Fishing

I offer this poem for all of you who have ever fished for fish, or ever knew someone who did.

It is "Fishing" by Sarah Rossiter, reprinted from The Anglican Theological Review, Summer 2006, Volume 88, Number 3, page 419 (used by permission of the managing editor).

FISHING
Who can explain what holds me
at the river's edge: is it the scent
of water, or the sound of liquid slipping over stone,
the solitude,
or, then again, the line unfurling
back and forth through whispered air,
like breath, perhaps, or maybe prayer,
or the White Wulff, light as milkweed,
drifting, or that moment when
the salmon leaps, such silver shining,
fish, fly, sky, as if the river catches fire.

And so I wonder how it was that when
He met them by the sea, and all He said
was "Follow me," they turned, it seemed,
with no regret, leaving boats and nets
behind, as if He was the fish they sought,
as if their hearts burned even then.



Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Founding Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

We Still Pray Together

Almost three years ago I graduated from "Sewanee" - The University of the South School of Theology at Sewanee, Tennessee, with thirty other people eager to be priests. In our three years at Sewanee, not only did we go to classes together every day, we spent a lot of time praying together. Every day at 8:10 a.m. we would gather in the Chapel of the Apostles for Morning Prayer. At noon there was a service of Holy Communion, and at 5:00 p.m. we met for Evening Prayer. Of course not everyone was there for every service, but if we had to be absent we knew that the prayers were being offered by those present.

Our group liked praying together so much that we formed a "Yahoo Group" to stay in touch. This lovely prayer appears on our computer screens every day:

Lord God, through holy scripture you have taught us that some plant and some water, but that only you grant increase and growth. Cultivate and nourish, we pray, all church planters, especially Linda McCloud and Frank Logue, that knowledge of your love, healing, and saving grace may grow without limit throughout the world. We pray your blessing especially upon the the Bishop, priests, deacons, and lay persons of the Diocese of Georgia that your will may be done through them for the Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek. In the Holy Name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

We still pray together. It's the Episcopal way.

Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com
912-267-0333

George Herbert (1593-1633)

Today is the feast day of George Herbert, best known for The Country Parson and The Temple. George turned away from a promising career as a Member of Parliament to become a country parson. He also wrote prose and poetry that has endured.

Here is a sample:

The Sun arising in the East,
Though he give light, and th' East perfume;
If they should offer to contest
With thy arising, they presume.

or this:

The Country Parson values Catechizing highly: for there being three points of his duty, the one, to infuse a competent knowledge of salvation in every one of his Flock; the other, to multiply, and build up this knowledge, to a spiritual Temple; the third, to inflame this knowledge, to press, and drive it to practice, turning it to reformation of life, by pithy and lively exhortations; Cathechizing is the first point, and but by Cathechizing, the other cannot be attained.

or this, my favorite of all George Herbert' writings (Hymn No. 387, The Hymnal 1982):

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life;
such a way as gives us breath;
such a truth as ends all strife;
such a life as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength;
such a light as shows a feast;
such a feast as mends in length;
such a strength as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart;
such a joy as none can move;
such a love as none can part;
such a heart as joys in love.


Here's a quiz: Which President of the United States was named after this man?


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Getting Ready for Easter

Amidst all our preaching about keeping a holy Lent and getting ready for Easter, our Bishop calls his priests and deacons to a quiet day so that we can get together as clergy and ponder the events of Holy Week and Easter. In this way we can get ready inwardly in addition to getting ready outwardly.

This event happens every year and this year we will be hosted at Christ Church, Dublin by my seminary classmate, the Rev. Louis Miller. The part I like most about "Clergy Day of Preparation"? We are usually treated to sermons by the newest priests in the diocese, and it has been a few years since that was me.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Saint Matthias the Apostle

Today is the feast day of Saint Matthias the Apostle. This year his day was moved from February 24 to February 25 because the 24th fell on a Sunday. All Sundays are feast days of our Lord Jesus Christ, and nothing trumps a feast of Jesus.

It seems almost more appropriate that we celebrate Matthias' feast today when few people are looking, because we know so little about Matthias. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that Matthias was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Jesus and who had died at his own hand.

The rules for choosing a replacement were simple: the person chosen had to have been traveling with Jesus and the other disciples from the beginnings of his ministry. Two such people were found among their number, and the remaining eleven Apostles and others in the meeting said their prayers and cast lots -- tossed a coin -- drew straws -- threw dice -- to take the decision out of their own hands and put it into the hands of God.

So for a few minutes Matthias stepped into the spotlight, but he stepped out of it just as easily. I wonder how he would feel about being remembered all these years.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333

Halfway there

This is the Third Sunday in Lent, which means we are almost exactly halfway through this period which the church holds as a holy time of repentance and fasting. Just as a reminder, the Episcopal Church offers the private rite of The Reconciliation of a Penitent to anyone who wants to make an appointment with his or her priest. (See pages 446-452 of The Book of Common Prayer).

Here is what James Keating has to say about reconciliation:

"When we name our sins in truth, they are met with divine mercy. The result of this naming is not condemnation, but reconciliation and salvation.

"Perhaps we are so used to experiencing personal rejection when speaking the truth to others that we cannot trust that Christ will simply heal our sins in his grace and not use them against us. . . . He asks us to stop sinning, to stop living lives that obscure our dignity as the images of God that we are (Genesis 1:26). Instead, we are invited to cooperate with grace, to come to know God and so be morally transfigured."


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Churdch of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://ousaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333
Photo: Top half of church at
Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery,
Conyers, GA, January 28, 2008

The Woman at the Well

Our Gospel for tomorrow is John 4:5-42. This story is commonly known as that of "The Woman at the Well" and indeed the principal female character came to the well to draw water. But in his wonderful way of preaching and playing on words, the Evangelist John tells us that she left the well with living water that only Jesus gives.

The good news for this woman is that she decides on her own that Jesus is the Messiah. Then she takes it upon herself, almost unwittingly, to become the first Christian missionary. It is significant that she "left her water jar and went back to the city" to tell everyone that she had found the Messiah. And it is significant that this woman was a Samaritan, which means that during Jesus' life on earth it became clear that Jesus is the "Savior of the world."

My sermon for tomorrow is "Jesus had lunch with his Father." Come to our service at 10:00 a.m. and find out why.


In peace,
Linda+

The Rev. Linda McCloud
Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
http://www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org/
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com/
912-267-0333