Update on Nepal and the Stephen R Novak Foundation

By Barbara Novak

The Foundation has been in frequent communication with our partners/friends in Nepal over the past months since the earthquakes in April and May of 2015. The school we sponsor survived the quakes and served as shelter for many families for several months. For the school, things are back as close to normal as possible. The Foundation has sent close to $20,000 in the past year to help with reconstruction, shelter, water, medicine, hygiene and shelter for the many children orphaned by the earthquakes. Thank you so much for all of your financial support to the Foundation and to me personally.

I will travel to Nepal with Nancy Spada who serves on the board of the Foundation and is involved in Fair Trade, on January 6, Epiphany. How fitting! We will be gone for 6 weeks returning on February 15. I ask for your prayers while we are gone but I also ask for your financial support. I will be wiring money to my business partner, Tula Shakya, before we leave and once there, will be overseeing the distribution of that money through the many organizations we work with there: Tallu Nallu Primary School, the school we sponsor; Joy Foundation Nepal and Tilganga Eye Centre for free medical care, cataract surgery and eye care; Mountain People for reconstruction, water delivery systems, and aid to orphans.

Your support in the past has been very gratifying. Your year-end gift is tax deductible. 

New Winter Offerings

The two meditation classes at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Mercer Island, will each be offering new courses.

The Thursday morning class starts a new series December 1 with  Meditation and Paul's Letter to the Galatians.  Our ongoing Thursday morning meditation and scripture study continues, this time turning to an in-depth exploration of Paul's Letter to the Galatians, linking that to spiritual practice and daily living.  The first hour from 10:00 to 11:00 AM focuses on intercessions for Emmanuel Parish during transition and discerning the call of a new rector, along with meditation with the Prayer of the Lamb. The second hour from 11:00 to 12:00 is devoted to scripture reflection and discussion.

Starting November 29, the Tuesday evenings new course is  Meditation and the Gospel of Matthew.  With the start of a new liturgical year, we will read and reflect on the Gospel appointed for this year. We offer intercessions and meditate from 7:00 to 8:00, and reflect on scripture passages with discussion from 8:00 to 9:00. All are welcome to come to either or both the meditation and study session. Call Beverly Hosea for details and instruction in meditation: 206-713-5321.

Location: The Chapel on the second floor at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 4400 86th Ave. SE, Mercer Island

All Saints Sermon

How are we all doing?  How do you folks feel right now?

How’s the anxiety level?

Some of us, I know, have been trying to fast from the news media,

            but for me that hasn’t worked so well,

so today I need to speak to you from what I am feeling,

            what I observe and what is close to my heart as most important spiritually

                                    for us here and now.

Now I know that a lot of us have mailed in our election ballots days ago.

            But it’s more than the election that is generating anxiety.

Currently we are seeing a world wide migration taking place,

            refugees from Syria, Africa, Central America as well as elsewhere.

Life has become so untenable in these areas, in so many places, 

            because of wars over religion, control of the drug market,

                        or simply a struggle for power and dominance.

And economic sustainability collapses for the populations in so many areas.

Then there is a resurgence in racism that brings into question

            all the advancements that we thought were made 

                        by the civil rights movement of just a few decades ago.

Also currently we are seeing another “war” – a gender war,

            after a period of a growing women’s movement

                        post WWII and especially 

                        during the 1980’s and 1990’s, 

                                    which was a period of tremendous visionary release.

Now we are encountering a massive push back

            and upsurge of what could be called male dominance behavior.

Yes, I know, what I am saying has a political ring to it.

            But my position is essentially not about the tension between

                        the candidates running for president,

but instead about the tension between 

            the way of life that generates these terribly wasteful conflicts

            and getting in touch with the reality of Jesus

                                                            and the wholeness of the Kingdom of God.

I say these things to distinguish between

            what we call, in biblical terms, the “kingdoms of this world,”

            as opposed to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Every single Eucharist and, I hope, daily for all of you

            we pray the Lord’s Prayer.

We ask for God’s kingdom or reign to come,

            to come within us, 

            to come with greater recognition of the reality within the midst of us,

                        just as Jesus declared.

This “kingdom” is not a political system like what we live in;

            it does not have borders drawn out on a map,

            nor treaties and foreign policies and laws governing commerce and all that.

The Kingdom of God is an entirely different paradigm.

            The economics of God’s Reign is about an irrepressible abundance 

            and an upside down use of power,

where love is the currency and serving is the expression of power.

Today we are commemorating all the saints

            and we fold into that remembering those who have died

                        those who are near and dear to us, whose loss we grieve.

Now we may not apply the trait of being a saint 

            to all those who have died that we want to remember.

God knows that Uncle Filbert could have benefitted from a little repentance, 

            that Aunt Hazel was in need of more grace,            

                        that the whole family tree was a little nuts.

But what do we have for the Gospel reading for All Saints Sunday,

            but the Beatitudes?

And this implies that there is a connection between 

            saints and those who are blest by God.

This year we have Luke’s version of the Beatitudes,

            and when you look at the list, the categories of those who are blest,

it’s hard at first to think of these people as the first saints that would come to mind.

"Blessed are you who are poor, 

for yours is the kingdom of God. 

"Blessed are you who are hungry now, 

for you will be filled. 

"Blessed are you who weep now, 

for you will laugh. 

"Blessed are you when people hate you, 

            and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you 

on account of the Son of Man,” who was also excluded, reviled and defamed.

Blessed are those who are poor,

            who are economically devastated, 

                        those who can’t make enough on minimum wage 

                                    to keep a roof over their heads

                        who pitch tents beside the freeway.

Blessed are those who are hungry,

            who do not have food stability, 

                        those who use up their supplemental nutrition assistance                                                             program benefits before the end of the month

                        and need to take a trip to the food bank,

            who stand at busy intersections with cardboard signs.

Blessed are those who weep,

            who are overwhelmed by their losses,

                        whose pension plans got raided by the companies they worked for,

                        those whose spouse died or left,

                        those who lost a child

                        those whose rent sky-rocketed 

                                    and forced them out of the neighborhood 

                                    where they had lived for decades

                                    away from all their support networks.

Blessed are those

            who are scapegoated, barred from immigration or are deported, 

            who have their treaty rights broken,

            who are verbally maligned and are subjected to bullying,

those who suffer discrimination and seemingly innocuous micro-aggressions

                        from people who do not even realize they are doing that.

These are the ones with whom our Lord Jesus identifies himself.

These are the ones who get the blessing,

            the ones who are most open to discovering 

how God pours out mercy, grace and compassion with the greatest of love.

These, the ones deemed of little value, those thought to be a drain on society,

            are the ones who get invited to the table in the Kingdom of God,

                        who get their feet washed by Jesus himself,

                        and experience more clearly than most of us 

                                    reconciling and healing love.

Well, are we now feeling more uncomfortable, not just anxious, but disturbed?

             

Please know that I have a deep yearning for us all to turn to Jesus.

We are sitting here in a Christian church on a Sunday morning,

            while most of our neighbors are either sleeping in 

                        or off doing all sorts of activities,

            that frankly we too might enjoy doing ourselves!

But we are here, because Jesus has got hold of us in some way.

We bring what is disturbing us, what is making us anxious,

            what causes us lost sleep.

And we hunger and thirst for such words as we hear in the liturgy,

            such as:

The collect for today – 

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect 

in one communion and fellowship 

in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: 

Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints 

in all virtuous and godly living, 

that we may come to those ineffable joys 

that you have prepared for those who truly love you…

And the words of the Gospel – Jesus said:

Love your enemies,

do good to those who hate you, 

bless those who curse you, 

pray for those who abuse you. 

If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; 

and from anyone who takes away your coat 

do not withhold even your shirt. 

Give to everyone who begs from you; 

and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Words just the opposite of any campaign speech you have heard 

                        or are likely to hear.

But you know in your heart, these words are true,

            they are words of life,

            they are the foreign policy and social welfare policy

                        and homeland security policy of the Kingdom of God.

We hunger and thirst for these words from the Eucharistic Prayer – 

It is truly right, and good and joyful, to give you thanks, 

all-holy God, source of life and fountain of mercy. 

You have filled us and all creation with your blessing 

and fed us with your constant love; 

you have redeemed us in Jesus Christ and knit us into one body. Through your Spirit you replenish us and call us to fullness of life.

And we find our hope and mission plan 

            that will sustain us back out there in the kingdoms of this world

in the words of  the post-communion prayer – 

God of abundance, 

you have fed us with the bread of life and cup of salvation; 

you have united us with Christ and one another; 

and you have made us one with all your people in heaven and on earth. Now send us forth in the power of your Spirit, 

that we may proclaim your redeeming love to the world 

and continue for ever in the risen life of Christ our Savior. 

So I pray for you, yes, I do,

            daily in my prayers of intercession.

I put my prayers for you into the words of St. Paul

                        that we heard in his letter to the Ephesians this morning:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, 

may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation 

as you come to know him, 

so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, 

you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, 

what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 

and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who trust him,                                                                                                                                     who have faith. 

So here I have poured out my heart sharing with you what is real to me.

            It’s not the kingdoms of this world, the political systems, 

that would provide the solutions to all that creates such anxiety around the globe.

            They are looking for solutions 

                        within their own structure and power systems,

but that can’t be found where they are looking.

Jesus is the Way, the living example of the Kingdom of God,

            and by the power of the Holy Spirit that he would breathe into us,

                        we can live a new life in him,

                        a life which is full of love and mercy.

We can stop watching the political systems run out their own self destruction,

and we can turn the eyes of our hearts to Jesus

            and have our fears and anxiety brought to peace.

Sermon for the Celebration of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

As a Franciscan who deeply values the example of St. Francis,

            I always appreciate the opportunity to help others

                        to see more in Francis than the blessing of animals.

Not that this is unimportant!

            We humans desperately need to get over our species bias,

                        our racism that sees the human race

            as more intelligent than other creatures, and therefore more important.

We need to get it that we are a part of the whole ecosystem,

            dependent on the other components of that ecosystem,

and, honestly, the ecosystem could get along just fine without us,

                        and probably a whole lot better.

That being said Francis knew the interrelationship of all the beings in creation.

            The Canticle of Creation expresses that fully.

Francis refers to Brother Sun, Sister Moon, brother fire and sister water,

            and our sister, Mother Earth, who generates so much that is life sustaining.

But Francis is known for more than his ecological astuteness.

There is the Francis who kissed the leper

            and identified with his Savior to such an extent

                        that he adopted a radical poverty so as to live the way Jesus did.

That close identification with Jesus reached its fullness

            when Francis experienced within his own body

                        the same wounds as Jesus bore in his crucifixion.

Today I want to talk about another aspect of Francis

            that I think is very timely and relevant to the issues of today

                        and what we are all facing to some degree or another.

This is Francis as the agent of peace in the 13^th Century and the 21^st Century.

Understand that Francis is a peace saint,

            a reconciler between God and humans

            and a reconciler among humans, one with another.

When Francis was a young man and still trying to achieve personal glory

            as a knight in shining armor,

he rode out from Assisi with many of his peers

            to engage in battle with the town of Perugia,

                        some 10 or 12 miles away,

            where there had been long standing contention between the two –

                        feudal warfare perpetuated over the generations.

Francis had been taken prisoner

            and had languished a year in a dungeon in Perugia,

                        before returning home ill and re-thinking the vain glory of war

Not many years later, now gathering many brothers about him

            and living a life of extreme Gospel poverty,

Francis was approached by those who also wanted to follow his example

            but who were married and had families to care for.

“Give us a rule of life to live by too,” they demanded of him.

And so the Third Order came into being.

In the rule that Francis gave them,

            as well as living simply and penitently,

                        Francis gave them a way to live reconciliation and peace:

“You are not to bear arms,” he told them.

As the medieval feudal system depended largely

                        on the serfs, the common people, for their standing armies,

            and as the Third Order grew rapidly to many thousands of members

                                                                                    throughout Europe,

the number of serfs available for carrying on the continual warring

                        between lords and fiefdoms shriveled up.

The influence of St. Francis of Assisi essential brought to an end

            the whole era of feudal warfare.

But there is another story about Francis often overlooked

            until this last decade or so.

In 2005, just four years after 9/11, on October 4

            the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi coincided with

                                                Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year,

                                                and the beginning of Ramadan.

This convergence provided a great opportunity for interfaith dialog,

            a time for learning about one another – Jew, Muslim and Christian –

            in order to build bridges of reconciliation and peace

                        in a time of war, violence and fear.

And it provided an opportunity to look with new understanding

            at the story of Francis during the 5^th Crusade

                        and his encounter with the Sultan Malik al-Kamil.

One thing this shows is that interfaith dialog is not new,

            is not a product of just this generation.

Eight hundred years ago Francis was engaged in

            a high level, interfaith dialog for the sake of reconciliation and peace.

The story goes that Francis and one of his brothers, Illuminato,

                        traveled to Damietta, Egypt, in 1219 during the 5^th Crusade,

            and they went where they weren’t supposed to go.

Risking their lives they sought out the Saracen leader,

            Sultan al-Kamil, who intrigued by Francis’ audacity,

                                                            and after some testing,

                        engaged with Francis in open-minded conversation.

Although Francis was unsuccessful in his attempt to see

                                    the sultan converted,

            he was granted safe passage instead of martyrdom,

            and the Sultan then gave offers for a truce and possible peace.

He also told Francis that although he could not become a Christian

                                    because of his leadership position,

            would Francis pray for him.

Now the reason Francis was able to get so far with the Sultan

            was not because of having convincing arguments

            or proving his way was the right way,

                        but through his openness of heart, his ability to listen and observe.

It was through his acceptance and willingness to embrace

                                                                                    all who came into his path.

No one was a leper to him anymore.

            No one was turned away from or rejected.

            Everyone was welcomed as though they were Christ himself.

Francis went to his enemy because he knew that he would find in him

                        what he had found in the leper – Jesus.

For always in the unexpected places Jesus is to be found.

In the two weeks that Francis and Brother Iluminato spent with the Sultan

            the conversation shifted,

                        moving into a place where neither had been before.

They found a space for dialog that they both could be in,

            a space liberated from the two warring sides,

            a place in which they could speak what was vital to life and death

                        that was not shared by the rest of those around them.

Liberated from the outer condition of the Crusade

            they could share with each other their spirituality,

                        talk about experiencing God in prayer.

This enabled them to get beyond stereotypes and differences.

During the 5^th Crusade, the one Francis took part in,

            his mission was not to defeat, but to embrace the enemy.

And what began as a confrontation in the Sultan’s tent evolved

            as each came to realize that before him was another human being

                        who knew God,

and so the need to convert was not the point;

            there was no need to turn the other to a different religion.

The Sultan was deeply impressed by Francis,

                        especially the way he was living what he preached,

                                    how he revealed Christ in his life.

And Francis was learning from the Sultan and his people

            a way of worshipping God that the people of Europe could benefit from.

For instance he came home to his brothers,

            and immediately encouraged them to prostrate themselves in praise to God

                        whenever they heard a church bell ring.

We have an extant prayer of St. Francis written after this encounter with the Sultan

            that praises God in the style of

                        the Islamic praises of the names or attributes of Allah.

I quote it in part:

“You are holy, Lord, the only God, and your deeds are wonderful.

You are strong.  Your are great. You are the Most High.

            You are almighty.  …

            You are Good, all Good, supreme Good…

You are love, You are wisdom, …

            You are joy and gladness. … justice and moderation.

You are beauty. …

            You are our haven and our hope.

You are our faith.  Our great consolation,

            Great and wonderful Lord, God almighty, Merciful Savior.”

So this example of Francis, I would like you to consider,

            is now today for us more relevant than ever.

Look at the issues around refugees, terrorism, immigration, Islamaphobia,

            and political and economic polarizations.

Francis went where he wasn’t supposed to go.

We are responsible for how we relate to the stranger living with us,

                        the immigrant, the refugee, the one who looks different,

            our social lepers.

Can we embrace them like Francis did?

Can we go where we are not expected to go? –

            to the place that brings reconciliation and peace.