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        <rss:title>Subdean's Blog</rss:title>
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        <rss:description>Notes from Rev. Brian Cole</rss:description>
        

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        <rss:title>Subdean's Blog</rss:title>
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    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.allsoulscathedral.org/subdeans-blog-1/archive/2010/04/07/the-meaning-of-alleluia">

        <rss:title>the meaning of 'alleluia'...</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.allsoulscathedral.org/subdeans-blog-1/archive/2010/04/07/the-meaning-of-alleluia</rss:link>       

        
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          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;div id=":zv" class="ii gt"&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Friends,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In their new book, &lt;em&gt;Uncommon Gratitude&lt;/em&gt;, Sister Joan
Chittister asks Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, what most 
interests
him in the spiritual life.&amp;nbsp; “I find myself coming back again and
again to the meaning of ‘alleluia’”, he replies.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the Easter season, the alleluias return to our 
speech in
worship.&amp;nbsp; But as offer alleluias, we do so in a world where resurrection
is often resisted, ignored, or seems ridiculous with evidence to the 
contrary.&amp;nbsp;
What do our alleluias mean now?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Like Mary Magdalene, we often arrive at places of
Resurrection while still in the dark, unaware that there is life all 
around
while all we see is the absence, the missing.&amp;nbsp; In remaining, in seeking
for life while humming alleluias, we attach ourselves to God’s courage,
to a willingness to face what is before us, to witness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;If the musicians at All Souls were any better, they
 would
levitate.&amp;nbsp; But while you might not think of your voice as a lovely
instrument, I hope you will begin practicing the alleluias again, both 
in
worship and in the world.&amp;nbsp; If someone overhears you, they might ask what
you meant by that.&amp;nbsp; Well, what do they mean now?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Blessings to you during this Easter season,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Brian +&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;

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        <dc:date>2010-04-07T07:52:33-04:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2010-04-07T07:52:33-04:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Tahani Sticpewich</dc:creator>

        
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    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.allsoulscathedral.org/subdeans-blog-1/archive/2010/02/13/twenty-years-ago-today">

        <rss:title>Twenty years ago today...</rss:title>

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        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p&gt;Friends,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today marks the 20th anniversary of the death of my father, Bruce.&amp;nbsp; Several months ago, my brothers and I began to acknowledge that this day would be a milestone for all of us, especially my mother.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the burial office, we pray for the comfort of those who grieve, that through the assurances of the life we share in Christ through our baptisms, death will not be the final word to the lives we lead.&amp;nbsp; In praying for comfort, this might suggest that grief is a kind of fever and, with time, the fever will break and life as we know it will return.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But the lives lived by those who remain after the death of a loved one continue to be lived IN TIME, with the same days of the week and months given to us each year.&amp;nbsp; The great baseball player, Jackie Robinson, had his jersey number retired by all the teams of Major League Baseball a few years back.&amp;nbsp; He will always be # 42.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But we do not retire the date of your loved one’s death.&amp;nbsp; February 12th will come around next year.&amp;nbsp; The date is not sealed away and kept from being marked by new events, be they banal or celebratory, traumatic or ridiculous.&amp;nbsp; On the anniversary of your mother’s death, a young couple gets engaged.&amp;nbsp; They have no idea anyone has ever suffered on that day, when all is joy, all is grace.&amp;nbsp; You navigate the anniversary of the day carefully, while those around you are unaware of the tenderness, of what the date holds, why you appear to be holding your breath.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am grateful that the Church takes the calendar so seriously and that the Christian year is mapped out in real time, in ordinary days.&amp;nbsp; When we celebrate Easter, we teach that it is not simply the first Easter which we celebrate, but all the Easters that continue to take place in our world.&amp;nbsp; When the anniversary of a loved one’s death approaches, you are not simply remembering the first loss, but also noticing how you experience their loss on this day, with your life now, even as it has new riches and depths that your first and most raw grief would not have believed.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My father died the day after my parents’ wedding anniversary and so kept that day from lasting harm.&amp;nbsp; I recall, even now, that on the day of his death, I was grateful for such a final kind gesture by him.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Blessings as we enter Lent,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Brian +&lt;/p&gt;

          ]]>
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        <dc:date>2010-02-13T10:28:27-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2010-02-13T10:28:27-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Tahani Sticpewich</dc:creator>

        
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    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.allsoulscathedral.org/subdeans-blog-1/archive/2009/12/04/charles-de-foucauld-beginning-advent-and-reflecting-on-sabbatical">

        <rss:title>Charles de Foucauld, beginning Advent and reflecting on sabbatical</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.allsoulscathedral.org/subdeans-blog-1/archive/2009/12/04/charles-de-foucauld-beginning-advent-and-reflecting-on-sabbatical</rss:link>       

        
        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p&gt;Friends,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yesterday (December 1) marked the 93rd anniversary of Charles de
Foucauld’s martyrdom in the Saharan desert in Algeria.&amp;nbsp; Foucauld lived
in the desert for fifteen years, attempting to imitate the life of
Jesus in its simplicity, solitude and prayerful witness.&amp;nbsp; He had gone
into the desert, hoping to find both converts to the Christian faith
and fellow pilgrims willing to join him in his desert isolation.&amp;nbsp; He
died without one convert or student.&amp;nbsp; Years later, well after his
death, a community of Little Brothers and Little Sisters of Jesus,
emerged that still carry on his desert quest and simple life.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When I consider Advent as a time to begin again, to watch again, I
am reminded that Foucauld remained faithful where many would have given
up because no one was showing up.&amp;nbsp; We are called to watch and wait in
this season.&amp;nbsp; Our watching and waiting is not simply a stage direction
given to us who know how the Christmas pageant will turn out (“Look, a
baby!”).&amp;nbsp; Our watching and waiting is also happening in real time and
what new thing will emerge is not yet known to us.&amp;nbsp; For that kind of
work, it is helpful to follow Foucauld’s witness and to stay connected
to a community, like the community of faith that surrounds us at All
Souls.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
During this Advent season, I will also offer my reflection on
sabbatical on Thursday, December 10th at 6:30 p.m. in the nave at All
Souls.&amp;nbsp; The reflection is entitled, “With Thomas Merton in America”.&amp;nbsp;
Lewis Sorrells will have some Thomas Merton books available for sale at
the conclusion of the evening.&amp;nbsp; I hope you will be able to attend.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In thinking of Foucauld and his faithfulness, let me conclude with a quotation from Merton’s Raids on the Unspeakable&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“Do not depend on the hope of results, when you are doing the
sort of work you have taken on, you may have to face the fact that your
work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no worth at all, if
not perhaps, results opposite to what you expect.&amp;nbsp; As you get used to
this idea, you will start more and more to concentrate not on the
results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Have a blessed Advent,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Brian +&lt;/p&gt;

          ]]>
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        <dc:date>2009-12-04T14:23:59-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2009-12-04T14:23:59-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Tahani Sticpewich</dc:creator>

        
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