28 January 2007

On explaining death to an innocent

Yesterday morning, I faced my biggest challenge so far: Explaining death to my two-year old cousin.

Little Yoanna's miniature shark Ook-ook died Friday evening after I had opened the aquarium to clean it. Ook-ook, who was resting under a plant, zipped to the top and took the opportunity to jump out of the aquarium. He then landed on the floor four feet away from the aquarium with an extremely loud thud.

Despite my anxious efforts to save Ook-ook by quickly putting him in a salad service bowl filled with water, he died in less than 10 minutes. Even with frantic Hail Mary after Hail Mary, he spasmed on the bottom of the bowl, then gently floated to the top.

Yoanna began to cry.

“Ook-ook!”

Now I’m firm believer that the first three years of a child’s life are the most crucial; they will be affected by those years in their adulthood. As they develop into toddlers, they must be loved, cherished and guided. Unpleasant encounters, such as parents arguing or scorning another person, should be avoided. Encounters such as these will teach your children to be temperamental and condescending.

Yet, I didn’t know what to do on this occasion. Should I frown and show sadness? No, that would traumatise Yoanna and make her afraid of death. Should I smile? No, that would be insensitive, and Yoanna might resent me. I fumbled for an appropriate action, and silently prayed.

“Dear God, help me here, I’m in a bit of a foozy.”

My first reaction, of course, was to pick her up into my arms and hug the little bundle. After letting her cry for a few minutes, I gave her a bottle of warm milk and prepared her for bed. I would put her to sleep and explain it all to her in the morning.

As I prepared to say Compline, I thought about what had occurred. What lesson could I teach her from this? I wasn’t sure where animals go when they die, so I couldn’t teach her about heaven.

I picked up my prayerbook and scanned through the pages.
In the midst of life we are in death;
from whom can we seek help?
From you alone, O Lord,
who by our sins are justly angered.

Lord, you know the secrets of our hearts;
shut not your ears to our prayers,
but spare us, O Lord.

O worthy and eternal Judge,
do not let the pains of death
turn us away from you at our last hour.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty,
Holy and merciful Saviour,
deliver us not into the bitterness of eternal death.

-Media Vita from “Burial of the Dead: Rite Two” (page 492), The Book of Common Prayer, 1979
Marion Hachett, in his Commentary on the American Prayer Book (page 485), writes about the Media Vita:
Notker, a monk of Saint Gall in Switzerland (d. 912), is said to have composed it while he was watching the construction of a bridge over a chasm and realized the peril that threatened its builders.” ¹
Ook-ook, as with all animals and humans, live in the constant presence of death. In a sense, and I don’t mean to sound depressing, we are all living corpses. In the ancient Sumerian text, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh cries out over the corpse of Enkidu, his friend: “Is there something more than death? Some other end to friendship?” For Christians, death is not the end of hope: “Our assurance as Christians is that nothing, not even death, shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.” (Catechism of the Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer, page 862)
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(Romans 8.35, 38-39 NIV)
That morning, I decided to teach Yoanna that death wasn’t to be feared. After Matins, we held a little wake for Ook-ook on the kitchen counter. As my Catholic grandmother did many years afore, we were going to have a little procession, complete with flower petals and a crucifix, to the garden to bury Yoanna’s shark; it was like when my grandmother and my siblings would bury my dead hamsters in yard as a young child. It somehow made me feel better, at that age, to know that you were doing something for that which you cared for.

Our ‘funeral’ was a strange, yet grand affair; Yoanna seemed to be quite inquisitive of what was going on. After lighting two candles, I recited the  Benedicite, omnia opera Domini (Canticle 12, The Book of Common Prayer, page 88), said the Lord’s Prayer, and ended with a prayer for joy in God’s creation (Prayer 1, The Book of Common Prayer, page 814). I even enlisted the use of Yoanna's favourite teddy bear to ease any grief.

We then processed to the garden; a little hole was dug up beforehand.

I placed Ook-ook in his grave, sprinkled a few flower petals, and read a kontakion:
“You only are immortal,
the creator and maker of all;
and we are mortal, formed of the earth,
and to earth shall we return.

For so did you ordain when you created us, saying,
‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return.’
All of us go down to the dust;
yet even at the grave we make our song:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”

-adapted from “Burial of the Dead: Rite Two” (page 499), The Book of Common Prayer, 1979
Yoanna looked at me curiously. I said:

“This is a blankie for Ook-ook.”
“Blankie?”
“Yes, pumpkin. Let’s make him nice and warm.”

I then gave her a spoon to cover Ook-ook with soil. Yoanna doesn’t know about time yet, but she does know that “Good night” is said when it is time to sleep. So I said,

“There! He’s nice and warm! Good night, Ook-ook. Say good night, Yoanna.”
“Good night, Ook-ook.”

Yoanna smiled at me, and I whispered, “He’s only sleeping. Let’s go inside to let him rest.”


_____________________________________________

¹Hatchett, Marion. Commentary on the American Prayer Book. New York: Seabury Press, 1981.

25 January 2007

We the Body of Christ, pour out the Blood of Christ

"I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever." (St. John 6.48-58 RSV)

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God.
Yesterday morning, I meditated on this selection. The passage, which was the appointed reading in my Eucharistic prayer manual, spoke of Jesus telling the people that his flesh and blood is given to us for the life of the world, and for the eternal life.

I’ve always loved this passage. Yet, it somehow struck a different dimension, unlike the typical commentary we hear about it relating to the Eucharist in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Despite my strong High Church leanings, I subscribe to the typically Protestant doctrine *gasp* of the priesthood of all believers, which I do not find contrary to its more Catholic counterpart, the universal call to holiness and apostolate. Indeed, we all know that the Body of Christ describes the People the God - the Church. Christ gives the Church, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, as a gift for the life of the world, a community to live in him, as we build ourselves up for continuing his redemptive work – the Blood of Christ. When we partake of the very Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion, we actively proclaim our membership in the Church, and affirm that we partake in its mission. It is a sort of ID card we carry to work, a badge of our identification in Christ Jesus, and the pledge that he still redeems the sins of the world in the Church’s Great Commission. Thus he gives us, we his people who feed on him, as a gift for the life of the world.

The Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is part, carries along with churches that continue in the Apostolic Succession, the ‘marks of the [true] church’: it is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Yet how can we, the Body of Christ who are joined to the Blood of Christ, carry the marks of the church in our lives and in our service? So I thought about it a bit further, and this what I came up with.

-The Body and Blood of Christ are One. The Body of Christ follows the Head (Christ), and Christ gives his life-blood to the Body to nourish the Body’s one mission- the Great Commission. By means of the Body nourished by Blood, the Body reaches out to the world that the precious Blood shed on Calvary may save those who call on the Name of the one Lord Jesus Christ. The Body unites with Christ in his Church, and we continue to carry out his mission, united with the redemptive work of his Blood.

The Eucharist is One throughout time and space; it unites us not only to our Lord, but to the whole Church, past, future, and present.

-The Body and Blood of Christ are Holy. The Holy Spirit, Christ’s own first gift to those who believe, sanctifies the bread (which represents us, the many grains that form one loaf) and the wine (which again represents us, the many grapes that fill one cup) and reaffirms that we too are sanctified by water and the Holy Spirit in Baptism as a holy people, as Christ's Body. We therefore share in the Body of Christ and reach out as the Blood of Christ. As we who serve our one Lord are holy, through sanctification of the Holy Spirit who sustains us; thus our one mission is holy, through the sanctification of the same Holy Spirit, who leads us.

The Eucharist is Holy; it is sanctified by the Word and Holy Spirit, and by grace it furthers, strengthens, and confirms us in holiness to fulfil our mission worthily in the Name of Christ.

-The Body and Blood of Christ are Catholic. The Body of Christ, formed out of many grains (the people of many nations, tribes, and tongues) gather to form one bread (the Church). The Blood of Christ, pressed out of many grapes (the gifts that the peoples of many nations, tribes, and tongues bring) are joined into one cup (one mission we share). This Bread and Wine, the Body and Blood of Christ, is of all people, formed of all people, reaches out to all people, and gives life to all people. Through us, and through our mission, Christ calls all people regardless of who they are, where they are from, what they bring, or what they have done, to come to him.

The Eucharist is Catholic; it proclaims the mystery of faith to all people and comes as a force of reconciliation for all who come to the altar of God.

-The Body and Blood of Christ are Apostolic. We are apostolic because the Body of Christ continues in the teaching, fellowship, and succession of the Apostles. The Blood of Christ is apostolic because our mission continues the apostolic mandate Christ gave his apostles and passes on to us, as we seek and serve, proclaim the Good News, break the bread, and give and pray.

The Eucharist is Apostolic; Christ instituted it to his apostles, and those who carry the apostolic mandate maintain the traditions taught to us by the Apostles regarding the Body and the Blood.

We are his one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Body. And we share in his one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Blood. For eternal life, we eat of him, and so share in his Body. For the life of others, we drink of him, and so continue his work. Through the Body, his Church, he comes to dwell in us as we gather and agree in his Name. Through the Blood, his work the Church continues, he reaches out to all that they too, may join his Body; and being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we and they may unite to his sacrifice.

So we humbly pray:
Holy and gracious Father:
recalling your Son’s death, resurrection,
and ascension,
we offer you ourselves as a holy and living sacrifice.
As we have been
redeemed through him,
so continue to sanctify us by your Word and Holy Spirit
that we, who are the Body of Christ,
and we have been made a new people
through water and the Spirit,
we may live in you, and have you to dwell in us.
Sanctify us also by your Word and Holy Spirit,
to work as the Blood of Christ,
that we may serve you in unity, constancy, and peace;
and so worthily serve and renew the Creation,
to the glory of your most holy Name.
All this we ask through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
our great High Priest, the firstborn of all creation,
the head of the Church, and the author of salvation.
By him, and with him, and in him,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all honour and glory is yours, Almighty Father,
now and for ever.
Amen.