Ken's sabbatical journal

What is the Value of a Sabbatical?

2004-08-31T20:00:00.000-04:00

What is the Value of a Sabbatical?
I have not done a formal survey on the subject, but I have the following impressions about sabbaticals for clergy.
It would appear to me that most UCC clergy in Connecticut have arrangements for sabbaticals in their agreements. Most seem to be an average of 3 months every 5 to 7 years. My sense is that elsewhere in the country and in other denominations, the regular arrangement for sabbaticals is more the exception than the rule. Most pastors have to work long and hard to be granted a sabbatical, and most do not even bother.
This impression calls me toward an even greater appreciation for the wonderful privilege that has been granted to me this year. This actually, now after 15 years, is the third sabbatical that I have been granted in my ministry here. I had one sabbatical in the 17 previous years of ministry in northern New England.
Of course, academia has a long history of sabbaticals that is part of the ethos of most universities. As chair of the Educational Policy Committee of the Board of Trustees of Bangor Theological Seminary, I regularly approve and receive reports on the sabbatical work of our professors. The seminary, like most colleges, grants a six month sabbatical at full pay or a full year at half pay every seven years. It is not unusual in our small seminary faculty that some professors go longer between sabbaticals than seven years. Most of them take the full year option and they are able, almost always, to obtain grants to make up the other half of the year’s pay. They very often are also able to locate grants to help in their academic research. The work that the professors do during their sabbatical times is almost always academic, often involving travel, particularly to locations important for their research. Many of them write or complete books for publication. They lecture, research and learn new skills. There are programs to help professors to teach better. The seminary, for its part, secures adjunct faculty or uses regular faculty to fill in, and essentially the professor on sabbatical checks out completely for 12 months. I must say that, in reviewing the work that these professors accomplish, I am impressed. They come back to the task renewed, with new ideas, new research, and new status in everyone’s eyes. (We have had two professors publish books in the last year: Marvin Ellison with 2 books on homosexuality, one of which is becoming a best seller in religious books, and Robert Sherman with an outstanding book on the Trinity).
Out of appreciation for the time that I get, which is much less than the academic model, but much more than most people get from their jobs, and out of respect for the church, I have always tried to make the best of my time. The way pastors use their sabbaticals is widely varied. One person wondered if I would be out looking for a new job, “Isn’t that what you do on a sabbatical?” Well, some actually do that, but I just do not feel that a church should pay me while on a job search. Many do significant travel. I envy them their ability to do that. Travel is rather expensive, as we found in England and Wales. Some work on advanced degrees, some improve their golf game. Most find a way to relax and unwind after 5 or more years of a challenging professional life. I usually do a lot of reading and relaxing, some travel, and some special program of professional development. This year the clergy spiritual life program at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation provided an outline for the work that I was doing. I had a number of other projects on which I did what I call “soft research.” This involves visiting other churches, reading in new areas and listening and talking. All of it seemed worthwhile, although I have to admit that the suggestion to keep a weblog turned out to be the best idea to come along. Thanks to Ladd Bethune who suggested the idea and made it possible.
So what is the value of a sabbatical? In my humble research, I have found that few churches place any requirement on the pastor and, I assume, most trust their pastor to make the best use of the time, or to just plain waste the time, as long as they come back refreshed.
Was it worthwhile? That remains to be seen. Given the fact that I was eager to get back into my study at the church before the end of August, I would have to say that I am at least refreshed. Time will tell if there are new ideas and new dedication to the task. I do hope that all of that comes to fruition. For my own professional growth, having the goal of a sabbatical somewhere on the horizon, enables me to keep track of areas of growth potential.
Once again I do want to express my appreciation to the church for granting me this sabbatical. I do not see it as a matter of entitlement, as some might. I appreciate those who stayed behind and made the church function in my absence. Coming into my study today, it did seem that I had been gone for a long time (I could not find a couple of things that I had put away), but in another way it did not seem to be all that long. The staff, the leadership of the church, and I will very quickly be back at the work of the ministry of this church. I am glad to be back. Maybe that, in itself, tells me that the time was of value. I hope there are other aspects of my ministry that seem apparent to you in the months to come.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

Sailing: Metaphor or Life?

2004-08-23T11:30:00.000-04:00

Sailing: Metaphor or Life?
Those who know me well realize that I often understand life in nautical terms. There are certain experiences common to the sailor that I find similar to life itself. So sailing becomes for me a metaphor for life, as I see and live it.
On the other hand, most sailors feel that sailing is life itself, and they would conclude that the rest of life is, at its best, a metaphor for sailing. For many a sailor the most important hours and days are those spent on the water, not the hours and days sitting at a desk dreaming of sailing.
Kenneth Grahame understood reality when he wrote in Wind in the Willows, “There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats…or with boats…In or out of ‘em, it doesn’t matter.” When a sailor dies I often read John Masefield’s Sea Fever, “I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,” and every one who knows the sea, nods and concurs. The sailor would rather die on board heading out to sea than anywhere else.
One might imagine the sailor to be a solitary soul, adrift on the ocean alone, but whether the sailor is alone or part of a crew, the task is one of complete connection, not isolation. The sailor at the helm might seem to be alone in his thoughts, but he or she is actually seeking the greatest harmony possible, in balance with the boat and all of the elements, the wind, the current, the time and the tide. My son, Geoffrey, calls it an intimacy with boat and water. We sail our small boats sitting on the rail, as far up on the gunwale as possible, to add weight and ballast in order to balance the boat and to get one’s face up into the wind. The shifts in direction, the temperature changes, the varying sources of the wind, and its velocity become intuitive gauges to signal changes in the handling of the boat. As time goes on the skipper becomes organically one with the boat and the elements. The old salt may not say a word, while concentrating all attention on the environment.
And of course the sailor is always conscious of the beauty around. Sailing the coast of Maine is the best, but anywhere there is water is beautiful enough to inspire. How can one help but be moved by the rocky coast, the sandy beach, the soaring gull, and the rolling wave? There are porpoises happily arching on the port side, and a seal with his rounded dog head looking around on starboard. There is an osprey calling above ready to plunge for food, and an enormous jelly fish below. Even the fog paints a picture with the right hue for the day. The sailor appreciates the beauty, perhaps without a word. And the sailor would do anything to preserve that land and seascape. The harmony with the elements translates to a respect for the environment and its creatures.
The sailor knows all about faith. He or she depends on constants and on change. The helmsman trusts the boat and the crew. The sailor also knows that God helps those who help themselves. The captain never takes unnecessary risks. When you are out there on the ocean, there is no one on whom you can depend, but yourself. The boat and its physics, however, will always respond to the wind and the waves in a dependable way. The harmony of sailing is a spiritual experience, like the union felt in meditation. The sailor is one with the universe and one with God. So the sailor knows all about faith and trust.
And the sailor knows all about prayer. The Breton fisherman’s prayer goes like this: “O, God Thy Sea Is So Great And My Boat Is So Small.” How can you experience the power of the water and the wind, and sense the beauty of sight, sound, smell and touch when you sail your boat, and not be struck by the awesome providence of God? The sea is great and any boat is small. God is with the sailor.
How I wish every day life were like sailing. Sailing is best when it is in harmony, balancing the helm, the elements, the boat and the crew. Life that copies sailing would be peaceful. There are rules of sea that virtually everyone obeys. Even in sailboat racing, where competition heightens the aggression with which one sails, the rules are intended to be self-patrolled. The sailor who fouls the other takes the penalty usually without anyone asking. The day of racing ends with tea or beer, depending on the fleet, but always with good hearted camaraderie. Harmony and respect of the other are the goals and desire of the sailor.
So when we sail we are either going somewhere while we maximize the tuning of the boat, the crew and the elements to get there in the most efficient way, or we are not going anywhere in particular and just enjoying the esthetic feeling of movement through nature. So often in life I realize that we do not function harmoniously, and there is no efficiency in what we do. And when we could just enjoy the day, we forget to allow ourselves the opportunity to just enjoy the moment, the way we so often do on board a boat. Life should be as good as sailing.
How I wish everyone could understand life as a sailor may. What would the world be like if sailing were life? Cooperation, harmony, appreciation of beauty, love of the universe, could all improve our appreciation of life itself. So then is sailing a metaphor for life, or is it life itself? Whatever it is, it is a satisfying way to spend one’s time.

Ken Brookes

kbrookes@aol.com

Quaker Meeting has begun....

2004-08-22T22:22:00.000-04:00

“Quaker Meeting has begun, no more laughter, no more fun,” starts the childhood game. Well, we went to Quaker meeting this morning and we were not at all clear when it began.
We arrived at the local Friends’ Meeting before the posted hour of 9:00 am, and we took our places in the circle at the Northeast Harbor Neighborhood House. A number of people arrived after us, the last of whom took a chair at 9:25.
Meanwhile we sat in silence meditating. Actually no one said anything until 9:45. Some time between 9 and 9:45 I realized that the Quaker meeting had begun. It began for me when I started to meditate. And the meeting itself came alive when I came to the notion that the responsibility for my worship of God at Quaker meeting was my own and not that of anyone else. Most Friends’ meetings have no pastoral leadership, so the responsibility for the spiritual life is up to each individual.
This was my first real exposure to a Friends’ meeting. I had become more interested in the Quaker tradition because of the importance they place on meditation and spiritual discernment. I would not make any significant observation about Quakers based on this one experience. After all, many of the people present at today’s gathering were visitors. Nonetheless, once they started talking I could see how each person was granted the power to be a witness to God moving in their lives and in their spirits.
The few who spoke today quoted scripture or traditional Quaker principles. They spoke well and with sincerity. Later they shared concerns and all introduced themselves. As it happened we knew a number of the people present, so we felt comfortable. I did not reveal my full identity as a pastor of another denomination, but I am sure that would not have made any difference to them.
I respect the ability of these people to sit and meditate in silence. I suspect that after a while one would be able to feel the movement of the spirit in the quiet. The time in silence worked on me, and it made the words that were shared even more important because they were surrounded by silence and not by more words or noise. One of the important observations that one person made was the Quaker principle of “seeing that of God in everyone.” This is a very important lesson for all of us, and I take it to heart.
I missed singing, of course, but we had a delightful time. We decided that we would miss some of the important parts of our usual liturgy, and would be unlikely to want to go to worship there every week, but it was a very nice diversion from the usual. It is heartening to know that there is a group that is so comfortable in the peace that comes from silence in community. If one experienced this kind of worship frequently enough, one would come to the conclusion that Quaker meeting does not begin. It is always in session.
What about the “laughter and fun”? Well, they were not unhappy people. They greeted us warmly and seemed to enjoy one another and the process of coming to know God in their unique way.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

My Experiece with the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation

2004-08-19T15:54:00.000-04:00

Pastors have unusual opportunities to enhance their spiritual lives, privileges of which many lay people would be jealous. Pastors also have unusual stresses on their spiritual lives of which many lay people may lack knowledge. Pastors have the freedom to use some of their time in prayer and spiritual development. Much of our reading, thinking and action has to do with our relationship with God. Each week the pastor wrestles with the Biblical text in order to eke out another sermon, all the while in conversation with God. Lay people who have barely enough time for a water cooler break would be jealous of the opportunities for prayer that pastors have.
On the other hand it is stressful to be professionally religious. You are expected, more than any lay person, to be connected to God. We are just ordinary people who have been called to this profession. We do not necessarily have a more direct link to God, but people expect that we do. Moreover technology and competition has driven the church to be both more efficient and more complicated. The Internet, email, cell phones and communications systems have expanded significantly the availability and speed of our professional lives. Whereas at one time churches could count on members coming to church without a special invitation, now churches are competing with hundreds of other worthy causes for the time of their parishioners. So we have to work harder in order to stay in the same place. Technology and competition have sapped the pastor’s time and attention to the point that it is difficult to maintain a spiritual life. In my first years of ministry I was pastor of 2 small churches and I had time for prayer and reading virtually every morning. Those days are long gone.
Over the years the pressure of work and the way in which I allowed some of my spiritual muscles to atrophy found me in a slow descent into a state of spiritual hunger and need. I was aware that I was not feeling centered in my life. The job was at the center, and not necessarily God. Having the church at the center may look like God is as the center, but there is a difference. Over the years of ministry I felt the tension between my desire to be deeper in the spirit and the realities of my professional life. In recent years as I planned a sabbatical for 2004 I committed myself to placing the enhancement of my spiritual life at the top of the list of my needs and desires.
It was about that time, early in 2003 that I opened a piece of mail from the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation promoting a special clergy program, Clergy Spiritual Life and Leadership Program. It was to have 2 residencies spread over two summers, significant reading, spiritual direction and peer support. The mailing came as a Godsend. I prayed about it and consulted with some people and signed right up. This program has given me a structure around which to fulfill the plans for my sabbatical.
In summary I have been taken into deeper places in my spiritual life, have been affirmed in the knowledge of God that had always been there, and been blessed with a commitment to a more disciplined prayer life. I had never had an opportunity to be drawn into the depths of meditation and contemplation. The mentoring I have received through this program has been priceless in opening new doors of opportunity for me. I found a deeper expression of God, but this was not entirely a new experience to me. I found that my intuitions about God were confirmed. I had always known God in prayer, in meditation and in my dream work. I have come closer to the very same God I always knew. And further, the responsibility I feel to myself and to my peer group has given me the impetus to have a more constant and regular discipline of prayer.
The enhancement of my spiritual life is important in itself, but it is even more significant in its impact on the life of the congregation that I serve. Of course, the spiritual life of a congregation is not dependent on that of its pastor. I have always known that there are members of my church who are, perhaps, more faith filled than I ever could be. On the other hand the influence of the pastor on the spirit of the congregation would seem to be evident. The pastor gives shape to an understanding of scripture, leads the congregation in prayer and demonstrates the life of the spirit to all who would follow. I have done my best through the years to influence the congregations I serve in a positive manner, and I now feel better prepared to lead by example. Now that I feel considerably more centered in my personal and spiritual life, I should be better equipped to lead for the future.
It would be wrong to assume that the Spirit of God has not been moving in our congregation, for the spirit has always moved since its founding in 1722. There have been other significant movements in recent years that point to the movement of the Spirit. Two years ago we started a book discussion group called a World of Understanding, through which we have explored different cultures, religions and life styles. This has been well received and helped us all become more sensitive to other cultures in a world in which understanding is so very important. This last year we started a program of reading the Bible through the year. Dozens of people have signed up and they seem to be continuing in their reading and Bible study. We expanded the attendance at Bible study significantly. Last year I also started a group that was focused on meditation, called a “lay listening group,” as part of the Shalem program. This meditation group was so well received that I intend to extend an open invitation for others to join. We have an ongoing internet prayer chain that has always fulfilled a very important spiritual and pastoral purpose. It was out of these experiences of spirit and community that it was suggested that I write a weblog during my sabbatical. For the last several months I have contributed regularly to this blog and have received much response from people who appreciate knowing what I am thinking and doing. I do believe that the Spirit has been moving in our congregation in very powerful ways. This is seen in the level of participation and support that the church exhibits, and even more in the way the church members care for one another and for those in need. The church has demonstrated its spirituality inwardly and outwardly. Prayer is very important for our church’s life.
A sabbatical is a special time for prayer and one natural subject of prayer is one’s vocation. This is a likely moment in which to reflect on what I am doing and where I am going. In the last year or two various experiences have caused me to realize that I am much closer to retirement than I am to the beginning of my ministry. The denomination starts inviting us to pre-retirement seminars when we hit 55. That was a rude awakening. Attitudes toward retirement in the last 15 years have swung back and forth. For a number of years it was easy for people to retire before 65 because of the strength of the economy. There are enough retired folk in their late 50’s and early 60’s that people expect that everyone can and wants to do so. I have come to the conclusion that I would just not be inclined to retire early. I have plenty of things to do in retirement, with many hobbies and projects on hold, but, God willing, I expect that there is the possibility of my having many years in retirement. and plenty of time for those projects. Meanwhile, I have the opportunity to serve God and God’s people. Why would I give that up? I enjoy my work and find so much meaning in what I do that I would be disinclined to surrender my vocation.
Fortunately there are opportunities for pastors to continue in some kind of ministry after retirement. So there are other possibilities later on. Right now I am focusing on the years ahead. My goal is to “finish the race strong.” I have a belief that through one’s ministry one should be constantly reinvented. This is particularly true if one is staying in the same place for 10 or more years, as I have done. Part of my motivation for being involved in this program of spiritual renewal was to reinvent my ministry. My prayer is that the direction of my vocation in the years ahead will be a deepening of my own spiritual life and that of the congregation that I serve. My hope is that prayer can support my ministry and the life of the church.
What that means is both knowing and not knowing. What is certain is the uncertainty, that is, I am open to the future and what it means. If the style and content of my ministry change by the leading of the spirit, that is all right with me. What is equally interesting is the unpredictability of my spiritual life. I do not know where I will be taken as I go deeper into God’s life within me. This is not something that one can plan. As I have already found out, the spirit has brought me into new places, and it will continue to do so. So my plans for the future are not really my plans. I will try to be open to God’s leading and see where I am taken.
The greatest challenge is finding the support necessary to stay close to God’s Spirit in the moment and to keep the course for the vision of ministry that God is giving me. Strange as it may seem I believe that one has to look outward as well as inward for the resources necessary. I do intend to remain in spiritual direction, through which I work with an advisor on spiritual issues. Having someone along for the ride helps keep me on track. For the short term the peer group that I had during the Shalem program is continuing with monthly meetings by phone. This group of people understands the challenges that I face spiritually and know the direction I am going, so they have particularly good help for me. I belong to a senior clergy support group but that is not spiritually oriented, although it does meet personal and professional needs. I do hope to include regular personal and directed retreats as a way to keep in touch with God. I read a lot of spiritually oriented literature and that is always a way for me to find the leading of the spirit, for reading is a jumping off place for my meditation. I respond to the thoughts generated by the writer and I ponder their meaning for me.
The spiritual life of my congregation is also a major source of support for me. I know that there are others praying with me, and when I need it, I know that they would pray for me, with all sincerity. The prayerful witness of members of our church is very impressive. If one were inclined to lose faith in the power of prayer, one merely has to talk with the many praying people of our congregation. They would leave you with no doubt about the power that prayer has for their lives. I receive much of the support I need for my spiritual life from the very people I am supposed to be leading. That may be as it should be. Is the pastor supposed to be over and above the congregation, or is the pastor supposed to be with the congregation? As I live with the members of our church through disease, tragedy and disaster I minister God’s love to them, and they minister God’s love to me as well. There is a very interesting way in which accompanying people through the transitions of life and the transformations of their spiritual lives tends to increase one’s own spiritual experience.
In the end, the responsibility for my spiritual life is essentially mine. I cannot depend on others to remind me, to bring me up short, to commend me, to pray for me. It is my responsibility. So I must develop and enhance my disciplines. Undergirding my spiritual life is my physical well being. I have always found that my prayer life is enhanced if I am in good physical condition. Further, while running, walking, hiking, cycling or swimming I have time to pray and think. The rhythmic and personal aspects of these sports are natural to enhance prayer. They are often solitary pursuits.
A daily discipline of prayer is easy enough to do, it would seem, except that the pressure of everyday life significantly distracts from one’s ability to keep the discipline. I find that early in the day is better for me. I am my most alert and attuned to the world in the early morning. I have less spiritual interference coming my way. Conflicts developing from church or staff concerns have not yet arisen, so I have more peaceful space for prayer, psychically and spiritually. I need to keep that time for myself and not let it get taken by the many projects on which I like to get a head start early in the morning. From 5 AM on, I am ready to get going. I need to remember that prayer is the most important project with which I must start each day.
I have a prayer list that I keep updated, actually in my Palm Pilot. Thus I have my prayers of intercession readily available. This enables me to truly be in prayer for those in need. I try to keep track of those whose lives are broken by disease and trouble so that they are in my prayers. I also keep a prayer diary close by when I am praying. Over many years I have kept a prayer diary, in which I have recorded my conversations with God. I have on a few occasions gone back to look at these conversations and I am impressed by the way God has guided me and by the way my faith has evolved. This prayer diary is now in many different notebooks over the years.
I also use reading as a start for my meditation, usually reading in the classic literature on prayer and faith. When praying, I may read only a paragraph or two, and meditate from that material. Similarly, I use lectio divina as a method of meditation, which is slow and deliberate reading of scripture. This works like regular reading, but its connection to the spiritual wisdom of the ages and the Word of God, gives it a power that is above all other reading.
Some of my prayer time is spent opening up to God, in a spirit of petition, my own needs. Often these needs have to do with professional and personal decisions. I always get help from God on these issues, sometimes hearing things that I do not want to hear. At times through my life, the responses from God have been clear and direct, and life-saving. I am grateful for the relationship that I have had with God for many years of my life.
The grand lesson from the Shalem experience has been open minded meditation and contemplation. This is prayer with little or no agenda. It is prayer in which one clears the mind of the confusion and busyness of everyday life. The mind and spirit are set at ease, and the heart is directed to listening to God. Contemplation is a gift of God sometimes experienced through meditation in which one has the benefit of a pure experience of God’s presence. Contemplation can come in other ways, but it is best known through meditation. I am really still meditating with or without contemplation. Just waiting for God is an experience of great peace and healing. At first the thought of a few minutes in silent prayer seemed to be beyond my ability. My mind rushed so much that I was unable to just be in a spirit of receptivity. Now with the experience through the Shalem Institute I am able to go on day long silent retreats with no difficulty. I am more comfortable with the silence.
So some of the support that I need to maintain my discipline comes from the experience that I have had in prayer through the years and in particular through the Shalem Program. I will have to work hard to maintain the discipline, but I believe that it is within reach. I will look beyond myself continually to find support from the community, professional and church, but I know that the most important source of support will come from my own discipline and commitment.
If I were to ask myself, what is the one prayer that I have for myself at this time it would be: I pray that I will have the discipline to keep a regular spiritual life. My most fundamental prayer for my congregation is that it develop with me a deepening of its spiritual life.
Any growth in the spiritual life of our congregation will come first by God’s grace. I have a plan for the enhancement of the corporate prayer life and personal prayer life of the members of our church. I am sure that there will be many new ideas as time passes, but I will endeavor to enhance prayer throughout the church’s life. This will have a significant impact on the way our church meets the future.
As I look back on my sabbatical and the experience through the Shalem Institute, I am grateful for the time and for God’s guidance that pushed me in this direction. It has been very good for me and I believe that it will be good for the congregation that I serve. It is obvious to me now, but it took a long time for me to come to this conclusion, that prayer is the foundation of ministry and of the church. I am learning and relearning some things that were not well formed for me in years past. But all things come in their own time. I am now receptive to the deepening of my spiritual life, so now is the right time. I am thankful for God’s grace.

Ken Brookes
KBrookes@aol.com
copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

July 27 - Day 8 at Shalem - Reentry

2004-07-28T08:21:00.000-04:00

July 27 – Day 8 at Shalem – Reentry
When one goes on a spiritual retreat, it takes some time to leave behind one’s everyday life and concerns. When one returns from a retreat, it also takes some time to reenter one’s every day environment. Even though I was returning to more sabbatical time and then vacation, I found a clash of worlds starting with the flight home.
Fortunately I was sufficiently relaxed in spirit that I did not get too upset with having my flights postponed all day and into the night. Travel time extended to 12 and 1/2 hours. To further text my calm spirit I was stopped for speeding a mile from our home in Maine at quarter of 1 in the morning. Fortunately, the police officer, who must have been trying to amuse himself in the dead of the night, just gave me a warning and told me to watch out for deer. Maybe if I had been in a different mood and had not been so “zen,” he would have ticketed me. I was exhausted and glad to get home to my family.
The other aspect of the trip home that unnerved me was the noise. After a week of peace and quiet and of significant heart to heart dialogue, the barrage of people filling all the air around them with chatter on their cell phones really set me on edge. There were an incredible number of people who were either doing business or catching up with family and friends at the expense of the rest of us who wanted to read, meditate or rest.
Another mistake I made was to buy the 9/11 Report in a book store at the airport. For a week I had been exposed to only the minimum of news of the world. I had wondered from time to time if any one inform us of a major world crisis during our quiet time. I guess they would have. The 9/11 Report is probably not a good airport book, since the first part of the book talks about the hijackings and the intentional crashes. It is terrifying to think about the ease with which the terrorists were able to commandeer 4 aircraft on that morning and send three of them into their planned targets, with the fourth plowing into a field in Pennsylvania due to the revolt of courageous passengers. A book like this can make the best of us a little paranoid when flying, but I figured a little plane heading toward Bangor, ME, was unlikely to be a major target.
However, the real challenge of reentry is keeping one’s resolve. My resolve has to do with my own prayer life and the way in which I show my leadership in the church. It is easier to be regular in prayer in a retreat setting, when your meals are prepared for you, and there is no lawn to mow or boats to sail. So the challenge now and when I am back at work is to maintain regular times of prayer and meditation. Then the effort will be to work on my plan to enhance my spiritual leadership and to lead the church in its spiritual life.
Those of us involved in this 2 year program for the deepening of spirituality for clergy are talking about extending the program for another year. We still have some work to do before we receive our certificates of completion. Some of us will continue our peer group discussions beyond our “graduation” and there may be an extended retreat next summer. All of us are trying find ways to keep the spirit going while we are not on retreat.
I suppose this is the challenge for all of us. How do we keep our faith and our prayer life active in the busy, overbooked lives that we lead? How do you do it? If you need help as I do, perhaps we can help each other.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

July 26, 2004 Day 7 at Shalem - Prayer and Community

2004-07-27T09:36:00.000-04:00

Day 7 at Shalem – Prayer and Community
The focus of prayer at the Shalem Institute is largely on meditation and contemplation, as the foundation of the spiritual life. Through the centuries of Christianity and in the spirit of many religions, waiting on God in quiet and openness has been the way in which God has been encountered. The reason that we spend so much time at the Shalem Institute in meditation is because, strange as it may seem, very little of our Christian preparation, either in church school or seminary, is spent in developing this kind of prayer and approach to God. Much of Western Christianity lost its roots in meditation over recent years.
On the other hand, the Christian church has done a better job at emphasizing the prayers of the community, public prayers and prayers of intercession and petition. In public prayers we try to find words that speak for all of us, and that turn our hearts together toward God in adoration and petition. In prayers of petition we ask God for what we need, and in prayers of intercession we ask God to meet the needs of others. In intercession we pray for healing, for restoration and for peace for the world. These are what I call prayers of the community. They both express the unity of the church and they express our love and bond to others. Whether we are praying in the church, or in the family or for those in need at work, we are praying in such a way that the unity of humanity is enhanced (unless, of course, one is praying for the destruction of another. The request addressed to God that seeks revenge or malice falls outside the realm of Christian prayer, it seems to me.)
Is one kind of prayer more important or better than another? Are those who meditate of a higher spiritual standing than those who pray with lists of concerns and intercessions? Or are the prayers that are offered in church, especially those prepared by the pastors heard better by God, than the simple prayers offered at the table before dinner? Is the contemplative better than the petitioner?
Obviously, I doubt that there is a hierarchy of prayer. The church and the Christian faith need prayers of all sorts. It is our means of communicating with the Divine One, and so we need more and not less prayer. The church should be constantly experimenting and pushing the edges of prayer. That is what we do on retreat and in the quiet of the meditation room. We delve deeper into prayer, calling to God and intently listening.
So the church that wants to be whole must have all sorts of prayer at the same time. A church that is whole would have effective corporate prayer in its liturgy, prayer that calls the church together, orients the church toward God, and expresses the desires and needs of the people before God. A church that is whole would provide support for those who meditate, through meditation groups and space and time for contemplation. Last year as part of the requirements of my program at the Shalem Institute I was expected to start a “lay listening” group, designed to meditate on the presence of God in our lives and in the church. This was essentially a meditation group, which was so compelling for those of us involved, that I want to expand this group to include any who are interested. A church that is whole would bind as many people together as possible, offering before God common intercessions. The internet provides excellent opportunities for prayer groups to keep the community focused on the needs of others. Anyone can participate in our internet prayer chain by emailing me at kbrookes@aol.com. We keep updated lists of those in need on the bulletin board near the office. Perhaps there are other ways in which we can inform the congregation of needs for prayer without breaching needs and rights of confidentiality.
Prayer life is the foundation of the community of the church, and I pray that it will be the true foundation of our church and its community. I hope that many members of our church will start praying now that we can become a praying church. Take some time now during the summer to expand your prayer life.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

July 25, 2004 - Day 6 at Shalem - Silence

2004-07-26T12:54:00.000-04:00

July 25, 2004 – Day 6 Shalem – Silence
            Andre Louf, a Cistercian monk and teacher on the subject of prayer answers the question “is praying difficult?” by comparing it to learning how to play the lute. When one starts playing the lute there are too many things to think about, how to hold it, how to strike it, how to tune it, etc. But once one learns how to play the lute, it is simple and a joy.
            A year ago, when I was scheduled for my first real silent retreat of 36 hours I was overwhelmed by the thought. I just could not understand how I could last without contact and conversation. How would I be able to stay off the internet and the cell phone for that long? Moreover, I had no idea what I would do with myself. If I could not make any noise and conversation, what would I do with my brain?
            The learning from that first silent retreat was that I could do it. There is a luxurious sense of lightness of being when you have an expanse of a day and a half without conversation. In the silence I was open to converse with God. I could come back to that engagement when I drifted off to something else. Moreover, I was so relaxed after that time of silence that I never again would fear it.
            Since then I have taken a couple of days for silent retreat, and my only regret is that I have not taken more. My intention is to do so in the future.
            So today I have taken time to read scripture and reflect on it. I have read some of the great mystics of the centuries and noted the ways in which their experiences inform mine. And I have had the time when I could luxuriate in seeming to do nothing, to meditate and ponder the surroundings. On a long walk in the woods I could appreciate the beauty around me and admire the dozens of young deer who crisscross the paths. Sitting by the pond next to the Bon Secours retreat center I could watch the gold fish and the carp swim by, and the ducks paddling on the surface.   I could also listen to the fly nearby. The branches of the trees gently waved in the wind. The butterflies dutifully invaded the butterfly bushes. Others among the retreat group walked quietly by in the depth of their own reflections and reveries. It was a quiet time for my soul.
            I went into this day cautious and fearful about some things that I feel that I should do with my life. I knew the right thing to do, but I was not sure that I could do it. I prayed about it. I meditated on the scripture and held up my problems before God. And I spent some time in which I did not focus on my problems at all. But late in the day when I came back to one of the problems, I knew that I was encouraged to the point that I really should try to do the right thing, and I am confident that I can do it now. I started a game plan for the project that I previously had felt was out of my reach, and the ideas just flowed out filling several pages of my notebook.
            How did that come about? Was it God giving me the ideas? Was it my relaxed state that gave me the energy to freely develop the plan? Or was it both? Whatever it is, I can sense that I am much more committed to working toward a spiritually healthy church than I may have been in the past.
            Is the silent retreat worth the time and effort? Absolutely yes! Is it difficult? Well, it is at first, but once you have had the experience you will know how powerful and encouraging it is. In the silence when our mouths are shut and our minds are in tune with the universe, we can hear God speaking.
            Can you hear God now?
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

July 24 - Day 5 at Shalem - Spiritual Foundations for a Church

2004-07-25T17:48:00.000-04:00

July 24 - Day 5 at Shalem – Spiritual foundations for a Church
            The connection between the personal and the professional for the pastor is important. It may also be unusual, it seems to me, for people to have such a close rapport between all of the personal aspects of their lives and their professional conduct. Even, or maybe especially, the pastor’s spiritual life is closely linked to his or her professional life. Further the pastor’s spiritual life is closely connected to the spiritual life of the church he or she serves.
            So when pastors go on retreat, it is quite common that the discussion and meditation comes back to the spiritual life of the church. The pastor has the responsibility to feed and nurture that spiritual life. In a nice circular way, of course, the spiritual life of the church figures largely in the spiritual feeding of the pastor. If the church is spiritually mature the pastor is fed by the people who nurture that spiritual life in the congregation, and the pastor is buoyed and encouraged by the health of the parish. By the same token a spiritually needy church can drain and discourage the pastor, just as a spiritually needy pastor can drain and discourage the church.
            So just as the circle is a symbol of wholeness, the cycle of feeding and nurturing in which the pastor and the congregation circle one another in a great arc of health and wholeness.
            What is the foundation of the spiritual health and well being of a church? Some would argue that the pastor’s prayer life is the spiritual foundation of the local church. If the pastor is the one to nurture the spiritual health of the congregation, then this pastor centered formula makes sense. The pastor should be spending more than enough time in prayer and meditation to be able to feed a parish on a normal week, so that there is enough to spare in a difficult week.
            The down side to this formula is, however, that it places far too much weight on the shoulders or the folded hands of the pastor. Can one person really be responsible for the spiritual well being of a church? No one could really imagine that to be true. Indeed, as many members of a church as possible (ideally the whole congregation) need to be engaged in nurturing the spiritual well being of the church. This means that every member of the church who can nbe coaxed to do so should be spending more than enough time to nurture the church through a normal week, so that there is enough left over for the difficult week.
            Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that one could determine an ideal amount of time that would be adequate for the spiritual support of a church. I cannot imagine that it would be less than a half hour, so let’s just assume that somewhat more than a half hour a day would be more than adequate prayer for a whole congregation to pray in order to support its spiritual well being. Of course, some people would not pray, so you would have to have some people praying more than a half hour. But can you imagine the impact on a church if large numbers of people were praying at least half an hour a day, and what would happen if they understood that part of the usefulness of that prayer is the spiritual sustenance of the church. Do you think that such a church would have any problems? My imagination tells me that many of the challenges to a church would fade away.
            A church full of prayers would have little trouble making up its mind about goals and directions. The discernment process would always be in process for a congregation that prays and meditates. A church full of praying people would have plenty of people ready and able to serve. A church that prayed would have the money it needs to follow its faith. A church of prayers would have hope for the future. Church members who pray and feel confident in the spiritual viability of its congregation would bring their friends and relatives to fill and refill the pews. It is an easy formula for church growth.
            A church that prays would incorporate prayer into its whole life and not just the private lives of its members. If the whole congregation is praying, then there would be no need to ask the pastors to pray at every meeting. That church would have a whole cadre of people acquainted with dialogue with the Lord. They might even pray over the preacher before the service. They might be willing to pray for one another in worship, even to lay on hands for those particularly in need of prayer. A church that prays would know how important it is to discern the movement of the spirit in its life. A church that prays would know the meaning of pastoral care and radical care for the world.
            Well, what is the foundation of the spiritual well being of a church? It is prayer, the pastor’s prayer and meditation as his or her spiritual shield and staff for the journey. Prayer is the implement of salvation in the hands of the whole congregation. It is the very foundation of the church, because prayer is the way in which Jesus, the cornerstone, comes with regularity into the life of any church.
            Pray without ceasing.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

July 23 - Day 4 at Shalem - Prayer and Social Concern

2004-07-25T17:46:00.000-04:00

July 23 – Day 4 at Shalem - Prayer and Social Concern
            A common and ultimately facile analysis of religious life would assume that there are those in the church who pray and who are concerned about the spiritual life, and then there are other people who are concerned about social justice issues, and who are engaged in the social action ministry of the church. Not only is it assumed that these are 2 separate groups, but it is also thought that they will rarely eve associate with one another.
            Among the many benefits of enhancing one’s spiritual life is an increasing wholeness in faith. Prayer and meditation lead to a life in which one is regularly in prayer about the needs of the world. And moments of contemplation into which one may be drawn, if one is open, will lead the prayer into oneness with God and the universe. It is almost impossible for the contemplative to avoid a spiritual connection to those in need in the world and to the groaning of a natural world that is abused by the human species. And once the contemplative is engaged with the needs of the world it is very difficult to feel whole without being personally engaged with healing the world and its people.
            For many of us the needs of the world are so overwhelming that we are afraid of being consumed and exhausted by social concern. Prayer and meditation, however, can be the cure for exhaustion and burnout. The Christian brings to the arena of social concern the lightness of being and grace that is God’s to give. When we are deep in prayer in our lives, we cannot help but be engaged with the needs of the world. We are also freed from having to cure the ills of the world on our own. We have the promise of God’s will and power and of the saving grace of the coming of God’s realm on earth.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

July 22 - Day 3 at Shalem. Discernment

2004-07-25T17:45:00.000-04:00

July 22 – Day 3 at Shalem. Discernment.
            It is easy for us to call God our guide as we often do in our liturgy, but it is actually quite difficult for most of us to actually feel that guidance in our every day lives. How do we as individual Christians and as Christian churches know what God wants of us?
            Of course we can read the Bible, but many of the decisions and challenges of today’s life are not dealt with in the Bible. Some of the Biblical prescriptions are for a vastly different era and are difficult to apply directly to the age in which we live.
            Or we can apply reason. It is certainly true that we should not do stupid and unreasonable things and label them as the will of God. So we apply reason. Or we can ask respected friends, advisors, and family members, but some times their advice is more filled with their prejudice and desire than with God’s will.
            Finally and primarily you can pray about the matter. What do you pray for and how do you pray for it? This kind of prayer is what we call discernment. We pray for discernment of God’s will, for discovery of God’s intention for our lives. We desire to draw closer to God’s dream for us.
            I suppose that once in a while, and in the simplest of matters, the answer may come quickly, like intuition. It is not only a quick answer that has God’s label on it, but we can feel the confirmation of the message in our hearts. It is very close to the being of God in our souls. If you feel resolved, comforted, and at ease, then it would seem that the decision is congruent with God’s will as God’s will is able to be revealed to your heart at that time.
            You are asking, what if your message turns out to be completely wrong in the end? Then you must ask why it was wrong. How do you know it was the wrong message? Is it wrong only because it turned out to be painful or difficult? Sometimes God’s will leads us where we refuse to tread. Or did we skew the message from God to conform to our desire? Did we use God?
            Discernment, however, often takes a long time. It might include scripture study and consultation with wise Christian people. And it definitely includes prayer and meditation. It is prayer that asks for God’s guidance and lifts up our concerns before God. Meditation merely listens. Sometimes it listens for hours and days and weeks and months for the answer. When the response comes, it might arrive in a flash of light, in a bolt out of the blue, in a stunning moment of clarity confirming its rightness. That is the gift of God in contemplation. The quiet arrival of truth by meditation is more subtle but is no less true and convincing.
            So how does a church discern God’s guidance and direction? How does a church wrestle with a difficult decision, or how does it set its agenda for the future? Group discernment is probably no different from individual discernment. It is only slower and much more complex.
            The Quakers excel at corporate discernment. All matters of substance are subject to the discernment of the whole. Each person present at a Quaker meeting is invited to and expected to speak his or her mind. There should be times of silent between the speakers for adequate reflection on what the person said. When there seems to be a meeting of the minds, the clerk of the meeting, the moderator of sorts, states what he or she considers to be the “sense of the meeting.” If there is no objection or modification of the clerk’s statement then the sense of the meeting stands as the statement of the body. If someone disagrees, they may “step aside,” that is they admit that they do not agree with the sense of the meeting, but they do not feel the need to stop the meeting or the process. It is, in a sense, agreeing to disagree. Someone may refuse to step aside and then the meeting must decide if it wants to move ahead anyway. Arriving at a statement of the sense of the meeting may take a long time, and some discussions do take a very long time, as the Quakers seek to discern God’s will for them.
            If, for example, a church like ours was deciding whether or not to approve same sex marriage, what would a discernment process look like?
            As a foundation one would want to try to establish an ethos in the congregation which would agree that everyone would approach this matter and all matters open to the possibility that their mind could be changed. Everyone needs to come open to the discernment process. Otherwise discernment is impossible. Once the ethos is established, then people should read the Bible and pray for understanding and the movement of the spirit. Then each person, not assuming sides but allowing differences, should be encouraged to speak. There should be times of silence after each speaker. The Spirit should be allowed to move. In the end, someone needs to try to state a sense of the meeting. If there is no sense of the meeting we should pray and meditate and wait until there is general agreement. Time, prayer, meditation, listening, silence and mutual respect are the foundations on which discernment can be built. True discernment might preserve the unity of a church in difficult times.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

July 21, 2004 - Day 2 at Shalem. Prayer Today

2004-07-25T17:41:00.000-04:00

July 21, 2004 Day 2 at Shalem. Prayer Today.
            The lives that most of us endure are not spiritual, almost by necessity. We are driven by values of acquisition that compel us to buy, to own and to possess the best that our money can buy. And because there is always something better that we cannot buy, we are disturbed by envy and jealousy. The desire for acquisition and the power of envy easily drive out the rather delicate spiritual feelings from within our souls. Envy and jealousy are like bulls in the china shop of our souls.
            Further, we cram our days and nights with busyness. There is not a moment of the day, for young and old, that is not full of some occupation or another. Now that many of us have learned to multitask we can double fill some of the hours of the day. Busy and harried days are not spiritual ones.
            We let the values of the day and of our era dominate our lives. The times are long past when the great cathedrals of England were built. In that era the church and its ethos dominated the culture. That is not true today, here or in England.
            So we have a great deal of difficulty leading the spiritual lives for which we yearn.
            There is hope. Many of us actually use the methods of the centuries and of the world religions to enhance the spirituality of our lives.
            Many of us meditate. We take time to free our minds and bodies from the compulsions that drive us all day. We stop completely in our tracks, thinking of nothing, perhaps, but being alert to the world around us. Or we meditate on God’s gifts and even more likely on God’s word. In meditation we stop the world, calm our bodies and open our souls to God’s healing and direction. In those times of meditation we might even come upon God in the Spirit. Our contemplation of the divine might be for seconds or minutes, but it will very quickly give us a view into the holy dwelling of God in human existence. Our contemplation of the holy is a divine gift.
            So, in meditation and contemplation we may find an antidote to the powerful poisons of our age and we may enhance our spiritual lives. More appropriately, I suppose, we may let God enhance our spiritual lives. Prayer and meditation may be the only cures to the ills of the age.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

July 20, 2004 - Day One at Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. Deepening Spirituality

2004-07-25T17:36:00.000-04:00

July 20, 2004 – Day One at Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. Deepening Spirituality.
            It is a common contemporary desire to want to deepen one’s spirituality. Why else would I be spending so much time over more than a year, involved in a program entitled: Clergy Spiritual Life and Leadership: Going Deeper? Why else would the bookstores have larger and larger spirituality book sections?
            It has only been of late that I have been concentrating on the appropriateness of that figure of speech, “going deeper in spiritual life.”
            I suppose that it comes originally from the idea of a well. The deeper the well is the cooler and purer is the water that comes from it. I have to say that when I hear about anything that is deep I imagine deep water in the ocean. Deep ocean water is cool, powerful, sustaining and profoundly beautiful. On the other hand, deep water, whether it be in a well or in the ocean, has an element of danger. Flying in and out of Logan airport today, I could see the beauty of the ocean change from the light green of the shallow water to the dark Atlantic Blue of the deep.
            In recent months I have become aware of the threatening aspects of deepening spirituality. Deep waters may be the right figure of speech after all.
            As one’s spiritual life goes deeper, one lives with more spiritual assurance, which is a great comfort. One also relies more and more on God’s guidance and direction. One would think that to be assuring, but relying on God’s guidance and direction can be very uncomfortable.
            It is uncomfortable to rely on God’s guidance of your life particularly if you are used to directing your own life. I have relied for most of my years primarily on my intellect, will and strength to get where I have needed or wanted to be. Relying on one’s own abilities is not entirely a bad thing, but in recent years my habitual way of meeting life and its challenges has started to feel less good. I have wondered if I might find more satisfaction in my life through a different way of meeting and overcoming the challenges of life.
            Some of the change in my desire comes from age, and some from wisdom and some from observation of what makes me happy and fulfilled. I have lost my absolute confidence in the intellect. There are some problems in my life to which I have not been able to apply reason successfully. I just don’t know all of the answers. Further, I have had to accept the loud hints that my body has been giving me that my strength may not always be the resource that it has been. And finally, as my heart and mind have started to understand that I am closer to the end of my life than to its beginning, I have a strong desire welling up from within to draw my life closer to God’s will for me.
            So I have been wading into deeper waters. I don’t know all the answers and I am looking for new ways to be, to do and to think. I am seeking God’s will, and I am trusting more and more in God. All of this is threatening, in a way. It does feel like I am swimming in very deep water. It is very beautiful and clean, but I do not know all that is in the depths below me. Fortunately I am a good swimmer, physically and spiritually, and I know how to get to shore. I have people in rowboats nearby to give me directions and help if I get exhausted. But I am aware of the difference of swimming and praying in the depths.
            I am praying for all whom I love and I pray that there are others among you who are praying for me at this time.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

Solving the DaVinci Code

2004-07-19T21:58:00.000-04:00

Solving the DaVinci Code
            I am probably the last person to read the DaVinci Code. It finally surfaced in my book list, conveniently at a time that I needed good air travel reading.
            It is a fun book to read, with enough suspense to keep one’s attention through hundreds of pages. The plot and the characters were plain enough that I was spared the confusion I feel when reading some novels.
            Nevertheless, I am not certain that I understand all of the “hype” that it received. Why were churches using the book for study groups?
            One reviewer had it right, and that was to remind critics in the church that it is just a novel, written to sell books. The more people imply that it is fostering unorthodox theology the more books will be sold.
            I will now make a couple of comments about the book and its seemingly heretical theology. If you have not read the book, or are waiting for the movie to come out, perhaps you should skip the rest of this blog.
            I guess the contention in the book that is most offensive to people is the claim that Jesus had a relationship with Mary Magdalene that involved both love and sex. People might be willing to accept the love part of the relationship as long as it was the kind of love that does not involve sex. Jesus loved all of his disciples, and you could probably make a case for Jesus loving just about everyone. So the real issue is whether or not Jesus had sex with Mary Magdalene.
            This is not a new idea, by the way. Kazansakis in The Last Temptation of Christ implied the same thing. That was actually the only time in my life I ever walked out of a movie. My recollection of my response to the movie was not that I had an overwhelming objection to the possibility of some sort of love relationship with Magdalene. What I objected to was how the sexuality was conceived. It was overdone in an erotic vein, I thought.
            The DaVinci Code avoids any depiction of the sexuality of the relationship, except, of course, to claim that there were offspring of the relationship. That mere contention is enough to set some people’s heads spinning.
            Of course, there really is nothing in scripture that would confirm that idea, but the writer would respond that of course the church did not allow the truth to be known. Jesus fathering a child would change the concept that many people have of Jesus.
                     What is the orthodox depiction of Jesus with which the DaVinci Code is in conflict? The basic idea that is being protected is that Jesus is perfect and without sin. Not everyone understands the importance of Jesus’ sinless nature. How else could Jesus be God. If he is part of the godhead, then, assuming we are not ready to call God a sinner, then Jesus must be sinless.
            Now even if you accept Jesus’ sinless nature as a significant part of your theological understanding of the faith, I am not entirely willing to accept the implication that the thing that would make Jesus a sinner is sex. I just do not agree that sex should be equated with sin. Some sex is sin. Some phone conversations are sinful, but that does not mean that all phone calls are sinful. Some hockey games are sinful, but does that mean that all hockey games are sinful?
            While I am certainly not prepared to rewrite the story of Jesus, I just do not have an extra sensitivity to the contention that Jesus might have been sexually active. One reviewer held that a single man in Jesus’ day would have really been suspect and highly unusual. A man who had no sexual relationship would have been unthinkable. That may be why the Bible does not make a particular case one way or the other on the matter. It may just have been assumed that Jesus had a wife.
            Of course, rewriting the story of Jesus would really disrupt the thoughts of many people. It would not make sense to be upset based on the flimsy testimony of this novel. Since I am not convinced that Jesus’ sexuality was really a matter of importance to the early church, I think we do a disservice to scripture by making it more important that it really was.
            If you accept the first controversy, that Jesus had a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene, then the second, that Jesus had offspring, is not that hard to consider.
            The other contentions about the Church, Opus Dei, and the Templars, may have enough truth associated with them that they seem to be true altogether. I would not base anything on the claims of this novel. I remember that this is a story.
            Well, it is worth reading to know what everyone else is thinking about. Would I worry about not reading it? Hardly. Will any of us have that much action packed into a couple of days of our lives? Unlikely.
Ken Brookes
Kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright Kenneth C. Brookes, 2004

Journeys of All Sorts

2004-07-18T21:31:00.000-04:00

Journeys of all sorts
            Each trip demands special preparations, and each voyager has his or her particular needs. I happen to be one who packs heavy. I always worry that I will need extra clothes or back up supplies. This can be a problem especially when one relies on low horsepower transportation. When I have taken bicycle trips I have always loaded myself too heavily and I have paid for the extra weight with extra leg strain. I have done the same thing when we have gone backpacking. My boys always get after me for taking too much gear onto the sailboat. One should not weigh down the boat with unnecessary paraphernalia. “But it might rain. It might be cold. And I might need the binoculars, etc.”
            One year when we went to France with Ellen’s students we bought the largest suitcases known to humankind because we needed winter sports clothes along with everything else. But I am sure that I could have survived with half the gear that I took. So in an attempt to reduce the impact of our need to provide for all contingencies, we reduced our luggage to England this summer to two small wheeled cases. We survived fine, and I think that even then there were a few things that I took that were unnecessary.
            Right now I am preparing for a trip to Maryland, for the second residency in a clergy renewal program through the Shalem Institute for Spirituality. I took far too much last year, carting a percentage of my personal library with me. This year I am not going to wreck my shoulder and add to the stress of my airline by taking too much. One or two small bags should be enough, plus my briefcase with my computer. Traveling without a computer is too light for me. Perhaps some day I could do it, but I am not ready right now. So I am learning and trying to mend my ways.
            It struck me a couple of days ago that this journey to Maryland is different in another way. Not only am I traveling with less gear. I am going with less emotional baggage as well. I have less anxiety. I am relaxed about meeting the expectations of the program. I am not worried about meeting someone else’s standards. The landscape is more familiar to me this year. My mental and emotional baggage is much smaller and lighter this year than last.
            There is, however, another lightness that I feel. It is in my heart. This year I have grown in my prayer life and in my ability to rely more readily on God for my direction in life. This has not given me more baggage to carry. It has lightened my load, in fact. There is a strange and unusual sensation this year. It seems that I have less to say, rather than more. With my mouth shut, I am more open to hearing God’s direction, and less apt to tell God what to say or think. This is humbling because, in a way, it seems that I know less rather than more. I guess it is not really that I know less, I just am aware how little I know. The more I work at knowing God the more I am aware of God’s grandeur and radical otherness. How can anyone claim to comprehend the nature of God?
            Well that is what I am working on this summer, comprehending the nature of God. The journey of the last year or so has been an internal and spiritual journey. It has taken me to new and previously unknown ports. And now I set off on another leg of the trip, with a small compass, a jackknife and a prayer.
            The prayer is that I may be open to the leading of the Spirit of God. I look forward to meeting my family and friends at the other end of this leg of the journey, when we can continue on our path through life together.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright Kenneth C. Brookes 2004

The Errors of Our Ways

2004-07-13T21:10:00.000-04:00

The Errors of our Ways
I have not read Bill Clinton’s book. Over 800 pages of Bill Clinton is more than I can handle. I saw it for sale in many places in England, by the way. I wonder how well it is selling over there.
However, I have read and seen a number of interviews of Clinton since the book was published. There are hundreds of pages in the book about the politics of his life, but some of us are just interested in Monica Lewinsky. Actually I am not as much interested in the scandal as I am in how someone like Clinton deals with the errors of his ways. I am curious about how people deal with their guilt and shame, because this is one of the most difficult parts of life for many of us. When you have made a major mistake and everyone knows, most people have to deal with a deep need for forgiveness and the healing of their shame. It is a time when the guilty turn to religion, and still find it difficult to acquire the spiritual wholeness that they seek and need.
Clinton is a curious case, it seems to me. I would want him to be highly apologetic and remorseful. He says he did it because he could and he admits that is a great ethical breach. Obviously he is ready to move on, but does that mean that the average American is ready to move on? I don’t suppose most of us think much about what he did any more, but I would still like a heartfelt apology and an admission of guilt and shame. Then I could feel sorry for the man and pray for his forgiveness. I suspect that he already feels exonerated. The problem is mine and for anyone who thinks seriously about ethics in today’s society.
Alan Paton’s Too Late the Phalarope tells another story of the errors of a man’s way. The protagonist in this novel set in South Africa is the most respected young man in the whole region. Everyone thinks that he is the best person imaginable, but the young man knows differently. He is white and attracted in a tragic way to a young black woman, with whom he has a couple of brief encounters. His enemies find out and expose the errors of his ways to all. His family rejects him and he goes to jail, not just for adultery, but adultery with a black woman. This is a crushing blow. He accepts the judgment. Perhaps he will survive on the other end of his imprisonment, but his family is lost. He pays dearly for his sin. His guilt is heavy upon his soul.
As examples of how people handle guilt and shame, these two chracters, Bill Clinton and Pieter are quite different. Paton writes of the holy task of pardoning. It is a human act of grace that is necessary for the fullness of humanity, but it can only be done when there is confession of the sin.
In a sermon this spring I spoke of the difficulty most of us have in owning up to our serious errors. We would rather keep them as secrets. This makes sense, but the unfortunate by product of our unwillingness to admit our errors is that other people think that they are alone in making mistakes. We are all in this same boat together.
Forgiveness is not only a holy task. It is an experience of the divine grace. God can take us at our very worst and put strength back into our legs and let us walk once again.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright Kenneth C. Brookes 2004

July 2 - The Journey's End!

2004-07-13T21:08:00.000-04:00

July 2 – The journey’s end.
The hostel in Jordans has one other distinct advantage. It is close to Heathrow, although you would never know it from the setting.
We had breakfast on our own, packed up and got the car to the rental place before the worst of the commuting traffic had a chance to start. This got us to the airport in plenty of time for the flight home. We both had engaging books so we were set for the airport wait and the flight home. I found a copy of the DaVinci Code in paper back for the trip. We read and napped on the plane, because we knew that this would be an extra long day. We got in a few minutes early into Logan. There was a chance that we could make it to the 1:15 bus out of Logan, rather than the 5:15 bus. However, the lines at customs were a bit slow and then our luggage seemed to be the last off the plane. By the time we got to the bus stop it was too late.
We thought about sitting around Logan airport until 5:15 pm, and then leaving on a bus on the Friday night of the Fourth of July, and we were discouraged by the thought. So we jumped onto the Hertz van, rented a car, and drove back to Bangor to pick up our car. I was a bit tired for the drive, but would do anything to get home to SW Harbor with a little bit of day light. We pulled into the driveway, happy and tired, around 9:00. Geoff, the dogs and the garden all looked fine. There were no problems in our absence.
We were and are grateful for God’s care and for the wonderful way to celebrate our 35th anniversary. And we came back still married!
The question that people ask of travelers is, what is your impression of Britain? Or what did you like the most?
It is difficult to answer, because I do not want to sound unappreciative of my own country and my own fellow citizens. As long as the readers will grant me immunity from prosecution if any of my reflections sound disapproving of Americans, I will share a couple of thoughts that came to my mind. If you are particularly sensitive to implicit criticism of the USA, you might just stop here and enjoy the rest of the day in peace.
Several observations jump right out. First, the British were just plainly much more polite, considerate and gracious than Americans are typically. Only a few cars honked at me, no one shook their fists at me, no one cut me off. When we asked for directions they went out of their way to help, if they could. No one gave us a hard time if we asked a stupid question or didn’t know what we were doing. The one person who spoke to me in what could be an inconsiderate tone, probably had cause. We were rushing to get to a bus back to our car in Oxford, and a man spoke up, “It’s a bloody queue.” Of course, had we known there was a line there and if we had understood the British methodology for queues we would have complied readily. The idea of a queue seems a bit “uptight” to us, but it is a matter of being considerate of others. You take your place in line behind the person who was there before you, and you don’t try to get ahead. Recently at the movie theater in Maine I was tempted to mutter to some line cutters, “It’s a bloody queue.”
Second, it was blatantly obvious that Americans are much fatter than the British. I cannot tell you why, but one just does not see overweight people, whereas in the States they are common. I just don’t know what to say about that, except that it must make people from other countries wonder about the Americans that they see.
Third, I found that the British were much less prone to littering than Americans. There just was not the amount of trash strewn about that one would see in the States.
Fourth, it seemed to me that there are plenty of clean and available rest rooms, which we consider a gracious act of charity.
Traveling abroad these days, one always wonders what people think of Americans. Of course, the British, at least their government, went along with us into Iraq, so we were less apt to be criticized by them. When I discovered that the clerk in the food store was from Afghanistan, I didn’t stay long enough to have a conversation.
I found the churches to be well maintained, although in the mainstream churches, it did not seem that contemporary liturgical trends have made an impact. Of course, we were largely worshiping in very traditional cathedrals. It appeared that the free protestant churches are not particularly strong. Most of the United Reformed Churches were merged with Methodists. Nonetheless, I wonder if the history of faith of all of those churches will always preserve a Christian spirit there. The elite private schools also seem to have a tradition of religious practice as well. Another time I would like to spend more time researching the work of the United Reformed Church.
Britain is really beautiful. The gardens are exquisite and everywhere. Of course, many plants and shrubs will grow there which cannot be grown in New England. I love to see fuchsia, for example, 8 feet high. The countryside is lush and green, with wide expanses of fields and pastures and small forests, It is a great place for Americans, because of the language and the close connection between Britain and the States. Many of the people we met had visited or worked in the US. They had relatives or friends there.
The exchange rate makes it a very expensive place to visit. We tried to help ourselves by staying in youth hostels. This worked well for us. We don’t mind the rustic settings. Another time, now that we know how many miles it is reasonable to drive, we would make more reservations in advance. Some of the hostels we wanted to visit were full. In all I think that renting a car is not too bad. The small cars are efficient and you can be on your own. I would recommend getting the best map possible. Take a navigator. I had a good one.
What was the purpose of all of this? It was to celebrate 35 years of marriage. We thank God for our marriage and for God’s grace. It was God’s grace that brought us together and it has been God’s grace that has kept us together. We are blessed with two wonderful, happy and healthy sons. We thank God for the good jobs that bring meaning to our lives. Right now we are particularly grateful for our second home in Maine, where we live a somewhat different life from that in CT. In Maine we are free to sail, hike and read whenever we want. So we have much for which to be thankful. God is good, and life is good. Thanks be to God.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright, 2004, Kenneth C. Brookes

July 1 - Driving around the countryside.

2004-07-13T08:32:00.000-04:00

July 1 – Driving around the countryside.
We learned something about hiking in Britain. When they say that detailed maps are available, get them. We could see the trail on the brochure that was provided to advertise the walk through the Cotswolds, but it proved much more difficult to actually locate the trail. The trail paralleled some of the roads, but there seemed to be no way to get to them. Any way we had the chance to visit some small and beautiful villages as we explored the country side.
Our ultimate goal this day was St. Albans, which has a very beautiful and large cathedral. We had trouble finding a parking place and a very nice woman gave us one of her vouchers allowing us to park in her spot on the street. Parking is at a premium in most of these cities. At the cathedral they were preparing for the installation of a new dean so everything was in top shape. The flower decorator had buckets of flowers, but complained that they made her work with too little. Of course, it is a very large space to decorate. Parts of this cathedral go back to the 12th century. In England there are scores of churches that go back that far. In this cathedral they stop everyone once an hour for a prayer. It was a very nice reminder that this is a place of worship and not a tourist mecca. It did seem to me that most of the cathedrals and abbeys that we visited had an active church life. I don’t know the numbers that they involve. They may not have sufficient membership to justify such a large building. Most of them were currently or recently involved in a capital campaign. They did seem to have enthusiastic volunteers who keep the place going.
St. Albans also has a very extensive ancient Roman settlement and a well known Roman museum. But the story of St. Alban himself is the most inspiring part of the visit. Alban lived in the 3rd century in the Roman city of Verulamium, which is preserved now in part in St. Albans. He was a worshipper of Roman gods, but gave shelter to a Christian priest fleeing persecution. When the Roman authorities came looking for the priest, Alban exchanged clothes with him. The priest was then able to escape. Alban was then arrested and the judge promised to give Alban the punishment due to the priest, if it could be shown that Alban had become a Christian. Alban declared his Christian faith, saying in words still used in St. Albans as a prayer, “I worship and adore the true and living God, who created all things.” He was executed soon thereafter. He became the first Christian martyr in England.
Leaving St. Albans seemed to be straightforward until we were presented with a choice of one of two directions on the major highway, both of which went to London. We took a choice and made the wrong one, but by now we have figured out how to reverse direction.
We started again to locate one of the paths in the countryside, but it threatened to rain and hail again as it had in St. Albans. Then we decided to go right to John Milton’s home which is in the nearby town of Chalfont St. Giles. They were having a funeral in the church in this village so we made a very quick tour. It was just another ancient church, going back to the 12th century. But, there was not a single parking place at the church, which was surrounded by an ancient burying ground. The visit to John Milton’s home was made particularly interesting because the curator gave us a personal tour. He was as enthusiastic as one could be.
Back at the hostel we went for another walk in Jordans, this time finding William Penn’s grave at the Quaker meeting. They tell us that Ozzie Osborne is a neighbor on the other side. I wonder what the Quakers think of him.
There are some characters at the hostel this night. A couple of men are working briefly in the area and stay here as a cheap accommodation. Another guy is a free lance nutritionist who is going around England looking for a new place to live. He condemned just about everything that we eat or drink, except almonds. There was a woman and her 2 daughters from the States who were touring England. They had come to England while one of the daughters sang in a choir on tour.
Now on our last evening in Britain, we are happy, satisfied, and ready to go home.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright, Kenneth C. Brookes, 2004

June 30 - Back into England.

2004-07-13T08:30:00.000-04:00

June 30 – Back into England
We had an early breakfast and headed out of Cardiff. We had a long day of driving ahead, and thought that there might be commuter traffic. We were heading a little north so we would go around the bay and not need to go back over the bridge by which we came into Wales.
The first stop was Tintern Abbey, made famous by Wordsworth, who composed some lines while meditating above Tintern Abbey. Tintern Abbey was at one time the richest abbey in Wales. All that remains today is a skeleton, but the outline of the abbey and the setting in the Wye River valley make it a beautiful site. The road through the valley is winding and beautiful with a low and thick canopy overhead in a number of places. We were there before the busses and had some peace and quiet on the grounds. We actually bought a few things in a gift shop there.
Ross on Wye was a market town. It had another ancient church and a market building. A wealthy family had built much of the town and gave a garden at the top of a cliff overlooking the valley of the River Wye. There was a canoe trip starting off to go down the river. It reminded me of Maine.
After the pleasant meandering up the River Wye, we had to get back on the main highway. This was a long stretch of driving.
After a while we needed a break and something to eat, so we stopped in North Leach. Northleach is famous for the wool church. We had no clue what a wool church is, so we asked the question. The church there is called the wool church, because it was built by wool money. Most of the buildings in this beautiful town are made of Cotswold stone. It was a proud little town, so we bought Cotswold cheese and Cotswold fruit cake. This was refreshing stop as we headed toward Oxford.
The signs on the approach to Oxford urged us to take the park and ride. We decided to heed the warning and later were glad not to have to worry about the car in the middle of the city. Oxford, in the area near the universities, was full of tourists and students. The colleges were largely closed but we could peek through the gates to see beautiful greens surrounded by university buildings. This is a place of great prestige. It is a beautiful place, and one could see what a privilege it would be to study there.
It was now late in the afternoon, and after some rain on the highway, we were glad to find our final hostel, in Jordans. It is actually quite close to London, but it is really in the country. The town of Jordans was founded by the Quakers, and much of the town is still controlled by them. Next to the hostel was a Quaker meeting house where William Penn is buried. The building is very pretty and simple, after the grand cathedrals we had been visiting. The design of the town is meant to emphasize community and common space.
The barn next to the Quaker meeting house was made from the remains of the Mayflower. This was a curious fact of history. It is now a place to rent for parties. We were interested to see that Steve Osborne, a Scottish pianist whom our son Stephen met in the States, was playing a concert there in a few weeks. There are many public paths through common and private land. One path to the next town, Seer Green, went through a pasture that contained some cows and a bull. We decided to venture through, since it was the best way to get to town. The animals kept their distance, thankfully. Seer Green has a railroad stop, so it was possible to arrive near the hostel by train from London.
The hostel in Jordans is simple and rustic, much more so than the other hostels in which we stayed. It reminded us of the AMC huts in the White Mountains.
The other people staying in the hostel are always part of the entertainment. There was an older New Zealander who arrived on bike. He was out on a trip around Britain on bike for 2 months. I was absolutely in awe of him, for the physical task which he was undertaking and for his courage riding on British roads. There are some 20,000 miles of bike paths in Britain, but many of them are on small country roads. I would be nervous, but he was having a great time.
To top his accomplishment, an older British woman showed up on bicycle, and her bike was not at all as nice as the New Zealander’s. She regularly goes on long bike trips staying in hostels. I was also in awe of her.
There was a family in the hostel who were visiting colleges for their daughter. Mike and Yvonne King live in the far end of Cornwall. Their daughter Sarah had visited Oxford this day and they were going on to Cambridge the next. The trip from Cornwall was a very long one because the roads in that far region are slow and narrow. They told us around the campfire that Cornwall is quite depressed, since the close of the coal mines, and the people remain insular. Mike had just retired from working for the Health system. The stress was too much. Yvonne works for an alcohol rehabilitation institution. We exchanged addresses and invited them to the States.
We stayed up late around the campfire and went to bed very late for us, at 11 pm.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright, Kenneth C. Brookes, 2004

June 29 - Crossing into Wales!

2004-07-11T21:02:00.001-04:00

June 29 – Crossing into Wales!
The Bath Hostel has no parking so we had to leave the car on the street. We were all ready to roll down hill and out of town toward Wales. We thought that we might avoid the worst of the commuting traffic. There were a lot of cars heading in the direction of Bristol, but they restricted the far left lane on the outside to cars with 2 or more people, and the right lanes to the trucks and single passenger vehicles. We zoomed right along on our way out of town.
There are two bridges over the Severn River into Wales. We happened to choose the more modern one which was built for the millennium. The design was stunning and the bridge carried us into Wales in grand style. Beside the welcome sign upon entering Wales, all of the signs were written in both English and Welsh. We had no clue how to pronounce the Welsh names, but had fun murdering the language of the local folk, although we never did it in their presence.
We had been warned about the roads in Wales, but those that we drove were very good, and in fact better than most of the English roads. I suspect that the far western and northern sections, further from the population centers, have worse roads than these. We stopped in a small town to gas up for the first time. This was my chance to experience the petrol sticker shock they talk about. I figure it cost me three times what it would cost me at home. The good news is that the little Ford Focus we were driving got very good mileage, so the total cost per mile was not too bad. The mileage would have been even better if we had not driven so many extra miles looking for the right road. I guess it was all part of the fun.
We were heading for Brecon which is sort of the capital of the Beacons and the Black Mountains. The region is largely National Park Land. Much like Acadia National Park, the Welsh park included a number of towns. They also made arrangements for public use by farmers of some of the park lands.
We were hoping to hike Pen Y Fan, the highest mountain in the area, but all of the local folk urged us not to. The top was in the midst of some very dark clouds and the wind was whipping. We decided that we did not want to get lost or very wet. Fortunately the Park Visitors Center had some delightful paths on high places through common lands. There were some ancient standing stones in the park and an Iron Age fort at the far end of the walk. As it happened 2 busloads of 83 grade school children and their 2 teachers arrived with us. It was fun to watch the children, some of whom were full of energy and others of whom were tired at the start of the hike. The sheep who were loose in the common land kept their distance from the children.
The ride down the valley had pastures on steep hillsides, which then evolved into forests and reservoirs. It was a gorgeous mountain descent all the way down to the capital city of Wales, Cardiff.
The Youth Hostel directions are notoriously sparse, but for some reason there was no map to get us to the hostel in Cardiff. We could tell that we had completely missed the road and were in entirely the wrong part of town. We circled back right through the middle of the capital city toward our destination. We finally stopped at a gas station. The attendant laughed and immediately said the street we were looking for. He said he often gives directions to the youth hostel. With his help we were able to find the right place. We mentioned our difficulty in finding the location to the staff at the hostel, and they said that they knew it was hard to find, but apparently had done nothing to remedy the situation. Later, in England, we ran into a youth hostel worker who had grown up I Wales who confessed that she had tried to find the Cardiff hostel one time and had completely failed. Fortunately British drivers are much more polite than American drivers. For the first time someone honked at me, and I certainly deserved it. But otherwise they tolerated my erratic driving.
The youth hostel in Cardiff is a bit grimy. It caters less to the hikers and vacationers and more to those who are looking for a cheap place to stay in Cardiff while they work. Cardiff had not been our first choice. In fact it had not been our choice at all, but all of the other hostels in Southern Wales were full. It was good to see how this city worked. The hostel was a mile or more from the center of the city, but we walked rather than drive.
The Cardiff Castle was rebuilt in the 19th century above Roman Walls and around a 12th century Norman keep to an exquisite standard by a very wealthy family, the Butes, who owned most of Southern and Western Wales, including the coal mines. They hired an architect full time who spent years refurbishing and building this castle. Each room had a theme and no expense was spared in its building. The family spent about 6 weeks a year at the castle. The Butes eventually gave the castle and the park behind it to the city of Cardiff. They have a wonderful heritage right in the middle of the city.
We poked around the center of the city and then made our way back toward the hostel. We found a small store where we could buy groceries for the night. The man at the cash register was from Afghanistan. Many of the residents of that neighborhood were from the East, with many from Pakistan, it would seem.
At supper we could hear three young men speaking an unidentifiable language. I finally asked them. As it happened they were speaking Catalan. They were from Spain, and were all college students. A girl had told them that she had come to Cardiff and found a job in a restaurant, so they bought plane tickets and had found a room at the hostel and were looking for jobs. They were having no luck. The college students had gone home for the summer and it is not a tourist destination, so there were not many jobs. Now they were embarrassed to go home without a cent in their pockets. Ellen spoke with them in Spanish, French and English and they compared these languages with Catalan.
Before bed, we explored a park near the hostel, which was one of the most beautiful parks we saw in all of Britain. It had lovely flower beds, a large pond with swans and boats. It was a real delight. But we were tired and fell into bed early.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright, Kenneth C. Brookes, 2004

June 28 - Do we need a Bath?

2004-07-11T21:02:00.000-04:00

June 28. Do we need a Bath?
Litton Cheney is self-catering and we had not been able to buy breakfast supplies as we found no open grocery stores on Sunday. We also found no Seven Elevens or Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks along the way Monday morning. Finally we found the British version of a convenience store, but all they had was an instant coffee machine. It was better than nothing and it kept us going. We were on the road to Bath, via Glastonbury. The roads today were fairly good, two lane roads on which you could drive 50 to 60 if you had the fortitude, except for the ubiquitous roundabouts. I guess the roundabouts are better than stop lights, and they keep the traffic going. They are considerably less expensive than over passes. But they are everywhere. The traffic also was slowed down regularly by beautiful little villages. The problem in the villages is that people park on the side of the two lane roads, not on the shoulder (because there is no shoulder). Consequently in the villages, despite the fact that you would think that this was commuting time, there were cars parked in the roadway, so the driver has to stop regularly to let the oncoming traffic come through. We just would not put up with that kind of parking in the States.
Glastonbury has been a sacred place for thousands of years. It has a slightly higher elevation, essentially a sacred isle in a lake that was later drained and is now moors. All of the cultures from the Celtic onward knew and honored this place. Even today at special festival times there are all sorts of religious traditions represented. There had been some sort of festival going on the days previous to our arrival, so there were still young people with backpacks hanging about. The town has a slight new age scent to it, as seen in the shops and the people hanging out in the cafes. Outdoor cafes were something we saw very rarely in Britain, but here there were a number of them in Glastonbury, obviously catering to the Europeans who come to this sacred town.
The Abbey itself is in ruins, from the era in which Henry VIII destroyed scores of monasteries in his power struggle with the church in Rome. This was a story we heard over and over again. The other tragedy to architecture is the destruction brought by radical Protestants intent on destroying idols and graven images in the early Reformation. Glastonbury Abbey has been preserved as a holy place by its peaceful setting and grounds. One can walk around and through the remains of what must have been an enormous institution there in the countryside.
Very near Glastonbury is Wells. Wells Cathedral is absolutely tremendous, built in roughly the same era as Glastonbury. All of these abbeys and cathedrals were supported by land grants or manors that they owned. Some of them were tremendously wealthy, thus exposing themselves to the jealousy of the crown. The Cathedral in Wells is intact, and a bit worn in places because of the thousands of feet that have climbed the stairs. The chapter house where the deans of the Cathedral met with the bishop was particularly beautiful, with the names of the manors that supported each dean inscribed over his seat. They met in the round with the bishop opposite the door.
The boys at the Wells Cathedral School wear classic black suits and ties. We heard them tuning up for band practice. Summer recess does not start until the third week of July.
Running down the main street of Wells in the gutter is what you might think to be an open sewer. It is actually the stream that comes from one of the wells that gives the city its name. We thought it might be a town, by the way, but the folk at the visitors center informed us that it was the smallest city in Britain, and they were proud of it.
The road from Wells was once again through fields of corn, wheat, mustard along with pastures of cows and sheep. It is simply beautiful, and one is impressed by the agricultural backbone of England.
Bath is a city and getting to the hostel was a real joy, when one combines the usual confusion of a city and the British tendency to avoid signs or put up misleading ones. I finally figured out why British have such small cars. First it is because of the narrow roads. The second reason is because they are always lost and making U-turns. We made our U-turn as we faced a one way street, found someone who could give us directions and drove right up to the hostel.
The Bath Youth Hostel is a large Italianate house, or perhaps a villa if it were in Italy. It looks somewhat seedy from the outside, but had been updated and brought up to code inside. It is the kind of house that would be a little scary if you were there alone at night. We settled our bunks and got a map of the city, so we could take the foot path into the center. Most of the hostels have footpaths nearby that lead to the places of interest in the area. Britain has a tradition of allowing the use of footpaths across public and private lands. If you go through a pasture, there usually is a step over the fence or a gate through which the animals cannot escape. So almost anywhere in Britain one is free to roam, and walk your dogs. So we went down the hill into Bath.
We found the abbey in Bath. It was beautiful, but I balked at making an $18 donation to go for a tour of another large Gothic church going back centuries. It is strange to us that the largest museums in London are free, but most of the churches charged admission. I am sure that they have horrendous maintenance costs. We did note the time of evensong, and planned to return. As it happens we missed evensong, but could hear the girls’ choir from the Abbey School practicing. The music was angelic.
The main goal, of course, was the Roman baths. This was the place in Britain that we ran into the most tourists. There were busloads from all over, but particularly Italy. The tour was facilitated by our own digital player with head sets. Consequently people were quiet. It did seem that everyone was in their own universe. This is a very worthwhile tour, by the way. The Romans took over an ancient sacred place where people had worshiped their gods at this mysterious hot spring with its clouds of mist rising up. The Romans adopted the pagan gods into their pantheon, and later in the 18th and 19th centuries the baths became a popular spot for the rich and famous.
We still could not find a supermarket. We located a small coffee maker and got the strangest directions to the one supermarket in the city. Then we asked a young man who took us right to the door. This was an example of the graciousness of the British.
There were a lot of us cooking supper in the kitchen that night, but everyone cooperated and there were no altercations at all. Actually there was more trouble with the phone lines than with the stoves.
After supper we set off on some of the paths up the hill. I had noticed earlier in the day that there was a very fine looking castle above the hostel. We found out that it is a “sham castle,” merely a façade. We missed it among the many paths and asked a man who was walking his two dogs. Rather than tell us how to get there he took us right to the sham castle. This was the second person today who went out of his way to give us directions. We were very grateful, and, of course, we delighted in being close to some dogs. The sham castle gives a wonderful view of the city, and allows the city to believe that it is guarded by this wonderful castle on the hill.
Before bed we called Geoff in Southwest Harbor. All was well there, so we went contentedly off to bed.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright Kenneth C. Brookes 2004.

June 27 - toward the Dorset Coast

2004-07-08T22:19:00.000-04:00

June 27 – toward the Dorset Coast.
We slept decently in our dorm rooms, but not perfectly. As would be expected, however, we were the first up in the hostel. Waiting for breakfast we had a long conversation with a young man and his 15 year old son who were from Washington state. They are spending a month touring Europe, starting in England, Wales and Ireland. He is divorced from his wife. This seemed like a wonderful way to bond with his teenage son. They are staying in hostels and taking the train for most of the trip.
After breakfast we headed out. The early morning light was warm and inviting as we stopped at Old Sarum, which was the original site of the cathedral that is now in Salisbury. It is now an ancient mound. We knew we were heading toward Stonehenge, and were looking carefully for the exit, when the standing stones appeared as we came over the top of a rise. It was spectacular. It was a bright and sunny morning not long after the solstice. We had been spared the crowds who come at the solstice, but could get the impression of what it must be like when the sun rises in just the right place to shine through these stones that are set with such precision. The size of the stones combined with the beauty of this country setting make Stonehenge a wonderful visit, especially early in the morning when one is spared the crowds. We were gone before the first busload of tourists.
The next surprise was that we found Cerne Abbas, which once again was plainly visible from the road. Cerne Abbas is one of a number of giants marked in white stone on the hillside. Its origin is in question, but it continues to send out its message today.
We then meandered through the countryside toward Sherborne, where we found another spectacular abbey church. The morning service was supported by the men and boys’ choir. It was absolutely beautiful. Sherborne Abbey, like just about every abbey and cathedral we visited had a school, this one a boys’ school, which provided the personnel for the choir. In each abbey or cathedral school it was obvious that these were very privileged children who were able to attend these elite boarding schools.
Sherborne has an old castle and a new castle. The old one is in ruins, but the new one was originally the home of Sir Walter Raleigh. A later owner of the manor who had great wealth added four wings and towers, and developed a spectacular setting with gardens above a river. The system obviously worked well for the rich in those days.
Our next hostel was definitely off the beaten path, so we thought we ought to find it before we spent the day. In Dorchester we had difficulty finding the right road, but eventually sorted it out. Heading toward the coast we found the exit down into Litton Cheney.
One has to understand how narrow the roads are that we have been traveling in order to appreciate the road to Litton Cheney. The roads off the divided highway are all very narrow and two cars can barely pass. When a truck comes by the only sensible thing to do is slow down and get as far to the left as possible. Unfortunately there is no shoulder at all. There might be a hedge right to the edge of the narrow two lane road and there is almost always a curb to send you back onto the pavement. I got well acquainted with the curbs and the hedges on the side of the road. The paint on the little car was very good and showed no signs of the regular whipping and strafing it received along the way. Now the road to Litton Cheney was less than half the size of the regular country roads. It was literally barely wide enough for one car. Most driveways in Connecticut are wider and less dangerous, because this little road had steep and tall hedges right to the edge of the lane. There was no way to see around the corner. I went slowly with my foot near the brake, and when we encountered a car, one stopped and pulled over as well as possible in the “lay by” and the other slowly squeaked by. Fortunately there was not a lot of traffic and we actually found the hostel, right where it was supposed to be, next to the White Horse pub.
The Litton Cheney hostel is a very nice, clean, and quiet place, right next to this little road in the midst of corn fields and sheep pastures. We heard much more from the sheep and cows than we did from any traffic. Litton means fast flowing stream and Cheney refers to the family of the manor. The fast flowing stream literally flows right by the front door of the hostel. One crosses a little bridge to the front door. The tiny village all borders this little stream.
Once we knew where we would lay our heads for the night, we drove down more of these tiny roads to the Dorset shore. At a little town called Burton Bradstock we found a sign marked parking. We thought that sounded good, since there is very little available along these roads with no shoulders. As it happened a ladies’ group (the British equivalent of the DAR, I suppose) was having a “cream tea” and we had entered the parking for the event. We figured it was fortuitous, and we counted on the hospitality of the British that we were regularly experiencing. We asked if they minded if we parked there and came back for the tea after walking the shore. They were very gracious, as we expected. One can only imagine the response had this request been made in the States.
We climbed the hill and came to the top of a cliff over the wind blown ocean. The breeze was very stiff and one could see a front on the way through. We walked quite a distance at the top of the bluff, but finally were curious about the water. We saw few people in the water, but there were three girls playing on the edge of the water with small boards. There were warnings about the undertow, so they were being appropriately cautious. We wanted to get our feet wet, and were gratified by water that made us feel at home in Maine. It may not have been quite that cold, but it was chilly. The rain seemed to be on the way, so we headed back to the cream tea. The tea came with a couple of scones topped with strawberry jam and special butter. This was a delightful snack in the afternoon. The bonus with the tea was a tour of a private garden. The husband and wife who owned the garden were out there at work. I could hardly imagine that two people would be able to keep such a diverse and beautiful garden, but they hardly stopped working to talk with us.
We then kept going to Bridport, particulary because we were looking for food. It was Sunday and nothing was open, not that there were any stores in these little towns. We finally found a pub with a non-smoking section where we would feel comfortable eating, and I ordered my dose of fish and chips. Most of the pubs we found in Britain were too smoky and too close to feel comfortable. We were obviously strangers.
Just down the street was a United Reformed Church which had a Sunday evening service. The United Reformed Church is a unification of Congregational, Disciples of Christ and another similar group, so this was as close as we would get to the UCC. There were a dozen or so people in attendance for this service of communion and the laying on of hands. The preacher/worship leader was pleasant enough, a woman I would guess around 50. She was a bit stiff, probably still a bit new at what she was doing. It was plain that we were not in the States. The Anglican tradition must have an impact on all of the churches, because this felt like high church Baptist. Like many of the Anglican services we visited we only knew one or two of the hymns, but it did feel like home. The sermon was all right, but not spectacular, although I had sympathy for her trying to put forward the second sermon of the day for only a dozen folk. The laying on of hands was discreet and compassionate. The organ was wheezy, but the people were very pleasant and kind.
This was a day well spent. Back at the hostel we took a long walk around town, through pastures to find the local school and see the town. We called ahead to the rest of our hostels and went to bed. We were able to share a room here and went to bed in the peace and quiet of the countryside.
Ken Brookes
Kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright, Kenneth C. Brookes, 2004.

June 26, London to Salisbury!

2004-07-08T13:01:00.000-04:00

June 26, London to Salisbury!
We are habitually early risers, and even with the time change we were ready to go. The excitement of the day ahead added to our eagerness. I went for a run in the neighborhood, knowing that would help me get through the day. We packed up, had breakfast, and headed back to the subway, to Paddington, and took the Heathrow Express out to the airport to pick up our car. We were on the road out into the countryside by 9:30 am.
We launched ourselves with enthusiasm, but not without a considerable amount of anxiety. I have been driving for over 40 years, getting my license at 15 years old, and I love to drive anywhere, any time. But after 40 years my habit of driving on the right side of the road was well reinforced. The thought of driving on the right side of the car, but on the left side of the road, with a stick shift in my left hand caused me considerable anxiety. Would I be able to do it? Would I get us killed in the first day out? Showing my lack of confidence I bought all of the insurance money could buy.
We left the rental company and immediately made a wrong turn, had to take an illegal U-turn in order to get headed in the right direction and soon we were heading the right way on the right highway, but entirely on the left. The speed limits were not posted so I averaged what everyone else was going, between 60 and 70. I just kept saying to myself, “left,” and we were all right. The divided highway, the M25, was a good road, even though it was rain swept.
After traveling a number of miles in the safety of the divided highway, we had to think about getting onto the side roads. I was tense, but determined to survive the day. It was plain that we needed a better map, however, and found one with more detail. I would recommend that one find the most detailed map available, since we found the road signage inadequate. We spent far too much time going in the wrong direction, or wondering where we were.
We were aiming for Stonehenge on the way to Salisbury. We missed the road in the confusion of one or more of the roundabouts, and we went directly to Salisbury. We knew we could visit Stonehenge the next day, so it seemed like a good idea to check on our hostel for that night, since this was our first adventure of staying in Youth Hostels (with senior memberships, by the way). As it turned out, it seemed that God’s hand was in the wrong turn. There was construction near Stonehenge that day, and there was a tremendous traffic jam, backed up for miles. We were so grateful for having missed the turn, however we did it.
Although the country drive was beautiful, with farms and fields and gorgeous vistas, my grip on the steering wheel was tight. We were grateful to be able to find the hostel right way, and park the car for the day.
Over the years we have been to many church camps and have stayed in the AMC huts in the White Mountains, so we were prepared for staying in youth hostels. We had been encouraged to try them by friends in CT. Plainly they are cheaper than hotels, and you get a chance to meet interesting people. Others had tried to prepare us for how expensive Britain is, and we discovered that to be very true. One would see a price in pounds and feel it was not too bad, until you converted it into dollars, which means essentially doubling the amount. We decided we would defer feeling bad about the cost until the next VISA bill comes.
The Youth Hostel in Salisbury is very nice. It is quite large, but was not crowded this night. We were in separate bunk rooms, but we expected that. Breakfast would be prepared for us and we could get a bag lunch.
The main attraction in Salisbury is the Cathedral, with the tallest medieval spire in the world. It is impressive from the outside and from the inside. The Cathedral, like most that we would visit, is surrounded by grounds and ancient houses and buildings. The Cathedral is also supported by a small army of people who love it and volunteer to make it work, both as a tourist destination and as a Cathedral.
One of the members of that army of volunteers was an older woman, whom we discovered later had 2 artificial hips, and who took us on a tour of the roof and spire. With her and another dozen visitors we started our tour of the church. She explained to us that the church was actually built on a bed of gravel, and that the local water level was always with in a few feet of the floor of the church, and not uncommonly flooded the nave. In fact as they added to the weight of the tower over the years they had noticed the pillars bulging and she showed us the bowed columns supporting the spire in the center of the cross of the church. They had also added a number of flying buttresses and done a number of other things to keep the spire from crashing into the nave of the church. I reminded myself that my life insurance was paid up and our kids would be well cared for if this were the end. Then we climbed over 160 stairs in stages up over the vault of the ceiling, down the catwalk over the nave and then up to the bell tower and up into the spire where we could squeeze out onto 4 different small balconies above the valley and town.
The inner structure of the walls, roof, ceiling and spire and absolutely unbelievable in their engineering, built before bolts and steel superstructure. We stood in the bell tower when the Westminster chimes rang on the quarter hour. The height to which we were allowed to climb was certainly high enough for me. But those who maintain the spire in its entirety climb almost twice as high, eventually going outside the spire and using hand holds to reach the 30 foot cross at the top. They do this regularly to inspect and repair any problems that might arise. Anything can happen, I suppose, from the sinking of the piers on which the spire is supported, the bowing of the columns, the swaying of the spire in high winds, and lightning. Our wonderful guide showed us burnt timbers from a lightning strike a couple of hundred years ago. Back then they put out the fire with a bucket brigade up all of those stairs. Unbelievable!
We will never forget the view, and we have pins to wear to prove that we have been up to the spire of Salisbury Cathedral, the British equivalent of “This car has climbed Mt. Washington). The rest of the evening we spent having dinner in town and continuing our visit of the Cathedral and grounds, with another opportunity for sung evensong. Salisbury has a very nice choir and organ, as one would expect. We felt blessed as we headed back to the hostel.
Today we had broken in the car, by rubbing the tires on the left curb, and ventured into the countryside. We are far from home tonight, and pray for a good night’s sleep. God will grant us peace.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright, Kenneth C. Brookes 2004

June 25 – London’s Treasures.

2004-07-08T12:57:00.000-04:00

June 25 – London’s Treasures.
Breakfast was included at the New Linden Hotel, so we stoked up for the day. We had a brainstorm that we would take the subway to Westminster Abbey and Parliament and then take the river boat to the Tower of London. The only problem with that idea, as we found out, is that the boats do not run until 10. So we popped back onto the subway for a tour of the Tower.
I had always thought that the Tower of London was a tower in which jewels were stored. It is, however, a large compound in which page upon page of British history was written. There are towers, prisons, armories, chapels, homes and a palace inside the fortifications. Oh yes, there are the royal family crown jewels. The history of this place has some high points and some very low points. It seems beheading was a common solution to political problems. For a country that prides itself on being civilized, there is this one aspect of British history that is not particularly grand. A lot of people, men and women, clergy, royalty and commoners, were killed. Sir Thomas Moore was executed there and Sir Walter Raleigh spent decades there, with his family living with him in his prison cell. I suppose we have a few witches who were burned and some lynchings, but we have nothing to match the British. Nonetheless, the Tower of London is one place one must visit.
From the Tower we backed up to St. Paul’s Cathedral. This is an absolutely magnificent piece of architecture, with its dome soaring high above the landscape, and its cavernous nave. Unfortunately it is under renovation, inside and out, so our views were impaired. There was loud machinery operating inside which ruined the experience of the sacred space. The next time we go the work will be done and we can enjoy the church. It is grand.
From there we walked down to the Thames and over the New Millennium Bridge, which is obviously a new foot bridge with a bold design and bright metal color. It draws pedestrians to the river and to the other side. It is a very popular place. On the other side is the Tate museum, which we did not visit, holding that for another trip. But we did visit the New Globe Theater, the reproduction of the Old Globe Theater in Stratford. We were able to get tickets for Measure for Measure which was about to start. We were fortunate to get back seats, which meant we had a wall against which to rest our backs. All of the other seats were plain benches, and, as in the olden days, there were scores of people standing on the floor. This actually proved to be a problem. It was fairly warm and several people on the floor fainted. It would seem to us that the architecture and presentation was very authentic. Of course, what would we know? It was a lot of fun, and once we caught onto the Shakespearean language we enjoyed the play.
We then crossed the Millennium bridge again and took the subway to the National Gallery of Art. This is another of the magnificent and free museums in London. The galleries go on and on, displaying their extensive holdings. It was primarily British and European art. I didn’t see any Wyeth or Hopper. Nonetheless it is a very fine exhibition and would take a couple of days to do justice to it.
Just across the street is St. Martins of the Fields Church, which I knew from their extensive music program, and the orchestra of that name. They have a concert just about every day and we were able to get tickets for a classical orchestra concert, mostly Bach, Purcell and Vivaldi. It was very nice and a thrill to be at the source of such dynamic contribution to the world’s treasure of music. That evening we made our first email contact with home, not with complete success, but there were no emergency emails, so we assumed the church and home fronts were all right.
We were able to get home by 10 and start planning for the next day.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
copyright Kenneth C. Brookes, 2004

June 24. London!

2004-07-07T10:52:00.000-04:00

June 24. London!
At quarter of two am Eastern time we had a muffin, juice and surprisingly good coffee. We needed it. We are grateful for a safe flight. It has taken me many years to be comfortable in an airplane. If God had meant us to fly He would have given us wings. I used to listen to every strange sound, feel every bump and closely scrutinize every thing going on outside the plane. I still am constant in prayer while flying, but I worry far less. So we bumped to the ground at Heathrow, the engines reversed and we quickly decelerated and I said to God, “thank you.”
Everyone has raved about the Heathrow Express, the above ground rail service into London. While it is a little expensive for a 15 minute trip, it is well worth the price. The train is fast, quiet, modern and efficient. The London subway in comparison, is actually not bad at all, for a subway or “tube.” It runs efficiently, with plenty of personnel, regular trains and enough cars. We had our moments of confusion in the first half day using the “tube,” but once we figured the system out we were able to go anywhere quickly and without getting lost. (A couple of days after we left London, there was a tube strike, and that would have been a real mess. We are grateful that we were spared the pain.)
So we took the express from Heathrow to Paddington Station. I never saw the bear, but the gift shops are full of Paddington Bears and Winnie the Poohs. We then took the subway to the stop nearest our hotel, and made the quick walk to drop off our luggage. We were ready to set out to explore London by 9:45 am, London time.
Our first major visit was to the British Museum, which had been recommended to us enthusiastically. This is an incredible museum, with exhibits from dozens of ancient cultures. Many of the artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone, were familiar from the study of ancient Biblical and other civilizations. Some of the pieces were massive, but the scale of the museum easily accommodates the largest items. The center of the museum atrium is an honored reading room under a great rotunda.
After several hours of this museum, we could not finish it and left the rest to another day, and another trip. From there we took the subway to Westminster Abbey. But coming out of the subway, the first thing you see is Parliament and Big Ben. Parliament is a very large and impressive structure in itself. Westminster Abbey is in the same scale. We poked around the various chapels around Westminster, looking at as many of the tombs as we could. We found the cloisters, the charter house, and the café, which we really needed. In the café we had a nice conversation with a woman priest who was doing a week’s duty as chaplain at the abbey. She has a small parish in the country side, but once a year they take turns being the chaplain for the week, assisting the regular staff of priests, vergers and acolytes.
We then had the wonderful opportunity to be present for choral evensong, sitting in the choir at Westminster Abbey. As one can imagine, the abbey choir, the organ and the acoustics were wonderful. As it happened a woman who worships regularly at the abbey sat next to us. It helped me to feel that this was a service of worship, and not a show for the tourists, of whom there were many. I am sure that a church like Westminster Abbey is glad to show itself off to the tourists, and financially they probably benefit from the “donations” that they get from them, but the logistics of being a tourist attraction on top of being a church must be tremendous. So there under the soaring vaults and arches of Westminster Abbey, our souls soared as well.
We then turned toward our hotel, walking past Buckingham Palace on the way to the subway. We discovered that the neighborhood of our hotel is largely made up of Greeks, so we found the right restaurant. Ellen had moustaka and I had kleftikon, which is a leg of lamb cooked for a long time. When the Ottomans occupied Greece, the locals would steal sheep from the Turks and dig a pit and put the sheep in the pit and build a fire on top of the sheep, both hiding the stolen sheep and cooking the sheep for a long time. Stolen sheep, kleftikon, is related to kleptomaniac. This was a great meal to end our first full day. We were tired.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
copyright Kenneth C. Brookes 2004

June 23 - Setting off on a Pilgrimage

2004-07-06T21:49:00.000-04:00

June 23 – Setting off on a Pilgrimage
After many months of planning and replanning, of making reservations and buying tickets, we were ready for the countdown. Then we were in for the last minute logistics. That meant getting both of us to Maine, with Ellen screeching in just under the wire. The last minute logistics means taking care of those things that enable you to go away. In our case it was first the dogs, and then our houses and gardens that needed tending in order for us to leave town with comfort. So Ellen had closed up the house in CT, and I had been trying to bring order out of chaos at the property in Maine. I launched the boats and the dinghies, brushed the dogs and gave special instructions to those who were going to take care of them. I rototilled, weeded and hoed the garden. Geoff is working full time in SW Harbor, so we had some people lined up to help him with the dogs. With those factors settled, we were ready to start the trip.
We had talked about a trip to Great Britain for many years, and our 35th wedding anniversary seemed like the most appropriate time to do it. Ellen’s parents were both born in Scotland and my father was born in England, and my Mother’s ancestors were of English stock years ago, so this was a kind of heritage pilgrimage for us. Over the last year the journey went through several transformations. Originally we had intended to do all of Great Britain. Reason later steered us toward reducing the itinerary to include mostly southern England and Wales. We would do Scotland, Northern England and Ireland another time.
So today the alarm went off at 5:00, the usual time at home, but not our usual vacation rising time. We bolted out of bed today. I wanted to take one last bike ride since I am going to miss training for a century ride, a long bike trip later this summer. The roads on the island were wet and slick from the rain and fog the night before. It was cool this morning, but it promised to be a brighter day than the previous one.
The dogs knew that something was amiss. They seemed to suspect that this day’s commotion would not include them. So finally we put Charlie in his crate and gave Jake a good bye kiss as he sat on his perch on the futon, and we headed off to Bangor at 9:00 am. We were just early enough in Bangor to pick up a couple of things that we realized we had forgotten, and then we boarded the Concord Trailways bus, leaving our car in their lot. Concord has express service from Bangor to Logan International. It is a great bus line. Not only do we park for free, but they give you cold bottled water and pretzels for the trip. They also promised us a movie on the long ride. This was a comfortable and convenient way to get to Logan.
We had four hours before our flight, but would rather have too much time than too little, and we had good books to read. We took some Tylenol PM an hour or two before the flight, knowing that we would need to sleep. We would arrive in London early in the morning, but it would be 2 am Eastern Time.
The flight out of Logan to Heathrow was uneventful. The 747 was full from front to back. The seats were cramped and not all that comfortable, but we were able to quiet ourselves and go to sleep. The next day would be an exciting one.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright Kennneth C. Brookes 2004

Summer Solstice

2004-06-20T21:55:00.000-04:00

It always seems that the summer solstice comes too early. Have they checked the calendar? In Northern New England we are still in spring, with the rhododendron and lilacs in full bloom. The cool loving vegetables are doing fine, but the heat loving tomatoes have not really caught their stride. So now before the penetrating heat of summer has had a chance to do its damage to human will, they tell us that the sun is about to turn back the other way. Can it be that the sun is already packing it in for another year, and has started its inevitable journey back to darkness and cold?
The ancients knew what was happening, but they refused to be discouraged by the future, and were committed to celebrating and enjoying the present. The summer solstice celebration rejoiced in all the good that mother nature gives us, from the heat of the sun to the relief of the rain and the promise and hope that are enabled by the phenomenon of fertility. The new life of every year is not just the renewal of perennials. The blessing of fertility means the fullness of new life, the baby birds who are hatching, the lupine that is blooming and bees who are swarming. .
So the ancients celebrated the summer solstice with wild abandon. It was a time for dancing in response to the benevolence of God. It was a time to mix the physical with the spiritual, and for the whole person to experience and celebrate the “unbearable lightness of being.”
Today I attended a celebration of the summer solstice in a place as likely as any to remark on the beauty and healing power of nature. A friend invited many of the people of the island for a concert featuring Maine folk singer, Dave Mallett. She held this celebration of the summer solstice on her property which is at the mouth of Somes Sound, the only fjord in the continental US. Mallett’s songs bear an appreciation for nature, for God’s providence and for the hearty people of Maine. So on a beautiful afternoon on the last day of spring, at the threshold of summer, we sat in the sun, appreciating the community here in Maine and the beauty of wild flower, mountain and ocean.
Usually I do not bother to ponder the meaning of the summer solstice, but I see today why it was so very powerful for the ancients. It does not hurt me at all to have a day like this one in which to remember the power and majesty of God’s created order. We celebrate the sun in all its glory.
Ken Brookes
Kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004 Kenneth C. Brookes

Fathers' Day

2004-06-19T23:08:00.000-04:00

This is an era in which one must be careful about generalizations. After all, not all people have had a close relationship with a Father. Some children, for various reasons common in society today, are raised with no Father at all. I would not want to hurt these children, who are often raised in more than adequate family conditions. And to reflect on the relationship between Fathers and sons will certainly incite those who would contend that Fathers have equally significant relationships with their daughters. All of that is certainly true, but for some men (and I will not generalize and say for “all men”) the particular relationship with his Father is one that he has to deal with most of his life.
For a couple of reasons I have been reflecting a lot on my relationship with my Father. Some years ago, particularly around the time of his death, I processed many of my feelings about him. My grief was substantial and his loss shook the foundations of my inner being. After all, I had followed in his footsteps. I contemplated the good and the bad of my feelings about my Father and then put them all away. However, just because I put away my feelings does not mean that the impact of that relationship was not working in my life. So a year or two ago when my older brother started to write about our Father and inquire about my recollection of him, I started to think about him again. I have come to realize that now nearly 20 years since his death many of my recollections and conclusions about my Father could be fiction. I may not really be remembering him as he really was. I may be pondering a personal fiction that I made up about him. It is humbling and instructive to realize that many of the recollections we have years later are tinged by our own personal assumptions. Many of us have difficulty accepting that reality. Maybe your Father was not as bad as you recall, or maybe he was worse than you make him to be.
The other reason I am coming back to ponder the impact of my Father on my life has to do with a time of self-assessment. As I try to understand and assess myself and my professional work I am inevitably brought to ponder my Father’s influence. In positive and negative ways my Father’s influence can be seen.
For many years of my life I can see that some of my Father’s less desirable characteristics had an unusually significant impact on my personality. At some point in mid adulthood it became apparent to me that I did not have to be held hostage to what I perceived as my Father’s difficult disposition. Again, I came to appreciate the possibility that I was overstating the case, and perhaps I was just too sensitive. So I started to change some things about myself and the way I conduct my ministry. So now I accept that some of the ways I live and perform my ministry are intentionally different from my Father. Some times I try to live my life better than did my Father, and sometimes I just want to do it differently.
Now if the truth is known, there are plenty of things that I would like to be able to emulate, but are some times out of my reach. My Father’s knowledge of the Bible and Biblical scholarship far outstrips my efforts. That is not to say that I am ignorant. My working knowledge of the subject is more than adequate, but it is plain that my Father invested a lot of time and energy into the Bible, and it paid off.
My Father was also well read. People would say the same of me, I suppose, but my Father’s intellect reached much more sophisticated levels than mine.
My Father’s zeal for issues of equity and justice far exceed mine. I am committed to the struggle, but my enthusiasm pales in comparison to his.
My Father had an artistic talent that completely evaded me. He loved to paint with oils. I never got past crayons. He loved to bake bread. I like to eat it.
My Father loved sports and had been a very accomplished tennis player. His interest in watching sports never rubbed off on me, and I never had the patience for tennis and golf.
My Father had a fierce sense of morality. He passed that on to his children. He also had a strong work ethic, which was also inherited by his children. He further had a strong sense of the role and function of family. We had meals together, and always sat down for a special dinner on Sunday afternoon. My Father and Mother put four of us through college and modeled for us the requirement that one honors one’s vows. My Father’s final thought before we got married was that if ever I divorced Ellen, she could come home to them, but I could not.
I would say that my Father had a personal intensity that I also inherited. He was unlikely to do something in a half-hearted way. I have that intensity, I believe.
More important than how I function as a professional, is how I function as a Father. As hard as it is to reflect on one’s own Father, it is even more difficult to be honest about one’s own fathering. I hope that I have established a close bond with my sons, and that they will look back and see that I gave them the love and support that they needed, and that I inspired them in life. I’ll leave the evaluation of my fathering to them.
Fathers’ Day is a time to reflect on our fathers, in life or in memoriam. For the sake of balance we admit that some fathers do a terrible job and deserve rejection. For those of us lucky enough to have been nurtured and inspired by our fathers, this is a day of celebration. Perhaps the best thing that any of us can do on Fathers’ Day is to pray for the forgiveness of all Fathers. There is no way that Fathers can live up to the expectations of their sons, or that sons can live up to the expectations of their Fathers. This is the tension throughout history and literature (see Too Late the Phalarope, by Alan Paton, for a very powerful and heart breaking father-son story). It is too much for most of us. We cannot achieve the high ideals placed on us. Some of us can barely get over the lowest threshold of father hood. May God bless all Fathers, in reality and in memory.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright Kenneth C. Brookes, 2004

Leadership

2004-06-18T21:49:00.000-04:00

Leadership
Leadership is crucial to the vitality of any organization. Unfortunately those in leadership positions may not have any understanding of the importance of their function and of the sacred role with which they have been entrusted. Every organization relies on leadership to help it fulfill its goals, consciously or unconsciously. Nonetheless leadership does not always see its role as fulfilling the goals of the whole.
So at one end of the scale we have people who are in leadership positions who have inadequate understanding of the role they can play and of how to lead. At the other end of the scale there are those who think that they know what leadership is and they may think that leadership is all about the leader, and not about those who are being led. These so-called leaders are infatuated by the power and authority that they have been granted. And then there are the leaders in the middle who have an appreciation for what they are able to do as leaders, but don’t know how. And there are also people who think that leading means telling people what to do, and so they spend their lives trying to push people around. Then they wonder why people are resistant to their leadership.
Perhaps the most remarkable book on leadership I have ever read it Daniel Goleman’s Primal Leadership. (Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence. Boston: Harvard) Goleman is perhaps best known for his work on Emotional Intelligence, summarized in the book of that title. Emotional Intelligence does not at all coincide with IQ. Emotional intelligence is the ability to discern one’s own emotional responses and those of others. A person who has a high degree of emotional intelligence is able to be successful in life. This helps to explain why some people who seem to have lots of raw talent never make much of themselves and always seem to be in conflict.
Goleman in his new work applies the scientific learning of his research on emotional intelligence to the particular study of leadership. Good and successful leaders are not necessarily the people with the highest IQs, but are those who understand their own emotions and the emotions of others and are able to use that knowledge to lead others using a variety of styles of leadership, depending on the circumstance. An emergency in an organization can demand an authoritative style of leadership. A more democratic style of leadership might be more applicable in times of less stress. A leader might need to be a coach at times, when others in the organization need mentoring and encouragement.
Goleman claims that while there are some people who seem very naturally to be able to use their innate emotional intelligence to adapt to any situation, many people seem to lack the ability to lead in appropriate ways, even though they have been elected or appointed to a leadership position. Nonetheless, Goleman claims, leadership can be learned. But learning in emotional intelligence is not book learning. It really is relearning one’s emotional responses to others and to conflict. One has to practice leadership and responses to others in real life. With practice and with a patient coach, an authoritative leader can become a democratic leader or a coach.
Most of Goleman’s examples come out of the business sector, probably because business and large non governmental organizations have a vested interest in high quality leadership. In the case of business, effective leadership enables the business to accomplish its goals and not incidentally to make money. Large non governmental organizations are able to succeed at their goals and to make good stewardship of their resources if they have good leadership.
The applicability of Goleman’s work and research to church leadership is quite evident to me. The church has very important goals and a mission, but, unfortunately, the church does not have sufficient commitment to these goals to be able to analyze and improve its leadership. Just having the goals may seem to be enough for the church, but having the leadership that can help the church fulfill these goals does not seem as important. Consequently one can find many churches with vision statements and lists of goals (see church web pages), but one wonders how many of these goals are met. And if one merely took the most basic goals of a church, preaching and teaching the word of God and ministering to others in need, one would wonder how well churches accomplish these. Would most churches get passing grades on the success of their goals?
Reading Goleman’s work is a bit embarrassing because it makes me realize how little leadership training there is in the church. Seminaries do little, in my experience, to encourage leadership skills. The idiosyncratic styles of the students are tolerated and perhaps celebrated. When those same idiosyncratic styles of leadership are set loose on the churches there are mixed results. People try to blame the churches for their lack of responsiveness, but little attention is placed on the skills of the leader.
Pastoral leadership is crucial to the churches, as well as good lay leadership. There are many people who are extremely resistant to using what appear to be business oriented leadership training styles in the church. They would claim that the business model is not right for the church. However, a leadership methodology that is really based upon relationships and emotions really meets the principles of the church directly. The church should be interested in how people treat others, and how their behavior impacts those around them.
Real leadership training involves a lot of time that the church has not been willing to invest. But the fruit of good leadership, which would be the fulfillment of the goals of the church, is a worthwhile venture. Those of us who are interested in becoming better leaders would benefit from Goleman’s lessons, and from getting in touch with our feelings and emotions and our impact on others.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
copyright Kenneth C. Brookes, 2004

On our 35th Anniversary

2004-06-14T16:27:00.000-04:00

It was a beautiful early summer morning on the Coast of Maine. There was little wind and it was humid, so the sun was hot reflecting off the water. The rosa rugosa were in full bloom and their scent permeated the air. We could not have asked for a better day for an outdoor wedding on John’s Bay. It was an intimate ceremony, family and a few friends, under 30 in all. The outdoor setting had been a good choice. It actually started as a politically neutral zone, so that we did not have to make a choice between her church or mine. The other act of neutrality was to have both of our fathers officiate. And at that stage in our lives there was no place to call home.
I can remember my parents’ 25th anniversary, and I recall what an accomplishment that seemed to be, and how old they must have been. Now that we are marking 35 years today, my parents have become younger. At a point like this I wonder if I have anything of worth to say about marriage.
First, I would conclude that we have been very fortunate. God blessed us from the beginning. Ellen and I have always felt that God had a part in our meeting, at the time and place that was right for both of us. God’s blessing has been on us all the way, with the birth of two healthy sons, good jobs, and loads of friends and opportunities in our lives together.
That is not to say that we have had a perfect life. There have been some difficult spots along the way. Despite our discouragement at those junctures we both intended to find a path through the forest, which we did together. Later we realized that the challenges had made us stronger. Some people find that they grow apart. We grew together.
Indeed we seem to have grown more similar as the years have gone by. Our tastes, our politics, our habits, our hobbies are more alike now than ever. We are further blessed by the interest that each takes in the other’s profession. We know enough about the other’s job and care enough to listen and engage. We also share a trait about work. We both like to work and we want to do the best job we can, so we rarely interfere with the other’s desire to work.
Most people commend working hard on your marriage. I suppose we have done so, particularly in the early years when we had lots to iron out. After 35 years it seems easier. That is not to say that we lack moments of frustration. We just do not take them as seriously any more. We know it will blow over.
We may have worked hard at our marriage, but God has made the most significant contribution to our success. We both feel God at work in our lives. God is there enhancing our ability to love, developing our need to serve, granting us the character to forgive, and putting a prayer in our hearts. It is difficult to be anything but closer and more in love when God is active in your life. Having God in our life changes our perspective on everything, for the better. And everyone needs that added benefit to their marriage.
It has been a wonderful trip together. We share a common database of folk whose lives have traversed and enriched ours. We are grateful for each memory, and for all that we have shared.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
copyright Kenneth C. Brookes 2004.

Motivation

2004-06-13T21:24:00.000-04:00

Many professionals, perhaps most, interest themselves in the issue of motivation. We want to know what motivates people. In medicine one would wonder what motivates a person to get better. In sales one wonders why people buy. In law you might ponder what drives the criminal. In the pastoral ministry I have long been fascinated by what motivates people to experience God more deeply and to serve.
One of my readers recently made a rather coherent comparison between preaching and sales. It is embarrassing, I suppose, but one has to admit that there is a bit of the salesperson in any good preacher. Is that a bad thing? People may think of salespeople as being superficial, but it seems to me that the best business people are those who truly know how to motivate the client from within.
On the surface one might think that motivation has to do with external factors that attract or push people in one direction or another. Anyone who has thought about how people function realizes that motivation goes to the very core of the person. We are motivated by that which is at the very center of our being. You cannot really force someone to buy your product. You might get away with it once, but that customer will not come back again. Motivation comes from within.
This, of course, is one of the more discouraging aspects of motivation. So many people are driven by weakness, by emptiness or imbalance within. If you study advertising, which is the most successful business in the psychology of human drive, you can see that the underlying forces are not the highest of humankind. Sex, fear of the lack of sex appeal, fear of rejection, and desire for power, are all typical forces that are used to motivate through ads. You can sell anything using these motivating drives.
Religion uses inner motivation as well, and often has used fear and guilt as means to attract the loyalty of adherents. Another inner drive comes out of feelings of inadequacy, and that is the motivation to feel superior to others. Religion has used all of these and other less attractive drives to motivate, and the church has been very successful over the centuries with such appeals.
However, it seems to me that the most genuine spiritual motivation comes from deep within, at the point at which one’s soul yearns for life and fulfillment. This is essentially why true spirituality is so often characterized by self-motivation. It is very difficult to inspire people to be spiritually motivated from the outside. The best one can do is to help people uncover their inner desires.
Gerald May writes that a form of “spiritual narcissism is the idea that one can accomplish one’s own spiritual growth.” By the same token the notion that one can accomplish someone else’s spiritual growth would be a form of manipulation. That is an old methodology, of course. If you make people feel guilty and afraid, you can get them to profess their faith. But this motivation is not the best in my mind, and the result is not satisfying for anyone.
So what do we do to motivate people? It is a matter of uncovering, it seems to me. When we are preaching or teaching or praying, we are uncovering the inner desires and needs of us all. This demands patience, quiet and discipline. It would be much quicker to motivate people from the outside with superficial means, but that is just not particularly honest.
That which is at the core of spiritual motivation, after one sets aside the weaknesses and the guilt that most of us have within our hearts, comes from God. This is the sweetness of the spiritual life, when one realizes that God is leading you forward. You are not running away from guilt, or running toward exclusivity, but rather drawn by a desire that God has put within your heart. God motivates, and we are left to uncover that motivation within our own hearts and the hearts of others.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
copyright Kenneth C. Brookes 2004

Attitude

2004-06-11T21:38:00.000-04:00

I have been having an email discussion with a relative about health and attitude. Does one’s attitude impact one’s health? Is the depressed person more likely to get sick? You may have figured that I would argue that health is significantly affected by one’s state of mind. Not only does it make intuitive sense to me that depression lowers one’s resistance, but there are plenty of people who claim to have the proof. My own little research demonstrates to me that the only time I get sick is when my spirit is out of balance.
My relative, it seems, is less convinced. Of course, he is right that there are plenty of people with positive attitudes who have died well before their time, and I suppose there are plenty of miserable people who just will never seem to get sick or die. Is it merely luck that determines one’s health and longevity?
As I have told him, if it comes down to luck and gambling, I will gamble on attitude. I will risk the possibility that a good attitude will make me healthier. I will bank on that possibility, knowing that at any time I could be struck down. It could happen that I might drop dead exercising, or fall off my bicycle and hit my head as someone did recently on Mount Desert Island. A positive attitude goes a long way, but cannot stop the inevitable.
Much of the talk about Ronald Reagan this week has focused on his attitude. He was generally optimistic, light hearted and upbeat, and people responded to that personality. Much of his success is attributed to his attitude. He could turn an adversary into an ally, or at least deflate the anger of an enemy with a kind, or humorous or self-deprecating phrase. What a wonderful legacy to leave behind, to have people praise your personality and attitude. It is no wonder there were so many people who spent their time in recent days honoring Ronald Reagan.
As an aside, I was grateful for the service today at the National Cathedral. I was so pleased that the essence of the Christian service was held, and the good news of the resurrection was proclaimed boldly. In a pluralistic society it is rare that one can get away with it. I am thankful that Ronald Reagan made the choice to go out with a Christian blessing. Hopefully there were people who witnessed this service who were moved to consider the Christian gospel for themselves. What a beautiful church and what exquisite music.
Gerald May in Will and Spirit talks about that element beyond willpower which is necessary for success. That other element is Spirit, of course. Openness to the Spirit is part of that all important attitude. Ronald Reagan is said to have stated after his brush with death by assassination that he felt his life had been saved for some purpose, and from then on he was going to rely more heavily on his instinct. That is reliance on the spirit. It may have done him a lot of good, and if the testimonies we have heard this week have any truth to them, then reliance on the Spirit truly helped him.
Of course, there is very little one can do about Alzheimers. He did enter the encroaching darkness with dignity. Might it have been worse or come more quickly if he had had a poor attitude? Who knows? But certainly he was blessed by being surrounded by people whose attitude toward life he shaped. If nothing else, a good and positive attitude creates a happier and most satisfying environment in which to live.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
copyright Kenneth C. Brookes, 2004

The UCC and the Liberal Social Agenda

2004-06-10T10:49:00.000-04:00

The departure of the First Church of Wethersfield from the United Church of Christ signals an appropriate time to ponder the relationship between the UCC and the liberal social agenda. Unfortunately in the public forum where such matters are debated, such as the letters to the editor in the Hartford Courant, it is very difficult to correct inaccuracies and to promote a balanced point of view. Monday’s letter to the editor called the Wethersfield Church “homophobic,” which is certain to add fuel to the fire of anger at the UCC. Today’s letter to the editor in response tried to label the UCC as biblically illiterate, while the writer made an absolutely clear mistake in Biblical knowledge. Counter to the contention of the writer of the letter today, Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. And that is what makes it so difficult. “What would Jesus do?” is really at the core of the debate, in its simplest form.
The issue at hand for First Church, it would seem, is first the matter of what to do with homosexuality and then how to interpret scriptures and finally how does a church adopt a social agenda in a diverse society. Some First Church people would put those issues in a different order, starting perhaps with the issue of Biblical authority at the top of the list. My sense, however, is that if it were not for the issue of homosexuality the Wethersfield church would find it difficult to clarify its differences with the UCC. The UCC has always been able to accommodate Biblical literalists, but this issue has solidified a vocal opposition.
I would not pass myself off as a church historian, but I am convinced that all of this is not a new issue at all. One of many mistakes people make is to assume that adopting a liberal social agenda is something that was invented by the UCC in the latter half of the 20th Century. The reality is that Congregational Churches historically adopted a liberal social agenda, and there was always controversy. At the time of the Revolution there was the issue of fighting for independence from England. It is claimed that the minister of the Newington Church called up 100 men to go to Lexington and Concord. That was a radical, liberal social agenda if I ever heard of one. During the years of the abolition movement Congregational preachers and churches were at the fore front of this radical and liberal social agenda. It is supposed that the minister of the Congregational Church in Newington participated in the underground railroad. Congregationalists supported and fought over women’s suffrage, temperance and equal rights for all races. The notion that the UCC would espouse a liberal social agenda is merely a fulfillment of our history, not a deviation from it. The UCC with its social agenda is the real inheritor of the history and culture of Congregationalism.
There is something about the issue of homosexuality, however, that really disturbs people. It may be because it has to do with sex, but certainly it is compounded because it is a different experience. I do believe that it is difficult to change the way you think about matters as basic as sexuality and marriage. Certainly there is a healthy dose of prejudice involved as well.
For the UCC the issue was raised to a national debate around 1970 when one of our Associations in California ordained a young man who was an admitted and practicing homosexual. While such an action does not set precedent for any other association, all Committees on Ministry had to ponder how they would vote in similar circumstances. The fact that there are a few passages in the Bible that certainly appear to condemn homosexuality made it all the more uncomfortable for churches. How does one make up one’s mind about which passages to accept and which to reject? The UCC started an informal and a formal process of studying the Biblical, sociological and psychological aspects of homosexuality. But not everyone moved at the same speed.
In the 1970’s the UCC brought a study on human sexuality, which dealt mostly with homosexuality, to the floor of General Synod. It contained around 20 conclusions and resolutions. It was my conviction then, and I remain steadfast in this, that the national church could have benefited by taking a little longer to study the issue, rather than adopting this liberal social agenda which was considerably more liberal than the average UCC member. I was particularly adamant about this matter because at that time I was serving a church that was quite conservative and I knew would have problems with the UCC vote. When the UCC did vote all of the resolutions, rather than send the matter to the churches for study, I helped to draft a minority report which turned out to be rather prophetic. The minority report was, in my mind, a way to try to give voice to the strong opposition that would be felt within the church nationally and to try to keep more conservative members and churches within the fold. About a third of the General Synod delegates voted in favor of the minority report, which showed that this was a contentious issue for the denomination. Finally the Wethersfield Church has fulfilled the prophecy of the minority report which I helped to draft, but the church that I had served in the 1970’s dropped out of the UCC several years ago.
What should the UCC do about its tendency to adopt resolutions espousing a liberal social agenda, while critics would hold that the church is ignoring important faith and growth issues critical to the future of the denomination? Some have made a case for a plan for the UCC, in CT at least, to take a sabbatical from social pronouncements. We could certainly benefit from having the time to catch up to the resolutions that we have already passed. Should the UCC back off its social agenda entirely in order to focus on issues of faith and growth? The social agenda is so integral to our identity from early Congregationalism to this day that it would be impossible for the leopard to change its “spots.” Nonetheless it has always seemed to me that the voting members at UCC meetings could be a bit more patient with one another and particularly with the people back home. The Synod and Conference meetings need to lead, but they cannot lead from too far ahead. We need to bring people along, rather than alienate them.
I am adamant about the importance of patience and the value of bringing people along, because that has been my personal experience, on the issue of homosexuality and others. Over years of study, prayer, thought and discussion I have evolved from someone who had considerable reservations about the advisability of ordaining homosexuals to the point now that I can advocate for gay marriage. I have become convinced that matters of sexuality are not central to the gospel. Jesus was just not overly concerned about it. Moreover social and psychological sciences have taught us that homosexuality is not a moral choice, but is an orientation, perhaps from birth. Gay people are God’s beloved children. If they want to covenant with one another before God and to stand in a committed relationship, I believe that God would approve. In fact, gay marriage could improve society.
Unfortunately not everyone agrees. So an alternative solution to the crisis which is confronting society and is destroying churches and denominations, is to abolish the legal status of marriage. Then devise a new legal entity called civil union which would grant all of the rights previously assigned to marriage and then grant civil unions to gays and straights alike. Then churches would have the right to bless these unions and to call those blessings marriage if they so choose. Those blessings could be done for gays and/or straights depending on the theology and comfort of the denomination or the local church. Then the government would not have to involve itself in defining a relationship that has religious implications.
The loss of the Wethersfield Church to the UCC was certainly predictable and inevitable. That church has been on a different path than most of the rest of the UCC churches in the region. They have been very successful at their game, but it is just not a game that many other churches and their pastors would be willing to play. I do believe that it is the UCC’s loss, not for financial reasons, but for purposes of balance. The UCC tends to lean so readily toward the left, it causes us to be blind if we do not have a very strong right side to balance the left. We are hurt by not having them present at the table.
I think that the Wethersfield Church loses as well. The historical connection for that church, even with its offspring like Newington, is lost. The denominational accountability of its clergy is now up for question. The local church bears all responsibility for its clergy and their conduct. They have also taught their people that the meaning of covenant only goes so far. When you disagree, you get out of the covenant. This is precisely what we have been trying not to teach our married members among others.
I do not believe that the UCC should retreat from its historical identity and character. It should not pretend to be something it is not. Clearly the UCC’s dedication to issues of justice and equity is seen as positive in some segments of our society, so it is a positive element of evangelism.
Meanwhile each church within the CT Conference of the UCC should be discussing the issue of gay marriage since the Conference meeting will be voting on a resolution supporting it this fall. How can we find a way to advocate justice and acceptance of all people, while being patient and kind toward those within our fold who are just uncomfortable at this time? I believe that eventually we will vote in favor of the resolution. I would like to have over 90% of the delegates in favor of this resolution so that we do not need to face the dangers of splitting the church. Until that time, I believe that we can be patient and assured that the spirit of God is working in our midst. All will be well.
Ken Brookes
Kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright by Kenneth C. Brookes 2004

The Sun and the Son

2004-06-08T20:38:00.000-04:00

The sun has a natural advantage in the pantheon of the gods. All of creation bows in homage to this source of light and life. The maple leaves turn up like tea cups toward the god of the sky. The peonies strain out from under the shade of that same maple tree to find the sustenance they need. Sunbathers worship at the altar of vanity. All of the ancients knew the value of the sun in growing food. Followers of yoga have their sun salutation. Astronomers and astrologers study the sun, all fascinated by every solar event, including Venus’ transit today.
As Icarus was drawn toward the sun and toward danger, we all know its destructive force as well as its good. The sun scours the earth making deserts where there once were forests. It peals away layers of skin on human flesh to leave the origins of cancer ready to grow. The sun is the enemy of fabric and wood and paint. There is little protection available from it.
In the Christian Church we sometimes play on the word “sun,” to refer to Christ as the Son of God. Like the maple leaves our hands turn up toward him, in a receptive mode, eager to receive from him the blessing of our souls. Like the flowers growing in the shade, we know especially our need of him when we are in darkness. We strain for his light even “though we walk through the valley of death.” We know that the light of Christ’s truth feeds us and sustains us like bread and wine at the table.
So with hands turned up we greet the Son. From him comes the inspiration for a life of service. We are convinced to care for the weak, and to forgive those who have hurt us. We are drawn toward honesty and caring for the universe. The warmth and love of Christ attracts us toward the light that can heal our souls. Far from shortening our lives as does the sun, the Son gives us the longest imaginable extension to this life of ours.
The only danger with Christ the Son is that we cannot resist serving him once we get close enough. Eugene Peterson writes, “God constitutes our work.” How true this is once you are close enough, once God has become the source of your warmth and light.
“O Son of righteousness, pour out on your children the warmth of your love and grace. Draw our faces toward yours. Lift our eyes into yours, that you may forever constitute our work. We serve you, the Sun and Son of God. Amen.”
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright 2004. Kenneth C. Brookes

Surprises

2004-06-07T22:22:00.000-04:00

It should not have surprised me, but it always does. It surprises me when I find that I am moved by the death of someone I barely knew or even someone I knew and despised. The case in point was, of course, Ronald Reagan. Obviously I never really knew him. My only acquaintance was seeing and hearing him on television. As President his voice was fuel enough to build up steam inside me. So much of what he espoused and represented ran counter to my ideals. In retrospect I would say that he may not have done as much damage to the nation and the world as I thought he would. Some time we may hear the truth about his mental incapacity, but it seems to me that God watched over us all, and certainly looked over Reagan.
So why would I care that Ronald Reagan died? Why would I be moved to tears as I view videotape from decades ago? Why would I feel so warm toward someone for whom I had little sympathy in his prime?
Most of us are subject to the tutelage of human nature. Some how we are taught by the ancient traditions deep within the collective unconscious to respect our leaders, to deify them, to infuse them with more signficance than they deserve as human beings, but the kind of significance that we need to bind us together. When a leader dies something of the unifying force that was granted by those who put the leader in power is poured out on the altar. The blood on the altar is as much ours as it is the President’s. We cry for what Reagan represented and we cry for ourselves.
On a more human level, however, I believe that we are subject to the tutelage of human kindness. Most of us can find a way to be compassionate toward a stranger or even a foe, when the former adversary is weak. Who could not feel the pain and tragedy of ten years in the mental fog of Alzheimers disease? Who could not identify with the loss that Nancy Reagan must feel, even though they are probably relieved that he is spared further suffering? Not everyone gets passing grades in the school of human kindness, but more of us have a diploma with a degree in compassion.
But there is an advanced degree in compassion that has been made available to all of us. Not everyone registers, but enrollment is open to all. The tutor for this individual course is Jesus himself. He trains us to reach out to the stranger and the neighbor. He teaches us to love, and to forgive, and to love those who need forgiveness. He instructs us with written material, lectures in the deep of night, and with thoughts whispered in our ears.
So, I should not have been surprised that I was moved by the death of Ronald Reagan. All of us probably were.
When it comes to compassion, we should not be surprised when we feel it. We should be surprised when we do not. I pray that every child has been enrolled in the course of human kindness and taught to care for others. I pray further that everyone be enrolled in the advanced course on compassion, taught by our Lord.
“O loving Jesus, compassionate Lord and forgiving Saviour, teach us to forgive the unforgivable, to love the unlovable, and to mourn the dead. With your open heart show us how to feel the pain of others and share with them their sorrow. Teach us to love. Amen.”
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com
Copyright Kenneth C. Brookes 2004

It Isn't Fair

2004-06-06T16:36:00.000-04:00

It is not fair to visit any church in New England at this time of year and to expect to be able to discern its depth and character. However, if that is the only time I have, then what else can I do? Moreover, how could one really make any sort of valid observation based on one visit? It is brazen, but that is just what people do when they are looking for a new church. They visit, and, based on that one experience, decide whether or not they will visit again. Churches must understand the one-hour evaluation. It is going on all the time.
Nonetheless, I do cut churches a wide swath when I visit. This could be a bad day for them, or it could be that I am missing the point of their church and service. So today when I entered All Saints Episcopal Church in Worcester, I bore in mind all of the limitations that this kind of visit presents.
How did I happen to choose All Saints when there are probably thousands of churches nearer than that? All Saints is one of nine churches featured in a Paul Wilkes’ Excellent Protestant Congregations. In partial fulfillment of my requirements for the clergy spirituality program I am enrolled in through the Shalem Institute for Spirituality, I am supposed to visit a “risk-taking” church. All Saints was on the list, so I planned a visit.
Today a visit starts on the web (http://www.allsaintschurchworc.org). Their web page is very attractive and well constructed. It is also full of very good information. Some of the reasons that it was chosen for the list of excellent congregations come through on their web page. This church is obviously committed to the city and neighborhood in which it dwells. But it is also very committed to the inner life. There are programs for spiritual growth that are evident. Further they had recently formed a covenanted group of people who have agreed to live by a spiritual rule in life. This means first of all that they will be committed to daily prayer and discipline. They have also been involved in a planning process. It would seem that they saw this as a discerning process and not just an organizational one. The finger prints of the Shalem Institute are all over this church. I can see it, and indeed I discovered later that Mark Beckwith, the rector, had been through the same program which I am finishing this summer. The other curiosity about Mark Beckwith is that I had met him before, when he was a summer intern in Bar Harbor in the 70’s, and in the 80’s when we were both in the D.Min. program at Andover –Newton.
At 9:00 on Sunday morning I was presented with the classic challenges. Where should I park? Where is the door I should enter? And once inside where do I go? I chose what looked like a front door to me, but in some ways it was the wrong door, because there was no usher there to direct me. The ushers were at the other door, and no one noticed that I was wandering around lost. I got in and found that the first service was a family friendly one, not the main feature. Following this service was coffee hour. I wandered in, smiled and said hello, but finally had to take the initiative to engage in conversation. I was able to meet the associate rector and the rector, whom I had not seen for 20 years.
The main service was high Episcopal. It was a sung service, with as much music as you could fit in. The music was of a highly traditional sort. It was a beautiful service, I must say, set in a simply gorgeous neo-Gothic sanctuary. It was Trinity Sunday, so of course, the sermon was quite theological. There was not much reference to the Bible lessons of the day. The preacher used personal material and a few contemporary references. He used humor well. There was, however, no reference to issues of justice. Nonetheless, I do not doubt the dedication of this church to issues of equity and justice.
There is a lot about this service that would go against the contemporary trend. It is hard to know where you are in the service. The music is a bit difficult. They use formal language, vestments and religious symbolism. However, there were people there, both white and African American, and it is a well known and well respected church.
Again, it isn’t fair. It isn’t fair that this church was chosen as one of 9 Excellent Congregations in the country, when it is really only one of 9,000 or perhaps 90,000 excellent congregations. While there are some things that a church like All Saints can do, there are many good things about a church like ours. Who is to say that our church should not be on the list of Excellent Congregations? Well, I can make the case for its inclusion, but that is not the point. It is not important to be on a list of Excellent Congregations. It is important to be the best congregation that we can be.
“O God of the ages whose creative energy brings forth millions of living creatures to praise your holy name, you gather those creatures into clans, tribes, nations and houses of worship. May each worshipful tribe honor those within and those without, and may each tribe recognize you as the creator and author of all. May each worshipful tribe be a home of growth of the knowledge of you and of your love. In the name of the one who is the very body of that church, Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Jack of All Trades

2004-06-05T21:02:00.000-04:00

The pastoral ministry is a generalist profession. What that means is that we have a variety of skills. Ministry is not like a physician who can specialize in surgery, even a particular kind of surgery, like the doctor who fixed my hand. Few pastors can specialize in preaching, or teaching, or pastoral care or counseling or administration. Most of us have to be proficient in all fields, or at least as many as we can manage. Today we can add computer, Internet and presentation skills to the list.
Sometimes it feels to me less like a generalist profession and more like a jack-of-all-trades. I have come to appreciate the fact that our real Biblical scholars, those who give their whole lives to the subject, have expertise that I cannot match. The same is true with professional theologians. I must stand in awe before them. There are some big churches where the senior minister specializes in preaching and they are really good. There are some who specialize in teaching and they have all of the skills one could desire.
The effect of this reflection is, of course, humbling. It does cut one down to size to observe the skill and talent around us in the church. I have the privilege of knowing a lot of very talented pastors in the United Church of Christ, and in fact I know a lot of very capable pastors, priests and rabbis of all denominations and religions. God does seem to gather rather interesting servants, who give all that they have to serve.
A few of those many pastors will become famous, but most of us will not gain much fame beyond the walls of our local churches. But that is all right. Indeed it is as it should be.
Eugene Peterson in his Under the Unpredictable Plant, An Exploration in Vocational Holiness, effectively sets aside the whole notion of fame for one of devotion and service. Sometimes we pastors get caught in a desire to be popular and well known. We want to build a reputation. But that is not what we are called to do. We are called to teach, to preach to care, and to provide an atmosphere for the adequate adminsitration of the church. There are many of us who are able to do that and do it well.
What about the skills we need for that profession. Yes we need to develop, enhance and polish all of our skills, but they are meaningless if not built on a foundation of prayer and faith. Sometimes we can be so busy with the work of the church that we forget the work of faith.
What is so important for this profession is to like, no love, what you do. Lacking a true appreciation for the opportunities that we have in ministering to the lives of others is a sin. Some pastors complain about their congregations or thei r denominations. I can be impatient with that kind of attitude because the congregation we serve is God’s gift to us. It is the field in which we labor. Every field has some rocks and some weeds. But it is our field and we must make it better for those who depend upon it.
“O Spirit of God, who knits yarns and strings of all colors and strengths into one rough but strong fabric we call the church, we marvel at your handiwork. You take the hidden skills and sentiments of sinners and saints and you make a ministry that is more than an edifice. The church becomes a life giving organism meant to bring love and hope to the universe. Blessed be the tie that binds us. Amen”

Science and Religion

2004-06-04T21:10:00.000-04:00

The discipline is known as Science and Religion, even though most people think that it means science or religion. That is how we think in society these days. Either one is devoted to science or to religion, but each excludes the other. Our technological society has probably increased the number of people who think that they are scientists and thus above all consideration of religion. One could imagine that the technological society is responsible for the large number of non-believers today. My guess is that science is only in a very small way responsible for the decline in believers. The major reason for non-believing secular people in society is that they were brought up that way. While some of us cannot imagine bringing up children without religion, millions of other parents just don't care enough to do so. Consequently you can meet adult age young people who are not only ignorant of the Bible and theology, but do not really have a clue what it means to be a person of faith.
Nonetheless many people, including those who were brought up without faith, claim that science is the reason that they do not believe. Unfortunately they really miss the blessing of science. Some people would say that science and theology are such different disciplines that they have nothing to say to one another. Thus scientists and theologians should keep out of each others' hair. Frankly I am on the opposite side of this argument. I think that science and theology have encyclopedias to say to one another. Science constantly discovers complexity, beauty and synergy in the universe which is awe inspiring, even if you cannot believe that God is reponsible. Theology sees in science the creative power of God and the destructive power of humanity, eternal forces in the universe, and theology helps science think about using and governing those powers. Scientists and theologians, if they dare to look over the wall, will see beatiful lawns and apple trees, and they will be tempted to hang out by the neighbor's pool. The world will be a better place if they do.
There are lots of reasons why people lose faith. Sometimes they are convinced not to believe. Other times they are bothered by tragedy to the point that they flee from faith. Sometimes the people of faith themselves become the stumbling block. Church conflict can cause people to lose faith. A church with which many of us are acquainted is going through a time of conflict, which could impact a large portion of that church. Some will lose faith. I pray that they will find a way to keep the arguments and strife in one column and personal faith in another. There are many forces and thoughts that would lead us away from faith, but most of them, including the science and religion argument, do not have significant influence on those whose faith is solid in Christ.
"O Holy One, universe builder from foundation to spire, you offer us the choice of lives as solid as bedrock, or as weak as quicksand. Believing in your Son and finding in him the life that sustains us when we are weak, we find ourselves on solid ground. When we forget the path that is blazed for us by your Son, we wander into the quagmire of unbelief. Confirm in us this day a faith that is strong and is never threatened by those who differ from us, a faith that looks for you in every part of this glorious universe. Let those who have never known you feel what it is like to stand on the solid ground which is built on your Son. Amen."
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Evening Prayer

2004-06-03T20:50:00.000-04:00

O God of grace and love, who, with no petition heard, grants us the dawn and the gift of a new day, a day now spent, we intone an evening song of praise. In the fading light of the twilight hours you willingly take back the day with the grace with which it was first given. The rustling of the maple leaves slows to an easy dance, relaxed from the frenzy of the mid day. The cardinals and robins sing from the distance of their nests, no longer gathering food for young mouths, now resting. The heat of the sun’s full force is now forgotten, as reflected light from the sky bears a comforting coolness and the sign of retreat to night.
What have we made of the magnificent gift of this day, a bequest from you, the only one who can grant it? We saw the beauty of your creation today, Lord, but we did not remark upon its magnificence until it was nearly gone from sight. Our unkind thoughts about some people today were just examples of the way we think when left to our own devices. Certainly if we had been meditating on your holy name at those precise moments, the unkind thoughts would have not had the energy to emerge from their subterranean dens. We did notice the pain of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens, all participants in a death dance with the cobra. We shook our heads, felt the pain in our hearts, but forgot to pray. We did recognize the needs of others, but helped not many. We have used a few of the gifts of the day and a scant portion of our personal allotment of your providence for the good of the universe, but we did not waste it all either.
So we come to that most graceful gift of the daily routine, the blessing of evening, of night, of sleep and renewal. Each day of the week, repeated thoughout our years, you remind us of the seal which you placed upon this world, a sign of grace and love. You always grant us another day, even when other folk might lack that amount of charity toward us. In the quiet of the evening we can meditate in peace on your love and grace. We can once again plot our escape from the chains that hold us in human made prisons of soul and substance. We can look for a new life tomorrow because you have granted us the vision and the will.
We never thought to ask for the evening. It lacks the sparkle of the dawn and the power of the midday. But it does remind us of your presence in the quiet moments that make all of the difference in life itself. So we pray in the fading light, to the perpetual light and your Son. Amen.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Spinning Wheels

2004-06-02T20:39:00.000-04:00

Corinne Ware, in Discover Your Spiritual Type, describes 4 major spiritual types with their characteristics and their excesses. This work is a foundation on which much of the work at the Shalem Institute is built. Ware, in her turn, borrowed the concept from the late Urban Holmes, who also borrowed from C. G. Jung.
Ware (and Holmes before her) puts the four types on two axes and encloseds it in a circle. From a distance it might look like the cross hairs in a scope. They call it a wheel. I have thought that calling it a wheel was an exaggeration until I realized that spiritually I have been on the move. According to the categories of spirituality outlined by Ware my spiritual orientation has been in flux for a few years, whereas it remained fairly steady for a number of years previous.
Ware’s work is intended to help leaders like myself understand our own spiritual orientation, but also to understand the spiritual characteristics of the congregations we serve. There actually is an inventory (questionnaire) that you can administer to determine the orientation of a group. It might we worth doing this fall. We could understand one another better and that is a good thing.
In thinking about spiritual types I realize that people in the congregation are probably also in flux in their spirituality. Some might be spinning in the opposite direction from me, and some may be quite content to stay right where they are. They must be wondering what is happening to the rest of us. Are we abandoning the old patterns or have we migrated to a new planet?
So the spiritual wheel turns, and sometimes it just spins, going nowhere. That probably is not entirely a problem, unless it never stops spinning.
Any time we deal with other people we fall prey to the temptation to see everything from our own perspective. I apologize if I have seemed to misunderstand your spiritual orientation, what makes God meaningful to you. I am trying hard to understand. Hopefully you can be patient with me as the wheel turns. I promise not to let it spin out of control, after all I am life long advocate of snow tires (a necessity in Maine, believe me.)

Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Sons and daughters

2004-06-01T21:34:00.000-04:00

Today’s personal interest feature in the New York Times described the life and work of Judge George W. Hardcastle of Las Vegas. Judge Hardcastle is highly respected in family court where he makes wise and difficult decisions about the lives of other people’s children. The life style around Las Vegas is devastating to families and children. One in four people living in Las Vegas is a minor. Hardcastle complains, “Las Vegas is a difficult place to raise a child. Good home or bad. You've got women’s bu...s on billboards. Your kids are on their own while you’re busy earning a living. If you bring your children here, be warned.” It makes one ponder the long term impact of gambling casinos in Connecticut, but in Las Vegas the “horse is out of the barn,” and despite the good efforts of Judge Hardcastle it cannot be corraled. But Judge Hardcastle’s most difficult case is at home. His daughter, Whitney, is rebelling in every way, in dress, conduct and drugs. The judge keeps trying with his daughter. “I’m not an expert in raising kids. But I love my daughter. She’s my biggest headache and my biggest pride. Above all, we’re family.”
In our Bible reading today we encounter one of the most poignant family conflicts on record. Absalom, David’s son, is leading a revolution against his father. Finally David’s army under the leadership of Joab prevails and Absalom, fleeing, is caught by the hair in a tree. Joab and his soldiers take care of this enemy of the king. But when David hears of the death of Absalom, he cries (quoting the King James Version): "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for thee. O Absalom my son, my son!”
A wise person told me one day that you are never any happier than your most unhappy child. We, like David, and like Judge Hardcastle, would take away the heartache of our children, but we cannot. Through history others have known the pain of alienation from one’s chidren, and others will experience it, as long as there is human freedom and people who care enough to love their children. We would never trade less pain for less love. David loved his son, and Judge Hardcastle loves his daughter. That is the way of life and love.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Measuring Depth of Character

2004-05-31T20:54:00.000-04:00

Our psychology professor in Seminary used to play volleyball with us once a week. He would say that he learned more about our characters while on the court for five minutes than he did "on the couch" for an hour. It is true that the veil of self-consciousness falls away when we are competing. We also reveal our true selves when we are ill or in crisis. I often see and meet people when the good fortunes of life have ebbed like the falling tide. Some people become overly concerned about themselves and consumed by worry. One can hardly blame them for their fear. What would I do if I were in their situation? One never knows until the time comes.
Of course, I also see people who remain as optimistic as they can be, given their circumstances. What gives them the presence of mind to be caring and considerate of others, when they are the ones deserving of all of the attention?
We might have guessed that Christopher Reeve would have been in the first group. Christopher grew up in a privileged family, and was a very active athlete, from sailing and field sports to horse back riding. He was brought up in a home in which religion was discounted. Reeve was a long time actor, even from his adolesence, and actors are notoriously narcissistic. If Christopher Reeve were to become paralyzed you might have assumed that he would act spoiled and become despondent, but he did not.
Still Me is the story of Reeve's accidental fall from a horse which shattered two of his vertebrae and forever altered the life of Superman. I suppose Reeve had access to medical care that others of us might not be able to afford, but it still took considerable will and strength just to live. And the life that he has remains considerably limited. Still he is positive and willing to give to others when he could be asking for everyone's attention for himself. Somehow, despite the paralysis of most of his body, Reeve knows that it is "still me" inside.
Lack of faith is a remarkable shortcoming in his life. I believe that most of us would give gratitude to God for living through such a horrendous accident, and for making small steps of recovery against the odds. He seems to have little appreciation for the blessing of God he received. Maybe that is the next part of his recovery. Perhaps we can help by praying for his continued recovery, physical and spiritual.
I like biographies because I am interested in the stories of people's lives and I learn a lot. Over the years I have met many humble "every day people" who are just as courageous as Christopher Reeve, and who bear testimony to faith in a way that he cannot. I think of one woman who is dying as I write this article on courage and depth of character. Bernice has all of that character and courage as well.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

In Search of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost

2004-05-30T21:56:00.000-04:00

Of course you go to church on Pentecost, even if it happens to coincide with Memorial Day. I wonder which won out today in Connecticut - Pentecost drawing us to church and Memorial Day enticing us away.
I had the privilege of worshipping in Bar Harbor on Pentecost, and it looked like other illegal aliens like myself from lower New England added some heft to the congregation. Fortunately the foreigners did not take the Holy Spirit out of this charming little church, Bar Harbor Congregationnal Church, UCC.
It was a little like home, of course. The architecture and color scheme is similar to our church in Newington. The liturgy was familiar, as well as the lectionary. The pastor, the Rev. Dr. Sandra Reed, has read my mind. Her presence conveyed pastoral caring, theological and Biblical knowledge and a keen understanding of communication. Sandra held her was energetic, despite a bad knee and was completely egaged with the congregation. I value and appreciate so much of what she did.
The sermon had a good balance of humor, personnal narrative, Biblcal connection and theological interest. She did a good job at performing some of the principles of my own preaching and ministry. She convinced me that the Holy Spirit was good, and every one else also seemed convinced.
Yes, I felt at home. I had been in this church a number of occasions, and have preached there a couple of times. I know a few people in the congregationn and certainly have many mutual acquaintances.
At moments in the 10;00 worship I felt a nostalgic pull toward the church in Newington, but I went back to my analytic assessment of worship these days. I leanred some more things today. Thanks be to God.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes @aol.com

Endurance and the Spirit

2004-05-29T14:40:00.000-04:00

Ernest Shackleton is one of the few people in my mental encyclopedia who have been hailed as great leaders despite the fact that they actually failed in their mission. His proposed mission, to lead the first transit of Antarctica, was audacious enough in 1914. Shackelton acquired the right equipment for the endeavor, but he was even more careful in his choice of crew. It was his knowledge and understanding of people that made his a great leader, along with a perpetual optimism. His optimism made certain that he would never give up. As the story of the ship Endurance unfolds, in the book of the same name, it is evident that there are many points at which lesser men would have fallen. However, the ship’s name applied to Shackleton and that was the Endurance.
The crew and captain of the Endurance, which was to convey Shackelton’s team to the starting line of the race against weather across the ice of Antarctica, was trapped in ice a couple of hundred miles from their destination. The narrative brings detail and insight into the crew of men who endured nearly two years stranded near the coldest continent on earth.
There was abundant good fortune that brought them all out of this ordeal alive, but Shackleton’s leadership added to that good fortune. He made decisions with deliberation, although he was also able to change his mind when it appeared that his decision was a mistake. So good fortune was complemented by Shackelton’s intelligence and optimism. But Shackleton admitted to one other force or presence. At one point near the end of their ordeal, Shackelton and two of his crew had to hike 20 or so miles across the ice cap of an island, the other side of which could bring relief in the form of a whaling outpost. This was a critical tramp in the wilderness. The lives of all of his men were literally in his hands as he made uncalculabe risks of his life, for the sake of the others. After that treacherous hike in the mountains, Shackelton confessed to his comrades that here had not been three of them during that long and arduous journey. He called the company a “mysterious presence.” The others who were with him confessed also to sensing another presence with them. Like the poem “Footsteps in the Sand,” Shackleton admitted that it was not he, but this presence that saved them that day, when they risked all of their energy and safety. They had no other choice. It was nearly 2 years, including 2 winters, that these people endured and lived to tell about it.
The great treasury of this misadventure which became the greatest adventure to be recorded was multiplied by the numerous photos taken by the staff photographer, and preserved by good luck.
Shackleton would never give up on his men and on their survival. What a great leader. All great men and women have their shortcomings, and Ernest had his. He was also a great man. Do we have the endurance?
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Christian Pacifism and War

2004-05-28T11:10:00.000-04:00

The ongoing war in Iraq and the dedication of the World War II Memorial tomorrow is forcing me to confront my feelings about war. I don't suppose that many people are in favor of war in general, just war in specific. In other words, most people need to find a moral justification for war.
The Christian church is, of course, opposed to war in general, but has been compelled to support many wars in specific. There have even been wars for which the major justification came from the church, such as driving the infidels out of the Holy Land during the Crusades. In general, however, the church has been opposed to war and violence, based on the teaching and character of Jesus, whom we know as the Price of Peace.
There have been many true pacifists in the church who have been opposed to any war. Here is my ambivalence. Spiritually and morally I am opposed to war and violence. I have never held a loaded gun, and never intend to do so.
Does that mean that I could see no worthwhile purpose for guns and weapons? Unless all of the weapons in the world destroyed themselves at the same moment, there will always be reason to put weapons in the hands of law enforcement. Without weapons in the hands of law enforcement at this time it would be impossible to impose the laws of the land. The same kind of rationale applies to the keeping of armies. If there were no dangerous countries, no dangerous people or weapons, then one could justifiy disbanding the military establishment around the world. Given the reality that weapons are in the hands of dangerous people, we will likely find a way to justify armaments. The alternative would open one to the possibility of surrender to the first non-compliant nation tha came along.
So we might be able to accept the role of a military for the purpose of self-defense, but what about a military poised to invade other nations? This becomes more difficult to justify. Indirectly, of course, it is seen as self-defense. During the Vietnam War we had the domino effect. The idea was that if we did not enter the fray in Vietnam, that nation after nation would fall before the Communist invasion, and those dominos would ultimately reach our shores. The Iraq War has a similar sound to it. They did not attack us but Saddam Hussein was undoubtedly a dangerous person. Now we are in a situation in which we wonder if the people of Iraq and other Moslem countries will always see us as the enemy. We wonder if they will use terrorism to keep us constantly on edge as a means of prolonging war far beyond our commitment to war. We may have waged a war that does little or nothing to reduce danger in the world and to convert an enemy into a friend.
The further complication for Christian pacifists like myself, is that we may be unwilling to fight ourselves, but we are quite willing to have someone else fight for us. In Israel, certain Orthodox Jews who are constantly calling for war are able to acquire deferments from the draft because of their religious vocation.
If the church were to fully oppose all war it would have to be prepared to pay the consequences. But I guess that is not likely to happen.
Pacifism and the opposition to war may not make much sense to some people, but to Christians it makes sense. We know why people would think this way. How we remain true to our convictions when we have men and women fighting on our behalf is very tricky.
The start to any Christian morality is to admit our imperfection and to set aside self-righteousness. We yearn for a world of peace in which there are no weapons necessary, but meanwhile we are quite willing to accept the realities of war. We are willing to let others do the fighting.
Well, I am praying these days. Every day, every moment I can, I am praying for peace. I do not condemn those who have volunteered to defend our nation and who put their lives on the line for all of us. I am truly grateful for their sacrifice. But I pray for a day when all weapons can be destroyed. You see, I believe that we have come to the point where there just are too many weapons in the world, from rifles (where do the Iraqis keep getting them?) to weapons of mass destruction. The means of bringing peace is always the means of bringing war.
I pray for God's protection of our soldiers. I pray for decision makers that they not send young people to war for the sake of their own egos. I pray for our enemies that they and we might be converted to the gospel of peace.
Christian Pacfisim and War are conflicting in the minds and spirits of Christians. How do others deal with that conflict?
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Beyond Art

2004-05-27T11:28:00.000-04:00

I am preparing for my second residency in a program for clergy run by the Shalem Institute for Spirituality. This program is intended to help clergy delve more deeply into their own spirituality and to learn how to lead a congregation in a contemplative life, so that the church discerns the spirit and lives out of the spirit.
We have been exploring various forms of spirituality, Zen, of course, and Christian monastic traditions. We have also been using various methods of meditationn and prayer, from lectio divina to silent retreats.
One of the meditation methods that they have encouraged us to explore is that of praying before icons. Icons are depictions of religious personnages used by Orthodox churches, made most famous by Russian Orthodox Christians. They are stylized in their art form, in the topics and representations of sacred characters. This is one of the more challenging disciplines for me.
The icon is a door to the divine realm. It is not an image to be worshipped, but is rather a path to divine knowledge, through meditation and prayer. I just do not have enough experience with the icons to have the desired impact.
On the other hand there is much Western religious art that can convey the divine to me. The architecture at the Cloisters could bring me to the sacred. There is a beautiful 12th century crucifix in one of the chapels that is very powerful.
One of the discouraging aspects of the tour of the Cloisters was, however, the sight of some of the artifacts that had been desecrated by Protestants during the Reformation, because they assumed that the scupltures, friezes and stained glass windows represented graven images.
So now today some of our churches remain quite devoid of artistic expression. The church we visited last Sunday did not even have a cross. The more plain the church the more one has to rely on other art to convey the divine, the art of music and spoken word.
I have been studying John Baggley's Doors of Perception - Icons and their Spiritual Significance. I am gaining appreciation for what icons can do and what they mean. I am expanding my horizons, and looking for doors, doors that open to the divine.
What doors have you found to the divine? Natural beauty, God's special form of art, always opens doors for me. What others do you know?
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Artists (and preachers)

2004-05-26T08:20:00.000-04:00

These days I am drinking in the artistry of others, perhaps on the hope that I can absorb into my creative DNA some of theirs. I have particularly been thinking about the artistry of writers because I have been reading a lot, but I have also been pondering the artistry of some of my favorite musicians and composers, from James Galway to Richard Stoltzman, from Keith Jarrett to Anonymous Four, from Bach to Barber, and a thousand artists in between. I have also been pondering visual artists from architects to painters to landscape designers. Of course I have also been thinking about preachers and their artistry. This, of course, is the most humbling part of the search for art. What makes a compelling, interesting and faithful sermon? I am starting to worry that I am thinking too hard about this. I may completely distract myself and never be able to preach again.
Meanwhile I am fascinated by the qualities I find in good writing. Of course I am also reading the Bible through the Year with many of you. Sometimes I find the Bible readings compelling and interesting, and sometimes I drift. Yesterday I was quite engaged with David's desire to build a temple, but God, through Nathan, tells David that he can't build a temple (house for God), but that God would make him (David) into a dynasty (house). By the way, it struck me that God was quite content to wander around the countryside being worshipped in a tent of meeting. That is just how I feel these days. I am missing the temple, the church, and I am wandering around the countryside looking for the tent of meeting. Sometimes I find it, and sometimes it finds me.
The gospel reading yesterday was also from a favorite section of John, Jesus' long narrative/prayer/sermon at the Last Supper (Because I live, you will live also, etc.). So here the Bible reveals its artistry and its power, but sometimes the artistry is well buried.
So a good novel keeps my attention by virtue of the story and style, while the Bible keeps my attention because of its content and my life long association with that content.
Last night I finished Kent Haruf's novel The Tie That Binds. I was first acquainted with Haruf in Plainsong, a very popular novel I read a couple of years ago. I was sent to The Tie That Binds by Faith Middleton's book review show. Haruf is a very good story teller, and a real artist. This story has a dark premise, but Haruf keeps from indulging himself and the reader in that darkness. The darkness is there, but it does not overwhelm the narrative. Interestingly it is set in Colorado, not all that far from the Oklahoma of Toni Morrison's Paradise that I also just read. Both books have a major character named Mavis (coincidence???). Haruf is a "good read," and he is a great artist and he has all of my respect.
A sermon is not a novel, although there was a fad in preaching in the last decade that emphasized story telling. You would, essentially, tell a short story and let the congregation come to their own conclusion. That may be good art and it may be good preaching. I am just sitting back and thinking about art.
What makes good art to you?
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Paradise

2004-05-25T20:25:00.000-04:00

Paradise is the name of a place settled by a group of Blacks to escape the pressures of a mixed society. Over the weekend I finished Toni Morrison's novel of that title, Paradise.
Morrison is a phenomenal story teller. She uses language that is powerful and keeps the reader's attention. She then weaves a narrative that is suspenseful in its content and in its method. One is not always certain where the story is going, so one has to concentrate, even though the end of the novel is predicted at the beginning. Chapter by chapter you can start to see how she is connecting the dots. There are plenty of surprises in this narrative. The insight into Black/African American culture that Morrison gives us is compelling. It is like being given permission to see behind the curtain, or learning how the magician does those tricks. The desire for segregation among this group of people makes all the sense in the world. I just had never thought about their desire to preserve racial purity. I am still trying to settle my soul after the book. It is not one that you forget quickly.
Morrison's work is always disturbing and dark. This is not a novel for those who like a happy story. I would not say that it is a delightful read, but I could not put it down. Her writing is exquisite and powerful. The story is compelling and very well told. The culture that is exposed is unusual to those of us in white society. It is no wonder she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Reason For Hope

2004-05-24T16:49:00.000-04:00

In previous sabbaticals I have learned that the unplanned lessons are much more significant than the matters I intended to study. I always have a starting place and several stops along the way, but I am ever ready to be pulled in a new direction. It is much like sailing the coast of Maine. You would be mistaken if you wanted to sail from A to B and ignored all of the alluring islands and inlets along the way. Moreover the dictates of wind and weather would force you to go off course anyway.
One thing leads to another, as they say.
So it is that my thoughts last week about God and dog, brought me to pick up Jane Goodall's book, Reason for Hope. It was really not planned and at the time I did not realize consciously the connection. Jane Goodall, as you know, is famous for her research on chimpanzees and gorillas. But I had never been aware of her deeply spiritual side.
She grew up in a Congregational Church in England. Her home and her church nurtured in her a very strong commitment to Jesus. She dabbled in other religions and philosophies, but her belief in Jesus is foundational for her.
The connection with my musings on dogs and cats is her involvement with animals, particularly primates. Her observations and interactions with chimpanzees helped her realize that there is very little difference between humans and other primates. The discovery that they manufacture and use tools was the first breakthrough. As time went on she recognized the "humanity" of the chimps, both in their ability to do good and their propensity toward violence.
In more recent years she has contributed greatly to the issues facing animals used in research, in food production, and in the pet industry. When you start to think about these issues, especially if you are inclined to love animals, you can be very disturbed by the way in which animals are treated in many parts of the world's economy. It is truly upsetting to me.
The focus of the end of her book deals with the issue of hope. When one looks at the way in which animals are treated, and, indeed, the way in which humans are treated, and the way humans treat the environment, one would ask if there is any hope. Jane Goodall asserts her Reason for Hope, in the signs of improvement, although relatively small. She also affirms hope because of her faith.
There are dark clouds hanging over the societies of the world today. Can we have any hope of the world improving? Jane Goodall would have us look to the signs and witnesses of those who are doing something about the world, those who are doing more than wringing their hands and complaining. She would also have us look to God, and find in God our strength and our hope.
Where do I go from here? What is the next island on the horizon? Where do you think I should go?
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Busman's Holiday

2004-05-23T16:13:00.000-04:00

Today we visited a church quite different from ours. It is what you would call a conservative Bible church. They have three services, two in the morning on Sunday, and one in the evening. The evening service is reserved for members and is the administration of the Lord's Supper. We were not invited to the evening service. But during the 2 morning services they have Sunday School for adults and children, so that it would seem that most people go to a class and to a service every Sunday.
The Bible class we attended was interesting, although it used some methods of interpretation that I would not. The teacher did have to deal with the fact that there are some passages that you have to interpret because you cannot fulfill all of them literally. So he had a way of dealing with the troubling passages. As it happened, one of the lessons was Leviticus 19, which contains a condemnation of homosexuality. I was certain that he would affirm that condemnation, but I was gratified that he did not amplify on the subject. The class was obviously well prepared and intentional. All the classes seemed to be that way. They were not conducted by the "pastors" of the church, incidentally. The "pastors" of the church are not actually called that. They are full time workers for the chapel. I guess the idea is that everyone is a worker, and these two are full time workers.
They have coffee hour between the two services. There is a desk, a booth, labeled "Welcome Center" in their hall, and two people cheerfully staffed it. You could not miss it, since it was large and inviting. Name tags are run off on long sheets every week and hung in the fellowship hall. People grab their name off the list each week. That would be a great way to take attendance, by the way.
The worship we attended was the contemporary service, with an amplified band. We stood for a long time (too long for me) singing praise songs projected on the front wall of the church. The congregation was on the younger side, and I confirmed that the more traditional members attend the first service at which they use their hymnal.
All of the public leaders, by the way, were men. The elders prayed for a new full time worker for the church, and they were all men.
The liturgy was sparse, but the atmosphere was friendly, informal, and cheerful. When they finally got to the sermon, I actually found it very effective. The preacher used all but one of the methods/emphases with which I have been analyzing UCC preachers. The one that was lacking, is also lacking in a lot of UCC preaching, and that is justice preaching. In any church it is hard to talk about controversial issues. It was interesting that the preacher distinguished his church from other conservative churches. He emphasized that this church was not as authoritative as other churches. The preacher does not want to tell them how to live their lives. He does not want them to be like him, but wants them to be like Jesus. In the end I surprised myself by my being able to resonate with a lot that he said. I thought he was a good preacher and told him so after the service.
The people were friendly and interested in what was going on. I can see why the church is growing, and why they have many young people, including high school and college age youth. The ethos of this church demands that leadership arise out of the congregation, and the people take responsibility for it. Interestingly they do not receive an offering at the two morning services. Only the members, who attend the evening service, are asked to give, and they do so voluntarily. They do not send quarterly statements, either. Since non-believers attend the morning services, and they do not believe that non-believers should be asked to support the church, they forego the offering in the morning. (They have a Bible passage to support that idea.) I was interested that they were able to hire on a third full time worker in the pastoral work without any discussion of the cost. The facilities are large and well equipped, including a gym and all of the audio visual machinery that you could want.
I went open minded and curious, and my curiosity was well repaid. I have considerable respect for what they do. There are many parts of their theology and some parts of their social agenda with which I would not agree, but, fortunately, they did not seem to wear them on their sleeves.
What lessons we can learn from people who differ from us.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Faith in Action and in Person

2004-05-22T22:12:00.000-04:00

Today I officiated at the committal service of a 92 year old aunt. This was a wonderful gathering of the family on my mother's side. It was held in a cemetery where many of the Hardings are buried, and continued at my cousins house where many generations lived (and where my mother was born).
My aunt was a strong character (not unusual for that side of the family), with a keen wit and a warm generosity that overflowed her home. We loved going to Aunt Justina and Uncle Jack's. Her children, my cousins, have been important to us for all of their years. My aunt was a person of deep faith and a sunny disposition.
However, her faith was certainly tested, and her experiences in life could have taken away the sunshine. Her first son died of a childhood disease. Her second son was injured in a plane crash in Vietnam. Her third son had polio. And her fourth child, a daughter, has Downs' Syndrome. (Marcie is 52 now and lives in a home near her father and brothers.) Lots of people would have been crushed by all of that, and turned sour on life. There are people who get disapointed in life with much less cause than that. But Aunt Justina held her course, kept her humor and nurtured every one who came near.
My family is so grateful for the love that she shared with us. Her hospitality was bred into her children and we had such a nice visit today with the two brothers and Martha.
My Aunt was a Colby graduate, and we had that in common. My uncle, who lives on in Rockland, is a Bowdoin graduate. I love him just the same.
My Aunt Justina was the kind of woman who personnified faith and who demonstrated it in action. Both of the ministers of their church, the Congregational Church in Rockland, came out in the rain to testify to that.
We will always remember Justina. Her remains lie next to my grand parents high on the hillside in Prospect, Maine. She was Faith in Action and in Person.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Go Forth Into the World!

2004-05-21T21:17:00.000-04:00

It was a thrill today to participate in graduation at Bangor Theological Seminary. I had a wonderful chance to reflect on my journey since May 1972 when I received my M.Div. degree from Bangor. After a little time indulging in that sentimental journey, I contemplated the more important thought – the blessing of the ministry ahead for these graduates.
It is impressive to look at these people who gave up careers and professions to make their ways through years of courses (3 years fulltime at least) while making considerable personal sacrifice and going into debt, in order to become full time servants of the church. A few of the graduates will not become pastors, but most of the graduates will feed the needs of their denominations for pastors to serve their churches.
These men and women of faith will care for the spiritual and physical needs of the members of their churches. They will struggle to hear God speaking to them and through them. They will administer the sacraments and watch over the future of the church. We can thank God that they are willing to respond to God’s call. We can be grateful that there are seminaries and professors and supporters (including our church) who make this all possible. While we go on with our lives, seminaries are shaping the pastors of the future. And God continues to call people to this ministry.
The speaker today was Dan Maguire, professor of ethics at Marquette University. He reminded us of the ethical challenges that lie before us as wealthy Americans in a world of need and conflict. The church, under the leadership of pastors and lay leaders alike, must respond to the real needs of the world – bringing peace and justice to a world in need. Maguire’s presentation should have given all the graduates reason to pause to consider what they are doing. These are very challenging times for ministry. There are no simple problems and few needs that we can afford to ignore. The call is clear that we need moral and ethical leadership as well as spiritual leadership in the church today.
This was a memorable day!
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Dog Loves You

2004-05-20T17:12:00.000-04:00

In looking over other preachers’ sermons I ran into one recently with a catchy title which was a play on words between God and dog. I should have written it down, because I am certainly tempted to write a sermon on the impact of our pets on our spiritual lives. “Don’t worry, dog loves you.”
I have been thinking about how much we love our pets, and I have to admit that an objective analysis would show that most of us go overboard with our canines and felines. It probably is not ethical, in a world in which there are millions starving, but I have to admit that my poodles get very good treatment. And I believe that I get a lot in return from them. Some would claim that we pet owners have lost our senses, but we believe that our pets love us and enhance our lives. My dogs compound the atmosphere of love and affection that is already characteristic of our home. And love is good.
A recent article in Science and Theology News cites research from the University of Colorado that claims that animals are born with an “innate sense of morality and fairness.” This is important because for many years scientists have said that the ability to have a moral sense belongs only to human beings, and that quality distinguishes us from the rest of the animal kingdom. These scientists wonder if that distinction is any longer valid. Another scientist suggests that “in light of study of animal behavior, humans may have to turn to a more physical interpretation of morality, one that depicts human ethics evolving from more primal material needs. The concept of a soul and morality may not be unique to humans after all. We may have to think differently about God as well. As we realize the complexity of animals, the being of God is some how more interesting.”
So is it possible that the communication that some of us have (or imagine that we have) with our pets is a spiritual one, and not just based on mutual need satisfaction – the pet’s need for food, and the human’s need for some thing to love. God loves us, and dog (and cat) loves us too.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Reading a Novel!!!

2004-05-19T21:33:00.000-04:00

The title of Anne Tyler’s novel, Saint Maybe, has always intrigued me, and as usual her writing was a real treat to me. As a bonus to the wonderful story there are some wonderful reflections about funerals and weddings in a Presbyterian Church, and about the call to ministry in the Church of the Second Chance. That ought to be the name of every church, reminding all of us that we need that opportunity to redeem life. Ian’s life was redeemed, and we recall how one life influences and shapes another. The story also reminds us of how we come to conclusions without proof, and sometimes we cause great pain for others, when we have no intention to do so. Anne Tyler is always worth the time.
Ken Brookes
Kbrookes@aol.com

The Cloisters

2004-05-18T20:30:00.000-04:00

For many years I have wanted to visit the Cloisters in New York City, and I finally made it on Tuesday. The Cloisters is a part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but it is located north of the George Washington Bridge. It is an exhibit of largely religious art and architecture from the 1200’s to the 1400’s, or so. Much of the building is made up of pieces of old monasteries, churches and cloisters gathered from the countryside in France. There in a beautiful setting overlooking the Hudson River, one can imagine oneself as a monk or a nun going about one’s life of prayer and service of the word. The exhibits are beautiful, including some very impressive tapestries. The gardens in the cloisters are beautiful and so very peaceful. The atmosphere encourages me to cultivate, to cultivate my spirit and my gardens.
This was a memorable day.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Reflecting on My Father's Sermons

2004-05-17T21:40:00.000-04:00

I have read through as many of my Father's sermons as I can manage, and now I should be ready to draw some conclusions. I have some seemingly objective observations about his sermons. I do have some critical thoughts as well, but I really wonder about my objectivity in making them. The truth is that some of my thoughts about his preaching arise out of my feelings about him, and from my knowledge of his personality.
There are some things about my Father's sermons that I have always considered commendable. He had a very complete Biblical knowledge. He was not inclined at all to wander into weak scholarship. He never misused texts either.
He had an active imagination in the way he came at a text or an issue. He also made very good use of the English language.
Some of my other observations about his sermons I will reserve for my brother and anyone else who is really interested enough to delve into this very thick file drawer (I took the whole drawer). Some of those thoughts have to do with my Father's personality and some of his habits in sermon preparation.
Actually a couple of his habits taught me to develop very different habits. For example, my father claimed that he meditated on his sermon all week, and wrote it in his head as he went along, and then on Sunday morning around 4:00 he would go downstairs and type them out on an old portable typewriter. I can remember waking up to the smell of coffee and cigarettes early in the morning. Of course, I inherited the coffee habit, but not the cigarettes, and I definitely rejected the idea of last minute preparation. Over 30 years ago I got in the habit of finishing my sermon on Thursday evening, so I could enjoy my day off on Friday, and then be able to review, and perhaps edit, the sermon on Saturday with a day away from it. This has always worked for me.
Second, my Father tended to reuse sermons. I tried to do that a few times. I might have taken a sermon that was used on a snow day in January which was heard by a dozen people and reused it in the summer. Some preaching expert commended the idea of reusing sermons over the summer in order to keep from taxing your imagination. I tried that once or twice, but decided that it didn't help me. I have found that I am much happier coming up with new material and new approaches. It is much like keeping the pump primed. The more I preach, the more inspiration I receive. Preaching gives me life. It does not drain me.
One part of my Father's preaching that has interested me, along with my brother, is the tone and content at the end of his ministry. I found the last sermon he preached while serving a parish, and I also found the bulletin for that day. I was present at that service, and it was very strange to relive that partcular moment. But, and this would be typical of my father, he made no personal reference to the factors involved in his leaving that position, nor about that being his last sermon there. I don't believe that I could be that disciplined, even if I believed that it was a good idea to avoid all personal references. My family has trained me to try to keep them out of my sermons, but I guess I do make personal references. Some would say you should make none.
Well, this body of sermons is a reflection on a whole generation of life in society and in the church. It is a very intesting body of material to study and on which to meditate.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

An Out of Body Experience?

2004-05-16T20:03:00.000-04:00

Today I had one of those experiences that would not be recommended for anyone taking a sabbatical - I immersed myself right into the middle of the life from which I am on retreat. It was Confirmation Sunday today and I was there. Last year when I planned the schedule for the year I knew about the conflict with my sabbatical, but there was no other reasonable day on which to schedule the service. And I knew that there was no way I could miss Confirmation and not feel absolutely miserable. So I decided I would dive in and jump right back out, much like a swim in the lake in Maine. Fortunately, I don't feel particularly disrupted by the experience. It was wonderful to see people and to be assured that my old life is still there, and I can still preach. It did have the feeling of an out of body experience. Was I really there or was I observing myself from above?
With more time on my hands I had extra space in which to think about our Confirmands. I have to say that I do concern myself with their futures. I know that many of them will have very successful lives, but some of them will meet disappointment. My prayer is that they will never be discouraged or stray too far off the good path.
I have been thinking about the soldiers, men and women, who have been accused of abusing prisoners "in their care" (you would hardly say that these prisoners were "in their care.") I suppose that many of them were members of Confirmation classes. Someone prayed over them as I prayed over each one of our young people today.
Tonight, after the excitement and nervousness of Confirmation Sunday, I retreat once again into the peace and solitude of my sabbatical. Verdi's Requiem, which stirs my heart by its beauty and pathos, plays too loudly for my family, but never too loudly for me. I return to finish and amplify my prayer for our confirmands and for all the children of our parish. I will pray for God to guide and protect them. I will pray for each one to find his or her gifts for serving God and humanity (One of our older youth was inquiring about seminary today. Prayers are answered.) And after I have indulged myself in prayers for our own, I'll pray for the children of the world, for those surrounded by violence, for those who starve, for those who lack direction. God bless the children of the world. May God hold the hand and heart of each child; may God love each one with the warmth of the sun and the grace of his Son; may God shelter each young one when parents can no longer do so; and may God keep vigil in the night.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Love and Efficiency

2004-05-14T21:41:00.000-04:00

Gerald May is a psychiatrist who has applied his energy and spirit to the cause of the Shalem Institute for Spirituality. He has written a number of books that I have read over the years, and I had recently picked up The Awakened Heart: Opening Yourself to the Love you Need. When I pulled it out of the pile this morning to read (it is on the bibliography for the program at Shalem in which I am enrolled), it soon dawned on me that it was not pure chance. Reflecting yesterday on the beauty in nature that I sometimes miss because I am so busy, it struck me today in reading May's work that there are even more important things that I may ignore.
May writes about the contrast between efficiency and love.
"Efficiency is the 'how' of life: how we meet and handle the demands of daily living, how we survive, grow and create, how we deal with stress, how effective we are in our functional roles and activities. In contrast, love is the 'why' of life: why we are functioning at all, what we want to be efficient for. I cannot specifically define love, but I am convinced it is the fundamental energy of the human spirit, the fuel on which we run, the well spring of our vitality. And grace, which is the flowing, creative activity of love itself, is what makes all goodness possible."
May is convinced that we Americans are very good at efficiency, but not very good at love.
What a deep yearning we have for love, and yet we invest our energy in developing our efficiency. Where are our values?
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

The Beauty of Spring

2004-05-13T19:21:00.000-04:00

What a blessing it is to have the time to listen to the birds, to drink in the beauty of the flowering shrubs, and enjoy the warmth and gentleness of spring. If I look long enough I can see the grass grow! I realize that so much of the time I pass all of this beauty so quickly. Those robins and cardinals sing all day long!
I guess that there are probably a lot of things that I miss in the normal pace of life. Could I slow down? Could I find a way to see the beauty all of the year?
There is also the beauty and warmth of God. God is as kind to me these days as the weather is kind. I am grateful for God's grace. It just takes time to see it, and to savor it. I am so very thankful for all that God has done for me. These are wonderful moments of grace for me.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Compassion

2004-05-12T19:18:00.000-04:00

Something about the torture and abuse of prisoners by our soldiers and intelligence personnel, and the ongoing conflict in Israel, sent me to Henri Nouwen's book Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life. (It seemed to me later that it was the Spirit of God that sent me to Nouwen this morning). Compassion is central to the nature of God as revealed in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ, and in the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord. But compassion is what we lack as a humanity. How could someone slit the throat of another person in front of a camera and have that video broadcast world wide? There is not an ounce of compassion there, and I wager that we will find a lack of compassion motivated soldiers and their superiors to mistreat those in their care. You can always justify hurting and bringing revenge on another human being, whether your enemy or your competitor. It is more challenging to see through your rage and competitiveness to recognize another human being in need of your compassion.
Churches like ours are vague on the purpose of evangelism. Why would we want to bring others to faith? If we bring others to faith in a compassionate God we could be saving the world. It seems to be a worthwhile venture to me.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Excellent Protestant Congregations

2004-05-11T19:59:00.000-04:00

A couple of years ago Paul Wilkes published his study of Excellent Protestant Congregations. I finally had a chance to actually look at the book, as I was looking for churches to visit. He does identify some very interesting characteristics of excellent congregations. I see some of the characteristics in our church, and some are missing. I suppose that would be true of all churches, since he names 26 characteristics. How could a church excel in all categories. One church I visited recently had a very warm and vibrant feeling, but I happened to notice that it had a very inadequate and outdated web page. Here are a few of the 26 characteristics of excellent congregations: A vibrancy, an excitement about living the Christian life; Regularly evaluate themselves; Have a clear, yet changing, sense of mission; Preach and practice forgiveness and acceptance; Offer an ascent to God, a relationship; Call leaders, don't fill slots.
We can always do better than we do, but as I visit churches ours still stands out.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Bread of Life

2004-05-10T20:34:00.000-04:00

I am reading through my Father's sermons. This is an endurance race, but my brother did it, so I ought to be able to do it. Of course, my brother can ride his bicycle longer distances than I. I have promised myself that I would also read through my own sermons, but there are more of mine than of my fathers, since I kept them all. I will have to test my endurance. Today when I was reading my one year Bible, I realized that I had just read a sermon on that text, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." In reading such a glut of sermons all at one time, one develops a sense for the constant barrage of "Jesus talk" on the souls of the listeners. Over and over, in a myriad of words and images those who listened to my Father's sermons were given slices of the bread of life. Depending on whether or not they ate and drank of the Word that was given to them, they may have been fed spiritual food and drink. I suspect that many did eat and were fed.
Now what will I find when I look at my preaching? Is there any possibility that I can be objective about all of this. As I talk with people about preaching I am realizing how subjective we are. A good sermon is one that pleases us. Jesus might say that a sermon that pleases us is not a good sermon. A good sermon gives us spiritual food and drink, or to use another image, it is good medecine (thinking still about Lance Armstrong, some good medecine will first make you sick and then make you well.) I am hugry for the Bread of Life. How about you?
I am still open to your definition of a good sermon.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Cancer Survival and Bicycling

2004-05-09T20:22:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to reading Lance Armstrong's It's Not about the Bike. Armstrong, as you know, is a bike racer who survived cancer, only to win the Tour de France a number of times. Armstrong is an unbelievable athlete, and the story tells of his personal transformation by the experience of having an advanced case of cancer. The treatment would have killed some of us and debilitated the rest of us. But in a way it empowered Armstrong. It is a story that reminds us of the resilience of the human body and spirit. It is not a great book, but a satisfying one if you are at all interested in cancer survival and bicycling. It helps if you are interested in both.
It does remind me that although cancer remains a terrifying diagnosis, medecine has made great strides in its treatment of this disease.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Why all this talk about preaching?

2004-05-07T06:56:00.000-04:00

Every week of the year, or nearly every day of the year, I think about sermons. Most of the time I am under a deadline to produce one. I always want it to be faithful to the task of preaching, but at the same time to be interesting and compelling. During this time away I am stepping back to think about the task of preaching, and the various components which shape a compelling and interesting sermon. To evaluate my own preaching I am examining the preaching of others, as well as taking a long term look at my own preaching and that of my father.
I have a template with which I am starting to analyze sermons. I imagine I will also have to evaluate and adapt the template as I go, but it has been helpful as I listen to other preachers during my sabbatical.
I am interested in the following elements of a sermon: 1) how is the Bible used; 2) what is the theological content; 3) how is personal material used; 4) what is the role of humor; 5) are contemporary allusions used; 6) how does the sermon call people to justice; 7) what other attributes, positive and negative, influence the quality of the sermon and the effectiveness of the preacher.

Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Preaching Theology

2004-05-06T18:56:00.000-04:00

Another aspect of preaching I have been pondering is the use of theology. How do we use theology in preaching? Do we merely allude to it, do we teach it, do we make theology integral to the message? I am particularly interested in this topic, because I wonder how often pop psychology is the foundation of preaching rather than theology.
I am trying to get into Robert Sherman's King, Priest and Prophet, A Trinitarian Theology of Atonement. Sherman promises that his intention is to serve the purposes of pastoral theology and systematic theology. What I am seeking is how this theology can be a foundation for compelling, faithful and interesting preaching. (A theological sermon sounds boring just on the surface.) I should read this book anyway. Dr. Sherman is the professor of systematic theology at Bangor Seminary.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

More on Preaching Social Justice

2004-05-05T20:55:00.000-04:00

One of the best known preachers of social justice is William Sloane Coffin, once chaplain at Yale and later minister of the Riverside Church in NYC. He has been a leader in many important causes and a vocal advocate of peace during the Vietnam era. He is a very good preacher, most would say.
James Carroll in his introduction to Coffin's book, Credo, says this about Coffin's preaching: "The economy of verbal construction, the wit, the grasp of the core, the biblical ground, the high literateness, the knack for simplicity, the infallible feel for the memorable word, and the sly understanding of the uses of irony - all joined to the convictions that God exists and that God's existence matters - make Coffin the greatest public preacher of his time."
Credo is full of hundreds of quotes from his sermons that prove his public commitment to preaching social justice.
Coffin adds to my understanding of what makes a good sermon and preacher.
Ken
kbrookes@aol.com

Preaching Social Justice

2004-05-04T20:07:00.000-04:00

Under the topic of what makes a good, compelling and interesting sermon, I have been contemplating the impact of preaching on issues of social justice. This is clearly one of the really hot topics among preachers, although we do not talk about it enough. I am interested in preaching across the spectrum of churches, but I am particularly interested in the United Church of Christ.
The Vietnam era was the height (or depth, depending on your perspective) of social justice preaching. When you did preach against the war, you were very likely to hear about it, usually from your critics. Issues of social justice could range from fair taxation (see the Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice), to rights for gays and lesbians, to guns and war and peace. We in the UCC like to think that we are preachers and advocates of social justice. I am really curious about how much social justice preaching is really being done, how effective it is, and how it is carried out. Are voices raised, and pulpits pounded? Are the issues addressed directly, carefully, artistically or sensitively?
Barbara Kingsolver (The Poisonwood Bible) has a series of essays, Small Wonder, that she wrote after September 11, 2001. These essays stir me to deep feelings of discouragement about some of the policies of our nation and the habits of our society. (I heard today that the average American car has tipped the scales over 4000 pounds for the first time since the early 70's.) She is well read and sensitive, and her essays would make good social justice sermons.
Does social justice preaching have a place in the church?

Merton on Solitude and Community

2004-05-03T20:14:00.000-04:00

Thomas Merton has much more sophisticated reflections on Solitude and Community than I. These quotes are from his "The Inner Experience".
"It is probably safe to say that no one could arrive at a genuine inner self-realization unless he had first become aware of the self as a member of a group - as an "I" confronted with a "Thou" who completes and fulfils his own being. In other words, the inner self sees the other not as a limitation upon itself, but as its complement, its "other self", and is even in a certain sense identified with that other, so that the two "are one."
It is clear that Christian self-realization can never be a merely individualistic affirmation of one's isolated personality. The inner "I" is certainly the sanctuary of our most personal and individual solitude, and yet paradoxically it is precisely that which is most solitary and personal in ourselves which is united with the "thou" who confronts us.
In a word, the awakening of the iner self is purely the work of love, and there can be no love where there is not "another" to love. Furthermore, one does not awaken his inmost "I" merely by loving God alone, but by love other people.
A love that is "above flesh and blood" is not something pale and without passion, but a love in which passion has been elevated and purified by selflessness, so that it no longer follows the inspiration of mere natural instinct. This love is guided by the Spirit of Chrsit and seeks the good of the other rather than our own momentary interest or pleasure. More, even beyond all opposition between the profit of another and our own profit, it rests in love for love's own sake, and attains , in Christ to the truth not insofar as it is desirable but above all insofar as it is true, and good in itself. This is at the same time our own highest goood and the good of the other, and in such love as this, "all are One.""

(It is no wonder that Merton is the most influential contemplative in the last century.)

Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Seeking Clear Vision

2004-05-02T22:29:00.000-04:00

One of the blessings of a sabbatical for a pastor is the opportunity to go to church and worship. I am enjoying the experience of being filled by the leadership and community of other churches, although it is much easier to feel community in one's own church. I must admit that I am also observing and taking copious notes on what I see, hear and feel. I am not approaching my observations from a critical point of view. I am only trying to observe. I have a number of aspects of worship life that I am observing. Most of all I am listening carefully to sermons. I have a list of features in sermons that I am examining. There have been hundreds of books written on preaching, and I have read many of them. I am interested in seeing how people actually carry out what they have been taught. This is in the context of a major project that I have set before myself - that of organizing and processing 32 years of sermons. This is not the same as climbing Everest, but it does loom large for me.
I wonder what others think about what makes a good sermon.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Undaunted Courage

2004-05-01T20:25:00.000-04:00

I just finished Steven Ambrose's Undaunted Courage. It is about the Lewis and Clark expedition, and I have wanted to read it for awhile.
I always had a romantic picture of their expedition. I saw it as a big camping trip.
It was much more than that. The danger and the extreme exhaustion which these men suffered are unbelievable. Our world and our nation, in particular, have been built on the backs of brave men (and women) like these two.
What do we do today for the good of the world and society? Do we invest ourselves in the future in the way Lewis and Clark did? There are few regions left to explore, but there are plenty of frontiers, frontiers of equality and justice.
Anyway, Ambrose makes me want to get my canoe out and head off into the wilderness, despite what they suffered. Off to the woods!
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Cry the Beloved Country

2004-04-30T20:58:00.000-04:00

I just finished Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country. I had never read it before. What a compelling story! It combines family, race, failure, forgiveness, religion and a story that has real pathos. I am sorry I had never read it before, but perhaps this was just the right time for me. It struck me deeply.
In thinking about this story set in South Africa, the Beloved Country, I am keenly aware of the tears that I shed for my own country. The war in Iraq has been so very painful. Young men and women are dying and it does not seem that conditions are improving there. If it is not a quagmire, we certainly could be stuck there for a long time. The impact of this war on the opinion that the world has of my beloved country is obvious and negative. I do not want people to hate us, nor do I think that people should, but I can understand how we are seen through the eyes of others.
I will pray this evening for Alan Paton's beloved country, and for mine.
Ken Brookes
kbrookes@aol.com

Community and Solitude

2004-04-29T14:32:00.000-04:00

I have come to appreciate that there are two seemingly opposite forces which enhance the spiritual life, community and solitude. My spiritual life in the church has largely been one of community. A pastor’s role is largely that of building and supporting community.
I have in the last year delved deeply into the other force, which is solitude. Solitude is the way of the monastics. It has seemed foreign to my spiritual experience, but solitude has enhanced my prayer life in ways I could not have imagined.
What I have discovered, however, is that community and solitude are not opposites. One can experience genuine solitude in the midst of community (and sometimes we can do it even better in community), and one can experience genuine community in solitude. The community that some of us have experienced in silent meditation this year has been absolutely remarkable.
So while on sabbatical I will have the exceptional opportunity of real and bountiful solitude. And as I pray I will be in community with so many whom I know and love and I'll also be in community with so many I will never even meet. Genuine community and genuine solitude go hand in hand.

The sabbatical journey has begun

2004-04-29T14:25:00.000-04:00

My sabbatical journey is as much spiritual as it is physical. Physically I have journeyed as far as Maine, to date, where I can read and enjoy the peace and quiet.
I invite you to join me as I share with you some of my thoughts and observations during this time away. I would be glad to receive your responses at kbrookes@aol.com.
Meanwhile, God be with you all.
Ken Brookes

The beginning of a sabbatical journey

2004-04-26T16:21:00.000-04:00

...by Rev. Dr. Kenneth C. Brookes, Pastor, Church of Christ Congregational, Newington, CT 06111

http://newingtonucc.org

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Note: These are Dr. Brookes personal reflections. We all thank him for sharing his thoughts and writings.