A Collect for Independence Day

O ETERNAL God, through whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old; Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray for those who are not free, but held captive against their wills, those who are bound by depression and mental struggles, those who feel they cannot be free lest they face discrimination  of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and for those who are drained of joy in spirit. Let us be mindful of how we can support or help those less fortunate or less free to enjoy some of our daily freedoms and let us pray for those who gave and will give their lives in service of others to fight for and maintain freedom for all.

A Prayer for Quiet Confidence

A Prayer for Quiet Confidence

O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we will be saved, in quietness and confidence will be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

~ Book of Common Prayer

Sand tufas and the Milky Way by Celso Mollo

The Trinity, Daily Prayer, Episcopal Space Blog, and St. Patrick's Bad Analogies

So this post is about prayer, challenges, the confusing and mysterious Trinity, and my new blog.                                                        #shamelessplug  - All exciting stuff! :-) 
What does God challenge me to do, be, or change - with regards to 2 Corinthians 13:11-13?

What does this tell us about the nature of the Trinity? (We also read Matthew 28:16-20.) 

These were the questions at the Bible study portion of our weekly staff meeting this morning. These are two of the lessons for this Sunday, June 15th, 2014, Trinity Sunday.  It goes right along with what I was writing last night about creating a space for daily prayer and reflection. In reading these lessons and pondering about the simple, yet confusing concept and nature of the Trinity....well, WOW, there's a lot to ponder. 

The Christian faith is resolutely Trinitarian and regardless of how I individually might struggle with this concept, the community fills in those faith gaps. While I dare not to make an heretical analogies just yet (see the veeeery end of this post for some of St. Patrick's Bad Analogies), I decided that our standard for the nature of the Holy Trinity as community is one aspect of our human struggle to remember by the actions of the second verse of 2 Corinthians: "Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you" ---  to actually receive the last verse of 2 Corinthians: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you".

That sounds awfully confusing. What I think I mean is that it seems like we continually strive for that last verse....we continually hope for and grow spiritually into the grace which is given us, grow through the love God has given us, and grow with the communion of the Holy Spirit in one another and with God. I see the ability to be in communion and fellowship with one another at various times and in various places as one of our challenges. I hope for our world that we will continue to strive for this and also take into account that perhaps the "communion of the Saints" doesn't solely represent those who have gone before, but those in the here and now! I feel that we need to create a space for the active Holy Trinity to be active in our lives, in the now. The Eternal nature of God provides for seeing his different aspects over time. One of the challenges to myself is to foster that continuous spiritual growth, realization of grace, and hope for community and one way I hope to do that is to continue daily prayer and/or reflections. Even if I don't arrive at any earth-shattering conclusions with my reflections - that's OK, but at least I am moving in the right direction. A passage from a book I recently read, Episcopal Questions, Episcopal Answers, written by one of my best friends, C.K. Robertson, and Ian S. Markham, states: 

"Constantly throughout the Bible, we see these three different aspects of God move and connect and interrelate. So, for example, at the baptism of Jesus (see Matthew 3:13-17), we see Jesus (the Word) being baptized, the Father's divine affirmation of the mission, and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. It is because of this three-fold movement of God that we are baptized in the name of the "Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.". I find this very helpful. I also find it helpful that we "have seasons in our lives" where we might struggle with the concept of a Triune God. The book is VERY worth reading and can be bought here. He has tons of fantabulous books at his website, check it out! C.K. Robertson

When it comes to that daily prayer........Do we sit down and reserve and spend some time for God in my daily life and activities? Do we forget? Do we see it as a reflex, a habit, a necessity, a gift, or what? What do we do with this thing called prayer? I can tell you without reservation that for different portions of my life, I tended to save prayer for right before I went to sleep. I had the idea that it was supposed to be a private affair and quiet and....well, that made it rather stagnant. What would happen? I'd fall asleep OF COURSE! Was that a bad thing? Probably not dire, but I felt badly about it. It's not too cool to feel you are failing at faith and prayer. 

It was also indicative that I was definitely not giving God enough space in my being. Throughout my life, my ideas of prayer have certainly evolved and largely in part to my living into the greater Church, into The Episcopal Church, and witnessing how others dealt with faith and how they prayed. I came to realize that doubt is part of faith, and sometimes failures can be the "roads less traveled by"  that can lead to triumphs in disguise. Prayer is a necessity, a reflex at times, and a gift. I strive to live and focus on realizing and recognizing that our whole lives ARE ministries and many times, our actions can show our faith. These are easy things to forget and I was recently reminded by our bishop of this fact that our whole lives are ministries - it was wonderful to hear again. I believe that God is infinite and therefore space is as well. I believe that within us lies infinite potential and wonder. I feel that connecting these elements is as necessary as breathing.

Are daily prayer and reflection a part of my life? I'm excited to say that right now, they are! 

So, I do actually find the time these days to pray daily, but it's because it's summer and I've got

Hibiscus: C. Carson

loads of time (cue laughter) on my hands :-) I'm kidding. Seriously though, I am finding that daily prayer can take many forms: meditation, prayer, scriptural reading and mulling over it, breathing in the spirit of being still and knowing that God's presence (nature, walking in City Park, etc.) and basically acting out or being prayer. I consider that nature photography can be a form of prayer.  It is sharing time with God and acknowledging his presence in our lives that gives us wholeness. I've known these things for years, but perhaps it is where I am in life right now that allows me to live it rather than to simply see or say it. 

One of my favorite things to say when I wake up is: How can I be more loving today? 

Another is: What can I do for you today, God? It gets me thinking about my actions and motives.

Two years ago, I found myself wanting to combine aspects of my life.....perhaps those that seemed unlikely partners. One such combo ended up being what I call "Coffee with God". Sound silly? That's ok, it does to me too sometimes and it makes me laugh and I'm ok with that. It came about because of my coffee habit. I am pretty much addicted to coffee and tea and Snapple Mango Madness. Just ask me about my Starbucks mocha frappuccino habit. No, I'm lying, don't ask me. Just buy me one. I like and am addicted to the crackfish at Lakeview Grocery too, but that's another post, literally.

St. Paul's Episcopal, New Orleans. Baptismal
font and window at sunset. C. Carson

So the "Coffee with God" was a way for me to make a good thing out of a questionable thing. I bought my coffee or Snapple and came into the St. Paul's NOLA sanctuary and sat and spent time with God in meditation, prayer, and sharing my hopes and dreams and it helped open me up beyond belief! Who knew?! God knew.

One thing I completely love doing is spending time online. Yes, I admit, I am an online junkie of sorts. It's not so bad until I realize I've been leaning over a computer and that hours have passed. For the past two years, I have made concerted efforts to subdue this habit of mine and while I still spend plenty of time online and on social media, I have indeed learned to give these things their times and places. I've learned to cut my phone off (and I'm from South Carolina so "cut off" is normal speak :-) With the time that I allow myself, during the past twelve months, I decided to see if I could focus some of my online efforts and mix them with productivity. 
I realized that with a blog, website, and several social media outlets, I am slightly overproductive at times. Prolifically, annoyingly, continuously productive in content, commentary, and reading everyone's else's productivity as well. BUT I LOVE IT SO.    What to do, what to do.....

Then, one evening, during my Eastertide reflections and reading someone else's blog......

IT HIT ME...

Why don't I include some prayerful blog posts?! It was a PERFECT match for me and the idea of accountability in prayer. For sure, this is one of my attempts at daily prayer and meditation and as we struggle to find time in our over-filled and joyfully busy lives, why not take some time to share what we love doing and OPENLY INCLUDE GOD. Yes indeed! With this, there will always be more to do and new ideas, continuous growth and deep reflection!

It's silly how much I love the grass template combined with the space waternark!!! :-)

So, my current blog, CARSONIA continued and Episcopal Space was born! (Check them out if you have time..... #shamelessplug )  I love space, I love Episcopal prayers, I love blogging, and VOILA! Seeing images of our solar system, the universe, and what lies beyond our realm of influence amazes me. It overwhelms me. With all of the science background I have and all that I have read and heard from scientists and astrophysicists, it simply reinforces for me that it is all divinely created. I decided to include a daily post of a space image with an Episcopal prayer, a hymn text, a psalm verse or another text! I am hoping to keep it up for my own daily meditation and reflection. I also see space as Trinitarian. The Universe is about 13.82 billion years old (Big Bang Theory) so that is the distant past. We exist now. Someone else sees our star's light or receives our radio signal in the future and for them, it will be the present and yet is will be our past. It's just SO. INSANELY. COOL. Sometimes I truly struggle to get every little thing done, but what's it all for if we don't allow and ensure that God is in and influencing our lives, our  thoughts, our feelings, our very spaces? 

Milky Way Over Quiver Tree Forest
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121212.html 

Check out these fabulous sites and blogs when you get the chance:

Astronomy Picture of the Day - APOD

Church Social Media - #chsocm

Episcopal Cafe - ecafe

One Cannot Have Too Large a Party

Seven Whole Days 

50 Days of Fabulous

Riding With Robots

More Meredith Gould

Not Another Episcopal Church Blog

Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge
Wynn Worlds

And so I close this rambling mixed bag of a post with wishing you luck on your faith journey wherever you may be. Wish me luck with continued prayer and reflections! I charge you to think about your daily prayer and how you can include God and prayer in various aspects of your life that you may have previously thought impossible or perhaps have yet to consider - and to do this between Sundays! While you're at it, some of the images and experiences in the blogs mentioned above may help you or inspire you! Think about how we experience the divine in our daily lives, how we strive to grow spiritually in communion with one another and the saints. We hopefully won't get to a point where we feel we have "arrived" as prayer isn't something to simply check off on a list, but hopefully we may continuously grow spiritually throughout our lives and in all aspects of our lives. 
As for the Trinity, let me know how you handle that :-) Since you made it to the end, you deserve a reward....check out St. Patrick's bad analogies of the Trinity
Peace,
Caroline
PS. "COME ON, PATRICK!"

TRIP TO MUNGELI, INDIA

I am thrilled to be going to India in July to volunteer with both the Christian Hospital Mungeli and the Rambo Memorial School! They also have a Nursing School. Right now, I am still working on the VISA application, but hopefully, everything will be fine about that. I've been on mission trips before - to Izvorsko, Bulgaria (as part of the before activities of a conducting workshop) and to Haiti (with The Red Thread Promise and St. Paul's Episcopal Church working with children from St. Vincent's Episcopal School and Orphanage). I will include some of the links to my blog posts from that trip at the bottom of this post in case anyone would like to read about that trip. I will also be blogging a LOT more about India and my activities before I go and once I am there.

One thing I love about any trip abroad is that I get to learn about a unique culture and explore a community different than my own. What I love about mission trips in particular are the opportunities to give back to the world community, the seeing the positive differences and effects you can have on those who really need it (including oneself), and breaking the barriers of language or station to do something that ultimately involves God's love, ministry, faith, work, and discovery.

How did this come about? Well, my friend Rev. Landa Simmons was my very first boss at Shiloh Christian Church in Lithonia. This was my first church job as music director instead of a singer or children's choir director. She is on the board of the Rambo School and was organizing a trip to make a fun camp for the school. She invited lots of folks and I happened to me one! I am so grateful for this connection and the opportunity! Now, if approved, I will be an official Global Ministries volunteer in addition to representing St. Paul's Episcopal! The work they do is simply AMAZING! Here is a link to their work in Mungeli: http://globalministries.org/sasia/projects/mungeli-hospital-1.html 

WHERE AM I GOING?
I will fly into Delhi and take a jet to Raipur. From there, the hospital will transport me to the village of Mungeli in the district of Chhattisgarh. I think will be there for three weeks.
Here is a great video from the hospital and school!

WHAT WILL I BE DOING?
I will be doing lot of things such as: teaching a music class, singing every day with small groups, art projects such a ZENtangle, talking about the Solar System as part of my NASA / JPL Solar System Ambassador program. I cannot wait to show them NASA's Eyes on the Solar System! I hope to help folks learn English as well. At the hospital, I hope to volunteer in any capacity needed. I just finished a CPE certificate course on Ministry to the Sick so I hope to actually be of use pastorally in some ways - even if language is a barrier, I feel that I can contribute in this ministry of presence and hopefully be of comfort to someone. It is very important to me.

HOW AM I DOING THIS?
I've been saving up my pennies and am being super frugal about things. I'm going in July because my UNO teaching is online this summer. I am hoping to raise a little money for housing this June.

AFTER THE TRIP?
I was very fortunate to be able to have several choral adjudication jobs this spring so I have saved every bit of that. I plan on going somewhere after my time in India and maybe even on a trek. I have some ideas as to where, but I'm not sure yet so I will save this portion for a surprise.

VIDEO LINKS
What We Do Here - from the Christian Hospital Mungeli
Documentary: The Story of India - a PBS series
Documentary: Welcome to India - BBC series in three parts, scroll down to see

LINKS to PREVIOUS HAITI MISSION TRIP
1. Mission to Haiti
2. St. Vincent's School for the Handicapped
3. Haiti: First Impressions
4. Day Two: Preparations
5. Day Three: Campers Arrive!
6. Day Four: Ocean Swimming and More
7. Haiti: Sunday and Monday
8. Final Days of Camp Jake

So, wish me luck in India! I will add new posts once I know more about what I will be doing and more details of my trip!

Sal (shorea robusta) - the state tree of Chhattisgarh (wiki commons image)

#GC77 and Social Media

I'm sending this in from New Orleans in hopes that it will be helpful in the testimony for Resolution DO69 regarding the Social Media Challenge to the Episcopal Church.

I believe it to be 100% necessary that we in the Episcopal church as staff, clergy, and congregants, engage ourselves and our communities by using social media. It's usually free, it's usually rapid, and it can be fun and informative. Can many of you fathom doing business without using email? Often, social media is checked more frequently than email.

Yes, we must take the good with the bad, we must also discern how often to use social media and when to put down phones and "Be still". It is a challenge, but I accept it!

Just from this #GC77 Twitter stream and Media Hub, I have learned more about the inner workings and procedures of the Episcopal Church in four days than in my entire life. I've been able to participate in conversations with people of all ages, genders, opinions, and in many levels of church life. Relationships are being formed that are affecting me positively in my faith and theological development. I am inspired by witnessing this convention and its activity.

I have watched both the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops and worship services. What has it done? It has inspired me, made me more proud than ever to be an Episcopalian - we're the ones who are willing to discuss, to argue, to challenge. Social media provides another language with which to communicate.

It has been only through Twitter and the Steaming media that I have learned:
- Our youth are aware and articulate in their spiritual growth - perhaps more than anyone gave them credit before and that we now realize that they are the future - right now.
- I'm learning that our church is NOT dying.
- I saw that Bonnie Anderson is a gracefully eloquent speaker who radiates friendliness - "Madam"....er....Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori has a stellar sense of humor and is completely amazing
- Whoever runs @iamepiscopalian is kind, quick-witted
- Lent Madness is superb and educational
- Church Publishing is approachable, responsive and has swag (just ask them about #totebagenvy)

The aforementioned items may seem silly, BUT I truly feel as if I have gotten to know a tiny bit about the bigger picture....the interactive picture of our church that I have not seen or felt in a long while. As a musician, I often get bogged down in my own conducting / singing  world and colleagues. Through social media, I now have a much wider view of the functioning Episcopal Church to which I belong....all in four days. For me, at this time in my life, this is exactly what I needed at this moment.

Caroline in NOLA