Two western rite Orthodox priests showed up tonight for the Easter Vigil. Their congregation will use our chapel for their worship starting in May, I believe. Incense rose and chanting was intoned and responded to.

An Easter vigil uses scripture from throughout the story of God's interaction with his people to teach and summarize God's place in our life. The scripture is interspersed with Collects and songs. Currently, there is a great contrast in some of our music program to the formality of the occasion. We have a very amplified soprano soloist in Fr. Stace's wife Sarah, singing contemporary songs very beautifully. But the contrast can be a little jarring, as it was occasionally tonight. The solos dominate the congregational singing, and though beautifully rendered, insulate the congregation from the singing somewhat.

Father John, the most imposing of the Orthodox priests looks and sounds like he had a prior career in the WWF. His booming voice and impressive girth were another contrast tonight. Epiphany's vigil included two baptisms: One adult and one infant. The adult, a large black man has been attending church for many months. His baptism was also his ticket to take the Eucharist, and he and his family (wife, son and daughter) relished the experience together. The infant, accompanied by her older brother (aged 3), mother and father and two sponsors was a treat. She has also been coming to worship for some time, though her father and "sponsors" were first timers. None of them took communion, though they promised to raise her in the faith. The Methodist baptism puts a lot of responsiblity on the congregation who promises to raise the child, too. I hope they stand firm in the faith and live up to their vows. It would be good that they remember the stolid presence of Father John.

All holy week our services have been wonderful. Glenda Gay attended again for the third time this week, talking to people afterwards. I feel so blessed to have my salvation in Christ and to have found a wonderful church filled with fervent worshippers.
Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Friday night at Epiphany.
Quiet. Dark. Somber. Oh, Sacred head now wounded. The lights outside are non-functional, but the lights inside are flickering and promising a new life in Christ.

Good Friday has been good. Anthony (7 yrs.) loves the stations of the cross, at least the one at Assumption Catholic Church. Glenda Gay says they have a million dollars worth of stained glass at this little church on 38th Avenue in East Denver. The stations are large paintings between the windows, 4' x 6'. At Epiphany we have small ceramic wall hangings in bas relief. Anthony doesn't get into them. But at Assumption, the power of the panels backs him up. He has many questions and follows the story around the room. We also lit a candle.

We also went to Trinity UMC downtown to hear the last few homilies of the Seven Last Words. All were women preachers. Each sermon was dramatic and well delivered. I did wonder at the omission of any notion of atonement, especially in the "It is finished" piece. The music was amateurishly sung. Paid soloists must not do Good Friday.

In my own spiritual response, I feel free to immerse myself in the services available. My wife is attending with me, a real treat.

I am amazed at the depth of penetration of the images from Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Mental images come to me constantly during allusion to scripture. His film is a valuable work of art for Christians and for fallen-away Christians who are remembering the meaning of Easter.

Tonight Glenda Gay and I will attend a quiet service at Epiphany. This morning at 6 AM we attended the last hour of an all night vigil there, too.

Fortunately, snow is predicted. I was heading for a confrontation with Park Hill Elementary School. They had decided to take the kids to the zoo on Good Friday, the most solemn day of the church year! We will take a tour of sanctuaries around the city whose differing ways of celebrating Good Friday will be there for Anthony to wonder at as we discuss The Passion. The school outing has been called because of the weather; they were going to walk to the zoo. I'm happy to leave him in school until noon and then Spring him for a church tour and meditation on who Jesus is to his family.

Terry Schiavo's deterioration goes on and on. It gives programming to the networks and is a political spot light on an issue with lots of import to all. I look forward to the debate. Terry may go home to be with the Lord in the meanwhile.

Blessed Maundy Thursday to you all.

This week in our little dot com internet company, we worked on alternative plans to extend our runway until we have successful operations. Our business development efforts have yet to deliver a large volume user. And, until they do, our business model is in doubt and it is hard to attract capital. A volume internet ecommerce solution without volume to prove it is a potential dead duck. So, my partners and I determined how to buy time by cutting our benefits, salaries and personnel again. In the meanwhile, we work...and work...and work...and work to make things better. New companies such as ours need divine intervention and support, which I fully expect. The frame of our life is bigger than the natural world that we labor in.

There is a wonderful contemporary play, written by Michael Frayn, called "Noises Off" (don't rent the movie. It stinks.).

Act One is a walk through rehearsal of a play. In it you learn the characters and their "back stories" and histories with each other. One is an alcoholic who swears he is "in recovery". Another three characters are a love triangle. Ego clashes, revenge for past wrongs, professional jealousy and rivalry, and pure fun are afoot.

Act Two is a dress rehearsal, this time from back stage. All the plot lines and character interactions are fully developed, to a dangerous point. The play the actors perform is the same as the one the walked through in the first act. Actors go off stage into the play on the other side of the set, where you hear them deliver the lines they first rehearsed in the first act. In the meanwhile, mischief grows and character conflict intensifies. The alcoholic is off the wagon, but not all the way. The love triangle is deteriorating.

Act Three is opening night off Broadway. The set is reversed again, with you seeing what the audience sees. The characters enter and give their lines on cue, but all the conflict is erupting fully as the twists and conflicts come full cycle. You hear them as "noises off" stage, where bottles break, costumes malfunction, as the whole production collapses into hilarious chaos.

Shakespeare's claim that all the world was a play, and we but actors in it, foreshadowed "Noises Off", a play the he could well have written. The art of a play this complex is in the direction and the writing. Without a good director to choreograph, with perfect timing, the two sided set, the audience would neither see nor understand the full story. Without a precisely written script, the play would be confusing and incoherent. Like that, my life makes great sense to the Author and Director of the action. However, like the befuddled characters in Noises Off, I question the coherence of the action from time to time. Why can't the "rescue" come earlier in the play? Why can't the characters do offstage what I expect them to do? Why is so much of my life a surprise?

Yet, by coping this week with the incredibly frustrating twists and turns of the plot of my life, with its recalcitrant characters, once again I find myself admiring the Author and his Direction more than getting bound by the action and the scene. I am certain that he is faithful to me and to my life's direction and purpose. He will resolve the plot lines in a manner which gives glory to His purpose. He will delight me again in the comedy produced by his artistry. And, ironically, I am more and more aware that He is the only audience that I need to please.

The Jesus Prayer at the Estes Park Y Camp. A planned business trip on the weekend with 59 others in my profession led to a blanket introduction from the organizers to all attendees asking if anyone would consider doing something meditative in the mornings during the weekend. What was being invited were New Age and Buddhist meditations, but I offered the Jesus Prayer as a meditative alternative, at Fr. Stace's suggestion. Six (>10%) attended Saturday morning. One of the men had confided that although he was probably now a Buddhist or maybe even an atheist after reading a book by John Shelby Spong some ten years ago, he had once been a Pentecostal preacher with his own congregation. Two others were recently graduated college students, idealistic and open eyed. Another was an acknowledged Christian brother with whom I had prayed before, an evangelical of quiet, steady faith. Finally, a retired woman friend from Grand Island, Nebraska, unassuming and conservative, a recent reader of The Purpose Driven Life with her Baptist church. Two other sets of circled chairs of similar size to ours shared the lecture room. Both of them attempted "guided" meditations involving chakra references and light allusions, a quiet recorded humming chant background, and the aroma of burning sage. Their "guides" spoke throughout our entire "silent" time, coaxing and encouraging consciousness expansion and peace. But while they were seeking it, our little group blessedly found it. The peaceful, settled quiteness of our Jesus praying group contrasted mightily to the others. I had been using the Jesus Prayer personally for about a year. The group practice was even more powerful. All attending found it pleasant and inspiring.

Not 300 feet from where we sat in reverie and spiritual peace, I had once been trained as a teacher of Transcendental Meditation by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1970. My memory of that time in nearly the same place was rich. The approach and method of the Jesus prayer is similar to that of the TM mantric technique, mechanically. But the satisfaction and unification of the Jesus Prayer practice was enormous.

I am greatful to Fr. Stace for the suggestion. One young man from our circle spent the evening with me discussing his faith. This morning as we said our goodbyes, he announced his intention to come to Epiphany Church and join our Men's Ministry. He lives in nearby Capital Hill. God is good.

Lightgiver. 

Lightgiver's Friend -- Me.  

Arnold Schwartzenegger, the California governator, recently bragged that his religion has no effect on his governing decisions. It informs his public life not at all. Hmmm.

At our 10:30 AM service this morning, we had a public high school choir from somewhere near Liberty, Missouri, north of Kansas City. About 50 students from an a capella choir, well lead, well rehearsed and sounding more like a college choir than a high school group, treated us to several wonderful pieces of sacred music. Though the music was beautiful, the spiritual moments were deeply touching. These kids were red state kids, very open and alert. Their teacher has taught them to watch and listen, and though most, we were told, were Baptists and some even infrequently attending kids, they not only watched respectfully, but participated in our formal Anglican liturgy with thoughtful musical interludes. When communion came, there was awkward hesitation. Then one boy, with earrings in both ears, rose from the middle of the seated students and went to the rail, then two girls, then dozens following. Our service became a love fest; the teens entering fully into worship and the adults inspired and so appreciative and encouraged by these beautiful children. Our Lord must have been very pleased with what sincere, fresh worship rose from our sanctuary. A sweet smelling offering on a pretty Colorado Spring day.

I pray for these kids tonight. Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on these, your children. Guard and protect them on their ride back to Kansas City today. Let them receive your love from families happy to have them home. Let them dream tonight about the special worship experience we all had this morning. Allow today's impressions to deepend and quicken their faith; draw them close to you. We are so grateful to know you, Lord, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Dennis Prager spoke last night in Boulder. I went alone, but enjoyed it. The crowd was mixed, but thoughtful. Democrats and secularists were treated respectfully. A good time was had by all. Dennis impresses me on his radio show and in written columns. Right now he is in the middle of a series of columns on Judeo-Christian Values. Dennis, a conservative Jew in Los Angeles, is an articulate defender of his own faith. He was in Boulder to protest, as a Jew primarily, the use of the term "little Eichmans" to refer to all non-blue collar workers killed in the Twin Towers. To Dennis, this trivializes the Holocaust.

For a look at his series of articles, see this link:
Townhall.com: Conservative Columnists: Dennis Prager

Frederica Mathewes-Green, our speaker for the weekend at Epiphany Church in Denver, is an Orthodox Christian. Her writings include The Illumined Heart, a short book on Christian devotions and disciplines in an expanded orthodox framework, the subject of this weekend's series of four talks.
Last night I read her book. It was a good, short read. The most important part of it for my life was the perspective she uses to explain forgiveness. She talks about the importance of our "smaller circle" and "larger circle" social environments. Our family and our church, and even the world, present us with means to grow in Christ. They are not distractions or obstacles, they are means. The result is that I now look at my difficult relationships and even at my "enemies" with great gratitude and humility. Christ has sent them to me to smooth my rough edges so that I can come closer to Him. What a wonderful angle! Heretofore, I have considered my immediate relationships as useful tests, sent to me by God for His purpose. But, I have had no way to communicate this to others that meant anything to them. Our modern times lean toward the invocation of "righteousness" with victimhood in difficult social relationships, a destructive combination. Now I can think and act in terms of using relationships to "grow".
Praise be to you, Lord Christ.

The woman at the well left behind her water jug (John 4:28-30). I hadn't noticed that before. She didn't whimper or make excuses when caught by our Lord with a sordid past. She didn't obey the social conditioning of her community, which had been ostracizing her. She just took the good news and ran to tell the others. My goodness, what courage! What aplomb! What a heroine! This person before Sunday's homily was only a means for Jesus to deliver his identity to the Gentiles. Now I see her for the inspiring character she is. She was given the living water, and she dropped everything and ran with it into a new future for herself and the world. Praise be to God.