carols by candlelight at the convent

Join us Sunday evening for music and dessert!

Contemplation & Candlelight

Come join us... Enter into the dark, candlelit chapel and just be, surrounded by music and prayer and peace.

O DAY OF PEACE

Can it really have been eighteen years since 9/11?

I still remember waiting, sitting on the floor in front of the television with the other sisters, saying, "Show the flight number. Show the flight number. Show the flight number." The entire Haitian house - that is, our SSM Sisters in that convent - were on a 6AM American Airlines flight out of Boston that morning. And then there were our Sisters who work for Trinity Wall Street, right there at St. Paul's Chapel at Ground Zero.

All OK. None unaffected.

So many others didn't find such good news at the end of the day.

I still think of Deora Bodley, who was on the plane that went down in PA. She was in my mother's class in grade school - third or fourth grade, I'm not sure which. I prayed for her family tonight and remembered the story I heard about her mother in vigil waiting to hear...

And so tonight when we had Evensong alongside St. John's Duxbury, I looked at the face of a sister who had been there in NYC and thought how many more there must be out there tonight.

Eighteen years? Tonight there are many for whom it must seem yesterday. And we all go on. And we all hope. We live, we find joy, we remember... whatever it is.

I offer this hymn as a prayer for us all as we seek to heal our broken world, giving thanks for Carl Daw's gift in hymn writing that permits us to express that prayer more deeply.

Salaam (Od yavo shalom aleinu)

I went to the Shabbat service I wrote about in the previous post, and I'm so glad I did. It was good to stand in solidarity even just in a small way. We need to stick together, speak up against evil, and work towards healing and unity.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I never thought I'd need to preach about antisemitism. Oh, how naive... but I am not alone in my overoptimism. "Never again," we all say, but incidents are on the rise.

Last night was also the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht. It wasn't mentioned in the service, but it came up in conversation earlier.  There has been quite a bit on Twitter lately, so I was aware of it in a way I might not have otherwise been.

 Holocaust survivor recalls ‘Night of Broken Glass’ horrors

Interview with Miriam Ron, Witness to the Events of Kristallnacht

As a matter of fact, someone posted a story along with some old photographs from that hideous event, photos found after the death of a grandfather who had fought in WWII (The thread starts here: https://twitter.com/ElishevaAvital/status/1060914913328148480). Difficult to see, but more than worth the read. It's pretty amazing to scroll down and find the Holocaust Museum saying - nearly live - yes, we are very interested in these.  I hesitate to call such a find a treasure, as it's of something so awful, but... lest we forget... and we are... or even deny its happening (how? but a few still do), such images need to be kept and displayed. 

I found a good article here that includes history and pictures.

And in my beloved France, antisemitism continues as well:

Ugh.

HOWEVER, we can and will work together to move our world into a better place. We are, actually.  And one of the hope-filled offerings in that service Friday was the opportunity to sing this song: Salaam (Od yavo shalom aleinu), which means "Peace will come to us."

Peace. We need it in so many ways, between so many different groups of people. And it needs to begin with us, to paraphrase the old song.

Rabbi Cohen sent the lyrics & translation along with a link to a site with four versions (music videos), including the original, from which comes the short description above. The words are easy to pick up, especially since the beginning of the song is slow, and then it gets faster and faster. Singing it can be good prayer, and indeed, having practiced it, I sang it all the way to the service and partway home.  I commend it to you.

 OD YAVO SHALOM ALEINU/ PEACE WILL COME TO US
Od yavo' shalom aleinu / Peace will come upon us
Od yavo' shalom aleinu / Peace will come upon us
Od yavo' shalom aleinu / Peace will come upon us
Ve al kulam (x2) /and on everyone.

Salaam (Salaam)
Aleinu ve al kol ha olam,
Salaam, Salaam (x2)

Here's the original, with cool background music.

And here's one by an a capella group, The Maccabeats. Bonus points for the group name and for the a capella version. (I loved singing in my a capella group in college.)

And the last I'm posting because I love this soloist, Adam Stotland, who is just going to town with it. Also it's with a back-up Gospel choir from Montreal - what a combination of cultures all in one, there! Which is what we need.

So sing. Sing it again. Sing it with energy and hope. Sing this prayer for peace over and over, making it your own and joining it to mine and that of so many others. By the grace and mercy of God, may peace be upon us all and upon our world. 

Salaam - Shalom - Peace - Lapè - La Paix - La Paz

Shabbat Service of Unity

• I'd like to share with you this invitation to a service hosted by our local synagogue in Marshfield, among whose members are people from Duxbury. I'll be participating, as Rabbi Cohen has invited several local church leaders to join him. Please consider joining us in this service in support of the community at this time of grief. We need to stand together against antisemitism and all forces of hatred - now more than ever.

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  https://www.facebook.com/events/181615419411475/

  
  
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Dear Friends,

Please join us at Congregation Shirat Hayam for a Shabbat of Unity Friday, November 9th at 6:45 in the shared worship space at Sanctuary Church, 185 Plain St., Marshfield, MA.

In the wake of recent racially motivated and anti-semitic murders, Rabbi Cohen, along with other local religious leaders, will lead a Sabbath service of affirmation of our shared commitment to the belief that we are all created in the image of God.

Please join us in this service of songs, prayers, readings and reflections.

For more information contact Shirat Hayam at (781) 582-2700.

https://www.facebook.com/ShiratHayamMarshfield/

http://www.shirathayam.net/

St. Margaret's Day 2018

Friday at 11AM we're having our annual patronal festival. It's a bit late to be posting this, but I will anyway. If you'd like to join us, the chapel is at 30 Harden Hill Road, Duxbury MA. Our Associate the Rev. Dante Tavolaro will be preaching.

Great Paschal Vespers

Please join us:

Sunday, April 8 at 4:00 pm

Great Paschal Vespers is an ancient evening service of processions, prayers, chants, and hymns offering praise to God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

St. Margaret’s Chapel

30 Harden Hill Rd

Duxbury, MA 02332

https://www.facebook.com/events/1867721790186715/

http://societyofstmargaret.org/

Yom HaShoah event open to the public

Congregation Shirat Hayam to Host Holocaust Survivor

In observance of Holocaust Memorial Day

Tuesday, April 10, at 7 p.m.

open to the entire public

CSH is honored to present Susan Kadar, a survivor of the Hungarian Nazi regime and the German occupation of Hungary. Ms. Kadar will share her experiences of those terrible years.  Only Susan and her mother survived the war. Eventually, they made their way to the United States where she went on to have a very productive and important career with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.  

Congregation Shirat Hayam is located at 185 Plain St. (Rte. 139), Marshfield MA in the Sanctuary Church, 185 Plain Street (Rte. 139), Marshfield MA 02050 (about 0.9 miles west of Marshfield Center). For more information about CSH please go to www.shirathayam.net or call 781-582-2700.

  

Donations for the Boston Holocaust Memorial and the CSH Holocaust Education Fund will be gratefully accepted at the door.

(Via the Duxbury Interfaith Council)

#MarchForOurLives Boston pictures

starting right in my old neighborhood... this is near Ruggles

a multigenerational movement

quote from Homer

This sign gets extra points for using Kreyol.

looking ahead down Columbus Ave.

Amen.

taking a break in the cathedral, which was open as a warming center

quoting from Job; praying for lawmakers to do something

met these protesters back outside at the rally on the Boston Common

made it to the fenced-off area near the stage
no idea what it was fenced off for, however...

listening to teens speak 

repentance includes turning around
#NeverAgain

Holy Week & Easter schedule at the convent

These services will be in our new chapel.

The Holy Saturday Liturgy will be at noon in the convent oratory next door. We also have several daily office services on a special schedule - call or email if you're interested in the times.

For Maundy Thursday this year, we will be going out to various parish liturgies in the area.

why I marched: baptism, compassion, and justice

Women's March, Boston Common 1-21-17

From our baptismal service:

Celebrant	Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People	I will, with God's help.
Celebrant	Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People	I will, with God's help.

-- Book of Common Prayer p. 305 (or http://www.bcponline.org/)

This looks different over time - indeed, day by day. This year brings me a new way of living it out.

I made a few hats, too. (None of these, though.)

When was I last in a march, I wonder?

I recall a candlelight vigil with the sisters in 2003 in hopes of staving off another invasion of Iraq.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1

I recall a demonstration against apartheid when I was in college. I skipped psych class (and I wasn't a class skipper) to stand with others near the shanty town built next to the Beinecke Library. We were so excited when Archbishop Desmond Tutu sent us a word! I found some old pictures online, as a matter of fact, and am grateful to the alum who shared them:

https://yalealumnimagazine.com/blog_posts/1649

I recall a Take Back the Night march in Ann Arbor, MI a year or two earlier. Looked online and found that the organization still exists (http://tbtnannarbor.org/). As a signboard I read this weekend phrased it, "I can't believe I'm still protesting this ----." OK, I can believe it. I just wish I couldn't.

Mostly, however, I've written and called my representatives, signed petitions, and learned - too slowly - to speak up instead of smoothing things over that really needed not to be smoothed over at all.

Sometimes you need to make noise.
Boston Public Garden 1-21-17

I wonder if that is changing.

Yes. Yes, it is.
Let's make it better.
Boston Common 1-21-17

What will this year bring?

more of this? more than this, certainly

Yes, we can. Together. All of us.

Snowflakes, unite!

If I am going to live the promises I made in my baptism alongside my community's historical concern for women and children, it seems to me that more may be required in the days ahead.

I might note that there were quite a few concerns expressed Saturday, climate change among them. I am beginning to learn more about that, too.

Talk about something that will affect us all, or at least anyone who is going to live a while longer. I plan to.

Marching. Praying. Writing. Calling. Networking. Listening. More listening. Reading. More praying. Work I can't yet envision. Prayer that is listening and listening that is prayer moving into action.

Jesus may be calling me out of my sycamore tree.
(A sycamore tree would have been very handy on the Common on Saturday. Some of us are too short to see over 175,000 people. However, all the good trees were taken, as you can see.)

I will, with God's help.

Join me?

names of Orlando shooting victims for your prayer list

Then there is Isaiah, who saw his mother killed.

The others who were there and saw it.

Those who are grieving.

Those in the hospital or recovering at home.

The first responders. God bless them.

So many people who must have massive PTSD now.

And then there are those who are afraid they will be next.

Please pray for them, for those who love them, for those trying to help them, and for those few who are full of hatred and gladness at this action, especially given its targets. Pray for those resisting changes that would be beneficial to society but bad for business or reelection. This is not the way God created us to be.

Let's live as though we really understood what it means to be made in the image of God.

Seriously.