In my sermon today, I quoted Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. It’s one of my favorite novels, ever. I’d highly recommend it. It’s certainly in most libraries, or you could buy a copy.

Here’s the quote I read today:

It has seemed to me sometimes as though the Lord breathes on this poor gray ember of Creation and it turns to radiance — for a moment or a year or the span of a life. This is what I said in the Pentecost sermon [years ago]. I have reflected on that sermon, and there is some truth in it. But the Lord is more constant and far more extravagant than it seems to imply. Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don’t have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?

In my sermon this week, I’ll be mentioning a poem by Alice Meynell (1847-1922) called “A General Communion.” I found it here, along with her other poetry. Here it is, in full:

I saw the throng, so deeply separate,
Fed at one only board—
The devout people, moved, intent, elate,
And the devoted Lord.

O struck apart! not side from human side,
But soul from human soul,
As each asunder absorbed the multiplied,
The ever unparted, whole.

I saw this people as a field of flowers,
Each grown at such a price
The sum of unimaginable powers
Did no more than suffice.

A thousand single central daisies they,
A thousand of the one;
For each, the entire monopoly of day;
For each, the whole of the devoted sun.

One of my favorite church blogs has a link to this story in today’s Washington Post. I liked the title of the post in the other blog, so I’ve freely stolen it for this posting. We Christians do not have the option of forgetting the poor, even when we live in a nation where the poor are politically inconvenient.

Here’s an excerpt from the Post:

Poverty forced its way to the top of President Bush’s agenda in the confusing days after Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast and flooded New Orleans. Confronted with one of the most pressing political crises of his presidency, Bush, who in the past had faced withering criticism for speaking little about the poor, said the nation has a solemn duty to help them.

As it happened, poverty’s turn in the presidential limelight was brief. Bush has talked little about the issue since the immediate crisis passed, while pursuing policies that his liberal critics say will hurt the poor. He has publicly mentioned domestic poverty six times since giving back-to-back speeches on the issue in September. Domestic poverty did not come up in his State of the Union address in January, and his most recent budget included no new initiatives directed at the poor.

A few months ago, Jim Naughton from the Episcopal Diocese of Washington (DC) published some investigative articles about who’s paying for some of the dissenters in the Episcopal Church. While many people disagree in good conscience, there are others who might have motives other than doctrinal purity. (Of course, that can be said about all theological and political persuasions.)

Naughton’s articles show the extent to which certain conservative forces are plowing money into those who wish to undermine the Episcopal Church. It’s an illuminating read.

One important initiative to come out of the recent General Convention was a renewed emphasis on the Millennium Development Goals. I’ll be talking about them in the education time this Sunday, so I thought I’d post a few resources here, if you’d like to learn more. If you want to know what the MDGs are, you can Google the phrase “Millennium Development Goals” and you’ll get lots of hits. Here’s the basic idea: the MDGs challenge is to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. Smart people say that is realistic.

I think this UN site is pretty good, and so is this site at the UN Development Program. Want to know how we’re doing so far? Here’s some basic info, or you can visit this site, full of stats and measures. This document (PDF) shows how little the US gives compared with other countries.

If you want the Episcopalian take on all this, visit the Episcopal ONE Campaign site and Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation.

This blog is not the only game in town. Be sure you visit our diocesan blog too. Find the latest diocesan and national news there.