Apr 14, 2022 |
Rector's Blog: For The Unprepared
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulRector's Blog: For The Unprepared
I have failed at another Lent. It has become my new tradition, failing at Lent. I cannot seem to get it together for this season of penitence, fasting, and devotion. I have not been able to consistently give something up for years, I am literally eating a sleeve of Thin Mints while I write this blog – a blog that I was supposed to write a week ago. It’s fair to say I did not become a better Christian in the 6 weeks.
Really, nothing makes me feel like more of a failure as a Christian than Lent – which is funny since I am terrible at turning the other cheek, loving my enemy, praying for those who persecute me, refraining from judging others – all explicit directives of Jesus himself. My failure at these just makes me shrug and say, “nobody’s perfect.” But my inability to achieve a productive Lent, that 40-day feat of faithfulness – the one that Jesus had never heard of – somehow makes me feel guilty.
This happens, of course, because I keep thinking Lent is about being better, about self-improvement. But it’s not. Lent is about Jesus.
Apr 08, 2022 |
Rector's Blog: Proclaiming the Blessing You See
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulRector's Blog: Proclaiming the Blessing You See
Editor's note: This blog is part of our Throwback Series. This
blog post was originally posted on March 17, 2021.
Proclaiming the blessing of LGBTQ+ people in this world will change us as Christians. It will change our church. It will change how we understand God. It will change how we understand one another. Every time we see blessing in someone, our experience of God’s presence is expanded and deepened. God’s magnificent Love becomes more obvious, more powerful, more clear in our lives when we see it in places we hadn’t before. And we are transformed in a way that glorifies God.
Apr 01, 2022 |
Rector's Blog: Thy Kingdom Come
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulRector's Blog: Thy Kingdom Come
" I have been Christian my whole life, which means I’ve been saying, hearing, reading this prayer my whole life, and it wasn’t until a few years ago that I actually paid any attention at all to that first petition, to what it means. Plainly speaking, we are asking that God make this life, this place just like Heaven. That’s what we’re asking. And I don’t think Jesus was being hyperbolic, parabolic, symbolic, or idealistic. I think Jesus meant it, and I think Jesus wants us to mean it.
That this world be heavenly should be something we actively seek and desire.
The Episcopal Church is explicitly meant to be a visionary and driven body. Our catechism states that our mission is to restore all people to unity with God through Jesus Christ, and that we do this by praying, worshiping, proclaiming the Gospel, and promoting justice, peace, and love. At Church of the Redeemer we have our own Vision Statement that is likewise driven, and it seeks to focus us on how we live into that mission. It is worth recognizing that what we are really doing is trying to help our own petition to God come true. We are saying, “God we want Earth look more like Heaven, and we want to help make it happen.”
That this world be heavenly should be something we actively seek and desire.
The Episcopal Church is explicitly meant to be a visionary and driven body. Our catechism states that our mission is to restore all people to unity with God through Jesus Christ, and that we do this by praying, worshiping, proclaiming the Gospel, and promoting justice, peace, and love. At Church of the Redeemer we have our own Vision Statement that is likewise driven, and it seeks to focus us on how we live into that mission. It is worth recognizing that what we are really doing is trying to help our own petition to God come true. We are saying, “God we want Earth look more like Heaven, and we want to help make it happen.”
Mar 25, 2022 |
Rector's Blog: Incompletely White
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulRector's Blog: Incompletely White
As we turned from the presentation towards the people at our table for a small group breakout discussion, one of our brilliant, beloved, thoughtful parishioners spoke up. “Well, I’ll just say it, and I guess I should be sorry, but I love our liturgy.” I love her. I love that she said this. This was exactly the right thing for her to say and exactly the right place for her to say it. And my immediate response was, “I love it too, and I don’t think you need to be sorry.” Because the point of the work of Becoming Beloved Community isn’t to make you feel bad or shame you for loving something that has shaped your relationship with God. The work is meant to open us up to the fact that, however beautiful our experience of God has been, it is incomplete because we have not allowed ourselves to be influenced by people who don’t look like us. The liturgy isn’t bad. It’s incomplete.
However beautiful our lives have been, they are incomplete because we have not allowed ourselves to be influenced, led, taught, pastored, challenged, pushed, transformed, forgiven and loved by people who don’t look like us. We are not bad people, finally learning to be good. We are incomplete people searching for the wholeness of God, and the wholeness of God’s creation as seen in the people we have historically ignored and marginalized.
Mar 18, 2022 |
Rector's Blog: Angry and Beautiful
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulRector's Blog: Angry and Beautiful
"... Do we really grow out of not admitting we’re not ok? Do we really grow out of not knowing we need help? The most significant growth and maturity I have experienced has not come simply with age – it’s come through practice and intention. So if we do not practice the ownership of our broken feelings, how do we think we will ever actually get good at being honest with ourselves? If we only practice putting on the best face possible and moving forward as if things are ok, aren’t we just getting better and better at denial
Nirvana’s music, that grunge, that angry beautiful wall of sound, tapped into the part of me that was not ok and gave me something I couldn’t even ask for: It made it ok for me not to be ok. It made anger beautiful. It gave melody to my fears. We’re all so afraid of being alone. They made me less alone.
Our culture’s collective mastery of denial has been made manifest during the last two years. We have made a practice of denying the seriousness of the virus, denying its magnitude, denying its impact. We have many times chosen denial of the obvious ways to stop the spread, denial of simple ways to save lives, denial of the fact that all this uncertainty and death has taken its toll on us."
Mar 11, 2022 |
Rector's Blog: Practicing Promise
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulRector's Blog: Practicing Promise
If you had not thought about that before, please take a moment simply to sit with it. Attainment of God’s promise is not found in the central narrative of God’s people. The bulk of the story is located in the wilderness - wandering, wrestling, and wrangling.
In this moment, it might be tempting for us as Christians to differentiate ourselves from the Israelites. But we’d be kidding ourselves. Even if we ignore for a moment the centrality of the Torah in Jesus’ life, we’d have to admit that our New Testament leaves us here on earth waiting on a promise. No, this Torah is our story, and we would be wise to locate ourselves within it.
We would be doubly wise to find ourselves in the wilderness alongside the Israelites, because it is in that wilderness that God’s people most consistently recognize God’s presence and power. While they, like us, are attracted to stability and seduced by certainty, they cannot deny that their most potent experience of God’s loving kindness comes to them in the wilderness of struggle and uncertainty. To take the narrative of the Torah seriously is to recognize where God shows up – and it’s not in the perfect places. Far from it.
Your life is not defined by the attainment of all your dreams. Your life is not shaped by the consummation of all your desires. Your life is composed of uncertainty and struggle.
Mar 04, 2022 |
Following Love, Finding Transformation
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulFollowing Love, Finding Transformation
I have been married for almost 14 years. I didn’t get married because I wanted to change. I didn’t get married because I wanted to become a different kind of person. I got married because I loved this woman named Krista and I wanted to be around her as much as possible. That, and I come from a tradition that says when you find someone you want to be around as much as possible, you probably should marry them. So I got married. It will not surprise you to hear that marriage has changed me a lot in the intervening years. It doesn’t matter that that was not my goal. My goal was to follow love. Transformation happened...
We commit to things that will transform us when we are drawn towards them despite the work involved: when we feel a sense of love and excitement. So it goes for the Church, I think. We exist for Love. It’s why we are here.
We commit to things that will transform us when we are drawn towards them despite the work involved: when we feel a sense of love and excitement. So it goes for the Church, I think. We exist for Love. It’s why we are here.
Feb 25, 2022 |
Holding Space for Frustration and Hope
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulHolding Space for Frustration and Hope
We are entering into a time of hope. I’m not talking about the religious season of Lent, though that is wonderful: I’m talking about this time in our church in relation to COVID-19. Transmission of the virus is dropping dramatically in our area, and vaccinations continue to increase. We are all hopeful that we are seeing the end of the pandemic. Of course, we know that this does not mean the end of COVID-19, which will likely be with us for the rest of our lives. But, understanding that, we are seeing a shift from pandemic to endemic, we are shifting slowly out of crisis mode, and beginning the work of creating our new normal. This is quite a gift.
I am very excited that the recent case surge is coming to such a rapid end. With current case numbers finally dropping from "High Transmission" to "Substantial Transmission" for the first time in months. We are excited to reintroduce congregational singing to our worship, and to allow eating indoors again: These developments are life-giving for our community, and they are a sign of things to come!..
At present, we are on the downslope of the Omicron surge, which you know. What you may not be aware of is that during this surge, children aged 0-4 were being hospitalized for COVID-19 at 4 times the rate they had been during any other time in the pandemic. This recent surge has, in plain terms, been the most potentially dangerous for the youngest members of our church and school community – who are not yet able to be vaccinated, and we have taken that very seriously.
In casual conversation, many people have referred to the Omicron variant as not dangerous or not that bad. It’s true that it has been generally less vicious than Delta. But our hospitals have been full during this surge, our healthcare workers have been overtaxed to the breaking point, and deaths have been astronomical. We are tired. I know it. And we want this thing to be over. But we want to be careful in our fatigue about how we understand the severity of recent events.
Feb 18, 2022 |
Make You Odd
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulMake You Odd
Hey, friends, welcome to my podcast, When Love Shows Up. This week we’re going to rerun an episode from last year because I find it has held its relevance in terms of our community response to COVID-19. While some of our guidelines have changed, since this was written/recorded, our guiding principles and philosophy are the same. Our Christian beliefs put our care for each other at the forefront of our priorities, and this can sometimes put us out of step with the world around us. With COVID cases dropping dramatically, and vaccinations on the rise, we believe we will be seeing some big changes in the next few weeks. I am meeting with Redeemer’s COVID Advisory Response Expert Team regularly as things unfold, and we continue to make decisions based on the data, and on the best practices available to us. Assuming a continued downward trend in case numbers, we are expecting to loosen some of the restrictions we’ve placed on our gathering – as it is safe to do so. In all this, I welcome your questions and feedback, and I ask for your prayers for sound and loving decision-making.
"You know what we do is odd, right? We who worship God in the church. One of the things we’ve missed the most these last months is one of the things that makes us odd: the weekly gathering for the purpose of honoring an invisible God and asking that God to care for us, to heal and reconcile us, to give us all that we need. It’s not really comparable to anything else"
"You know what we do is odd, right? We who worship God in the church. One of the things we’ve missed the most these last months is one of the things that makes us odd: the weekly gathering for the purpose of honoring an invisible God and asking that God to care for us, to heal and reconcile us, to give us all that we need. It’s not really comparable to anything else"
Feb 11, 2022 |
Your Presence
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulYour Presence
As I write this, many of you have not yet returned to worship in the physical space of your church. Many of you have come back, but have not made it a regular practice again, as it was for you prior to the pandemic. Every single one of you has your reasons, and I have no interest in judging them...
We are a church: A people who belong to one another in Jesus’ name. Your presence transforms us, and it transforms you...
If you are a part of Church of the Redeemer, you have memories of this space – of what it has meant to you. Perhaps you love it because of those memories. Perhaps you love it because of what it has meant to you.
I am interested in what the Church of the Redeemer’s sanctuary will mean to you going forward. I am interested in your continued presence and pilgrimage. I am interested in making Church of the Redeemer holy again and again. I am interested in this place helping to shape your future, as you help to shape its future. This happens when we are together, under whatever circumstance.
Feb 04, 2022 |
For the Bengals
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulFor the Bengals
"Cincinnatians are often curious about me moving here. They ask me why I, a Californian, would live here instead of, well, California. I like to ask them what they love about Cincinnati. They unfailingly have a list ready to go, their passion and pride clear and unabashed. And they usually list several things I love too. And then I ask, “Well, why wouldn’t I love those things too?” Sometimes they believe me. Sometimes they are flattered, or appreciative. But oftentimes, a lifelong Cincinnatian with a deep sense of loyalty for their beloved town will just shake their head and say, “I don’t know, though…you came from California…” and then immediately complain about Cincinnati weather and the sports teams. Cincinnatians love their city in a way that I find really beautiful. ...But then there’s Cincinnati sports. I have not seen anything in my time here that contains the pride, frustration, hope, and misery of a people quite like their relationship with sports. Inviting me, challenging me to root for Cincinnati sports teams was a crucible. It was as if they were saying to me, “You don’t get to love us if you’re not going to suffer alongside us.” And that makes sense to me. That’s always been my favorite part about Jesus: That he’s all in on us, and not just here for the good parts."
Jan 28, 2022 |
Sibling Rivalry
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulSibling Rivalry
Though sources differ on just when the split occurred, the Jews and the Samaritans came from the same family. Even the fact that there are different versions and understandings of the fracture sounds like family, doesn’t it? The Samaritans, like the Jews, were colonized and subjugated by the Romans, and just like their Jewish siblings, they were waiting for a messiah at the time of Jesus’ arrival. Knowing how close they were, how much they shared, how slight were their differences, their rivalry makes more sense to me – not less. Nobody can push your buttons like those to whom you are closest. The strength of their anger testifies to the depth of their connection.
The first Christians were Jews. I wrote about this last week, but it bears repeating, that the first Christians were in fact Jews that followed Jesus, who is Jewish.
And yet no group of people in the history of the world have been as destructive to Jews as Christians have. There’s no escaping this fact. Christians have othered and marginalized and oppressed and murdered Jews on a level that would horrify the Pharoah of Exodus – and we’ve done it in Jesus’ name.
Jan 21, 2022 |
Jesus is a Jew
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulJesus is a Jew
"I have learned that I have not listened to marginalized voices enough. I have learned that I have been conditioned to decide what racism is rather than deferring to People of Color on the matter, that I have been conditioned to decide what sexism is, rather than deferring to women on the matter, and so on. I am learning to listen, to defer to the expertise of others, to allow myself to be transformed by listening.
For the non-Jew, this kind of listening absolutely must extend to our Jewish siblings. We have to listen to them. They are telling us they experience antisemitism with stunning regularity. They are telling us they are scared simply to be themselves. They are telling us they don’t enter a synagogue without searching out the nearest exit just in case. They are telling us they feel the need to defend their very right to exist."
Jan 13, 2022 |
For Our Children and Their Educators
| The Rev. Philip DeVaulFor 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 DeVaulThrowback 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 DeVaulThrowback 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 DeVaulHoping 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 DeVaulHoping 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 DeVaulHoping 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 DeVaulHoping 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."