[Magdalen] Small prayer requested

[Judy Fleener]

I am glad it went well, I pray for clergy who are brave enough to preach
the radical gospel of jesus.


On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 3:08 AM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:

> Glad it went well ! !
>
> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
> *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
> except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
>
> On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 2:48 AM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > It went well. I composed a synopsis of it a little while ago, but the
> > battery on my phone died before I finished, and I lost the whole thing.
> So
> > I finished a mystery I was reading, and now I'm going to bed--it's
> > ridiculously late!
> >
> > > On Feb 7, 2017, at 11:30 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > ... in a more serious vein, prayers for your meeting... on the lighter
> > side, at first read-through, I thought you meant that *you* often say
> > "you've really given me something to think about" if someone speaks  to
> you
> > about a concern about your sermon <gdr>
> > > Lynn
> > >
> > > On Feb 7, 2017, at 9:32 PM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > Tomorrow morning I've been asked to meet with the Senior Warden and one
> > or two parishioners of the church where another priest are doing
> long-term
> > supply--we're alternating months.
> > > It seems that a couple of parishioners didn't like my last two sermons
> > on the last two Sundays in January. One woman, on her way out the door on
> > one Sunday, said the pulpit wasn't the place to express my political
> views.
> > I replied that I hadn't, but she disagreed. Then a man came out and
> berated
> > me for not speaking up for the unborn! I had no idea where that came
> from.
> > > OTOH, several people thanked me for the sermon, and one woman came into
> > the office to tell me she really appreciated it.
> > > So there were mixed opinions, which was not a bad thing, IMO. (Of
> > course, my favorite response is for someone to say, "You really gave me
> > something to think about.")
> > > I'm always careful not to talk politics, or parties, nor to tell people
> > how they should think or vote. But I believe it is part of our call as
> > Christians to speak out when we see injustice or bullying, or blatant
> > discrimination, etc. regardless of its source. That was the essence of
> both
> > sermons--one the weekend of the inauguration and the Women's Marches (
> > which I never mentioned--and one the weekend of the travel ban.
> > > I've been preaching for 27 years--with lots of emphasis on social
> > justice and always connecting to the lectionary readings--and this is the
> > first time I've been called into a meeting because of a sermon. So I
> guess
> > I should be grateful for that! I did get a death threat once because of
> my
> > involvement in racial reconciliation in the community, but that came from
> > outside the congregation, and I didn't really take it very seriously.
> > > The thing is, even though I supply at this church a lot and was with
> > them for five months about 11 years ago when they were between rectors, I
> > am still just a supply priest with no standing. I told the Senior Warden
> > when he called me on Monday that if people were unhappy with my
> preaching,
> > they certainly didn't have to have me back. He got flustered and said he
> > certainly didn't want it to come to that. I said I knew that--I just
> wanted
> > to remind him that they did have that option. I'm not actually there this
> > month--I go back in March.
> > >
> > > Much more detail than I meant to give, but I guess I'm trying to lay
> > everything out in preparation for tomorrow. I plan to begin the meeting
> > with prayer and then ask what they were upset about and what they mean by
> > "political."  At some point I will acknowledge whatever they've told me,
> > and then I'll say I have a dilemma, because I've also gotten just the
> > opposite feedback. So Which do I listen to? My task is to preach the
> Gospel
> > in whatever way I'm being called to do it, knowing that some will
> probably
> > respond positively and some negatively, and the majority will not share
> > their opinion at all.
> > >
> >
>



-- 
Judy Fleener, ObJN,SSH
Western Michigan