A New Year Reflection: A Chapel Talk for Grace St. Luke's Episcopal School

I feel overwhelmed with joy to be here this Friday to celebrate the New Year with my fellow Lukers. It is an honor and privilege to be able to share with you this morning some reflections on celebrating the New Year and the new life that comes with 2009.

Ms. Prewitt told me that you all enjoy participating in chapel and challenged me to find a way to get you all involved. So we are going to play a little game. I would like you to raise your hand if you have ever played a sport: basketball, baseball, tennis, or even ballet. Now keep your hand up if you have ever made a mistake in that game. Keep your hand up if you have ever turned the ball over, hit the ball out of bounds, fumbled the football. Now look around.
Raise your hand if you have ever played a musical instrument. Now keep your hand raised if you have ever missed a note or made a mistake when playing in front of people.

Raise your hand if you have ever received a bad grade on a project or a test, or even a paper. (Teachers, that includes you).
Now raise your exam if you have ever failed at anything that you can think of that you have tried in life.

Now I want to share with you a little about my life after I left Grace St. Luke’s as a rising High School student, the change many of you will make in just a few months, and some of the failures that I have struggled with in my life.

The first failure took place when I was in the eighth Grade and a student in Mr. Philip’s Algebra I class. Mr. Phil believed that I was a gifted Algebra student and one day he asked me to represent GSL at a state wide competition at Rhodes College. Three of us were asked to compete, all of us believing we were gifted math students. I failed horribly. I felt I didn’t even get a third of the questions right. And after passing his class and getting an A for the year, I took the placement exam at CBHS and was forced to take Algebra I in the summer. I failed and was asked to take Algebra I again as a freshman. I felt like I had wasted an entire year, and this was a horrible crush to my ego when all of my other friends at other schools were taking Geometry.

The second failure took place about five years later. As you will soon find out, I ended up being a pretty good math and science student so I went to Purdue University, a great school for engineering and the sciences and begin studying Electrical and Computer Engineering. No raise your hand if you know what Linear Circuit Analysis is? After a semester taking that class I am not sure I could answer that question. I failed and also dropped my advance C programming class. For the first time in my life I got a big fat F on my report card. My parents were horrified, upset, and very frustrated. I was no longer an Engineer. I had failed.

Today is the first chapel of the New Year! Now raise your hand if you made a New Year’s resolution. Don’t worry, it is not too late in my book if you leave today and make one. A New Year brings new life and new opportunity. In my opinion the most famous Prime Minster in England’s History is Sir Winston Churchill. He ruled England during World War II and afterwards in the 50’s. Prime Minister Churchill once failed a grade in school. Or he failed as we would see it. But he believed he was given a second opportunity to do an even better job and that he had an advantage over everyone else. He was a little bit above the game. Churchill said several great things about failure. First: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.” And “Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill had the right idea.
I took Algebra I again as a CBHS freshman and my teacher signed me up for that same statewide Algebra I test that I failed before. After three hours of problem solving at Rhodes College, I turned in the highest score in West Tennessee, and the third highest in the whole state. And I was still able to take AP Calculus my senior year.

In college, I found a subject, International Relations and Political Science that I was passionate about, began to work much harder, brought my grades up and even managed to finish school in four and a half years. I even managed to finish with a moderately respectable grade point average.

I am excited to be here with you to bring in the New Year. This is the 2009th year of our Lord, a gift from God. And as I am sure you have heard Father Ron say many times, “And Now my friends, I invite you to,” I invite you to think about all last year and all the missed musical notes and layups, the slip ups on the tests, or the times you were mean to your sisters and brothers, and know that we are always given a second, third, and sometimes even seventy seventh chance and to have what Churchill calls, courage. This year is a gift from God to have courage. Welcome in the New Year and remember, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”

I am thankful for

Today I am thankful for cold weather that reminds me of the seasons of life and makes me remember how much I hated the heat of a Memphis summer. And especially getting in to a black car with leather seats in the dead of summer.

I am thankful for the opportunity to work with young people who continue to teach me about the world out there and the person inside, much more than I ever imagined possible when I answered my call to be at Holy Communion.

Tomorrow I will be thankful it is the weekend. And I can spend some time with my dad.

I am thankful for my father who yesterday turned 56 and can still put on an orange bandanna around his head and through up peace signs. I am thankful for my father who can forgive me and be understanding that sometimes I have meetings until 10pm and that the 30 minutes we spent last night from 10:15 to 10:45 was special to me.

I am thankful for my friend Logan who is unconsciously so brutally honest it can be hurtful from time to time, but because his honesty comes from love, keeps me in check and helps me to be honest with myself.

I am thankful for my friend Kat. She has really yummy Cupcakes. Her grandmother’s nickname was Muddy.


I am thankful for the Clergy at Holy Communion, for their guidance and for their support both in my work life and my personal life and all that they do to support my ministry and me as a person.

This thanksgiving Holiday I am thankful that my parents will give up their plans to go out of town so that I may spend thanksgiving with them.

I am thankful for my roommate Large. I am thankful that we often disagree on many issues but have learned how to respectfully listen and be in conversation with each other so that we can encourage our own growth.

I am thankful for my sister Ann who I can struggle to get along with and be in relationship with more than anyone I know, yet can support me and be loving through all that we endure.

I am thankful for the parents at Holy Communion who go out of their way to do all that they can to support the youth program from driving vans to cooking meals.

I am thankful for the many girls of St. Mary’s who smile and say hi and make my day better and better each time they do.

I am thankful for the Gospel according to Beuford and his often prophetic voice and his words of comfort and support each morning as I walk into my work space.

I am thankful for today, because I believe it is a gift from God.

I am thankful for music not only the music I get to create but the music I listen to that helps me express how I feel and know that others feel that way too.

I am thankful for my cat Meriwether also known as Flannery O' Cat. She also suffers from FRAP (frantic random activity periods). And she is a brat but I still am thankful for her.

I am thankful for JK Rowling. Because by reading her books I can live out my childhood dream of being a wizard and doing magic.

I am thankful for my mother who always has enough time to listen to everything I have to say.

I am thankful for the cafeteria downstairs. It really is a wonderful convenience to work at a school and have access to lunch every day during the school year well except for the days they serve breakfast for lunch. Not a fan, and I know I'm not the only one.

I am thankful for all of the volunteers who put a few thousand hours a year into working with the young people of this parish. And make youth ministry successful here.

I am thankful for the staff of Holy Communion. They have to put up with me and it is probably not always easy. From the messes that our groups make, the spills on the carpets, paint on the walls, and food in nearly every corner of this building. Sorry staff.

I am thankful for basketball and the opportunity to coach and share with 5th graders from my grade school something that I really love.

I am thankful that we lost our basketball game last night. And I am proud of the boys they way the handled the loss. You learn a lot more about your character when you fail then when you succeed.

I am thankful for St. Mary's and especially your new middle school. Now I have a really sweet office. Thanks.

I am thankful for the many opportunities I have to serve others here by being present in a faith community.

I am thankful for my dear friend Debra who really seems to know how this world works and is willing to share her advice with me.

I am thankful for my friend Jules, who always calls me at the worst time possible. And forgiving me for not always calling me him back.

I am thankful because today I have a job. I am thankful for the roof over the head and that I have a warm place to sleep. I am thankful for rain, for the sun, for espn, for my seersuck suit, for bowties, for my all of my friends, and so so much more.

I am thankful for this opportunity to write this, because by writing this reflection, I have realized how much I really have to be Thankful for.

What are you thankful for?

Heaven vs. Hell

Hell

I heard a story, an old wives tale about Hell a long time ago and then it showed up in a book I read a few weeks back. Hell was this beautiful dinner gathering full of people sitting around a table. The table was round and filled with really really hungry people. In this place each person has this unbearable hunger in their stomachs. The kind that leaves the space and noise around filled with a low grumble. It is the kind of hunger that causes food to smell better than it has ever tasted before and allows you to taste new subtle little flavors that you never knew were really there.

In the middle of this round table is a big cast iron cauldron filled to the brim of what smells like a meal for the gods. The cauldron is heated, and the stew is simmering with a small low boil. The aroma fills the room causing pain in everyone’s stomachs as they crave nothing more in the world but a taste of this heavenly stew.

Each person at the table has a special spoon crafted to their own hand. This spoon allows each individual to get the perfect amount of soup to quench their hunger and is exactly two inches too long to get into their own mouth. Everyone is seated around the table and they are trying their very best to feed themselves, but each time they take a spoonful of soup to their mouths, they miss and spill the soup all over themselves.

Hell

Heaven

In this story, heaven is the exact same place. Really really hungry people, with an unbearable hunger are sitting around the best meal you could ever imagine. Hunger rumbles in the bellies of each person at the table. And each person has a spoon crafted to their own hand, a spoon just a little bit too long to feed themselves. But instead everyone is feeding the person next to them and all are well fed.

Imagine that, heaven and hell, the same place. The only difference is how we treat one another.

A few years ago, I participated in an experience called the Global Village at the Heifer Camp in Perryville Arkansas. I was with a group of people and we drew straws that sent us to different sites that represented regions of the world. Some people ended up in Guatemala and had a rabbit, electricity, and even running water. The four people here had beds to sleep in and a house to keep warm. Another group ended up in Zambia and had access to firewood, a few vegetables, and some cornmeal. Zambia wasn’t quite as wealthy but still had some valuable resources. I was in the largest group which drew the slums. We ended up sleeping on a dirt floor tin shack in a storm that night and the only food we were given was a little bit of rice for all six of us in the slums. The idea of the project was to do a simulation to understand how resources are distributed in the world and to gain a better understanding of world poverty. We were told to use what we had and barter with the other groups to try and get something to eat. Water and firewood rights could even be bartered. I didn’t think it was fair and thought for sure I would go hungry just as so many of those who live in similar situations around the world do every day.

Something miraculous happened that night. Everyone shared all of their food and made one big stew. It wasn’t the best tasting, kind of bland but everyone was invited to attend and all ate and all were well fed. Our guide from Heifer was amazed, and had never witnessed this before. There was a good chance this happened because we were such a small group and realized that we could feed each other, but usually groups hoard the resources because they feel there is not enough to go around.

A friend of mine participated in this same simulation a year later. He was with a group that was a much larger group and he was placed in the refugee camp. He went hungry that night and didn’t even have access to safe drinking water. Guatemala had an unlimited amount of water, and he went thirsty. The experience for him was very transforming and painted a much more accurate picture of how the world really works.

Heaven vs. Hell

I love the image of the dinner table to help me understand how to help bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. This story is very real. We are all hungry and there is food right there in front of us. All we have to do is help feed the person at the next seat. We all have resources that we can share with each other and by reaching out in the world, recognizing that we are blessed and freely giving of the blessings we have, we can bring heaven to others.

Pilgrimage to Santiago

It was a damp and chilly Tuesday morning as our group of twenty youth and their leaders from Church of the Holy Communion gathered on the Camino de Santiago in the town of Sarria in Northern Spain. With a few unexpected difficulties changing our US currency, we were taking much longer than expected to begin our journey to Santiago de Compostela. We were to hike between fourteen and sixteen miles a day and arrive in Santiago on Saturday afternoon. We had been preparing on Saturdays by hiking at Shelby Farms and our spirits were high and enthusiasm strong. Although we were hiking to Santiago Cathedral, the reliquary of the body of the Apostle St. James, we were also hiking to grow closer together as a community, to find the many ways that the Spirit is present in our lives, and to learn more about our own selves and our relationship with Christ through the struggle of being in a foreign environment, uncomfortable, and physically in pain. We were walking in the footsteps of thousands of others all on a spiritual quest trusting in the path that others had walked before us.

By four in the afternoon we began arriving at the town of Portomarin. A few of our group were really beginning to struggle. One even believed at that point that he would not even be able to finish the first day of hiking. I have to admit, I was very surprised with the high degree of difficulty of our walk and had little faith that our whole group would be able to complete our journey.

Wednesday’s hike led us through Hospital da Cruz which owes its name to an old pilgrims’ hospital that existed until the late 18^th century. We hiked, still in high spirits today as our pilgrims sang songs and recited prayers to pass the time as we hiked to Palas de Rei. Those that struggled the day before during the hike had made peace with their pain and pushed on today, at a slower pace, but none-the-less moving forward one step at a time.

On Thursday we began hiking to Arzua, passing through ancient yet hospitable villages such as Furelos where we visited the Parish Church of San Juan which dates back to the 12^th century. Thursday brought different spirits within the group. People began to really spread out and hike at different paces, and pilgrims who had previously been the pace setters began to settle in at the back of the group. There were moments of joy and wonder when our group lifted each other up through songs and words of praise and our weaknesses were exposed. By this point in our pilgrimage, most everyone had some sort of physical problem. The only young person who didn’t have problems with his feet, caught a stomach bug.

Yet through the blisters, bloody feet, sore knees, ankles, calves, hips, and Achilles tendons, we marched into Santiago de Compostela on Saturday afternoon, silently reflecting how five days and seventy five miles of hiking had changed our lives. We stood in awe before the massive Santiago Cathedral only to stand next to another pilgrim from Memphis who had been hiking for six weeks to get to this point. He was one of only three pilgrims from the United States we had met but helped us to understand how connected we had become to the whole world.

Our pilgrimage to Santiago, this Journey to Adulthood pilgrimage, was beautiful and challenging, painful yet full of joy, causing us to trust in those that had gone before us marking the road with yellow arrows and leading our way to God. The five days on the Camino helped us to better understand the earthly pilgrimage we are on, trusting in those who go before us to lead us and keep us on the path to God, through pain and joy, and through beauty and hardships. It caused us to rely on the support of our friends who came back to walk with us and help pull us through the stretches of walking that we were unable to do on our own. And by that support of those friends and fellow pilgrims, helped to show us the presence of Christ in our lives.

Arzua to A Rua

We left early and farther behind the other pilgrims today which gave us the feeling of being crowded on the way to Santiago. As we hiked through Arzua, many pilgrims were stumbling sleepily on the Camino and we begin to see that many more than we had crossed over the past three days were making their way to Santiago. We also began to recognize faces and names which helped to create a bond with the other pilgrims, at least the ones who valued us a real and legitimate pilgrims.
It only took a good half hour for my body to begin to feel all of the pain from the many hours of hiking over the last three days. And our group was beginning to look like pilgrims. No longer did everyone sing and dance along the way. We walked by puting one foot painfully in front of the other in silence and in prayer. I began to pray the prayer our group has been using all week to help get me through. The prayer goes as so:

Bless to us, O God, the earth beneath our feet.
Bless to us, O God, the path whereon we go.
Bless to us, O God, the people whom we meet. Amen.

I have been saying this prayer for hours of the last few days but today, it feels new and different. I begin to be able to say other prayers over this prayer and more and more beauty and meaning comes alive. The first time our pilgrims prayed this together, I had no clue how it would work, but now the prayer has become alive and organic and helps me become one with the way. As I pray for the earth I submit to the whole world in the way I live that I open up being compassionate to all that God has created. As I pray for the path whereon we go, I pray for myself, the journey that I am on, and where God is leading me, today, tomorrow, and the rest of my life. And as I pray for the people whom we meet, I pray for all whom I have been blessed to meet in my short life.

I am learning how to pray in silence and in pain as I work on making this journey to Santiago. The road has become far more challenging and difficult but every step and every breathe of this prayer helps me recognize that this journey is just another day in my life and this prayer is all that I need forever. Help me to take care of God´s creation. Help me to take care of myself. And help me to take care of others.
Amen.

And now as I have just walked into A Rui, my feet are badly blistered, but I will walk into Santiago tomorrow in less than twenty four hours hours and tears will probably fill my eyes. And my journey will continue.

Palas de Rei to Arzua

I wonder what really makes someone a pilgrim? Is it leaving home in search of something greater? Is it journeying to a sacred place in which you find great value. As seven of us stormed up a hill with many hot spots, all with sore feet and probably 26km down on this beautiful Thursday, an Italian family looked at us and screamed, "No mochilos, no mochilos, no es pilgrims, no camino!" We have vehicle help and do not carry all of our luggage.

I understand that there are many people on this trail and on this journey who believe that only real pilgrims carry their own packs and sleep in Albergues. But why? As the Italians began cursing me, although I am sure they were in a way joking with us, with lots of truth behind what they were saying, how could it be in the pilgrim spirit to judge others? What makes one person´s journey better or more justified than someone else´s journey?

All of us were still in good spirits. Even a bunch of high school students understand that people only say things such as that to make themselves better, but I wish I hadn´t heard it none the less. Apparently a German pilgrim had told a few others in our group they weren´t real pilgrims. By the end of the day we had hiked 70 kilometers in three days and I was beginning to feel as a pilgrim. Many songs, jokes, and improve raps had kept our spirits high and the pilgrim bond between our group was beginning to pull each other through. I honestly believe at the end of the first day that several pilgrims in our group wouldn´t make it, but by the end of the day, I am sure, baring no major catastrophes, that our group will finish in Santiago by Saturday afternoon.

Portomarin - Palas de Rei

I had the opportunity to be the lead hiker today. The whole experience is radically different. The Camino is well marked with yellow arrows on buildings and the ground and scallop shell markers yet I still find myself doubting the markers from time to time and wondering if I have stumbled off the beaten path. I am one of those who often questions if I really have my wallet or I wonder if I have left the stove on. I question my own judgment all of the time, yet usually I use very good judgment. In fact, I have a great sense of direction and rarely get lost. I suspect things would be different if I had been hiking from the border of France for a month. My ability to trust the markers and the path of others would be greater but with each step and with each new marker I grow.

When I leave my home, I will probably continue to worry about the oven and the lights, but I hope that I am learning something more important than just about hiking. I am hoping that I am learning the importance of those who come before me to mark the trail and the path which I am on. It is not by myself that I have made it to this spot, but because of the help of others.

And even though we left a good hour and a half earlier today, we are still not making it to the end until 4pm. Our guide Debbie told us that their is a good chance we will all cry when we get to Santiago. My legs are beginning to really hurt. Could she be right? Our whole group of twenty moved much slower but everyone of made it the full 25.06km and the two who really struggled yesterday began to work unbelievably hard and rally together. I could not have been happier to make it all the Palas de Rei and although the church with the Frescos was closed by the time we arrived, everyone of us was two tired to be disappointed. Tomorrow will be our longest day and the rest is needed.