Are you happy?

"When it has any use of belief, our age presses religion into the service of power. The rest of the time, it banishes faith from any position of authority. Once the lifeblood of intimate, social, and civic life, the sacred makes its appearance now as a mere distraction -- whether embraced or condemned -- from the main event. Ignoring previous counsel and reflection from Aristotle to Freud, we embrace a gospel of personal happiness, defined as the unbridled pursuit of impulse. Yet, we remain profoundly unhappy."

-- The Triumph of the Therapeutic, from the introduction written by Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn.

Many thanks to The Rev. William Kevin Fisher of Grace in the Desert Episcopal Church, Las Vegas, Nevada for bringing this quote to my attention.


In peace,

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

P.S. Happy birthday to Molly, Greg, and Bill

A Fun Psalm

Spider having lunch at Honey Creek

August 29, 2007

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

Yonder is that great and wide sea
with its living things too many to number,
creatures both small and great.

There move the ships,
and there is that Leviathan,
which you have made for the sport of it.

All of them look to you
to give them their food in due season.

You give it to them; thy gather it;
you open wide your hand,
and they are filled with good things.

[Psalm 104:25-29]

In peace,

Linda+

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

Reading Saint Mark Right Out Loud


On Wednesday nights at 7:00 p.m. we are studying the Gospel according to Saint Mark, which was the first such written account of the life and times of Jesus Christ.

Mark does not give us any preliminaries or birth narratives about who Jesus is. No -- Mark launches right out into the deep in the opening verse with "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." What could be more clear than that?

For the past two weeks we have been viewing a film in which actor Max McLean gives a stage performance of the entire Gospel According to Mark. It is dramatic and moving, and we followed along with him in our Bibles. Tonight we will shift gears and begin a discussion of the first four chapters of this Gospel.

I invite you to join us, and in preparation please read those first four chapters. For my personal preparation I am reading those chapters in various translations, and I am reading them in the ancient tradition. I am reading them right out loud.


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

Good and Very Good

The Confessions of St. Augustine

Chapter 28

The Good and the Very Good

(43) And you, O God, saw all the things that you had made, and behold, "they were very good." For we also see them, and behold, they are all very good. In each separate kind of your works, when you said that they should be made, and they were made, this one and that one, you saw that it is good. In seven places I have counted it written down that you saw that what you made is good. And this is the eighth, that you saw all the things that you made, and behold they are not only good, but even very good, as all existing together. For separately, they were only good, but all existing together they are both good and very good. . . .


In peace,
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

Walking a sacred path

Have you ever walked a labyrinth? For the next few days, perhaps through the end of this week, a labyrinth will be available in Stuart Hall at the Honey Creek Camp and Conference Center. To make certain that it is available when you wish to walk it, please call 912-265-9218.

The Labyrinth is an ancient meditation tool. In medieval times when pilgrims could not get to the Holy Land, the labyrinth became a substitute "pilgrimage" for them. Great cathedrals such as Chartre and Notre Dame in France had labyrinths built into the floor. Great churches such as King of Peace in Kingsland, Georgia, have labyrinths built into the floor.

The labyrinth pictured above is a hand-painted canvas. Please plan to walk it without shoes. It would be appropriate to walk it in a pair or socks or barefooted.

Never walked a labyrinth? Here is a simple suggestion: begin at the entrance and take your prayers all the way to the center and offer them to God. There are no barriers in the labyrinth. It is one continuous path. When you are finished praying in the center, walk back out the same way you came in, leaving your concerns in the hands of God, who knew you were going there before you did.


In peace,

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

This is the Lord's Day

Christus Rex in the Chapel of Our Saviour

at Honey Creek

at daylight today, August 26, 2007

This is the Lord's day,

day of God's own making,

day of creation, day of resurrection,

day of the Spirit,

sign of heaven's banquet,

day for rejoicing.

-- John E. Bowers (b. 1923)

from The Hymnal 1982, No. 51, verse 3

What follows is the progression of the sun today from dawn to its full rising. Enjoy!

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

Prayer For the Good Use of Leisure

Coast Guard Beach on St. Simons Island, Georgia

Our Gospel reading for tomorrow is Luke 13:10-17 in which we read that Jesus gets criticized for healing on the Sabbath in the midst of Synagogue worship. Jesus was there teaching and when a crippled woman walked in, Jesus stopped what he was doing and healed her. It was time.

The Gospel says that this woman had "a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw he, he called her over and said, 'Woman, you are set free from your ailment.'" Jesus then laid his hands on her, and "immediately she stood up straight and began praising God."

I have wondered about the order of events in his passage. Did the woman come to the synagogue knowing Jesus was there, expecting to be healed? Whatever the order, the woman was healed and it was Sabbath, the day of rest set aside as holy to God. Jesus was using his holy day to do good.

Resting helps us to get the burdens off our backs so that we can stand up straight and praise God. Do you have a day of rest set aside as holy? God is very keen on that idea, and now health care providers have gotten on the bandwagon. The doctors think it is good for our blood pressure. Here is another instance in which The Book of Common Prayer does not let us down:

O God, in the course of this busy life, give us times of refreshment and peace; and grant that we may so use our leisure to rebuild our bodies and renew our minds, that our spirits may be opened to the goodness of your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (page 825, prayer number 32)


In peace,

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