CONFIRM MY HEART'S DESIRE

Welcome! You'll find here occasional writings, a few rants, and hopefully some insights too, about Christian discipleship, the Episcopal Church, and on faith community's life (at least from my viewpoint) at the Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester, Massachusetts, where I am blessed to serve as the rector. At the Epiphany we understand ourselves to be "a welcoming Episcopal community, united in God, called to seek and serve Christ in all persons, and to transform the world with love and generosity."
Why this title, "confirm my heart's desire"?
The title comes from a line in Charles Wesley's hymn, O Thou Who Camest from Above. You can read the text and listen to a schmaltzy-sounding version of the tune here. The hymn is not widely known, except in England, but with persistence on my part, and with the persuasion of other musicians, priests, and hymn-nerds, it's gaining, slowly, additional admirers.




13 January 2015

Living Stones, Tuesday, 13 January 2015

We arose early and gathered inside the very chilly nave of St. George Cathedral for Morning Prayer. The winter sun beams illuminated the starkness of all that is English and Gothic, even if they didn't do much for actually warming us up. A group photograph revealed that several of us are organizers, then we were off to the edge of the city, to Mount Scopus, to get a bird's eye view of Jerusalem, especially to the south and east and west. 

Canon Qumri spent several minutes describing the geography along the Jordan River, and the Syrian-African Rift--the natural boundary between contemporary Jordan and the West Bank of Palestine. Then, he spoke vulnerably about what it's like to live with increasing Israeli settlements right here in East Jerusalem. Some of us had our eyes opened.

The rest of the morning was spent listening to Archbishop Suweil Duwani, the Bishop of Jerusalem, speak about the ministry of the Anglican-Episcopal Church in Israel/Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. It was our honor to present him with a small gift to support the ministry that is theirs, and now ours, in this place. Bishop Duwani spoke about "living stones"--that what's needed here in the Middle East is for young people to stay as witnesses, so that Christianity remains alive (less than 2% of the population is now Christian). 

God is making something of us to be these living stones, at least for the next several days. But then, after we're home, who knows how our enlivened faith might catch hold in the communities where we live and serve--living stones indeed! 

Thomas J. Brown

P.S. we have organized ourselves for business and we're ready to blog every day beginning on the 14th--so you'll get to read from other pilgrims, thankfully, and not just from me!
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2 comments:

  1. Lyn G. Brakeman11:33 AM

    Dick and I have many memories as we pray and remember with you all that your hearts may be enlivened and that you travel safely home, love, Us

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:36 PM

    Thank you for letting us travel with you. Be safe, have fun, and enjoy the pilgrimage. Barbara DeWolfe

    ReplyDelete

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