Mr. Commissioner
Or should that be, Father Commissioner. I think followers of Christ have a duty to be involved in their communities; for some that Christian duty includes participation in civics. The Body of Christ in the United States is not of one mind on this issue. Some Christians believe we should remain “unstained from the world,” as the writer of the letter of James describes. (1:27) Saint Paul wrote the church in Philippi that our true citizenship is in heaven. (Philippians 3:20) Accordingly, the argument concludes, Christians should stay out of local government and not get involved. I suppose they would be even more adamant about the clergy. During Paul’s time, citizens did not have many opportunities to participate in government. Our concept of democracy would have seemed foreign to Paul’s church in Philippi. But I think any civics teacher would say that today we have an obligation to participate in our democracy. Can these quite disparate views be reconciled? Just before James instructed his readers to remain unstained by the world, he wrote, “Pure religion is this: to care for orphans and widows.” I believe that part of the American social contract is that government will care for the most vulnerable in society. I think the Episcopal Church believes that, too. Did you know that a majority of all U.S. Presidents have been Episcopalians? Likewise with the Supreme Court. And, in the 113th Congress, 7% of the House and Senate are Episcopalians compared with only 2% of the population. I have a friend who interned for the Episcopal Public Policy Network in Washington D.C., which advocates for what our baptismal covenant calls us to do: “strive for justice and peace for all people.” Obviously, there have been a lot of Episcopalians in our history and in our government today who do not believe such service stains them. To that end, I will be sworn in as a member of the Safety Commission for Chula Vista on Tuesday, July 22. I’ve been feeling a call to serve in our local government to help our community. Several months ago, the monthly Chula Vista email contained an article about serving Chula Vista. One of the openings was on the Safety Commission. This commission meets about six times a year and assists the City Council on matters of traffic, parking, sidewalks, pedestrians and bicycles. For some reason, I’ve always been interested in the science of traffic engineering. Maybe it has to do with the many safety issues we face at our school about which I have written earlier. So now, I will get to work on a commission that balances the needs of businesses and of commuters, cyclists, and homeowners. I will be working closely with the office of the City Engineer and have met two engineers already. I have a degree in political science but this is my first time actually serving in a governmental role. It is a minor capacity in all ways and has a very small time commitment but will give me a good sense of what it’s like to do public service. I think the Priest-in-Charge at Saint John’s should find ways to get to know our community, to be an ambassador for Saint John’s in the city, and to serve our neighbors. I look forward to writing about my experiences. Who knows? Maybe someone else at St. John’s will feel a similar calling to serve the community through our local government. -Fr. Marshall When Did We See You?
The influx of children from Central America has me really torn up. Because it is a highly politically charged topic, I tend to shy away but cannot turn my back. We’ve been told a massive exodus tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, mainly children and families, have overwhelmed our border patrol and entered our country. While our government argues about what to do, more and more arrive. Meanwhile, last week, there was a standoff in city of Murrieta; which is named for Esequial Murrieta, a Basque who bought the Mexican land rights to the valley in the mid-19th century. Concerned citizens blocked the entrance to the local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office and three buses containing more than 100 undocumented migrants turned around and left. As a citizen who is concerned about people entering our country who intend to do us harm, I get comfort thinking about building Fortress America and walling ourselves off from our neighbors. As a civil libertarian, I am actually pleased to see a protest. We have the right of free speech, expression and assembly. Once in a while, I like to see non-violent civil disobedience. But as a Christian, I am far from at peace about this situation. What is the correct Christian response to this exodus into America? Can we build a fortress and forget about the rest of the world? Or, are we called to something different? We are coming up on the anniversary of the Philadelphia 11, eleven women ordained to the priesthood, on July 29, 1974, two years before General Convention affirmed the ordination of women. I am reminded of them because discussion about women’s ordination was simply that, a discussion, until the eleven were ordained. Then the Church had to ask itself, “Now that they are ordained, what are we going to do?” The same question can be asked of this immigration crisis – now that they are here, what are we going to do? The Bible is full of exodus stories. Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden. Abraham was called to a foreign land. Because of need, another exodus brought the great-grandchildren of Abraham into Egypt. Moses led his people out of captivity. Then the descendants of Abraham were scattered and brought into exile into Babylon, what today is Iraq. Later, they returned and re-established Israel. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus had their own exodus from Israel to Egypt for the safety and protection of Jesus. With all this movement of people, perhaps that’s why the Old Testament reminds its readers over and over again, “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” (Ex 22:21) Here are just a few other examples of this command: “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.” (23:9) And, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” (Lev 19:34) A sign at the Murrieta protest caught my attention: “When did we see you hungry?” That is a reference to a story that Jesus told that led to this condemning statement: “When you didn’t feed the least, you didn’t feed me.” (Mt 25) Could this affirmative response, “When you fed the least of my family, you fed me,” apply to us today? Our porous border is a political topic but perhaps the care of those that are here is not. If this topic also tears you up inside, let’s get together after the July 20th 8 am service and then again after the 10 am service to pray and share what an appropriate Christian response might be. -Fr. Marshall This past Sunday, Bishop Mathes made his annual visitation to Saint John’s. I’ve seen two ways Bishops do such Sunday visitations – one is to dress things up and make things grand; the Bishop shows up in full Episcopal regalia. The other is for the Bishop to join in on a normal Sunday, wear the vestments of the local church, and simply be a part of the congregation. Our Bishop chooses the second option – he simply joins in with a normal Sunday worship. This is not to say anything bad about the other approach; it is just different and the pomp and circumstance have their role in the Church, too. Despite the blending-in our Bishop does, I have a funny story to share with you.
At the close of our 10 a.m. service, Bishop Mathes was in the Narthex greeting Saint John’s parishioners. He was wearing the green vestments that you’ve seen me wear a lot (and again this Sunday, and the next, and the next…) The only thing that made him stand out as different was the Bishop’s staff he held in his left hand. One of our children saw him, tugged on her mom’s dress, and said, “Mommy, is that God?” The mom told me this story shortly after it happened. I smiled, knelt down, looked at the darling child, and said, “No honey, he’s one of us.” This Bishop, each bishop, is one of us – human and redeemed by God. Yet, they are apart from us as they hold a sacred and ancient position of taking the place of Saint Peter in our midst – Peter, the one who Jesus laid his hands on his head and said, “On you I will build my Church.” Our Bishop is the next in line, if you will, in a long apostolic line back to Peter and Jesus. That makes him different. So, he’s different, and one of us, all at the same time. The question, “Is that God,” and my response, “No, he’s one of us,” got me to thinking. What did the child see that was different from what I see. I wonder if the truth ruined the experience for her. After all, what if she saw the apostolic ladder that leads back to Jesus’ outstretched hands. John the Baptizer saw Jesus walking along the bank of the Jordan River the day after he had baptized Jesus. Upon seeing Him, John loudly declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God! … I myself have seen and I testify to you that this is the Son of God.” (Jn 1:29,34) What strikes me about this scene is the way our eyes see and perceive. The people who gathered at the river; either to wash their clothes, or to receive a baptism by John, or to simply see what all the fuss was about; saw an ordinary human walking along the muddy river bank. What they heard from John was something far from ordinary – here is God in (ordinary) human flesh. It must have been shocking to hear that revelation. To the eyes of the spectators, it was a man, born of a woman, raised in Nazareth, and now walking along the river like everyone else; but their ears heard that it was God incarnate. Our young parishioner taught me a good lesson – to listen and perceive the Spirit of God around me. Perhaps if I look and listen like a child, I too will ask, “Is that God?” After all, I have to become more like a child to experience the Kingdom of Heaven. A funeral home in Compton has a drive-thru viewing room for people who don’t have time to go to funerals or get out of cars to view caskets. Speaking of drive-thrus, believe it or not, there is a drive-thru liquor store in North Idaho. The same town that features a Subway with a drive-thru also has a take-n-bake pizza place with a drive-thru window which I know very well and found especially helpful when it was snowing. In Illinois, there is a giant drive-thru for a large retail company that allows customers to pre-order items and then drive through to pick them up. I have heard that our very own Ikea was working on creating a drive-thru system for their store in Mission Valley. My favorite place to watch a movie is the drive-in theater in Imperial Beach. Wedding ceremonies are being held in drive-thrus in Las Vegas, and, as many of you know, there is a drive-thru Starbucks on H Street. I wonder if our court system someday will feature a drive-thru for jury selection.
What does this drive-thru culture say to the Church? ABC News reported a United Methodist Church in South Florida offers drive-thru prayers and The Christian Century Magazine recently reported that in Voorhees, Pennsylvania, Hope UMC offers drive-thru prayer once a week with a twist. Using the drive-thru lane in a former bank building, pray-ers can drive up for a prayer, walk in for a chat, or drop off a prayer request in one of the deposit tubes. Now that is efficiency! My initial reaction was that it cheapens the experience and perhaps even the rite. But, as I was praying the other day behind the wheel, I realized what a hypocritical thought that was of mine. I pray all the time in the car; and not about traffic, but about you. I’ve even prayed with some of you in your cars and I’ve blessed many cars in our parking lot. I am reminded of the story of the apostle Phillip and the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8). The eunuch was reading out loud from the book of Isaiah while he was riding home in his chariot. Philip was invited into the moving chariot where he turned the official’s heart to Jesus. Later, the chariot stopped, Philip and the eunuch got out, he baptized him, and then the official got back into his chariot and continued home. Was that the first drive-thru conversion? If companies, from pizza, to coffee, liquor, retail, theaters, and funeral homes have taken an interest in drive-thrus, and, since at least two churches have entered into this interesting area, I’m wondering if it’s time for Saint John’s. What if we had a tent on the church side of our traffic circle and had signs inviting neighbors to drive-thru for prayer. What would happen if we held a drive-thru prayer opportunity during the days before Christmas when hundreds of Chula Vista residents drive by our church on their way to see the homes on Christmas Tree Lane. Perhaps prayers would get said that would otherwise go unvoiced. Maybe some would come to see the church not as a place with walls, but as a group of people willing to listen and pray for anyone – even in their cars. I wonder: would St. Philip say, “Right on. Now you’re a driving pray-er.” -Fr. Marshall If you have not heard of ISIS, you should know about it. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Group (ISIS) is an al Qaeda splinter group that wants to establish an Islamic state stretching from Iraq into northern Syria. The group has had substantial success battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces and this week appears to have taken Mosul under its control.
According to a recent blog post by the Rev. Canon Andrew White, Vicar of St. George’s Church in Baghdad, “ISIS… has moved into Mosul, which is Nineveh. It has totally taken control, destroyed all government departments. Allowed all prisoners out of the prisons. Killed countless numbers of people. There are bodies over the streets. The army and police have fled, so many of the military resources have been captured. Tankers, armed vehicles and even helicopters are now in the hands of ISIS.” In Biblical times, Nineveh was an important location, binding together commercial routes from the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. It was the location to which Jonah was sent to preach; a hill above the massive city is where he sat waiting for God’s judgment which never came because the people repented and God forgave them (ironically, much to the chagrin of Jonah). About Nineveh, Canon Andrew writes, “The area is the heartland of the Christian community. Most of our people come from Nineveh and still see that as their home. Many Christians fled to Nineveh from Baghdad, as things got so bad there. Now the Christian centre of Iraq has been totally ransacked. The tanks are moving into the Christian villages destroying them and causing total carnage. The ISIS militants are now moving towards Kirkuk, major areas to the oil fields that provide the lifeblood of Iraq. We are faced with total war that all the Iraqi military have now retreated from. People have fled by hundreds of thousands to Kurdistan for safety. The Kurds have even closed the border, preventing entry of the masses. The crisis is so huge it is almost impossible to consider what is really happening.” According to one news source, “This is a profound development for the Christian Church which has had a two-thousand-year presence there. And it will have long-term national-security implications for the West. American political leaders overlook the fact that religious pluralism and diversity are among today’s casualties. As one Chaldean bishop lamented, ‘This is very sad and very dangerous for the church, for Iraq and even for Muslim people, because it means the end of an old experience of living together’.” So what can we do? If you were thinking, pray, I agree. A prayer posted as a reply on Canon Andrew’s blog, by Lyn Cole from New Zealand, is as follows, “Come O Almighty Lord/King of Kings and Lord of Lords/The Lion of Judah/ and surround and protect all your people in this land right this moment…right now.. I am interceding for all in the Middle East and Europe at this time…We live in dangerous times even here in NZ as far away as we are. Come Lord Yeshua/Jesus…Shalom shalom.” Let us all pray for peace, in our land, in Nineveh, and especially for St. George’s Church in Baghdad. To read (and contact) Canon Andrew, here is a link to his blog http://frrme.org/please-please-help-us-crisis/ -Fr. Marshall I don't often swear. But I had not even caught my breath after the Santa Barbara shooting when I got news of the violence at Seattle Pacific University, a Christian school, and then the shootings in Las Vegas. On Tuesday afternoon I heard there was yet another shooting and I swore. Maybe you did, too. I was a bit surprised at myself that I opted for swearing rather than praying but that is what I did.
Just prior to hearing the news on Tuesday, Saint John’s hosted a very prayerful diocesan clergy gathering. The subject of gun violence came up. Later, two different priests told us how over the past two weeks, their churches have been desecrated; in one instance items were stolen from the church.
I thought, what in the blankety-blank is going on?
There, I did it again.
Swearing is a release of pent-up negative emotion and some say it helps. Somehow, though, even if it has beneficial effects, I don’t want to get known as the priest in charge of the Swearing Congregation. I’d rather be known as the one who serves the Praying Congregation.
This Sunday, we will take time to pray for peace. Even when the country appears to be shaking apart at the seams, prayer is something that you and I can do. God, the author of peace and lover of concord, wants peace – not as the world gives but as God gives through grace. I believe that our praying congregation can make a difference with our prayers.
Life is short, pray hard. Have you ever been at an airport and could not help but overhear the phone conversation next to you? The Rev. Daniel Heischman, who is the Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools, overheard a phone conversation recently, from a hiring manager to a prospective employee. When it came time to discuss benefits, the manager said, “You will start with twenty-one vacation days,” and then added, “Of course there is no such thing as vacation any more.”
A recent commercial for a cruise line showed a family on vacation. The previous vacation, viewers learned, the dad had spent the entire time working on his computer and looked rather dour as a result. But this cruise line had fast Wi-Fi so dad was happy and, in one picture, was actually dancing. Is this what we’ve come to – advertising vacations where you can get your work done faster so you can spend a little time with your family and managers telling new employees that “there is no such thing as vacation any more.” Our school and other schools in this area are going on summer vacation. Ethan has a list of things Saint John’s School requires while on summer vacation – reading and memorizing states and capital cities. There is solid evidence to show that children who engage in reading and other brain-stimulating activities during the summer excel when school resumes in the fall compared to kids who only play video games and watch Sponge Bob Square Pants. But what about true vacation. I think it comes down to priorities. Summer reading lists are accomplished during non-family times. Ethan will study his states and capital but he won’t stay up late doing it. In fact, there will be very little sacrifice of time on his part to accomplish his summer learning program. Scripture shows us priorities regarding rest and vacation. Jesus had the most important and most demanding job in the history of the world. Yet, he found time to get away, unplug and rest. Scripture shows us that although God had the most intense engineering project ever conceived by creating everything, God rested once the work was complete. It appears that God makes vacation a priority. I hope that as I take vacation time this summer and that as you take vacation time that we will follow Scripture and prove a particular hiring manager wrong, that there is such a thing as a true vacation. - Fr. Marshall The virtue for June at Saint John’s School in Chula Vista, California, is Service to God. I teach religion in the 6th grade and introduced this virtue by asking for synonyms of “service.” One student said, “to help.” I asked what it means to help God? Does God need help? After some discussion, I showed a music video of Do Something by Matthew West. In this clever video, people hold up signs giving examples of doing things for God. Of all the signs--teach, volunteer, share, adopt, stand-up for the weak, comfort, rebuild, clean water for all, and advocate--the students favored two of them, smile and hug.
Does God need our help? I go back and forth on that question. On one hand, I think no, the all-powerful God doesn’t need our help but on the other hand, why would Jesus tell us to pray, care, love and help others? But out of the mouths of children, my 6th graders made it simple – to give service to God is to smile and hug. Sure, God can create things, the Holy Spirit can protect, and Jesus certainly can forgive, but can God make us smile or hug one another? Those are things we probably have to do on our own. There is something about a smile from a child; it can lift spirits, calm nerves, and give hope. Hugs can comfort and uplift a tired spirit. Perhaps service to God, and to God’s Kingdom, is as simple as a smile or a hug which is easy to give and share. In any case, I am not about to argue with a group of sixth graders. -Fr. Marshall ![]() I survived camp with the 5th grade. More than survived, I had a great time and so did the other 40 people from Saint John’s School. Camp Stevens was great – the counselors, the food, the accommodations; everything was top notch. The students had three concerns – missing their electronics, the food, and being away from their families. That list is in order of importance. I told the kids that after a few hours at camp, they wouldn’t miss their electronics, the food will be good, and time will pass so fast they will hardly miss their home. They believed me on every point, except for their electronics. Our students couldn’t imagine being far away from their tablets, phones, game players, and televisions. How would they survive? More than survive, they thrived at camp. One of the most moving experiences I had was when our small group of 12 kids, after hiking through the forest for hours, walked into an open field that measured more than 10 acres. With wide open eyes, they exclaimed they’d never seen beauty like that before. After a quick request for freedom, they ran out into the field and ran and ran and ran. Joyfully jumping into the air, they ran up the meadow to a massive black oak tree in the middle of the field at the crest of the ridge. From that tree, we could see the rugged hills of Julian and beyond. These highly-scheduled, educated, and programmed kids suddenly found themselves in the middle of never-ending nature and beauty. They played and played and played – swinging and jumping off an old a dead tree, seeing how far they could run in the field before they fell down from laughing, and spending long moments observing a purple and yellow thistle plant that played temporary host to three honey bees. Not once did they miss iPads, Cheetos, or their favorite reality TV show. Nature was their true reality show. This is how I imagine heaven. Kids are designed to play in nature. We try to get them to become young adults but that is simply an adaptation. Their nature is to laugh, run, swing from tree limbs, watch a line of ants, and lie on their backs and come up with silly names for puffy clouds that float by. We, as humans, have adapted to live in the 21st century. Yet, our core, our nature, our Imago Dei, is to be in connection with the Creator and to frolic in heaven. Maybe that is why Jesus said that only as children can we enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Funny that heaven is as close as a 5th grader at camp. -Fr. Marshall ![]() At the camp I attended, we did a lot of hiking. The photo pictured here is from Heybrook Lookout during the summer of 1982. It was our least favorite day hike. First, it was nearly straight up on a poorly maintained trail that ascended five thousand feet to an abandoned fire station lookout. Next, the trees had grown over so that most of the view was obstructed. And finally, there was no lake, river, or even small stream to give us relief from the summer heat. So why did we go to Heybrook? It wasn’t until I became a counselor that I realized the importance of this hike. When we arrived at the summit, worn out, tired and completely underwhelmed, the lead counselor would ask this question, “What did you come here looking for?” The complaints started, like these: “This place sucks… Why did you make us come up here… I hate this place.” The counselor would smile and ask again, “What did you come here looking for?” The consensus? “Something better than this.” “Ah,” replied the counselor, “so you don’t like this place. You know, sometimes in life, you’ll be on a long walk uphill and when you get there it won’t feel worth it. None of us gave you any expectations of what this hike would be like – you came up with them yourselves.” Then the counselor would share a story from his or her own life about expectation and disappointment. By then, we’d settled down and caught our breath. The counselor would continue, “After my big hill climb of expectation that didn’t pan out, God would ask me to look for the beauty that surrounds me. And, that’s when I found what I was looking for.” Then the counselor would take two campers at a time up the wooden steps to get the view of what only forest rangers could see. The lookout has a 360 degree view in which you could see Seattle, Puget Sound, Canada, Mt. Rainer, and several other notable mountain peaks. It was a view un-paralleled by anything I’ve ever seen since. Each set of campers would come down different from when they went up. Since my summers at camp, I’ve had several Heybrook moments. A long hike that seemed to pan out for nothing until time, and God, showed me something extraordinary. I imagine that is what it was like for Peter, James, and John to follow Jesus all the way up a mountain only to find it empty. Later on, however, they witnessed the transfiguration and came down the mountain different from when they started. If you ever have a Heybrook moment in your spiritual life, perhaps God has some beauty to show you that will defy even your wildest expectations. -Fr. Marshall |