Maybe I Should Have Gone The "Give Up Something" Route

I make use of Google Reader to track the blogs I read regularly and also to let me know if anything pops up in the areas of Christian Formation/Education. This afternoon I noticed this post on Susan Russell's An Inch At A Time. An online Lenten Study Group? Hmmmm... Studying Nora Gallagher's The Sacred Meal? Hmmmm...

A book on my To Read list and an opportunity to participate in an online community with a specific topic/theme, how could I pass it up? This morning I had a phone conversation with a colleague in Minnesota about starting an online community for Lesson Plans That Work, and we are in the process of setting up two Lesson Plans-related blogs (more on that at a later date). So, I whipped out my trusty Kindle and ordered the book, which of course, was delivered in seconds, and I started reading it on the train ride home.

I'm leading a Lent study group in my parish on Diana Butler Bass' A People's History of Christianity at noon on the second, third, and fourth Sundays of Lent. And I'm participating in the 8:00 a.m. bible study on the Passion Narratives being offered by our priest on every Sunday in Lent. Vestry, to which I was elected at January's Annual Meeting, meets the third Sunday of every month at noon. I finally have keys, so I can access the classroom that will become our new prayer room. Not to mention that I'm the parish webmaster, which means overseeing both the web site and our Facebook page.

Oh, and my full time job at the Episcopal Church Center.

I think I'm about Lented out, and it's only the first Monday in Lent!

Peace,
Jeff

We Have A Labyrinth!

We've been planning this since late Spring. It is one component of a dreamed spirituality center at Grace Episcopal Church. It is the first piece we've finished.

Mom spent July and August organizing work crews--mostly of one or two--to sweep and shovel sand from the parking lot. Bill powerwashed each section as it was completed. I kept in touch with the project via Mom's regular email updates, which went to most of the parish membership. It was very frustrating for her to have only one or two people show up.

So, with the parking lot cleaned, four of us gathered to lay out and paint the labyrinth. Here are Mom, Carol, and Lois as we prepare to start chalking at 1:00 p.m. Starting with a 12 foot center circle, we drew 12 concentric circles, with each of the 11 outer circles 28" from the one inside it. These would become the waling path. Once the circles were down, I went around drew lines to mark places where the path would turn, and where we needed to erase parts of the circles so the path would be continuous. It took approximately 2 1/2 hours to chalk the labyrinth. Lois walked the chalk labyrinth to make sure we had the path drawn correctly.

Using 4" rollers and lavender paint we centered the painted lines on the chalked ones. We put the last of the paint down at about 6:45 p.m. and spent 15 minutes cleaning up. Then Mom and I walked the finished labyrinth, but only in to the center. We were too tired to spend 20-30 more minutes walking back out.

So, we have a labyrinth. Being the recovering perfectionist that I am, I might ask, "Is it perfect?" My response to myself is, "Does it have lines? Can you walk it? Then it's a labyrinth."

After coming home, I made the mistake of attempting to practice. Too tired to toot!

But, we have a labyrinth!!!!

Peace,
Jeff

Musings At The Beginning Of The Week

Yesterday this blog turned two years old. For the last six months it has been private--only those invited people may read it, for reasons I've written about before. After I took it private, I posted to it much less frequently, but for the past five weeks or so, I've been writing fairly regularly. Last Thursday I wrote my 400th post. It becomes a discipline, writing regularly, that is. It forces me to organize thoughts and write clearly (I hope) to communicate what I've been thinking about.

Last week was the beginning of my attempt to return to Eat Right 4 Your Type. A few years ago Mom and I followed the program for a while. I felt pretty good when I followed it, and I'm not sure why I stopped. This time I figured I'd move back to it gradually, starting with wheat and dairy. I did pretty well until Friday. This weekend has been a disaster food-wise. But I did manage four-and-a-half days. Maybe this week I can do five, or even six. It's a start.

The other thing that FINALLY sank in this week is that I have to exercise in the evening. I keep telling myself I'm going to get up in the morning early enough to do it before leaving for work. What part of I'm not a morning person don't I understand? (A friend of mine gave me a button that reads "Not a morning person... Doesn't even begin to cover it!") To make a schedule that includes exercise in the morning just sets me up for failure. A half hour exercising most evenings isn't going to kill me. In fact, it's going to do just the opposite.

Late this afternoon I went to the Barnes & Noble in Westport. I browsed, did some research on a project I'm working on, and then spent the evening in the Cafe reading Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, which a friend recommended I read. I've never been fond of Card's writing. I started two or three of his novels and put them down after a chapter or two. For some reason Ender's Game gripped me. There were so many things that I wanted to note that I ended up buying a copy along with one of those little Hold That Thought! packets of sticky notes. Sermon and blog fodder perhaps...

This morning my Discernment Committee met for the last time with me. They will meet next week to decide whether they feel I have a call to ordained ministry. I have been truly blessed by this group, and I asked, if their decision is that I am not so called, that they consider continuing to meet with me to determine what it is I am being called into. I was deeply touched when they said that they would continue to support me with group meetings no matter what the outcome of their deliberations was. More than that, we discussed meeting as an ongoing group simply because we have all learned much about each other and ourselves during our conversations, becoming a community of faith ("emergent church" anyone?). We also discovered a common interest in genealogy and are seriously considering starting a group that might meet at Grace Church.

Tomorrow those of us employed at the Episcopal Church Center will hopefully get some kind of indication of the direction the 2010-2012 Triennial budget is taking. By the time we get through General Convention, we will have been involved in the budgeting process for about a year. There has to be an easier way to do this, but then I'm not in charge, and it's hard to change an institution!

Peace,
Jeff
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Blinders

Yesterday Mom asked me to consider writing an article about the Annual Meeting for the parish newsletter. I said I'd think about it. I haven't had any great inspiration as yet--at least not for something that could actually go in the newsletter. Here's what I'd like to print:

How to Make Blinders

Step One: Print out a copy of Grace Happens, the parish newsletter. Make sure to print it one-sided.

Step Two: Go to http://parenting.leehansen.com/downloads/coloring/halloween/pages/eyeglasses1.htm
and print this pattern on the blank side of the newsletter pages.

Step Three: Cut out all the pieces. DO NOT cut out the middle parts of the frames, where the lenses would be in a real pair of glasses.

Step Four: Tape or glue the ear pieces to the frames.

Step Five: Put on the blinders whenever information concerning the status of Grace Episcopal Church is offered to you.

Optional: Put in earplugs while wearing the blinders.

Well, if not the newsletter, perhaps posted anonymously on one or more of the bulletin boards around the building?

Peace,
Jeff

Of Lightning Rods And Church Communities

I'm still processing what happened at yesterday's Annual Parish Meeting. Or should I say grounding myself after having served as a lightning rod.

It is no secret that Grace Episcopal Church is in financial trouble. No secret to anyone willing to listen, that is. It seems that the Treasurer's bombshell--at least it was a bombshell to a number of folks in the parish--brought a few people up short. We're using half of our remaining endowment to balance this year's budget? Welcome to the real world, fellow members of Grace Episcopal Church!

Then started the questions and comments. How do we get more people to join and increase our pledges? You can't expect the current members to give more. Why aren't the groups for which we provide space paying more rent? If it costs that much money per week to keep the building open, they aren't paying their fair share.

Finally, I spoke up. I told about my experience of visiting another parish, signing the guest book, and receiving a box of pledge envelopes the Wednesday after my visit. I said that increasing membership in order to increase pledges is looking at the problem the wrong way around. I pointed out that Grace has always viewed itself as a congregation doing outreach to the community, and that the other congregations worshipping in the building have been part of that outreach. I continued that if we start to treat the parish as a business rather than a church, then we risk ceasing to be a Christian community. Finally, I pointed out that given the fact that we were using more than $280,000 from our endowment to balance the budget, we as a parish are not paying our fair share of the operating expenses either.

What they heard was me calling them unchristian.

At that point I said nothing more. Others in the congregation spoke up to tell them I had not called them unchristian. Nor had anyone asked them to give any more financially. Lois reminded the congregation that there have been ample opportunities for them to discuss the parish's uncertain future--the meagerly attended cottage meetings being one attempt by the leadership to engage everyone in the conversation.

I continued to be the recipient of dirty looks for the rest of the meeting and as the meeting broke up.

I am not going to apologize for being the truth teller. Nor am I going to apologize for having a vision of church, of Christian community, that is larger than what many at Grace Episcopal Church can see. Nor for being angry about the way so many have worn blinders for so long when it comes to the financial situation of the parish.

It becomes clearer with each passing day that many members of the parish still think in terms of church the way it was in the 1950s and 60s. Church will never be that way again. The more I see and read, the more I believe that Phyllis Tickle has it right. We are in the midst of a great upheaval in Christianity.

In the meantime, I will pray the prayer Lois now uses on every piece of parish communication:

What is God calling us to do in this place?

And pray that other members of the parish will do the same and seriously listen.

Peace,
Jeff

Blame It On Elizabeth

Kaeton, that is. I was perusing blogs in the wee hours (not a "sleepless night," just up late because I had a nap from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.) and found this post on her Telling Secrets. So I decided to go take the quiz myself. And the results (I knew I liked Elizabeth for a reason!):

You are Origen!
You do nothing by half-measures. If you’re going to read the Bible, you want to read it in the original languages. If you’re going to teach, you’re going to reach as many souls as possible, through a proliferation of lectures and books. If you’re a guy and you’re going to fight for purity … well, you’d better hide the kitchen shears.

So I went looking for a couple of others.

Here's the Are You A Heretic? quiz, which I think I've posted about before. In any case, the results don't surprise me:

You Scored as Pelagianism

You are a Pelagian. You reject ideas about man's fallen human nature and believe that as a result we are able to fully obey God. You are the first Briton to contribute significantly to Christian thought, but you're still excommunicated in 417.

Pelagianism 58%
Modalism 50%
Socinianism 42%
Chalcedon compliant 42%
Monophysitism 33%
Monarchianism 33%
Nestorianism 25%
Adoptionist 25%
Apollanarian 17%
Arianism 8%
Gnosticism 8%
Donatism 0%
Albigensianism 0%
Docetism 0%

Next up is Beliefnet's Belief-O-Matic. I know I've taken this before with different resuts (I think I came out Liberal Quaker the last time), but here are this morning's:

Your Results

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa. Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. Mahayana Buddhism (80%)
3. Hinduism (78%)
4. Liberal Quakers (76%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (75%)
6. New Age (75%)
7. Jainism (74%)
8. Sikhism (72%)
9. Reform Judaism (71%)
10. Theravada Buddhism (65%)
11. Baha'i Faith (61%)
12. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (61%)
13. Orthodox Judaism (53%)
14. New Thought (52%)
15. Orthodox Quaker (52%)
16. Taoism (51%)
17. Secular Humanism (49%)
18. Scientology (42%)
19. Islam (37%)
20. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (36%)
21. Seventh Day Adventist (33%)
22. Eastern Orthodox (30%)
23. Roman Catholic (30%)
24. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (29%)
25. Nontheist (26%)
26. Jehovah's Witness (26%)
27. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (26%)

Beliefnet has a bunch of quizzes, but I only took two more.

Which Archangel are you? Okay, this one surprised me:

You scored 46, on a scale of 0 to 100. Here's how to interpret your score:

26 - 50 You are Michael, Archangel of the South. You are the only angel identified as an archangel in the New Testament Bible, the strong and brave leader of all other archangels. In the Christian faith, you are best known for wielding a sword and conquering the serpent during the battle in Heaven (Revelation 12:7-12); in the Jewish faith, you are best known as the patron of Israel. Courageous, authoritative, and fearless, you are passionate about protecting others and helping them overcome temptation. Those who seek constant vigilance and encouragement to follow laws look to you as their patron. You share an archangel feast day with Gabriel and Raphael on September 29.

How hip is your church?, which in my opinion needs to be reworked... Here's how I saw Grace Episcopal Church:

You scored 20, on a scale of 0 to 35. Here's how to interpret your score:

14 - 23 On the edge. You prefer the middle ground of a traditional church setting with some Gen X additions.

Peace,
Jeff

Musings on Grace Episcopal Church

The following thoughts are based on some things I jotted down in my Moleskine notebook Monday morning. They are still evolving.

Grace Episcopal Church is a community. Like any community it changes--it grows and shrinks, it goes through cycles and phases. Eventually, we will all leave Grace Episcopal Church--and any community to which we belong. Instead of worrying about Grace Episcopal Church's survival, we should cherish the time we have together for as long as we are together.

The members of Grace Episcopal Church have nurtured me, aggravated me, loved me, disliked me. I have, as a part of Grace Episcopal Church, nurtured, aggravated, loved, and disliked.

I missed Grace Episcopal Church when I left, but I survived. I went to a different church, a different community.

I can't make Grace Episcopal Church in my image. The other members can't make Grace Episcopal Church in their individual images. We can only create a community in our collective image. We join communities on the basis of shared commonalities, interests, etc.

I can't change Grace Episcopal Church. I can only change how I interact with Grace Episcopal Church. If enough members of the community change how they interact with it, then Grace Episcopal Church will change. We will be changed as well.

Things ARE happening at Grace Episcopal Church. We have a thriving youth group. It may not be large, but the kids involved are thriving. We have outreach efforts. There may not be a lot of people involved, but given the size of our congregation, a sizable percentage of our members are involved. We have a music program. It may not be everything we want or hope for, but it is growing. We have a variety of education programs. They may not be large, but they provide learning opportunities which members do attend, learn, and share.

The last thing I want to do is sugarcoat Grace Episcopal Church's situation. However, the congregation is what it is. If I truly love this community that I have chosen to belong to, then I have to love it as it is. This is not a "yes, but" situation. It must be a "yes, and." I am still learning what it means to live out that "yes, and" call in this part of God's creation.

Peace,
Jeff

The Blessing Of The Bike...s...ss

It was a beautiful day for the blessing of the bikes. Being the primary organizer (it was my idea, after all), I dutifully put on my helmet and rode my bicycle to church, arriving at about 9:05. While riding on the municipal bike path I thought of all the things that didn't get done. The sign for the front of the church that I'd thought of last weekend but didn't have time to make. The idea I had last night coming home on the train that we should have made signs to put up along the bike path a week ago. The people who told me that they would help but never called or even showed up for the event. The newspaper article that never appeared in the local paper. The lack of response from the local bicycling club and a local organization that collects used bikes to refurbish and distribute to kids who need them. Fortunately, it was too nice of a day to dwell on all of that, and I'd already decided that no matter what happened, it was a first time event, and it didn't have to be large or perfect to be successful.

I turned off the bike path just before it goes into the park across the street from our parish, and this is what I saw!

Someone made a sign! I later learned that Lois our priest had painted it and put it up on Tuesday. Shows you how many times I drive by the parish when I'm not going to church!!

Since the bicycle club and the charity hadn't responded, I didn't have to put up tables. I hadn't brought any refreshments, because (a) I had no clue how many people would show up, and (b) I wasn't lugging refreshments to church on my bike. So basically, I paced until Lois and Newlin arrived, followed shortly by Mom with Gabriel her teacup Shih Tzu in tow. We did the last little bits of prep work, I paced some more, and we greeted the photographer from the local paper who showed up a few minutes before the scheduled start of the service.

10:00 a.m., scheduled time, and this is how many bikes were there:

That would be my bike. Here's another view of the lone bike that I took simply because I found the play of the shadow on the grass intriguing:

We waited until a few minutes after 10, and then we blessed my bike. Lois decided to bless any vehicle that drove by the church. About 10:20 someone attending another meeting at the parish rode up on his bike. He'd ridden it today because he'd seen the sign. So we blessed his bike.

Lois continued to bless passing vehicles while Newlin and I took down the sign. Just as we'd folded it up, two more parishioners rode up. Here we are blessing the last two bikes of the day.

Was it a success? For the eight of us who participated, definitely. Are we going to do it again? Yes. In April.

I have a list, and this time when people say they're interested, I'll hand them an assignment!

Peace,
Jeffri

It Works Both Ways

Episcopal Cafe's The Lead reports that Bishop Smith of North Dakota has provided an alternative Episcopal presence for those congregations in the diocese that disagree with his views on the issues of sexuality. Bishops of Pittsburgh, Fort Worth, and even Nigeria, take note.

Peace,
Jeffri

Hope In The Midst Of The Tempest

As we weather the Anglican Tempest in a Teapot, there are some glimmers of hope.

For instance, this story posted on Clerical Whispers about four denominations that will share a church building in a new suburb of Dublin. I read Clerical Whispers on a regular basis. The author is a Roman Catholic Priest, but while most of the stories are about the RC Church, his blog does cover things Anglican as well. The outside perspective is interesting.

Episcopal Life Online has a piece by Doug LeBlanc that you should read. Actually, almost anything Doug writes is well worth reading. When he writes news, it is balanced and well researched. When he writes commentary, it is thoughtful and insightful. I've broken bread with Doug, and he's one of those folks I always hope to get to know better.

Then there's this article from a newspaper in Washington state (hat tip to Episcopal Cafe): Five Things To Know About Being An Episcopalian.

Finally, this article from The Telegraph about the House of Bishops in England dealing with the issue of women bishops. And not backing away from it!

And now back to bailing out the teacups.

Peace,
Jeffri

What's Your Spiritual Type?

In preparation for an upcoming meeting, our priest asked members of the "mission church" group at our parish to take the Spiritual Type quiz at beliefnet.com. Here are my results:

Quiz: What's Your Spiritual Type?
You scored 64, on a scale of 25 to 100. Here's how to interpret your score:

25 - 29
Hardcore Skeptic -- but interested or you wouldn't be here!
30 - 39
Spiritual Dabbler -- Open to spiritual matters but far from impressed
40 - 49
Active Spiritual Seeker -- Spiritual but turned off by organized religion
50 - 59
Spiritual Straddler -- One foot in traditional religion, one foot in free-form spirituality
60 - 69
Old-fashioned Seeker -- Happy with my religion but searching for the right expression of it
70 - 79
Questioning Believer -- You have doubts about the particulars but not the Big Stuff
80 - 89
Confident Believer -- You have little doubt you've found the right path
90 - 100
Candidate for Clergy

Taking these kinds of quizzes, while interesting and helpful for discussion starters, often proves frustrating. Many times the choices given to answer a question do not really fit what I think or believe. Here are a couple of examples from the "What's Your Spiritual Type?" quiz:

Q9. I believe that angels:
1. Exist and intervene to assist the pure-hearted
2. Exist but only watch us, taking no action
3. Exist only on the spiritual plane, not in this life
4. Do not exist

Q17. I think children should:
1. Be raised to practice the faith of their parents
2. Be taught spiritual awareness but also to avoid affiliating with formal religion
3. Be encouraged to reject faith in favor of secular philosophy
4. Be exposed to many religious traditions and encouraged to make their own choices

So given the answers I had to choose from, the results to don't surprise me.

There may be an update on this. During our conversation this afternoon about this, Lois said that her "type" came out to be "Quaker," So I'm wondering if she meant for us to take the What Kind of Christian Are You? quiz.

Peace,
Jeffri

Two By Two....Not

The subject of singles--especially lgbt singles--comes up regularly on one of my mail lists. Usually it rises out of a discussion of same-sex marriage, a topic which also comes up regularly on this particular list, because it is a list of lgbt Christians and their friends. Occasionally, the conversation gets heated, but it eventually dies down. Until the next time someone raises the issue of marriage. And it does come up again, and again, and again....

During the most recent exchange on how the church treats singles, someone, who is in a same-sex relationship and went to Canada with their spouse to get married, asked, "What do single people want from the church?" It is a fair question. It does not have an easy answer.

The church has treated me as a single person all of my adult life, even during the 11+ years I shared my life with Brian. I cannot count the number of times an usher seated me next to a "nice young woman" in an obvious attempt to introduce two single people to each other. Or how many times well-meaning folks at church tried to match me up with someone. Not to mention those rare times when Brian did show up at church with me, and people treated him as my brother/cousin/friend. Now that I am older, I tend to get seated next to middle-aged widows at parish functions. Even during those brief periods where I attended churches with a primarily lgbt membership, folks tried to set me up with the nice young man across the parish hall.

Nor is this phenomenon experienced only by lgbt singles. Heterosexual singles also endure this endless urge to couple them up. How many "singles ministries" are really just a way to get singles together so that they can find a partner and couple up? How many times do they join a committee only to be put to work on a project with that "nice person" of the opposite sex? And the ceaseless focus on children's activities, Sunday school, Youth groups, parents groups--even in churches where the congregation is primarily what I often refer to as "widows and orphans." Not to mention the prayers offered for wedding anniversaries in many congregations.

What do single people want from the church? How about acknowledging that not all of us are seeking to be coupled up? How about singles ministries that are not a glorified dating game? How about recognizing that some of us care deeply about passing on the faith to the next generations and enjoy working with children and youth in church programs? How about asking us what our needs are rather than making assumptions? How about thinking twice before asking us to do certain work just because we do not have "family obligations?"

There is no easy answer. I am not sure, given our culture, that there can be an answer, but at least churches could do something as simple as remembering that we are part of the congregation, too.

Peace,
Jeffri