Performing on Stage and the Cold Weather of Advent

Last Saturday, the Parish of St. Pancras had a parish-wide Dinner/Dance which was a fundraiser for the Shrine of Walsingham. For those of you who are not aware of Walsingham, this shrine is a special place. There has been a Shrine to Mary the Virgin in this little village since the 4th century. The Shrine was demolished as the Romans came through- but was rebuilt in the early half of this century using images from coins of the era. The Shrine continues to be an important site for European Christians to make a Pilgrimage. I will have the opportunity to visit this place this coming weekend which I am very excited about (I will be there for my birthday no less!).

The Church in Walsingham is fundraising for a restoration of the shrine and more residence halls to house pilgrims. Our parish decided to hold this dinner, dance, and raffle and see how much money they could come up with. Over 90 people showed up to St. Paul's Church in Camden Square for the event. Father Nicholas wanted to make sure that this was as formal of an event as possible and wanted all of the wait staff (namely the pastoral assistants and church wardens) to wear black and white. I had the privilage of fitting into Fr. Nicholas's old tux which came with the very traditional English boe-tie (one that had to actually be tied!). "We'll turn you into a proper Englishman yet!", Nicholas kept saying.

A part of this whole ordeal, the priests asked Owen and I to perform a type of Cabaret before the dancing would begin. I redid some pieces that I sang from my recital this summer and did some classic American songs as: "Wade in the Water" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Owen and I finished with the famous Fred Astair /Ginger Rogers duet "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" which we rewrtote the lyrics to in representing me being from Minnesota and Owen being from Cardiff (Wales). I have never sung at a function where they give you a standing ovation after every piece! What an audience it was! Both Owen and I got many compliments, but perhaps the best compliment came from Shiri'n who immigrated here from Iran. "Your songs made my night!", she said. "It was good to see your true heart!"

After the performance, we had a dance of disco music (Father Nicholas is crazy about Disco). It made me take pause to see how everyone got up and danced. It didn't matter how old you were, how young you were, or whether you were black, white, or indifferent- you danced! Perhaps the highlight of the dancing was seeing Gladis (but everyone calls her "Glad" because she is so bubbly in her personality!), a woman of 84 outdance pretty much all of the young guys! It was if she left the cloak of age back at the dinner table and showed her true colors. No one could keep Glad from dancing the night away- and what an inspiration it was.

The next morning, my tired and achy self got out of bed and preached a sermon at St. Michael's. It was Christ the King Sunday and the gospel was that of Jesus up on the Cross and talking with the two criminals. I must say, I found the Church of England's choice of scripture for the Christ the King Sunday odd at first- but then it made sense to me. How backwards is it that our "King" actually suffered and died to the injustices of this world? I think we need to be reminded of that fact more often. So, I think it was a perfect passage for the day.

St. Michael's Church is going through a very hard time with finances. It , out of the four churches which make up the Parish of St. Pancras, is the poorest. In general however, we are truly starting to see how the rising cost of living in the United Kingdom is affecting the poor. More people are being put on the streets because they are being kicked out of their homes to make way for newer, and higher income housing. Job wages are stagnent in London at the moment, so people are left with very horrible situations. No where can this be better seen then at St. Michael's Church where the majority of parishoners are immigrants.

This Autumn, we have been having a parish-wide stewardship campagin to try and raise money for needs across the four churches. Out of the average of 65 people who attend St. Michael's every Sunday, 9 have commited pledges of meager monetary gifts. Because St. Michael's has been such a drain on the parish wide resources- esspecially in the past 6 months- drastic measures are having to be taken. Because of this, St. Michael's has decided that they are going to turn off the heat entirely to the church.

This last Sunday, I looked at the thermometer in the Sacristy. It read 9 degrees Celcius. That is about 38 degrees fahrenheit of wet, bone chilling London cold. Seeing your breath as you give a sermon is quite interesting- let me tell you. I am particularly worried for some of our elderly members as sitting in a chilled church on a Sunday morning is probably not the best thing. However, people are resilent here. Even though there is great fear about how this church will relalistically afford it's mounting bills this winter, there is still a unifying energy that will never cease.

So, I ask you this Advent season to pray for the people of St. Pancras- esspecially for the members of St. Michael's Church. Pray that they may continue to find a spirit that will rally them together. Pray that God may help and comfort this financially troubled church and seek to embrace it with love.

I sometimes laugh when I think of this parish raising funds for another organization. I don't think you could find a better example of the poor supporting the poor.

Rest and Fresh Air in Saltburn

I am now writing from a lovely house in the Saltburn countryside owned by the Breen family, my friend Maren's (another ELCA volunteer) host family. I decided to take a short holiday away from the chaotic and busy nature of London and come here to relax for a few days. It has been very good to get away and have time to think and explore the beautiful English landscape. Saltburn is a small little village on the Northeast border between England and Scottland. It is a sleepy seaside town of 5,000 people who take life at there own pace.

With it being close to the 3 month marker of my adventure here in England, I have been thinking about where I have been and where I still have to go. I think there are some solid things that I have learned about myself which I more or less didn't expect. The first one is being confident in a large, worldly city and not being afraid. God has really pushed me in this direction of learning sucessfully not only the culture of a new country, but also learning the language and culture of an inner city ghetto. It takes a lot to not be overwhelmed by it all and to be able to break up all of the activity into chunks that can be sucessfully processed.

With the curve of learning culture, God has encouraged me to build confidence in meeting and relating to people. Infact, as of now, I think this piece of my job I like most of all. I love to go over to people's homes and hear their stories. There are SO MANY stories to be heard and to be told. It gives me courage and hope not only in myself, but in humanity when I hear of all the struggles that people have persevered through in Camden.

As with each thing to be proud of, there is also a new hurtle to cross and an opportunity to grow more. I feel like those challenges have presented themselves a lot over these last few days while I have had time to be on holiday. The biggest thing that I have realized more than anything is the fact of London making me more tense and highstrung in my everyday life. There are many things in my personality that I think lead to being more of a "tense" person. However, I have really begun to notice, esspecially since I have been in the slow-life of Saltburn, the realities of how the stresses of London affect a person in their behavior and faith.

Thus, when I go back to London tomorrow, it will be time to start thinking about opportunities to breath and truly be able to "listen to God". One thing I admire so much about the slowness of life in this community is their ability to really "be" and to "listen" to what God is doing in their lives. I feel like I don't have the time in my job to really "be". Of course this is the difference between big city and small village life and I don't expect to carry on the life of Saltburn in central London completley. However, I think that we all could learn a thing or two about this slow paced life of a village. Perhaps we would be more healthier in the long run.

Thus, as Thanksgiving approaches for the citizens of the United States, I will give thanks for many things in my life. I give thanks for the way that God has challenged me and changed me over these few months and where my faith will take me and challenge me in the coming year. I give thanks for my family and friends who have supported me through this entire journey. I give thanks for the church and all of the things it has done to promote justice, peace, and the gospel in this world. I give thanks for the people of Camden and all that they have taught me about living life. Finally, I give thanks for a world, though imperfect and conflicted, that still harbors hope.

What it is like to Loose a Friend and be 2,000 miles Away from Home

I have delayed a little bit on this post in order to put my thoughts together properly on what has happened this week. Last Saturday, I recieved an email from a friend which told me that Katherine Olson, another dear friend of mine from St. Olaf and camp, was murdered when going to a job interview in Savage, Minnesota. Her body was found in the trunk of her car parked in a nature preserve not far away from the perpetrator's house. This was the first murder to occur in the community of Savage for over 25 years. What a blow it is to have it be one of your friends.

To say the least, this last week has been one of anger, sadness, shock, and challenge. Ironically, it was Harvest Sunday at St Michael's this last week. So while I was dealing with this tragedy within, the whole focus was about thanking God for the gifts he has given us. It actually proved to be very meaningful as we sang "Now Thank We All Our God" and "For the Beauty of the Earth". Life is a gift that we cannot take for granted at any cost. It only takes a horrible thing like what happened to Katherine to remind all of us just how fragile life can be.

The people of this parish have been wonderful and supportive. I have recieved amazing letters and words of encouragment from people of all walks of life. It has shown me how we all relate to one another in this unique community. No one is for themselves and no one stands alone here. For when one person mourns, the community mourns. It affects all of us.

It took me a little while to realize this and figure out what my role should be in this process. We all have our expectations of what a pastor or priest should be in a community. Perhaps I had unrealistic expectations and expected that I could carry out my duties here perfectly even when I was strongly grieving. This, ofcourse, was not the case and I became frustrated in my own human faults. It wasn't until I really started to open up to the staff here at the parish that I began to realize I am not superhuman. People of the ministry wrestle with the same issues as people of the parish and no one should expect them to be any different.

I barely got through the praryer petitions last Sunday without breaking down when I got to the names of the recently departed. Afterwards, I became so frustrated with myself for showing my emotions to the people of the congregation. Nicholas reassured me, however, that it was a good thing. "People need to know that you are human too" , he said. Now that I look back on it, I couldn't agree more.

As with many things, I have realized that I need this parish just as much as this parish needs me. I would not be where I am with my thoughts right now if I didn't have the expression of love and support from the people that I work with every single day. The people become so much more than your co-workers and parishiners. They become your strength and your family.

Even though I will be struggling with this event for a long time to come in my own right. This tragedy has opened my eyes to the very nature of community and hope. Even though I do feel very far away from my family and friends at home right now, I am not alone. I am with my family here. For that, I say thanks be to God.