Event: When Cancer Strikes a Friend . . . How to Help

An event sponsored by the Cathedral of the Diocese of Massachusetts and the Church of St. John the Evangelist:

When Cancer Strikes a Friend: What to Say, What to Do, and How to Help

Rev. Bonnie Draeger, a cancer survivor and the executive director of Friends & Cancer, has spent a decade researching these questions. Her new book, When Cancer Strikes a Friend: What to Say, What to Do, and How to Help, includes the advice and expertise of over forty professionals, as well as the experiences and wisdom of hundreds of survivors/family/friends.  Find out more.

Wednesday, January 16th, 7:00 p.m., Hunnewell Chapel. Free.

Sermon: B Thanksgiving 22 November 2012

Joel 2:21-27; Psalm 126; MATTHEW 6: 25-33

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God. AMEN.

Happy Thanksgiving. Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” On this day, of all days, it’s a toss-up whether I find this sentence condescending, sexist, or just plain objectionable—surely infuriating, “Don’t worry about what we’ll eat”—so who’s cooking for you today? Just as Jesus scolded Martha for not just listening after she’d provided, served, and cleaned up for him, and commended Mary for listening, so also I find it hard to take to be scolded for worry over a meal on Thanksgiving. Maybe Tina’s calm, but I’m always up late making pie, pealing apples and potatoes, writing, and up early to stuff the turkey, so that even if I get home from church latish, we’ll still eat at a reasonable time. Who picked this reading anyway—someone with household help, or a subservient, non-working wife? I suppose one doesn’t need to add worry, but there sure is a whole lot of work on this day for many women—now many people: driving, shopping, visiting, flying, chopping, waiting, baking, cooking, eating, cleaning, and celebrating: so how not to worry about it all coming out right?

Hurricane Sandy: A message to readers who need assistance

If you need help, contact DisasterAssistance.gov - Home. You can also apply via smartphone at http://m.fema.gov, or call (800) 621-3362 or TTY (800) 462-7585.

People will continue to need assistance for months. If you want to help, you can volunteer or donate cash to the Red Cross. You can also give to Doctors Without Borders, Occupy Sandy Relief, 350.org, or to The Episcopal Relief and Development's Hurricane Sandy Response Fund

Image by NOAA and the Naval Research Lab.

Sermon B 9 Pentecost Proper 12 — 29 July 2012

2 Sam 11: 1-14; Ps 14; Eph 3: 14-21; JOHN  6: 1-21

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice…  AMEN.

“Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” This is the 4^th of John’s seven signs and part of John’s account of the Feeding Miracle. Each Gospel tells this feeding miracle: the numbers vary—crowd counts always do, and Mark named only the number of men; the time of year varies—here it was linked to Passover, and so the feeding prefigures the Last Supper, part of the Passover, and a forebear of the Eucharist; the emphasis is different—the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke emphasize Jesus’ compassion for the people, while John shows Jesus’ power and authority.) Here too Jesus escapes or retreats to the mountain not only for respite, but also to avoid the crowd’s forcing him to be king. He already understood that temporal power wasn’t his path.