a never-ending Lent, in spite of celebrating a full cycle of Easter, Pentecost, Kingdomtide, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany and the little Ordinary Time.

We enter into Lent with sparks of hope: the tireless efforts of medical professionals to improve treatments, the surges of brilliance and medical technology that have given us vaccines to distribute, and the promise of Spring to allow us chances to gather safely outdoors. 

As we prayerfully, patiently,and lovingly wait, Lent provides us opportunities to lean into our loneliness, anxiety, disappointment, isolation, and anger, knowing that God in Christ knows all of these moments of human existence. If we cannot learn to sit in our discomfort, we may very well miss the moment of God’s action in our life, transforming us from the inside out.

Our congregational focus for Lent this year is a celebration of Baptism- including the evangelical invitation to Baptism and Affirmation of Baptism for those who have never done so. It is my hope that one of the fruits that will come from everyone sharing their love for God and love for neighbor publicly will be the celebration of new baptisms and affirmations in the 50 days of Easter. Share our worship opportunities across your whole circle of acquaintances, ask yourself “how is God transforming me?” Our chance to witness to a hurting world is here and now!

Not every Lenten practice must be a dire burden, for several years now, I have commended the whimsical and educational event of Lent Madness to our community. The contest for the Golden Halo is all in good fun, but studying the lives of the various dedicated Christians found in the brackets can be a powerful education in the many, many ways that God re-shapes people’s lives through the working of the Holy Spirit. I hope you’ll play along and also learn together about these inspiring lives.

In study, prayer, holy play, and solemn remembering, we will spend these 40 days, drawing closer to God, to one another, and to the new lives that God is calling forth from the depths of the grave.

[whatwingoreads]

Kingdomtide

Dates read: February 4-10, 2020

I decided to pick up Kingdomtide by Rye Curtis because Jennifer Egan said it was good.  I don’t know Jennifer Egan’s general taste in books, but I figured if her writing was any indication, this one was worth a read. Kingdomtide was at time enjoyable, frustrating and downright weird.  The main driver of the plot happens very early on in the story.  Cloris and her husband, an elderly couple from Texas on vacation in Montana, charter a small plane to take them to a secluded cabin.  The plane goes down in the middle of the Bitterroot wilderness, leaving Cloris the sole survivor.  The story ping-pongs between Cloris’ trials and perseverance as she struggles to survive and the story of an alcoholic park ranger who searches for the survivor in vain.   I found myself rooting for Cloris through the whole story, admitting to myself that I would most likely not survive – even with the aid of a masked man skilled in wilderness survival.  I hate bugs, I’m scared of mountain lions and I don’t think I could ever eat a rabbit even if it had been skinned and cleaned for me and I hadn’t eaten in two days.  The book seems to examine how we face our loneliness in a world where nobody is ever exactly who they seem.  While I found a few of the characters completely unbearable – hello search and rescue professional Bloor who constantly chalks his hands and jerks off all over a rented house – Curtis has assembled a rag-tag crew of seriously flawed characters and weaved them together in a story that will make you ask yourself what you would do in their shoes.

[aio11]

The lives of two women—the sole survivor of an airplane crash and the troubled park ranger who leads the rescue mission to find her —intersect in a gripping debut novel of hope and resilience, second thoughts and second chances

I no longer pass judgment on any man nor woman. People are people, and I do not believe there is much more to be said on the matter. Twenty years ago I might have been of a different mind about that, but I was a different Cloris Waldrip back then. I might have gone on being that same Cloris Waldrip, the one I had been for seventy-two years, had I not fallen out of the sky in that little airplane on Sunday, August 31, 1986. It does amaze that a woman can reach the tail end of her life and find that she hardly knows herself at all.

When seventy-two-year-old Cloris Waldrip finds herself lost and alone in the unforgiving wilderness of the Montana mountains, with only a bible, a sturdy pair of boots, and a couple of candies to keep her alive, it seems her chances of ever getting home to Texas are slim.

Debra Lewis, a park ranger, who is drinking her way out of the aftermath of a messy divorce is the only one who believes the old lady may still be alive. Galvanized by her newfound mission to find her, Lewis leads a motley group of rescuers to follow the trail of clues that Cloris has left behind.

But as days stretch into weeks, and Cloris’s situation grows ever more precarious, help arrives from the unlikeliest of places, causing her to question all the certainties on which she has built her life.

Suspenseful, wry and gorgeously written Kingdomtide is the inspiring account of two unforgettable characters, whose heroism reminds us that survival is only the beginning.

‘Suspenseful from start to finish ... First novels are often praised for an author’s potential, but Kingdomtide displays an exceptional talent fully realized’ Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of Serena

[scvpubliclib]

New story on NPR: 'Kingdomtide' And 'Dear Edward:' Two New Novels Take On A Singular Situation https://ift.tt/360wnVa