Chapel on the Ave - Seattle, WA - April 5th, 2011

     Chapel on the Ave is a building right on the main street near the University of Washington. The center is a ministry from Trinity Lutheran Church to the University of Washington campus and area around the Ave. Yesterday would be my second time visiting this place. The last time I visited was a few years ago when my girlfriend and I volunteered there.

    The people are very kind, most are post graduate like me, and overall pretty easy to talk too. I arrived when the shared meal was ending and talked about school and East Asia with them for a while (one of the folks had been to Korea). After, the service began.

   The music was mostly Taizé in honor of Lent and reflection. I never tire of these ecumenical hymns, that are so simple and beautiful in their sound and message. They are like Zen koans given music in some cases. It's in that place where the images flow and the words have their greatest effect as I think upon the different meanings their might be, or just being present with them.

     After song the Campus Minister did his sermon on the blind man who Jesus made able to see. This was the second time hearing this story and I'm guessing for the time around the Fourth Sunday of Lent all Churches who follow Lent are probably using this story. Lent really is following the Gospel of John and the lead-up to the death and Resurrection of Jesus. His Gospel is all about Jesus as Messiah dying for people's sins...at least that's the main interpretation I have heard of his Gospel.

     The Pastor took a different approach then the Deacon at Saint Benedict. He focused on where the blind man had to wash the mud off his eyes. The pool is the pool of Siloam, which in Hebrew means sent. The pool is not the final destination, it sends people forward. Which in the sermon the preacher said was to preach Jesus as Messiah.

     He then brought up to the eight of us there, how to help people who aren't Christian be Christian. Now compared to the Hellfire sermons of Mars Hill where you have a man throwing stones at glass houses not willing to look at his own mistakes or the mistakes of his faith...this group was quite different.

   "People get blinded by the evil some Christians have done throughout history."
   "People get blinded by the actions of Christians in the media who do not act like Christians (the Quran burner, Westbro, ect.)."

   Most of what was said was based in personal responsibility. Not, "We hold the only way and those who do not are condemned to Hell because they are not as blessed as us."

    Because of the peoples actions there in that conversation I felt at peace hearing that conversation. They were coming from a place of compassion.

   I don't know many people who convert out of fear. The only conversions that come out of fear are when those speaking in God's name are using force...be it the inquisition, blasphemy laws, or using secular laws for religious ends. A person being an example of what they believe their God to be and do in those situations is nothing more then tyrant. No wonder so many people leave the faith if they grow up with men like and that.

   This is one reason why Chapel on the Ave was so wonderful. There was the ministry of conversion, but it was truly there with the action of listening, responsibility and integrity...just like Saint Benedict Episcopal Church and some other amazing places I've visited since creating this blog.

    

Saint James Cathedral (Seattle) - Taizé - October 15th 2010

      What is Taizé?  Taizé was created as an ecumenical Christian Order...meaning it was an order that is made up of Protestants and Catholics. It was created in France by Frère Roger who was feeling saw what France was going through after World War 2 and though it was struck by poverty and suffering but great inner freedom. This lead to his founding of the Ecumenical order of Taizé also called the Taizé Community.

    This Friday I would attend Taizé for the second time in my life. This time it would be with my girlfriend and our friend Kyle.  My experience of Taizé was me falling asleep. I was in early high school and chants...well, chants, heat and a crowded large room, and no intellectually stimulating discussion usually means I would shut down.

    I have changed a lot since then. I still enjoy the good sermons, and I will always be one for discussions. It's why I made discussions such a major part of the blog (I promise to post more)! What about silence though? Music without anyone telling you what to believe? It was around late sophomore year, to Junior of High School where I would discover how much these moments mean to me. It's in the silence we discover more about ourselves and the world. The music, scripture reading (which is done at Taizé) are the essence of discovery in silence and embracing the internal mystery of the self and the universe.

   Initially the service was disconcerting...I was expecting a sermon or a Mass since it was in a Cathedral. So arriving to music and discovering there was no Priest or sermon and that it was music, prayer and silence was a huge surprise. I soon discovered "The Body of Christ" and "The Faces of God" during the course of Taizé when I embraced the experience.

     As the three of us sung, behind me I could hear an old couple singing off tune. Around me were people from all over Seattle who each sung with a difference voice full of passion (if off key). The off key singing added so much more to the angelic singer whose melodic voice pierced the Cathedral and cut through to the soul.

    I didn't see anything fantastic like mythical beings...I saw people. At one point the figurine of a Byzantine style painted Jesus was brought down from the altar. People bowed and kissed the symbol. I felt awkward at first, but when I went up...I looked beyond the symbol...at what it meant in that moment.

    "I tell you the truth. Anything you did for any of my people here, you also did for me."  in Matthew 25: 33-40

   What it meant for me as I looked at the painting was seeing Everyone's face that came to mind, Christian or No. I know it's not how the "Body of Christ" is traditionally seen. But, I figure if there is a Higher Power out there, It would be looking out for everyone, and therefore all would be a part of it. The people I know are virtuous overall (family, friends, Love), and I think that capacity can exist within everyone.  If there is something that is the essence of the Good and a part of humans out there, I hope it would recognize that too, and see Itself in all It's creations.

    Talking with my girlfriend and Kyle afterwords was amazing. I hope to attend another Taizé worship again in the future.