Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
To be a vibrant Catholic Community
unified in its commitment
to growing disciples for Christ
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437
Mob: 0417 279 437
Assistant Priest: Fr Paschal Okpon
Mob: 0438 562 731
paschalokpon@yahoo.com
Priest in Residence: Fr Phil McCormack
Mob: 0437 521 257
Mob: 0437 521 257
Postal Address: PO Box 362
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au
Secretary: Annie Davies / Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair: Felicity Sly
Parish Mass times for the Month: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
Parish Prayer
Heavenly Father,
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.
Amen.
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Weekday Masses 26th - 29th June
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 12noon Devonport ... St Irenaeus
Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone … Sts Peter and Paul
Weekend Masses 30th June & 1st July, 2018
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
Ministers of Communion:
Vigil: D Peters, M Heazlewood, T Muir, M
Gerrand, P Shelverton
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Greeters: Fifita Family Commentator: Y Downes Readers: Fifita Family
Latrobe:
Reader: M Chan Minister of Communion: H Lim Procession of gifts: J Hyde
Port Sorell:
Readings this week – Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist
First Reading: Isaiah 49: 1-6
PREGO REFLECTION:
I place myself in the hands of the Lord as I read this Gospel prayerfully.
What strikes me as I read? What do I feel within? I take my time and pause often.
In due course, I may like to pray with one or more of the lines from the text suggested below.
All those who heard about the birth of John ‘treasured it in their hearts’ – what do I treasure in my heart? Memories … hopes … family … some piece of good news?
‘What will this child turn out to be’?
A relative or friend may have recently given birth, or I may like to think of children I know (perhaps my
own). I ponder their call to life and their growth to maturity.
For what can I be grateful? Can I share their joy?
‘The hand of the Lord was with John’.
Do I have a sense of the hand of the Lord with me now, guiding me towards a more mature spiritual life?
I may feel drawn to ponder my own sense of purpose, remembering how the Lord called my name even before I was born (today’s First Reading).
As I come to a close, I speak to the Lord from the heart.
I may be moved to pray for those who are about to give birth; for those who have lost children, or have experienced great pain in pregnancy or in childbirth; or for those unable to have children for whatever reason.
Our Father…
Readings next week – Thirteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
First Reading: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-34 
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Mary Binks, Mary
Halligan, Elaine Holloway-Sheppard, Helen Cooper, Br Jack Higgins CFC and Beverley Russell
Let us pray for those whose anniversary
occurs about this time: 20th – 26th June
May they Rest in Peace
Weekly
Ramblings
I’m writing this Weekly Rambling in a hotel room in Baltimore
after having been part of an amazing experience over these past two weeks – and
the only people still here are the Tasmanians.
Last weekend I said that it is almost impossible not to be
enthusiastic about what is possible in a Parish when parishioners are on fire
with the Holy Spirit and when they see themselves as disciples. This past
weekend as we visited the Church of the Nativity we were again encouraged by a
Parish that has become missionary in their living out the Gospel.
After the midday Mass we were fortunate that Fr Michael
White joined us for lunch. At the meal he spoke about their journey in terms of
3 x 5 year parts (he has now been there almost 20 years). The first five years
was a time when they sought to understand what their parish was about and then
what they might do to grow the faith life of the parishioners. The next five
year block was spent starting the journey and finding new ways to reach people
and the next block was spent consolidating and embedding their learnings.
I was fortunate to be able to join with five of their
leadership team in reflecting on the weekend experience – celebrating their
successes and finding ways to address some issues that had arisen so that they
might be avoided in the future. Whilst some of their processes might seem ‘too
business-like’ to be Church and you could be right in making that judgement.
But Patrick Lencioni, a Catholic author, says (paraphrased)
– If the Good News is the most important message in all the world surely we
need to strive to use the best practices possible to make that message known.
One of my learnings from these past two weeks is that I need to slow down so
that the vision for our Parish is not just my journey but is our journey and
that we, as a Parish, become a lighthouse to help others grow in their faith.
I’m so looking forward to being back in the Parish and be
with you all in celebrating this weekend.
Please take care on the roads and in all your travels,
MACKILLOP
HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE:
SPIRITUALITY IN THE COFFEE SHOP: this Monday, 25th June 10.30am -12 noon Come
and discuss the issues about faith and life that matter to you! Morning tea and good company! No booking necessary!
PLANNED GIVING PROGRAMME:
Round 13 (Friday 15th June) Sydney Swans by 15 points.
Congratulations to the following winners; Shane Willoughby, Paige Dalton-Smith.
For a little bit of fun why not help
support our Parish fundraiser and buy a footy margin ticket (or two) $2.00
each. There are three prizes of $100.00 each week. You’ve got to be in it to win
it!!
BINGO - Thursday Nights - OLOL
Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
ST VINCENT PALLOTTI SCHOLARSHIP: APPLICATIONS NOW
OPEN
RACHEL’S
VINEYARD – Do not
continue to live in shame, fear or numbness. Rachel’s Vineyard is a safe place
to renew, rebuild and redeem hearts broken by abortion through our supportive,
confidential and non-judgemental weekend retreats. Next retreat Aug 31st – Sept
2nd 2018. For more information please contact Anne Sherston on the confidential
phone line 0478599241 or email rachelsvineyardtas@aapt.net.au
Love, Sex, and Cosmic Evolution
Sister Ilia Delio, a
Franciscan professor and theologian, has a wonderful way of making the
brilliant writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin accessible. Teilhard
(1881-1955) was a French philosopher, Jesuit priest, and paleontologist who
brought a scientific and mystical perspective to his faith. In her book, The
Unbearable Wholeness of Being, Delio writes:
Sexuality presumes that we are part of a whole and have been
separated from the whole. Hence our incompleteness makes us long for wholeness
and union. . . .
Teilhard speaks of the “creative role of erotic attraction”
not only on the level of the individual but the universe itself is erotic. [1]
Passion is the true stuff of the universe; “the whole creation is groaning in
the pains of new birth” (Romans 8:22). Every star, cell, flower, bird, and
human person yearns for wholeness and completeness. Sex is not a mere
continuation of the species; it is the energy of love by which this universe is
in the process of personalization, becoming more spiritualized, energized, and
conscious. . . .
Modern culture’s preoccupation with the physical body and
the exploitation of the body as soulless matter reflects the deep human
disconnect from self, neighbor, earth, and God. Sex has become more like a
video game with the goal of winning rather than part of the deep religious core
of cosmic evolution. . . .
Evolution continues through humanity only when there is
consciousness of love as the integral wholeness of love that includes a healthy
sexuality. Awareness of our desires and attention to our deepest longings must
orient us toward a unified heart and consciousness. Love is more than a
survival mechanism; it is the fire breathed into the fabric of the cosmos that
enkindles life, rendering life more than biological function. Love turns
passion into transformative power.
One might say that evolution depends on healthy sexuality.
The love between persons creates a thread of passionate energy that winds
around the embrace of persons and enters into the heart of the cosmos,
contributing to the energetic movement of universal convergence. Love is what
“makes the world go ‘round.” It is fundamental to the forward movement of
evolution and cosmic personalization. It is the whole of every whole, the open,
dynamic field of energy that seeks greater wholeness within every star, leaf,
plant, and galaxy.
By the sheer power of its energy, love draws everything into
an endless depth of greater wholeness. On the level of human consciousness, the
core energy of personal/sexual love must reach out to the wider realm of
humanity that includes love of neighbor, friendship, and love of the stranger.
Love, sex, and cosmic evolution are intertwined in a field of integral
wholeness; to deny, avoid, or negate any of them is to thwart the process of
deepening life.
[1] Teilhard de Chardin, Human Energy, trans. J. M. Cohen
(Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: 1969), 77, 82.
Our culture doesn’t give us easy permission to mourn. Its underlying ethos is that we move on quickly from loss and hurt, keep our griefs quiet, remain strong always, and get on with life.
But mourning is something that’s vital to our health, something we owe to ourselves. Without mourning our only choice is to grow hard and bitter in the face of disappointment, rejection, and loss. And these will always make themselves felt.
We have many things to mourn in life: We are forever losing people and things. Loved ones die, relationships die, friends move away, a marriage falls apart, a love we want but can’t have obsesses us, a dream ends in disappointment, our children grow away from us, jobs are lost, and so too one day our youth and our health. Beyond these many losses that ask for our grief there’s the need to grieve the simple inadequacy of our lives, the perfect symphony and consummation that we could never have. Like Jephthah’s daughter, all of us have to mourn our inconsummation.
How? How do we mourn so that our mourning is not an unhealthy self-indulgence but a process that restores us to health and buoyancy?
There’s no simple formula and the formula is different for everyone. Grieving, like loving, has to respect our unique reticence, what we’re comfortable with and not comfortable with. But some things are the same for all of us.
First, there’s the need to accept and acknowledge both our loss and the pain which with we’re left. Denial of either, loss or pain, is never a friend. The frustration and helplessness within which we find ourselves must be accepted, and accepted with the knowledge too that there’s no place to put the pain except, as Rilke says, to give it back to earth itself, to the heaviness of the oceans from which ultimately comes the saltwater which makes up our tears. Our tears connect us still to the oceans that spawned us.
Next, mourning is a process that takes time, sometimes a lot of time, rather than something we can achieve quickly by a simple decision. We cannot simply will our emotions back to health. They need to heal and healing is an organic process. What’s involved?
In many instances there’s the need to give ourselves permission to be angry, to rage for a time, to allow ourselves to feel the disappointment, loss, unfairness, and anger. Loss can be bitter and that bitterness needs to be accepted with honesty, but also with the courage and discipline to not let it have us lash out at others. And for that to happen, for us not to lay blame and lash out at others, we need help. All pain can be borne if it can be shared and so we need people to listen to us and share our pain without trying to fix it. Pride is our enemy here. We need the humility to entrust others to see our wound.
Finally, not least, we need patience, long-suffering, perseverance. Mourning can’t be rushed. The healing of soul, like the healing of body, is an organic process with its own non-negotiable timetable for unfolding. But this can be a major test of our patience and hope. We can go through long periods of darkness and grief where nothing seems to be changing, the heaviness and the paralysis remain, and we’re left with the feeling that things will never get better, that we will never find lightness of heart again. But grief and mourning call for patience, patience to stay the course with the heaviness and the helplessness. The Book of Lamentations tells us that sometimes all we can do is put our mouths to the dust and wait. The healing is in the waiting.
Henri Nouwen was a man very familiar with mourning and loss. An over-sensitive soul, he sometimes suffered depressions and obsessions that left him emotionally paralyzed and seeking professional help. On one such occasion, while working through a major depression, he wrote his deeply insightful book, The Inner Voice of Love. There he gives us this advice: “The great challenge is living your wounds through instead of thinking them through. It is better to cry than to worry, better to feel your wounds deeply than to understand them, better to let them enter into your silence than to talk about them. The choice you face constantly is whether you are taking your hurts to your head or to your heart. In your head you can analyze them, find their causes and consequences, and coin words to speak and write about them. But no final healing is likely to come from that source. You need to let your wounds go down into your heart. Then you can live them through and discover that they will not destroy you. Your heart is greater than your wounds.”
We are greater than our wounds. Life is greater than death. God’s goodness is greater than all loss. But mourning our losses is the path to appropriating those truths.
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
Amen.
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Baptism: Arrangements are made by contacting Parish Office. Parents attend a Baptismal Preparation Session organised with a Priest.
Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community.
Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a Pre-marriage Program
Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests
Reconciliation: Ulverstone - Fridays (10am - 10:30am), Devonport - Saturday (5:15pm– 5.45pm)
Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration Devonport: First Friday each month.
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – Mondays 7pm Community Room Ulverstone
Weekday Masses 26th - 29th June
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 12noon Devonport ... St Irenaeus
Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone … Sts Peter and Paul
Weekend Masses 30th June & 1st July, 2018
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
6:00pm Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Ministry Rosters 30th June & 1st July, 2018
Devonport:
Readers Vigil: M Stewart, B Paul, M Kelly 10:30am: J Phillips, K Pearce, J Henderson
Ministers of Communion:
Vigil: D Peters, M Heazlewood, T Muir, M
Gerrand, P Shelverton
10:30am: F Sly, E Petts, K Hull, S
Arrowsmith
Cleaners: 29th
June: P Shelverton,
E Petts 6th July: M.W.C
Piety Shop: 30th
June: Closed 1st July: O McGinley
Ulverstone:
Reader/s: E Cox Ministers of Communion: E Reilly, K & M McKenzie, M
O’Halloran
Cleaners: G & M Seen, C Roberts Flowers: M Swain Hospitality: M McLaren
Penguin:
Greeters: Fifita Family Commentator: Y Downes Readers: Fifita Family
Ministers of
Communion: A Guest,
J Barker Liturgy: Penguin Setting Up: E Nickols
Care of Church: Y & R Downes
Latrobe:
Reader: M Chan Minister of Communion: H Lim Procession of gifts: J Hyde
Port Sorell:
Readers: M Badcock, L Post Minister of Communion: T Jeffries Clean/Flowers/Prepare: A Hynes
Readings this week – Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist
First Reading: Isaiah 49: 1-6
Second Reading: Acts 13: 22-26
Gospel: Luke 1:57-66,80
PREGO REFLECTION:
I place myself in the hands of the Lord as I read this Gospel prayerfully.
What strikes me as I read? What do I feel within? I take my time and pause often.
In due course, I may like to pray with one or more of the lines from the text suggested below.
All those who heard about the birth of John ‘treasured it in their hearts’ – what do I treasure in my heart? Memories … hopes … family … some piece of good news?
‘What will this child turn out to be’?
A relative or friend may have recently given birth, or I may like to think of children I know (perhaps my
own). I ponder their call to life and their growth to maturity.
For what can I be grateful? Can I share their joy?
‘The hand of the Lord was with John’.
Do I have a sense of the hand of the Lord with me now, guiding me towards a more mature spiritual life?
I may feel drawn to ponder my own sense of purpose, remembering how the Lord called my name even before I was born (today’s First Reading).
As I come to a close, I speak to the Lord from the heart.
I may be moved to pray for those who are about to give birth; for those who have lost children, or have experienced great pain in pregnancy or in childbirth; or for those unable to have children for whatever reason.
Our Father…
Readings next week – Thirteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
First Reading: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-34
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:7.9 13-15
Gospel: Mark
5:21-43
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Mary Webb, Kasia Hoffler, Rosalinda Grimes, Rose
Kirk-Patrick & ….
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Mary Binks, Mary
Halligan, Elaine Holloway-Sheppard, Helen Cooper, Br Jack Higgins CFC and Beverley Russell
Let us pray for those whose anniversary
occurs about this time: 20th – 26th June
John
Ellings, Audrey Bound, Moira Rhodes, Max Clifford, Therese Lizotte, Dean Mott, Rhys
Tobin, Dylan Burgess, Max Stuart, Anne Morton, Leslie Constable, Ruth Edillo, Dudley
McNamara, Pat Barrenger, Herbert Coad, Dorothy Smith, Robin Millwood & Bill
Wing.
May they Rest in Peace
Weekly
Ramblings
I’m writing this Weekly Rambling in a hotel room in Baltimore
after having been part of an amazing experience over these past two weeks – and
the only people still here are the Tasmanians.
Last weekend I said that it is almost impossible not to be
enthusiastic about what is possible in a Parish when parishioners are on fire
with the Holy Spirit and when they see themselves as disciples. This past
weekend as we visited the Church of the Nativity we were again encouraged by a
Parish that has become missionary in their living out the Gospel.
After the midday Mass we were fortunate that Fr Michael
White joined us for lunch. At the meal he spoke about their journey in terms of
3 x 5 year parts (he has now been there almost 20 years). The first five years
was a time when they sought to understand what their parish was about and then
what they might do to grow the faith life of the parishioners. The next five
year block was spent starting the journey and finding new ways to reach people
and the next block was spent consolidating and embedding their learnings.
I was fortunate to be able to join with five of their
leadership team in reflecting on the weekend experience – celebrating their
successes and finding ways to address some issues that had arisen so that they
might be avoided in the future. Whilst some of their processes might seem ‘too
business-like’ to be Church and you could be right in making that judgement.
But Patrick Lencioni, a Catholic author, says (paraphrased)
– If the Good News is the most important message in all the world surely we
need to strive to use the best practices possible to make that message known.
One of my learnings from these past two weeks is that I need to slow down so
that the vision for our Parish is not just my journey but is our journey and
that we, as a Parish, become a lighthouse to help others grow in their faith.
I’m so looking forward to being back in the Parish and be
with you all in celebrating this weekend.
Please take care on the roads and in all your travels,
MACKILLOP
HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE:
SPIRITUALITY IN THE COFFEE SHOP: this Monday, 25th June 10.30am -12 noon Come
and discuss the issues about faith and life that matter to you! Morning tea and good company! No booking necessary!
PLANNED GIVING PROGRAMME:
New envelopes are being distributed
this weekend. If you are not already part of this programme and would like to
join, or do not wish to continue giving, please contact the Parish office
6424:2783.
Please note: The new envelopes (Blue in colour) should not be
used until starting date 1st July, therefore once you start using
the new envelopes you must throw out the old envelopes (yellow in
colour)
– Thank you!
FOOTY
TICKETS:
Round 13 (Friday 15th June) Sydney Swans by 15 points.
Congratulations to the following winners; Shane Willoughby, Paige Dalton-Smith.
For a little bit of fun why not help
support our Parish fundraiser and buy a footy margin ticket (or two) $2.00
each. There are three prizes of $100.00 each week. You’ve got to be in it to win
it!!
BINGO - Thursday Nights - OLOL
Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday 28th
June – Merv Tippett & Terry Bird
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
ST VINCENT PALLOTTI SCHOLARSHIP: APPLICATIONS NOW
OPEN
The St Vincent Pallotti Scholarship Trust offer
scholarships to enable lay people to further their understanding and skills in
leadership/ministry or a specialised activity, such as promoting faith
enhancement, social justice and pastoral care.
Applications close 23rd July 2018. Details and application:http://www.pallottine.org.au/scholarships/st-vincent-pallotti-scholarship-for-lay-inistry.html
RACHEL’S
VINEYARD – Do not
continue to live in shame, fear or numbness. Rachel’s Vineyard is a safe place
to renew, rebuild and redeem hearts broken by abortion through our supportive,
confidential and non-judgemental weekend retreats. Next retreat Aug 31st – Sept
2nd 2018. For more information please contact Anne Sherston on the confidential
phone line 0478599241 or email rachelsvineyardtas@aapt.net.au
Love, Sex, and Cosmic Evolution
This article is taken from the weekly email from the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe
to their daily emails by clicking here
Sister Ilia Delio, a
Franciscan professor and theologian, has a wonderful way of making the
brilliant writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin accessible. Teilhard
(1881-1955) was a French philosopher, Jesuit priest, and paleontologist who
brought a scientific and mystical perspective to his faith. In her book, The
Unbearable Wholeness of Being, Delio writes:
Sexuality presumes that we are part of a whole and have been
separated from the whole. Hence our incompleteness makes us long for wholeness
and union. . . .
Teilhard speaks of the “creative role of erotic attraction”
not only on the level of the individual but the universe itself is erotic. [1]
Passion is the true stuff of the universe; “the whole creation is groaning in
the pains of new birth” (Romans 8:22). Every star, cell, flower, bird, and
human person yearns for wholeness and completeness. Sex is not a mere
continuation of the species; it is the energy of love by which this universe is
in the process of personalization, becoming more spiritualized, energized, and
conscious. . . .
Modern culture’s preoccupation with the physical body and
the exploitation of the body as soulless matter reflects the deep human
disconnect from self, neighbor, earth, and God. Sex has become more like a
video game with the goal of winning rather than part of the deep religious core
of cosmic evolution. . . .
Evolution continues through humanity only when there is
consciousness of love as the integral wholeness of love that includes a healthy
sexuality. Awareness of our desires and attention to our deepest longings must
orient us toward a unified heart and consciousness. Love is more than a
survival mechanism; it is the fire breathed into the fabric of the cosmos that
enkindles life, rendering life more than biological function. Love turns
passion into transformative power.
One might say that evolution depends on healthy sexuality.
The love between persons creates a thread of passionate energy that winds
around the embrace of persons and enters into the heart of the cosmos,
contributing to the energetic movement of universal convergence. Love is what
“makes the world go ‘round.” It is fundamental to the forward movement of
evolution and cosmic personalization. It is the whole of every whole, the open,
dynamic field of energy that seeks greater wholeness within every star, leaf,
plant, and galaxy.
By the sheer power of its energy, love draws everything into
an endless depth of greater wholeness. On the level of human consciousness, the
core energy of personal/sexual love must reach out to the wider realm of
humanity that includes love of neighbor, friendship, and love of the stranger.
Love, sex, and cosmic evolution are intertwined in a field of integral
wholeness; to deny, avoid, or negate any of them is to thwart the process of
deepening life.
[1] Teilhard de Chardin, Human Energy, trans. J. M. Cohen
(Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: 1969), 77, 82.
Ilia Delio, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God,
Evolution, and the Power of Love (Orbis Books: 2013), 47-51.
MOURNING
This article is taken from the website of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here
Our culture doesn’t give us easy permission to mourn. Its underlying ethos is that we move on quickly from loss and hurt, keep our griefs quiet, remain strong always, and get on with life.
But mourning is something that’s vital to our health, something we owe to ourselves. Without mourning our only choice is to grow hard and bitter in the face of disappointment, rejection, and loss. And these will always make themselves felt.
We have many things to mourn in life: We are forever losing people and things. Loved ones die, relationships die, friends move away, a marriage falls apart, a love we want but can’t have obsesses us, a dream ends in disappointment, our children grow away from us, jobs are lost, and so too one day our youth and our health. Beyond these many losses that ask for our grief there’s the need to grieve the simple inadequacy of our lives, the perfect symphony and consummation that we could never have. Like Jephthah’s daughter, all of us have to mourn our inconsummation.
How? How do we mourn so that our mourning is not an unhealthy self-indulgence but a process that restores us to health and buoyancy?
There’s no simple formula and the formula is different for everyone. Grieving, like loving, has to respect our unique reticence, what we’re comfortable with and not comfortable with. But some things are the same for all of us.
First, there’s the need to accept and acknowledge both our loss and the pain which with we’re left. Denial of either, loss or pain, is never a friend. The frustration and helplessness within which we find ourselves must be accepted, and accepted with the knowledge too that there’s no place to put the pain except, as Rilke says, to give it back to earth itself, to the heaviness of the oceans from which ultimately comes the saltwater which makes up our tears. Our tears connect us still to the oceans that spawned us.
Next, mourning is a process that takes time, sometimes a lot of time, rather than something we can achieve quickly by a simple decision. We cannot simply will our emotions back to health. They need to heal and healing is an organic process. What’s involved?
In many instances there’s the need to give ourselves permission to be angry, to rage for a time, to allow ourselves to feel the disappointment, loss, unfairness, and anger. Loss can be bitter and that bitterness needs to be accepted with honesty, but also with the courage and discipline to not let it have us lash out at others. And for that to happen, for us not to lay blame and lash out at others, we need help. All pain can be borne if it can be shared and so we need people to listen to us and share our pain without trying to fix it. Pride is our enemy here. We need the humility to entrust others to see our wound.
Finally, not least, we need patience, long-suffering, perseverance. Mourning can’t be rushed. The healing of soul, like the healing of body, is an organic process with its own non-negotiable timetable for unfolding. But this can be a major test of our patience and hope. We can go through long periods of darkness and grief where nothing seems to be changing, the heaviness and the paralysis remain, and we’re left with the feeling that things will never get better, that we will never find lightness of heart again. But grief and mourning call for patience, patience to stay the course with the heaviness and the helplessness. The Book of Lamentations tells us that sometimes all we can do is put our mouths to the dust and wait. The healing is in the waiting.
Henri Nouwen was a man very familiar with mourning and loss. An over-sensitive soul, he sometimes suffered depressions and obsessions that left him emotionally paralyzed and seeking professional help. On one such occasion, while working through a major depression, he wrote his deeply insightful book, The Inner Voice of Love. There he gives us this advice: “The great challenge is living your wounds through instead of thinking them through. It is better to cry than to worry, better to feel your wounds deeply than to understand them, better to let them enter into your silence than to talk about them. The choice you face constantly is whether you are taking your hurts to your head or to your heart. In your head you can analyze them, find their causes and consequences, and coin words to speak and write about them. But no final healing is likely to come from that source. You need to let your wounds go down into your heart. Then you can live them through and discover that they will not destroy you. Your heart is greater than your wounds.”
We are greater than our wounds. Life is greater than death. God’s goodness is greater than all loss. But mourning our losses is the path to appropriating those truths.
BEING A GROWING CHURCH
This is taken from the weekly blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timonium, Baltimore. You can find the original blog here
Around here we like to talk about our “Rally Cry” or what our friend Patrick Lencioni calls “the thing that must be done now.”
This time last year it was obviously finishing the new church building (which we did, ahead of schedule, under budget, and with no debt). Next, it was our annual signature event, Christmas Eve at the Maryland State Fair (our biggest ever, with 10,000 in attendance), and then our REBUILT Conference (which was sold out).
As we wrap up this momentous year our Leadership Team has formed a new Rally Cry, that will carry us through the coming year. We want to grow attendance on our Ridgely Road campus and our On-Line Campus. In other words, we want to be a deliberately growing parish in the coming year. For a number of recent years we were not a growing church, because we had outgrown our building, there was no place to grow. Now we have empty seats at optimal times, as well as a balcony we one day will build out, not to mention endless growth opportunity online.
As our friend Carey Nieuwhof notes, there are differences that mark churches that are growing from churches that are not growing.
The first difference is a difference in attitude.
And the first attitude we have to adapt is a positive view that we really can do this. We really can grow. Growing churches make a way when there’s no way, forge a path where no path existed. We have to believe we can, because we have to believe we’re going where God is blessing.
The second difference is focus.
Declining churches focus on themselves. Growing churches focus on the people they’re trying to reach.
If our team is all about the needs and wants of our members, it’s a sign that our parish is insider focused, and it can easily happen. Growing means putting our evangelization strategy above members preferences. And that won’t always be easy or popular.
The third difference is discipline.
Most declining churches are so busy reacting to problems other people raise or internal conflict that they never get around to charting a course for the future. To be a growing church we must be proactive in an entirely disciplined manner. We must choose and maintain agenda for growth, come what may. We know we have to focus on our growth strategies and prioritize them above everything else we want to do. In the coming year this will include an “Invest and Invite” Evangelization Campaign, better promotion of upcoming message series, including video promotion and social media, and a more intense focus on our weekend experience, including fresh efforts at guest services and hospitality. Online there will be an investment in upgraded technology.
This is taken from the weekly blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timonium, Baltimore. You can find the original blog here
Around here we like to talk about our “Rally Cry” or what our friend Patrick Lencioni calls “the thing that must be done now.”
This time last year it was obviously finishing the new church building (which we did, ahead of schedule, under budget, and with no debt). Next, it was our annual signature event, Christmas Eve at the Maryland State Fair (our biggest ever, with 10,000 in attendance), and then our REBUILT Conference (which was sold out).
As we wrap up this momentous year our Leadership Team has formed a new Rally Cry, that will carry us through the coming year. We want to grow attendance on our Ridgely Road campus and our On-Line Campus. In other words, we want to be a deliberately growing parish in the coming year. For a number of recent years we were not a growing church, because we had outgrown our building, there was no place to grow. Now we have empty seats at optimal times, as well as a balcony we one day will build out, not to mention endless growth opportunity online.
As our friend Carey Nieuwhof notes, there are differences that mark churches that are growing from churches that are not growing.
The first difference is a difference in attitude.
And the first attitude we have to adapt is a positive view that we really can do this. We really can grow. Growing churches make a way when there’s no way, forge a path where no path existed. We have to believe we can, because we have to believe we’re going where God is blessing.
The second difference is focus.
Declining churches focus on themselves. Growing churches focus on the people they’re trying to reach.
If our team is all about the needs and wants of our members, it’s a sign that our parish is insider focused, and it can easily happen. Growing means putting our evangelization strategy above members preferences. And that won’t always be easy or popular.
The third difference is discipline.
Most declining churches are so busy reacting to problems other people raise or internal conflict that they never get around to charting a course for the future. To be a growing church we must be proactive in an entirely disciplined manner. We must choose and maintain agenda for growth, come what may. We know we have to focus on our growth strategies and prioritize them above everything else we want to do. In the coming year this will include an “Invest and Invite” Evangelization Campaign, better promotion of upcoming message series, including video promotion and social media, and a more intense focus on our weekend experience, including fresh efforts at guest services and hospitality. Online there will be an investment in upgraded technology.
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