From the Dean
The "From the Dean" pages are presented by The Very Rev. Timothy E. Kimbrough, Dean and Rector of Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee. Please click HERE to contact Fr. Kimbrough.
Notes from the Dean, June 2011
Here is one who only longs to be God's.
-from the letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans
She offers us the smile of one who has her whole life before her. Her face reflects the light and thrill and sheer exuberance of the moment. The magenta mortarboards alert the bystander to the coming procession of honorees while reassuring mom and dad of savings well spent.
There's no second-guessing the occasion. But the graduation photo in my hand prompts so many questions for me. What will become of these students and their many hopes? What will become of their parents and their dreams? All have worked so hard for this moment. And for what have they (students and parents) prepared? Do they grasp the significance of this fleeting moment?
The school colors highlight the girl's brilliant smiling face, centered and framed as it is by fellow graduates whose figures are slightly out of focus. I can linger here longer than the actual Saturday afternoon event - the blessing of still photography.
An older man's blurred silhouette in the lower left corner of the frame threatens to obscure the view. His gray hair and balding pate serve to remind us that time will not wait for these students. Soon, when they walk across the stage, possibility will become responsibility; responsibility will become duty; and duty a way of life.
This is the season in the State of Tennessee and around the country when thousands of high school seniors will shake hands with their principals, pick up their diplomas, and prepare to face their future. They've been asked too many times what they want to be when they grow up. Now some believe they are ready to answer: "I want to be a lawyer." "I want to teach." "I want to work as a firefighter." "I want to run a restaurant."
As wonderful as it is to see the endless possibility of youth in the face of this young brunette; as wonderful as it would be to hear the stories of where she and her peers are going and what they will do in the coming year, how much more do I long to ask them if they have ever felt the presence of the Holy Spirit or the companionship of Jesus? How much more do I wonder: do they long for God?
At their baptisms we prayed that God might "give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works." These days I find myself praying this prayer over and over again, for when all is said and done only the longing to be God's will remain - to be in His presence and to know His will.
Notes from the Dean, May 2011
And [Jonathan] put forth the end of the rod, and dipped it in the honeycomb. And he carried his hand to his mouth and his eyes were enlightened. Samuel 14:27
I’d been long fascinated with bees—that is, until they took up residence in my son’s bedroom. About a decade ago bees found their way into the ceiling of a basement bedroom room and on into our home. Over the next seven years, beekeepers would be in and out of our house, inspecting the hive and marveling at the persistence of a queen and her drones.
They would put a stethoscope to the hardwood over the floor joists that the bees had used to frame their hive, hoping to trace the scope of the bees’ activity and the size of the hive. Our final expert identified the visitors as Italians but was mystified by their entrance strategies. He spoke in hushed, reverential tones, with a kind of priestly reverence, as if visiting one of nature’s cathedrals.
Yes, I was amazed that the bees had chosen my house (why not my neighbor’s or the one down the street?). Yes, I now know the bees are now building fewer hives in the wild (because of climate change, pollution, and, some say, the evolving migratory patterns of aggressive southern species). Yes, the several quarts of honey, harvested the first time we removed a hive, were wonderfully sweet. But when the Lord pointed his people toward a land “flowing with milk and honey,” I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean my home office.
Scripture suggests that honey is illustrative of the Word of God (Psalms 19 and 119). Honey is likened to wisdom for the soul (Proverbs 24:13, 14). The stories of the Bible often depict honey as a gift (Genesis 43:11, 1 Kings 14:3). The triumphant entry of David into Jerusalem is accompanied by a Mardi Gras-like distribution of honey cakes to men, women, and children (2 Samuel 6:19).
Honey has medicinal value. Sore throats, fevers, hangovers, and dysentery may all be treated with one tablespoon of honey (plus your favorite additive). Some homeopaths will go so far as to say that one tablespoon of honey (64 calories and 17 grams of carbohydrates) can kill bacteria and disinfect cuts and scrapes. [Please see your doctor for authoritative advice on the use of honey].
You’d think that, in possession of all this good news, I’d have tried to find some way to live with the bees. (The consulting carpenter assured us they wreaked no damage on the house.) But eventually, after numerous attempts to coax the bees from their hives, we pried the siding away and removed the bees manually. Maybe it was the risk of being stung. Maybe it was the fear of the outside world coming into my house. Maybe it was the disturbing mystery of it all. Whatever the case, until further notice, I’ll take my honey from a Mason jar and leave the mystery of bees and their honey to apiologists and theologians. Kyrie eleison.
Easter Letter from the Dean
When the Bishop opens the Great Vigil of Easter this year with the Lighting of the Paschal Candle he will declare begun, "the Passover of the Lord, in which, by hearing his Word and celebrating his Sacraments, we share in his victory over death." (BCP, p. 285) This great profession of Pascha is at the heart of Christian hope. We live, we love, we give because of Christ’s victory over death.
As the season of the Festal shout approaches, Vestry, parish clergy, and I encourage you to consider a special designated Easter gift. On recommendation of the Global Missions Committee, the first two-thirds of the 2011 Easter offering has been designated to support the earthquake relief efforts of the Episcopal Church to assist in rebuilding the Church in the Diocese of Haiti. The devastating earthquakes of 2010 left the country and many of the institutions of the Episcopal Church (including the Cathedral in Port au Prince) in ruins. Your Easter gift will join with the many from around this Diocese and the country to offer assistance to our brothers and sisters in Haiti.
The remaining portion of the Easter offering will be allocated for the support of the St. John the Divine Outreach Board Orphan Ministry of the Reveren Gwyn Slade in Randfontein, South Africa. As many at Christ Church Cathedral already know this ministry provides housing, education and health resources for many orphans.
Please make your check out to Christ Church Cathedral, memo: Easter offering and place it in the alms basin Easter Day. Checks may also be mailed in to the church office and donations may also be made online HERE.
Be blessed in your giving!
Because of Christ,
The Very Rev. Timothy E. Kimbrough, Dean & Rector
Email: tkimbrough@christcathedral.org
Notes from the Dean, April 2011
The Cross and Resurrection were a single definitive act of God to overcome Sin, conquer Death, defeat the Evil One on his own turf, and inaugurate the new reality called the Kingdom of God. - The Rev. Fleming Rutledge, author of "The Seven Last Words from the Cross"
In the late 1980s, the pop singer Whitney Houston recorded a song designated by the International Olympic committee as the theme song for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. When she sang it later that year at the Grammy Awards ceremony, the orchestral introduction played while scenes of individual and group athletic triumph were projected against the stage curtain—track champions crossing the finish line, a baseball team storming the pitcher's mound at the close of a game, winners on the stand waiting to receive their medals, a boxer with his hands held high, the Olympic fire.
"I want one moment in time when I'm more than I thought I could be, when all of my dreams are a heartbeat away..." It's the kind of sentiment that mixes well with athletic pursuits and accomplishments. "He's worked all his life for this moment," and "she'll remember this as long as she lives" are familiar pronouncements made of athletes in the defining moments of their careers.
But it is not just athletes who celebrate that "one moment in time." Centennial and bi-centennial anniversaries offer institutions the opportunity to remember their defining moments. The proverbial gold-watch invariably comes with stories of pivotal moments in the retiree's career. And what is a wake if not the opportunity to name the accomplishments of the deceased?
But to think of one's life as a series of critical decisions and defining moments encourages a constant review of those moments, as though one is or will become the sum of his or her experiences and actions. The Christian who indulges in such review becomes subject to the tyranny of salvation by works of mercy.
Fleming Rutledge, priest of the Episcopal Church and author of many books including The Bible and the New York Times and The Undoing of Death: Sermons for Holy Week and Easter, writes of God’s action in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ as defining and definitive for the course of creation. In those three days the world was turned upside down and the Kingdom of God established.
We would live very differently if we allowed the events of these Great Three Days—the Sacred Triduum—to become determinative in our lives. No other action, accomplishment, decision, or defeat in your life will form you like these three days. The Church invites you into this definitive act of God—the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The whole of the world's salvation (and yours) turns on it.
A pop singer sings of dreams a heartbeat away. This act of God, however, is no dream. It is the one moment in time that changes everything.
