Pass It On

By Sharon Betts

While my son was growing up there were a group of neighboring boys who bullied him. Irrespective of our efforts at intervening and support, his self-esteem was bruised by their insensitive words and actions. As a young teen, he was invited on an Emmaus Weekend Retreat by someone in our church. When we picked him up that Sunday afternoon he stated, he’d had the best time ever! Over the next few days it was noticeable to my husband and I that something had changed. We saw a calm confidence that had become evident in his demeanor. When mentioning our observations, my son replied, “at Emmaus I learned a lot about acceptance, character and love. He then reached in
his pocket and pulled out a strip of paper, telling us someone gave him this scripture as a kara gift, just when he really needed it. 

Romans 5:3-5... And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 

It was 12 years ago the Holy Spirit instilled our son with Hope through the faith community of CT South Central Emmaus. We became adult leaders in this ministry and have witnessed the Holy Spirit work in the hearts and lives of many teens over these years and I pray that Hope continue to be passed on for many years to come! This Advent may I suggest we give out some kara (little gift of love) by printing scripture on slips of paper and pass them on to others while we are out and about throughout this Season.... 
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It was while reading to my youngest, the story of Stella Luna, that he was able to justify in his young mind that I stay awake at night while at work. He was so excited when he shared this complementary realization. Wow mom, you’re just like a fruit bat!  When my girls Rachelle & Carrie were too old (at least in their eyes) to stay with a sitter during the summer, I felt they still needed a bit of supervision. That was when I changed to the night shift at the hospital. The rule was that while I slept they had to stay in the house (without friends) and never knew when I would wake to check on them. As it turned out the routine worked well for our family. My husband Alan, got the kids on the bus in the mornings and I was there to greet them when they got home from school. When their little brother Michael was born, the routine stayed. Twenty-five + years later I’m still working the night shift yet now as a private duty nurse for young children with special needs who require ventilator care or airway protection. I love the fact that my work allows their parents to get some much-needed sleep. Prior to starting my career change while in seminary, I never thought much about what the life routine was like for families with children who have special needs. It took God placing me in the thick of these family’s lives to fully comprehend the complexity. While talking, one mother shared her desire for spiritual nourishment and why she was uncomfortable. As a postulant thru discernment and prayer, I am listening and focusing on coming alongside this community of families as their pastor, priest and teacher sharing the Gospel via a sensory learning worship style that may be conducive to their spiritual needs.
  

Poem on Hope selected by Thom Peters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Backlit_mushroom.jpg#/media/File:Backlit_mushroom.jpg

Hope

Lisel Mueller

It hovers in dark corners

before the lights are turned on,

    it shakes sleep from its eyes

    and drops from mushroom gills,

        it explodes in the starry heads

        of dandelions turned sages,

            it sticks to the wings of green angels

            that sail from the tops of maples.

It sprouts in each occluded eye

of the many-eyed potato,

    it lives in each earthworm segment

    surviving cruelty,

        it is the motion that runs

        from the eyes to the tail of a dog,

            it is the mouth that inflates the lungs

            of the child that has just been born.

It is the singular gift

we cannot destroy in ourselves,

the argument that refutes death,

the genius that invents the future,

all we know of God.

It is the serum which makes us swear

not to betray one another;

it is in this poem, trying to speak.
------
 

I found this description of hope most helpful the summer I spent as a hospital chaplain. There, in the clinical sterility that often infects a patient’s room, the images of nature juxtaposed with things one might easily associate with the experience of a patient brought new insight into what exactly constitutes hope.  It is something which we struggle to frame in our language, so we reach for poetry to make our best attempt.  It is that which is beyond plain “reason,” that which begs for us to recognize our very souls.

- Thom Peters

Hope

From Project Gutenburg http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/watts/paintings/12.html

By Thom Peters

Here is Hope astride the world.  She strains to hear the note she plucks from the one remaining string on her lyre.  She wears no shoes and only a simple garment. In her darkness, she plays her instrument by the single light that illuminates the world.  

Listen for the note.

“Hope is a Symbolist oil painting by the English painter George Frederic Watts, the first two versions of which were completed in 1886. … President Theodore Roosevelt displayed a copy at his Sagamore Hill home in New York; reproductions circulated worldwide; and a 1922 film depicted Watts's creation of the painting and an imagined story behind it. By this time Hope was coming to seem outdated and sentimental, and Watts was rapidly falling out of fashion. In 1938 the Tate Gallery ceased to keep their collection of Watts's works on permanent display.

Despite the decline in Watts's popularity, Hope remained influential. Martin Luther King Jr. based a 1959 sermon, now known as Shattered Dreams, on the theme of the painting, as did Jeremiah Wright in Chicago in 1990. Among the congregation for the latter was the young Barack Obama, who was deeply moved.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_(painting)

Look to the Rock

By Madeline Pantalena

Welcome, friends, to Advent. Our theme this year is “hope”—in all of its myriad forms.

After last weekend’s Annual Convention in Hartford, and Sunday’s “Celebration of the Spirit,” my sense of hope is off the charts. For those who were unable to join the 2,000 Episcopalians gathered to heard the Word and celebrate the Eucharist together, I highly recommend listening to Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s sermon from last Sunday: https://www.episcopalct.org/news-and-events/annual-convention/2016/convention-live-stream/

Bishop Curry’s refrain from Isaiah 51:1, “look to the rock,” is a refrain I will return to over and over through this Advent season.

I will look to the rock, trying to slow down in a busy season.

I will look to the rock, as I wait for the return of Christ, the judge who will “arbitrate between many peoples” and teach them to “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks,” waiting for the day that “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4)

I will look to the rock, the guiding example of how we as Christians must walk in love, loving as Christ loved us.

I will look to the rock, and hope.

2016 Advent Reflections

Embed from Getty Images

As in 2015, daily posts will be offered here from a colleague group of postulants and candidates for the priesthood. During Advent they will be reflecting on the theme of Hope. You can subscribe to this blog to have these reflections delivered to your inbox each morning. Or simply bookmark this blog. We look forward to sharing Advent with you!

Here are the photos and biographies of the authors who will be blogging. 

Sharon Betts is a postulant from St. Michael's, Naugatuck. She works as a nurse, specializing in pediatrics. She has studied at Regent Seminary and Berkeley at Yale. She has a particular passion for ministry with children with special needs. Currently Sharon is the director of Grace 2 Go, which offers a worship experience for children with special needs.  As a postulant thru discernment and prayer, Sharon is listening and focusing on coming alongside this community of families as their pastor, priest and teacher sharing the Gospel via a sensory learning worship style that may be conducive to their spiritual needs.

Stacey Kohl is a native of St. Louis, Missouri but she and her husband call New London, Conn. their home. She is currently in her final year of studies at Yale Divinity School and is serving as a chaplain intern at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital in New London. Stacey is entering her 3rd year of postulancy, sponsored by St. John's-West Hartford

Madeline Pantalena is a Connecticut born and bred seminarian living in New York City attending Union Theological Seminary to earn a Master of Divinity degree in the spring of 2018. Madeline is interning at St. Luke in the Fields in Greenwich Village this year as well as coming home, when possible, to spend time at St. John's North Guilford. When not in school or in church, Madeline can be found knitting, riding horses, exploring the woods, making jam, and herding (literal and figurative) cats.  

 

Ann Perrott is a Candidate for the Priesthood in ECCT.  Her specialty is Prison Ministry and has facilitated Houses of Healing in four different prisons.  She is currently the Executive Director of the Southeast Connecticut RE-Entry Mission.  She has lived most of her life in Massachusetts and now lives in Niantic.

 

 

Thom Peters is a high school history and philosophy teacher at an independent school whose founder sought to aid in “the building up of hopeful youths for the country in future times.” He has raised two hopeful children in his own family with his wife and with St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Cheshire.  His two dogs, Seabury and Keava, are forever hopeful that he will take them out for jaunts in the woods.  Thom is serving as a ministry intern at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Bantam, hoping ultimately to create a hybrid ministry as a teacher, preacher, and pastor, furthering the mission of God.

Benjamin Straley is entering his third year of Postulancy for the Priesthood. He is currently Organist and Associate Director of Music at Washington National Cathedral. Prior to this appointment, he served as a musician at both Trinity on the Green, New Haven (his sponsoring parish) and The Episcopal Church at Yale, and completed his seminarian internship under the Rev. Sandra Stayner at St. Peter’s, Cheshire. Benjamin was received into the Episcopal Church during his freshman year at Indiana University, where he was active in both Trinity parish and the Episcopal Campus Ministry, serving as Student Liaison to the Vestry and Peer Minister for the Campus Ministry.  He entered the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in 2008, and holds both Masters in Music and Divinity from Yale, as well as a Certificate in Anglican Studies from Berkeley Divinity School. In 2010, he became one of the few Americans in the history of the Haarlem Organ Festival to compete in its world-renowned improvisation contest. More recently, he was featured in the May 2015 issue of The Diapason as one of the “Top 20 under 30” young organists in the country.