All Saints Gazette: "With All Your Creatures"
Food tomorrow, worship on Sunday, and reflections on St. Francis!
This Week:
Thursday, Communal Meal with Vrijburg (18:00)
Sunday, Worship (with potluck, of course) (17:30, Vrijburg)
The Season of Creation concludes with the Feast of St. Francis on 4 October. Francis is pretty much everybody’s favorite. Plenty of people hate Christianity but still love Francis (most of us do occasionally). Being somewhat more pressed for time than usual this week, I leave you with Pope Francis’ reflection on his namesake in section 11 of his rightly famous encyclical, Laudato Si’:
Francis helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for openness to categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology, and take us to the heart of what it is to be human. Just as happens when we fall in love with someone, whenever he would gaze at the sun, the moon or the smallest of animals, he burst into song, drawing all other creatures into his praise. He communed with all creation, even preaching to the flowers, inviting them “to praise the Lord, just as if they were endowed with reason”. His response to the world around him was so much more than intellectual appreciation or economic calculus, for to him each and every creature was a sister united to him by bonds of affection. That is why he felt called to care for all that exists. His disciple Saint Bonaventure tells us that, “from a reflection on the primary source of all things, filled with even more abundant piety, he would call creatures, no matter how small, by the name of ‘brother’ or ‘sister’”. Such a conviction cannot be written off as naive romanticism, for it affects the choices which determine our behaviour. If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously. The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled.
Episcopal parishes often observe the Sunday closest to Francis’ feast with a blessing of the animals. Bring (or draw) a picture of a non-human companion to show us, and we’ll bless them from a distance. Can’t make it? Upload it to the WhatsApp group!
Community Meal at Vrijburg
This Thursday is our monthly community meal with the Vrijburg congregation. Come join us, seeing as you have to eat anyway! If you are able, bring a dish to share (sensitivity to common restrictions appreciated where possible). Perhaps those of us coming from Leiden will figure out what hutspot is between now and then. I’m bringing my kids to this, so feel free to bring yours too!
Looking Ahead
The next few Thursdays look like this: 10 October-Bible Study; 17 October—nothing because of Convocation Convention; 24 October—prayer lab series on the prayer book with the topic of daily and seasonal cycles
Put 28 November on your calendar. It’s American Thanksgiving. We have the room anyway, so let’s make it a feast. Colonial mythologies deserve no monopoly on feasting and giving thanks! (This was the South African priest’s idea, not the American priest’s!)
Christmas: Yes, there will be a service on December 25.
Convocation Opportunities: Spirituality Retreat
The Commission on the Ministry of the Baptized has just sent a “save the date” notice for next year’s Spirituality Retreat. The Spirituality Retreat is for Christians to explore God’s call in their lives. This is not a discernment retreat for ordination. They write:
Save the date:
Convocational Spirituality Retreat 2025
May 16-18, 2025
Eremo di Lecceto, close to Florence, Italy.Our speaker will be Rev. David Osborne, an Anglican priest, writer, and member of the Iona Community. Rev. Osborne lives in Somerset, England.
It is possible to extend your stay by one day on either side of the retreat (to include either May 15 or 19, or both).Eremo di Lecceto is a historic destination that has served since the fifteenth century and in different eras as an oratory, a hermitage, a church, and a seminary. Fully renovated in the 1970s, it is now a center for Esercizi Spirituali and hosts spiritual retreats.
Reservations will open after convention and will close in April 2025.
Prayer Cycles for 6 October and Following
Convocation Cycle of Prayer: Stewardship Committees of the Diocese
Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer for Next Week:
Monday-The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea; Monday-Diocese of Juba, Episcopal Church of South Sudan; Tuesday-Diocese of Kabba, Church of Nigeria; Wednesday-Diocese of Kadugli and Nuba Mountains, Episcopal Church of Sudan; Thursday-Diocese of Kaduna, Church of Nigeria; Friday-The Diocese of Kafanchan, Church of Nigeria; Saturday-Diocese of Kagera, Anglican Church of Tanzania
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Laudato sie, mi Signore cum tucte le Tue creature
St. Francis has inspired a great deal of art, and was himself a poet. His Canticle of the Creatures is particularly beloved. The hymn “All Creatures of Our God and King” is a paraphrase. The “Prayer of St. Francis” is probably not actually by him, but his inspiration is felt. Here is a choral setting of it by Margaret Bonds, a 20th century black composer from Chicago.
That’s all for Today! Want to talk to a priest? We want to talk to you too!
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