“Putpockets” give a little extra cash

LONDON (Reuters) – Visitors to London always have to be on the look out for pickpockets, but now there’s another, more positive phenomenon on the loose — putpockets.

Aware that people are suffering in the economic crisis, 20 former pickpockets have turned over a new leaf and are now trawling London’s tourist sites slipping money back into unsuspecting pockets.

Anything from 5 pounds ($8) to 20 pound notes is being surreptitiously deposited in unguarded pockets or open handbags in Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and other busy spots.

The initiative, which runs until the end of August in London before being rolled out countrywide, is being funded by a broadbrand provider, which says it wants to brighten up people’s lives in unusual ways.

“It feels good to give something back for a change — and Britons certainly need it in the current economic climate,” said Chris Fitch, a former pickpocket who now heads TalkTalk’s putpocketing initiative.

“Every time I put money back in someone’s pocket, I feel less guilty about the fact I spent many years taking it out.”

London’s police have been briefed about the plan, which will see at least 100,000 pounds given away.

(Reporting by Luke Baker; Editing by Kate Kelland)

Ephrem was a deacon of the church who was instrumental in the spread of the Gospel in Aramaic (Jesus’ native tongue) in the 4th Century.  Ephrem was a man of letters.  He wrote commentaries, poetry, homilies and hymns.  He was fluent in the language of the people, make no mistake.  He was also fluent in the language of God, namely that of the heart.

Ephrem had a great clarity about the nature and power of the Gospel and was able to communicate effectively to folks from many different segments of his society.

Despite dressing in a ‘cloak of patches sewn together’ his eccentric appearance was coupled with an engaging personality that encountered the people where they were.  His efforts to set the story of God in Christ to music was effective in helping folks ‘sing their way to faith’ as Sam Portaro puts it in Brightest and Best: A Companion to the Lesser Feasts and Fasts.

Perhaps it is simplistic, but it seems to me that Ephrem’s ‘Mission strategy’ for evangelization was to go around, get along, listen and learn about God’s people.  Too often today it seems that the goal of Outreach, Mission and Evanglism is to get people to ‘come around’ to our way of thinking, doing things and behaving.

Ephrem’s life and witness was about taking the world as it comes and trusting in the power of the Gospel and the Grace of God to be about the work of transformation.  It seems to me that we’d do well to imitate that sort of posture.

If we enter whatever mssionary endeavors we undertake from a posture of relative superiority we sell the Gospel and Grace short.  When I’ve been on ‘Mission’ trips and encountered the other with a beginner’s mind I find myself receiving at least as much as I imagined giving.  The power of the Gospel is transformational to the teller as well as the hearer.

In the spirit of Ephrem of Edessa, may we and all of God’s people be willing to listen as much as we speak, to be changed as much as we seek to change others and to be fed as much as we seek to feed others, in spirit and mind as well as our bodies.

Over the past couple of days, I’ve been watching young house sparrows and grey squirrels explore the world around them and learn about making their way in it.

I feed the birds intentionally.  The squirrels, not so much, but I feed them nonetheless.  Watching both species at my fancy ‘squirrel proof’ feeder is a real treat. 

The sparrows represent a scarcity mentality at its most fervent.  There are four feeding spots at this feeder. One would think that it would accommodate at least four sparrows at once.  Wrong!  Every time someone gets to the feeder and a second bird alights there as well, sparrow one freaks out and chases him off.  While that’s happening someone else flies in and snatches a seed or two while the vying is going on.  Pretty soon the feeder starts to sway a bit and birdseed winds up all over the place.  Interestingly enough, those who get to feed most peaceably and to their heart’s content seldom perch at the intended spot at all.

Sometimes we humans, even Christian ones are just like that.  We see abundance before us and expend more energy making sure that we get our share than we have to.  I like to think I’m pretty gracious with the wild bird mix in that feeder, but the frenzy mentality takes hold every time.  If I’m honest with myself, I’m often times more like a sparrow than one who trustsdeeply in Grace–God’s unmerited favor towards me.

Life in Christ is not competitive in the way of winners and losers.  We are called to an assured posture of God’s provision for us.  It seems to me that Jesus had a thing or two say about the first being last and the last being first.

God, give me the grace and courage to trust in you.  I suspect you care at least as much about feeding me and all of the rest of your Beloved as I do in feeding my sparrow friends.  Let my life and the lives of your faithful people reflect, demonstrate and proclaim that truth!

It seems to me it would be easy to point out what was dissonant for me.  I will say this however.  I was told by my liturgy professor that when doing either a wedding or a funeral where there might be the occasion for someone other than the presider (the Clergy) to speak, do whatever you possibly can to assure that the Gospel, the Good News, gets the last word.

I’d have to say that the President got that one exactly right in his choice of The Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery to do the benediction for the inaugural.

I was reminded of the lesson that the fledgling politician Harvey Milk (played by Sean Penn) in the film Milk learned in the aftermath of his first debate.  His political opponent critiques Milk’s performance in the debate by saying, in effect, “Harvey you’ve got a lot to say and it’s true but you talk more about what you’re against than what you’re for.  You spend so much time condemning what is that it’s hard for people to be hopeful in your message.  You’ve always gotta leave ‘em with hope. You’ve always gotta give ‘em hope.”

As Pastor Rick Warren’s prayer for civility and hope gave way to the President’s somber, honest and challenging message of where we find ourselves now, Rev. Lowery closed by appealing to our higher ideals by calling us to live in the hope of the ideals of peace, inclusivity, mutual respect and compassion that he managed to maintain at the core of his being through the darkest days of the struggle for simple dignity for an entire race of people in this country.  His message; hopefully, playfully and forcefully delivered, should give us pause to remember that there is Good News where we choose to see it and, given the chance, our better angels can prevail with God’s help.

Congratulations Mr. President on letting Hope have the last word and the Good News call us all into a more hopeful and gracious future!

Thank you Rev. Lowery for linking past horrors, emerging opportunity and present hope together for a new generation of God’s people (that would be all of us) to take aim at.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLF9iEXnBRo]

Just a note with this video. I was stunned by the disconnect between my expectations and the reality I witnessed. Another lesson in humility and standing back from judgement (and the Lord knows I really need all the reminders I can get).

Have a grand day and dream big dreams.

–Warren

Archbishop Rowan Williams talking about at the core, what the Church is. The Church exists in response to the often surprising touch of Jesus into our lives.

Where’s the Church? Not just under the steeple!!!

The Apostle Paul writes these words near the end of his letter to a fledgling church in Philippi struggling along with Paul in the challenges he faced as he was imprisoned and uncertain about his future. It seems to me that we might do well to put a bookmark at this passage as we face the uncertain future of a challenging world. I particularly draw your attention to verses 12 & 13:

‘I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.’

Given the current state of affairs in the economy (especially at the grocery store, the gas station and when the oil delivery comes), it might be wise to pray that we can become as Paul in knowing the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry. What Paul is calling the Philippians (and be extension us) to is being mindful of the ground of our being (as theologian Paul Tillich would put it), which is God alone. At the very core of our being as humans created in the image and likeness of God is an insatiable yearning to connection, relationship, even union with God. We were created to reflect the confidence, glory, compassion and love of the God of all that was, is and is to come.

I guess I’d summarize one of our challenges like this: It has been said that tough times don’t last but tough people do. I would like to make an appeal to a different understanding. One that comes from a place of deep faith and confidence in God’s good wishes for us and for the whole world. I want to suggest that Paul’s appeal to the Philippians might be best summarized that tough times don’t last simply because God is. So then I see the challenge as not giving into the temptation to despair by remembering, to the core of our beings, that whatever tough times we endure, we do so with the God of all the universe at our side and in our corner. Maybe Julian of Norwich said it best, “All will be well and in all manner of things, all will be well.” She recognizes that it is not at present well in the eyes of God but that the promise is that the completion and perfection of the creation is a promise, not merely a dream. I believe that is what leads Paul to boldly proclaim is ability to ‘do all things through him who strengthens me’ (v. 13).

Here’s to strength for your journey, my journey and our journey. I trust that sooner or later, we’ll all learn to deal .

“The Holy Eucharist, the principal act of Christian worship on the Lord’s Day and other major Feasts, and Daily Morning and Evening Prayer, as set forth in this Book, are the regular services appointed for public worship in this Church.” (BCP p. 13)

This fact makes the active life of the community very important especially when we view ‘Eucharist’ by the literal meaning of the word in Greek, which is ‘thanksgiving’. Each and every week as we gather around the table and expect our Trinitarian God to transform our gifts of bread and wine into the ‘Real Presence’ of Jesus at our table we should be profoundly thankful. That thankfulness should not be limited to a ‘feeling’ of gratitude but should extend in to lives which display, in tangible ways, how thankful we are to be fed at the Communion Table.

One of the ways we have done this over the years at St. Luke’s is to gather non-perishable goods on the first Sunday of the Month to send off to Jeremiah’s Inn to help with their work with those seeking to break the grip of substance abuse. I don’t have to tell you that times are tough. I don’t have to tell you that it costs more to fill our grocery bags with our accustomed fare. I don’t have to tell you that just getting to the store is more expensive than it’s ever been. You all know all of that.

The really important question, given all of these realities, is; “What’s a Church to do about it?” I think that, among other things, we need to be more public about our support for those who feel this pressure most acutely and we need to do it publicly within the context of our regular corporate worship. A number of you have suggested over the course of the past months that we need to be more public about our monthly ingathering and have suggested that it become a weekly practice. I could not agree more and you all will be happy to see (I hope) that I’m getting around sharing your suggestion with the community.

Beginning this weekend, I invite you all to bring whatever non-perishables you have, whether it be macaroni and cheese, canned goods, dry cereal or the like. It doesn’t have to be much, but I believe it is a Holy Habit to cultivate, tend, nurture and watch blossom. Just as the flowers at the church or at our homes give us pleasure through our care and cultivation, so to does our Heavenly Father take pleasure in the gratitude that we cultivate in the giving of what we have to those who have so much less. I would also like for these offerings, whatever they may be, to be a part of the offering of our treasure and the gifts of bread and wine in the service. I conclude with this Offertory Sentence from the Book of Common Prayer (p. 376):

Through Christ let us continually offer to God the sacrifice of
praise, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his Name.
But do not neglect to do good and to share what you have,
for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Hebrews 13:15, 16

Peace and Good,
The Rev. Warren Earl Hicks, Rector
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
921 Pleasant St.
Worcester, MA 01602