The View from Bolton Street
The View from Bolton Street
Dear Friends,
I have wisdom on my mind today. I pray for it daily. And even though I habitually do so, sometimes I am still confused about what is wise and what is foolish. In situations where I don't feel confident about the best approach to solving a problem, I seek counsel from others. We bat around ideas and scribble on scrap paper, and in what often feels like a miracle, an idea will emerge from one of the group-- sometimes, even from me-- something I might not have thought of on my own. It's like a vibrant rainbow of inspiration has formed over us.
The act of brainstorming is like the act of playing music together; the emergence of the group's wisdom can be that harmonious and a pleasure to experience. At the same time, I recognize that sometimes, what emerges from a group trying to make a decision is something known as “group think.” That is what happens when people stop contributing their own unique wisdom and instead think about how they will be perceived for whatever they say they think or say. The whole group can lose the opportunity for group wisdom to reveal something that only happens when each member of the group contributes their own unique wisdom.
When we worry about our own self or our position within a group, that can be a source of conflict, because as James says, “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.” [James 4:1-3]
There is such beauty in true wisdom, both as individuals and as a community. We need that community wisdom as much as we need our own personal wisdom because that is how we learn to appreciate what we can be when we set about seeking the counsel of the community-- it is how we live in peace and how we discern right from wrong.
James paints a picture for us of the true wisdom-- the wisdom of God: “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.” [James 3:17-18]
Imagine coming to the community with that wisdom-- the wisdom from above. Imagine who we can be and how much good we can do in the world if we seek that “pure, then peaceable and gentle” wisdom?
That is my prayer today for our church community-- that we will have that wisdom from above to be God's hands and feet in our church and in our local community.
With faith and love,
Pan +
The View from Bolton Street
Hello Friends,
I am looking at the news reports about the fires blazing just over the crest of a hill a couple of hundred yards from my former home in southern California. In October of 2004, there was a wildfire that forced evacuations in my neighborhood. I can never forget the sting of the acidic smoke making it hard to breathe, with the dreaded Santa Ana winds forcing into my face... Last night, a beloved friend posted on social media a video of billowing smoke and flames shooting up into the sky from her back yard. Her words were, “This is no joke time.”
With this backstory in mind, when I read the epistle text of St James this morning, these words grabbed my attention:
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue-- a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.
{James 3:5-10].
Having borne witness not only to the devastation of wildfires, but also the devastation of rumor, inuendo and false narrative, I feel James’ words viscerally.
I’m convinced that we can all embrace the last verse of Psalm 19 (v4): Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.
May we always think before we speak and avoid the devastation of a carelessly spoken andinflammatory word.
In faith and love,
Pan +
The View from Bolton Street
Dear Friends,
It has been my practice to send out a reflection on Fridays. In most cases, I will try to extract something from whichever lectionary text doesn’t make it into the sermon. Sometimes it will be an idea about a contemporary event and how to frame it within the context of our baptismal covenant. I will never claim to know an absolute meaning from anything scriptural; instead, I will share some ideas for your consideration. I believe that the Holy Spirit reveals unique wisdom to each of us depending upon where we are in our faith journeys and what else is happening in our lives. What I see in a scriptural text could be different than what you see in it, and I look forward to learning from what the Holy Spirit offers to each of you.
Now a word or two about me. Our awesome senior warden has already shared some about my geekier life experience. I love parish ministry, and for me community is everything. I am passionate about social justice in its many contexts, and in particular racial reconciliation and ecojustice. I have begun interfaith work together with the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish studies.
I’m a musician, and my first career was as an opera singer. I also compose, and I have a recording studio in my basement. So I will be Justine’s fan and supporter because of my deep love of music. Second career was as a broadcast engineer for a disco radio station in NYC. I was a video producer and director for many years, and then I became a scientist. Life is short: do all the things that bring you joy.
Being a parish priest is what brings me joy, and I will do my best to love you with abandon. In order to do that, I have to develop relationships with you, so I will do my best to try to contact every one of you in the parish membership. I won’t be doing that with an ask, but just to get to know who you are and give you an opportunity to know who I am.
The search process for your next rector will be as transparent as possible, and it really starts with discerning how you as a community think of yourselves, where you think you are heading in the next five years or so, and what kind of priest you would like to call. This will enable you to develop a parish profile that will attract the right person to the parish.
Both I and Canon Kristin+ will work with you and we will develop a timeline with milestones so you know where you are in the process. In the meanwhile, we will not be static—we will be vigorous in our parish and in our community, and I hope we will have a ton of fun while we are about our ministries.
Let the awesomeness begin!
Pan +
The View from Bolton Street
Dear Memorial Church Family,
This past Sunday with great joy and sadness, we celebrated Rev. Grey Maggiano and his family’s final service with our community. In his final sermon, he reminded all of us that our church already has what it needs to sustain ourselves, and perhaps even grow in new, surprising ways. Now it is more important than ever to turn to person sitting next to you in church -or in the Zoom box- and tell them how glad you are to see them. Love sustained us before, and love will sustain us moving forward.
And as the saying goes, “when God closes one door, they open another one…” the vestry is pleased to announce that this week, they signed an agreement with the Reverend Pamela Conrad who will serve as our Interim Rector beginning on September 3rd. Reverend Conrad comes to Memorial with a remarkable career having served as rector of St. Albans Episcopal Church in Glen Burnie and most recently as an Interim at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church on Edmondson Ave. in Baltimore. She has master’s degrees in music composition, geology, divinity and a Doctorate in Geology and Mineral Physics. As a member of the Mars Perseverance Rover Mission she often uses her passion for science to connect people’s faith with the wonders of creation. We are very excited welcome Reverend Conrad to Memorial and hope you will join us for her first service on September 9th at either the Faith at 8 service or worship at 10:30 a.m.
Finally, the vestry is committed to maintaining our connection as a caring faith community. We wanted to check in with all of you to see how of you are doing in this period of transition. We were hoping you might consider taking a brief survey by clicking here to let us know how you are and if you would like to have someone from Memorial reach out to you.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to the vestry with any questions or concerns you might have.
With God’s love we hold strong.
Peace,
Stacy Wells, Beth Torres, Steve Howard, Dave Toia, Keenan Dworak-Fisher, Scott Purnell-Saunders, Tom Penniston, Ryan Sturm, David Dimmock, Amy Krulak, Wendy Yap
The View from Bolton Street
Join us as we come together to honor and celebrate the incredible journey of our Rector and his lovely family. While change can be challenging, it also brings new opportunities and possibilities. Let's gather to express our gratitude, share memories, and send them off with our love and prayers.
Date: Sunday, August 25th
Location: Sanctuary
Time: 9:30a
Hello Friends -
We are coming to the end of a season of the liturgical calendar known, semi-sarcastically, as “bread season.” Last Sunday we read the feeding of the 5,000 from the Gospel of John, and now for four Sundays in August we here Jesus’ reflections on the bread of life. Over and over again.
For preachers, it can feel monotonous. I’m not saying I planned my summer vacation around this… but I’m not not saying that.
However, since I am departing Memorial the last Sunday of “Bread Season” - and because I will miss you all, I thought I would leave you with a series of reflections on Bread For… I mean Faith Formation.
There are four basic steps to breadmaking just as there are four steps to growing our Faith with Jesus.
Mix
Rest
Stretch and Fold
Bake
Today we are focusing on the final step: Bake
Baking, on the surface, should be the easiest step, right? You just preheat the oven, put your dough in, and wait.
But I might suggest that baking actually takes quite a bit of trust.
You have to trust that all the work you put in during the previous steps was done correctly! Don’t mess with the dough before you put it in the oven, don’t try and compensate by messing with the temperature or with your timing, you just have to let it go.
And (crucially) (and I often forget this) remember to take out the bread! Though one surprising thing you learn baking bread is that it is actually a lot harder to over cook bread than you might think. You are much more likely to take the dough out to early and end up with uncooked dough in the middle of your bread.
Trust. The. Process.
When it comes to faith, similar rules apply. When we go out into the world to share about our faith we frequently find ourselves second-guessing our preparation. I don’t know enough, I’m not religious enough, I’m not “good” enough. And so we will sell ourselves short, not engage with our neighbors, hide our faith, turn the oven off too soon.
As we grow closer in our relationship to God and to each other from time to time those relationships are put to the test and the temperature goes up! When that happens don’t undercook the bread!
Trust that you have the strength, structure, and complexity of flavor and character to handle those challenges and come through ever better on the other side.
Those challenges may come in the form of a curious neighbor asking about church, a stranger struggling with poverty or addiction, a family member who is pushing your buttons, or just the regular challenges of living as a person of faith in an increasingly secular world.
However, they appear to you - don’t undercook the bread!
Most importantly? Don’t judge your results based on other people’s instagram-able bread (or faith) accounts but just on your previous results.
Are you closer to God today than yesterday? Did you handle the challenge put before you better than last time? Is this loaf a little better than your last one?
If so, you’re doing great, and next time? Just an opportunity to make it a little better.
The View from Bolton Street
Hello Friends -
We are in the midst of a season of the liturgical calendar known, semi-sarcastically, as “bread season.” Last Sunday we read the feeding of the 5,000 from the Gospel of John, and now for four Sundays in August we here Jesus’ reflections on the bread of life. Over and over again.
For preachers it can feel monotonous. I’m not saying I planned my summer vacation around this… but I’m not not saying that.
However since I am departing Memorial the last Sunday of “Bread Season” - and because I will miss you all, I thought I would leave you with a series of reflections on Bread For… I mean Faith Formation.
There are four basic steps to breadmaking just as there are four steps to growing our Faith with Jesus.
Mix
Rest
Stretch and Fold
Bake
Today we will focus on the “Stretch and Fold” process.
When we stretch dough we are testing its strength and elasticity, and when we fold it back we are adding additional depth and durability. One thing new break bakers are reminded of over and over is to “not overwork the dough.” What this means is you don’t want to get stretch the dough or you may break apart the proteins and bonds, leaving you with flat lifeless dough.
This makes sense right? Too many times in my life I have, in a fit of passion, gone out and run too far, biked too hard, lifted too much, and been in a lot of pain for days or weeks after. Maybe you have done this too?
Tried to make up for lost time and in the process hurt yourself, or at least found yourself with wounded pride (and sore muscles).
So too do we need to take care with our faith and spirituality. If you have not been reading a lot of scripture or praying too much, maybe don’t go on a week long silent retreat? Or try and read the whole book in one sitting?
Build up your resilience, work within yourself, and slowly develop your faith.
There is no need to compare ourselves to others! In the kitchen, the gym, or the pews. Your focus should be on what can make me a more faithful Christian today.
Can I spend a little more time in meditative prayer? Can I remember to give thanks before every meal this week? Can I read one chapter of scripture? One verse?
What can you do this week to stay within yourself and develop a little more spiritual resilience?
The View from Bolton Street
Hello Friends -
We are entering a season of the liturgical calendar known, semi-sarcastically, as “bread season.” Last Sunday we read the feeding of the 5,000 from the Gospel of John, and now for four Sundays in August we hear Jesus’ reflections on the bread of life. Over and over again.
For preachers, it can feel monotonous. I’m not saying I planned my summer vacation around this… but I’m not saying that.
However, since I am departing Memorial the last Sunday of “Bread Season” - and because I will miss you all, I thought I would leave you with a series of reflections on Bread For… I mean Faith Formation.
There are four basic steps to breadmaking just as there are four steps to growing our Faith with Jesus.
Mix
Rest
Stretch and Fold
Bake
Today we focus on the hardest part of bread making: rest. Like Tom Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part. When we let the dough rest we allow for multiple things to happen. We allow for flavors to blend, we allow for the water to soak into the flour, and we allow the yeast to begin eating away at the gluten in the flour and release carbon dioxide, producing sugar and flavor.
It takes time for new things to impact us. You can’t just expect a new narrative, a new story, a new way of thinking to shape you after your first encounter. Jesus tells a story about scattering seed and how where the seed lands impact how it grows. When a seed falls in shallow soil, it might sprout quickly, but it won’t last long.
If we don’t take time with our faith, if we don’t allow the words of Jesus, the teachings of our tradition to really soak in, we MIGHT have a lot of enthusiasm, we might jump in with both feet! But we won’t last very long because when our faith is challenged - we won’t know what to say.
Many people I meet who have “fallen away” from the Church have done so because the kind of faith they were presented with was just too basic to stand up to scrutiny.
‘If you believe your life will be easier.’ “Good people go to Church. Bad people don’t.” “Only Christians go to Heaven.” “You can’t be gay/trans/questioning/curious and a Christian.” “If you pray then bad things won’t happen.” “If you give your money to the church you will get more back.”
All of these promises have been made, whether with good intentions or not, to ‘rush’ ppl into faith. To ‘dumb down’ Christianity so that more people will believe.
But you can’t rush faith, just like you can’t rush this part of the bread making process.
With bread, you just end up with flat, tasteless loaves. But with faith you end up with a lot of hurt people.
If we spend time with scripture we learn that believers represent all kinds of behaviors, attitudes, and lifestyles. When we study the history of the church we learn that historically, often the most faithful Christians have suffered the most. When we encounter our tradition we learn that prayer doesn’t make bad things disappear… but that it does make it easier to bear them. We learn that a community of people praying together has spiritual and practical benefits! We are reminded that people care for us, and sometimes they bring us cake. We learn that human conceptions of good and bad don’t really apply to the spiritual world, and that our good actions in this world really only matter if they come from the right intentions.
Most of all, what we learn when we spend time with our faith, is how little we really know and how much more there is to understand. We develop deeper connections, more robust structures and flavors, better connections with believers in this world and throughout the world’s history.
So friends, I encourage you to spend time with scripture, with our traditions, and with your faith - so you can develop the kind of faith that will carry you through the most difficult times.
The View from Bolton Street
Hello Friends -
We are entering a season of the liturgical calendar known, semi-sarcastically, as “bread season.” Last Sunday we read the feeding of the 5,000 from the Gospel of John, and now for four Sundays in August we hear Jesus’ reflections on the bread of life. Over and over again.
For preachers, it can feel monotonous. I’m not saying I planned my summer vacation around this… but I’m not saying that.
However, since I am departing Memorial the last Sunday of “Bread Season” - and because I will miss you all, I thought I would leave you with a series of reflections on Bread For… I mean Faith Formation.
There are four basic steps to breadmaking just as there are four steps to growing our Faith with Jesus.
Mix
Rest
Stretch and Fold
Bake
Today, we will talk about step one: mixing
Bread is a combination of four basic ingredients: flour, water, salt and leven. Each of these have a particular purpose and while you don’t have to be quite as exact in your measurements as you might suspect… big deviations will cause big problems.
Rather than strain the metaphor too much trying to connect each ingredient with something “churchy” I would prefer we focus on the act of mixing. You take four different things and put them together to make one new thing.
Faith formation requires mixing. It requires difference. It requires exposing ourselves to something new, different and challenging and seeing where it takes us.
Take some time to look around your life. Do all the people you interact with look and think the same? Do all the voices you interact with, all the media you consume, books you read reflect one point of view? When is the last time you made a new friend? Heard a new story?
When is the last time you read the Bible? And let it shape your life?
One of the great things about scripture is that there is so much of it that no matter how much of it we think we know, there is always something new. Always a story to hear differently.
So this week - practice “mixing”. Pick up the Bible. Say hello to a new person. Read something you might disagree with. And go to Jesus with your struggles with it.
This is how we continue to grow and shape our faith as we live in to the promise of “the bread of life.”
The View from Bolton Street
The Baptismal Covenant (The Book of Common Prayer, Episcopal):
Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and
in the prayers?
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to
the Lord?
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of ever
human being?
The commitments we make in our Baptismal covenant, repeated above, offer a very simple guide to the Christian way of life. What does it say?
Learn, Eat, and Pray together.
Try to live a good life and when you mess up, apologize and try again.
Love God, Love your Neighbor.
Yes. Those Neighbors.
Oh and Yes, even the ones you don’t know or like very much.
The Christian life, distilled, is lived in community in order to seek out the common good for all and gradually expand that community outward.
There have been many corruptions of this narrative offered in recent years, and honestly throughout history. We are in a constant process of learning to be better and do better, in the hopes that future generations will live lives more directed towards God’s word and Jesus’ teaching.
This Sunday we will welcome a new member into the family of Christ, Rosalie. She is a little too young to make these promises on her own, but the good thing is we all will gather together on Sunday to make these promises on her behalf, until at which time she can make her own promises sometime in the future. And we all get to work together to be a part of meeting these commitments throughout Rosalie’s life and the lives of all of those who walk through these doors.
I hope you will join us as we make these commitments and consider how you might recommit yourself to a life in Christ seeking to love your neighbor, care for the sick, and share in the breaking of the bread.
The View from Bolton Street
He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”
Jesus, shorter: Wouldn’t you feel better if you took a nap?
There are times in our lives when everything seems to move at an intolerable pace. I can certainly say that moving to another city and trying to sell one home, buy another, say all the goodbyes, prepare for what’s ahead and still do all the things that need to get done is one of those times. So please know I speak from experience when I say that sometimes we need to listen to Jesus. And just. Take. A. Break.
Because the reality is, you can probably wait a moment to send that e-mail. You don’t have to share that facebook post right away. You can linger a little longer over lunch. You can spend a few more minutes reading that book. The world will not, in fact, come to an end if you do. And yet wherever we look something is telling us that we can’t stop. We can’t let up. We have to keep going.
Jesus was no different. Look what happens immediately after he says this in the Gospels. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. The people would not let him rest. And so he taught and healed, and then went to another place, and the people did it again! They ran ahead and did whatever they could to get closer to Jesus. Such was their craving for peace, for healing, for relief.
I have two things to say to you all (and to me!) about this. 1) You are not Jesus. And neither am I. We need to rest. We need to seek out quiet deserted places to listen for the still small voice of God. We need to remind ourselves what gives us life, what brings us joy, what offers us peace. Especially when the world seems so loud, and so busy, we need to make that time.
And number 2) chasing after someone (or something) else for your peace will not bring you peace. What did all of these followers of Jesus end up doing to him? Cheering for his crucifixion. When we demand someone or something else provide us peace and clarity, eventually we end up turning on them. Because that can only come from within. From recognizing the presence of God within us and seeking to coax it out and share it with the world.
You may have, a time or two in the last week, said something like “If only…. Things would be better.” and filled in that space with any number of things. It is tempting to think there is a kind of silver bullet solution to our stresses and problems. To our challenges, both local and national.
“If only they would step down.”
“If only they would stop fighting”
“If only the Orioles would get another starting pitcher.”
“If only I could touch the hem of his cloak.”
But we can never predict what will happen with those external things. The pitcher could get injured, the replacement could be worse, etc. etc. It may grant you some temporary relief, but it won’t end the conflict out there and it won’t bring peace in here, to your heart.
That can only happen by stepping back and listening for God. Allowing God to speak from your heart. You have all you need right now to live a more peaceful, more joyful, more holy life. And when we start living that way those other problems and challenges don’t go away! But they do take on a more appropriate context and priority in our life and in the lives of those around us
Take some time this week to step back and seek peace friends. Seek out that still small voice of God.