Author: Mike

Walk for a New Spring in Worcester on Saturday

I really miss the Nipponzan Myohoji where I lived in DC in 2009. These folks are walking through Worcester this weekend.

Kieran writes:

Saturday, February 19 · 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Worcester Area Think Tank
36 Harlow st
Worcester, MA

Join marchers from the Leverett Peace Pagoda and from throughout Massachusetts as they arrive in Worcester from Fitchburg.

The Walk for a New Spring is initiated by New England Nipponzan Myohoji, a Japanese Buddhist Order that builds pagodas around the world and initiates walks for peace. They state that, “Just as the generosity of Mother Earth does not fail to bring forth Spring out of Winter, we walk believing that we ordinary people can bring forth the power of peace and equity both within our daily lives locally and within the governmental and economic power structure. We walk for an awakening of conscience, of desiring to do good and putting down harmful actions, believing and esteeming that seed of pure divinity within all people, even those who do much harm”. Continue reading “Walk for a New Spring in Worcester on Saturday”

508 #144: Transition Towns

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Joe Scully and Brendan Melican. They are joined by Ian Anderson, Drew Wilson, Jeremy Shulkin, and some Clark University students.

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Installing lectors and eucharistic ministers, St. Peter’s Parish

This past Sunday, I was “installed” as a lector at St. Peter’s Parish. The ceremony consisted of a simple blessing with holy water at mass.

(Pictured: The newly-blessed lectors and eucharistic ministers of St. Peter’s.)

I lectored all through high school without an official blessing, so I’ve been poking around online to learn more about the significance of this ceremony.

Apparently there was a pre-Vatican II “minor order” for lectors, but this is not that. According to The Duties and Ministries in the Mass, I think my role is “a layperson who happens to be reading”:

101. In the absence of an instituted lector, other laypersons may be commissioned to proclaim the readings from Sacred Scripture. They should be truly suited to perform this function and should receive careful preparation, so that the faithful by listening to the readings from the sacred texts may develop in their hearts a warm and living love for Sacred Scripture.

At the same time the lectors were installed, eucharistic ministers were commissioned, which seems to be a more formal blessing from “Book of Blessings, chapter 63.”

508 #143: Co-working

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is TED Fellow Jessica Colaço, Brendan Melican, and Holmes Wilson of the Participatory Culture Foundation. The show was taped at the iHub in Nairobi, and in a snow cave in Worcester.

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Merry Christmas!

Enough of this pre-Christmas and post-Christmas blogging; today is Orthodox Christmas.

Last night I stopped by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Nairobi a few hours before Christmas mass, which I considered attending but was warned off from by a couple non-Amharic-speakers.

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Here’s a photo of the inside I took at the urging of a member of the congregation. The painting of the three bearded men depicts the Trinity. I was told that the TV screen, though not working at present, is intended to give people a view of what’s happening in the inner sanctuary when the curtain is closed.

I love watching people showing up for Ethiopian mass, the women in white packed into cars, emerging like circus clowns turning into butterflies.
Continue reading “Merry Christmas!”

508 #141: Conspiracy theories

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Brendan Melican. We talk about The Pulse’s “Ones to Watch” list; last year we did an in-depth analysis. We revisit the “travel spending scandals” of city employees. Today is Orthodox Christmas. The weather in Nairobi is better than the weather in Worcester. There’s a Worcester Magazine article about the PharmaSphere phiasco; Bill Randell has some critical thoughts, as do we. (For more background than you probably want, watch our episode on the South Worcester Industrial Park.) The City of Worcester has a list of Social Media & Information Sharing resources; we recommend the police Twitter feed. Also, there was a Dianne Williamson column Brendan liked.

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Friends Meeting, Nairobi

Last Sunday I stopped by the Quakers on Ngong Road in Nairobi for the mostly-silent “unprogrammed worship.” This is one of the few religious services where I feel obtrusive—it’s like sitting in at an AA meeting when you’re not part of that community.

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The unprogrammed worship didn’t go very long, so we walked over to another building where they hold, you guessed it, “programmed worship.” I had no idea such a thing existed. It’s similar to an evangelical service. (Though on the tamer side.)

One more surprising fact: Kenya has the most Quakers of any nation. I am told that the Ngong Road congregation is mostly Luhya.