no church

I didn't go to Emmanuel, Killingworth on Sunday and the day didn't feel like Sunday.

And today, our bishops asked us to extend the non-church through May 10.

No Palm Sunday. No Holy Week--Maundy Thursday and Good Friday--no Easter.

No Easter!

We'll be doing services on face book, but nothing 'in person'.

For someone who has been a priest since 1976, this is a huge upheaval.

No Maundy Thursday--my favorite Holy Day. And no Easter!

A virus has cancelled Easter!

No pain, no gain, athletes say.

So to gain safety, we must have the pain of not having Easter.

Alas and Alack.

But whatever it takes to move pass this virus.

That's the way I see it.

But I will sorely miss Holy Week.

morning birds and afternoon sunshine

This morning, out on our back porch (I got up at 8, at least an hour, if not more, earlier than usual) there were all these little birds, very fast, flying around our side and back yard.

One sat on a limb right in front of me and tweeted, while I whistled back, for at least 10 minutes.

I've never know a bird that wasn't in a cage to sit still that long.

There were dozens of them--little brown, gray things--all over.

Wondrous.

And after a cloudy, gloomy day, the afternoon--about 2--became glorious. Sun and warmth and wondrous pre-spring colors.

Maybe not being out and about can teach us to notice such things.

That would be a wonderful result of being so limited in this time.

Small things come to matter a lot.

Take them in. Appreciate them. Love them.

A positive spin on a pandemic....

It's beginning to feel natural

Days at home with only Bern.

Phone calls or emails (I don't text) instead of face to face.

Reading and watching TV instead of wandering around Cheshire.

It's beginning to feel natural.

Maybe when the virus scare is over, I'll just keep doing this.

Nothing wrong with hunkering down.

The older I get the more introverted I become.

I used to be on the extrovert/introvert line--50/50.

Being a priest I used up all my extrovert time with people in the church.

The rest of t he time, I was an introvert.

Introversion is beginning to feel natural.

I don't think I'm as scared as I was a week ago.

It's beginning to feel natural.

Is that good or bad?

I'm not sure.

But it is what it is....

Biden is winning

Every since South Carolina's primary, Joe is winning.

Personally, I preferred Bernie, but I "Blue, no matter who".

Plus, he promised to name a woman as vice-president. And given his age 'she' would be the nominee in 2024.

Harris, Klobuchar, Warren--whoever...fine with me.

GO JOE!!!

Definitely wierd

Went to my dentist today. I chipped a lower front tooth somehow. He drilled a bit and filled it fine, can't feel it with my tongue anymore.

He told me I was lucky to have an appointment today since dental practices in CT are shutting down tomorrow except for real emergencies. State Dental Association following the request of the National Dental Association.

So, if you need a cleaning, forget it.

Better have someone hit you in the mouth if you want a dentist for the next month or so.

Bars and restaurants shutting down.

Airlines cutting flights drastically.

Just don't shut the wine stores--OK?

What I need in this very weird time.

The President said to avoid crowds of more than 10. The corona virus task force has 21 people. How do they meet?

I play hearts on the computer. Bern plays solitaire on hers. We read a lot.

Brigit can't figure out why we're here most of the time.

Like I said, weird times.

Definitely not 'business as usual"

Yesterday, the only place in Cheshire where I could find paper towels was one of the two Rite Aide stores.

Not only is all the paper products gone from Big Y and Stop and Shop, lots of other aisles are empty too, for reasons I can't comprehend. Like no sour cream? Who hoards sour cream?

Plus, at Stop and Shop, the butcher and seafood cases where someone serves you, were both shut down.

And we didn't have church on Sunday.

And the Cheshire Library is closed.

And no NBA or March Madness or MLB--what will I watch on TV?

And at least half the debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders was about the effects of the virus.

And Mimi and Tim are at their newly purchased house in, of all places, Calicoon Center, New York instead of in the city. For two weeks. So Eleanor is not in Day Care, which might be closed anyway as are schools all over the country.

And, our next door neighbors' daughter is coming for spring break from the University of Alabama and doesn't know if she'll go back this semester.

And, though no one is wearing masks yet (except one Asian man Bern saw--probably trying to guard against the mindless anti-Chinese stuff that's come out of all this) people do maintain 'space' wherever I go.

And I don't go many places, truth be known: to the grocery store every other day when I'm cooking dinner and the wine store, because I want to, but no where else.

And I've washed my hands more this week than in the previous three months.

I'll probably go to my meeting at St. John's with other Episcopal clergy and lay folks and to the dentist after that (I somehow chipped a bottom front tooth) but no where else.

I need to go to H&R Block to take in my tax stuff, but surely I won't have to be face to face with anyone closer than across a desk.

Life has changed.

I still don't personally know anyone who has the virus but it's early days.

The President has so mishandled this whole thing and that is one reason it's early days.

Let the Scientists and the Doctors lead our response, not Mike Pence!!!!

Not 'business as usual' and won't be, I fear, for some time to come.

Alas.

Stay healthy.

Wash your hands.

Don't touch your face much--it's impossible to not touch your face at all!

A sermon I never preached

(Most Episcopal Churches in Connecticut are close for at least the next two weeks because of the virus. Good move. But I had a sermon I won't get to preach. I've emailed it to members of the church. But here it is for you.)

Lent III, 2020--Emmanuel Killingworth

John 4.5-42

The conversation with the Samaritan woman only happens in John's Gospel

And the key to the conversation is "location, location, location...."

It happens at Jacob's Well and Jacob was renamed "ISRAEL" by God.

You see, Samaritans were the 'non-people', neither fish now fowl, not truly Gentiles but not truly Jews either. In 721 BCE. there was an Assyrian occupation of northern Palestine.

The inter-breeding of Jews and Assyrians caused the Jews in the south to consider Samaritans as having 'impure blood'. That opinion created racism against Samaritans and very ugly prejudice.

Also, Samaritans considered Mount Gerazim to be the 'holiest of places' while Jews, of course, considered Jerusalem as the 'holy city'.

By having this conversation, Jesus breaks two immutable rules of Judaism. A Jew could not have conversation and relationships with the 'unclean' Samaritans. And a Jewish man could not have a public conversation with a woman (also 'unclean').

This passage is about THE INCLUSION AND HOSPITALITY AND ABSENCE OF JUDGEMEN. In other words: LOVE.

Water is the image of 'life'--'living water' is the image of abundance and eternal life.

After Jesus tells her about 'living water', the woman longs for such water.

Her understanding of Jesus moves from "confusion" ('what have you a Jew...?') to "respect" ("Sir....") to hopefulness ("you are a prophet") to 'acknowledgement' in the community ("could this be the Messiah?"}

That the woman is an adulterer is purely a creation of scholars. She could have been caught in the Levitical law about marrying your dead husband's brother--like Tamar in the Old Testament, like the questions of the Pharisees in Luke. Men could remarry in the first century, but not women. The woman's morality intrigues scholars, but is of no interest to Jesus. He has no judgment of her.

When the disciples return to the well they are confused and horrified and do not understand, but the Samaritan woman does--she calls the community to come see Jesus.

Those that 'get it' are not always the one we would expect.

The disciples are too hung up in rules and laws to recognize 'inclusion and hospitality and the absence of judgement as LOVE.

Jesus makes the same invitation to us as he made to the Samaritan woman. He invites us to drink the 'living water' of inclusion and hospitality and absence of judgement. 

He invites us to drink in his LOVE.

Will we, like her, accept his invitation and tell others about it?

I hope so. I pray so. I long for that 'living water'.

Do you?

 Amen.