BLOGGING-THOMAS

Click here for a recent MSNBC interview with Gene Robinson, in light of the threats he has received for his plans to be present in Lambeth during the Lambeth Conference this July.

Louie Crew sent this out to the House of Bishops and others, including Sally Breul, the widow of former Rector Henry Breul, who thanked him in the message below:

Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:33:24 -0400

From: Sally Breul <sbreul@verizon.net>

To: lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu

Subject: Video of St. Thoms

Dear Louie:  I can’t tell you how excited I am to see the video of St.Thomas’s blessing on my computer.  Thank you so much for making it available to those ofus who were much invoved in the turbulent days of history that it recalls.  Wonderful!!    I am thrilled.  Thanks again.

Love, Sally Breul (Henry’s widow - who liveth forever!)

This Sunday is my namesake day - my middle name being Whitson, which derives from the Middle English Whitsonday or Whitsunday or White Sunday, in recognition of the white liturgical garments traditionally worn on the day of Pentecost.

I’m a Jr. so the name was inherited for me from my father, the original Wayne Whitson Floyd. His mother had named him that because of a Rev. Whitson who is said to have lived nearby and had been a close “friend of the cloth” with my grandfather (who also was a Methodist parson) and my grandmother.

Whitsunday or Pentecost is, of course, the day in the Christian calendar that celebrates the birth of the church with the coming of the Holy Spirit into the midst of Jesus’ followers after his crucifixion and the appearances of Jesus raised from the dead.

With the arrival of the Spirit on that first Whitsonday, diversity and hospitality where etched indelibly onto the souls of Christians. As Christ had done when alive, the coming of the Holy Spirit reached out and touched a dispersed and diverse crowd of people who — differences of language and culture notwithstanding — came to understand that they were now the very body of Christ in the world, with the power to transform and change that world — the power of unquenchable love.

The symbols of the coming of the Spirit are, as artist Jan Richardson has described it, “Fire and Breath” — a rushing wind was heard by some, tongues of flame were seen by others, and all heard the Good News in their own language and understood that God was alive in the world by being alive in them as the Holy Spirit that day.

It’s one of the reasons that Episcopalians baptize people on Pentecost, because in that act they too then are brought into the community that is symbolized by fire and breath, by wind and flame. To be baptized is to be washed clean — thus the white of the garments — and started anew with the Spirit being blown into our midst like God blew the breath of life in Adam. And it is also to have the spark of the Holy Spirit to begin to burn more fully and visibly in the life of one being baptized — thus the red of the decorations and garments used that day.

Fire and Breath - Flame and Wind - life renewed and enlivened, washed white with the breath of life and now encouraged to burn red with the power of love that knows no boundaries, shows no favorites, and heals all divisions and brokenness.

It’s much too big a name, Whitson, for one soul to bear. And yet on Whitsonday it is light as the breeze, weighing no more than flame. Yet it is the symbol of all that we are and all we are called to become.

My Alban colleagues at the Congregational Resource Guide have put together a very helpful list of links to disaster relief efforts, many of them faith based, in response to Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Fatalities now are estimated to be as high as 100,000 in this low-lying rice-producing country, and many others will die of starvation and disease. Please don’t wait for someone else to help; make a contribution to the organization of your choice. But do something.

A number of Biblical stories tell of appearances of Jesus to his disciples, risen from the dead.  This one in the Gospel of John is about “doubting Thomas,” who wasn’t going to believe just anybody; so he said to Jesus: “Show me!”

19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”