<html><body><div>Part 2 for Sunday.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>I’m
reminded that when the composer Dmitri Shostakovich was being hounded by Stalin
through every phase of his life, he slept in the hallway each night so that, if
the secret police came for him, it might disturb his family less. Yet despite
this feeling of intense loneliness and fear, he wrote, “When a man is in
despair, it means he still believes in something.”</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><b><u>THIS</u></b> “something”, this
belief that could not be eradicated from him somehow spoke to him, no matter
how much his life appeared to be shattered.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Imagine the people of Isaiah’s day,
and Jesus’ day, as their lives were filled, especially the lives of those who
couldn’t flee, who had no money, no resources, no family, no friends to help
them escape. Imagine those who were trapped and desperate. Yet, somehow, they
were able to hang on to something deep within them that told them that God was
still there, no matter how invisible; that God still listened, no matter how
far off God appeared to be; that God would still speak. It was this for which
the people longed to discover in their lives, and which kept them going.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I don’t know how many of them found
solace in music. We <b><u>DO</u></b> know of the importance of music through
the history of the Hebrew people. We’re aware that music not only was a vehicle
for people offering praise, it was a way to sooth physical pain as well as
mental pain. If brought memories to the surface, memories of how God had acted
and will always act.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><b><u>WE</u></b> have to deal with
issues that are just as frightening. But then, from the heart of the flame and
the music, comes something that reminds us that hope is <b><u>NOT</u></b> gone;
that fear will <b><u>NOT</u></b> win; that there <b><u>WILL</u></b> be a joyous
resolution to all the heartache and pain. Somehow, we are reminded that we do <b><u>NOT</u></b>
belong to this world. And that God will <b><u>ALWAYS</u></b> hold us and extend
a hand to lift us into the understand that the world can never possess us, even
although there <b><u>IS</u></b> still much in the world, so much in certain
people, who give us courage to seek life.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This can be so difficult, though. I
can’t imagine what Terezin must have been like – a transit camp, meaning that
it was like an enormous holding pen, a detention centre far from friends and
familiar surroundings, from which people were to be sent out to
dear-knows-where, most of them never to appear again.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>That’s what makes music that that
written and performed in Terezin all the more poignant. As people were dragged
in and hustled out of the camp, they could hold on to the music, even if they
never heard or saw the performers again.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Different composers, different
artists, wrote and performed what came from the heart of their being. <b><u>DESPITE</u></b>
the persecution; <b><u>DESPITE</u></b> everything which might make them give
up, literally surrender their lives and everything precious to them; <b><u>DESPITE</u></b>
that, composers and performers and listeners found that which could reach into
their lives, and give them unbelievable comfort, and hope, and joy.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This maybe that to which Isaiah and
his listeners may have been referring when the opening words talked about the
sky, the atmosphere, everything above; everything being torn wide open so that
the justice, the mercy, the compassion of God could break into everyone’s
lives, to take the sting out of everything that attacks us and our sense of
dignity and value.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is for this time that Isaiah’s
listeners waited; it was of this time that Jesus spoke; it is for this time
that we wait, needing to be reassured that there <b><u>WILL</u></b> be a time
when all the indignities, all the persecution, all the rapaciousness will
disappear. Waiting is not one of the easier skills to develop, however,
especially in our society and culture. But wait we must, remembering, like
Shostakovich, that even fear shows that we believe in something, in the loving
power of God to raise us triumphant over all.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Brother Curtis Almquist wrote: </span><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>“Waiting, living with questions, may be how God is keeping you attentive
just now. From my experience, God is more generous in giving us questions than
answers. The gift of waiting: quite counter-cultural.” <sup>3</sup></span><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>And as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks put it,
“</span><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>There are saintly people for whom spirituality comes
as easily as did music to Mozart. But God does not reach out only to saints. He
reaches out to all of us. That is why He gave us Abraham for those who love,
Isaac for those who fear, and Jacob/Israel for those who struggle.</span><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(82, 82, 82); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><br>
<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“</span><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>Hence this week’s life-changing idea: if you find yourself struggling
with faith, you are in the company of Jacob-who-became-Israel, the father-</span><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>in-faith of us all.” <sup>4</sup></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Welcome to Advent! Welcome to the
gift of waiting! Welcome to the discovery of the power of music to draw us
closer to God.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Now I invite you to take a piece of
paper and a pen, and to write down: </span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>– one, two or three things for which
you’re waiting this Advent;</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>– one, two or three things which
might distract you this Advent;</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>– and one, two or three things for
which you’ll give thanks to God every morning and evening this Advent. </span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN" style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Take these with you on your journey.
And even in any despair you may have – listen to the music!</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>NOTES:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p>
<h1 style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(54, 95, 145); line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>[1]</span></span></span></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'><span style="margin: 0px;"><font color="#365f91"> </font></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'> “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal"><span style="margin: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.75pt;">Despair should serve as wake-up
call: </span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'>With myriad challenges facing our
communities, now is the time for those of faith and all of good will to step
forward with good works” by </span></i><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: -0.4pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'>STEPHEN T. LANE </span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'><a href="http://www.pressherald.com/2017/11/19/maine-voices-despair-should-call-those-of-faith-to-help/"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.pressherald.com/2017/11/19/maine-voices-despair-should-call-those-of-faith-to-help/</font></a><font color="#365f91">
</font></span><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(57, 57, 57); letter-spacing: -0.25pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'>[copied in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“Episcopal Café”</i> November
20, 2017<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><a title="Posts by Margaret Wessel Walker" href="https://www.episcopalcafe.com/author/mwalker/"><font color="#0000ff">Margaret Wessel Walker</font></a>]</span></h1>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>2</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“Notes of Hope and Consolation”</i> by Erik
Levi in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">BBC Music Magazine</i>, February
2014, page 102.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>3</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>“Wait
– Brother, Give us a Word”</span></i><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>
by Br. Curtis Almquist, S.S.J.E.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>28<sup>th</sup>
November, 2017 </span><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><a href="https://www.ssje.org/word/"><font color="#0000ff">https://www.ssje.org/word/</font></a>
</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>4</span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“</i></span></b><strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(7, 7, 7); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'>The Struggle of Faith </span></i></strong><em><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(7, 7, 7); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal;'>Vayishlach 5778”</span></em><em><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(7, 7, 7); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></em><em><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(7, 7, 7); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal;'>by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, 27<sup>th</sup>
November, 2017 </span></em><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><a href="http://rabbisacks.org/struggle-faith-vayishlach-5778/"><span style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(102, 0, 153); text-decoration: none;">The Struggle of
Faith (Vayishlach 5778) - Rabbi Sacks</span></a><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>rabbisacks.org ›
Covenant & Conversation</span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;"><font face="Calibri"> </font></p>
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