Jan 13, 2022 |
For Our Children and Their Educators
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
For Our Children and Their Educators
"I see our treatment of our children and their educators as something that speaks directly to our larger dysfunction as a people: We want the appearance of caring deeply for something, but we do not want to structure our shared life as if we actually believe it.
What’s more, we don’t want to acknowledge that this pandemic has actually shaped and transformed our shared life, and this bears itself out in our desire to do everything we can to make school “like it was before” at all costs. Our lives are not like they were before, any more than our lives were the same after 9/11, or after JFK’s assassination, or after World War II, or after the Spanish Flu pandemic. We are being transformed. The Corinthians wanted to say Jesus is Lord, but then not allow their daily lives to be transformed by that event. It didn’t work like that then, and it doesn’t work like that now.
What’s more, we don’t want to acknowledge that this pandemic has actually shaped and transformed our shared life, and this bears itself out in our desire to do everything we can to make school “like it was before” at all costs. Our lives are not like they were before, any more than our lives were the same after 9/11, or after JFK’s assassination, or after World War II, or after the Spanish Flu pandemic. We are being transformed. The Corinthians wanted to say Jesus is Lord, but then not allow their daily lives to be transformed by that event. It didn’t work like that then, and it doesn’t work like that now.
I see hope though. I see tremendous hope."
Jan 07, 2022 |
Throwback Episode - In Service of the Melody
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Throwback Episode - In Service of the Melody
Editor's note:
As part of our When Love Shows Up Throwback Series we are re-posting this blog
post which was originally posted on October 7, 2021.
The first time I really noticed this effect was while watching live bluegrass at a little bar in Nashville called the Station Inn. It was the Spring of 2001, and this band I’d never heard of stood in a half circle up on a bare little stage – two guitars, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and bass – ripping through a beautiful song I’d never heard but felt like I’d known forever. As the song progressed, each musician stepped forward to solo. Everyone was a soulful virtuoso, but I was amazed by the discipline of their offerings – no matter how good each performer was, they confined their solo to the melody, then stepped back into the half-circle and disappeared into the sound of the whole...Each piece mattered, by the way. Every instrument. Every voice. They worked together in service of the song and carried it along while the melody carried them. I’m getting too fanciful about this, and I’m sorry about that but music is one of the things that helps me understand what I believe and feel about life. And this idea of these powerful, brilliant, dynamic musicians bringing their talents together to serve something bigger than themselves continues to speak to me after all these years.
Dec 31, 2021 |
Throwback Episode - More Than You Can Bear
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Throwback Episode - More Than You Can Bear
Editor's note: As part of our When Love Shows Up Throwback Series we are re-posting this blog post which was originally posted on September 9, 2021.
"God means for us to share this life, and to get through it together. When you think this life is something you are supposed to do in the singular – on your own, to be tested and proven individually, you are placing a burden upon yourself that is too great to bear. Your inability to grasp all that is happening to you is not a sign of weakness. The world God has given us is inherently overwhelming. We cannot bear it all and we were never going to be able to. And I have to admit I find grace in this. I do. Because if the world was going to be overwhelming no matter what it makes no sense to judge ourselves for being overwhelmed. It was never going to be easy, or even uniformly manageable. We were always going to need help, need rest, need redemption, need healing, need God, need each other."
"God means for us to share this life, and to get through it together. When you think this life is something you are supposed to do in the singular – on your own, to be tested and proven individually, you are placing a burden upon yourself that is too great to bear. Your inability to grasp all that is happening to you is not a sign of weakness. The world God has given us is inherently overwhelming. We cannot bear it all and we were never going to be able to. And I have to admit I find grace in this. I do. Because if the world was going to be overwhelming no matter what it makes no sense to judge ourselves for being overwhelmed. It was never going to be easy, or even uniformly manageable. We were always going to need help, need rest, need redemption, need healing, need God, need each other."
Dec 23, 2021 |
Hoping for Jesus
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Hoping for Jesus
I’m a talker but I am trying to listen more. I love Jesus. And I believe that Jesus is present in you. I’d like to spend more time seeking out his presence in you and learning from that. When I think of the places where my faith has grown the most, it’s not when I convinced others of anything, but when I listened. So, if you want to talk about Jesus, I am up for it. He is my favorite, and I seek to give my life to him. But that conversation will not be about conversion.
For all my talking, there is something else I do not do: I do not tell you about the tenderest things.
There is a moment in the story of Jesus’ birth that resonates for me: the shepherds have shown up and are paying homage to this little baby. They’re telling Mary and Joseph about the chorus of angels that appeared in the sky and notified them of Jesus’ birth and of all that it meant for them. They abandoned their sheep and ran to Mary and told her of this thing that she already knew in her bones. And in that moment the author simply says, “Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”
Dec 17, 2021 |
Hoping for Peace
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Hoping for Peace
"Christians often refer to Jesus as the Prince of Peace. Paul simply calls Jesus himself Peace - the way John calls God Love. And yet Jesus rarely makes people like us comfortable or unbothered. Jesus doesn’t strive to create a happy and content middle, but heads to the margins of our lives and communities in order to reveal God’s presence and blessing in the places most unlike us.
“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus declares, and then lives the rest of his life as an exclamation point to that declaration. Jesus makes peace, and he doesn’t do it by creating false binaries or forcing others into his way of seeing things. Jesus shows up. Jesus makes himself present. Jesus listens. Jesus recognizes faith and beauty and holiness and humanity in lives that look nothing like his own."
Dec 10, 2021 |
Hoping for Company
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Hoping for Company
"We humans are built for relationship and connection, and not just with one or two people. Our bodies and souls actually want to feel the sense of sharing life with a host of people. But for many of us – myself included – it took a pandemic and months of isolation to realize just how deeply we needed simply to be among people, how important it was for us on a daily basis that we weren’t really alone. I took so much for granted. I definitely did not realize how connected to community I was. I thought I was alone a lot while surrounded by beautiful people living connected, intersecting, and interweaving lives.
It occurs to me that I have spent the majority of my life thinking similarly about faith. I long believed that Christianity was about me and my beliefs and my faith - my relationship with God and what I would need to think or do or believe so that I could be the right kind of person and go to the right place when I die. I did not understand that faith is something shared with others, that belief is something we live into together. For God and the saints, eternity is happening right here and right now – I don’t have to wait until I die – I am already participating in eternal life now, already experiencing the company of Heaven."
Dec 03, 2021 |
Hoping for Normal
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Hoping for Normal
"Perhaps the sadness and yearning I hear articulated the most by others in my life and in my job is how badly we wish things could get back to normal. But what are we really asking for? I wonder. I think I know some piece of this: I think, in the case of the church, people can’t wait until we can safely take off our masks, hug one another, sing loudly and just be together in ways that have made sense to us for most of our lives. I will not criticize that or disagree with it. I want that too. But I don’t think we’re actually saying we want normal. We’re scratching at the surface of something deeper.
In the church we call this season Advent. It is a time of preparation for Christmas. Jesus’ birth. We acknowledge our desire for the deliverance that is found in the coming of Jesus. Are we really just hoping Jesus will come back and restore normality? Is that our goal? Do we think salvation looks like getting back to the way things were?
I’m going to go out on a limb here. The things I listed above – the connectedness, the physical closeness, the singing and hand-holding and hugging and gathering in shared love and respect – I don’t think these things were ever normal. These were and are the transcendent things. We don’t miss normal. We miss the things that help us transcend beyond the normal and see the true presence of divine Love active in our midst."
Nov 25, 2021 |
The Gratitude in the Grief
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
The Gratitude in the Grief
"...I am really glad I exist. I love that I get to be a person. I am profoundly grateful for my life. I don’t do too well with people parsing out what is God’s plan and what is not. There are some things that are too tender to be categorized.
Maybe this is part of why I’m so reticent to specifically not thank God for certain things: It’s not that I think my kids are wrong – I think they are right, their prayer is real and honest, and this pandemic is truly awful. I’m not thankful for it. And also, I’m thankful for the closeness they’ve developed during this time of forced togetherness. I’m thankful for their ability to tell God the truth. I’m thankful for our exhausting, painful, maddening, seemingly endless but ridiculously precious time together. Both are true.
The grief and the gratitude are allowed to coexist. One does not erase the other. God’s blessing does not dwell in ideal spaces. God’s blessing hallows the tender complicated mess of our shared life. The things that are terrible are still terrible. And somehow grace abounds. This is the mystery of the cross. This is one of the truest truths of our faith."
Maybe this is part of why I’m so reticent to specifically not thank God for certain things: It’s not that I think my kids are wrong – I think they are right, their prayer is real and honest, and this pandemic is truly awful. I’m not thankful for it. And also, I’m thankful for the closeness they’ve developed during this time of forced togetherness. I’m thankful for their ability to tell God the truth. I’m thankful for our exhausting, painful, maddening, seemingly endless but ridiculously precious time together. Both are true.
The grief and the gratitude are allowed to coexist. One does not erase the other. God’s blessing does not dwell in ideal spaces. God’s blessing hallows the tender complicated mess of our shared life. The things that are terrible are still terrible. And somehow grace abounds. This is the mystery of the cross. This is one of the truest truths of our faith."
Nov 18, 2021 |
The Whelming Flood
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
The Whelming Flood
"When the great Flood came, it was immediate and incomprehensible. There was no way to prepare for it, no way to avoid or deflect it. The water burst forth from below and above, and all in a moment everything changed. It didn’t matter what you believed about God or yourself, it didn’t matter how you voted or if you acknowledged it was happening or not – in a moment the world changed. In a moment life, or at least life as anyone understood it, was gone forever.
We tend to judge ourselves for not fully grasping what is currently happening to us. We are reticent simply to acknowledge the relentlessly overwhelming reality of our times. We have an unspoken belief that if we would just keep on the sunny side of life, we might wake up tomorrow to find it was all just a figment, and we could get back to whatever normal was. Or maybe if we just read enough think-pieces or listened to enough podcasts we could understand our way out of this moment.
You cannot understand your way out of this moment. This powerful, painful time is part of your story now, part of our shared story, and we cannot outsmart it anymore than Noah could outsmart the flood. Sure, he built a boat, but he still had to make it through the months of the flood, and he did not emerge from the ark the same as when he went in."
Nov 11, 2021 |
Fall Throwback: Loneliness and Belonging
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Fall Throwback: Loneliness and Belonging
As part of our When Love Shows Up Fall Throwback Series we are re-posting this blog post which was originally posted on October 14, 2020.
"We’re all lonely. And I don’t think that’s just a COVID thing: Loneliness is a natural part of being human. The wondering if you are the only person who sees things the way you see them, the solitude that you experience surrounded by people – this has always been a part of our humanity. It’s just been exacerbated by this pandemic – but it’s a part of us, this loneliness.
Jesus was profoundly lonely. It’s so obvious when you read the stories about him. Constantly misunderstood, oscillating between seeking connection and trying to find alone time. So many of his parables and teachings are about being misunderstood. Friends, loneliness is not bad or shameful. And it’s not all about being physically isolated – although many of us are that right now."
"We’re all lonely. And I don’t think that’s just a COVID thing: Loneliness is a natural part of being human. The wondering if you are the only person who sees things the way you see them, the solitude that you experience surrounded by people – this has always been a part of our humanity. It’s just been exacerbated by this pandemic – but it’s a part of us, this loneliness.
Jesus was profoundly lonely. It’s so obvious when you read the stories about him. Constantly misunderstood, oscillating between seeking connection and trying to find alone time. So many of his parables and teachings are about being misunderstood. Friends, loneliness is not bad or shameful. And it’s not all about being physically isolated – although many of us are that right now."
Nov 04, 2021 |
Fall Throwback: Where is Jesus in your Spending
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Fall Throwback: Where is Jesus in your Spending
As part of our When Love Shows Up Fall Throwback Series we are re-posting this blog post which was originally posted on July 22, 2020.
"What happens when, instead of asking, “What would Jesus do?” you ask the question, “What is Jesus doing?” or “Where do I see Jesus in this?” The emphasis shifts dramatically. “What would Jesus do?” is like a game of make believe – treating Jesus’ presence as hypothetical. “What is Jesus doing?” pushes you to see Jesus working in your life. “Where do I see Jesus in this?” forces you to recognize there is no part of your life where Jesus isn’t Lord, where the life and love and peace and mercy of God aren’t meant to be expressed."
"What happens when, instead of asking, “What would Jesus do?” you ask the question, “What is Jesus doing?” or “Where do I see Jesus in this?” The emphasis shifts dramatically. “What would Jesus do?” is like a game of make believe – treating Jesus’ presence as hypothetical. “What is Jesus doing?” pushes you to see Jesus working in your life. “Where do I see Jesus in this?” forces you to recognize there is no part of your life where Jesus isn’t Lord, where the life and love and peace and mercy of God aren’t meant to be expressed."
Oct 28, 2021 |
The Gift and Work that Follows
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
The Gift and Work that Follows
To be as clear as possible, I am not complaining at all. How else could it be? What gift does not require work? If someone gives you a wonderful book, you have to actually read it. Children are a gift. And also more work than is conceivable. Come to think of it, every relationship that is truly meaningful and transformative is a great gift and requires work on your part if you’re to really appreciate it.
There is something deep within us, some unspoken default setting, that seeks neat and tidy solutions. We like to check boxes, measure progress, eliminate problems. It’s as if we think we can cross something off the list and not look back. Replace the dead tree and call it a day. We crave this on a spiritual level. We think that, with God’s help, we should just be able to get past some fault of ours, and never worry about it again. On a practical level, this has worked for us approximately zero times – but we keep believing that’s how God works.
Oct 22, 2021 |
Tacos and Friendship
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Tacos and Friendship
Friends, this was simply a magical night. And the food was a big part of it, but honestly, I was overwhelmed with joy just for the opportunity to be together. I saw longtime parishioners next to people who have just shown up in the last couple months, friends and family, some who walked over, and others who came from West Chester and Evendale all, together. The feeling of love and affection was palpable across the front porch, into the narthex and through the cloister garden, as I watched people remember what it meant just to be church together.
Oct 14, 2021 |
Equipping the Sent - A Financial Commitment for 2022
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Equipping the Sent - A Financial Commitment for 2022
As we emerge out of the isolation we have experienced, this portion of our Vision Statement reminds us that we are not simply trying to get back into the world or “back” to church – but that we move with purpose in the world. We are sent to love and serve the world God has redeemed. We have gotten through such difficulty together. We are moving forward together. We are building something; rooted and grounded in the love of Jesus...Last year many of you made a commitment to Church of the Redeemer in the midst of the pandemic, unsure of how long it would last, unsure of what our programming would look like in 2021, unsure of when we’d be back together in person. But you made that commitment because you believed in Church of the Redeemer. During an impossible time, you saw your community rally to provide safe and meaningful pastoral care, consistent connection, engaging education, and dynamic, Spirit-filled worship.
Oct 07, 2021 |
In Service of the Melody
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
In Service of the Melody
The first time I really noticed this effect was while watching live bluegrass at a little bar in Nashville called the Station Inn. It was the Spring of 2001, and this band I’d never heard of stood in a half circle up on a bare little stage – two guitars, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and bass – ripping through a beautiful song I’d never heard but felt like I’d known forever. As the song progressed, each musician stepped forward to solo. Everyone was a soulful virtuoso, but I was amazed by the discipline of their offerings – no matter how good each performer was, they confined their solo to the melody, then stepped back into the half-circle and disappeared into the sound of the whole...Each piece mattered, by the way. Every instrument. Every voice. They worked together in service of the song and carried it along while the melody carried them. I’m getting too fanciful about this, and I’m sorry about that but music is one of the things that helps me understand what I believe and feel about life. And this idea of these powerful, brilliant, dynamic musicians bringing their talents together to serve something bigger than themselves continues to speak to me after all these years.
Sep 30, 2021 |
A Need for Hope
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
A Need for Hope
"I could not see past my own life, my own comfort. And there were a lot of things happening around me that I chose not to see. The word “privilege” is another word that is politically loaded right now, but it is a fitting description of me: I was allowed to not pay attention to people’s lives that were worse than mine. I was able to focus on what was working for me and could filter out the pain and strife of others... I’m paying attention now. To the degree that I can. I bet you are too. The need for hope is so obvious to everyone I meet, and I’m sure that includes you. Hope doesn’t thrive well in privilege. Hope requires acknowledgement of need. Hope is born in the midst of sorrow and strife. Hope is the purple sky that accompanies the sunrise and is so beautiful because it signals the end of the sleepless night."
Sep 23, 2021 |
Waiting for Jesus
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Waiting for Jesus
"This is an in-between time, and it is making us really uncomfortable. We want our faith to make everything better, we want Jesus’ salvation to be immediate and to take away our suffering. That’s not how salvation works, of course. It’s not how salvation has ever worked, but we keep dreaming of it. And, I don’t really blame us: We are in the midst of radical change and uncertainty, and it’s scary and painful. We are still sorting through the trauma of the last 18 months, and contrary to what some would have us believe, the pandemic isn’t over. The pandemic isn’t over. The pandemic isn’t over. We know it will be someday, but we don’t know who we will be or what our lives will look like in that time...None of this looks the way we thought it would. But has it ever? If we wait for Jesus to make it all better before we step out in Love, we will never step out in Love. If we wait for the Church to “get back to normal” before we commit ourselves to it again, we will never commit."
Sep 16, 2021 |
Life on Purpose
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Life on Purpose
" Do you think your existence is an accident? Are you here by coincidence? Do you just happen to exist, and now you’ve decided to cobble together something that vaguely resembles purpose or meaning?... Please take a moment and dwell on the radical claim that is being made: Every single person you meet has a mission in life. That includes that man with the sign at the freeway offramp. That includes the person you can’t stand. That includes you... You and I exist as living expressions of God’s Love. And Love does not exist for itself. Love moves outward. Love brims with abundance uncontainable, spilling over the edges and boundaries of our comfort and convenience, drawing us into lives of interdependence and mutual care. Say what you will about Love, but it is not without purpose. So how do you think you, who are made from Love and made for Love could possibly be here by accident, responsible for coming up with your own reason and meaning?"
Sep 09, 2021 |
More Than You Can Bear
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
More Than You Can Bear
" God means for us to share this life, and to get through it together. When you think this life is something you are supposed to do in the singular – on your own, to be tested and proven individually, you are placing a burden upon yourself that is too great to bear. Your inability to grasp all that is happening to you is not a sign of weakness. The world God has given us is inherently overwhelming. We cannot bear it all and we were never going to be able to. And I have to admit I find grace in this. I do. Because if the world was going to be overwhelming no matter what it makes no sense to judge ourselves for being overwhelmed. It was never going to be easy, or even uniformly manageable. We were always going to need help, need rest, need redemption, need healing, need God, need each other."
Sep 01, 2021 |
Uncurated Love
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Uncurated Love
"Our lives are changing so much right now. Our church is changing so much right now. It’s inconvenient. Period. Doubly so if we were looking forward to things getting back to normal after the pandemic. First because we don’t even know when the end of the pandemic will be, and second because we are seeing more clearly that there will be no going back to normal. We are forging a new normal. We are moving forward into the dark that comes right before the dawn not knowing what the new day will bring. Knowing only that whatever comes our way, we will have God and we will have each other."
