Dentures to the Bottom of the Pool
A Parishioner's Spiritual Journey...
I dive into the swimming pool at Riverview Psychiatric Hospital for Children in Middleton Ct. and get a cool reception - not only from the water but also from the patients. The children, understandably enough, do not trust adults - not even a Summer Intern Chaplain. After all, they are patients, victimized by adult misbehavior.
At the center of the pool, Teenage Angel takes the initiative to greet me and the conversation goes something like this:
Angel (Sarcastically): I suppose you want to talk about God, Chaplain!!
Me: No - not really!
Angel: Then what do you want to talk about?
Me: I just wanna swim! Angel: Hmmmmm!(Silence.) OK- we kids are playing a game. We take turns dunking under the water, opening our mouths, and yelling the sound of an animal. The others try to guess which animal. Wanna play? You go first!
Proving there's a sucker born every minute, I agree to join the game which has suddenly begun. I duck under the water, open my mouth wide, and try my best to imitate an elephant. All of a sudden: Oh, No! This is not happening! #$%^&%^.
My relatively new dentures - both upper and lower - have plunged to the bottom of the pool. I am as toothless as a newborn babe - and very embarrassed about what must be a pucker-up appearance.
Angel immediately sizes up the situation and goes into emergency rescue mode with several boys doing her bidding. Assignment - and you'd better accept it - retrieve the chaplain's dentures from the bottom of the pool
The dentures are soon retrieved and Tommy is declared a hero!
Angel asks me: So what are going to do now?
Me: I'm going to put these choppers back into my mouth and continue with the game - except now it is your turn to dunk.
A wonderful swimming hour follows and I sense a quick bond between children and chaplain.
Several weeks later, Angel's only living relative - a grandmother - dies and I find myself in a position to effectively help Angel through much of the grief.
Then it hits me like a ton of bricks- a message that I had missed in seminary - that the ways of God are not the ways of women and men! I had begun CPE expecting that the source of my counseling effectiveness would derive from my Master's program or from my counseling internships or from ordination to the diaconate or priesthood. None of that mattered to Angel. She didn't care a tinker's hoot about any of that.
She had bonded with me not because of my credentials but The Apostle Paul is right: a great part of effective ministry consists of being fools for Christ.
Lutheran writer Floyd Shaffer in his Clown Ministry reminds us that oftentimes life is what happens to us while we are deciding what to do with our lives. Our God uses the jawbone of an ass to wipe out an army, loud trumpets to fell a city and dentures to the bottom of a pool to heal a teen's grief- not exactly the most respected and ingenious procedures known to humans.
It has been taped to my bathroom mirror for years and will be read at my funeral:
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12).
Bob Gallagher - Trinity, Hampton
Christ Church conversation
Sunday, May 18 after the 10:30 service
Over the past several weeks, our Capital Campaign team has been meeting in preparation for what we were initially sure was a fairly straightforward fundraising effort: a three-year drive to raise funds to repay our furnace loan and accomplish a few other needed projects around the church.
As our conversation has evolved, we've discovered that what we are hoping to accomplish is much more than that. "A Fresh Start for Christ Church" is about a lot more than what we were initially discussing.
This Sunday, May 18, we are inviting the Christ Church community to join us in conversation about all this - to reflect on "what really matters" and not just the "nuts and bolts" of raising money for a laundry list of needs.
The team sees this not as a one-shot conversation, but the start of a process of prayerful discernment. Accordingly, our meeting after the liturgy on Sunday, May 18 is:
- Not meant to be deliberative in nature (i.e., not focused on "making a decision")
- Not meant to be a "nuts and bolts" discussion of campaign feasibility, etc.
- But a real conversation on who we are, what we're about, why we're here, and where we're going.
We're not doing this to "sell" anything, but to listen to one another and provide an opportunity to hear where we are now "without playing our old tapes" (Chuck's quote, meaning, roughly, without turning it into "just another gripe session" on our shortcomings, etc.)
Please join us Sunday, May 18 following a relatively brief Eucharist (without sermon). If we can arrange child care, so our young parents can be part of this, we should try to do so. Let's prayerfully consider what a "Fresh Start for Christ Church" might look like.
The Christ Church Capital Campaign Team:
Craig Davis, Kris Ebbeson, Chuck Ott, Paul Seward,
Jim Sparrell, Katie Towler, Chip Robinson
Shared Ministry Office Memorial Day Office Hours
The Shared Ministry Office will be closed on May 23 and May 26.
Do you know a language other than English?
We will be reading the lesson from Acts on Pentecost (June 8th) in a variety of languages in both churches. We have several translations, and are looking for people to read them. So if you speak something other than English, see Betty Lane (at Christ Church) or Fr. Chip (at Trinity) this Sunday to volunteer to help enrich our Pentecost celebration.
Then on Pentecost evening...
Join us as Christ Church, Portsmouth, hosts a Seacoast Convocation Pentecost Taizé service. This 7:00 p.m. service of prayer, song and contemplation is sponsored by all six of our Seacoast Episcopal congregations, and will be offered to the general public. If you have not experienced a worship service in the style of the Taizé community in France, you have missed an extraordinary worship opportunity. Be watching next week's E-News for further details on this beautiful and meditative service.
A job for Ayyad?
This week, we learned that Trinity parishioner Ayyad Erian is losing his job, as his son's business, Tate's in the Fox Run Mall, is closing. If you know of any possibilities for Ayyad, who has limited English but unlimited enthusiasm and faith, please be in touch with me.
- Fr. Chip
Day of Prayer for South Sudan
The Presiding Bishop is calling for a day of prayer for South Sudan on Sunday, May 18, commemorating the Feast of the Martyrs of Sudan, to bring awareness of the violence in South Sudan. We will remember South Sudan in the Prayers of the People and a bulletin insert will highlight the work Episcopal Relief and Development is doing there.
Upcoming event
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May 17
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7:00 p.m.
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History, Lore and Legends of the Isles of Shoals -Trinity Church
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May 18
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11:15 a.m.
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Community Conversation - Christ Church;
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May 20
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7:00 p.m.
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Bishop's Committee - Trinity Church
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May 22
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11:30 a.m.
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Nursing Home Service - Sanctuary Care at Rye
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June 1
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12:00 noon
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"Grubby Sunday" lawn clean-up - Christ Church
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June 7/8
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(usual times)
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Festival Pentecost Eucharist at both churches
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7:00 p.m.
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Seacoast Convocation Pentecost Taizé Service - Christ Church
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Our Shared Ministry Cycle of Prayer this week and next
Each week, in both of our churches, we pray for one ministry we share and one or two households in each church. About once every six weeks, we will instead use the Shared Ministry Collect we prayed throughout the opening months of our Shared Ministry.
In our prayers the next two weeks, we give God thanks for...
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May 18
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Worship Committee at Trinity Church; Paula Kidder of Christ Church; Dan & Barbara Nicholson of Trinity Church
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May 25
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The Wardens of both churches; Betty Lane of Christ Church; John Normand; Anita Pauley of Trinity Church
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The Peace of Wild Things
'The Peace of Wild Things', Women Singing Out's second concert of their 2014 season will be presented on Saturday, June 7th at 7 pm and Sunday, June 8th at 3 pm here at Christ Church. This Spring Concert celebrates the beauty and fierceness of the natural world.
Join us for a musical journey that will restore your soul, motivate you, and make you smile! See Betty Lane or Suzanne George for tickets.
Women Singing OUT! will also be performing at New Hampshire Audubon's 100 Year Anniversary Celebration at the Massabesic Audubon Center in Auburn, New Hampshire, on Sunday, June 1st at at 3:00pm. Tickets can be purchased by calling 603-668-2045
Call to Personal and Global Transformation
God, as Lover and Healer, ever invites us to new possibilities and to believe in our potential to make a difference in the midst of our violent and hurting world. Through Scripture, contemporary stories, and poetry, we will be stretched and challenged to believe in our call to become mystics, saints and prophets. We will laugh, cry and celebrate as we recognize more deeply the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This program will be presented at Adelynrood in Newbury, MA, May 30 - June 1 (Friday dinner - Sunday lunch) by award-winning author, poet, missioner and retreat leader, Edwina Gateley. (See www.edwinagateley.com)
Contact Betty Lane or go towww.adelynrood.org for additional information.
'History Lore and Legends of the Isles of Shoals '
Dedicated to Kay Scott and in Memory of Jean Wadman
May 17 at Trinity Church
Celebrate the history, lore and legends of the Isles of Shoals - fishermen and pirates...ghosts and grand hotels! Trinity Church in Hampton and Christ Church in Portsmouth invite you to join us on May 17th at Hobbs House, 200 High Street Hampton, NH, to celebrate the rich history of the Isles of Shoals with an original program by actor Stephanie Voss Nugent. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and refreshments will be served; the presentation begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10. For more information or to reserve your tickets please see Ann Newell or Gordon Lane at Trinity Church, or Kris Ebbeson at Christ Church.
