Caroline -- only fair!

I was being unfair to you all! I had not yet posted a picture of the other beautiful grand daughter. As a Duke graduate I had several "interesting" captions to use, but decided to be nice!

One boss

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For the past several weeks the gospels have focused on the need for us to make a choice. We so much want to be fully a Christian and (to use Paul's phrase) fully of this world. We so want to NOT have to make choices between God and our various desires.

Last Sunday we heard Jesus say that we can only serve one master, or one boss. And most of us react to that by making excuses. "Yeah, BUT (I read somewhere that by definition the words following "BUT" are always blasphemy!) "Yeah BUT I have to do what my boss tells me so he/she is the boss."

Jesus is speaking about ultimate decisions. As my mother told me frequently, "if he/she told you to jump off the bridge would you do it?" True, in business matters the boss is the boss, but those are not ultimate decisions. I believe Jesus' point is that at some time the earthly bosses and God will come in conflict --- we need to be clear about that and clear about who we would choose.

If the boss tells you to "cook the books" --- probably not directly but makes obvious suggestions along those lines --- what would you do? Would you take a chance on losing your job? If that sexy person invites you to a quiet dinner --- what would you do? Would you give up that exciting (& scary) chance?

A decision making tool I find helpful is to imagine myself explaining the options to Jesus. Just sitting and talking and telling Jesus what choices were presented to me. I find the decision becomes clear most of the time. In fact, most of the time I wonder why I ever considered the other option at all!

National & International Church

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It is always nice to be proven a prophet! In an earlier post I said the national news outlets would not be able to accurately discuss what is happening between our national Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican communion. Part of the reason is that the "anti's" are better at publicity than anyone else. Why is that always true?
Let me give you the links again to read the up to date info: www.episcopalchurch.org/ens is the official news source for the Episcopal Church. They tend to be moderate to optimistic about the future of our church. http://www.livingchurch.org/ is a more conservative, private news source that is somewhat pessimistic about our future. Read them both and you MAY get a fairly accurate picture.
Our House of Bishops (HOB) was meeting to discuss the criticism aimed at the Episcopal Church by some other members of the Anglican Communion. The central, presenting issue was the election and consecration of Bishop Robinson in New Hampshire, an openly gay man. A related issue is that in some dioceses and churches have blessed same sex unions. (Note again, a point of anger for me, the Canadian church has gone further and yet they are seldom mentioned. There is at least a hint of anti-Americanism in all this.)
I have not yet seen the formal statement so will not comment on it except to point out that both sources said it was adopted with only one negative vote (NB: 3 bishops left before the vote in essence saying the HOB was not worth their time.). Both news sources stressed that it was a middle of the road statement attempting to offer some reconciliation without turning away from or damning gays and lesbians.

Brass tacks time (I have no idea what the phrase originally meant!) (1) The Anglican Communion is not an organization with rules, etc. It is closer to a family. If some of the other churches in the Anglican Communion say they do not want to attend an event Americans attend, they can do that. It is theoretically possible that if enough other churches took that stand that the group would simply not meet. Very unlikely.
(2) If there is some split with some churches refusing to associate with other churches, this will have no direct impact on NC or St. Christopher's. Question -- 5 years ago did you even know you were the member of a worldwide Anglican Communion? I suspect that most people did not.
(3) That said, I and most of the Bishops have stressed the advantage we have when we are in communion with and discussion with other churches. We do not learn much from people we agree with. Having people say they believe we are wrong is the most productive way for us to learn about our relationship with God. It would be a shame to lose that.
(4) The biggest issue for many Bishops, and the one with the most agreement at the HOB is anger at foreign bishops who are deliberately working to split American churches. Yes, that is harsh, but it is also accurate. To go into another church's area and try to recruit people away from their church is not a very good way to show community! Yes, I know, they would say they are only serving the people but there are other ways to accomplish that goal. The American church has set up a system whereby a congregation or an entire diocese can request that another American Bishop serve them.

Finally, the other place most (not all) Bishops agree and I agree with them is that one issue has been allowed to sidetrack us for much too long. Without ignoring the importance of and need for continuing discussion and learning --- let's get back to central Christianity!!

child labor

Child labor laws? Alyssa came to play with Grandpa and Nana but found painting with Dad the most fun! And yes, that is real paint and a real 4" brush. She did very well, thank you very much! Her only problem was the belief that the further the brush went in the can, the better the paint!

Crop Walk & "the Peace"

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I hope we can do something a little different this Sunday but not sure if the schedule will work out. Many people, especially our youth, will be going to the High Point Crop Walk. IF -- big word "if" they get back in time I want them to take a moment toward the end of the 5 pm worship service to talk about the experience. What did they learn? What did they think about the hunger teachings?

My goal is to have our young people do such reflections fairly often. That is one way for them to know we appreciate them and believe they have important things to tell the rest of us.

the Peace in the service. For the last 3 weeks at the 5 pm I have been teaching on the Peace and how it fits into our service. We all laugh when I say "It is not half time!!!" -- but it sure feels like that from time to time. I explained how it is where it is because it completes the confession --- we say to the person we offended or their suragate: "our conflict is over from my perspective" .... and it completes the intercessory prayer section by praying the most wonderful prayer we can pray: "the peace of the Lord be with you"
All that said, the community building parts: "How are you? Long time - no see!" are also important. They are just happening at the wrong time in the service. We should be a worshiping community which requires the community building conversation. So starting last week we took 2 minutes a the beginning of the service to stand up, walk around, and build community. We will see how that goes for a while.

"Saving Grace"

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Have you been watching the show "Saving Grace"? The main character has about as many sinful habits as they can fit into a one hour show! And her "heart of gold" is not always evident -- if it exists. The premise is that God is trying to save her anyway. Despite her extreme sinfulness and despite the fact she accepts it is God's angel talking with her, she refuses to change. Her brother is a Roman Catholic priest and she was raised in a Roman Catholic church but no longer has faith. Occasionally Grace and the angel (Earl --- the writers are having a bit of fun with him!) drift into a serious conversation but only for a moment and it is never concluded. The only real theological point made is that God loves Grace. The other person we see Earl with is a convicted murderer on death row, who has accepted God.

Point --- The show is doing a good job of stressing the extreme efforts God will make to let us know we are loved .... despite everything, we are loved.

Watch the scriptures this Sunday for that message.

WARNING ---- definitely for a "mature audience". The sex scenes are pretty dramatic.

A new idea!

During my Sabbatical I greatly enjoy writing a blog about what was going on. I have found it frustrating as we grow that I no longer get to talk with a large percentage of the congregation on a regular basis. So I took a course, bought a book and began playing with "blogs"! I will post on some irregular basis but am working on setting it up so you can subscribe and be notified when a new posting is available. BE WARNED !! some of the postings will be pictures of my children and grandchildren! So when they come up you can just say nice things -- thank you very much!!


CHURCH BUSINESS stuff. Last night was the meeting at All Saints at which people could give the Bishops input about how they should respond to the international group of Bishops who have demanded changes in the Episcopal Church. Bishop Curry did a wonderful job explaining the situation. He stressed how a major part of the conflict comes down to church authority. The relationship between the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) is similar to the relationship between the USA and the UN. (my comparison and not Bishop Curry's) We can go along with ideas and sign treaties with the UN. But if we do not accept a specific UN action the UN has no authority to force us. The UN could not come into North Carolina and demand some change. In a similar way, the Anglican Communion (which is much less organized or structured than the UN) has no authority to DEMAND a change. They can REQUEST something but a few of the international bishops have been demanding things and making threats. The only threat they can enforce is that THEY will not attend a meeting at which the ECUSA is involved. There is no structure to allow for enforcement of demands.

All that said, and OK -- hear some frustration and anger. I do not like someone threatening me! That is not the way to get me to go along. ..... All that said our ECUSA bishops have agreed that the international bishops who have complained have a valid complaint in that we did something, elect and consecrate an openly gay bishop, without acknowledging the impact that would have on other Anglicans around the world. We have apologized several times, not for the action but for the manner in which is was done.

Now the question is where the international community goes from here. A major part of my input to our Bishops was the importance of the church being able to model to the world the ability to avoid a war. If we cannot model that, how can we honestly expect the Israelis or Palestinians (or whomever) to live together? That does not mean we cave in! As I said, I do not like bullies or threats. And I do not like hypocrites. Most of the people threatening us also say anyone who has been divorced, much less re-married should not be part of the church. And forget female vestry members much less female clergy! Actually the vestry members do not matter much since most of the those churches are very clergy run. I call them hypocrites because to get American supporters those few international bishops never quite mention divorce or female leadership.

Darn it! My anger is showing again isn't it? However I left that in to illustrate the difficulty our bishops are facing. How do we should sincere flexibility and appreciation for others who do not show it for us? The major part of the answer is to remember that out of the 34 world wide Anglican provinces (usually countries or a couple countries) only 3-5 are at the core of the opposition. Most of the provincial leaders are eager to work with the ECUSA to find a way out of the this conflict. The same percentages probably apply for US Bishops.

One of the clergy used the scripture about walking the extra mile. I suggested to the Bishops that they look for ways to walk the extra mile without giving up authority or beliefs. I also told them I did not envy their position at all!!

Two sources for information are the Episcopal News service, the official news which tends to be middle of the road to optimistic about the future of our church, and the Living Church which tends to be pessimistic. Don't count on CNN and other national news outlets. Heck, most of them cannot pronounce "Episcopal"!