I need Haitian chocolate, coffee, and a lot of prayer

 Hoo-boy. We have our work cut out for us.

I’m sitting here with my cocoa, considering the effect that this election may have on Haiti and on Haitians  both there and living in the United States. My Haitian godfamily lives in Ohio now. This isn’t a good time to be Haitian in Ohio. And nothing is improving in Haiti right now – as a matter of fact, I gather it is getting worse. I will not quote those who malign Haitians, but I will say I didn’t expect to hear a friend need to joke that people shouldn’t worry about their pets, as they are vegetarian.

a tap-tap declaring truth: life is not easy

So what do I do until I know what to do? Drink Haitian hot chocolate. Singing Rooster Haitian hot chocolate, to be specific. And I am here to commend it to you both because it is fabulous and because you can support small farmers in Haiti while doing so.  

This. Haitian hot chocolate is a good support to one's prayer. Just saying.

Actually, I met the people who were starting this project back in 2012 at a church patronal festival in Jeannette, Haiti – way out in a rural area of the southern peninsula. 

the entrance to the church in Jeannette in 2012

Back then, as I understood it, it was limited to coffee. Now there is also chocolate (I want the lemon ginger dark chocolate bar… if my family reads this, feel free to give it to me for Christmas! :-D), metal art, paintings – and, of course, the hot chocolate. Dark hot chocolate. Microwave milk, then mix for a while because this is the real thing with bits of chocolate that need to melt. This time I added cinnamon because I was remembering Sr. Marie Margaret making us hot chocolate in Haiti in which cinnamon sticks were involved.

Here is the information you need:  https://singingrooster.org/ They have both retail and wholesale options, including information about using this for fundraising.

https://singingrooster.org/about-rooster/

But NOOOO… Classic Hot Chocolate is out of stock! https://singingrooster.org/shop/haitian-hot-chocolate-2/ I am so sad. And grateful to have bought a couple of bags last time I had the opportunity.

They still have bulk/wholesale spicy hot chocolate – that is, hot chocolate with cinnamon and hot pepper.  Hmmm… Haitian Hot Chocolate - Spicy! I haven’t tried that yet. Maybe I will… except I can’t afford 15 bags. Fundraiser? Hmmm… They do sell it at my childhood church, so I know that's a thing.

There is also the chocolate, of course. Show your friends some of what Haitians really eat. They want some, too.

https://singingrooster.org/buy/haitian-chocolate/

If you want to support Haiti in this way, there are also Christmas ornaments, metal, paintings, and plenty of coffee.

https://singingrooster.org/shop/99-2-1-11-2-3/

I had better drink the rest of my hot chocolate before it gets cold. It won't change the state of the world, but it will fortify me for the next steps. 

Global Mission Fair - October 5, 2024

You're invited! 

The Episcopal Diocese of New York will be holding their eighth Global Mission Fair on Saturday, October 5, 2024, at St. John's, Pleasantville. More information here:

https://dioceseny.org/ednyevent/global-mission-fair-2024/

And because I was invited by two different people, I'm planning to be there along with at least one other sister, possibly staffing a booth for the Global Episcopal Mission Network (details yet to be worked out). 

I've attended this before and found it interesting and informative, and of course I enjoy meeting people interested in ministries around the globe. 

If this is your interest, know that you do not have to belong to one of the parishes in the Diocese of New York to attend. Do come. You might enjoy it!

I look from afar... some music for Advent

Advent Responsory (Marlow):

I look from afar: and lo, I see the power of God coming,

and a cloud covering the whole earth.

Go ye out to meet him and say:

‘Tell us, art thou he that should come to reign over thy people Israel?’

High and low, rich and poor, one with another,

go ye out to meet him and say:

‘Tell us, art thou he that should come to reign over thy people Israel?’

Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep.

Tell us, art thou he that should come?

Stir up thy strength, O Lord, and come to reign over thy people Israel.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

Words: Early medieval Roman rite (Matins Responsory for the First Sunday of Advent)

Music: Richard Marlow 

http://trinitycollegechoir.com/media/filestore/service-sheets/AdventCarolService2012.pdf 

What is the crying at Jordan 

...in joy and terror the Word is born...

The words are copyrighted, but they may be found in The Hymnal 1982 #69

People, Look East (Eleanor Farjeon - Besançon Carol)

Wonder, Love, and Praise #724

prayer of grief, prayer for peace

Gracious God, your children are at war. Will it never cease? 

So much hate;

so many deep wounds, old and new;

so much suffering and grief.

Let me sit with you in the dirt

as you sit with those wracked with pain.

Surely your tears mingle with theirs.

Send the water of life

to quench these fires

and in their place

light a new fire of love and hope.

We are yours

all of us -

we just don't seem to know it.

from a hymn for the Feast of the Holy Innocents

Still rage the fires of hate today

and innocents the price must pay

while aching hearts in every land

cry out, "We cannot understand!"

- Rosamond E Herklots

Hymn #246 v.3, The Hymnal 1982

 

🥪 👜 Ma’amalade sandwich Your Majesty?

A message for the church from a Europe at war

A message from our Associate, the Rt. Rev. Mark Edington, Bishop of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, from the American Cathedral in Paris, as the Russian invasion of the Ukraine continues:

God of timelessness,

From chaos and disorder 

you brought forth the beauty of creation;

From the chaos of war and violence

Bring forth the beauty of peace.

God of compassion

You saw the humanity of the outcast and the stranger;

Help us to see the evils of our hatreds and suspicions

and to turn them into the embrace of your Beloved Community.

God of peace,

Through your love on the cross

You overcame the power of violence and death;

Turn us away from the love of power

That we may transform a warring world

through the power of your love. Amen.

"The Arch Is Dead, Long Live The Arch!" - a tribute to Archbishop Tutu by someone who knew him well

The Arch Is Dead, Long Live The Arch! 

By Stewart Ting Chong, Canton, MA, USA 

12/31/2021

I write this after having returned from St John’s Episcopal Church in Hingham, Massachusetts, where the church bell tolled at noon, as it did at other Episcopal Churches across the State. The mournful single note of the bell, rung in short intervals, heralded the reminder that Archbishop Desmond Tutu had died on the 26th December 2021 and that his funeral was to be conducted at 10am in South Africa the following day.

I sat alone quietly weeping in the church where I was married by Desmond Tutu, the priest who became a bishop, a Nobel Peace Laureate and then Archbishop of Southern Africa. The awards and accolades bestowed on him meant little to me for he was just “The Arch”, someone who I had known for 34 years as a mentor, friend, confidant and boss, having worked on his staff for seven years during the era of apartheid in South Africa.

While the media is filled with tributes honoring a great peace maker, and rightly so, my own thoughts have been focused on how my life had changed as a result of his influence. There was, for me, no one braver, more outspoken in the defense of the oppressed, the persecuted and the discriminated and no one more prayerfully contemplative than the Arch. It is in this light that I pen my own thoughts in my personal tribute to honor him. 

I could so easily repeat words already spoken more eloquently by others, but what I know of him is that words were meaningless unless there was an action that supported their intent.  

“I’m not a holy person and have no skills to offer”, you might say. And I can hear the Arch’s response: “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world”. We can absolutely do good in the world but why not start in your own part of the world first? Pick up that piece of trash that someone else has tossed aside and do good by saving the environment and the conservation of wildlife. Reach out to someone in need for “We are each made for goodness, love and compassion. Our lives are transformed as much as the world is when we live with these truths.” Get involved in your communities and correct the injustices that you’ve ignored by thinking, “someone else is better equipped than I am to deal with that.” Volunteer your time to help organizations in their mission and become the person that we know we want to be.

The greatest challenge for me, as it may be for you, is to see the goodness in others with whom we disagree.

The Arch emphatically believed that we are all children of God, that goodness is in everyone even though that goodness might be hidden by “evil”. His challenge to us is to try to see beyond that and to acknowledge the intrinsic value and goodness in everyone. 

So, I write this more as my own pledge, to read and be reminded daily, that if the Arch meant so much to me, then I should honor him through my interactions with others, as hard as that might be.

“Goodness is stronger than evil.

Love is stronger than hate.

Light is stronger than darkness.

Life is stronger than death.

Victory is ours through Him who loved us.”

The Archbishop’s death is not the end of the battle he waged for goodness. It is the beginning for each one of us who holds his name in high esteem. Discrimination, injustice, persecution and oppression will not end unless we pick up his mantle of righteousness and call to account those who continue to tarnish the ideals that he had so faithfully strived to achieve. Let us find our voice and speak out against oppression. Let us speak out against the injustices inflicted on communities around the world. Let us hold accountable those who plunder the coffers intended to help the weak, hungry and destitute. And let us put the words we speak into action with righteous indignation and leave this world a better and kinder place for the generations that follow. Let us pledge to continue his work.

The Arch is Dead, Long Live the Arch.