In the penultimate (we love that word here at Lent Madness) matchup of the Saintly Sixteen, South African Bernard Mizeki faces Midwesterner Jackson Kemper. The winner will tangle with Molly Brant in the Elate Eight.
Yesterday, Brigid of Kildare took care of Dionysius the (evidently-not-so) Great 63% to 37% and will square off against Kamehameha in the next round.
Enjoy a weekend voting respite but be prepared to return bright and early Monday morning for the last battle of the Saintly Sixteen between Egeria and Thomas Ken. Then it's on to the Elate Eight! Oh, and go to church on Sunday. The SEC encourages that.
We've almost made it through yet another week of heart-stopping, saintly thrills and spills. Two more votes to cast before we're given a chance to catch our collective breaths/suffer from the weekend malaise that is LMW (Lent Madness Withdrawal).
After today's matchup, only two battles remain in the Round of the Saintly Sixteen. Tomorrow Bernard Mizeki will face Jackson Kemper and on Monday it's Egeria vs. Thomas Ken. Then it's on to the Elate Eight!
But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's focus on a tricky pairing between a beloved Irish saint and a bishop who served amid the trials of persecution. Brigid of Kildare faces Dionysius the Great as we continue to get to know our saintly souls through Quirks and Quotes.
Yesterday, Francis of Assisi trounced Cecilia 69% to 31% and will face off against Thecla in the next round.
The Saintly Sixteen continues with a Hawaiian king vs. the first Native American saint. Kamehameha takes on David Oakerhater as a man passionate about the medical care of his people faces a man whose Cheyenne name is translated "Making Medicine." Regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain: one of Neva Rae Fox's saints will advance to the next round.
In yesterday's first battle of the Saintly Sixteen, Brendan the Navigator finally lost his way, losing to Thecla 62% to 38%. Thecla becomes the first saint of Lent Madness 2015 to advance to the Elate Eight where she'll face the winner of Francis of Assisi vs. Cecilia.
After today's vote is decided, Lent Madness will resume first thing Monday morning as Cuthbert takes on Molly Brant. Stay tuned for more saintly action!
Occasionally the SEC adds matchups based on little more than (deeply prayerful) whim. This isn't such a case, mind you, but we do sometimes get jazzed by things like alliteration. Thus, today it's Dorcas vs. Douglass. That has a certain saintly ring to it, don't you think? The winner faces Juan Diego in the Saintly Sixteen.
Yesterday, Cuthbert sent the Venerable Bede packing with a veritable Bede-down of his medieval contemporary, 63% to 37%. He'll next square off against Molly Brant.
Don't forget that our Bracket Czar updates the online Bracketeach day. Scroll down to see the corresponding Matchup Calendar and learn the precise date when your favorite saint will be locking horns (not that saints have horns) with his or her next saintly rival.
After today's competition, we will be exactly halfway through the first round. Remember, no voting takes place over the weekend so the next matchup will be Francis of Assisi vs. John Wycliffe on Monday morning. Now go vote!
"Wait, St. Swithun was a real person?" We get that a lot. "Wait, Molly Brant was a real person?" We never get that. Nonetheless, welcome to the first and only Saturday match-up of Lent Madness 2015. Go ahead, sleep late and dally over your coffee while you read about these two saintly souls. But don't get used to it: after today's battle, voting will return bright and early on Monday morning with Hadewijch facing off against Juan Diego.
In yesterday's action, David Oakerhater stunned Teresa of Avila in the first major upset of the season. In heavy voting (another day, another record total), David scored 60% of the vote to Teresa's 40% and will go on to face the winner of William Laud vs. King Kamehameha in the Saintly Sixteen.
Yes, folks, it's called Lent Madness for a reason. If your bracket is busted, you're not alone. But stick around -- the real goal is to learn about some amazing people, not to "win" Lent. Of course if you do stand victorious at the end of the season, you have every right to gloat. In a loving, Christian kind of way, of course.
As long as you're enjoying a leisurely morning, why not listen to Tim chatting about all things Lent Madness from yesterday's edition of Boston Public Radio? Click here and then scroll to 1:28 of the broadcast to catch the only segment that really matters.
And we're back with our next Celebrity Blogger to make your Monday morning even brighter than it already is, infused with the knowledge that Lent Madness begins in just nine days. Maria Kane is a second year CB who may or may not drive around suburban Washington, D.C. with one of those Native Texan bumper stickers on her car.
The Rev. Maria Kane is an Episcopal priest, historian of American religion, and native Texan. She currently lives outsides of Washington, D.C., where she serves as rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Waldorf, Maryland (and remains unabashed in her love for Washington’s archrival Dallas Cowboys). Maria is a contributor to Weavings and Alive Now! magazines and recently completed her dissertation, “Pretty Girls & Fascinating Boys,” a study of race, sexuality, and adolescent formation in late twentieth-century evangelicalism. She plans to expand upon her research findings, but right now, she’s just glad to be done! Her greatest joy, however, is in being godmother to Cal (7) and Leila (5). In her free time, Maria loves reading, cooking, gardening, and kayaking. She can be found on Twitter @mariaconchia.
What do you most love about the extraordinary honor of being a Celebrity Blogger (besides global adulation)? What’s not to love about a season full of history and saints? For me, it’s akin to being a kid in a candy store.
What is the quirkiest thing you've learned about one of your saints and how does this inspire your faith? I was struck by Molly Brandt’s influence on the relationship between the Iroquois and the British colonists. Even when the war forced her to move several times, she continued to serve as a friend and peacemaker to both communities. I’m often flummoxed in the midst of change, especially when it *feels* forced upon me; Molly’s steadfast faith and resolve has pushed me to question my excuses and response to unexpected change.
Downton Abbey or The Walking Dead and why? Well, I guess I am officially unhip because I currently don’t watch either one. I was a regular Downton Abbey viewer throughout the first four seasons, but I haven’t started watching Season 5 yet. On the other hand, I love PBS’ Frontline. Does that count? It’s the same channel…I tried…:-)
Besides Lent Madness, what do you most look forward to in the season of Lent? I love many things about Lent, but I’ll mention a few. 1) Lent is like a homecoming to me—minus the mums, football games, and high school melodrama. Seriously, though, Lent quiets my frenzied pace and beckons me home. 2) I also love singing “Were You There” 2) Stripping of the Altars—No matter how many times I experience it, I’m always rendered speechless. 3) Although it’s not directly tied into Lent, I make an annual sojourn to my beloved Texas for Houston's Livestock Show & Rodeo during Lent and bask in the glory of 30 days of barrel racing, calf roping, endless cowboy boots, and fried gloriousness.
SEC Note: Despite what's written on Maria's shirt, we have it on good authority that the background in this photo is actually Harper's Ferry and not the Dead Sea.
CBW (that's the hipster acronym we just coined) continues with veteran Celebrity Blogger, Megan Castellan. When Megan first started with us she was a priest in Arizona. Now, she's in her second year of life and ministry in Kansas City, Missouri.
See, we told you Lent Madness was transcontinental! Unless, of course, it's illegal to transport Lent Madness across state lines, in which case forget this little conversation ever happened.
The Rev. Megan Castellan is Assistant Rector, and Chaplain at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and Day School, Kansas City, Missouri. She is excited to be one of the few clergy to have a title (ARC) that is also a geometric figure, though why this fact has proved less amusing at parties, she can’t imagine. Her ongoing adventures and strong opinions are chronicled in her blog Red Shoes, Funny Shirt and on Twitter @revlucymeg. (She also writes on Mondays for the Episcopal Cafe, though the snark factor is significantly lower there). In her spare time, she enjoys singing, cooking, being obsessive about television comedy, and marshaling the forces of the Ginger Rescue Squad, otherwise known as her rescue dog and rescue cat.
What do you most love about the extraordinary honor of being a Celebrity Blogger (besides global adulation)? There are precious few times that I can emulate Tobias Funke, but Lent Madness is one such time. I enjoy proclaiming to the world at large, when asked to explain the size of our audience for this rather odd phenomenon, that "there are dozens of us! DOZENS!!!" (I would also recommend painting your face entirely purple, for the full Tobias-Does-Lent effect.)
To put that more seriously, I have loved the unexpected ways that Lent Madness has introduced me to so many different people, in so many different ways. When I first moved to Kansas City, I went to the local retirement home to do the weekly Eucharist. To my surprise, a resident approached me afterwards and inquired if I was the same Megan from Lent Madness. He had made a habit of reading the matchups to his wife each day, whose eyesight was failing, and that had become their Lenten devotion. I was very moved that such a quirky thing as an online contest between long-dead saints could prompt a show of such devotion.
What is the quirkiest thing you've learned about one of your saints and how does this inspire your faith? Every year, it's the saints I think will drop out the fastest that go the furthest. I had a heck of a time last year trying to figure out what I could say for Lydia, and ended up learning more about ancient dye-producing snails than a reasonable person should know.
But what amazes me and humbles me each year is not only what I learn about each saint, but how people of faith, over the years, have interacted with that saint and their story. A large part of what creates recognized saints, after all, is grassroots popular devotion, and especially in hierarchical churches like the Roman Catholic, or Orthodox church (or, you know, anyone prior to the modern era), the making of saints was one of the few ways for the average pewsitter to have a say in the direction of the church. So I find it inspiring to witness the centuries of devotion to someone like Lydia, or (spoiler alert!) someone like Balthazar, who begins to take on enormous significance for people, above and beyond what their initial story might suggest.
Downton Abbey or The Walking Dead and why? I don't currently watch either of these, and I realize this admission will probably result in the forfeiture of my Episcopalian card. But while we're discussing television, let me introduce you to the delightful, and now award-winning, show, "Jane the Virgin"! It's a riff on the telenovela, about a young woman who was accidentally artificially inseminated, and now finds her life way more dramatic. It sounds like an insane premise, but so far, the show has used the traditionally crazy plot twists of the soap opera to deal with stuff like class inequality, immigration reform, religion through generations, changing family structures, etc. While being consistently hilarious, well-acted and prominently using a snarky omniscient narrator. So, TV gold, basically.
Besides Lent Madness, what do you most look forward to in the season of Lent? I am looking forward to an opportunity to refocus on what is important, and the wonderful, wonderful day when people stop wantonly adding 'Alleluia, alleluia' to the dismissal when I have not said it first.
SEC NOTE: In the photo above, Megan is holding the only two pieces of saintly kitsch found in her office: a how-to guide of Jesus dances and a bottle shaped like the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is clearly a cry for help. Send Megan more saintly kitsch!
After consuming ridiculously large quantities of food, what else is one to do but shop? If you are morally opposed to shopping on "Black" Friday, we salute you, and we hope you will note this is different: it is a precursor to Lenten discipline.
Anyway, if you are smart, you didn't get up in the middle of the night and camp out at your nearest big box store. Instead, you'll be doing your shopping online, either today or on Cyber Monday. Because the SEC cares about your and your shopping needs, we have conveniently provided a way for you to do all your Advent, Christmas, St. Thomas, Holy Innocents, and New Year's Day shopping done in one fell swoop. This weekend only, we have an amazing deal on 2015 Lent Madness bracket posters. Buy one for every person on your gift list (maybe a matching set for your dearest loved ones)! Now through Cyber Monday, 2015 Lent Madness bracket posters are on sale for just FIVE BUCKS EACH. That's a 50% savings and an unprecedented low price!
To get the deal, use code CYBER14.
And that's not all. You can get great deals on other gift items from Forward Movement, including amazing children's books and a book of daily devotions for 2015. You don't usually see deals like this from Forward Movement, so act now. Remember, use code CYBER14 at checkout to get the deal.
After yesterday's Harriet Havoc, it appears we have our first true Cinderella in Harriet Bedell since Emma of Hawaii made it to the championship round in 2012. She trounced Harriet Beecher Stowe 74% to 26% in the first blowout of the week after three days of tense back and forth battles.
Today we finalize the Faithful Four as Anna Cooper squares off against Charles Wesley. To make it to the Elate Eight, Anna defeated Joseph of Arimathaea and J.S. Bach while Charles beat out his brother John and Thomas Merton. The winner will cut down the proverbial nets and join Lydia, Phillips Brooks, and Harriet Bedell as the four remaining saints of Lent Madness 2014.
Here's today's Archbishops' Update for your viewing pleasure:
Have a good Palm Sunday weekend, all, and remember there are only three days left of this year's Madness. We'll have Faithful Four contests on Monday and Tuesday and voting for the Golden Halo on Spy Wednesday with the winner announced at 8:00 am on Maundy Thursday. Onward!
Anna Cooper
If you haven’t yet planned your next vacation, why not consider a road trip to the Mid-Atlantic — that is, of course, if you can’t make it to the great nation of Texas? Along with enjoying delectable blue crabs, artificially sweetened ice tea, and excessive humidity, you can embark upon a spiritual pilgrimage in honor of Dr. Anna Julia Cooper’s commitment to human dignity, equality, and Christian discipleship.
Begin your trip in Raleigh, North Carolina, with a visit to St. Augustine’s Normal School & Collegiate Institute (now St. Augustine’s College), where Anna Julia Cooper began attending school at the age of nine. While there, recall Anna Julia’s early foray into activism as she demanded entrance into the same courses as her male counterparts, including classes in theology and pastoral ministry.
Anna J. Cooper Home
After that, hop onto I-85 and make your way to Richmond, Virginia, where you’ll find the Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School in Richmond’s East End. Visit with the amazing students there, and perhaps you can join some of the teachers as they make regular visits to their students’ homes — not because they’re in trouble, but because their teachers are committed to maintaining an active role in their students lives. Be sure to purchase an AJCES t-shirt while you’re there, too.
After a day in Richmond (make you sure to visit their fantastic
M Street School
Museum of Fine Arts), hop on I-95 to Washington, D.C. While most of the traffic will be headed to the National Mall, drive on over to the less-crowded, but culturally rich & vibrant LeDroit Park to visit the M Street School (now Dunbar High School) where Anna Julia Cooper served as principal.
If you get a chance, take a moment to enjoy the majestic sounds of Dunbar’s marching band. Upon leaving Dunbar, pass through Anna J. Cooper Circle on your way to visit her beautiful home. Be sure to take some pictures to mail home to your family and friends. Naturally, you’ll want to use the commemorative stamps in honor of Dr. Cooper, which you can purchase after taking a tour of the United States Postal Museum a few blocks away.
If the heat should become unbearable as you travel, recall Anna Julia’s tireless activism in heels and corsets and be encouraged. Besides, I’m not so sure that Mr. Wesley — classy and talented he may have been — was so impeccably and painfully dressed.
Educators, unite—
Writers, speak—
Clergy spouses (and widows), find a new companion—
Francophiles, raise a glass—
World travelers, behold your passport—
Overachievers, join your tribe—
Believers of equality, stamp out injustice— Everyone, channel your inner “Anna Julia” and live the Gospel with boldness & hope (corset & heels, optional)
You may fear, dearest reader, that as the younger of the famous Wesley Brothers, Charles Wesley would be bereft on nice, shiny, new kitsch. After all, youngest siblings always seem to get only hand-me-downs: clothes a few years out of style, “lovingly” used toys, and the like. And a lack of kitsch for Charles Wesley would mean a weak showing in the Elate Eight, and next to no chance of advancing. It would almost be as if he failed to show up for this late round of Lent Madness.
So can it be that Charles Wesley should gain an interest in the Zazzle’s kitsch? Yes, dear reader, Yes! Zazzle is here to remind us: There’s Methodist in My Madness!
But there are some in the kitsch-o-sphere that feel it is necessary to remind us that, even as a Methodist remains in our beloved Lent Madness, John and Charles Wesley were, indeed, Anglicans. Both died before Methodism split from the Church of England, and Charles, in particular, was very vocal against any potential split.
But people of all kinds of denominations can unite behind Charles Wesley, and especially behind his over 6,000 hymns which continue to inspire the faithful. Inspire the faithful, so much, that he hangs out with his fellow hymn writers William Cowper, Fanny Crosby, John Newton, and Isaac Watts on an exquisite “Sing Hymns Loud!” tie that is said to inspire a thousand tongues to sing.
Indeed, ‘tis mercy all, immense and at a fee, all this kitsch didst find out me! Of course, Lent Madness isn’t all about kitsch. It’s about preparing for Easter, and for so many, Charles Wesley’s hymn “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” is among their favorites. The hymn is an adaptation of the earlier version from the 1708 Lyrica David original; The United Methodist Hymnal uses Wesley’s adaptation, but in the Episcopal Church’s Hymnal 1982, the original is blended with Wesley’s own verse in “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.” In one form or another, the hymn is beloved enough to deserve a place on your living room wall.
Speaking of that favorite Wesley Tune, it looks like choir soloist John Daker from First United Methodist Church is getting ready to sing a song that’s very popular nowadays, with Charles Wesley being a contestant in Lent Madness. And then he’s gonna sing Amore too, okay?
On second thought, Charles Wesley's bust is not amused… so help him recover from that incredibly unique rendition of one of his hymns by voting him into the Faithful Four.
In the last battle before the start of the highly anticipated Elate Eight (aka the Saintly Kitsch round), Thomas Merton takes on Charles Wesley. Poet vs. hymn writer. Both were brothers, of course -- one a monastic brother (Trappist) and one an actual brother (to John Wesley). It's the final match-up of the Saintly Sixteen!
In a quick media round-up, everyone's favorite online Lenten devotion was featured last week on National Public Radio, Christianity Today, and even the Methodists got in on the action with a post on UMC.org, the official online ministry of the Methodist Church (something tells us they may be especially interested in today's match-up). Also, Archbishops John and Thomas made their national television debut on Bloomberg TV.
What's the secret behind all the Lent Madness love out there (besides the warm and fuzzy nature of the Supreme Executive Committee)? Forward Movement Managing Editor Richelle Thompson shares her take in an article titled "If At First You Don't Succeed" on the Episcopal Church Foundation's Vital Practices webpage (Hint: no high priced PR consultants were harmed in this process).
And if you're looking to take the edge off Monday Morning, watch the Archbishops' Update as they preview the Lent Madness week ahead.
Finally, we're making progress in our campaign to reach 10,000 likes on Facebook before awarding the Golden Halo! We're pushing 9,650 so make sure to share our page with everyone you know. We suggest pilfering the parish directory and sending handwritten notes to everybody urging them to like Lent Madness immediately.
Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton is considered by many to be the voice of the contemplative tradition in the modern world. His books, over 30 of them, reinvigorated those interested in contemplative practice. Given his voluminous amount of writing, his quotes were more than plentiful.
The quirks, however, are what make his quotes matter. Perhaps the quirk was his life of self contradictions. An unhappy child and unsettled adolescent became an adult who, on a street corner in Kentucky, was overwhelmed with the realization he loved all these people, "that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers.”
A man with an extravagant personality and celebrity also craved his own space, eventually granted, somewhat grudgingly, in The Hermitage. A deeply devout Trappist who described his order as one that “carried communism to its ultimate limit” also explored the truths in Eastern faith. A sometimes hermit shared his soul and spirit with millions through his words. A man who, in his later years, fell in love with a nurse, writing her love poetry, wrote love poetry to his monastic life, as well, and ultimately reaffirmed his life as a Trappist before his untimely death. Even that too held contradictions: the avid peace activist’s body was flown to Kentucky on a military plane.
Merton was a writer, a poet, an artist, a jazz aficionado, a dissident, a lover, a peace activist, a hermit, a celebrity, and a man -- all held in union in his deeply contemplative soul. The illusion is that we are non-contradictory. To find our true selves, filled with beauty and contradictions and other-ness, we must enter into contemplation. For Merton, “We become contemplatives when God discovers Himself in us.”
Through contemplation, we seek truth. Merton writes, “We make ourselves real by telling the truth....But he can forget how badly he needs to tell the truth....We must be true inside, true to ourselves, before we can know a truth that is outside us.”
And that truth? That self that is beyond illusion, that welcomes our contradictions, our paradoxes and ambiguities? In that space is God.
The man who is not afraid to admit everything that he sees to be wrong with himself, and yet recognizes that he may be the object of God’s love precisely because of his shortcomings, can be sincere. His sincerity is based on confidence, not in his illusions about himself, but in the endless, unfailing mercy of God.
When all our shortcomings, our hypocrisies, our failings...when all that we’d rather not expose about ourselves is welcomed into contemplative union with God, we become part of the dance that is in the midst of us, “for it beats in our very blood whether we want it to or not."
In the midst of Lent Madness, remember Merton’s call to cast our awful solemnity to the winds and join God’s dance.
Here is a video of a monk from Gethsemani praying one of Merton’s most famous prayers:
Charles Wesley (1707-1788), who with his brother John was among the chief leaders of the Methodist Revival within the Church of England, is especially quotable, having penned well over 6,000 hymns during his lifetime, in addition to a multitude of sermons a personal writings. Wesley knew well the power of hymns to convey theology to a wide audience.
One of Wesley’s great hymns was written on the anniversary of his inner conversion, which he described as “a strange palpitation of the heart.” The hymn spanned some eighteen verses, including some no longer in common use today, speaking to the theme of the assurance of salvation by the presence of the Holy Spirit:
O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer’s praise The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace!
On this glad day the glorious Sun Of Righteousness arose; On my benighted soul He shone, and fill’d it with repose.
Then with my heart I first believed, Believed with faith Divine; Power with the Holy Ghost received, to call the Saviour mine.
Some of Wesley’s hymns weren’t as “worship-ready.” After his brother John appointed Thomas Coke as Superintendent for the Methodists in America – giving to Coke the responsibilities in America that would have belonged to a Bishop in the Church of England – Charles Wesley penned a sarcastic verse to express his sense of anger and betrayal:
So easily are Bishops made By man’s or woman’s whim? Wesley his hands on Coke hath laid, But who laid hands on him?
But the vast majority of his hymns, however, remain firmly entrenched on our lips. As a man who often preached in the fields to people unable to reach a parish church, yet another text speaks to the heart of Charles Wesley’s ministry:
Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim,
And publish abroad His wonderful Name;
The Name all victorious of Jesus extol,
His kingdom is glorious and rules over all.
But it is one of his hymns written on the theme of Christian perfection that is perhaps the most beloved. The hymn is among the most fitting and most quotable summations of the theology and ministry of this incredible theologian, preacher, and author:
Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come down; Fix in us thy humble dwelling; All thy faithful mercies crown! Jesus, Thou art all compassion, Pure unbounded love Thou art; Visit us with Thy salvation; Enter every trembling heart.
Come, Almighty to deliver, Let us all Thy life receive; Suddenly return and never, Never more Thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, Serve Thee as Thy hosts above, Pray and praise Thee without ceasing, Glory in Thy perfect love.
Finish then thy new creation: pure and spotless let us be Let us see thy great salvation Perfectly restored in thee Changed from glory into glory ‘til in heaven we take our place ‘til we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love and praise!
