Friday Five: St. Francis Day
Today is the day that we remember and celebrate the life of St Francis of Assisi. Over at the RevGals page, Sally gives a great description of his life and ministry, and dedicates this Friday Five to St Francis.
St. Francis is very special to me, also; the church in College Station, Texas, that held me through a hard time and where God became real to me is named St. Francis. It was and is an amazing community, and such a hard group of people to leave. You may visit them here. PS for my geocaching friends: there's a geocache on the church grounds!!
1. Saint Francis experienced a life changing call. Has anything in your journey so far challenged you to alter your lifestyle? God spoke to me (and quite clearly) for the first time at a copy machine. It was a watershed experience. I thought I had blogged about it, but if so I can't find the post...so I'll follow up on that soon.
2. Francis experienced mocking and persecution, quite often in the comfortable west this is far from our experience. If you have experienced something like this how do you deal with it, if not how does it challenge you to pray for those whose experience daily persecution? I have not experienced this. However, at a recent work retreat we were asked to (anonymously) write on a card "Who do I work for?" I responded "First, God; then, the people of my state." (I work for a state agency). I did it partly in jest but partly in all seriousness. Of course, it was read out from the podium, derisively, as a funny example of not the right answer. I expected that, but it was still an interesting experience. This clearly does not count as real mocking and persecution!
3 St Francis had a female counterpart in St Clare, she was influenced by St Francis' sermon and went on to found the Poor Clares. Like the Franciscans they depended on alms; this was unheard of for women in that time, but she persisted and gained permission to found the order. How important are role models like St Clare to you? Do you have a particular female role model whose courage and dedication inspires you? If so share their story....So many. My dear friend (from and still at St. Francis, College Station) Mary Lenn, who is beginning her study for the vocational diaconate this year. Other friends: Pat, Deanna, Mona, Janet, my mother. Joan Chittister. And Dorothy Day.
4. Francis loved nature and animals. How important is an expressed love of the created world to the Christian message today? It's critical in these days of global warming and environmental pillage. If we don't say it...who will?
5. On a lighter note: have you ever led a service of blessing for animals, or a pet service, was it a success, did you enjoy it, and would you do it again? I've never led one, but I've participated in several. We are having one at my church on Saturday, as we do every year. I will have pictures! the EYC (Episcopal Youth for Christ) is taking pet photos as a fund raiser. (When I was in the EYC, it was called "Episcopal Young Churchmen." See how things change! some things, anyway!)
After the BotA at 11:30, I have an important one-hour choir rehearsal at 1:00. There MIGHT be time for me to get the dogs home and get back for choir, but it would mean an extra 30-mile round trip to do it. I was trying to figure out how to do both...and my smart mom suggested that I hire some EYC'ers to babysit them. So I will do that and make a nice donation to their mission trip fund.
(Choir director suggested I just put the dogs in his office during rehearsal. Um, no! He said, "Why, would they be bad and chew stuff up?" They would be bad...but it would not involve chewing. It would involve barking, and spoiling of carpet, I am afraid.)
The BotA on Saturday begins our Franciscan teaching mission with Brother Robert Hugh, OSF. He is a friar who visits us every few years. He will preach at worship on Sunday, and that night we will have Choral Evensong (therefore the rehearsal). Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we will have potluck dinners and teachings on "Simplifying Life through Worship and Prayer" by Brother Robert. We are excited! We will have imprinted holy cards with this image to share:
Please come if you can...and pray for us if you can't! Here's a link to a flyer for the week's events:
well I like your answer to the work retreat question... that sounds like a great church out at College Station.
Posted by: Sally | October 03, 2008 at 11:26 AM
You know what? I love that you're saying you can think of a time when God spoke clearly to you. There's so much ambiguity, and there are always times that we're not sure what God is saying, but I love it when people have the courage to say, "that particular time, I knew."
Posted by: Mrs. M | October 03, 2008 at 12:50 PM
Hope the retreat is wonderful...And can't wait to hear about the copy machine!
Posted by: Mother Laura | October 03, 2008 at 03:48 PM
Oh, I wish Angus and I could come for the blessing... but I'm already scheduled to be elsewhere on Saturday morning. Wish I could find a Sunday afternoon one.
Posted by: DogBlogger | October 03, 2008 at 04:11 PM
the retreat sounds great....and, I can hardly believe your work did that....why offer up any examples of how not to respond, just offer examples of how too....sigh....then again, I am glad they read yours - a witness to the order life ought to have...even if that was not their intention
Posted by: mompriest | October 03, 2008 at 05:24 PM
Re #2, what did they expect? I am really curious.
Posted by: Mary Jane Butler | October 04, 2008 at 01:18 PM