Current Bishop's Notebook Page 2001 click here to go to: Archived Bishop's Notebook Pages + Topical Index   26 December 2001 St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr Bishop's Notebook This week is filled with special days for St. Stephen, St. John, and particularly-considering the losses of September 11th and now in Afghanistan-Holy Innocents. It's a final week that always seems to pour on the insistence the Church has for us to make our days count, or, as it says in the Psalms, that we would "number our days." Not long after the first of the year our senior leaders in the military, healthcare and prisons will gather in New York City and begin planning the "mega-conference" for all of us in April. We hope to seize the opportunity to dedicate 2002 for mission by starting early. But that's a little while from now and I'm wondering, as maybe you are, what the first strokes of the New Year will be like. No love lost for 2001, we still seem to have a sadness about it all. Can Christmas somehow convert part of the grief over what happened in those tragedies? What is for sure the din of those experiences remains loud but the Nativity and the hallowed twelve days and nights of the season treat us to a different sound. A new baby crying and the promise of new life. Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Savior's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hathe power to charm; So hallowed and so gracious is the time. --from "Hamlet", Wm. Shakespeare (This entry is courtesy of our advisor-webmaster Jan Paxton. We are very grateful to her for this back-up.+gep) 21 December 2001 St. Thomas The Apostle My Dear Friends: There has been a lot of conversation about the character of this Christmas after September 11th. Some will celebrate in spite of the date, some are subdued because of it. Many struggle to include it. From today's lectionary, Job 42: 5-6, Job spars with God and himself over what is the way to be in the presence of the holy. He says, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my spiritual eye sees you...and I loathe my words about you." The observance of Thomas and his life is such an appropriate way station on the journey to the manger. We know Thomas as a doubter, but also like Job, as an honest man overcome by the possibilities before him. He had missed the Resurrection appearances and he worried that if only he could inspect the evidence everything would fall into place. So, in the Upper Room Jesus patiently reviews the passion of His wounds for Thomas yet praises a Joban insight which "sees" more profoundly. We bring a lot of new things into the stable this year: a sense of vulnerability, fraternity with fellow citizens, and maybe empathy with others in the world who live in fear. One of our chaplains confessed that he had lost patience with the inane things in his life since September. There's a bundle to set before the manger! In his homily today Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold observed that St. Thomas brings our attention to "letting God be God." In other words God accommodates all things, doubt, anger, and insecurity and uses them for continuing revelation and surprise. Such direct, unblinking encounter brings Thomas to say so originally in scripture, "My Lord and my God!" What is in store for us, as it says in Hymn 92, "...as (we) lay our gifts before him, (to) praise him and adore him?" This is sent with my greetings and a hope that our witness to the Nativity of Our Lord will include the fullness and wholeness God intends for us all. Faithfully, +George P.S. The 2002 calendars are in the mail! Bishop's Notebook 14 December 2001, St. John of the Cross Day 95 of the 100 Days The season of Advent is the great teacher about waiting. We wait for a result in the search for Osama bin Laden; we wait for the results of a promotion board, or, the location of a next assignment; in healthcare and prisons waiting is a standard for healing and understanding passing days. But each year we enter into this wonderful period of contemplation which, because of Our Lord's Incarnation, always brings us through the profound to the ordinary of living a life. For example, In an age which offers a variety of escapes from the human condition, Christians are more than ever a sign of contradiction. They continue to believe that the search for God must begin with the acceptance of the human. They believe this because it is in the stable of humanity that God has come in search of us. In the human experience of Jesus, God became available to us as the depth of human life. Thus, a Christian believes that the experience of ultimate meaning comes not from a leap out of the human condition, but a journey through its dark waters. -John Heagle And, With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. -T.S. Elliot We have been praying nightly around our Advent wreath at home, and later, wondering about how do we wait for the Christ already here. To that Brook wrote this song, Be still and keep working Listen inside You know what is coming-let it be a surprise The fruit's just a blossom yet sweet on the vine So anchor in waiting All come in God's time Sleeper's awake and start your day The Holy One's coming - what will He say? The whole earth is frozen but time's not suspended It's changing, it's growing and soon will up-end us Be still and keep working Listen inside You know what is coming - let it be a surprise The fruit's just a blossom yet sweet on the vine So anchor in waiting All will come in God's time Let us be like a child who knows In wisdom, not words, that everything grows >From seeds that are hidden will surely come trees All dance together in mystery's certainties Be still and keep working Listen inside You know what is coming - let it be a surprise The fruit's just a blossom yet sweet on thevine So anchor in waiting All will come in God's time -Brook Packard (Selections from Heagle and Elliot are from "An Advent Sourcebook", Liturgy Training Publications, Archdiocese of Chicago, 1988,Thomas J. O'Gorman, editor; Lyrics to "Be still and keep working..." by Brook Packard, all rights reserved, but she'd love for you to sing it! +gep) Bishop's Photo Album 7 December 2001 Day 88 of the 100 Days Thanksgiving Day, Marion Correctional Institute, Marion, Ohio Bishop Packard during a Bible discussion on Thanksgiving Day at MCI   Bishop Packard, Fr. Swan and Henry Armstrong say grace before the Thanksgiving feast November 18th Visit with Chaplains and their familes in Rome, Italy Chaplain Jeff Logan with the newest member of the family, Andrew.   Stephanie reading   Joey and Will Henry having a great time during the Bishop's visit as Mom, Dawna, looks on   Click here for a first-person account of a day at sea aboard one of the Navy's newest guided missile destroyers, USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) in the days following the attacks. This account was in an e-mail sent home by one of Churchill's officers.   --return to The Office of the Bishop Suffragan for Armed Services, Healthcare, and Prison Ministries Home Page     | ECUSA Home Page | News | Info Desk | Directories| Church Center | Governance | Site Index | Comments | Organizations |