tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67481021973259609952024-03-08T12:49:27.574-08:00The Dean's BlogDean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-9123560982000992442023-04-26T06:24:00.000-07:002023-04-26T06:24:45.787-07:00A Healing Path: Pain, Awareness, and Healing<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is my most personal blog ever, I share
it with the hope and prayer that it will be helpful to others.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the early 90s, I was the Director of
the Leadership Training Institute of Episcopal Renewal Ministries. It was a
great time in our lives living and working with the team of people who made up
this ministry. However, one source of pain for me was my son. His life had gone
off track and our relationship had gone to hell. Nothing I could say or do
seemed to help him and that is a great deal of pain for a anyone but especially
for a pastor. Then God did something remarkable. It became a time of grace for
my family.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It Started with a Friend. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
was sharing this with Sandy Greene, a close friend and colleague, when he said
something that changed my life and eventually my relationship with my son. “You
need to read a book and I will send you a copy,” The book was by Paul Warren
and a colleague and is titled, “Kids Who Carry Our Pain.” Sandy said, “read it
one chapter at a time and reflect on it.” I took his advice. I read one chapter
a week. Then I would pause, reflect, and weep.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The book was written for people like me from a
dysfunctional family and who were now struggling with relationships with our
own children. The bottom line of this book is that healing was possible if we
are willing to look at our own pain, own it, and believe that healing would
come to current relationships if we let them go and faced our own truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Face our “Own Truth.” </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is a phrase that has become popular in
our culture. But Dr. Warren meant something quite different from the way it is
used today. A good current example of what I mean is found in Prince Harry’s
new book. Prince Harry’s truth is the pain that he felt in the dysfunctionality
of his very public family. It’s best summarized in the title <b>Spare</b>. He
used this to identify the pain and loneliness he experienced as a child. The
title is better understood I think in another way. He meant Spare as a summary
of the pain inflected on him. I think it is better seen as the lens through
which he is currently viewing the events of his life. He is saying, I was
treated like a spare and that is why I feel this pain. He wants the world to
hear his truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What he doesn’t
understand is that a child sees their world through the eyes of a child. One of
the primary themes of Dr. Warren’s book is that children from dysfunctional
families are coping with life with something significant missing from their
understanding. What is this missing ingredient? <i>No one tells us the source
of the toxicity that has dominated our family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We feel the toxic effects. We live with pain and often shame. We assume
it is somehow our fault. We often see ourselves like Harry, the victims of this
pain. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It must start with awareness.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> The
first thing this book did for me was to describe what it is like to be a child
from such a dysfunctional family. It points out the pain we feel. It highlights
the confusion we live with. It painfully points out the destructive behavior we
live out and even worse the pain we pass on to our children. Dr. Warren said
that the way to stop the pain is for the adult/parent to face this pain and
deal with it. That became my journey. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It was several months of pain and tears. With the book
as guidance, and a counselor friend, I did the work that I needed to do. Near the
end of the book, Dr. Warren urges the adult/child to try to speak to our
parents, if they are still alive. He suggests that we prepare a critical
question to direct to at least one parent. He taught us that once we share it
with them, we would have to sit back and wait for the response. And we need to
be prepared for the family pain that is about to be revealed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I can share my question with my father. I still
remember the quiet afternoon as we sat alone. “Dad, I want to ask you a
question and I want you to think about it before you respond.” He nodded. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Have you ever thought
about how your relationship with your father affected the way you related to
me?” Nothing from my family or our history prepared me for what he shared.
While sharing, my mother entered the room and added more painful family
shame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not think it is appropriate
for me to share what all flowed out that day, but I can share the results. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">First, I can share how it hit me. It was painful,
awesome, and ultimately freeing. In one conversation, my toxic family history
poured out and opened the door to freeing me from that past. It led to a deeper
relationship with my father. I called my wife that night and we cried together.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Interestingly, I never told my son about this, but
soon things began to change between us. One day he called and pleaded to come home
and live with us. I almost said no, but my wife looked at me, and crying nodded
yes! So began a long year of reconciliation. As Warren said, he no longer had
to carry my pain. Of course, by then, he had plenty of his own.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To my son’s credit, after moving home, he restarted
his education, got a job, and began to blossom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A year later, he asked us to consider supporting him in applying for college.
We smiled and said, “Well, if you think that is something you want to do.” He
was grateful. That night as we prepared for bed. We said our shortest and most
joyful prayer. YESSSSSS! Thank you, Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Meeting the author</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">:
When I became a member of the Staff of Christ Church in Plano and began Vital
Church Ministry, I discovered that Paul Warren and his wife were members. I
invited him to coffee. After we sat down, I said to him, “Doc, your book
changed my life!” At the end of our time, he smiled and thanked me for sharing.
Then, right there in the coffee shop, we cried together tears of healing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He has since gone on to the land of light and love. I
shall never forget him or his book, his lessons, and his great kindness to me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thanks for listening. Some of you may find this book
helpful too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kids Who Carry Our Pain</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
is by Dr. Paul Warren and Dr. Robert Hemfelt and is part of the Minirth Meier
Series and Published by Thomas Nelson 1990.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-44134786979529177482019-03-20T09:42:00.000-07:002019-03-20T09:42:33.203-07:00My Predictions for TEC in 2007: How Close Was I?
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In 2007, I wrote two articles on trends. The
first that proceeded the one below which I am reproducing here was about the
changing demographics of America and how the decline of the GI Generation (60%
churched) and replacement by the Millennial Generation (10% Churched) would bring
church membership down to 20%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Church
membership in the US now stands at 20%.</i></div>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In the second, I took out my crystal ball
and projected this into TEC’s future. A friend kept these articles and sent them
to me asking how thought I did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
commented <span style="color: red;">in red</span> about how my predictions have
worked out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is what I wrote:</i></div>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
If
the trends that I highlighted in my previous post continue, what will be the
practical effects of this upon our community? </div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When will the number of congregations drop
below 7000? A/ </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2009</b><span style="color: red;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;">I hit this one close, but the answer is distorted because 815
continues to count the ACNA Churches that left. They do this to underscore our
legal ability to claim them and suite for the property, for examples Fort Worth
and South Carolina. </span></div>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b>When will the church be forced to reduce
the number of diocesan bishops or be forced to merge dioceses or subsidize
dioceses? A/</b> <b>2010 - 2012. for mergers, we already
subsidize indirectly a large number of dioceses.</b><span style="color: red;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;">I was wrong on the mergers. I underestimated the ability of
our diocesan institutions to preserve themselves. Now, it has started (N.W Texas with Fort Worth
and N.W. Pennsylvania with Western New York) , it will happen in places like
the mid-west where parishes are hard pressed to sustain a Diocesan Bishop and
organization.</span></div>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When will we no longer be able to sustain
our present national church staff and operations? A/ 2</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">009</b><span style="color: red;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;">Starting in 2009, TEC has had to make steady cutbacks in our
operations.</span></div>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When will we be forced to use endowments to
subsidize our national operations? A/ </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">We already are.</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;">And endowment income was used extensively by our former PB
and her chancellor to pay our legal bills.
This despite the stated intentions of some of the endowment gifts. This
raises the question, what if a PB acts arbitrarily and the House of Bishops
doesn’t object? BTW, we didn’t get much property back, but the Chancellor and
his firm made a lot of money. </span></div>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When will the number of full-time parish
clergy drop below 7,000 (including all Rectors, Vicars and assisting
clergy? A/ </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Around 2010</b><span style="color: red;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;">The Church Pension fund has documented this trend for 10
years and its implications much better than I could have done.</span></div>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When will dioceses be forced to close
congregations and to sell their property to sustain their diocesan budgets? A/ </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1992 (it has been happening for a long
time!)</b><span style="color: red;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;">That, obviously, was not a prediction, just a fact that
continues.</span></div>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When will our national leadership admit
that the consent to Gene Roberson's election costs us thousands of people,
hundreds of parishes, and much financial loss? A/ </b><b>Never</b>.<b> </b></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;">Much of the Progressive Leadership of TEC can’t admit
this. Therefore, they almost never talk about the decline. The real risk here is that the avoidance and
even denial of this decline helps create an attitude of complacency or that
everything is OK. Decline of the Episcopal Church seems to now be the accepted position of much of our leadership. </span></div>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: #b00000;"></span><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When will we elect our last Presiding
Bishop? A/ </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2015</b><span style="color: red;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;">I missed this one, thank God. However, I was imprecise in my question.
It should have been “when will we have the last PB who will preside over a
Church that covers all of the US?” While the Church has declined dramatically,
we have been able to maintain parishes in each State.</span></div>
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When will the number of Episcopalians equal
the current number of UCC members? A/ </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2020</b><span style="color: red;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;">I really missed this one because I forgot to allow for the
continuing decline of the UCC. These trends effect all denominations in the U.S. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What is the point of all this? Demographics are
destiny; unless our leadership has a vision and takes strategic action to
off-set them. Our Current PB and several Bishops are attempting to do
this. All who love our Church should make
every effort to support these leaders. </span></i></b></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-25124033543376692322016-12-27T14:17:00.001-08:002016-12-27T14:17:44.234-08:00Six Things I Listen for in a Sermon<b></b><br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">As someone who has
preached for over 44 years, and one who has taught preaching along with writing
numerous articles and blogs on the topic of preaching, you may think that I am tough
on preachers and a harsh critic of their sermons.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Actually, I am not.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I approach the sermon in an expectant
manner.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">First,
I am eager to hear God’s word expounded.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>I can and often have already read the scriptures for the day.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I want and look forward to the preacher’s
expansion of the text(s).</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Second,
I want to be open to what God has to say to me through the sermon and the “me”
can also mean “us” as a member of a congregation.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Third,
I hope to learn something.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Fourth,
I want to hear the good news proclaimed. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Here are the 6 things that I listen for in a
sermon.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I don’t expect every sermon to
have all of these, but I listen for them and I think others may be also.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">First, I listen for an invitation into the preaching
event</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; text-indent: 2.25pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">I want the preacher to engage me in some way.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Often a simple question can do this, for
example, “What could Jesus have meant when he asked people to come and follow
him?”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The invitation can also come as a
narrative or story at the beginning that sets the tone and theme of the sermon.
For example, <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“The other day while in
Walmart, I watched a mother stand completely helpless at the temper tantrum of
her toddler. I’ve been there.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I even
find a vivid retelling of a parable or teaching a great introduction.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>After all, Jesus’ sermons and teachings were
often great stories.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; text-indent: 2.25pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">There are some things I don’t find helpful.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I don’t find an explanation of why “these
three scriptures” were chosen for today remotely interesting.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I don’t find a humorous story or illustration
useful if it doesn’t introduce and serve the sermon.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I don’t find complicated explanations about
complex passages and what words really mean in Greek very engaging.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In short, I listen to hear why this sermon is
important.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Second, I listen to whether the preacher has done his
or her homework</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Here
I have a bias.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I notice that a lot of
Episcopal clergy are topical preachers.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>By this I mean they find a topic or issue or subject in a text and
proceed to preach on the topic and not what the text means, or why it is there,
or why it is being read. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">For
example, when Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” it may raise an interesting
topic about the metaphor bread and what bread represents and can mean, but I
want to know why he said it, or at least why John said he said it, and not
about the art of bread making or the preachers attempt at baking break and what
the preacher learned from it.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I want to
know that the preacher has engaged the passage and its meaning. This comes from
prayerful and scholarly engagement with the Scriptures.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Third, I listen for the big story</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Christianity
is about life and death.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is about the
big questions and issues that make living, loving, and even pain and suffering
meaningful, so preach on this.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I don’t
really care about the arcane of faith such as the colors of the Church Year or
the trivia of the bible.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I listen hungry
for meaning. Just as our culture often overloads us with mounds of data, some
preachers seem more interested in the data of scripture or theology instead of
its meaning.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Fourth, I listen for to the content AND the delivery</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">A
sermon is oral communication and as such it has two important dynamics that of content
and delivery.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Episcopal clergy are
fairly smart people, but we are also at times boring.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When I do teach preaching and evaluate
sermons, I use these two scales.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>First
is content. Does the preacher have something to say? <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Second, I ask has the preacher said it
effectively?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Can the preacher
communicate beyond mere words?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Effective
delivery helps people listen.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Many of
us have become so predictable in our form of preaching, what Fred Craddock
called “Explain, Explore, Apply,” that we lull our congregations into passivity
by our predictability.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Rhetoric is not a bad word, and learning to
communicate effectively with its different rules and forms is a blessing to our
listeners.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Fifth, I want to leave knowing what the preacher intended to say </span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">This
is what Craddock<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>called the sermonic
sentence.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is a one sentence or one
phrase summary of the sermon that preachers should use to organize their
thoughts.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This sentence may or may not
actually be used in the sermon, but after hearing a sermon, we listeners should
be able to say in one sentence the point of what we heard.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Of course, we all know of moments when God
has spoken to us directly in a sermon beyond what the preacher intended, but
poorly formed and badly organized sermons should not be justified by such
anecdotal moments.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Lastly, I want to hear good news!</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">I
want to be encouraged, helped, and even inspired in my life in Christ.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I hear enough from our culture about sin,
death, shame, suffering, humiliation, the vain pursuit of material things, and
the evils of our world and of our own lives.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>I want to hear what God in Christ has set right!<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I want to leave believing my life matters and
that faith enables me to face the world with courage and hope.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">I
know we are unloving.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I know we are
polluting the earth.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I know black lives
matter. I know there is injustice in our world at every turn. I know we are
indifferent to important causes and issues.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>I know the world and our culture and lives are going to hell in a hand
basket.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>But I also know Christ and for Christians
“to live is Christ and to die is gain” as Paul said.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Preaching is at the heart proclamation not
condemnation.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Does good preaching
sometimes convict us?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Of course it does,
but even then it leads us to forgiveness, amendment, and a new life.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>And when hurting, depressed, wounded, discouraged
and weak, I want to know “there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.”
I listen for the good news that always brings with it hope.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 48px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Hey fellow preachers, let’s make 2017 a
year in which we improve the quality of our preaching!</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-12555215205018998482016-11-14T12:32:00.001-08:002016-11-14T12:32:13.926-08:00The Three Conversions of the Christian Life
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">Christianity at its core is a religion of Conversion.
The word conversion, as most of my readers already know, comes from the Latin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">conversio</i> which means to turn, or a
turning, especially a religious or moral turn of direction.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>While this can begin with a significant event
in a person’s life, such as Saul who became Paul on the road to Damascus, it
most fully refers to an on-going process.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>I would argue that conversion is the distinguishing characteristic of
Christianity and of the life of a disciple of Jesus.</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">Of course, we Episcopalians are not often the Damascus
Road kind of Christians. Most of us prefer to think about ourselves more like Barnabas;
quietly faithful folks who are kind and want to help and encourage others.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However, we do know that Christianity does
begin with conversion.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Even when we
baptize an infant, we believe that this child will have to come to a moment when
she or he turns to their faith, claims it for themselves, and must take on what
was promised for them in Baptism.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">Over the years, I have come to understand that
Episcopalians do not have a very clear understanding of conversion and what the
process involves.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I believe it is one of
the primary tasks of clergy to help our people understand conversion and what
is being formed in us through this process.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">The place to start is with is the realization that
Christianity involves more than accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord and
certainly more than becoming a member of the Church. What we fail to understand
is that Christianity actually includes three conversions. What do I mean by
this? Let me lay out what I understand these three conversions to be.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">Turning to
Christ</span></u></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">There is, of course, a conversion to Christ – to
embrace him as our Savior and to consciously choose to follow him as his
disciple.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The Episcopal Church’s
official definition of evangelism communicates this.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Evangelism
is to present Jesus Christ in the Power of the Holy Spirit so that men and
women are led to accept him as savior and follow him in the fellowship of his
Church.</i>”</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">All of the Church’s official and historical
formularies, whether we refer to the Creeds or the 39 Articles or the Baptismal
Covenant, affirm this definition.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the
Risen Christ we find both a Savior who by his death and resurrection has given
us a new life and a Lord who calls us to a new way of living.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Dean Urban Holmes rightfully caught the
fullness of this in his extremely important book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Turning to Christ</i>.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">In North America, Evangelicals often put most emphasis
on the first part of this, “being saved.”<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Some even say that this being saved is the main thing because it
guarantees us eternal life.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They even
equate salvation with eternal life.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Jesus and his early followers, however, called people to discipleship;
following after Jesus in a disciplined and intentional way.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Come and follow me” was both Jesus’
invitation and that of the early Church.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Making accepting Christ to be only about going to heaven is a serious
theological fault and one that lessens the fullness of Salvation which begins
when we do turn to Jesus.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">Turning to
the Church</span></u></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">For Christians, there is also a necessary conversion
to the Church.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the New Testament, the
writers make no distinction between being in Christ and being a member of his
body the Church.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Of course, following
the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire
and the idea of Christendom, we see the sad development that people can be
members of the Church, but not really followers of the Christ.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In our time, it is safe to say that such “nominal
Christianity” is a major obstacle to non-Christians experiencing the full reality
of real disciples who have a converted life.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">This artificial creation of “membership” should not
deflect us from the call to conversion to the Church.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Christianity is a communal religion.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is meant to be lived in a meaningful and
on-going accountable set of relationships with other disciples.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“You are the body of Christ” Paul affirmed,
“and individual members of it.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
organic image of the body of Christ that Paul uses for the Church is a powerful
expression of life lived in mutual love with others.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When one suffers, then we all suffer.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If one rejoices, we all rejoice.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is certainly true that much of Church and
congregational life that we see today falls far from this ideal, but that does
not negate the reality of what the Church is called to be.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>One cannot grow beyond a certain point in the
Christian faith without this conversion. </span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">And this conversion is not to an “Idealized Church,”
but to a local congregation of real human beings.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Yes, this means sinners with all our
imperfections.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Yet, it is also true that
it is in living into this calling to community that our path of holiness of
life and our vocation to the world is grounded.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Bonhoeffer’s book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Life in
Community</i> about the underground seminary that he led before his arrest by
the Nazi’s is a testimony to the power of such a life.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There are many other examples of rediscovered
community as a means of revival throughout the history of Christianity.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>One need only think of Benedict or Francis to
find how community brought a revival of the Christian experience.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">One of the encouraging signs of our age can be found
among a movement of new church plants that take on this more organic calling of
community.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Sometimes they take on names
like “the Abby” or use “fellowship” or “Community” to express something deeper
than the word “Church.” For these planters, Church has come to mean much that
falls short of this conversion. Truthfully, many of our members see Church as
more like a club of like-minded individuals.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The Church is not such an organization.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>It is a called community.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">Turning to
Mission</span></u></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">Third, there is also a conversion to Christ’s Mission
to our world.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jesus told his disciples
that “as the Father has sent me into the world, so I send you into the world.” But
how did the Father send the son?</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">God sent him to Love the world, to give his life for
the world, to bring hope to the broken, lost, hurting and alienated of this
world and to work as our Baptismal Covenant says, “For the dignity of every
human being.”</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">I have known many in the Church over the years who
genuinely seem to know Jesus and who are faithful Church members, but who are
stunted in their spiritual growth because they fail to understand this third
conversion.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Many Church members see acts
of charity or participation in a ministry that touches hurting people as some
sort of optional activity that some members might choose to take on.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Is this not what the word “outreach” often
means? Yet, any reading of the New Testament makes it clear that to turn to
Christ means to take up his work.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">And this work also includes working to have our world
more in alignment with God’s Kingdom.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>This is a Kingdom and Reign of justice and peace.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The early Christians stepped over every
racial, ethnic, and cultural barrier to make Christ known.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Converts, who were slaves, women, outcast,
and even some who were from the upper classes, lived, loved, and even died with
one another.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is true that the “blood
of the martyrs were the seeds of the Church”, but it is also true that many saw
how these Christians “loved one another” as a testimony to the transformative
power of God to change lives – to convert the hearts of men and women. </span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">Let me end this piece with a few observations that
flow from what I have said about the converted life.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">First, we often see people who have experienced one of
these conversions, but not all three.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For
example, some Evangelicals are good at proclaiming the conversion to Christ,
but often take a very casual view of the Church, and almost no interest in the
work of Christ’s mission among the poor and needy. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">There are also those who deeply love the Church, its
liturgy and worship, the beauty of classical music, and even it organization
and structures, but whom at the same time “know not Christ.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">In our current setting, we must also acknowledge that
there are many in the Episcopal Church among our Progressive leadership who are
sacrificially dedicated to Christ’s Mission in the world, but who hold a kind
of disdain for the local Church, and who forget whose mission this is, whose
reign we proclaim, and for whom we do this work.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; margin: 0px;">The answer then is not to criticize those who hold
such positions for after all they are partially right, but to fully embrace
that Christianity must involve a three-fold conversion for the fullness of this
new life to live in us.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>All of us
should seek a fuller turning to Christ, to his Church, and to his mission to
this broken and hurting world?</span></b></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-48080937429434926762016-03-07T13:14:00.000-08:002016-03-07T13:14:12.985-08:00Anglicans and Culture
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Seeing the disputes, arguments, and disagreements among
Episcopalians and other Anglicans in North America from the political and
social divides of our society, between liberal and conservative, or in church
language, progressive and orthodox fails to help us understand the different
ways Anglicans view ourselves today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
believe a better model is to remember Richard Niebuhr’s classic work on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christ
and Culture</i> and view our current situation in how we differ in the way
we see our relationship to our culture.</strong> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
First, let me explore a little background to this
issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1965 marks a significant year for
Anglicanism in North America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Historians
often use this date as “the end of the Protestant Era.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It marks the point in society were the assumption
of a broad mainline Protestant consensus gave way to an emerging secular
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, almost all former
mainline denominations can measure their numerical decline as starting in that
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is true of the Episcopal
Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1965, the denomination
reached its largest membership of 3.6 million.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From that year onward, it has been in steady decline with just under a
million members today. The first decade and a half of this century has seen an
accelerating decline of TEC and the formation of the Anglicans in North America
(ACNA) made up of many former members of TEC and a coalition of varying Anglican
spinoff groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Before 1965 there were different styles and expressions of
Anglicanism, high, low, and broad Church, but these still fit within the
cultural context of the era and were mostly congruent with culture and an extension of
historic Christendom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> W</span>hile we Anglicans
have never been the State Church in the U.S., we have understood ourselves to
be the State Church of the highly educated including artists and political leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, another less kind way of saying
this is that we have seen ourselves as the church of the cultural elite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were the Church of Presidents and the Country
Club, and we remain the most highly educated denomination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Because of our close ties to higher education, Episcopalians
are greatly influenced by the trends there, and especially those Universities that
are the current cutting edge of secularism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hence the emergence of secularism deeply affected our sense of
identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One only need remember the
enthusiastic string of books in the mid 60’s that heralded this new trend,
books like Harvey Cox’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Secular City</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, in light of the harsh realities for
mainline churches in late 20<sup>th</sup> century, these books strike us today
as simplistic and naïve. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
What then are the ways that Anglicans have differentiated
amidst these immense changes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see that
three dominant ones have emerged.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Chaplains to the Culture</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The dominant view at the present time in TEC is an attempt
to extend the old role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Progressives
of TEC are today’s traditionalists when it comes to culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They see our role as the Chaplains to the cultural
elite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, it is now obvious that
the cultural elite do not believe religion and especially the Church is
important even if they embrace an interest in a kind of undifferentiated
spirituality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps Bishop John Spong
best illustrates this understanding of the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has proposed for years a non-theistic and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>secular theology to replace our historic
faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What he and others are doing is
repositioning the Church to be the Church of Secularism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means that, like the University, our key
concerns have become sex, gender, race, global warming, economic justice, and
multiculturalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Notice in all the controversy within TEC related to
sexuality and gender, none of the leaders ever seriously thinks of doing away
with Bishops, General Conventions and the present Church structures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They believe that when women, gays, lesbians
and bi-sexuals can be Bishops, the church is carrying out its mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is giving a theological argument, or at
least rational justification for the place of religion in such a society and
the role of the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, even
a secular society needs at times Chaplains and Spiritual Guides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the party in TEC that now controls almost
all the political institutions of our church<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Having gained ascendancy, they are pushing ahead with their view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">These folks are cultural adapters.</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Preservers of High Culture</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
There are Episcopalians and Anglicans who see the mission of
the church as preserving high English Culture as expressed in the past Prayer
Books and classical Church Music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many
Anglo-Catholics fall into this category and so does the Prayer Book Society,
some English Evangelicals, and many Morning Prayer traditionalists in our laity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best example of this group may be Prince
Charles who is the patron of the Prayer Book Society in England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The way he expresses it is that the language
and aesthetics of the Church’s historic worship ennobles and raises society. It
holds up something grand and beyond the mundane of every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several of the continuing Anglican Churches
are clearly in this camp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the days
ahead, I predict that many of its advocates will find the Anglican Rite of the
Roman Church attractive. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
However, there are many significant Episcopal congregations
that remain vibrant and strong while following this model.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They clearly prefer historic forms of
liturgy, often using only Rite I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
offer outstanding classical church music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Many support the work of liberal education through outstanding private
schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The largest Episcopal Church in
the U.S., St. Martin’s in Houston, follows this form of Anglican life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would also point out All Souls’ in Oklahoma
City as another excellent strong congregation that offers much richness in this
corporate style that attracts many new members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Throughout TEC there are such examples and although their style often
stands in stark contrast to the dominant view in TEC, their vibrant life gives
testimony to the rich past they express.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I call this group the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cultural Preservers.</i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ancient/Future Missioners</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
This last group has been emerging for the past thirty years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They represent some of the fastest growing
Episcopal/Anglican congregations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
are Anglicans who draw on the ancient roots of the church in doctrine,
practices, and principles, but are willing to use contemporary aspects of
culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, they are willing
to experiment with liturgy, music, and technology to reach un-churched
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has been a largely
innovative and intuitive group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Interestingly, the best spokespersons for this are often American
Evangelicals who are on the Canterbury trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Robert Webber was a primary example of this, but there are many others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
This group could best be described as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cultural Transformers</i></b> in
that they are willing to take aspects of contemporary culture and use it for
their ends. In service of the Gospel, they would say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This always brings a certain tension in that
some adaptations may bring more of the current culture than the Gospel, but
that has always been a tension between the Church and Culture in every age.
Another issue is whether some expressions of current culture are simply not
redeemable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, do certain
forms of hard rock music or Rap express sub-currents of violence and negativity to a
point that they cannot be used in service of Jesus Christ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many would say they do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or another issue is whether contemporary music
tends toward performance and whether performance is really an Anglican value in
worship. <strong><em>Cultural Transformers</em></strong> have decided to live with these questions.<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Because of this willingness to use culture, they share much
in common with the Global South’s versions of Anglicanism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anglican Churches formed in countries that were
not part of or only temporarily part of the English Empire have to constantly
adapt themselves to the cultural context in which they live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vibrancy of these Churches and their
rapid growth give testimony to the importance of such a mission directed existence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are people in this group in almost
every camp of Anglicans in North America today, many in the ACNA and The
Mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This group uses modern elements
of culture in service of Cultural Transformation.</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Into the Future</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
While I do not pretend to be able to see far into the
future, I do think we can see some immediate developments for these
groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are now many groups in
North America that claim Anglicanism as their heritage and express their
identity through one of these three ways of being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ACNA makes an attempt to shepherd these
groups into a common community, but within it, these different views exist
amidst some tension especially over the role of cultural preservation and
cultural adaptation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only the future
will show if this coalition can stay together under some consensus of what it
means to be Anglican.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right now mutual
anger and denigration of TEC gives them a kind of magnetic force field. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
And of course, I should point out that any individual
Episcopalian or Anglican may, in reading these distinctions, find oneself
identified with more than one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one
sense, all of us have some hold of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cultural Preservers</i></b> in our DNA.<o:p> </o:p>Hence, I think the C<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ultural Preservers</i></b> have the clearest
task before them and they will find allies in a number of places. This would include burned-out evangelicals, alienated Roman Catholics, and disillusioned
conservative Christians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To worship God
“in beauty and holiness” is a very biblical concept and a very Anglican
mindset.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Church of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">King
James Bible</i></b> and the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1662 Prayer Book</i></b> has had tremendous effect
and influence for those who speak the English language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, Cultural Preservation can become
precious and arcane, but when one listens to present American public discourse,
especially in politics and in entertainment, we can see the contribution such
people can add to making us a more gracious, kind, and reflective community
where thoughtful intellectual discourse takes the place of what we now like to
call “reality.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
TEC seems committed to becoming more strongly identified
with the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cultural Adapters</i></b>, Chaplains to the Culture, even though its
institutional life is in serious decline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It remains to be seen if a godless culture will have need for a
church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many in TEC have placed their
future in this direction finding common cause in anti-racism, environment
advocacy, and multicultural (and multi-religion) inclusiveness and advocacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They see this as prophetic and cutting
edge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forgive me when I observe that it
is hardly prophetic and cutting edge among Progressive Democrats, and it plays
out as extremely alien to many in the wider Anglican Communion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
We will have to see if the children of these <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cultural
Adapters</i></b> will wish to retain a Church among their causes and concerns. There
is plenty of evidence that the children of many of the leaders of this movement
have not. It is apparent that at the present time the current leaders of TEC
have not found the tools and skills necessary to preserve its membership and offset
the decline of congregations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many are
hoping the new Presiding Bishop will bring energy to this task while holding to
the passions of Progressives for a just expression of God’s Kingdom upon earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cultural Transformers</i></b> have work to do on their
identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet within both TEC and the ACNA
are a number of vigorous and growing congregations making new converts and
disciples, and leading a major new church planting effort. Personally, I see
among some of the 30 and 40 year old leaders of these churches real hope and
future for our Communion on these shores. There are also new expressions of
local community life with names such as Abby, Fellowship, and Community instead
of merely “Church.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These express a
realization that Anglicans need a new way of living in relationship with one
another on the local level and with other Christians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Canada, there is the work of Fresh
Expressions bringing a renewed concentration on disciple making congregations
as opposed to the historic concern with having members. <o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What I hope that I have shown here is the polarization between liberal
and conservative, or progressive and evangelical is a false dichotomy that does
little to help these groups communicate with each other and among themselves. I
hope that I have offered a better way of understanding our current situation and
have pointed a way forward in discussing the work and mission of the Anglican
Church in North American in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century. I am eager to hear
what others have to say about these distinctions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-4060772730522593212015-11-06T08:40:00.001-08:002015-11-06T08:40:19.217-08:00On All Saints Day, I am Reminded that I vote with the Majority
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Several years ago, I was
leading a workshop on New Member Ministry in a North East Diocese when I made a
comment about formation of new church members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I referred to the Nicene Creed as a summation of Episcopal/Anglican
Doctrine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To my surprise, a Canon of the
Diocese interrupted me and said, “I don’t agree with what you just said.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I became an Episcopalian and then a Priest
because you can be an Episcopalian and believe whatever you want to
believe.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Since I was not quite
clear where the Canon was coming from, I said, “How do you square this with a
church with a liturgy where every Sunday in almost every congregation we say
the Nicene Creed?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Oh,” the Canon replied,
“that is just there because it is a part of our history.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I paused for a moment and
then said, “Well, you are wrong on this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We have a section of the Prayer Book that has ‘historical documents’ in
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Creed is in our Eucharistic service
as a summary of the Church’s teaching.
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Well,” said the Canon
“You have a right to your opinion just as I have a right to mine.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now I had several
responses that I could have given to this dismissal of my statement, but I
thought for a moment and realized that if the Canon actually believed
everything I had just said was a matter of opinion then nothing I could add
would make any difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went back
to talking about how to better welcome new folks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have, however, never forgotten this
encounter because of the way that objective truth was negated by a person’s
subjective opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As all Episcopal clergy
should know, of course, the Nicene Creed was placed in our Prayer Book liturgy,
before the sermon in early Prayer Books and after the sermon since 1979, so
that any individual sermon would be proclaimed in the context of the Church’s
wider teaching and doctrine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know this
fact because scholars who have studied the Prayer Book liturgy have documented
the editors’ intentions on the matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had the privilege of doing my theological study during the publishing of the
Prayer Book Studies which laid the framework for the 79 Book of Common
Prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I read every one of the
Studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The placement of the
Nicene Creed as well as the use of the Apostles Creed in Baptism and the
placement of the Creed of Athanasius in the 79 book served a two-fold
purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, they affirmed the
Anglican Principle that only the Doctrinal positions of the undivided Church of
the first three centuries could have universal authority among “catholic” (note
small “c”) Christians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As our
theologians have often said, “We are a Creedal Church not a Confessional
one.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Second, the presence of
the Creed serves as an on-going connection to our apostolic origins as a living
presence in today’s Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This second
reason is based on the Anglican attitude toward Tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, most of our clergy would know that the
three sources of authority in our community (as attributed to Hooker) are
Scripture, Tradition, and Reason.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Over the years, I have
often heard leaders in the Episcopal Church appeal to this “three-legged stool”
as our authority which allows them to explain what modern “reason” has to teach
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In doing this I usually note two
things about their attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First is
that Reason (which meant for our forbearers “logic” or philosophically or
scientifically information) seems always to be the most
important leg of the stool. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, for
example, what we “know” today about gender and human sexuality triumphs
anything the Scriptures have to say on this matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hooker
actually said it quite differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
said that the first authority is the Scriptures, then “What cannot be proven by
the warrant of Scripture” should then be referred to Tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And “What cannot be proven by warrant of
tradition” should then be referred to Reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is why we should never really refer to a “three-legged stool” since
Hooker, who is our authority on this matter, clearly had a hierarchal view of
these values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Second, anyone who listens
today to what many of our leaders have to say about these matters must know that
“Tradition” has almost no value whatsoever for them especially as it comes to
what the Church has taught in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite
the contrary, when many of our leaders use the word ‘tradition’ they mean it in
the same negative way one may speak of those who say “we never did it that way
before” use the expression to veto any new or innovative ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tradition as it has to do with what vestments
you may wear or what altar hangings you might put in place for Lent is fine,
but Tradition in teaching is a constraining and confining arbitrary restriction
to what Reason has come to understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now let me contrast this
attitude to what Archbishop Michael Ramsey said on this topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Traditionalism is the dead weight of the
past; worshipping the past just because it is the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tradition is the living presence of those who
have going before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the vote by
those who are no longer present with us but who will be with us in the world that
is to come.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have always thought that
this idea of the vote “of those who have gone before” is a wonderful way to
express the importance of Tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
when a parishioner asked of his Eastern Orthodox Priest, “Do I have to believe
the Creed?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Priest replied, “Oh my
goodness no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You do not have to believe
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You get to believe it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Creed, like the Church itself is God’s
gift to you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So when some leaders argue
that we should remove the Nicene Creed from the Eucharistic liturgy to make us
more inclusive and relevant to non-members, I see this argument as just one
more expression by folks today who believe that we present living humans have a
superior view of all things that have gone before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have found that when visitors, especially
non-Churched people, visit a Church, they expect it to have a form of liturgy,
a Holy Book that we would read and expound, and a set of beliefs that we
hold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would expect this of either a
Jewish service or a Muslim service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Inclusiveness as an argument for not having these things is at best condescension
and at worst folly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It demands that we
surrender our identity in a way that most visitors would never ask or
understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is in the final analysis
one more argument against tradition by those who have long ago lost any regard
for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Of course, I have a right
to my opinion, but this is not my point.</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My point is that I do not refer to myself as a minority in the
Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, I understand what
conservatives in the Church mean when they say this. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many times I have voted on a Diocesan level in
the minority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have certainly as a Deputy
to General Convention frequently voted in the minority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have often found myself marginalized by
so-called “Inclusive” people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, none
of this convinces me that I am a minority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They simply convince me that in today’s rapidly declining Church,
strongly influenced by the secular spirit of the age, and certain of the
rightness of every position on social and political issues that I am out voted at
this moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I say the Creed and
remember that I have voted with the overwhelming majority with
whom I have on-going fellowship, if the All Saints Day Liturgy and the Creed
are correct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> By the way, </span>I have Progressive
friends who also say the Creed with integrity and belief. Not all Progressives
dismiss the Creedal affirmation of Doctrine as mere Tradition or worse, as the
Canon did, as opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, even if I
have voted differently on an issue, we have already voted on the
essentials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is what has, is, and
will in the future hold us together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We have cast our vote,
indeed our lives, with Peter, James, John, Matthew, Paul, Mary, Mary Madeline, Perpetua,
Felicitas, Justin Martyr, Francis, Claire, Patrick, Augustine, Augustine of
Canterbury, Cranmer, Hooker, Brooks, Hines, and a heavenly host of those known
and unknown who have already voted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-65918203426857410582015-09-08T12:56:00.000-07:002015-09-08T12:56:07.600-07:00And Now “The American Presidency” Starring?
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When the 2016 Presidential
election cycle began last year, many political pundits envision the election
coming down to a Clinton/Bush dynastic battle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was because political pundits think that presidential elections are
about politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that Donald Trump is
surging in the polls and Hilary Clinton is hanging on to what was once
considered an “insurmountable lead,” we have a clearer view of current American
political reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What with all those
reality shows; the popularity of programs like <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dancing with the Star,</i></b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Bachelor</i></b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Great Race</i></b> and, need I say it, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Celebrity Apprentice</i></b>,
we should have expected this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We now
have the full emergence of the merger of politics and the Culture of the
Celebrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We saw the beginnings of
this in the Regan era, but it emerged fully during the Bill Clinton
presidency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need only remember that
Hilary’s emergence on the public scene was not her failed attempt on Health
Care, but her role in Presidential Candidate Clinton’s story as The Good Wife
forced to stand by her man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She played
out that role in such an effective manner that she was able to claim in her own
book that the revelation by Bill about his affair with Monica Lewinski was a
genuine moment of betrayal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course,
she already knew of several other affairs, but she has kept the script moving
forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is now the Julianna Margulies
of prime time politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the way, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Good Wife</i></b> is rumored to be her favorite TV program.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Many forget that both
George Bush and Al Gore ran on a campaign aimed at “restoring dignity” to the
office of President.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was, I think
the failed attempt to snatch politics back from celebrity status to statesmanship, but after the interruption of the 9/11 Presidency and the professorship
of the Obama Administration, the celebrity election has fully emerged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now our election in 2016 is a kind of
combination dance off, survivor Iowa, bachelorette, and shark tank that will
lead to one exciting final vote on the second Tuesday of November, 2016.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With celebrity reporters acting as judges and
the voters as the audience, it could be one heck of a show with the biggest
ratings ever on American TV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact,
the most important cultural trend in all this may be the movement of Americans
from citizens to audience.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The build up to all this
will be a social media frenzy combined with late night appearances on the all
the talking heads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There will be the
obligatory emotional laden appearances on The View, The Chat, and Steve Harvey<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>where Donald or Hilary whip up their favorite
dessert while dishing the latest gossip on their enemies, friends and
family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OMG, I can see Rachel Ray in
tears over Hilary’s testimony of her forgiveness of her wayward husband and the
struggle of making her own professional way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the beginning of 2016, we should have both parties producing a
reality program for each major candidate, a kind of behind the scenes look at
what makes each of them so interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I doubt even Ms. Jenner can compete with those ratings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine too the excitement of so many in the
entertainment community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Comedians will
be relishing in all the one liners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Producers will be speculating on all the spin offs; think <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Keeping
up with the Trump Clan</i></b> or <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Living with Bill.</i></b></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now, do not get me wrong,
I am not saying that politics or the presidency is no longer important when it
comes to governing or policy, I am just saying that Americans have changed the
criteria by which we will decide who will be best at this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a time when demonstrated
leadership, political philosophy, the ability to build consensus, and
decision-making were our criteria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now
with the Cult of Celebrity, the criteria are different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now public image is the most important
thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hilary Clinton may be able to
build on her “stand by my man/great right wing conspiracy/good wife” image
combined with being “the first woman president” combined with her “defender of
the rights of women, migrants and the poor” (even though she is in the 1%) to
win.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps a last minute November
revelation of Bill’s latest betrayal will cement her election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or Donald Trump can continue his strong-will/tough
decision maker/simple solution image that dominates not only his past TV programs
but so much of the image of leader in our media.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Or a last minute contender
may emerge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understand Kanye West is
considering giving the presidency a run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even if he loses, we can easily imagine him grabbing the mic away from
the winner to announce that Kim would have been “the greatest First Lady of all
time.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The exciting possibilities here
are endless and this is the great strength of The Celebrity Presidency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, politics and politicians get
pretty boring after a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then after
an election, they have to govern and this is fraught with on-going frustration
and criticism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Against this reality, we
have a greater reality show, the realization that either <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hilary Show</i></b> or <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Donald Show</i></b> can last for at least four seasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And if you are concerned
about our image in the world, do not worry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Media consultants will help the President improve it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>American
Culture is, after all, not about substance but about image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should we expect the Presidency to be any
different?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-61734625999359930852015-08-03T12:31:00.001-07:002015-08-03T12:31:40.633-07:00Evangelism and Millennials: Why the Atonement Matters
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Three years ago, I was teaching a two week class for the
Doctor of Ministries students at Nashotah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was on congregational development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Almost all the students were clergy in small congregations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were eager to hear what I had to say on
attracting and making new members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the middle weekend, I traveled to eastern Michigan to visit friends who were
once members of my church in Seattle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They insisted and I was glad to attend their new church that Sunday.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Victory Fellowship was located in the next town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had an interesting history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The founding pastor was a Pentecostal and had
recently retired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was replaced by a
younger pastor in his mid-30s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My friends
told me he was a great pastor and good preacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the new pastor arrived, the church began
to grow and changed its name to Victory Fellowship form The Pentecostal Church,
Assemblies of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Episcopalians who
do not know much about the Assemblies of God, it is one of the three major “old
line Pentecostal Churches of North America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My friends told me that the Pastor was a former drug
addict who had experienced a miraculous deliverance and sobriety from his
addiction and had eventually gone to seminary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They also explained that he had introduced small group fellowships (they
led one) and the church had a huge youth ministry with lots of young adults
attending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were very excited that
on this Sunday a young twenty year old member of their home group was going to
be baptized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I knew the moment we pulled into the parking lot that I
was in for a lesson on reaching millennials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everyone seemed to be in their twenties and thirties with a few of us
older boomers mixed in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, as we
parked, a tattooed biker pulled up next to us with his wife riding behind
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I noticed that there were lots of
motorcycles in the lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was not surprised to see a theater type modern
facility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also found that it had a
welcome center that served Starbucks Coffee and lots of friendly greeters
including the biker and his wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
building had two worship areas and a state of the art nursery and education
section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parents signed in their
children and were given a pager in case of emergency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two worship centers were for the adults
and teens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The teen area was already
rocking with contemporary Christian music led by a youth band.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We made our way to the main worship center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A music group was playing on the stage which
had only a stool and a large screen behind it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After an opening announcement, the worship began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had been to this type of service before and stood as
the music group led by a twenty something “Worship Pastor” led the opening
music set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It contained at least six songs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat down after three songs and noticed that
several of the older folks had joined me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The service contained special prayers, music, scripture, and announcements
about planned mission work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Worship
Pastor was commissioned because he was leaving to start a new church in a
nearby community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there was a
special song about Faith that led into one of the best teaching sermons I had
heard on the biblical subject of Faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
theme was Faith what is it, why we need it, and why faith without works is not
true faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The pastor started his sermon sitting on the stool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was casually dressed and carried an IPad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was linked to the screen and, as he made
his points, scripture verses and pictures appeared to amplify his message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His sermon ended with a transition through
the offering and offertory music by the band into an introduction to the
baptism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the front of the auditorium just below the stage was a
large water tank much like you see on the farms in central Michigan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The young lady was introduced and then the
pastor asked her if it was her desire to be baptized into Jesus Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He handed her the microphone and she
proceeded to explain how she had “come to Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now her family, who were not Church Members, watched
all this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wearing jeans and a top blouse
she climbed into the tank and the pastor baptized her in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then after
she emerged from the water and was wrapped in a large white towel he anointed
her with oil and prayed that she would be filled with the Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The pastor turned to the congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Perhaps there are some of you here today who
want to follow this dear sister and receive baptism too. You too may feel that
you are lost and need a new direction and a new life.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the family’s surprise, the woman’s younger
sister stepped up and said she wanted to be baptized too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I found out later that she had never been to
the church.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She explained to the pastor
and to her family and the congregation that she had seen the change in her
sister and wanted this life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ultimately
three other members of the extended family and two other congregants received
baptism that day.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>While all this was going on, I stood looking at the
members of the congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So many
were clearly not the kind of people you see in typical Episcopal Churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many were Millennials, and remember this was
the older service. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was clear that the
Church was racially and economically diverse. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kept asking myself why we Episcopalians have
so few examples of churches like this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
knew that many of the clergy in my D. Min. class would be eager to reach such
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also knew that few would. I
think that I know part of the reason why we will not.</strong></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Episcopal Church aims at two kinds of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We aim at the “already churched” and the
“de-churched.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We seldom aim our efforts
or activities at the unchurched, especially the Millennial Unchurched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we are going to evangelize the unchurched
youth of today, we will need to change, and I don’t mean style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see behind this church’s efforts lies a
different interpretation of the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection, or as
we call it, the Atonement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not the
progressive view that Jesus gives us a model of how to live a life of
love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not the Evangelical view
that Jesus’ death saved us from our sins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is the classical biblical view expressed by Gustaf Aulen’s in “Christus
Victor.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">These young people did not need to know that they are
sinners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone knows that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They needed to know that there is a Savior
who can deliver them from the power of sin, evil, addiction, dysfunctional
families, broken relationships, despair, hatred, and death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Christ presented at Victory Fellowship is
the one that Paul said “nailed to the Cross the Principalities and Powers of
this world” and won for us the victory of a new life in his Kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who better understands this than the Pastor
who was delivered from his addition?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No
wonder the name of the Fellowship was <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">VICTORY.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></i></b></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is my point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more secular our culture becomes and the
more it moves from its Christian heritage, the more Churches will have to
discover the full Doctrine of the Atonement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Surely, Jesus is the model of God’s love for us to follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also find forgiveness in his Cross and a
new life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we also have a power in
this new life that is able to deliver us from the Powers of this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This last expression of Atonement will take
on much more importance in the coming years, and we had better figure this out
as a Church or we will not reach Millennials in any significant way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can also consider recruiting from such
Millennial Christians those who will plant new congregations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may not call them “Victory” Churches
because we are after all Anglicans, but we will learn to explain that the
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mary, and other such folks all represent followers
of Jesus who experience the triumph of Christ’s victory over the Principalities
and Powers of this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more
secular the culture, the more relevant this message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-69418130257910430042015-07-09T12:30:00.001-07:002015-07-09T12:32:25.078-07:00Evangelism and the Episcopal Church
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I will be
writing in my next few blogs on the topic of Evangelism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I served on the Standing Committee in
the Diocese of Dallas, I would ask those in the ordination process an important
question related to evangelism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First I
would tell them that the question that I was about to ask was not a pass or
fail one, but rather that I genuinely wanted to know their response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is the question:</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“As you know from your
theological studies, there are several ways in which the Doctrine of the
Atonement has been expressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which one
of these best expresses your own personal understanding?”</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The reason I
asked the question was because I believe there is a direct relationship between
what an ordained person believes about the Atonement and how they would do the
work of Evangelism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost all the
candidates gave a similar answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
would say that they believed that Jesus had on the cross paid the price for
their sins and that they believed they were forgiven and saved by his death and
resurrection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This, of course, is a
standard answer based on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Substitutionary Doctrine</i></b> of the
Atonement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now even though we were a
conservative diocese, we had folks who had studied at a number of different
seminaries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A number of candidates went
to Southwest Theological Seminary which is generally on the Progressive side of
the theological spectrum, yet even these candidates gave similar answers.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One would have
expect at least some of them to suggest that Jesus’ act of self-sacrificial
love that he modeled on the cross showed us God’s love and that we who follow
him are to live out a life of love, forgiveness and self-sacrifice for others
particularly for the hurting, lost, and marginalized in our world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would be more consistent with a
Progressive Theological view point. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
never heard it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One very high church
candidate who had gone to Nashotah said that he knew that he was a sinner and
that Jesus’ death paid the price of his blood for his sins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most any American Evangelical would say the
same.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With this
the standard answers, one could expect that such people would be active advocates
of people repenting of their sins, accepting Jesus’ death, and his blood as a
covering for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then they might ask
others to make such a profession by repeating, say, “the sinner’s prayer” which
is a standard tool among Substitutionary Atonement Evangelicals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my time, no rash of evangelical altar
calls or invitations were taking place in the diocese, and neither were more
Progressive calls for people to follow after the example of Jesus’ love; “his
way, truth, and life” as a Christian.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What I found
was a disconnect between what our clergy were professing and any behavior that
would follow logically from such professions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Indeed, I would observe around the wider church where Progressive
Theology dominates, that there is no active recruiting of new Christians based
on this view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Episcopal Clergy on the
Progressive side seem content to find those who wish an inclusive and
non-judgmental denomination to join their churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you notice, not very many are doing this,
in fact, even less each year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are
clergy in our church of differing theological perspectives that are genuinely
interested in the growth of their congregations especially with newer and
younger members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some will even buy my
books on congregational development seeking to be user-friendly and seeker
sensitive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, they do not seem
interested in actual evangelization.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some clergy have
told me that they are not interested in numbers and some rather strongly that
they do not want to proselytize other people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These folks seem to have moved so far out into the Universalist arena
that they see no value in bringing others to Christ and the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Personally, I believe that such people should
be denied a pension, but perhaps I am too judgmental.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the heart
of all this is what I see as four dynamics that hinder our effectiveness in
evangelism even when clergy think there is really something in this Atonement
business that speaks to us personally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Episcopal clergy see ourselves as generous and
accepting people who through our willingness want to show others Christ’s love and
acceptance so that they will eventually come around to a Christian point of view.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is a detachment between our
liturgical and parish life from the acts and opportunities for evangelism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, what better Sunday for an altar
call or public decision than on Palm Sunday?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet clergy believe that having people observe the liturgy is enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They will get it,” we rationalize.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In addition, many clergy would never
interrupt the beauty of the service and its liturgical acts and symbols with
such an action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In summary, many clergy
were taught and believe that participation in the Church’s liturgy will bring
folks into a decided and deeper relationship with Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They fail to hear the prophetic warning, “These
people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me!”</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is a lack of willingness of our
clergy to create opportunities for evangelism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even at the end of confirmation instruction, few clergy actually ask
people if they are ready to make a commitment or a more intentional commitment
to follow after Jesus as Lord and Savior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
Many people believe that a confirmation they are merely joining the Church. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before I go
on, let me remind my reader of the Episcopal definition of evangelism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“To present Jesus Christ in the power of the
Holy Spirit in ways that people are led to believe in him as Savior and follow
him as Lord within the fellowship of his Church.”</i></b>Ironically we fail to
do such a presentation even though we ourselves admit to an experience, or
event, or moment when we led to do so!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For six
years, I was Rector of an Episcopal Church that had a weekly evangelistic
service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I led and have seen hundreds of
individuals make a conscious and prayerful decision to accept Jesus as Savior
and to follow him in the power of the Holy Spirit as Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not bragging at this point, but stating
a fact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would be the first to admit
that I had never done such a thing regularly in a parish before I became the
Rector of that Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I want to
say is this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I want to suggest the following to my
fellow clergy and lay leaders who are interested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned the following:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never assume that you know where a person is
in her or his relationship with Christ until you hear it from them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And NO ONE has a greater right or opportunity
to inquire about a member’s spiritual life and relationship to Christ than the
Rector.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are many church members who
love the Church, its liturgy, its parish life, its Anglican style, but who are
not disciples of Jesus Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
had so called “life-long members” of the Episcopal Church say to me that they
see no reason for them to ever have to make a decision to follow Christ: note
that we teach that Confirmation is an adult affirmation of our Baptismal Vows
to do just such a thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In our subtle way of presenting the
Gospel, we fail to understand the importance of a conscious moment of
commitment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a lay evangelist once
told me, clergy in our church seem reluctant to “close the deal.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is what
I think is both a pastoral and spiritually valid way of closing the deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Have you come to a place where you are
comfortable accepting Jesus as Savior and following him as Lord?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If not, why not?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Notice that “No”
is an acceptable answer to the question, and that a no answer allows up to
speak to any objections the person may have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What I find is that there is a real spiritual value in a person honestly
admitting (even if a Church member) that he or she is not yet at a place where
that person is comfortable with this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have had many people come back to me at a later time and say that NOW they are
now ready to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I did not write this blog to make
anyone feel bad especially my fellow clergy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had to learn how to do evangelism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What I am suggesting is that clergy need to connect our view of the
Atonement with a practical way of applying this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the work of evangelization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to discuss this with me more
directly, feel free to email me at </span><a href="mailto:deankevinmartin@gmail.com"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">deankevinmartin@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would be happy to reply.</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In my next
blog, I want to suggest a fuller understanding of the Doctrine of the Atonement
and how I apply this to our increasingly more secular world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></i></b></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-7778581114103403092015-06-25T08:12:00.002-07:002015-06-25T08:12:33.093-07:00General Convention; Notes from the Fringe
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leaders of the Episcopal Church are gathering for General
Convention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am retired , but this does
not mean that I am not engaged with this special time in the life of the
Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many important items
before this gathering from TREC’s call to restructuring, the debate on changes
in the Marriage Canon, to funding of the Church’s Mission for the next three
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter how important these
matters are, I am writing from the fringe to remind us of some important
ecclesiastical and theological issues before us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I write to remind us all:</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That the Church (especially Anglicanism in
North America) is broken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is divided,
fractured, and in serious decline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
are unable to fix this situation on our own power and attempts to restructure
the Church and General Convention of our own efforts will fail.</span></u></i></b><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To acknowledge this truth is not
to say that there is nothing good in TEC or that significant ministry and
mission is not happening, there are plenty of signs of health and vitality. The
centers of health and vitality should be models and examples for all of us to
follow.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The need some leaders to affirm
TEC unabashedly or any other way to state that the present fracture and decline
does not mean the Church is dying (but is in transformation) and that there is
plenty that is good and godly<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is helpful
and hopeful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hope is after all one of
the three Theological Virtues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where
such affirmations bring hope, they are good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Where such affirmations feed denial and reinforce the status quo of
brokenness and out dated structures and forms, they are not helpful.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The path before us must begin by
acknowledging our current situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Blaming others for our condition and claiming a self-assured rightness,
theologically called “self-righteousness” are both sides of the same coin of
dysfunction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cure for this condition
is repentance and reconciliation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
should make reconciliation a priority in all that we do and in how we treat one
another, even those who have left TEC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That there are three important questions
we must answer at this time</span></u></i></b><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We must reaffirm who we are or more
importantly “whose we are” or “to whom we belong.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The historical teaching and metaphors are
significant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Church is the Body of Christ, the household of God, Christ’s
creation by water and the Spirit, the Community of the Resurrection, the
incarnation of the reign of God, or my favorite, The Community of the King.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As this community, we
acknowledge that we have both the Great Commandment to love one another and the
Great Commission to make disciples as our core values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These call us to mission and the second
question is simply “What is our mission at this time?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This leads us, as TREC has so
rightly pointed out, to the question of “How we are to organize and structure
our present community to accomplish this mission?” Although, IMHO, TREC has too
quickly assumed that the wider Church has really engaged these primary questions
of identity and mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> They are right that f</span>orms must
follow and flow from the first two questions; who are we, and what is our
present mission?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The over-arching consensus that
has emerged among those who have seriously engaged these questions is that this
mission should focus on having our structures and methods serve the local
congregations, ministries, organizations, institutions, and Dioceses, and that
our corporate entities (such as General Convention, Executive Council, and the
Office of Presiding Bishop are primarily to serve these local communities and
ministries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It does seem that many of the
recommendations to restructure our corporate entities are caught up in too many
details and that one General Convention cannot fix this and can easily be
caught up in debate on details that are not that significant when it comes to
the three main questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example,
who can really say whether a bi-cameral or unicameral legislative body best
serves our current mission?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This work
can only begin now with some clear guidelines to direct us, and it will take
the new Presiding Bishop and the Executive Council to guide significant change
and evaluate efforts at restructuring with on-going feedback from these local
communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Historically, Anglicans and Episcopalians
have believed that Scripture, Tradition, and Reason are our authorities in
ordering our life as a community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
should affirm and trust that as these values have guided us in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can guide us in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May those at General Convention remember
these values as they seek God’s direction for our community at the critical
moment in our life.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-89574857201193367692015-02-19T08:43:00.000-08:002015-02-19T08:46:32.750-08:00In Honor of Ashes to God
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Columbus Post</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1/15/2015</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Baptismal Font Goes on the Move</span></span></b><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even though heavily endowed, Grace Memorial Episcopal
Church in Kelso, Ohio, a town just outside of Columbus is facing hard
times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Rector, an Assisting Priest,
and a Deacon have only three remaining Church members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is when the Reverend Alice Fairweather
and her staff got an idea on how to reach out to others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the beginning of Lent In 2012, the staff
took to the streets of Kelso to offer ashes to anyone who wished them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“This January, as we prepared for the Sunday
that remembers the baptism of Jesus, we realized we should do the same only
this time with the baptismal font,” said the Rector Fairweather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We removed the silver bowl lining from the
stone font, blessed the water and headed downtown to our main
intersection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wanted to offer baptism
to anyone who wanted it.”</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The staff faced an immediate crisis because the
temperature was so cold the water started to freeze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That is when we headed to the Tri-Cities
Mall,” said Art Dunning, the Deacon of the congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The group moved to the fountain inside the
Mall’s rotunda and set up a sign declaring “Free Baptism for Anyone.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The group <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>drew a crowd, but at first folks were
reluctant to step forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally Jimmy
Dietsel, ”Moonshine” to his friends, a 17 year old son of lapsed Roman
Catholics stepped forward and asked to be baptized if he could do it while
standing on his skate board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“At first I
thought it was some kind of joke,” laughed the heavily tattooed Dietsel, “but they
even blessed the skateboard.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According
to Jimmy, the experience was “cool.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">By the end of the day, nine people had stepped up and
received baptism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unusually, Margo
Schwartz, a member of Beth-el Temple in Kelso, accepted the invitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I felt bad for the folks, all dressed up in
their special clothes and all and no one coming forward,” Schwartz
declared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I asked myself, “What would
Moses do? And I went right up to the fond.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rev. Fairweather poured the
water over Margo with the words “May the Holy One fill you with new life.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“It was sweet,” said Margo, “but then Sparky started
barking.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sparky is Margo’s purse size Chihuahua.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“So I asked if Sparky could be baptized too.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Why not,” said Fairweather. “Sparky is one
of God’s creation.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sparky seemed to
enjoy it all and after a few shakes of the head, ducked back inside Margo’s purse.
Deacon Dunning explained that “We are a very welcoming and inclusive community
and baptizing Sparky seemed like the right thing to do at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, many churches do animal blessings
and there really isn’t much difference if you think about it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the aftermath of the mobile baptism, there has been
some controversy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Rev. Harold
Glummer, long time pastor of First Lutheran in Kelso said, “I think the whole
thing was ridiculous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe Grace Church
should change its name to Cheap Grace Church.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was a reference to an obscure 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Century
theologian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Rev. Fairweather however
was undaunted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a later written
statement she said, “There are and always have been reactionary people in the
religious community that resist change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the Episcopal Church, we had those who disliked our 79 Prayer Book,
then women’s ordination, then same sex blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can’t let such people stop us from doing
what is right.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Besides”, Fairweather
added, “John the Baptist, and Jesus and his disciples didn’t sit around in
churches and wait for people to come to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They went out in the world and baptized anyone who wanted it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some people questioned the appropriate use of Tri-Cities
Mall, a secular retail center, as venue for the event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When asked, Joe Marshall, the Mall’s manager
said, “At first we weren’t sure what to do, but then Rev. Fairweather pointed
out that this was a spiritual act and not a religious one, so we let it go
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It really drew a crowd after a while
and it seemed good for business.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr.
Marshall did not say whether such events would be encouraged for the future.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Rt. Rev. Sydney Atwater, Episcopal Bishop of Central
Ohio, was asked his take on all this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
a statement released by his diocesan office, Bishop Atwater, who was attending
a House of Bishop’s meeting in the South of France dealing with “God’s Mission
and Global Hunger, was quoted as saying, “I commend the leadership of Grace
Memorial for their creative action and I have called for a taskforce of key
Diocesan leadership to study ways that this action of inclusiveness could be
extended to other congregations.” </span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although none of
the nine people receiving baptism (nor Sparky) indicated any interest in
attending services at Grace Memorial, all felt that the baptism was a good
thing to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bishop Atwater also noted
that, “Nine new baptized persons in one day was the largest number of baptism
at one service in the Diocese since 1988.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In addition, the baptized membership of Grace increased over 300% in one
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that is a story of a real
miracle and is exactly the kind of mission activity that The Episcopal Church needs
to rebuild our membership at a time when so many are disillusioned with the
Church’s seemingly irrelevance to society,” Bishop Atwater’s concluded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-56808283253539713952014-12-08T12:27:00.000-08:002014-12-08T12:28:00.759-08:00Those Who Have Eyes, And Cannot See<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> When I was in Seminary in the late 60s, I was deeply
influenced by Liberation Theology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
reminded of this connection recently when the Old Testament reading in the
lectionary was the retelling of the call of Moses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It contains these significant words:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">“I have
indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am
concerned about their suffering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I
have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them
up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and
honey. . . “</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Most
scholars believe that the Exodus Event is the perspective from which all of the
Old Testament was written.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God had
delivered his people from slavery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since
the Old Testament is written from this post-exodus viewpoint, the words
contained in this significant theophany reveals much about the nature of
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned that God reveals God’s
own self as the champion and advocate of the oppressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This theme is repeated in the Psalms and in
the prophets and is the major theme of redemption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The day of the Lord’s coming will be a day
when God brings justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Messiah
will be God’s anointed servant who will preach good news to the poor and
announce the day of liberation to the captive as Isaiah foretold.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The New
Testament proceeds from this perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We need only remember the words attributed to the Mother of Jesus in the
Magnificat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He has exalted the humble,
scatter the proud, caste down the mighty form their seats, and sent the rich
empty away.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus, of course, came
preaching the good news to the poor, the acceptable day of the Lord’s
favor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Kingdom of heaven is
presented as a place of reversal of the values and powers of this world and the
triumph of God’s love and justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
Liberation Theology, God’s Love cannot be separated from God’s justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I came
to understand that the Church was not just about saving people from their sins
and promising them eternity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Church
is the champion and advocate for the poor, the needy, the marginalized, the
alienated, the immigrant, the stranger, in summary “the oppressed.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, the first converts to Christianity
throughout the empire were mostly from the lower and slave classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the challenge is that if we are not on
the side of God’s Kingdom, we are a part of the oppressor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I came
to understood that as a person raised in the segregated culture of the South
that unless I worked for justice, rights and full freedom for all people
especially my African American fellow citizens, I was not doing God’s will in
my world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could not separate my
personal faith from my public responsibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
leads me to say two things, one of which you may already have anticipated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I became in Seminary a part of the movement
in the Church that today we call “Progressives.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I supported civil rights, I supported the
ordination of women, and I believed strongly in the full inclusion and
participation of all people within the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The second thing I want to say is that after my post-Seminary personal
conversion to Christ and an overwhelming and life changing experience with the
Holy Spirit, I did not abandon my belief that God’s Love and Justice cannot be
separated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not understand how any
person can believe the scriptures and be led to any other conclusion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was
this understanding that has allowed me to continue in the Episcopal Church when
many of my dearest friends left it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was this theological understanding that I carried and proclaimed at the Cathedral
of St. Matthew located in East Dallas and where over half our membership are
Latinos and many of them undocumented immigrants. It was this understanding
that allowed me to proclaim my evangelical faith while also welcoming all
people to our community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those
who know my theological orthodoxy and evangelical enthusiasm often assume that
I am a culturally conservative Christian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Indeed many friends who have left the Episcopal Church wonder why I have
remained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So now, I have stated as clear
as I can the vision of God’s reign that I carry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is why I describe myself as a “heart
strangely warmed conversionist” who like John Wesley believes that true
conversion is never merely personal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was this view that led many Methodist leaders in the early nineteenth century
to demand that southern converts free their slaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see this as making
me an Anglican in the widest understanding of this term. My roots in
Anglicanism are found in the evangelical awaking of the three great W’s of our
Faith, Wesley, Whitfield and Wilberforce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I also find them in the early Anglo-Catholics who took to the streets of
London and the other major urban areas of England to work with the urban
poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My movement within the Episcopal Church has
been from a traditional Anglo-Catholic beginning, to Liberation theology, to
personal renewal and to evangelical faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Call me mad or confused, but I do not see these as inconsistent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is one thing that I will not call
myself today and that is a Progressive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often,
I do not fit in with the current majority of Episcopal clergy, and in fact, see
progressivism in a negative light and hold our progressive leaders responsible
for crippling the Episcopal Church and contributing directly to the divisions
of Anglicanism that we have in North America today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My central dislike for the present Progressives
is not a conservative reaction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a
belief that they have reduced the passionate gospel of individual and corporate
redemption to something a great deal less than good news for the poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All this came to light one evening while
watching late night television.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
nightly reporter was interviewing Bishop John Spong, the then Bishop of
Newark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew that Bishop Spong was
considered as one of the chief spokespersons for progressive Christianity in
the Episcopal Church, but I had never given him much attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was mainly because as a Yale Divinity
School graduate I found him consistently outdated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His gift seemed to be writing books
re-stating controversial things discussed twenty years earlier, but then adding
one page that seemed tantalizingly radical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So Paul of Tarsus just might have been a self-hating homosexual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or he would suggest that perhaps the Virgin
Mary (who “no modern person could believe a virgin mother”) was actually a
victim of rape by a Roman soldier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On this
particular night, Bishop Spong was insisting that he could not accept God as
the God often portrayed in the Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Take for example he explained the story of Exodus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this I perked up and began to listen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He directed his comment to the reporter with something
like “I don’t really believe that God loved the Hebrews more than the
Egyptians.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went on to say that he
could never accept a god who would save the Jews but drown the Egyptians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He concluded that he believed that God loved
everyone equally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reporter
acknowledged that this story had always bothered him too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What about those poor Egyptians?” he asked rhetorically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>By this
point, I was standing in front of my television shouting at the Bishop in
disbelief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God, I wanted to remind him,
did not love both Egyptian and Jew because God loved and sided with the
oppressed and not the oppressor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
sappy and feel good theology that God loved everyone seemed to me to be morally
offensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I began to listen more
closely to my friends in the Progressive side of the Church as to what they
were really saying. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely the majority
of them had not surrendered to such sophistry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came to a startling discovery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gone were the prophetic voices of the 60s and
70s of our Church and replacing these were now what I would describe as a group
of upper middle class professionals who could not accept a God of judgment and
who had centered on the full acceptance of Gay and Lesbians into every aspect
of the Church as the primary issue of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their theological justifications for all this were based on an
existentialist view of fairness and rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This became a modified Rodney King theology of “why can’t we all just
get along?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Progressives, it was
becoming increasingly clear, the only real problem the Church had were people
in it that could not accept the full inclusion of all people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By 2000, the theology behind this had become reduced
to “God is love so all love must be of God.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I
challenged this muddled thinking, I was marginalized as one of those
reactionary conservatives who were homophobic and as such did not have to be
listened to or given a place of credence within the councils of the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was grouped together with folks like Bishop
Iker of Fort Worth whose positions I had adamantly opposed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now let
me make this clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not saying that
gay or lesbian people have not been mistreated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Clearly many have been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many
would be numbered in the marginalized of society and at times abused if not
outright oppressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This part I can
understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, something else has
happened in all this that needs to be acknowledged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the Progressives believe that the Episcopal
Church doing same sex blessings or marriages is advocacy of the oppressed, we
need to stop and look around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The obvious
truth is that most homosexuals in the Episcopal Church are upper class, highly
educated, and in many ways privileged people like most other Episcopalians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I also
began to realize that much of the rhetoric in all this was contrary to what was
actually happening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of our leaders
saw us making the Episcopal Church a more inclusive church by being more
multi-cultural and multi-ethnic and diverse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet, in actuality, the Episcopal Church was becoming less diverse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had lost thousands of African-American
members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Particularly painful for me was
the realization that we were largely token in our approach to Latinos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, when I wrote an article
advocating an aggressive strategy toward Latinos that could make the Episcopal
Church a bi-lingual and bi-cultural community in 20 years, leaders of the
church reacted negatively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As one wrote
to me, “I want an inclusive Church, having that many Hispanic people would not
allow space for all the LGTB people.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly,
there is a disconnect between what we say we believe and who we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are not a diverse ethnic and cultural
community and we are becoming less so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today,
TEC is nearly 90% Caucasian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Progressives seem to be choosing sexual diversity because it is the only
real form of diversity that is available to us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In some
twenty years, liberation theology and the passionate commitment to work with
and advocate the oppressed had dissolved into a well-intentioned group of
sexually diverse people repeating unthinking clichés that have almost no
meaning to non-Christians and the vast majority of oppressed people living in
our world today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Church whose message
is reduced to “God loves everyone equally” is a Church that has lost all
prophetic power and witness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The message
that God loves everyone is not good news to the poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For them there has to be something more.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
Bishop Gene Robinson, a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gay man living
in a same sex partnership,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was given
consent at the 2003 General Convention, I asked a gay friend of mine who was
not an Episcopalian what he thought of all of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what he told me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Of course, I am happy that a church with as
much prominence as the Episcopal Church has done this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it is about time you did.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I asked him, “Would this make you want to
consider joining the Episcopal Church?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He thought for a long time before replying, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I don’t see why it would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am glad you made the decision, but
honestly, if I were going to ever join a church it would have to be for some
other reason, something spiritual.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
statement is revealing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It explains why
despite all the predictions that the Episcopal Church was opening our doors to
thousands of new people who would embrace a church that had taken such a
prophetic stand, we then lost 1/3 of our membership in just ten years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let me
put this as strait forward as I can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Episcopal Church may have done the right thing and something that many secular
people can agree we should have done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But in trying to make the case for full inclusion, we have not made the
case for the Church!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who believe
in marriage equality do not see the Church’s actions as prophetic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they do not need the Church’s advocacy to
have it happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The secularization and
diversity of society is making this happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is not God’s voice or justice that is wining; it is secularism that
is speaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Episcopal Church with
its strong connections to education and the arts has accommodated to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile, we have not been the spokespersons
for the vast majority of the oppressed in our world whether it is sex slaves in
Asia, women in Islamic society, undocumented workers in North America, or the
victims of child pornography which is the largest form of commerce on the
Internet!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
is one further lesson that could have been learned from Liberation Theology
that our Progressives have chosen to ignore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God heard the cries of the slaves in Egypt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sent them a deliverer and brought them out
of slavery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gave them a yearly
celebration, the Passover, to remind them that they were once slaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet within just a few generations, Solomon
built the Temple and his palaces with forced labor!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As one commentator observed, there may be a
difference between slavery and forced laborers, but I doubt that those forced
into such labor would appreciate it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
lesson is that yesterdays oppressed can easily become today’s oppressors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, they will, if they forget their own
history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can use their own
experience of oppression to actually justify their own oppressive
behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need only look at such places
as Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mozambique, and dozens of other
places to see this sad truth lived out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
has been said, “failing to learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Much of
the energy of our current leadership seems to be taken up with defending our
past decisions and telling one another that the Church is actually doing well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They ignore the devastating losses of the
past few years while forced to “restructure” and make adjustments in budgetary
expectations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would suggest that the
reason the Episcopal Church is in decline and trouble isn’t because we have the
wrong structure or priorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
because we have the wrong God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We want
the god who loves everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We do not
want the God of both personal and corporate repentance, change of heart, and
transformation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is something
fundamentally wrong with the Progressives who lead our Church today and sadly
their own good intentions make them blind to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-72497211109273959462014-11-21T08:00:00.000-08:002014-11-21T08:00:26.559-08:00The Virtue of Tolerance
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">During a recent discussion online about the Episcopal National
Cathedral offering space for Friday night Muslim prayers, a colleague of mine
made some very good observations, but then made this intriguing remark, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Of course, tolerance for its own sake should
never be an end in itself.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As a student of history and particularly church history,
I would like to suggest tolerance like any virtue can and should be exercised
as an end in itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, tolerance
of other peoples’ religious beliefs may be one of the greatest contributions of
Protestantism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do I mean and why am
I saying this?</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The word tolerance has seemed to fall in disfavor in
recent years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it is because when
we say we “tolerate” someone or someone’s beliefs it tends to sound
condescending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems to imply “you
may be wrong, but I graciously have chosen to tolerate you in spite of
this.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this is what you think, then
recapture the development of this important virtue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The history of all denominations and indeed faith groups
are often replete with examples of intolerance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Catholics did not tolerate Protestants. Protestants persecuted and
murdered Catholics. Lutherans did not tolerate Calvinists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anglicans did not tolerate Congregationalist,
Presbyterians and even Methodist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However as these different churches emerged from bloody wars and acts of
repression and then found their way to places like the new world, they learned,
sometimes painfully, the importance of toleration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in cultures and countries where religious
liberty is truly exercised, as opposed to merely given lip service, religious
leaders have learned that the defense of someone else’s right to their beliefs
is defense of our own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the U.S., the two clear early beneficiaries of
tolerance were Roman Catholics and Jews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I do not say this to deny the often deeply held anti-Catholic and
anti-Semitism that existed in American history, but the truth is that over
time, the toleration given between Methodist and Baptists as well as other
protestant bodies, created a religious umbrella that allowed these two groups
to exist and most importantly to exist without state sponsored repression. Today,
the Roman Catholic Church is the fastest growing and largest Christian body in
the U.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Let me underscore what I just said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The learning by religious leaders that in
defending the free religious beliefs and practices of others they provided a
strong defense of their own religious freedom was a direct result of the practice
of the virtue of tolerance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tolerance
carries an implied two way bridge, a kind of covenant, that I tolerate your
religious values because it insures a wider context of religious freedom that
benefits us all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is why I am prepared to say unequivocally that
tolerance for its own sake is worth it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In other words, even if Christians learn nothing else about the beliefs
of Muslims and their practices, our ability to provide an attitude and even a
place of tolerance is a significant accomplishment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, few early religious leaders in the
U.S. could have imagined the religious pluralism that exists today in our
nation. Now we have a significant number of Muslims as well as other non-Judeo-Christian
traditions, but it is a natural evolution of the virtue of tolerance that it is
extended to this wider circle.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Further, and this
is the really provocative thing that I have to say, in the face of growing
secularization and a more vocal and hostile atheism, Christians, Jews, and
Muslims have an overwhelming stake in religious toleration.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine a society in which religion is
allowed as a personal freedom, but public displays, such as corporate worship,
holidays, and tax free worship spaces are denied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this is not hard to imagine and could
happen within one generation!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I continue
to fight this battle by pointing out that separation of Church and State is
something I value as a citizen of this nation, but that for Christians, Jews
and Muslims, separation of politics and religion is impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a Christian, my beliefs in Jesus and his
teachings have social, ethical, cultural, and political applications.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cannot separate my personal beliefs from my
public behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the early Christians
could have done this, all of them would have been happy to burn incense to the
current Caesar!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, in the unfolding relationships between religious
groups including Muslims in the country, I vote for toleration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is possible that I may learn more about the
religion of Islam in doings so, but I do not have to do this to justify
toleration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither must I become syncretic
or Universalist in my own religious views to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact it is exactly the defense of my own
views, those of my Church, and of my fellow citizens that compels me to exercise
toleration. So I say “Tolerance for its own sake” is something to affirm just
as all virtues are good in themselves. </span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do know, of
course, that there are plenty of Christians in this country that take the view
that Islam is a false religion and its adherents are at best deceived and at
worse evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They point constantly to the
atrocities of ISIS and other extremist and Jihadist groups as examples for
their beliefs, but this is wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can
no more do this than to have people point to the evils of extremist Christian
groups as justification for condemning all Christians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Karen Armstrong has argued, at the heart
of all religions and at their best stand the equivalent of the Golden Rule, “do
unto others as you yourself wish to be treated,” and the truth that compassion
comprises the deepest expression of the Spiritual Life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The virtue of tolerance provides the
environment for the best in religion to flourish. This seems to me to be a
worthy end in itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-76980632129349187702014-09-21T11:33:00.000-07:002014-09-21T11:42:38.032-07:00The TREC and Renewal, Revitalization and Restructuring
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
<strong><em>Given all the challenges before The Episcopal Church, is restructuring important?</em></strong> </span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leaders of the Episcopal Church are
fond of using initials, hence “PECUSA” which became “ECUSA” which is now “TEC.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The powerful fiscal committee of the Church
is Program, Budget and Finance which is almost always referred to as “PB&F”
which I always thought sounded like a sandwich you would order for lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latest set of initials is TREC or The
Taskforce to Reimagine the Episcopal Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This high level taskforce with many capable leaders was established at
the last General Convention to come up with recommendations to enhance the
structures and mechanism of the Church for the more effective accomplishment of
the Church’s Mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While this seems
to imply a whole re-thinking and re-visioning of the Church, this is not
exactly what is now before us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In their
initial reports, clearly the taskforce members have given some thought to the
challenge of doing this, but their recommendations point more toward the issue
of restructuring the Church, I think that is because the essentially the driving
force for this work comes from three different dynamics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First is the long standing lack of
clarity about the relationship of the Presiding Bishop’s Office, the Staff of
815, the President of the House of Deputies and the relationship of all these
to the Executive Council along with the Council’s relationship to the General
Convention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second is the immense cost
and continued complexity of General Convention with its extensive committee
structure and the overwhelming number of resolutions generated each three
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lastly there is the unfolding
challenge of funding the budget and establishing priorities given the shrinking
number of members and congregations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Taskforce set out to do its
work deliberately and with much energy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Taskforce’s very existence along with its interim reports have been
meet with much discussion, debate, criticism, resistance, and some outright cynicism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Taskforce members seem enthusiastic about
their work and have clearly done some in depth reflection and strategic
thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their latest report shows that
they are taking seriously the work of restructuring the church to make it more
efficient, to clarify relationships among important groups, and to give
increased power to both the office of Presiding Bishop and the Executive
Council which is consistent with the greater centralization of the Church in
the past several decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The suggested
move toward a more centralize role for the Executive Council (reduced in size)
and greater clarification of the role of the PB as chief executive of the
Church are not surprising and reflect the long historic development of the PB’s
office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In recent years, the on-going
tension and power struggle between the current PB and the President of the
House of Deputies have accentuated the need for clearer lines of authority and accountability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I do not intent to comment much in
this blog on the merits of the individual recommendations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Essentially, I believe that such
restructuring and clarification have been badly needed and in summary I believe
the Taskforce has done a credible job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
personally would agree with the reduction in Executive Council members, but
would prefer Provincial representation rather than election at large.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also applaud their recommendations about
the reduction in the time of General Convention, the elimination of most join
Committees, and as a consequence the reduction in the huge number of
resolutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Taskforce is rightfully
trying to make the main thing the main work of General Convention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I read the criticism and
cynicism regarding their work, I note two general themes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cynicism is rooted in an essential truth,
namely, restructuring is not the same as re-visioning or revitalization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While it is right to point out that
restructuring will not lead to the kind of re-vitalization that our declining
community needs, I believe it is unfair to lay this at the Taskforce’s
feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Renewal, Revival, Re-vitalization,
Re-visioning, and even Resurrection is clearly the work of the Holy Spirit and
greatly dependent on our need for a new generation of visionary leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When such movements do occur in the Church
they almost never come from the center of power and decision making, but rather
on the fringes of the Church and among creative (and often controversial) outliers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, as the Taskforce rightfully points out
by the example of the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus then commands them to
“unbind him” and the work of the Taskforce is an energetic effort to unbind the
long outworn structures of a once larger Church and morass of committees and
commissions that were extensions of creations of an 18<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Does TEC need revitalization?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only those totally caught up in institutional
denial would think it does not. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, we have a goodly number of such
people including the current PB still in elected and appointed offices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not saying that all is wrong with our
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see much creativity,
experimentation, and a willingness to try new methods and model to carry out
our understanding of God’s Mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet
as a whole, we are clearly a declining community still living in the after math
of a substantial conflict and subsequent divide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I am saying is that one significant part
of this is creating a Church with a structure that serves our members,
congregations, and dioceses in efficient and effective ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pray that TREC’s work succeeds in this
necessary work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The other issue the Taskforce faces
is a predictable resistance to the changes by those who currently are most
vested in the status quo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who are these
people?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First are the Senior Deputies
who control so much of the mechanisms of General Convention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second is every Deputy who sits on these
joint committees and commissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The resistance
is highly predictable; when has any legislative body voted to reduce its
perceived power and influence?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I note
with interest that on the internet it is often Senior Deputies and long-standing
Church functionaries who are warning of the centralization of power and the
elimination of vital participation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think we should call this what it is, the knee jerk reaction of those in
power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In summary then, I think the work
of TREC is important, worthwhile and should be received and acted upon by the
wider Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will it fix all that is
wrong?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No it will not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will it address the core issues that are
really at stake in “reimagining” the Church and its mission? Not directly
though it is a start. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to the
example of the raising of Lazarus, let me offer another Biblical example.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When David set out to take on
Goliath, Saul offered David his armor to wear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>David refused and the usually understand is that the armor was too large
and bulky for the young David.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps a
more insightful understanding is that the young charismatic future leader of
Israel understood that one cannot fight the battles of today with the already
defeated tools of the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This may be
the greatest insight that the Taskforce has placed before the whole
Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pray that this is a word that
we are prepared to hear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Note: The Task Force to Reimagine
the Episcopal Church (TREC) will convene a church wide meeting on <b>October 2</b>
at 7:30 pm Eastern time (6:30 pm Central/5:30 pm Mountain/4:30 pm Pacific/3:30
pm Alaska/1:30 pm Hawaii). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-3715052394149930652014-01-29T08:08:00.001-08:002014-01-29T08:08:40.761-08:00Thoughts on The State of the Church
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Each year the President delivers a “State of the Union”
message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This usually is a combination
of celebrating who we are, what has been accomplished in the last year, and the
President’s agenda for the next year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Last night had all these elements.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Over the years the Presiding Bishops of TEC have given the
same kind of talk at the beginning of General Convention with about the same
content.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition, at each convention
we get a report from the Committee on the State of the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While our Presiding Bishop’s message is
usually filled with reassurances that all is well, the committees of late have
been fairly direct about the problems and issues before TEC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, few people, especially Deputies
and Bishops pay much attention to these reports but a re-reading of them for
the past ten General Conventions will pretty much describe how depressing
things are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Obviously, I have no position of authority to give such a
“State of the Church” speech, but I do have 42 years of experience as a priest
and many years of ministry to congregations and clergy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is my general sense of “the way things
are.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When I think of TEC,
I have very divided feelings and thoughts</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I think of TEC on a national level especially concerning “815”, the
House of Bishops, and our many Committees and Commissions, I get
discouraged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are in serious decline
and I do not see the present leaders who got us into this situation as able to
get us out of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am hopeful about two
dynamics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First is the Committee on Restructuring the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have needed such work for a long time and
I am mildly optimistic about their work. I find it predictable that the
greatest resistance to their work is coming from some of the Church’s most long-term
progressive leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My observation is
that, having fought so long to take charge of the Church and occupy its
structures, this group is strongly reactionary when any change is
proposed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What they most want is for our
leadership to continue the focus on justice issues and marriage equality and to
reassure them that all is well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The second dynamic for me is the number of new and younger
leaders in the House of Bishops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think
these leaders are much more in touch with “our current realities.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not so sure they know what to do about
them, but I hear good reports from a number of dioceses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>In summary, I am
generally pessimistic about the future of TEC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I have often said, “Until a new generation
of leaders emerge with a new vision for our common life, what you see now is
what you get.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What you see is declining
numbers, an aging constituency, smaller and fewer congregations, and current
leadership committed to the status quo while repeating clichés about multi-culturalism
and inclusiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When I think about
congregations, I feel much differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everywhere I have traveled in TEC, I have seen vibrant and exemplary
congregations of all sizes full of committed, dedicated people, carrying out
extraordinary ministry to their communities.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>While I see these congregations, I think it
is also true that they comprise only about 20% of our communities. Whether this
20% can sustain the rest especially the near 60% in serious decline seems
doubtful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, we do have healthy and
vibrant places and they can be and should be models to us of what the future
could be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What is clear to me is that we need to radically rethink the
preparation of people for ordained leadership of local congregations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, let me be clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not arguing against our current seminary
education, nor do I think seminaries can add more to their present demanding
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I believe we need is the
creation of a “Mission Training Center” pre/post seminary that would educate ay
leaders and clergy in the best practices of building congregations and
recruiting unchurched people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All over the Church we have town parishes that once
maintained a “pastor size” congregation with a full time ordained priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now these congregations have 30 to 50 folks
on a Sunday and are supplied with part-time, bi-vocational, and retired
clergy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is that seldom does
this mode of leadership build up churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is mostly intended to sustain and maintain them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have floated the idea of such a Mission Center to several
church leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most admit we need
something like this, but there remains little energy or resources to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In summary, while we
have many vibrant congregations, TEC as a whole looks like the aging downtown
church that is living off its endowments, losing members, and will soon have to
dedicate all its resources to maintenance.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></b></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-72862758892240796722013-12-01T16:00:00.001-08:002013-12-01T16:00:04.885-08:00AnnouncementFriends,<br />
Those of you who follow my blogs have noticed that I have not been posting lately. This is because of my leaving my position in Oklahoma and taking further retirement by moving to Georgetown, Texas. After the first of the year, you will see more from me in my two blogs.<br />
<br />
My "Kevin on Congregations" will continue on the theme of leadership and congregational development. I've much more to say on this topic.<br />
<br />
My "Dean Kevin" blog is one I use on my general themes. I've some things that I will be sharing in this blog especially on what I see as the future of The Episcopal Church and Anglicanism. You will find more opinion posts on this one.<br />
<br />
Thanks for waiting. As always, I will be eager to hear your comments and responses.<br />
KevinDean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-51765102191686000462013-02-27T12:49:00.002-08:002013-02-27T12:49:50.928-08:00Evangelism and Inclusion
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Evangelism
and Inclusiveness are complimentary values that when separated often produce a
dysfunctional community.</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In recent
years Episcopalians in conversations, publications, and on the internet in
blogs and networks, the word “Inclusion” and its value of “a Church that is
open to all people” has become dominant in our common life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would content has it has become one of the defining
terms of our current identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take the
issue of “open communion,” or giving communion to non-baptized people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who practice this justify it as an
inclusive action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At the same
time, we hear less among Episcopalians about “Evangelism.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One reason for this is that our community has
never been too comfortable with the “E” word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Despite the Decade of Evangelism and the 2020 Resolution, evangelism
still does not seem to be much of an Episcopal thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add to this, the defection of many
Episcopalians who identify themselves as Evangelicals and we can see that the
word seems, well, a bit alien for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
a result, the word inclusive seems to fit our temperament much better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I would like to contend that inclusion
and evangelism are not the same thing; that both belong as values of the
Church, and that apart from one another, they can lead the Church to unhealthy
and dysfunctional behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a healthy
Christian community, evangelism and inclusiveness should be seen as
complimentary values, the kind of values that enhance each other.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are
many in TEC who have embraced the concept of inclusiveness and use it as a
substitute for evangelism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They argue
that a truly inclusive church expresses what the early church meant by
evangelism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An inclusive church reaches
out and accepts all people regardless of race, economic status, gender and,
even for many, creed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t the good
news of the Gospel that God accepts and loves all people?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, is inclusiveness enough to express what
the church is called to do in evangelism?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Is the Great Commission, “Go therefore and be inclusive of all
people?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would content that
inclusiveness makes much more sense when it is related to the Great Commandment
“to love one another” than “to make disciples.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Also, we
should admit that for many in our church the word inclusiveness does not extend
to everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a code word related
to gender inclusiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An inclusive
parish is one where GLTB folks are accepted and allowed to be open about there
sexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a community that
champions same sex marriage, and is committed to advocate full rights for all
such people in both society and the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is certainly the way that Integrity uses the word. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, the word
inclusive can be used in another code way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In this way, it means that we are an inclusive church that welcomes all
inclusive people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, we are
open and welcoming of those who see themselves as inclusive in the political,
social, and intellectual landscape of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This seems to me to be the way our Presiding
Bishop uses the term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not included and
certainly not welcomed in such churches are people who are perceived to be
non-inclusive. These two uses of the word are basically exclusionary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I do not think this is what most
Episcopalians want it to mean. We genuinely want to be a community that is open
to all people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Episcopal Church
Welcomes You” as our signs once said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But if a
church community such as ours is to be truly inclusive in the boarder sense, if
we intend to be a diverse church made up of people across ethnic, racial and
gender boundaries, then evangelism is central to this goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is because the work of evangelism
involves strategies to reach just such people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Evangelism must be intentional, planned, and often strategic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the Church in Antioch decided to do the
work of evangelism, this multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and inclusive community
prayed, set apart leaders (Paul and Barnabas who were good at reaching
Gentiles) and sent them to advance the gospel among non-Jewish people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As one Bishop has said, “Evangelism is the
most anti-racist thing the church does.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let me give
an example from the <st1:placename w:st="on">Cathedral</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Church</st1:placetype> in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Dallas</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>30 years ago, the Cathedral decided to reach
out to the increasing number of Hispanic people who were immigrating into the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Dallas</st1:place></st1:city> area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They set out a strategy that first involved
starting a Spanish language service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next
they hired a Hispanic missioner to give leadership to this fledgling
group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, over 60% of our worshipping
community Sundays attend our Spanish service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We strive hard to remind ourselves that we do not have two
congregations, but are one church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
would content our success in becoming a diverse and more inclusive church has
been the direct result of evangelistic outreach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Is it
possible that evangelism can be a code word for “people like us?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course it can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In many larger evangelical communities in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>, this
is exactly what it means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
congregations grow in numbers, but they grow by methods aimed at reaching more
people from the same socio-economic class who share many of the same values
before they ever arrive at their churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While there are outstanding counter examples of this among Evangelical
churches, the stereo-type of the former exists because such churches
exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, as I hope the Cathedral illustrates,
this does not have to be either the strategy in evangelism or its fruit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>True evangelism always makes the church more
not less diverse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
important thing is to realize that evangelism and inclusiveness are
complimentary values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two, existing
together in creative tension, force us to evaluate our intentions and results,
our methods and their consequences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have been an advocate for evangelism within this community for many years. I
remain concerned about the decline of our denomination and its inability to do
the work of evangelism effectively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet,
at the same time, I am also concerned about the fruit of our present
behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see the word inclusive
justified and used more and more in the exclusive sense, so that its meaning is
becoming “people like us.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fear we are
becoming an elitist community that looks with contempt or pity on those who are
not as enlightened as we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
When I was a young priest, it was said of the Episcopal
Church that we were the Republican Party at prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More recently, it was said that we were NPR
at prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I fear we are becoming moveon.org
at prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is clear that we are not
yet the kind of community that Christ has called us to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To become this, we must follow that path that
leads to both evangelism and inclusiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492251032414306911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-61997154370912364442012-12-13T10:01:00.002-08:002012-12-13T10:01:53.338-08:00Should TEC Restructure?
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last week the Episcopal News Service sent out an
announcement that 20 people had been selected by the Presiding Bishop and
President of the House of Deputies to serve on the Structure Committee
established by the last General Convention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This committee was established to deal with current challenges related
to organization and budgeting for our community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is considered to be an especially
important group gleaned from the over 400 clergy and laity who had expressed
interest in the work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, it
is considered the critical edge for the future of TEC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have some comments on this work.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My first observation is that this is important work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our denomination has declined from a high
point of 3.6 million members in 1965 to now less than 2 million today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reorganization is well past due, and the need
for strategic thinking for the future is critical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can expect that such a group will begin
with the fundamental question of the mission of the Church since structure
relates to how we organize to do what we believe is critical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of our leaders have probably realized by
now that talking about The Millennium Goals or pointing to The Five Points of
Mission is not the same as Mission itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The list of members seems to be the kind of group that is willing to
wrestle with this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It remains to be seen how many sacred cows, in particular
committees, commissions, and interim bodies, will actually be considered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is also the critical issue of how many
Dioceses should we have given this shrinking community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remain somewhat skeptical about how far
this group will proceed given our radical need for change and the many vested
people and groups in the present structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>John Kotter points out that the primary reason efforts at change fail in
organizations is “too much satisfaction with the status quo within the
organization.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My concern is that the
present denomination office and members of a committee or commission are highly
invested in the status quo. However, if you are going to make such changes, a
blue ribbon panel has at least the potential to do this. Therefore, I remain
open to see the fruit of their work.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Let me also say that this is for me a matter of
stewardship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having the right structure
is important because having the wrong one is both ineffective and costly. From
my experience, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know how important
having the appropriate structure is in having effective ministry. I do believe
this work is important and it needs to be done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And yet something else needs to be said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I begin with this question: Is the primary problem TEC
faces today a “structural problem?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While we clearly have structural issues, I do not think we have yet come
up with the right diagnosis. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would point to two issues that are
symptomatic of our situation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First, we have been involved in serious conflict for the
past decade that has held the attention of our leadership, led to an
acceleration of our decline and costs us millions of dollars in
litigation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like it or not, this
conflict is related directly to our theological and missional identity, namely
who are we and what we are called to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I would caution that just because one side in the conflict seems to have
won, this does not mean that we have determined an identity and way forward,
especially a way that is significant to our wider cultural context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the Episcopal Church is to have a future
other than shrinking numbers, budgets, and congregations, we must be able to
reach people in our society and draw them into this part of the body of Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Second, there continues to be a major disconnect between
our corporate structures and the local congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We continue to hear from denominational
leaders that recent decisions have made us more viable to new generations and
new ethnic groups which is making us a more inclusive and multi-cultural church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the numbers of declining
congregations and the reality in the field is that local congregations are not,
nor are most becoming, the kind of church that General Convention and the
Executive Council say we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course,
we have some congregations that reflect this, but they are far from the norm of
our local congregational life. I have spent much time over the last ten years
visiting Episcopal Churches and making presentations on congregational
development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I observe that many of our
congregations are struggling with basic survival issues.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Given these realities, we need to ask ourselves if
“restructuring” will deal with these systemic issues. These issues may lie
beyond the view of this committee, but they still remain the pressing issues
before our community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, should we work at restructuring?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, we should by all means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, we still need to explore the
question of our current identity and mission and how this relates to our
mission context particularly in North America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then we need to manifest this throughout our dioceses and
congregations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we think about it, we
would realize that our denominational structures beyond the diocesan level are
artificial constructs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have an
important place, but they are not “the Church.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As our Prayer Book points out, the Church is where the baptized gather
and do ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-21623316794692481362012-06-22T11:53:00.000-07:002012-06-22T11:53:33.877-07:00TEC - A Reflection on 41 Years of Ordained Ministry<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> On my last official Sunday at
the Cathedral, the Acting Dean, Neal Michell, did an interview with me during
the adult education hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the
questions were fun, but one question deserved a more serious answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is the question and my response.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Q.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You’ve
seen many changes in 41 years of ministry – Bishop Hines and the Special
Convention Program, a New Prayer Book, Women in leadership including
ordination, a change in the church’s teachings on divorce and human sexuality,
can you share with us your perspective on all this change?</i></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>First,
I want to talk about how our leadership and culture have changed. </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I became a member of the Church in 1958 which
was the year of the greatest number of new members joining the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By 1965, we had 3.8 million members and then
began to decline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I joined the
Episcopal Church, I would say that the majority of members were what I would
call traditionalists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By this I mean
that most Episcopalians were people who valued high English Culture, including
and especially, the English language, the arts and music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the Episcopal Church was never a State
Church as in England, still we had an embracing attitude toward education and
the arts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like to say that we were the
State Church of the educated including scientists and artists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The leaders of the Church in
those days were remarkable people who survived the Great Depression and the
Second World War, often bringing out of their experience a strong determination
to give back to society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were in
every way the greatest generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take
Bishop Hines who you mentioned for example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While Bishop of Texas, he started several high quality Episcopal
Schools, he launched a seminary, he oversaw the planting of over 40 new
congregations, and he gave good and progressive leadership to the wider
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like many of his fellow
leaders, he believed in an active Christian engagement with society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As presiding Bishop in 1968 when many of the
inner cities of America were literally on fire, he determined that the Church
could not sit back in its cultural place of privilege, but rather must engage
the issues confronting our society.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I believe his impulse was both
necessary and courageous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a
dynamic preacher and outspoken leader especially regarding racial
equality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, he made several
mistakes. For example, in dealing with urban issues and civil rights, he
largely bypassed the already existing African-American clergy leadership in the
Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He even ended up funding radical
groups and organizations in dioceses directly against the wishes of local
bishops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he realized that he had
lost the confidence of his fellow Bishops, he resigned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He was followed by Bishop John
Allen, another remarkable leader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within
five years, Bishop Allen had won back the 44 dioceses of TEC that had stopped
funding the national budget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
conservative on the issues of a new prayer book and women’s ordination, he
oversaw the Church’s affirmative actions and implementations in both these
controversial areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He urged the Church
to hold together and it largely did.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the early 1970s, I could
point to a number of outstanding leaders in TEC, not just leaders of the
Church, but leaders of society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
included Bishops Hines, Allen, Bayne, Professor Massey Shepherd, and Dean Urban
Homes just to name a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to
underscore the ability of these leaders to value intellectual conversation and
engagement with culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Things have changed and I think
not for the better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, as a
seminarian I attended the General Convention held in Houston.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember the hearing held on the proposed
new Baptismal Rite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It started with a 20
minute presentation by a leading theologian and seminary professor on the need
for changes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was followed by a 10
minute “response” by another theologian from a different perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This theologian began by affirming a number
of points made in the initial address, and only then did he respectfully
present a differing opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was followed
by a panel discussion among a group of outstanding leaders and thinkers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only then was the discussion open to deputies
in the audience who could ask questions.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Compare all this to a discussion
at the General Convention in 2000 over the issue of ordination of gay and
lesbian persons in same-sex relationships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The initial resolution that would be taken to the floor of convention
was read by the Chair of the Committee and then members of the audience were
invited to give testimony limited to two minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Participants went to a set of microphones
labeled either pro or con.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw a seminary
dean given only two minutes to speak to the Church’s theology of marriage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was followed by a two minute personal
sharing by a woman who was married to a transvestite on how accepting their
local parish had been. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat watching as
a once thoughtful and intelligent community that valued substantive engagement
with issues reduced itself to a community of passionate partisanship who
reduced discussion to a superficial series of slogans and clichés. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Second, I want to
discuss our present political climate.</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the 1970s, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forward
Movement</i></b> produced a short booklet on the different groups, movements
and worldviews that were represented in TEC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I remember that they identified at least seven of these.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The main point of the booklet was not the
differences, but rather the community that could embrace such a number of
differing perspectives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would say that
we were an “Embracing Community” that recognized that Christianity allowed for
numerous and different worldviews and all of these contained some truth that
needed to be embraced in the fullness of the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I had begun as a part of the
Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church, been active in the social action wing, and
had become an active part of the Charismatic Renewal Movement, I still felt
fully included in the Church’s life and listened to with respect.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the Progressive Wing of the
Church began to grow with its concern for the full inclusion of all people
including race and gender, things began to change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who had other views and concerns began
to be discounter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then, I have
spent many years as an Episcopal clergy person being marginalized by so-called
“Inclusive” people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the mid-1990s,
the Church was being divided between conservative/orthodox and
progressive/liberal people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This fight
was largely won by the progressive/liberal folks when Bishop Gene Robinson
received consent as Bishop of New Hampshire while living in a same-sex
partnered relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the 2006
General Convention, progressive/liberal clergy and laity made up 70% of the
House of Deputies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then the losers
in this struggle have either left TEC or have been completely marginalized by
the denomination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In many ways, this move from an
Embracing to Inclusive Community has been a bitter pill to swallow even for a social
moderate like myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the last 10 years,
we have lost 1/3 of our membership and we are now living with a number of crises
created by this decline including a major financial shortfall that is leading
to a major restructuring of the Church’s budget with decreasing commitment to
Christian education, seminarian training, evangelism, and stewardship while
increasing the salaries and support to the Presiding Bishop and the President
of the House of Deputies so that they can continue their “advocacy” ministry.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course from what I have
already said, I want us to return to the kind of thoughtful and engaging
community that was embracing of true diversity and stop being an agency for
essentially a limited agenda of advocacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Having said all this, you may be surprised to know that I remain
hopeful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see new leaders emerging in
the House of Bishops that can provide this kind of leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also think that the decline in membership
and decrease in financial support have created a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kairos</i></b> moment that could
bring about a new sense of mission and direction for TEC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My prayer is that the present crises will
turn us in a more positive direction and move us toward an intentionally more
embracive community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492251032414306911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-85135054409615874432012-03-30T12:11:00.001-07:002012-03-30T12:35:32.297-07:00Independently Speaking<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I am a tenacious independent when
it comes to politics. I believe strongly
in the separation of church and state. Consequently, I do not try to tell
Church members how to vote. I did not
say I believe in the separation of faith and politics because I feel strongly
that our Christian faith should inform our attitudes towards how we vote. Unlike many of my Episcopal Church clergy
colleagues, I do not believe that one of our political parties is more
“Christian” than the others. In over 40
years of ordained ministry, I have known godly Democrats and godly Republicans. However, saying that I am an Independent
does not mean that I do not have opinions about politics and the present
election. <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The first opinion is that I am jaded
when it comes to “spin” and political rhetoric.
I see outrageous partisan posts on Facebook, for example, and I mainly
ignore them. I prefer my politics
served up with reasonableness. I also
believe that in the U.S. there is a big difference between running for office
and governing. Candidates and their
followers make all sorts of outspoken claims about themselves and outrageous
claims about what other candidates are supposed to believe. I take it all with a grain of salt. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
Second, I have some observations
about the Republican primaries. Like
Barbara Bush, I think this year’s primaries have been particularly nasty
affairs. Granted, there is a lot at
stake in a nomination, but aren’t these are folks in the same party? I think our media adds to this by playing at
the sensational and the news-bites in a kind of feeding frenzy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
Third, I am watching with interest
who the Republicans will nominate to face off with President Obama. (It is, in the long run, we Independents who
will determine how this election will turn out.) I think that I have sorted this out for
myself.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: .5in;">
1.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span> If the
Republicans nominate Mitt Romney, the old guard and East coast Republicans will
have prevailed and their party believes the President is vulnerable over the
economy and can be beaten. After Super
Tuesday, Romney seemed to be the guy. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: .5in;">
2.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span>Ron Paul is on a Libertarian Crusader, as he has
been for years, and he would be stunned to be nominated. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: .5in;">
3.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span>Rick Santorum represents a different Crusade. If he is nominated, this means that
mainstream Republicans have abandoned the idea that President Obama can be
unseated. So, elements of the Republican
Party who are social conservatives have decided to “make a statement” and not
win an election. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: .5in;">
4.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span>A genuine question left open at this point is
who Romney will choose as a running mate.
My advice is that he should chose with us Independents in mind and not
the Tea Party. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
Once the nomination process is
over, the election process will begin. When this happens, the focus will return
to the economy and who is best suited to lead the current recovery. For us Independents, this will be the primary
question. It may not, however, be the
most critical one. If 9/11 taught us
anything, it is that events outside of our control can suddenly thrust us into
a crisis not of our own making. The
tension between Israel and Iran, or demands for attention by North Korea, or
any other number of scenarios would suddenly thrust us from economic concerns
to international ones. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
My opinion is this. If the economy is the concern, then the
election will be close. If it is close,
it will come down to the Electoral College.
In other words, the person elected may not get the popular vote. If war, or the fear of war, is the primary
issue, then it will not be close. President
Obama will win hands down.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
One last word on this election
business; I would like to see the candidates for President sign a mutual
agreement that they will debate the issues before us and commit to refraining
from personal attacks by either themselves or Super PACs representing
them. I can hear many of my friends
cracking, “Where’s the fun in that?!”
But, this allows me to say what concerns me the most in this year’s
election and that is the distortion of the democratic process by the power of unlimited
financial contributions through Super PACs.
I would hate to admit that the office of President of the United States
can be bought. If that is the case,
let’s eliminate democracy and give the Presidency every four years to the
highest bidder. The proceeds of the auction
can be used to reduce the deficit. </div>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-91718170272654173252012-01-10T10:13:00.000-08:002012-01-10T13:23:18.011-08:00Evangelism and Inclusiveness<div class="MsoNormal">
In recent years, among Episcopalians, in conversations, publications, and on the internet in blogs and networks, the word “Inclusion” and its value of “a Church that is open to all people” has become dominant in our common life. I would contend has it has become one of the main defining terms of our current identity. Take the issue of “open communion,” or giving communion to non-baptized people. Those who practice this justify it as an inclusive action. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the same time, we hear less among Episcopalians about “Evangelism.” One reason for this is that our community has never been too comfortable with the “E” word. Despite the Decade of Evangelism and the 2020 Resolution, evangelism still does not seem to be much of an Episcopal thing. Add to this, the defection of many Episcopalians who identify themselves as Evangelicals and we can see that the word seems, well, a bit foreign to us. As a result, the word inclusive seems to fit our temperament much better. However, I would like to content that inclusion and evangelism are not the same thing; that both belong as values of the Church, and that apart from one another, they can lead the Church to unhealthy and dysfunctional behavior. In a healthy Christian community, evangelism and inclusiveness should be seen as complimentary values, the kind of values that enhance each other.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are many in TEC today who have embraced the concept of inclusiveness and use it as a substitute for evangelism. They might even argue that a truly inclusive church expresses what the early church meant by evangelism. An inclusive church reaches out and accepts all people regardless of race, economic status, gender and, even for many, creed. Isn’t the good news of the Gospel that God accepts and loves all people? Yet, is inclusiveness enough to express what the church is called to do in evangelism? Is the Great Commission, “Go therefore and be inclusive of all people?” I would content that inclusiveness makes much more sense when it is related to the Great Commandment “to love one another” than “to make disciples.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We should also be honest and admit that for many in our church the word inclusiveness does not extend in the broad sense to everyone. It is a code word related to gender inclusiveness. An inclusive parish is one where GLTB folks are accepted openly and allowed to be open about there sexuality. It is a community that champions same sex marriage, and is committed to advocate full rights for all such people in both society and the church. This is certainly the way that Integrity uses the word. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Further, the word inclusive can be used in another code way. In this way, it means that we are an inclusive church that welcomes all inclusive people. In other words, we are open and welcoming of those who see themselves as inclusive in the political, social, and intellectual landscape of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>. This seems to me to be the way our Presiding Bishop uses the term. Not included, and certainly not welcomed, in such churches are people who are perceived to be non-inclusive. These two uses of the word are in a basic sense exclusionary. However, I do not think this is what most Episcopalians want it to mean. We genuinely want to be a community that is open to all people. “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You” as our signs once said. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But if a church community such as ours is to be truly inclusive in the boarder sense, if we intend to be a diverse church made up of people across ethnic, racial and gender boundaries, than evangelism is central to this goal. This is because the work of evangelism involves strategies to reach just such people. Evangelism is intentional, planned, and often strategic. When the Church in Antioch decided to do the work of evangelism, this multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and inclusive community prayed, set apart leaders (Paul and Barnabas who were good at reaching Gentiles) and sent them to advance the gospel among non-Jewish people. As one Bishop has said, “Evangelism is the most anti-racist thing the church does.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let me give an example from the <st1:placename st="on">Cathedral</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Church</st1:placetype> in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Dallas</st1:place></st1:city>. 30 years ago, the Cathedral decided to reach out to the increasing number of Hispanic people who were immigrating into the <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Dallas</st1:place></st1:city> area. They set out a strategy that first involved starting a Spanish language service. Then, they hired a Hispanic missioner to give leadership to this fledgling group. Today, over 60% of our worshipping community Sundays attend our Spanish service. We strive hard to remind ourselves that we do not have two congregations, but are one church, yet, I would content our success in becoming a diverse and more inclusive church has been the direct result of evangelistic outreach. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is it possible that evangelism can be a code word for “people like us?” Of course it can. In many larger evangelical communities in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>, this is exactly what it means. The congregations grow in numbers, but they grow by methods aimed at reaching more people from the same socio-economic class who share many of the same values before they ever arrive at their churches. While there are outstanding counter examples of this among Evangelical churches, the stereo-type of the former exists because such churches exist. But, as I hope the Cathedral illustrates, this does not have to be either the strategy in evangelism or its fruit. True evangelism always makes the church more, not less, diverse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The important thing in all this is to realize that evangelism and inclusiveness are complimentary values. The two, existing together in creative tension, force us to evaluate our intentions and results, our methods and their consequences. I have been an advocate of evangelism within this community for many years. I remain concerned about the decline of our denomination and its inability to do the work of evangelism effectively. Yet, at the same time, I am also concerned about the fruit of our present behavior. I see the word inclusive justified and used more and more in the exclusive sense, so that its meaning is becoming “people like us.” I fear we are becoming an elitist community that looks with contempt or pity on those who are not as enlightened as we are. </div>
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When I was a young priest, it was said of the Episcopal Church that we were the Republican Party at prayer. More recently, was said that we were NPR at prayer. Now I fear we are becoming MoveOn.org at prayer. Well, we may be at prayer, but we are not yet the kind of community that Christ has called us to be. To become this, we must follow that path that leads to both evangelism and inclusiveness. </div>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492251032414306911noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-85804022837110447042011-12-20T13:29:00.000-08:002011-12-20T13:32:15.984-08:00The Power of a Word of Thanks<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>On December 19<sup>th</sup>, I celebrated my 40<sup>th</sup> Anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>That morning I opened my email and found a note of thanksgiving for my ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It came from Professor Louie Crew a long-time leader in the Episcopal Church, and an activist for the full inclusion of all people in our faith community.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For many years now, like many Episcopal Clergy, I receive a note of encouragement from him on my birthday, my wedding anniversary, and my ordination anniversary.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Here is the interesting thing about all this; Professor Crew and I have found ourselves on opposite sides of issues over the years, yet, every year I get words of encouragement from him.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This intentional act on his part is more than I have ever received from any other church leader including the eleven Bishops in the seven dioceses that I have served. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>I remember how such affirmations and encouragement have helped me over the years when I did get them.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For example, one Christmas I opened a Christmas card from Bishop John Krum of Southern Ohio.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I was a chaplain resident in Cincinnati and on Sunday provided supply services at one of his congregations, although I was not canonically resident in his diocese.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The card had a printed greeting.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>On the inside he had hand written, “Thank you for helping with our congregation in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Norwood</st1:place></st1:city>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It means much to me.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>At that point in my life when I would have doubted that the Bishop of that diocese even knew who I was, it meant a great deal. 30 years later, I still remember it!<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Even more significant was the fact that up to then, 10 years into ordained ministry, it was the only such personal note I had ever received from a Bishop.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Of course, I have received much encouragement over the years from many folks inside the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I felt well affirmed by Bishop Payne in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:state>, but then I worked closely with him as a member of his staff.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>However, I worked closely with him and I am not sure the other clergy of the diocese felt the same.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Actually, I think if we are honest about it that we clergy would have to admit that affirmation and encouragement from our leaders comes seldom and far between.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>I say all this not to make any of you feel bad.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I actually want like to affirm all you who give leadership in the Church. What I do want to say is that my 40 years of experience tells me that when it comes to affirmation and encouragement, there is a drought in the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>What is strange about all this is that you would think Christian leaders would be people who especially were abundant in our praise and encouragement of others.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I think of the example of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">St. Paul</st1:place></st1:city> who began all his letters save one with a generous thanksgiving for the church he was writing, and ended most of his letters with acknowledgement of individuals in these local communities.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>After all, the great commission is to make disciples, but the great commandment is to love one another. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Personally, I would have to admit that I have been slow to figure out the importance of such words of affirmations.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Today, when I look upon the revitalization of the Cathedral here in Dallas, a struggling, multi-cultural and bi-lingual inner city parish, I can most attribute our positive movement to a decision I make early on to affirm and love our folks, especially our leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I only regret that I haven’t done it more.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>I think clergy leaders need to remind ourselves that the Church in our age is entirely a volunteer organization.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Our people come, work, and give because they want to do this.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They choose to do it in our congregations.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We should be thankful for this and make our thanks known. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>One of my dearest mentors told me that he kept a stack of Thank You cards on his desk in his office.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He regularly scheduled a time each week when he would stop everything else and prayerfully write thank you cards to members of his large congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I admired what he did.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I only wish I had followed his example better.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I cannot help but wonder what a healthier and better community we would be if all our leaders could show much more encouragement and thanksgiving to others.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>A few Sundays ago, one of our pre-school children came up to me after the main service and said, “Dean Kevin, can I give you a hug?”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>And even before I could say yes, she stepped forward and gave me one.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Yes,” I said to her, “even Deans need hugs.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>To my surprise and delight, she smiled and said, “Yes, I know.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492251032414306911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-35085264383836691192011-12-01T14:04:00.000-08:002011-12-01T14:08:11.801-08:00Headlines that We Would Like to See Versus<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Headlines that We Would Like to See Versus Headlines We Will Probably See</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">Recently, I got to thinking recently about headlines that would be good to see versus those we will probably see in the days ahead. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center">We Would Like to See</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Jerusalem, July 18, 2017:</i> Prime Minister Martha Swartz announced today that a permanent peace agreement has been reached between Israel and the State of Palestine.</b><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In the agreement, both parties have agreed to keep Jerusalem a free city open to all visitors.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Israel has agreed to cease expansion of new towns into the West Bank, and Palestinians have agreed to a peaceful recognition of Israel’s right to exist.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“What were we thinking?”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Prime Minister said in her opening remarks before the Israeli Parliament . . .<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center">We Will Probably See</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Jerusalem, June 1, 2020</i>:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Israeli tanks rolled into Gaza early this morning </b>as Israel launched a pre-emptive strike again Hamas to punish them for rocket fire against Israeli settlements.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Prime Minister Netanyahu said “It is time Israel shows our determination to . . . . . </p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center">We Would Like to See</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Karachi, Pakistan, March 15, 2015:</i><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Pakistani and Indian representatives announced a wide-sweeping peace agreement between these two long divided nations which includes disarmament of nuclear weapons by both sides.</b><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In a joint statement, the leaders declared, “Each of our nations have enough problems of poverty and poor education than to waste our time and energy building up huge armies and weapons in a battle that neither of us could win.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Military leaders from both countries hailed the . . </p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center">We Will Probably See</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Mumbai, India, March 16<sup>th</sup>, 2019</i>:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>India began retaliatory shelling across its disputed borders with Pakistan today </b>in reacting to the recent alleged state sponsored terrorist attacks in the major cities of . . . </p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center">We Would Like to See</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Kabul, Afghanistan, September 15, 2021</i>:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Free and democratic elections in this troubled state have led to the election of the first female Prime Minister.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></b>“This is a victory for reform and the rights of all the people of Afghanistan” said the new leader as she . . .</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center">We Will Probably See</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Kabul, Afghanistan, September 20, 2030</i>: 87 year old President </b><span class="apple-converted-space"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; color:#222222">Hamid</span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#222222"> Karzai</span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"> was re-elected today in an election marked with extensive fraud and violence.</b><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>President Karzai now presides over one of the most corrupt governments in the world while three of the Provincial Capitals are now held by a resurgent Taliban.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>After the election, President Karzai committed himself to the on-going reform of his government and said that, “All our present troubles are directly the result of decisions by the U.S. government to . . . </p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center">What We Would Like to See</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Oslo, January 20, 2030:</i><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>World scientists acknowledged today that “We are seeing the beginning of the reversal of recent global warming as Nations adhere to the New Paris Accords</b> on limiting CO2 gas emissions combined with the growing use of cold fusion energy developed in 2019 by a team of renowned international scientist at the Institute of . . . “</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center">We Will Probably See</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Miami, Florida January 20, 2030:</i><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The City of Miami was officially abandoned today</b> after extensive efforts to hold back the affects of increased ocean waters failed.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This makes the 7<sup>th</sup> major world city to be washed over due to the effects of global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Meanwhile, both the U.S. and China announced their planned veto of a U.N. backed resolution that called for a 3% reduction in . . .</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492251032414306911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-35536524877546176312011-11-11T07:47:00.001-08:002011-11-11T07:48:01.467-08:00In Remembrance of My Father, Glenn Martin<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">My favorite picture of my father was taken just after he entered the army in 1943.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He was 18 years old, good looking, and oh so young just like so many of his generation.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Next to this picture, my wife has placed his Purple Heart which he earned at the battle of the Bulge in a shelling in the Ardennes forest.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Dad hit Normandy on D-day plus 6 with the 251<sup>st</sup> Artillery Division.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He found through to the end of the war.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He was truly one of the Greatest Generation.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">He seldom talked about his war experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He never talked about his Purple Heart and when I first found it, he passed it off with “I was luckier than a lot of guys.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Recently, I learned of the many unit citations his group received.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He was silent on all this.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I do know that his best friend died the same night he was injured which is why I think he never talked about this.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Dad returned home to build a life after the war.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>When he could not break into the meat packers union in Cleveland, he packed up his young family and moved to Dallas.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Here he taught himself to be a machinist eventually becoming a Master Machinist with Texas Instruments.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>After I entered the ministry, he admitted to me that he had hoped that I would become an engineer.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He always let me know, however, how proud he was of me.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">For many of my early years, he worked two jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I seldom spent time with him.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Of course, this was before quality time and bonding.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Truth is we really never connected until I was over 40.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The older we both became, the better our relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">My dad never really wanted much to do with the Church even when my mother and I became quite active in the Episcopal Church.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This was probably a reaction against the hell-fire and brimstone religion of his Southern Baptism mother.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>When our Rector found out that dad was a machinist, he asked dad to help him with the restoration of a pipe organ.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They spend hours together in the evenings working on it.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>One day, to our amazement, dad announced he was going to church because he was going to be confirmed.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He never missed a Sunday after that until illness prevented it.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I found out recently that he often double dipped on Sundays taking communion from one of our LEMS at the Cathedral and then getting it from the Disciples of Christ folks at the nursing home.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">My dad was, according to everyone including most recently his nursing home aids, “a good man who never complained.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He would have quite literally given someone the shirt off his back.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He taught me to never regard someone’s income or race, and to be fair to all.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He often ended conversations with “don’t worry about your mom and me, we will be alright.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">My dad never hired anyone to work in our home.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He did everything and taught me to do so too.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>From him, I learned the dignity of hard work.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It seemed every weekend as I child, I watched him doing repairs on something or improving our home.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Then when I turned 12, he took up golf.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He took me with him, and this became the one really bonding experience between us.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The last few years, our visits at the nursing home were punctuated by watching some tournament together.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Great shot,” he would often say.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Last Christmas, a visiting church group asked “Mr. Glenn” what he would like.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He asked for a new pair of golf shoes and to everyone’s amazement, they brought him a pair.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He wore them regularly while being pushed around in his wheelchair.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">After an emergency trip to Baylor Hospital last month, his doctor told me that he simply could not drink or eat enough to sustain himself any further.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Reluctantly, we discontinued any further treatment, returned him to the nursing home to be close to mom, and we engaged hospice.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>While I had long expected this to come, I wept.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>My mom has no short-term memory and serious dementia.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>She does recognize “her honey” and he always smiled when she came into his room.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They had a long love affair that lasted 67 years.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">On November 6<sup>th</sup>, my dad passed from this world.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I will miss him, but I am not worried, as he often told me, he will be alright.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492251032414306911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748102197325960995.post-36625069729572178742011-10-13T12:20:00.000-07:002011-10-13T12:24:34.098-07:00Extending Communion to All Present<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><br /></p><div style="text-indent: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>There is serious debate taking place among Episcopalians about what is commonly called “Open Communion.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This means that we should invite all persons present at a Eucharist to receive communion even if they are (a) not baptized or (b) a member of a different faith community.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I would like to suggest that our current discussion about communion might be moved to another level if we consider our present situation in light of, and contrast to, that of Bishop Cranmer’s. </div><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Cranmer’s problem was definitely not ours.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Nothing reveals this more than the fact that baptism was never a concern in the matter of the reception of the communion.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He could assume that everyone in an Anglican Church, indeed the Nation, was baptized.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>His concern was whether the baptized were actually Christian.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>From his theological viewpoint he had many in the Church who were "sacramentalized," but not evangelized.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They were at best “cultural Christians.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We must all remember as members of a highly liturgical church that one of our most vulnerable areas is that liturgy, once it becomes familiar, can also dull our senses to what is actually happening.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For Episcopalians the prophetic words that “these people honor me with their lips, but there hearts are very far from me” could have direct application to us.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">In contrast to this, Cranmer made his invitation to confession – the prerequisite for receiving communion.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Remember the words?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“Ye who do truly and earnestly repent of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways: Draw near with faith and make your humble confession to almighty God devoutly kneeling.”</i> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Where is baptism in all this?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Cranmer’s concern was that the baptized person look inwardly at one’s own heart and examines oneself as to our willingness and intention to receive the Lord’s Supper with a right attitude and disposition.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Now, personally I am a Cranmerian when it comes to this issue.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Consequently, I think the emphasis on baptism leads us in the wrong direction.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Mostly, what I hear now in Episcopal Churches, or read in the bulletin is something like this: “We welcome all baptized Christians (which should be “baptized persons”) who wish to receive communion to come forward and to the altar rail and join us.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I think all of us clergy rightfully avoid the awkward addition from the House of Bishops directive “who are able to receive communion in your own church.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">At the heart of my discomfort with all this wording in our attempt to be gracious and inviting is two-fold.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>First, our world is not one in which all are baptized.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Even more importantly as the House of Bishops directive indicates, our emphasis at that moment becomes “membership” in a church.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This is precisely what I think a seeker person hears from us.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I think Cranmer would be astonished to discover that his descendents are more concerned with membership than attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Again, his theological perspective was largely one of the heart.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">All this is made more complex by the fact that we now live in what is clearly both a post-Christendom world and a post-denominational culture.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>No wonder we are confused, life has gotten very complex.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In the midst this complexity, we stubble over trying to be Episcopalian in welcoming and being inclusive toward others.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">I would like to see our House of Bishops theological committee construct a brief paragraph that could be placed in our bulletins that expresses our theology, that all who are baptized are one.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It also needs to express our pastoral reality that as a Eucharistic-centered community we welcome, in the Lord’s name, everyone who wishes a deeper participation in Christ and desire to follow him in his ways. This means that in our world we will inevitably have non-baptized seekers as well as non-Christians in our midst.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Excluding those seekers from receiving communion may not be in our Lord’s best interest.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Not clarifying the need for repentance and renewal may not be in their best interest whether they are seekers or members of our or some other church.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Dean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492251032414306911noreply@blogger.com9