Easter Night

In fear,

Walls up 

Doors locked -

Jesus comes

Stands among

Declares peace

Breathes Spirit

Sends out.

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

4/16/2017

Easter

In

Wonder,

Amazement

They ran to tell

Women messengers of new creation-

The grave could not hold him; He is risen!

Alleluia!

Life begins

Again

Now

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

April 16, 2017

reverse double tetractys

Holy Saturday

Threshold

Time in between

No longer and not yet

Thinning veil in liminal space

We wait

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

4/14/2017

Cinquain

Good Friday

Just

Seven

Breathed out words

Sacred exhale

God from God. Light from light. True God. Not made.

Thirst.

Mother.

Paradise.

Father Forgive.

Forsaken. Committed to you. Finished.

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

4/7/2017

double tetractys

Holy Thursday

He

Knelt down

Back bending

Water pouring

Sin soaked feet washed and dried in holy love.

No

They said

Not knowing

What was coming.

Soon Death’s angel would not pass over him.

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

4/7/2017

double tetractys

Holy Wednesday

Anointed with oil

Jesus’ body was prepared -

Judas plotted death

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

4/12/2017

Haiku

Holy Tuesday

God

Entered

In anger

That holy space -

My house shall be called a house of prayer - now.

Eyes

Focused

Holy rage

Indignation

Temple tantrum turning tables - Tuesday.

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

April 11, 2017

double tetractys

Holy Monday

Scattered, broken palms

Ground to dust along the way

It’s Monday. Now what?

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

April 10, 2017

Haiku

On the Occasion of the Coptic Church Bombing

Bombing

Crying

Dying

Sighing

Coptic Christians crying, dying - why -

On Palm Sunday - dying, sighing world?

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

4/9/2017

Tyburn

Palm/Passion

Palm

Joyous Jubilation

Waving, Shouting, Dancing

Riding a donkey, Carrying a cross

Mocking, Suffering, Dying

Bloody Betrayal

Passion

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

4/8/2017

Diamante

A Prayer after Poison Gas-deaths in Syria

Oh

Holy

Lifegiving

God of mercy,

They cried. We turned our heads, turned them away.

We

Beg you

Forgive us.

Again. Again.

America first. We know what we do.

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

4/7/2017

double tetractys

Spring Morning

Sweet

Pouring

Rain

Infused

Nights -

Greening,

Mysterious

Orb,

Returning

Newness,

Into

Naked

Ground

Charlene M. Rachuy Cox

4/8/2017

Acrostic

Palm/Passion

Then

Jesus

Went ahead

Crowd. Palms. Cloaks. Shouts.

Holy Messianic expectations.

He,

Humble,

Blessed One

Road on to die.

The world will never be the same again.

4/7/2017

double tetractys

A Letter To Hannah

I wrote this a few years ago, but recently received a request to post it here. May it move you to expressions of gratitude. 

A letter to Hannah

            There was an unexpected email in my inbox this morning.  It was a message from someone with whom I have not been in contact for twenty years.  She is a part of the first parish that I served as pastor.  Her email was to tell me that her mother-in-law, a woman namedHannah, had died.

            Hannah was a matriarch of the little country church to which I was called as pastor, right out of seminary. She was not young when I knew her.  She died, now in old age, having lived a good, long life. I was her pastor, but she, in many ways, was my shepherd. She taught me about commitment and perseverance, faith and friendship, integrity and the importance of knowing from whence you to come, to know more fully who you are. Perhaps most importantly, Hannah was not above correcting me when I was wrong.

            We lost touch with one another after I left that small community. A few times in the intervening years, I received a note in the mail, or after Hannah became tech savvy, an email.

I always thought that Hannah was one of those people to whom I wanted to write a long, heartfelt letter.  A letter thanking her for the ways that she mentored me. A letter telling her how much her care for me as a young pastor meant to me. A letter letting her know what a privilege it was to know her, and how I am a better pastor and a better person because of her.

I wanted to write to Hannah, the words the Apostle Paul wrote to the people of Philippi: I thank my God every time I remember you. But I never wrote those words. My letter to Hannah remains written only in my heart and mind, and today, hearing of her death, I regret that I never took the time to pen my words of gratitude.

There are other people on my “must write letters to” list, and today I will find the time to do just that – write to at least one of them.

What about you? To whom would you like to say, I thank my God every time I remember you? Who in your life has so touched and formed and shaped you, that it would be good for you to tell them so?

I encourage you to do it. Pick up the phone. Walk down the hall. Write a note. Even an email will do. It will be good for them, and good for you.

God bless your words of gratitude –

+Pr. Char

Walk with Jesus Who Walks with Us

The Great and Holy Week -- one could argue that in the Christian tradition it is the most important week of the year. Followers of Jesus all around the world, in the Western Christian tradition will, beginning on Sunday, April 9, retrace in their minds and hearts, in their worship and in their prayers, the most significant days in Jesus’ life.

They will remember how Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, surrounded by the hopes and expectations of a people longing for liberation from oppressive, tyrannical rule, longing for God’s Anointed One. They will remember how Jesus went to the temple and declared it a house of prayer, not a place of profiteering.They will remember feet washed, a holy and mysterious meal, the taste of bread and wine, agonizing prayers in a garden, an arrest, a denial, a trial, a state sponsored execution. They will stand at the grave, and they will sit in vigil waiting for the first day of the week to dawn again with a bright and brilliant announcement that “Christ is risen.”

We will sing. We will pray. We will watch. We will wait. We will hope.

During this week that we Christians call holy, we will seek to walk with Jesus from one mount to another, from the Mount of Olives to the cross atop Mount Calvary. We will ponder what it means that this Jesus -- flesh and blood, molded dirt and holy breath -- this Jesus is the love of God in the midst of us, for us. We will contemplate a God who gives up all, a God who suffers, a God who dies.

Along the way, we will each make our own journey, walking alone together with this Jesus who walks with us. As we walk, we will each bring our own stories of joy and sorrow, expectation and disappointment, hope and despair to the journey. We will each bring our full selves in all of their complexity to this Jesus upon whom we believe our very lives depend.

It is a holy time, this Great and Holy Week -- a holy time that both intersects and interrupts all of life’s expectations and demands. With this intersection and interruption, you are invited to step away from your regular rhythm and routine and enter into the journey. You are invited to walk with Jesus, who walks with us.

Through the worship life at the Chapel of the Resurrection, we will make the journey anew. On Sunday, April 9, we will gather with palms and we will hear of Jesus’ passion. In our worship on Maundy Thursday, feet will be washed, sins will be forgiven, and Holy Communion will be celebrated. On Good Friday, we will hear Jesus’ words from the cross, which we will kneel and adore. At the Easter Vigil, on Holy Saturday, we will light the Easter fire, hear of God’s salvation through some of our favorite Bible stories, remember that we are claimed and named in Holy Baptism, and celebrate the first Holy Communion of Easter. And on Easter Sunday, our voices will mingle with those around the world and across time and space as we join with the hosts of heaven to declare that yes, indeed, Jesus lives -- and because of that, we shall live also.

In addition to these worship opportunities, and the others in the Chapel’s life -- Candlelight, Morning Prayer, and Celebrate! -- we extend a special invitation to you to mark the week with your own contemplative pilgrimage. Beginning on Sunday, April 9 - and continuing all through this Great and Holy Week  -- there will be a canvas labyrinth in the Gloria Christi Chapel (the small chapel on the lower level of the east end of the chapel space).

Come, walk the labyrinth as often as you are able. If the weather permits, walk the one outside! As you walk, contemplate the mystery of God’s love in Jesus for you. Contemplate your own life’s journeys, its twists and turns, its joys and sorrows. Contemplate how God has worked in your life in the past and how God is working in your life now. Contemplate how Jesus has walked with you in ways both familiar to you, and in ways that remain a mystery. Contemplate how Jesus walked the road from the Mount of Olives to Mount Calvary -- for you. As you walk the labyrinth, walk with Jesus who walks with you.

If you’ve never walked a labyrinth before, there is nothing special that you need to do or know. Just enter at the beginning. Walk slowly. Stay on the path. Let God lead your thoughts, and you will get to the center -- every time. If you want something to help focus your thoughts, some prayer refrains to repeat in your heart and mind might be helpful. “Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy” is always a good place to start. Or simplify it if you like: “Jesus, mercy. Jesus, mercy.”

And if all of this is new and unfamiliar to you, if you do not know the story of God’s love in Jesus for the world -- and for you -- just come. Enter into the journey. Let this holy journey mix and mingle with the journey of your own life, and just might be surprised at how God meets you along the way.

God bless your walking --

+Pr. Char