FRIDAY, June 12 (Enmegahbowh)

Ecclesiasticus is in the Apocrypha. This rich passage continues on to detail the ceremonial garments Aaron is to wear. Jesus repeatedly condemns empty ritual, so what has this passage to say to us? These were my first thoughts. Then why was I eager to attend the ordination of Connecticut's first female bishop? My head was against spectacle, but my heart seemed all for it.

I was ten years old when I fell in love with Jesus, a love which fifty-five years later is very much a part of me. And where did this happen?

Fifty-five years ago mite boxes--rectangular, cardboard savings banks for outreach--were integral to Lent. As a junior choir member I was privileged to attend the presentation of these offerings at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford. Church school choirs from all over the diocese had gathered, each with a banner. Sunlight bejeweled the colored glass, "O Zion Haste" reverberated from the vaulted ceiling, vested clergy paled in the presence of episcopal cope, crook, and miter, and I had never felt more at home. My heart was smitten. Liturgy speaks to the heart.

PRAY for the Diocese of Kisangani (Congo)

Ps 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 * 73;  2 Corinthians 12:11-21; Luke 19:41-48