Canterbury goes to Rome

The Archbishop of Canterbury meets Pope Francis

One of the first things people new to the Episcopal Church are likely to ask, especially if they come from a Roman Catholic background, is what we think about the pope. Usually I launch into a mini-historical overview that begins with King Henry VIII and his daughter Queen Elizabeth I and takes us through the Colonial era in the U.S. right down to the Second Vatican Council.  Which is a round-about way for me to say that, no, the pope does not exercise authority over Anglicans/Episcopalians and that the Archbishop of Canterbury is an important figure as a spiritual leader of the world-wide Anglican Communion but he is not our version of a pope.  

Episcopalians live into the Via Media or Middle Way of our heritage and theology: we are of the catholic tradition with influences from the Protestant Reformation. Many of our new members come to our church because they are comfortable with the middle ground we create.  Clearly we have many former Roman Catholics in our pews.

So I do pay attention to when any Archbishop of Canterbury travels to Rome.  Their meeting happened on June 14. The former oil executive turned priest and then archbishop Justin Welby met with the Argentina-born Jesuit priest turned pope. Both men made all of the right public statements that Christian leaders should make for the good of the universal church.   Pope Francis has already in his brief pontificate shed increased light on the need to alleviate poverty and minister to the poor: he has chosen not to live in the palatial papal residence in favor of more modest lodging.   The two men also agreed on the need for Christians to act as peacemakers around the world, which they acknowledged could only be done if Christians "live and work together in harmony," the pope said. "I pray that the nearness of our two inaugurations may serve the reconciliation of the world and the Church," Archbishop Welby said.

Both the archbishop and the pope acknowledged that differences between Roman Catholics and Anglicans have caused pain in the past and would present challenges in the future. But the archbishop said that a firm foundation of friendship "will enable us to be hopeful in speaking to one another about those differences."

I'm glad the ABC and Pope met. May Christians everywhere remember that we share more in common than what may appear to separate us. We need to work together and know one another. Closer to home, may we continue to work with ecumenical partners on the Seacoast to make our corner of God's earth resemble the kind of world that God desires for us.  

Blessings,

Mark

  

The Rev. Mark B. Pendleton

Rector

When are we going home?

Christ Church, Exeter

June 13, 2013

When are we going home?

Moving day has come and gone this past week (finally!) and I can now safely say that we are New Hampshire residents. Our worldly possessions arrived to our house in nearby Greenland. (If anyone is moving soon and needs some boxes, do let me know).

In 1998 when our youngest child Lydia was three years old, she said something that has stayed with me over the years. We were unpacking the many boxes of our move from Glastonbury, Connecticut to Silver Spring, Maryland and both of our kids were doing what kids do on moving day: they were having a blast playing in giant empty boxes. Even before the furniture arrived, they loved running from room to room and creating an echo by shouting in the empty spaces.

Lydia ran up to us at the end of moving day with a giant smile on her face and said: "Mommy and daddy, I love our new house!   When are we going home?"  As a three year old, she knew intuitively what many of us have come to learn in life - that there is a difference between a house or an apartment and a home. Home is about feeling secure, wanted, free, loved and respected. Houses increase in value and decrease: they are bought and re-sold again. They age and some can even be destroyed and lost to natural disaster.  A house can be replaced: a home is much more.

I believe that what we are about as a church when we are at our best is creating a place where all of us can be at home -- safe, respected, challenged and loved. If "home is where your heart is" then I hope we connect being truly at home with arriving to the heart of what God most desires for us.  

And yes... I too love our new house.  And thanks to so many of you, after two months, I feel at home.  

  

   Blessings,

The Rev. Mark B. Pendleton

Rector

Disaster Fatigue?

Christ Church, Exeter

May 22, 2013

Dear All:

There is an expression used these days called "disaster fatigue." It sets in for some when they hear of disaster after disaster the world over - tsunamis, earthquakes, brushfires, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes.  

I would not say that I suffer from disaster fatigue as much as I just wish they would all stop. No more! With instant global communication we can literally see it all and the heartbreak and suffering is far too close and real.  

As people of faith we can at times want to shut out all the bad and that's OK.  It is a defensive mechanism born out of our village-minded DNA that really cannot handle too many circles of loss and suffering beyond what we can see and know.  Thank God that God never suffers from disaster fatigue. God's mercy and compassion is constant and abundant in times when darkness comes, the winds rage and lives rest on a razor's edge.   May we pray to this God to hold the people of Oklahoma ever more close in these days ahead during their time of great need.

To learn how to donate directly to the victims, visit: http://www.episcopaloklahoma.org/Christian%20Formation/donate-for-tornado-re lief.html

Blessings,

The Rev. Mark B. Pendleton

Rector

Turning 50

From the Rector

The Eve of Turning 50 

In two days I turn 50 years old.  Yes, the “BIG 5-0.” On May 10, 1963 I was born in The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio to Judy and Bruce Pendleton. My older sister by one year Terri greeted me at home, and my younger sister Mindy came along two years later. My parents are no longer with us, having passed away three years ago, but I as turn a half-century in years, I cannot help but think of them. Yet I will celebrate the fullness of the day with my wife, son and daughter and a few good friends in Hartford over a good meal.   

One of my favorite writers Frederick Buechner wrote this about life:

“If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.” 

So as I hit the mid-century mark tomorrow, I will be listening to my life as I drive to Hartford from upstate New York after picking my son up from college. I will listen to the faces of the people who shaped me. I will remember the sounds of my parents and savor the great tasting Polish noodles and potato pancakes of my grandmother. I will hear again to the places in the world I have visited and the people I have met along they way. I will return to that beach in South America when Christ grabbed me by the mystical arm and I heard so clearly and so surprisingly: “I want you to follow me and be ordained in my church.”  I will see to the people of prayer in whose parishes I have served in my 22 years of ministry.  

Buechner is right: all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace. 

Peace,

Mark B. Pendleton 

The Community of the Cross of Nails: Its story and template for Hope

Truth + Forgiveness = Reconciliation

I have been involved with the Community of the Cross of Nails for over 25 years: currently I serve as the President of the CCN-North America. Its story began on the night of the 14^th of November, 1940 in the city of Coventry, England.   Its medieval cathedral was destroyed by the bombs of the German Luftwaffe that also destroyed much of the city.  In the midst of the rubble, a priest took three large roofing nails forged in the Middle Ages and bound them with wire. In the terrible aftermath that followed, Provost Howard wrote "Father Forgive" on the smoke-blackened wall of the sanctuary, leading the people of the city away from a feeling of bitterness and revenge.  After the war a new cathedral emerged alongside the ruins, and Coventry began a ministry of peace and reconciliation with Germany.  Crosses of nails were presented to Kiel, Dresden and Berlin, cities shattered by Allied bombing. In October I will attend a meeting of the German CCN: my second visit to Germany to see the work of healing that goes on decades after the war.   

Today the cross of nails is a powerful and inspirational symbol worldwide of reconciliation and peace, worn by the new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and South Africa's Desmond Tutu.  The Community of the Cross of Nails is a network of people throughout the world.     

The call to forgive and reconcile is never easy and is truly life-long. But this much we know: Jesus called on us to love our enemies and to seek forgiveness from the God who forgives us.  It can be an unhappy process at times leading to unsatisfying conclusions: it is not always accompanied by a "warm and gentle" feeling but rather a dry sense of acceptance.  

In this post-modern world of terrorist attacks, mass-killings, political divide and stalemate, finger-pointing, road-rage and instantaneous communication making it easier to spread both information and misinformation, there can be in all of us a very human impulse to lash out and seek revenge and retaliation. Christ shows us a different way. 

April 25, 2013

Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist

From the Rector

The Urgency of Hospitality

In 2009 I received a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. of Indianapolis (a legacy of the Episcopalian Eli Lilly pharmaceutical family fortune) to take my first-ever sabbatical leave. I had written a grant proposal based on a visit to New Orleans in the early years after Hurricane Katrina. In the days and weeks after the storm, The Times-Picayune newspaper served as a voice for the city and its urgent need for recovery. A recipe exchange was launched by the paper that invited readers to "rebuild New Orleans, Recipe by Recipe." With so many cherished recipes lost in the flood waters, the exchange served as a vehicle for sharing and healing. A local food writer wrote at the time that "in New Orleans, food is culture. Food is family. Food is comfort. Food is life." Already in my time here at Christ Church I sense that many would agree that food has a powerful way to gather and sustain us in times of celebration and loss.

During my sabbatical I traveled across the country with my family by train. What a thrill! We ran through our shared Bucket List and visited great American cities and treasured national parks. And we experienced really good food: Kansas City barbeque, high-end organic in Berkeley, California and giant steaks in the Big Sky Country of Montana. I returned to the French Quarter of New Orleans on my own for some oysters and po'boys -- and of course a side serving of jazz.

What I gathered together along with my wife Leslie are some of our favorite recipes that we (Leslie really) like to cook for family and friends. It is our hope that this little book encourages us all to think about our favorite recipes and food stories.  Write them down. Share them.  Feel free to pick up a copy of the booklet (purple cover) in the Narthex or in the Parish Hall.

Blessings,

The Rev. Mark B. Pendleton

Rector 

First Week as Rector: Hope and Tragedy

The Third Week of Easter

April 18, 2013

From the Rector    

A First Week: Hope and Tragedy

I had not yet gotten through my first official day in the office this past Monday when I took a phone call late in the afternoon: "have you heard the news?" I had not. Yet I had heard those words before. We all have. I heard them in December while I was in Connecticut to hear the horrendous news of the deaths of so many little ones and their courageous teachers in nearby Newtown - an event that shook the state and nation to our core. The bombings this past Monday at the Boston Marathon brought back a flood of memories to this nation and caused life-changing injuries and life-ending anguish.  No words, beyond the timeless and sacred words of our faith tradition, can meet such losses and even try to make sense of them to cobble together any understanding of the "whys?" we all ask during these times.

As I begin my ministry as priest, pastor and fellow Christian on a shared journey with you, I confess that chances are that there will be other phone calls and text messages in the years ahead: "have you heard the news?"  May they be rare in number. May any nightmare calls that come our way be outnumbered by joy-filled ones like: "I am a new grandparent... we are expecting our first child... my daughter got accepted into college... the lab results are clean... or I found a job after looking for far longer than I had imagined." May our hope and joy outweigh any darkness that covers us during times of tragedy, death and loss.  And yes, that is the Easter message, isn't it?   God's love trumping the shadow of death: love more powerful than the acts of those who would diminish goodness and defile life.

I look forward to my first Sunday with you on April 21. The Search Committee is graciously planning to host receptions after the two services to welcome my family and me. I thank them for one more act of service after this prolonged period of transition and search.

May our prayers this week reach the One to whom we pray and from whom all is given. May God heal those shattered by the events in Boston.  And may God remind us all always - always - that we live and rest in God's eternal presence.

Peace,

Mark B. Pendleton

Rector

Follow me on Twitter @MarkBPendleton

Christ Church in Exeter, New Hampshire