As I’m writing this, we’re in the season of Hanukkah. It’s a Jewish feast, an eight-day celebration that memorializes the Maccabeean Revolt of the Jewish people against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE. The underdog Maccabees successfully recovered Jerusalem and the Second Temple. This allowed for the restoration of the traditional sacrifices at various times in the Jewish calendar.
Aelred was born in 1109, of a family which had long been treasurers of the shrine of Cuthbert of Lindisfarne at Durham Cathedral. While still a youth, he was sent for education in upper-class life to the court of King David of Scotland, son of Queen Margaret. The King’s step-sons Simon and Waldef were his models and intimate friends. After intense disillusion and inner struggle, Aelred went to Yorkshire, where he became a Cistercian monk at the abbey of Rievaulx in 1133.
We have done a wonderful job in November and December gathering food for the community, about three times the typical number of bags of groceries. Let’s keep it up in 2026!
Diocesan convention concluded last month. As your vicar, I attended along with Kresha and Liz Larson, delegates, and Charla Conner, alternate delegate. It was a unique experience in that the sessions were online. The Bishop and Diocesan officers met at the Cathedral. Five other sites hosted various delegates based on geography. All were connected through Zoom. Our delegation met at St. Mary’s in Lakewood, watching everything on a big screen. It worked pretty well, though a thunderstorm briefly interfered with the reception in Bremerton.
Clement was born in the middle of the second century. He was a cultured Greek philosopher who sought truth in many schools until he met Pantheons, founder of the Christian Catechetical School at Alexandria in Egypt. Clement succeeded Pantheons as head of that school in about 190, and was for many years an apologist for the Christian faith to both pagans and Christians. His learning and allegorical exegesis of the Bible helped to commend Christianity to the intellectual circles of Alexandria. His work prepared the way for his pupil Origen, the most eminent theologian of early Greek Christianity, and his liberal approach to secular knowledge laid the foundations of Christian humanism. During the persecution under the Emperor Severus in 202, he fled Alexandria. The exact time and place of his death are unknown.
This is the time for the annual convention of the Diocese of Olympia. This will be a bit different than last year’s. It’s held on one day as opposed to two. It’s also a bit of a hybrid as it’s mostly on Zoom.
Shakespeare made familiar the names of Macbeth and Macduff, Duncan and Malcolm; but it is not always remembered that Malcolm married an English princess, Margaret, about 1070.
We seem to be living in an era of increasing political violence, particularly assassinations. That is never an acceptable solution to our issues. We do have a history of it and of rhetoric encouraging the demonization of people different from us. In Indiana, the Ku Klux Klan had a huge base in the 1920s. They were very much involved with the churches and proclaimed a Christian faith alongside their bigotries. I was happy to know that Gethsemane, the parish I served, was one of the few in Marion’s downtown to refuse to host them or take money from them.
Francis, the son of a prosperous merchant of Assisi, was born in 1182. His early youth was spent in harmless revelry and fruitless attempts to win military glory.
Various encounters with beggars and lepers pricked the young man’s conscience, and he decided to embrace a life devoted to Lady Poverty. Despite his father’s intense opposition, Francis totally renounced all material values, and devoted himself to serve the poor. In1210 Pope Innocent the Third confirmed the simple Rule for the Order of Friars Minor, a name Francis chose to emphasize his desire to numbered among the “least” of God’s servants.
Recently I saw a Facebook post from Bishop Doug Sparks, my Bishop from the Diocese of Northern Indiana where I remain canonically resident. He’s concerned about a proposal to build an immigrant detention center in his diocesan territory. It would be located about an hour away from my former parish, so it feels a bit personal. The center is being called “Speedway Slammer” after the Indianapolis Speedway.
