Tutu: Revelation and Saints

Tutu: Revelation and Saints

"See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them as their God;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”

And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Revelation 21:1-5a

Churches throughout the world who use the common lectionary and transfer All Saints to the first Sunday in November will be reading these words today from Revelation. These passages from Revelation are very important to Archbishop Tutu. To him the book of Revelation is poetry and liturgy. It is not a Rand-McNally map of heaven. It is not a timetable for the end of the world. It is full of encouragement, hope and comfort, especially for the oppressed. When Tutu was fighting against apartheid, he would say, "DON'T GIVE UP! DON'T GET DISCOURAGED! I HAVE READ THE END OF THE BOOK! WE WIN!"

Bishop Desmond Tutu later chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, which heard grievances from those who suffered during the apartheid era. The commission gave voice to horrific stories in the hope of burying past bitterness. This is another excerpt from one of his addresses. "People may commit demonic acts but they are not demons. It is very dangerous to demonize our opponents. Everyone has the potential of becoming a saint."

Today we honor saints we have read about and all the faithful departed whom we deeply loved, some of whom died naturally and some who died violently or in great distress. We eventually remember mostly their goodness, but we must not forget that they all struggled with the challenges of the world just as we do today.

The difference is that they are now right beside us, praying for us and with us throughout all eternity. Sometimes in the quiet of the evening or in the early morning before the rest of the house has awakened or outside in nature when a gentle breeze touches our face, we get a hint of their presence and their peace.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Bishop Curry: Love

Bishop Curry: Love

“We were made by a power of love, and our lives were meant-and are meant- to be lived in that love. That’s why we are here.” Bishop Michael Curry, The Power of Love, p. 8, Avery 2018.

If you are any bit an anglophile and arose early on the morning on May 19th, 2018, to watch the royal wedding of the American actress Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, you were in for a surprise treat. We knew the American presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, was the preacher. We had heard and seen him preach before. We knew his style. We knew his message of love.

Knowing all this did not keep us from being surprised by his words and delivery. His message, his teaching style were now in a different setting, a very proper English setting. The intimacy, the power, the conviction of his words in that locale somehow made them even more powerful. We wept. We laughed. We wanted to remember every word he said about love, his signature sermon topic. Now we have the sermon in his latest book, The Power of Love, as well as three other of his sermons about love.

Bishop Curry preaches in a style of his African American heritage. He has brought that tradition to the Episcopal Church and now to the Anglican Church. He reminds us of the richness that comes with diversity, when one culture merges with another and produces a hybrid that causes us to stand up and listen to a message we have heard before, but now hear with new ears.

I most remember when Bishop Curry talked about the power of fire and how the invention of fire had changed the world. He concluded with a message from the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin that “if humanity ever harnessed the energy of love, that it would be the second time in history that we had discovered fire.”2

Bishop Curry’s message of the power of love is one we desperately need to hear at all times, but especially in today’s environment.

2 The Power of Love, p. 13.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Charleston: All Faithful Departed

Charleston: All Faithful Departed

“You have heard the whispers on quiet summer evenings when you have been walking alone. They are the sound of the ancestors, speaking softly just on the other side of what we call real. You have seen the strange lights at twilight, like candles lit in evening rooms, beckoning people home to houses you cannot see. You have felt the touch on your shoulder, when you were deep in prayer or bent with worry, and known the energy that hums along the wires of faith, the presence of a power that knows how to heal. You have experienced the physical mystery that surrounds us, the mystery of the Spirit, the thousand tiny proofs that we live next door to heaven, waking up in a wonder we are only beginning to discover.” Bishop Steven Charleston, Facebook, October 31,2018.

Yesterday was All Saints, and today is The Celebration of All Faithful Departed. These two liturgical celebrations are our church’s family reunion day. It is the time for us to pull out our family photograph album and remember where we came from and all the faithful who influenced our lives.

Where were you the night of April 4, 1968? My husband and I were seniors in medical school in Memphis. That night Martin Luther King was assassinated outside of the Loraine Motel. Memphis became a police state. Clergy in Memphis decided to respond by marching to the office of the mayor, Henry Loeb and ask for relief for the sanitation workers on strike who had brought King to Memphis.. The ministers gathered at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral. At the last moment, the Dean, William Dimmick, who later became the bishop of Northern Michigan, (also baptized our two sons) went into the Cathedral and took the processional cross from the high altar. Holding it high above him (he was a very short man), he led the march down Poplar Avenue to City Hall.

The air was electric. Down the streets they marched. One Methodist minister writes about one moment he will never forget. As the clergy are marching down Poplar Avenue, up ahead, he sees an elderly woman sitting on her front porch. As the procession approaches her, she stands up and screams, "GET THAT CROSS BACK IN THE CHURCH WHERE IT BELONGS!"1

Dean Dimmick took the cross out of the cathedral into the streets of a city on the verge of riot. He taught us where Christ lives especially in times of grief and oppression. Christ is out in the midst of the mess. Christ was out walking the streets of Memphis in 1968.

Today my prayer is that we will be able to emulate what we learned from Dean Dimmick and take Christ out to those who are sick and suffering, to those who are hungry, to those living in poverty, to those who have been victims of the many episodes of recent violence in our country and their families, to immigrants in and outside of our country and all over the world, to those who are lonely and fearful, to those who are invisible to most of us much of the time.

It always helps to remember especially on this day that in some way we cannot explain, that Dean Dimmick will always be there beside us, praying and cheering us on.

1. Preaching through the year of Mark, "Stepping out of the Tent," Katherine Moorehead. p. 75.

Joanna Joannaseibert.com