The Magdalene Mystique - The Path Inward

This is a Google Video and works a little differently than the other YouTube Videos that have been posted. You must click on the VCR Arrow in the bottom left hand corner to make the video work. Sometimes you have to click it a couple of times.—Sheryl

PS. A special thank you to Kathleen and Ricky at Hollywood Frame Gallery who donated all the beautiful frame corners for the Cathedral Ceiling. Read the story on their website.

More information about Dan, Brigid’s Paradigm and our plans for bringing this vision to Houston are available on Brigid’s Place website.

You are invited to the annual celebration of the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene, Sunday, July 22, 2007, at Christ Church Cathedral, 1117 Texas Avenue, Houston. Worship begins at 6pm. A lecture by Dr. April DeConick will follow the service at 7:00 pm in the Cathedral’s Great Hall. Cost for the lecture is $20.00. Parking is free at the Cathedral parking lot on San Jacinto.

6:00 pm Taize Worship Service

The festive worship in the Cathedral at 6 p.m. will include songs from the Taizé Community, blessing of the new icon of Mary Magdalene by the Rev. Mary Green, a brief talk by April DeConick about Mary Magdalene and the Taize Community, and Eucharist.
Musicians for the service include Anita Kruse (pianist/composer), Jennifer Kenney (flutist), Sonja Bruzauskas (soloist/singer)

7:00 pm Leture Dr April DeConick: “Where Were the Women? What the Gospel of Mary Tells Us”

Who was Mary Magdalene really? A prostitute? A loyal disciple? Jesus’ wife? Dr. DeConick’s lecture will explore these themes and more as it unpacks the theology of the Gospel of Mary, a Gnostic “midrash” gospel. Mary emerges from the text as an early Gnostic church leader administering the eucharist and presenting a homily on its benefits, which include a mystical transfiguration and ascent to God.

April DeConick recently joined the Rice University Religious Studies faculty as Isla Carroll and Percy E. Turner Professor of Biblical Studies. Dr. DeConick is a historian of early Jewish and Christian thought, fascinated by the many ways the Jesus tradition emerges across the literature. She has a deep love for exploring the various expressions of early mysticism, including the spirituality of classic Gnostic thinkers. She is the author of Seek to See Him: Ascent and Vision Mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas; Voices of the Mystics: Early Christian Discourse in the Gospel of John, Thomas and Other Ancient Christian Literature . Soon to be published is her The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says, to be published in December, 2007.

Several years ago I met Aman Mehrzai, an American Muslim, living in Houston. A parishioner introduced me to him, and our conversations led to his giving several talks to our youth groups about being a Muslim in American. Our Magdalene Community is starting a series of talks about various world religions this Sunday. So it seems like a good time for us to have some conversations online with Aman about Islam. Aman now lives in California, and I asked him to write a first letter to begin our conversation. I hope you will join in the conversation - he, too, as you can see from the last paragraph, thinks dialogue and conversation is a significant part of our healing and reconciliation today.

Here is his first letter:
Betty,

For years the great religions of Christianity and Islam have heard of each other mainly through myth and fables of defamation – often in the form of negative false literature in the old days, and more-so through media propaganda in the present. It’s Al-Jazeera (explaining why the West is wicked) versus Fox News (over why Muslims are evil); both sides often approaching the “story” about each other in an antagonistic and suspicious manner.

Well I am an oxymoron living in the midst of judgment and misunderstandings. I am Muslim, but American – with my great grandfather of 13 generations ago being a Jewish Rabbi who converted to Islam.

My parents loved God, but did not emphasize Him in the household. When they died, I was only 14 years old, and my love of God too died with them. I fell into a darkness of atheism, wondering and questioning why God would do this to me. Through alcohol and drugs I did not find the answer. I only finally realized that I wasn’t really an atheist – I was just mad at God.

My girlfriend’s father at the time, worked hard at making Jesus my personal savior. In the beginning I went to Church with him because I felt it would be good politics to keep things smooth between me and my girlfriend. But as I heard the pastor speaking of the compassionate stories of Jesus – I realized that this was no ordinary man he was talking about. I was moved by the charisma, love and relentless revolutionary ideas of the Messiah.

Under pressure from my girlfriend’s father, the pastor attempted to explain the trinity to me after sermon one day, but a big question mark arouse on my face in the shape of my eyebrow. His attempts to explain the trinity through multi-faceted examples with all earnest left me scratching my head. “The trinity is like a hard boiled egg,” said the pastor. “The shell, white and yolk are three, but one.” Without realizing that my response may be disrespectful I asked him, “What if I eat the yolk? What then?” The pastor gazed my face for signs of ridicule, but after realizing my sincerity, well, he simply grabbed my hand as a father would to a son and replied, “This is where you just believe my son. Logic could only take you so far.”

He was right; logic can only take me so far. I was now convinced that there was a God, but the trinity was a complicated story and deserved much more research. My journey started with the Church, Synagogue, Buddhist Temple, then to the Mosque, not necessarily for spiritual enlightenment, but for intellectual fulfillment. My love was in understanding why people believed what they did – I was interested in the roots. This internal journey led me to a physical journey to the Himalayas, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal in Africa, but the hardest journey of all was going deep through the mountains and dark crevasses of my heart – to understand why I am the way I am, and why I believe and love God.

You see Betty, questioning is deep! My physical journeys have stopped for now – but my internal journal will never stop, as I believe it will continue into the afterlife.

Living in a predominantly Christian country, I see, feel and understand the pains and fears of my countrymen and women towards Muslims. I am American. What I am not interested in, is proving through brute and bronze the strength of our Gods to each other. For this reason, I constantly visit different churches, in hopes of increasing nothing less than sheer understanding. We must come to know each other, and I am convinced that only through love and understanding will God grant us success in this life and the next. I am also convinced that this is what God wants us to do in this country as He is the one who controls the hearts – and only He can change them.

I finish my lengthy introduction with this thought; we can constantly claim in vain “united we stand.”

But I often ponder what this unity really means, if we make no effort other than listening to what the T.V. tube has to say as our primary source of understanding each other?

I pray that God gives us strength to open dialogue between you and me, and other Muslims, Christians and Jews alike, to act as stitches in the healing process of our beloved homeland, America.

Thank you for your time and patience,

Aman Mehrzai

Servant of God

Response from Betty:

Aman,

I think your first paragraph hits the mark - we sometimes approach each other with suspicion (thinking, what is the real agenda here? what does he/she want from me? will I get an evangelisitic pitch? ) And this is not just the case with persons of different religions but with persons of different races, class, and gender, to name a few of the occasions when red flags go up in alert. It probably has to do with our “sedimented layers” (to use a word from Heidegger) of ancient hostilities, either personal or collective, and/or with our fears of the unknown. We can’t exactly predict how our conversation will go with someone we don’t know or understand. Fear calls for an alert, and while that might be good in some cases, it greatly hampers new friendships. So the first step in any conversation is to settle down and recognize those layers and name them if we can. Then perhaps we can begin to build up trust. All this takes a great deal of time and effort. No wonder it happens so little.

Alas, news media thrive on conflict because it sells. Those reported conflicts deepen our suspicions on a daily basis. The question that glares here is: why does conflict sell? Why are we eager to read about commotion and crisis Does it fulfill an expectation of a sort? Is this learned behavior or something more?

Thank you for telling us your story of seeking God and the pastor’s portrait of a compassionate Jesus. Those of us in the Christian tradition are pleased with that portrait. I would agree that the egg metaphor takes us only so far. Ultimately, we have to throw in the towel in explanation and stand before Great Mystery.

I would be interested in learning more about your daily prayers and your spirituality whenever you think the time is right to go into that. Let’s see how our readers respond?

Betty

Conversations in the Magdalene Community about World Religions will take place on Sundays at the Rothko Chapel at 10:00 am according to the following calendar.
Judaism: July 15 and 22
Buddhism: July 29 and August 5
Islam: August 12 and 19
Native American: August 26 and September 2
Christianity: September 16

We are indebted to Janie Stevens of the Diocese of Texas for providing the symbols and materials for this series of Sundays from her “Peace Village” collection.

The final evening at the UBE Conference was fabulous! I wish we could have more evenings like this one - good food, iced tea, and chocolate! Ayesha had kindly squeezed me in at her family table so I had close to a front row seat. It seemed that everyone was in rare form and mood to celebrate, and celebrate, and celebrate. The spotlight was on black women - their gifts and talents, their compassion and love, their creative brilliance. The evening was entitled “A Gala Tribute to 30 Years of Black Women in the Priesthood.”

First let me tell you what I learned about the first woman that was honored: the Rev. Pauli Murray. You might want to see if you can get a copy of her autobiography : Song in a Weary Throat: An American Pilgrimage. (Try the public library.)

The Rev Pauli Murray was the first black female and second African-American Episcopal priest, who served in the ’70s and ’80s at the Church of Holy Nativity in Baltimore. Born in Baltimore, MD, in 1910, and graduating from Hunter College in New York, she became a teacher in 1933. During this time she wrote her first novel, Angel of the Desert. Her most famous poem is “Dark Testament.”

Later, when she attempted to enter the University of North Carolina Law School, she was told no - the school simply did not admit African-Americans. Not even help from the NAACP and a friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt could change that part of her story. But Pauli Murray was undaunted and dedicated her life to the struggle for equality and justice. Eventually, she graduated from Howard University Law School as the first woman and first in her class of 1944.

In 1946, Murray was jailed for refusing to sit on the broken seats on the back of the bus. But that did nothing to stop her cry for justice. She went on to publish important articles on civil rights. She received a masters of law from the University of California at Berkeley, was hired by the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton, and Garrison, and lectured at the Ghana School of Law at Accra. President Kennedy appointed her to the President’s Commission on the Status of Women Committee on Civil and Political Rights and she became Distinguished Professor of Law and Politics at Brandeis University 1968-1973. It was in 1973 that she entered General Theological Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood. What gifts, what spirit, what imagination!

Read more about Pauli Murray by clicking here: http://www.tcnj.edu/~coar2/biography/murray.htm

On this Gala Evening we heard many stories of women led by the spirit - but having to go against the grain - against the popular mandate - and in some cases hearing a call that only they believed in. Their stories were filled with exclusions and repudiations but also with welcomes and triumphs. And in all this, there was a melancholy and pathos hanging in the air: why should our world be so divided into categories? Why are we so cruel to those who are not just like us? Why do we continue to deal out harm to one another? Why can’t we see that we all carry that spark of divinity within us - that the spirit of peace lives in all of us, if we could but see it, and feel it.

I couldn’t even begin to name all the people that contributed to this evening. The Rev. Canon Nelson Pinder, the UBE President, the Rev. Jennifer Baskervillle-Burrows, Co-Dean of the Conference, and the Rev. Dr. Katherine L. Ward, of Our Savior Chinese Episcopal Church, who read off her poetry as one who channels grace. And the dynamo women who stood up and told it the way it was: the charismatic Rev. Dr. Sandye A. Wilson and the Rev. Cheryl A.E. Parris. Well, as I said before, why can’t we have more evenings like this one!

The highlight of the evening was the honoring of 5 women Bishops:

(1) The Right Rev. Barbara C. Harris, who was elected suffragan (assisting) bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts in 1988.
http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/v42/n25/harris.html
http://www.edow.org/diocese/bishops/harris_bio.html

(2) The Right Rev. Gayle E. Harris, who was elected suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, succeding Barbara Harris.
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/bishops/0407.html
http://www.diomass.org/welcome_message.html

(3) The Right Rev. Dena Harrison, elected as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Texas in 2006, becoming the 13th woman elected as a bishop of the Episcopal Church.
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_74132_ENG_HTM.htm?menu=undefined+
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/print.php?storyid=4817

(4) The Right Rev. Dr. Carol J. Gallager, member of the Cherokee nation and elected Bishop in the Diocese of Southern Virginia in 2002. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ECUSA+diocese+elects+first+indigenous+woman+(Carol+J.+Gallagher)…-a030317023
http://thewitness.org/agw/gallagher121704.html

(5) THe Right Rev. Bavi Edna Rivera, was the first Hispanic woman elected as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Olympia.
http://www.cdsp.edu/crossings/cr-winter06.html
http://www.olympia.anglican.org/inthenews/riveraelectedsuffragan2.cfm

equality
http://www.ube.org/episcopal church

One central component of the UBE Convention in Houston was the Presiding Bishop’s Forum. Participants included the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Tony Daniels, the Rev. Canon Edward Rodman, the Rev Dr. J. Carleton Hayden, the Rev. Kim Baker, the Rev. Kortwright Davis, Antoinnette Daniels, and Wale Omosebi. The Forum was a further elaboration on the theme of the Conference: “Telling our Story: Hearing God’s Call for Reconciliation.”

Some of the thoughts that I took with me as I left this very moving session yesterday I will list below for your meditation. I cannot give direct quotes but I have tried to be as faithful to the spoken word as I can. I hope you will leave your own comments about these thoughts. After hearing the stories of exclusion on the basis of race from among these panelists, including exclusion from hospitals when emergency help was needed, I find myself even more committed to issues of racial justice in our world. Ingrained institutional racism is still alive and well in this country. When are we going to stop harming one another should be our cry.

As one panelist eloquently put it: God creates diversity. God creates difference. Yet we are all part of the one garden that God has made for us. Can we learn that diversity does not mean division and unity does not mean uniformity? Can we recognize that we have a common origin and that we live in common conditions and predicaments? Can we seek the Common Good and retain a Common Hope?

I pray that we can.

The Presiding Bishop Schori explained in her very quiet and unassuming way that she had come to the Forum to listen more than to speak - both as an outsider and as one who has a passion for liberation wherever it exists. But she did speak briefly and movingly, saying: Until we are a dappled people and welcome gifts from those of different cultures and experience, none of us will truly be free. It is important to hear stories of oppression in every place and then begin to build bridges so we might effect the liberation of all, including those who have dominated. It is good to celebrate our heritage but we can’t stop there. None of us will be reconciled until all of us are free.

And later she took up the topic of language when she said: Language is important - we use it as an instrument of oppression, violence, and reconciliation. When language is used for judgment, it becomes violent. When language is used for reconciliation, it becomes conversation. When conflict arises to a certain level, we have to ratchet it down so we can have conversation. Remember the incident with the women’s basketball team? They asked for conversation but the public anxiety had pushed it into conflict. When we can lower the level of conflict, then we can begin the conversation. This takes vulnerability but this is the work God calls us to do.

Some other thoughts I took with me from the various panelists are:

There is a difference between a ministry of peace and one of justice and reconciliation.

The legacy of slavery hangs heavy over us.

There is a difference between being colonized and being enslaved.

Reconciliatoin is a process that is never completed. Reconciliation involves all people - we have to move into it so we can all live together.

Some say, I don’t want to talk about reconciliation - why is this?

We need to look inside to find out if we are intentionally discriminating against each other. We can only become liberated, when we become liberators.

Why aren’t we talking about issues of gender and equality?

As for me, I take the view that the primary agent of reconciliation is God - God is the reconciler.
Our call is to witness to God’s reconciliation. God always acts first - there is the Divine initiative.
How does God do this? God continues to bring chaos out of human order - but once we have ordered the world according to our liking, we don’t want God to bring chaos.

Please leave your comments so we can begin more conversation.

Union of Black Episcopalians Katharine Schoriepiscopal churchracism

Nevermind the rain, people poured into the Cathedral today — the celebration was a Reconciliation Eucharist for the UBE (Union of Black Episcopalians) Convention being held in Houston this week. The preacher was the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church.

I was glad I had arrived early to help with the preparations. Among other tasks, I cut eight sprigs from the Cathedral garden and rounded up four water bowls, all for the baptismal sprinkling. I also made new friends. One new friend I especially remember: the Reverend Lewis Sitting Panther Power, a Deacon in the Diocese of the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He had flown in for the smudging.

Smudging is a sacred tradition of Native people across this land. A prayer offering of jasmine, sweetgrass, sage and cedar incense. Smudging promotes healing and unity and prepares for worship.

By the time the drums and the smudging started, the Cathedral was completely packed. Considering it was July 4, that was something.

Then Bishop Schori began to preach. She admitted it seemed an odd day to talk about repentance and reconciliation - July 4 - but ironically, she said, reconciliation and freedom go hand in hand. The word reconciliation means to call back together - to take counsel together - to make friends again - to restore what has been separated. This, the Primate declared, is our vocation: the healing of our separations and divisions - the repairing of the world, as our Jewish brothers and sisters speak of it.

It is a healed world that must be our focus. We must labor for many kinds of reconciliation. We must challenge the injustices of the world - even the ancient injustices. We must ask the hard questions. We must tell our stories, and lament.

The lament needs to be heard. But after the lament, comes the healing. And some sacrament for the healing needs to take place - some outward and visible sign of an inward healing that comes from the grace of God.

It was a prophetic voice we heard today on this day of freedom. It was a great blessing to be there. I wish we all could have been together. Katharine Schoriepiscopal church Union of Black Episcopalians

This morning I couldn’t help thinking of the Gospel of Mary when I heard Bishop Baxter of Central Pennsylvania speak at the Opening Plenary Session of the UBE Convention. I was reminded of that central portion of the Gospel of Mary when Jesus tells the disciples that “the child of true humanity exists in you!”

Bishop Baxter was the keynote speaker for the morning session of the Convention. He gave what he called his “personal musings” on the meaning of reconciliation. And he gave much more. In the course of his talk he urged us to move from mere toleration of difference into something new. Toleration, he suggested, may be simply “managed hostility.” And the problem with “managed hostility” is that we can’t handle so much hostility. It breaks out unsuspected in what we say and do. Then we behave in ways we thought we never would.

For Bishop Baxter, the Christian tradition calls us to move beyond toleration into transformation. Transformation, he said, does not require that we sacrifice the self - it doesn’t take our humanity away. What transformation does is to allow for “true humanity”; that is, a humanity that rejoices in hope, extends hospitality to the stranger, lives in harmony with others and peacefuly with all.

Bonnie Anderson, the President of the House of Deputies for the General Convention for the Episcopal Church, also gave an address. She hit a similiar theme. She urged all of us to move from mere toleration to advocacy and voice. Silence, she said, on major issues is often taken as an assent and agreement. We need to be more forthright in how we stand.

And for Anderson, we don’t stop at advocacy - we need to move from advocacy to transformation - become transformed in our ears and our hearts. Develop wisdom along with humility and above all, develop new relationships. It is a new day, realize more fully our interconnectedness, realize more fully that “I am because you are.”

Anderson has been a voice for equality and racial justice for many years in the Episcopal Church. She is committed deeply to an anti-racist church, to the UN Millenium Goals and the Episcopal Relief and Development. Click here for futher information about the ERD http://www.er-d.org/aboutus.htm and the Millenium Goals http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Tomorrow promises to be another awesome day with UBE. I hope you can steal away for a few hours from your 4th holiday to hear the Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preach at 11:00 am Reconciliation Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral, 1117 Texas Avenue. Probably better get there early!

Yesterday was the first day of the UBE (Union of Black Episcopalians) Conference held here in Houston. I, and Richard Miller from Florida, had as our mission to pick up Bonnie Anderson from the airport. Bonnie, the President of the House of Deputies of General Convention of the Episcopal Church, will address the Convention this morning. I will report later her views. Also remember that the Presiding Bishop Kartharine Jefferts Schori will preach at the 11:00 am Memorial Eucharist tomorrow, July 4, at Christ Church Cathedral, 1117 Texas Avenue.

Last night was the Grand Opening Worship Service for the Convention. Christ Church Cathedral was ablaze with candles and ceremony. It was a joyous occasion for all who had travelled across the nation to be there. Before the ceremony at dinner, it was my good fortune to be seated next to the preacher for the evening. He is a writer as well as the Dean of the Cathedral in Newark, New Jersey. We hit it off right away when he began to talk about the book he had written and those that would be published soon. Remember the name The Very Reverend C. David Williams for future reference.

In his preaching Dean Williams took us immediately into the story of Esther, whom you may remember from the Book of that name. Esther was Jewish living in Persia and she, as Williams put it, had some “soul-searching” to do. In her soul-searching Esther, who had attained a position of influence and honor, was able to use her influence to save her fellow-countrymen who were in danger of extermination by the grand-vizier Haman.

We all have some soul-searching to do, exhorted Dean Williams, and I nodded in affirmation. It is a new day, a multicultural environment, new circumstances. A new version of Esther has come before us, he said, and she is YOU. We all have some soul-searching to do. Perhaps there were some gains in the 60’s but we can’t hold on to that - we must stand up to oppression. We must overcome fears, for it is fear that keeps us in the role of slaves, even if we are free. Williams was certainly right when he proclaimed that blacks have been “supplanted and supplanted and supplanted,” and then he asked the crucial question, “Will we ever be equal?”

Toward the end of the sermon, Williams called for a “true partnership church” - one where mutuality and equality and justice are truly lived out. And I pray for that kind of church as so many of us do. And then he recalled the story of Esther who had some soul-searching to do.

I will continue to post some of the treasures I am receiving in my experience as an associate member of the UBE.