Easter Sunday

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blessings, Easter, give thanks, God, liturgy, livestream, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It’s mid-afternoon by now, as I finally sit to reflect on this very different Easter Sunday. What I find as I think about it, though, is that it doesn’t really seem so different from all the other Easters that I have known. Susan is always prepared so we have sweet little bunnies (oh yes, stuffed ones) and other treasures for each of us. The livestream from my favorite Church in our area offered a lovely liturgy and I saw on the livestream that there were 397 people attending in addition to me and Liz. Dinner was a grand gesture from Omaha Steaks, provided by a very safety-conscious and delightful new acquaintance who has blessed our lives over the last month.! All that’s left is to clean the grill which is soaking away all the remnants of the yummy steaks. Now come the naps or other quiet occupations, likely to be kindly interrupted once or twice by well-wishers and others calling to make sure we’re okay.

We are okay. We are actually better than okay. We have a home and food and people who love us enough to forego visiting this time, and a God in whose image we and all others have been created and today we give thanks for all those who shine as examples to us of that beneficence. Happy Easter!

The season is well-begun!

With Full Voice

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A Song Welcoming the Holy One, communication, Creator, Earth, holy name, liturgy, living God, Lynn Bauman, power, praise, psalm 96, psalms, singing, splendor, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, universe, wonders

The suggestion of a commentary on Psalm 96, subtitled by author Lynn Bauman A Song Welcoming the Holy One, is that readers experiment with singing rather than saying it because singing is a “vehicle for communication with God.” While this is the rightful presentation of psalms in liturgy, I don’t often think of it as a mode of private prayer. I just tried it – in the privacy of my own room, of course – and the result was less than stellar. I have to admit, however, that I didn’t prepare; I just sang it “cold” without thought of the meaning, phrasing, timing or cadence. (Hmmm…that sounds as if I have some idea of musicality. Don’t be fooled!) My attempt was quite timid, but I must say it had the potential to open the words to me in a more vibrant way than if I had spoken the text. Perhaps I’ll give it another try. Should you be moved to join me from afar, here are the words I was tentatively offering as morning praise to the Creator of the universe.

Come, sing to God, O earth, sing out this song anew. And bless God’s holy name in praise, for day to day we are renewed, restored, refreshed again by glory’s light. Proclaim good news among the nations of the earth, tell all the peoples everywhere God’s work, God’s ways, the wonders that God does. For you can never add the holy One to any list of gods who are but idols made, projections of our thoughts and needs, creations of our hands. For it is the living God we know and praise who made us all and put in place the canopy of stars and space and filled the earth. O, the beauty of your presence, God! O, the splendor and the power in which you dwell! 

The Baptized Life

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baptism, beloved, Episcopal, immersion, initiation, Jesus, John the Baptist, liturgy, Mass, name, Roman Catholic, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, water, worthy of the name

Although I have been present for many celebrations of the sacrament of Baptism I have no memory of my own. That’s not unusual in the Roman Catholic Church, since like many of us, I was baptized when I was three weeks old. As was tradition then, it was my aunt Millie and my uncle Dan who witnessed that significant moment and I grew up knowing that, as my godparents, they would be responsible for raising me “in the faith” should my parents die or not be able to do so. I can’t remember any specific conversations with either of them about that duty; I just knew I had a safety net for my spiritual life if it became necessary. (Happily my parents were quite good examples of loving, faithful Christians who lived their faith all the days of their long lives.)

Today we have come to understand that baptism is a significant event not only for the family of the one being baptized but for the entire church congregation as well. There are classes for parents and godparents – often before the baby is born – to help them understand the seriousness of what “initiation into the Christian community” means. On the day of the ceremony many parishes welcome the families at the door of the church before the service begins and have them march in procession with the priest and other ministering participants in the Mass. The baptism ceremony takes place not in private but in the middle of the liturgy and all present are called to pledge their support to the new member. Over the last 25 years, adult converts to the Church are celebrated in the same manner. In his Episcopal congregation, my friend, Father Bill, always wrote a letter to the child being baptized to be kept by the parents to be read when the child was able to understand the love that was present in the baptism ceremony and the support that would be available from the congregation for his/her entire life.

The dictionary definition of baptism includes sprinkling or immersion with water to symbolize purification or regeneration as well as initiation into the Christian church, often accompanied by name-giving. I must admit that sometimes it got tedious to grow up being called Lois Lane and asked the whereabouts of Superman, but eventually I “grew into” my name and have come to understand that each of us is called by name in God’s family and as such we respond in our own unique way to God’s plan for our life. When someone we love addresses us by name it has a particular sound, doesn’t it? It’s a wonderful thing to know we are cherished simply by that sound.

Today our Church celebrates the feast of the Baptism of the Lord by John when God’s voice is heard from a cloud saying, “This is my son, my beloved, in whom I am well-pleased.” Whatever our faith commitment or practice, might we listen for those words in our own life, (e.g. This is my daughter, my beloved Lois, in whom I am well-pleased.) and renew our resolve to live in a way worthy of the name by which we are called?