Are you a giver, or a receiver?

Last week I preached my first Sunday sermon at Trinity Cathedral.  Being that it was Veteran's Day, the sermon was (naturally) on Veterans and serving.  The gospel for the day was the story of the widow's mite.  You know, the story where the poor widow donates her last 2 cents, gives all she had into the Temple treasury.

I think it is safe to say, the widow was definitely a giver!

Service, serving others is a form of giving.  And some people as we know, give all.  Even their lives.

But the story of the widow's mite is troubling for many.  Why would anyone give their last few cents, all they had to live on, to the "church"?  Leaving themselves with nothing, not even money for food!  The Temple should have been helping the poor widow!

Well, perhaps there is a deeper meaning to the story.  Hmmm.

Many people are natural givers.  My sister (who is now passed) was a giver.  My home is full of the many gifts she gave me over the years.  No, it does not bother me or make me sad to see them everywhere.  I love seeing them.  They remind me what a generous and loving person she was. 

But as we  know, giving does not come naturally for many people.  Our society is a consumer society, essentially based on money, stuff and greed.  It is all about receiving.  If not receiving from others, then receiving from ourselves!

Come on admit it, how many times have you gone gift shopping and wound up buying things for yourself?  OK, I admit it too.  Sigh.

The night before I preached my sermon last week, I watched a movie I had seen many years previously; Babbette's Feast.   And this movie, along with the Veteran's Day and service theme, plus the story of the widow's mite made me think even more about giving.

In the movie, (it takes place in the 19th century) Babbette flees France, her homeland, as her family had all been killed in the revolution.  She winds up in Denmark a refugee and essentially penniless.

Babbette finds refuge serving two older women (sisters), and they give her a place to live. In exchange, she cooks, cleans and cares for them and their little "flock", the aged member's of their deceased father's Protestant church. 

Seventeen years go by and Babbette faithfully serves them.  Little do the sisters realize it, but Babbette was once a master chef and was very famous for her cooking talents in Paris.

One day, she receives a letter in the mail from France, she has won the lottery, ten thousand dollars!   The sisters are happy for Babbette, but are also sad, as she will probably leave them.  They have grown accustomed to her and liked having her around. 

Babbette prepares the feast

The sisters want to give a celebration for their father, as it was soon to be his one hundredth birthday (had he been alive).  Babbette asks the sisters if she can cook for them and their little flock a fine French meal, as her gift.  The sisters agree, but are a little apprehensive.  French food (and wine)  seem a bit too foreign, perhaps even, "sinful".  But they allow Babbette to go ahead.

And so Babbette places an order for the fine foods and wines, and she spends days preparing the feast.  The meal has many courses and varieties of wines and foods the townspeople had never tasted before.  The feast was a great success and brought much joy to all.

The sisters are then sad, they think Babbette will now leave and go back to France.  But she tells them she is not leaving, for she has spent every bit of that $10,000 on that fine French dinner!

Naturally, the sisters are shocked, and then realize the great gift they had just received from Babbette.

Babbette, a gourmet chef of the highest caliber, gave it all away so she could experience her art one more time...and the joy of giving.

And like the widow's mite, she gave all.

Have you ever given like this?  Have you ever been the receiver of such a great gift?


It is amazing.  Generosity like this takes one's breath away.  For so rarely do we meet someone of such generosity.

Or do we?

Chanting, praying, singing, and all that jazz

Medieval monks chanting

It is with the greatest joy that I am serving as the assisting priest at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.  After the year I lived through last year, I am so very grateful just to be alive.  And now, that I have been blessed to be back in the land of the living, I am learning much as a new priest.

Among the many things I am learning and doing, I am learning to chant.  The Music Director has been giving me chanting lessons, so that soon I will be able to "sing" the Eucharist (the mass). 

It is an interesting learning process.  Being that music has always been such a big part of my life, I find it "fun" learning to chant.  It is also a challenge, because I was never really a professional singer,  I was a bass player and a percussionist.  So pitches and harmonies were never my strengths.  Oh, I did some back up vocals over the years.  OK, at least I can hold a basic melody and am not tone deaf.  Thanks be to God.  But this, celebrating the Eucharist, AND chanting it up there at the altar will be like being a lead singer on center stage!  Gulp!

Chanting may seem like it is an archaic or very foreign form of the arts.  It was originally done in large churches and cathedrals as a way to project the voice, as there were no microphones back then.  It was done so people could hear.  Over the years, it became an art form and served as the basis of Western music notation! 

Chanting is done in many religions, not just ancient Christianity and a few denominations.  Buddhists chant, Hindus chant, African, Hawaiian, Native American all chant.  Jews chant, Muslims chant the Qur'an, and on it goes.

Chanting is done by many as a spiritual practice.  Chanting, much like drumming tends to open up a certain aspect of our psyche, it can slightly altar one's consciousness.  It can put some into a trance.  It can open one up to a very spiritual experience.

One time, I was playing bass for a Taize service with the Sisters of Mercy in California.  Sr. Suzanne Toolan was playing piano, we had a viola, a harp and a few other musicians.  The church was dim and candle lit and packed with people.  Over and over we chanted and played the Taize songs.  I "suddenly" felt a pain in my shoulder, and wondered what time it was.  And to my shock, when I looked at my watch, two hours had flown by!

Prayer and chant became a way of life for monks, singing prayers throughout various times of the day known as the Daily Office.  For Episcopalians / Anglicans, there is Morning Prayer, there is Noon Prayer.  There is Evening Prayer (Vespers), and there is Night Prayer (Compline).

Chanting, celebrating the Eucharist with a liturgy that is very ancient, and praying the Daily Office is not of these times!

It is all so VERY different than when I was a minister with the UCC!

Gregorian chant notation

But here we are, still chanting and praying and celebrating the Eucharist after all these years!

There must be something to it!