September
14, 2008
Lift
High the Cross
Ongoing
Work
You
might not notice it if you come to the church only on Sundays, but there
has been a huge amount of repair activity going on during the week.
In case you were wondering “What’s going on?” here’s
the scoop.
The Fire Code has required a whole new set of exit lights for emergency
situations. It’s very hard to wire these in such old buildings
where there is no easy access through the massive stone walls.
The engineering reports we had completed indicated that the very old
rectory boiler was not only inefficient and “dying”, but
possibly dangerous. Removing the old boiler required asbestos removal.
Workers tried to keep the disruption to the Food Pantry operation as
minimal as possible. Now a new boiler is being installed -- again there
are challenges with retrofitting a building built in the early 1900’s.
The costs of these projects are being paid for by Millennium Fund money.
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past
Columns:
Sept 7: Happy 90th Birthday
August 31: From "saint"
to "Satan"
August 24: So you're not
the Pope
August 17: When God says
"no"
August 10: The Tiny Whispering
Sound
August 3: A Proud and Tender
Moment
July 27: What
would you ask for?
July 20: Waiting
for the Wheat
July
13: What we Wear
uly
6: We Welcome Westbrook
June
29: Sommer in the Summer
June 22: Welcome
Father Jaime
June 15: Father
Gonzalo Lopez
June 8: What happened
on Sunday
June 1: Where
do you belong?
May
25: We are the Body of Christ
May 18: Trinity,
It's About Unity
May 11: We are
One in the Spirit
May 4: Who's in
Your Top Twelve?
April 27: Now
that he's gone...
April 20: Yay
Deacons!
April 13: Here
comes the Pope
April 6: Fresh Oil
March 30: What are you doing
for Easter?
March 23: Can Easter come
too early?
March 16: Which crowd is
yours?
March 9: We believe, yet...
March 2: Oil or Mud
February
24: What are you thirsting for?
February 17: Who are You
Wearing?
February 10: Just Say No
February
3: The January
20: Being Safer
January 13: Conversations
in 2008
January 6: Matthew's Magi
December 30:
What's Next?
Columns from
2007
Columns
from 2005
Columns
from 2004
Columns
from 2003
Columns from 2002
I
would rather not look at the videos of the destruction in Haiti where
four recent hurricanes have swept away lives and homes. I cannot look
at the TV when they replay the footage from September 11th, 2001 again
and again. I numbly look away when there is yet another daily story of
a suicide bombing in the Middle East. I want to quickly turn past the
news stories in the papers where still more teenagers are killed in car
accidents each week.
There is no shortage of crosses
in our world today. And while I really don’t want to look at them,
I cannot avoid them. Today’s feast of the “Exaltation of the
Cross” indeed compels us to look at the cross in order to experience
its saving power.
I always find it odd in the story
from Exodus where the people are bitten by poisonous snakes, that the
remedy is for Moses to make a bronze serpent, mount it on a pole and have
the people look at it. If it was me, I’d put the symbol of the enemy
of the snake on the pole (an eagle, perhaps). But the divine wisdom is
that one needs to look the face of what is evil in order to be saved from
it. So too it is with Jesus on the cross -- we look at him and all the
sin and cruelty that the cross represents in order to be freed from sin
and evil.
As unpleasant as it is to honestly
look at our sins and weaknesses, this feast is all about triumph over
these. We’re reminded that the cross isn’t the end of the
story, that we can move beyond the cross to a resurrected life. But we
can’t skip the step of looking at the crosses in our lives. There’s
little grace in denial and avoidance.
Perhaps we can’t face our
crosses alone -- that’s why we need one another. I was privileged
to lead the prayer at the 9-11 Anniversary Service in Eisenhower Park
last Monday evening and it struck me that the hundreds who gathered to
remember their loved ones were supporting each other. Parishioners are
reaching out to those devastated by the Haitian hurricanes; parishioners
are reaching out to Father Jack as he struggles with his health condition;
countless quiet acts of care and love are taking place in the face of
many crosses and we are indeed bering saved by Christ through all of this.
