War Tapes and Veteran Saints
June 1, 2007
After Wednesday night’s showing of The War Tapes at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (see 2 posts down), I wrote an article that includes some questions I’ve been bouncing around for a while… about finding religious responses to this war, perhaps even from soldier saints of the past. It’s been posted to Episcopal Life Online as an Opinion piece.
God and Virginia Tech
April 20, 2007
What can one say about the tragic shooting of 33 people at Virginia Technical Institute on Monday April 16th? Why did it happen? Where was God? How can one still believe in a god of infinite love and power when we see so much evil going on?
First, I think that it is important to really realize how much suffering there is in the world. On Monday, 5 US. and 13 Iraqi soldiers died in an attack in Iraq along with at least 51 other civilians. 11 Iraqi children were killed in a bomb attack in Iraq over the weekend. And all over the world people are suffering and dying. On Monday approximately 1,400 people became infected with AIDS, 95% of them live in developing countries without ready access to medical care. On Monday almost 3,000 children died of Malaria and 16,000 children died of hunger.
And tragedy can strike us on our own American soil as well. Every year in the US. 1,500 children die due to abuse and neglect. 3,000 children die as a result of gun violence, 30,000 Americans commit suicide, and 160,000 Americans die of lung cancer. These are all estimates, but this list of tragedy can go on and on. It does not include those who die of accidental drug and alcohol overdoses, pollutant caused cancers, car accidents, etc. etc. etc. When reading a list like this it is hard for the mind (and even harder for the heart) to comprehend. The individual lives turn into statistics and figures, and even the figures congeal into one big ball of despair that just sticks like a lump in our throats. We can neither swallow our pain nor let out our cries of anger and sorrow. And so we become numb to the horror of it all and try to move on with the monotony of our lives.
But then an event happens like the shooting at Virginia Tech. Comparatively the deaths of 29 students and 4 faculty should just be another drop in the bucket of our world’s sorrows. But there is something different about this event. It is not just the fact that the people involved were so young and their deaths were so senseless. It is all of those things and it is because we can identify with these victims. We have all sat in classrooms where we felt safe and secure, whether in college or high school. The students and faculty who died on Monday were all people like us, who had no reason to assume they were in danger, and yet a force of unreasonable terror came and cut their lives short.
Read the rest of this entry »
Valentine’s Day Transmission
February 11, 2007
2/14 @ 7pm
* Readings from Song of Songs
w/ pomegranates, figs, apricots, honey & wine
* Body Prayer
* Dancing
* Dinner, dessert & more
~ feel free to bring chocolates, wine, flowers and friends
LINKS
St. Valentine
Romantic Love
The Song of Songs
Bowie’s column on the S o S
Sexy Jesus (track 9) by Wayne & Wax
EASTER @ AVALON : dreams of resurrection
February 6, 2007
Jenn & Isaac facing back of hall, originally uploaded by bowiesnodgrass.
Hi. We’re planning to do an Easter Service at Avalon (used to be Limelight), in Holy Communion Episcopal Church – which was founded by William Augustus Muhlenberg
AVALON – Avenue of the Americas @ West 20th Street
6pm – all are welcome
Come join us for an experimental melange of ritual celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. We’ll be touching on the story of King Arthur and Avalon
We will also be focusing on Mary Magdalene’s role in this tale. Mary was one of Jesus’ best apostles, both during and after his time on earth. In the early centuries of Christianity, the church conflated Mary Magdalene with prostitute characters in the bible – and for the next millennia and a half, most christians believed Mary was once a worker in the world’s oldest profession. Maybe she was. Jesus hung out with a lot of hookers.
And so did Muhlenburg. In the 1870s, this priest set up a network of Episcopal dioceses to participate in the Midnight Mission , a radical outreach effort for sex workers (which for him included both mistresses and brothel workers). In a very 19th century way, his effort was to help these fallen women find new homes in wholesome, Christian houses in the country…
130 years later, we find ourselves in a very different NYC. But in America 2007, sexuality is still a great divider and money something we don’t like to talk about… so it’s time for us to start living a little more like Jesus. Let’s have a party for Easter and celebrate the first women who knew that Jesus was no longer dead, but alive… again!
Please contact us if you would like to participate in this effort.
Our first planning meeting will be held on February 21st (Ash Wednesday). We will have a short ritual to kick off Lent, followed by a meeting with food. More details to follow.
Baby Jackson Gets a Bris!
January 18, 2007
Excerpt from letter: John to Jackson, Jan 13, 2007
To read full text, see more pictures, and read more letters, visit
www.myspace.com/thomasjsnodgrass5
Dear Jackson,
Tears and laughter, blood, betrayal, singing and dancing, Hebrew and primal scream - this has been your second week.
I guess this biggest news of this week is your conversion from Animism to Judaism. The Jewish midwife, who was good enough to assist with your birth on the Sabbath, recommended I call 1-800-BABY-BOY, which connected me with a really nice Rabbi named Jehoshua Krohn who exclaimed that you needed a Bris right away, and offered us a cut rate for letting you be a quick stop between other gigs.
TRANSMISSION resumes + field trips
January 13, 2007
MON, Jan 15 : MLK field trip!
Some of us are planning to go to St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in the South Bronx, where the new Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will be preaching at the annual Bronx MLK Day Service starting at 10am. * John was born in the rectory of this historic church and hopes to bring along baby Jackson. Isaac and Elaina both work at a Lutheran church in this area. * Please email epiphany.ny@gmail.com you’d like to join us.
WED, Jan 17 : Transmission resumes! Baby Blessing & Avalon Vision
We are hoping to do a short baby blessing ritual for Thomas Jackson, followed by a discussion of our vision for Avalon. Isaac and are drafting a vision statement/project proposal that we’d like to workshop with you all (in small groups and as a whole group), and we’re inviting a few people who are also interested in helping us develop the project. * Please let me know if you’d like to bring food or drink to share.
BACKGROUND ARTICLES
* Background on Avalon “Twilight for old Limelight as owner shops mall idea”
* William Augustus Muhlenberg, founder of Holy Communion Episcopal Church
* Muhlenberg’s 19th Century “Midnight Mission”
UPCOMING
MON, Jan 22 – field trip!
My web guru friend from the west coast, Bob Carlton (who keeps up an excellent blog) will be in town and we’re going out to dinner. Any and all Transmissioners are invited! * Please rsvp if interested.
SAT, Jan 27 – field trip!
MOBIA @ the American Bible Society is putting on a concert which will feature a commissioned piece by Mario Diaz de Leon. I know Mario from working with the 20/30 Connection at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and plan to attend to support this amazing young composer. I will also be inviting members of the 20/30 Connection. The event is free and I’ve reserved some spots. * Let me know if you’d like to come.
Wed, Jan 31 – next Transmission!
* Anyone want to plan the evening, our ritual, or the food?
3,000 Soldiers Dead, Including One Friend
January 5, 2007
My brother Sgt. A. Peter Snodgrass, who is serving his 2nd deployment as an Army Medic in Iraq, was friends with a soldier who was killed last week (the same week we passed the 3,000 US soldiers casualties mark). They had served together in South Korea and on both Iraqi tours.
AP Article w/ Photos: http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_003072103.html
“22-year-old Sergant John M. Sullivan of Hixon, Tennessee died last Saturday in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device went off near his vehicle while on combat patrol. Sullivan was just days away from returning home from his second tour of duty in Iraq to be with his wife and newborn son. His family said Sullivan volunteered for the patrol when a fellow-soldier got sick.”
from http://fox21news.com/Global/story.asp?S=5891680
“Hours after SGT John Michael Sullivan was killed in Iraq, his wife Michele gave birth to their little boy at Fort Carson. News of her husband’s death had sent Sullivan into labor.
‘I got a knock on the door and I told them, ‘don’t tell me,” said Sullivan. Her husband had been killed when a roadside bomb hit his Humvee. SGT Sullivan and his wife had planned to name their son Johnny Walker. Sullivan said they both thought it was a strong name everyone would remember. When SGT Sullivan died, his wife chose a different name so her son would always be remembered… and her husband would never be forgotten– John Michael Sullivan Jr.”
from http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/5080596.html
* Please pray for his soul, his wife, newborn son, parents (he was an only son), and unit in Iraq.
Baby Jackson!
January 1, 2007
Peel Slowly and See, originally uploaded by bowiesnodgrass.
Elizabeth and John had their baby! The healthy 8 1/2 pound boy was born at 4:30 am on Dec 30, 2006. Please pray for mommy, daddy, and baby.
Here’s a photo of his very first day of life! already being exposed to some Warhol pop culture…
Fifth Wednesday
November 25, 2006
So this coming Wednesday is the fifth Wednesday of the month, which means that there’s no Transmission. It also means, however, that we’ll have three whole weeks between one Transmission and the next, and I’m not crazy about that. How about we do something low-key, like have a movie night or something? Fifth Wednesdays do happen with some frequency, so it’d be neat to start a tradition regarding what we do with them.
I’m in Seattle right now and I’m playing for Church of the Apostles tonight with Lacey Brown. It’s a little bit like playing with a second me (electronic backing tracks mixed with live instruments, combining ancient texts and melodies with modern grooves, etc) except that, unlike me, Lacey can sing. It’s pretty cool - I wish you guys could hear it!
Church of the Apostles is pretty cool - they’ve taken an abandoned church and converted it into an Abbey for themselves. They take the whole “radical hospitality” thing pretty seriously. I was met at the airport, driven into down, and given a room all to myself. It would be a lot more expensive to get a building in NYC (I don’t there are any abandoned buildings, anyway), but I would really, really love to see Transmission blossom into a living community…
looking back
November 11, 2006
looking back, originally uploaded by bowiesnodgrass.
I flickered some photos from Katharine Jeffert Schori’s Investiture as 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, last Saturday, November 4th (two days before a rockin’ national election!).