Holy Week at Pez, before the Resurrection
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/27/2016 - 12:46I take a moment after a beautiful Easter Sunday morning worship service to read the news.
The Easter egg chaos took place in a neighboring town, so I read the news with particular interest. The story was about what you would expect. Lax security at a large Easter egg hunt because you shouldn’t really need security at an Easter egg hunt, right?
Yes. It made me sad that some people’s greed and self-centeredness destroyed an event meant to bring joy to children. Yet what was more depressing was the comments.
Conservatives are blaming liberals and vice versa. Democrats and blaming Republicans and vice versa. Religious people are blaming the irreligious and vice versa.
It seems as if there are too problems, one is the rampant self centeredness. Call it greed, call it entitlement, call it whatever you want, it is about people trying to get what they can at the expense of those around them. Yet this is fed by perhaps a greater problem, the “it’s not my fault” problem. It is always the other that is the problem. Republicans. Democrats. Immigrants. People of Color. White people. Gay people. Straight people. Whatever you aren’t.
As I think of this, one of the songs we sang during Holy Week came to mind.
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee!
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee;
I crucified thee.
Good Friday Anger Management
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 03/25/2016 - 12:11Yesterday a friend was angry about something I had done. It probably isn’t a rare occurrence for me or for any of us. I felt that I was justified in my actions and my friend’s anger was unjustified. I could have argued about this, but I didn’t see any benefit of this, so I tried to let it go.
It seems like hanging on to anger is a big problem in many ways right now. I see people hanging on to anger and spreading it on social media. It seems to drive much of the political discourse in America right now.
Yesterday, I was talking with a pain specialist who suggested that much of the problem with opioids these days is they are being prescribed for pain which would better be treated by other approaches like stress reduction and anger management.
We see this play out on the geopolitical scale as well; terrorists striking out in anger at some perceived injustice and others seeking to strike back ever harder out of even greater anger. Where does it all end?
Good Friday.
Jesus Christ, taking all the hatred and anger on the cross.
I am bound to do things that will anger friends in the future. I am bound to get angry myself in the future. Yet I believe all that hatred and anger has been addressed in the cross. I need to let the anger go and seek to show the love God has for each of us to those that are angry with me or that I am angry at.
The Cross, The Easter Bunny, and Validation
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 03/24/2016 - 06:43The health center I work at has a holiday celebration each year around Christmas and a spring celebration each year around Easter. For the past few years, I’ve Santa at the holiday celebration and I’ve learned a lot from it.
There are children that are afraid to see Santa. They break down in tears as they approach. There are some that are timid, hiding behind the person that brought them. Some are eager to see Santa and come and give me a big hug.
They are mostly kids that are referred to as ‘underserved’. They may not have a stable family. The only gift they receive may be the one they get at the holiday party. It took me a while before I learned how to be a good Santa.
As kids wait in line, I smile at them, wave, wink, and beckon them to come to me. As they approach I let them know that I am so glad they have come, that I have been waiting for them. I let them know that Santa loves them.
Often, I ask them what good things they have done recently for someone they love. Even if they focus on having been bad, I let them know they are loved.
I have seen caregivers wipe back tears as they realize there is still love in this world, even for the underserved.
All of these things came to mind this week as a kidney stone journeys through my system, causing great pain and as I spiritually journey to The Cross of Good Friday. They came to mind as I read headlines of yet another bombing, or a priest captured by terrorist being tortured, whom the terrorist are threatening to crucify on Friday. I think of these things as I listen to our political discourse, or read of a person who has overdosed or committed suicide.
Tuesday was the Spring Celebration. An AmeriCorps member dressed as the Easter Bunny, and I shared a YouTube video that I think helps get into the mindset for being Santa or the Easter Bunny.
To me, the ultimate validation comes from God, from a greater being, becoming human and saying that they love me, individually, by name, so much that even with my brokenness and being underserved, they are willing to suffer great suffering than I can imagine, even with my kidney stone, and to die.
At work, we have a holiday celebration and spring celebration because not everyone uses the same language to speak about a greater being, or even acknowledges a greater being. Online, I talk with friends that believe in Jesus, but more as a metaphor than a historical event. Some of my more conservative friends may get all hung up about what one must believe to be ‘saved’. To me, these things don’t really matter.
What matters is that a great being became like me and validated me, showing great love amidst great suffering. He smiles at us, waves, winks, and beckons us to approach. She tells us that she has been waiting for us and loves us.
Imago Dei: #WhatIMake
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/23/2016 - 17:00On April 16th, the #WhatIMake conference is scheduled to take place in Somerville, MA. My daughter is organizing it and I would love to be there. However, I’ll be at the 2016 Missional Voices Conference in Alexandria, VA. In my mind, these conferences are very closely related.
My daughter speaks about her work as an artist in terms of “reconnecting art to daily life”. For too many people, art is something you go to museums to see. It is something you need to be incredibly gifted to produce or incredibly rich to own. She is on a mission to challenge this thinking.
I’m looking for ways to reconnect the divine to our daily lives. It seems like for too many people, experiencing the divine is something you go to a church edifice for. It is something that other, spiritual people do, but isn’t part of your own daily life.
Perhaps this is all related. We mass produce objects and experiences and lose touch with what it means to create. From Hegel and Marx among others, we find the idea of estrangement or social alienation. We become alienated from our creativity.
In Judeo-Christian thought, we are created in the image of our creator, Imago Dei. These days, it is important to think of the Imago Dei in terms of people that are different from us. Instead of building a wall to keep them out, we need to find ways to connect with those who are different from us. Yet it is also important to keep in mind that what we are created in the image of is a creator. Reconnecting art to daily life and reconnecting the divine with daily life are perhaps two different aspects of the same thing.
Morning Prayer - Tuesday of Holy Week
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 03/22/2016 - 05:56I have a kidney stone I am hoping to pass with a little pain as possible. The pain has ebbed and flowed. Often, including right now, it is minimal. At other points, I have been doubled over in pain. It is a sharp pain in my right side and as we enter Holy Week, I’ve been thinking about the physical pain that Jesus must have suffered. I can barely stand the pain that I have.
I am drinking as much fluids as I can to try and help the stone pass. I don’t know when it shall pass. Perhaps today, perhaps not for weeks. Perhaps it will pass with minimal pain. Perhaps the time of passing will be great pain. As I wait, both for the stone to pass, as well as I seek to walk with Jesus on the way of the Cross this week, I play on Youtube, Stay With Me – Taize.
I finish one glass of fluids and move on to the next. At home, I drink mostly very diluted pomegranate juice. The splash of juice makes it easier to drink more fluids and perhaps provides some additional benefits. For Lent, I’ve been getting up early to read the lessons for the day and pray.
It is a special time spent with the God of love, but it is a time or remembering God’s suffering. It can be challenging to stay focused, to stay in the presence of God, and not just doing a morning ritual, like the rituals performed by money changers in the temple. It can be difficult to stay in the presence of God thinking about the great suffering of the crucifixion.
So I try to mix things up. I try to tie my morning devotions as closely to the rest of my life as possible. This morning, I start off with the collect for the day.
O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
That is hard to pray. I move on to reading through posts in a Facebook group of Episcopalians online.
There are so many prayer requests. Prayers of God’s people. So much suffering. I pray for a person who has a very stressful meeting at work coming up today. I pray for a woman whose nephew is struggling with addiction, and for her struggles as well. How often do we pray for people in addiction after they leave a recovery program? How many times are we called to not give up hope? Seven times? No, we are told, seven times seventy. “Stay with me” continues to play, thinking of Jesus in the garden and Nick in the streets.
I pray for another who has had a terrible 2015, and 2016 isn’t looking much better, yet. I pause to enjoy looking at various prayer beads people have shared pictures of. I pray for a woman and her nine year old daughter as they wait to hear about approval for housing. I pray for another woman who is hoping to find people to work with on an important project.
Then, I stop to pray for CEC Fairfield Community of Hope Initiative which “serves a small, poverty stricken, historical city in Alabama that is currently facing overwhelming financial hardship and turmoil.”
“Stay with me” plays again. Watch and pray. There are churches around the country struggling to bring hope to desperate situations.
Presiding Bishop Curry talks about being part of the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement. These people that I am praying for, I am connected to by the online arm of the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement.
“Bless all whose lives are closely linked with ours, and grant that we may serve Christ in them, and love one another as he loves us.”
