Where is God?

Yesterday, at the Cathedral’s Weekly Healing Eucharist, we celebrated the Feast Day of St. Philip and St. James, reading our Gospel from John 14:6-14, where Philip says to Jesus: “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Philip’s words take Jesus aback, as he responds: “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” This reading is a reminder and a comfort to me that God has never abandoned God’s creation. God has always sought to be in the midst of creation, appearing as various forms in Hebrew Scripture, coming down to earth as Jesus Christ, and now as the Holy Spirit. God constantly seeks to be near us, to know us, and to love us.

It is in times such as these, when I look around and feel that all I can see is devastation and destruction. The recent disasters and chaos in both Nepal and Baltimore are quite unsettling, and can often lead us to question where is God? But, I believe this is exactly the question we should be asking… where is God?

For all of the tragedies that have been besetting our world there have also been so many joys. Last Saturday, here at the Cathedral, over 100 people gathered to celebrate this community, as we sought to learn how to further enliven and enrich both our spiritual lives and church home with Mary Parmer’s Invite Welcome Connect program. On Sunday, Bishop Hahn confirmed over 40 people, as another 200 gathered to support and uplift them in their vows. In the midst of the sorrow and fear there is still hope and joy. As we show up and engage in our church community and faith life we can begin to better support and uphold our brothers, sisters, and ourselves as we face the difficult challenges this world brings.

So where is God? God is here in the life of Christ Church Cathedral. God is in Baltimore with religious leaders who come to stand for peace, in solidarity with their hurting neighbors. God is in Nepal with the rescue teams, relief organizations, and individuals who are pulling together to dig out of the destruction. And, God is in us, in our empathy and our prayers for a hurting world.

Childhood Memories

          Last week, Steve and I ventured to the Kentucky Theater  to see Woman in Gold. The scenery in the film is beautiful, the story line factual and Helen Mirren, one of my favorite actresses, has a starring role.  Not to reveal the plot, Woman in Gold  is about a woman's quest to reclaim a painting that was wrongly confiscated from her family after the Nazis invaded Austria during World War II.  All in all, the film is brilliant; I highly recommend it.

          That said, I must tell you frequent tears silently coursed down my face as I watched the film. Some of the scenes depicting the Nazi occupation of Austria shook the very core of my being, bringing back sad childhood memories. Growing up in the Jewish community in Cincinnati, I was frequently in the company of men and women who bore serial numbers tattooed on their arms, permanent reminders of the time they spent in the Nazi concentration camps. I learned the words Auschwitz, Triblenka, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald and Dachau before I even knew where Germany was. One of my father's closest friends was Eli Grossman, who as a young teen was being schooled to be a concert pianist. When he was in Dachau, all of his fingers were intentionally broken. After he and his father immigrated to the United States, Mr,Grossman made his living selling men's clothing, his permanently deformed fingers no longer able to play a piano. Ralph, another friend of my parents, never seemed able to overcome the guilt he carried because he was the only one of his parents and siblings to survive the camps.

          The afternoon after I had visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., I was so angry at God. Why, why and how could God allow millions of people to die at the hands of the Nazis? Where was God when men, women and children were herded to their deaths in the "showers" of the extermination camps? Had those people prayed to God as they gasped for breath?  Several days after my tirade towards God, it occurred to me the question I should have asked was where were we? Where were all the people in the world who could have taken steps to stop the slaughter but didn't?

          Yes, Woman in Gold brought back memories, so many I had managed to push into the far recesses of my mind. But, the film also reminded me of all the genocide that goes on today in Africa, the Middle East, Latin and South America. What about the senseless murders that take place in our own country? I suspect that for the family of one person whose life is snatched from him or her, that one person matters just as much as the millions whose lives have been taken from them.

          I have many prayers I say to God, both thanksgivings and petitions. But my constants in all those petitions are for God's peace and continued strength for me to do my part in spreading word of God's love and in loving my neighbors, wherever they may be, working to obtain that peace for all of God's beloved children.

         

         

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

           Last autumn at the Blessing of the Animals, I was asked to give a special blessing to a dog named Snoopy, a resident of the Jessamine County Animal Shelter. Snoopy was far from handsome, so far from handsome that I am willing to bet his cell mates at the shelter made fun of him. His ears didn't match, the top of the left side of his head looked a bit flattened and his eyes made him look as though he had no eyelashes. He didn't even look excited to see anyone.With all the activity that was going on, while the other kennel dogs barked and wagged their tails in response to anyone who showed them attention, Snoopy made no response. I really wanted to tell him that if he looked a bit more lively and interested, perhaps someone would be interested in him.
     
    Sadly, Snoopy had been at the shelter for four months, the maximum length of time they kept an animal. I learned that if no one adopted Snoopy over the weekend, he was going to be euthanized the following Monday. I blessed Snoopy, asking God to send Snoopy a loving human with whom he could live and then I walked away, as far away I could get from that sad-eyed dog. But all I could think of was the fact that Snoopy would be dead by Monday afternoon, all because no one cared about him enough to love him. I knew I would be miserable Monday, haunted by the thoughts of Snoopy taking his last walk before being euthanized. Would he know? Would he be frightened? Even if he didn't know, I would. Needless to say, Snoopy ended up going home with me that afternoon. What the heck, when you have three canine mouths to feed, one more can't make much of a difference. Was I ever wrong in that thinking.

          By day's end, Snoopy had become Sam. He was almost shy around the other dogs. He decided that despite his 60 solid pounds of weight and muscle, he was my newest lapdog. He followed me everywhere I went. When I went to bed that night, he jumped up beside me and laid his big misshapen head in my lap.

          Sam is the most laid back, one of the sanest dogs with whom I have ever lived. He no longer looks ugly to me. In fact, he has become handsome in my eyes. He is filled with joy when he awakens in the morning, and looks like he is trying to play hockey with his dog biscuit before he goes to bed. He takes things gently from my fingers, looks right into my eyes when I speak to him and still thinks he has to put his head in  my lap as I sit in bed and read. When it is time for Sam and I to take our nightly walk, he stands at the door and then spins around when he sees me pick up his leash.

         All in all, I don't think God blessed Sam that day at the Blessing of the Animals nearly as much as God blessed me with Sam.

Top Down Weather

In the last week or two, there have been a couple of top down days when I’ve been able to drive my convertible. When the last bit of snow has been shoveled and a sunny day presents, I imagine the wind blowing my worries and cares off into the swirl of the wake behind the car. It’s an old, frumpy looking British car (a ’69 Triumph Herald). It is neither fast, nor sleek. It’s not a racy color; it’s “Jasmine Yellow” (think pale yellow rose). Of course her name is Jasmine – but, to be fair, my oldest daughter named her after the Disney character “Princess Jasmine” in the movie “Aladdin”.  And the steering wheel is on the “wrong side.” But it always gets smiles & thumbs up from other drivers, and questions at stoplights, I think because it’s so unassumingly odd. It invites conversation and interaction.

Over the 22 years I’ve owned the Herald, I’ve adopted a philosophy about my mindset when I drive it: I can’t be in a hurry, grumpy, or in a bad mood, and I need to have a ready smile because the car invites interaction. This mindset when I’m driving the Herald has become a habit of mine.

What if this was our mindset, our philosophy, our habit as we practice our Christian faith out in the world? What if we invited conversation and interaction about our faith and our church in a winsome, playful, non-threatening way as we made our way through each day?

I know this is much easier said than done. I think that for many, talking about our faith and our church is one of the most difficult things we can do. But what if there was a way to learn & practice this mindset, this philosophy, this habit in a supportive, non-threatening environment? This is our opportunity on April 25 with Christ Church Cathedral’s Invite, Welcome, Connect event with Mary Parmer. Please consider being a part of this and RSVP on our website www.ccclex.org or call or email our Parish Secretary, Margaret, at 254-4497, mchristensen@ccclex.org. "I shall live...and tell of the Lord's great deeds." Psalm 118:17.

I’ll see you there with the top down!

The Reverend Brent Owens+