On Seminary Education

I serve as a trustee for an Episcopal seminary. We recently concluded our spring meeting, and among other items on our agenda elected a new Dean. I'm excited about the future for this school, but I also know that we are in the midst of drastic changes in the life and culture of the institution. So it was with interest that I read this recent article from a Forbes blogger. It is obvious from a surface reading that the author last little experience with seminary education but he does provoke some good discussion....

...the prospects are worse clergy than for other forms of professional education, because there is no legal seminary requirement which stifles professional competition. If you go to medical school, you know you’ll have challenges in the job market, but at least you know you won’t be competing with non-medical school graduate physicians. Ditto for law school; it’s illegal to practice law or medicine without the requisite graduate schooling. Other professions, such as CPA and engineer, require at least the four-year diploma.

If you graduate from seminary and become an Episcopal priest, the church almost certainly required that you get the degree, but there’s no guarantee that increasingly indifferent churchgoers won’t, at the drop of a hat, leave your church and move a few blocks down the street to attend a Pentecostal, charismatic or fundamentalist church led by a high school dropout with generous dollops of the gift of gab, no school loans and probably less overhead...

Click here for the entire article...

Ebor's Lenten Reflection on Poverty

The Archbishop of York offers an interesting reflection for the Third Sunday in Lent. His website is located here... D.T. Niles said that the Good News of God is Christ makes all his followers to be like "one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread". In Lent we are reminded that we should share in the life of Jesus, who called himself the Bread of Life, and our wealth, our material daily bread if you like. If only we did this more effectively, how different the world would be. Research shows that Britain is more divided than ever between the rich and the poor. We need to 'mind the gap' which has opened up between the haves and the have-nots – otherwise there is a danger that many people will fall into the hole between! Wherever I go, at home or abroad, I have often noticed that those who live in the poorest communities are the most welcoming and generous in their hospitality. There is a dignity about giving, about contributing to the common good, which the poor seem to appreciate more than the well-off, because they see what a privilege it is. Jesus pointed out a poor widow putting her last mite into the offering – her action put the wealthier worshippers to shame because she gave her all. It is those who have the most resources who bear greatest responsibility for bridging the gap. We all need to rediscover the wellsprings of solidarity – the unstoppable grace which hold us together as a human family. What would this look like in the community where you live? What could you do to help make it happen? Jesus, you rested at a well once and you gave the woman of Samaria the honour of drawing you water when you were thirsty. She quenched your thirst, then you offered her the living water, a new life to replace the shame and broken relationships of the past. Help me to see where I am needy, and where I have something to offer. Help me to play my part in making things better, with your Spirit in me to give me strength. Amen. +Sentamu Ebor

Beginning Lent

Lent Video Series: #1 Ashes from Dan Puchalla on Vimeo.

I found the link to this at Episcopal Cafe. I'm looking forward to the remainder of the series. Take a look.

Nothing New Under the Sun

I came across an interesting review of the condition of The Episcopal Church. It reads as follows...

A sense of weariness and resignation prevailed as the…General Convention of the Episcopal Church convened. Loyal church people were anxious and fearful. Distrust of church leaders was pervasive. Revenues for the previous three years had fallen far short of projections, resulting in the curtailing of ministries and large-scale borrowing.

Prospects…were bleak. Many saw a looming decline facing their church. Even with an increase in diocesan giving of 25 percent (by no means a certainty) and adding money from the United Thank Offering and investment income, revenues….against anticipated expenditures….show a nearly 17 percent shortfall. The Joint Committee on Program and Budget had been meeting all summer to attempt the apparently impossible—the gap seemed unbridgeable and the decline in giving seemed to signal a spiritual exhaustion throughout the church…

Now take a guess at when it was written, then follow this link and read the rest of the article and what followed.

A great reminder that we can overcome all things with God on our side.

Third Advent

I'm quickly coming to the realization that Christmas will soon be upon us whether I'm ready for it or not. I seem to be ahead of the game this year on a personal level, but I'm not sure I'm ready on a professional level. Normally this is reversed. But I guess in a way this is the lesson for advent....We are never ready for Jesus Christ, whether he comes to us in great humility in a manger, or in the face of a stranger in need on a street corner, or in great triumph to judge us all. All I know is I'm not always ready. Lord help me to be ready.

In the mean time, here is something that will help...

Kenyon Ranked #1 Most Beautiful Campus

Kenyon College, the Episcopal Liberal Arts College in Gambier, Ohio, founded by the Rt. Rev'd Philander Chase has been named the most beautiful college campus in the US.

See the story here.

Hurrah for Kenyon!

REV. on TV.

For going on 5 years now, I have been unable to get BBC America on the TV. It has been a sore spot for me seeing as it was a favorite of mine before moving from Cincinnati to Portsmouth.

One of the reasons I like the BBC and British TV in general is for the interesting array of clergy depicted in its shows. Whether it was Gerry from the "Vicar of Dibley," or Fr. Peter from "Ballykissangel," or Channel 4's "Fr. Ted," from Craggy Island or any one of the many others, I appreciated the fact that each of the characters had depth.

Unfortunately for TV viewers in the US, clergy are portrayed in only 2 ways; licentious abusers of power, or desperately soft, good hearted fools whose sole purpose in the plot line is to get taken for a ride.

So here is yet another BBC example of a real live priest, who is neither a child abuser nor a simpleton, but a normal human being trying to do the best he can with what God has tossed in his lap...

Here is a review of REV by Bishop Alan Wilson.

Below is a taste of the article by Bishop Alan....

For all its tendency to self-parody and caricature, I like Rev. It’s a noble enterprise. Those who wrote it know whereof they speak. Adam sits in his Church trying to pray the office, wishing God would bloody do something, but secretly suspecting he won’t until his unworthy servant has made it through the next funeral. It’s a ministry that resents all the distractions, until it realises that the ministry is the distractions.

There’s holiness in the unglamorous, haphazard, but profoundly kind and patient way C of E vicars do urban ministry, even in some of the crazier characters vicars encounter. It’s highly implicit, always understated, rarely obvious. Light very occasionally streams in serendipitously, but the grind is always there. You just have to pray for people, and try to help them make the best of themselves, and never give up.

I hope you will take the time to read the article and the web reviews. Sadly, Americans will be unable to see the REV even with BBC America. Who knows why, but it is not playing on this side of the pond right now. Maybe we're not ready for it yet? But here's hoping the DVD's will some day be released.

Members/Non-members

I came across this post from Fr. Steve this morning. Good content and commentary on giving and the Church...here is a taste with the link to the full article following...

I read everything I can from the Alban Institute. Alban is the congregational development research organization par excellence. The following article (I know it’s long, but a very interesting read) came in my inbox this morning. It speaks somewhat to the theology that as church members (those who participate in the work of the Church) we are not owners. The Church is not ‘ours’ as if we could possess the Body of Christ. The paradox of church membership, as Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple once said/wrote, is that: The Church is the only society on earth that exists for the benefit of non-members....

Check out the entire article here...

Church ads and marketing

Check this out...

http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/audio/Monster_Truck_FULL_60.mp3

I wonder if this would work?

Easter Thursday

I'm preparing a devotional study during Eastertide using the New Church Teaching Series' "Ethics After Easter." Issues for consideration focus on how the events of the Resurrection of Christ change and impact the life of the christian as well as the world around them. It looks to be a good study.

As I was preparing this morning, I stumbled across this online travel article about the top 12 destinations to see while they were still around. Of course some the the obvious ones included Barrow, Alaska, and its vanishing tundra environment. Venice and the melting snows of Kilimanjaro were but two others. But the real surprise was literally my backyard, Appalachia. With mountain-top removal becoming more and more the norm, some say Appalachia is becoming endangered.

Take a look here.

It made me think. And then it made me sad. I don't know if I should feel that way during Easter Week?

Holy Week Reflection

The Archbishop gives his thoughts on Holy Week in a special video message. Holy Week is 'a week when we discover in a way we don't at any other time just we are and just who God is'.

Life

There is a phrase from the burial office in the Book of Common Prayer that states, "In the midst of life, we are in death." I understand why it is there. I even understand the theological grounding for it being there. But I also think the reverse is true as well, "In the midst of death, we are in life."

Here is a picture of the youngest member of my parish. Born just a few hours ago. What joy and love he is bringing into the world. Joy for his family, joy for his church, joy for his community. How precious is new life...it is an in-your-face reminder of God's life in the world. A Life that brings light to us all, even when our own lives can be overwhelming.

The tenth anniversary of my grandfather's death was yesterday...It is hard to believe he has been gone that long, partly because the day he died, my cousin gave birth to a baby girl and she turned 10 yesterday. Yep, I think it true, in the midst of death, we are in life. And oh, what a wonderful life it is...Thank you Lord!

Rite I please...

I'm using Rite I and the Decalogue in Lent. If you are an Episcopalian, you know exactly what this means...Victorian language, heavy emphasis on human sinfulness and need for repentance. If you are not an Episcopalian, you probably don't care and can stop reading here!

My choice for using Rite I and the Decalogue during Lent has nothing to do with whether I prefer one to another, or whether I believe one to be more or less holy than another. My choice for using them is far more pragmatic and has a lot to do relationships.

Now I can already hear some of you say, “what does Rite I or Rite II have to do relationships?” Since I started supplying for a church in January, they have one combined Sunday service rather than two, and the format has been mainly that of the former 10:30am service. Some of the 8 o’clock folks have felt a tad disengaged with this. As a result, some have chosen to stay home rather than attend Mass. As a way to reach out to them, I chose to use a simpler service during Lent…a few less hymns, traditional language and more moments of reflection in the service.

Over the years, I can easily say that the two of the most important lessons I have learned are these; (1) Knowing that I can’t always have it my way; (2) Knowing that successfully working with others often requires compromise. These are lessons that come when you commit to being in relationship with others, and these lessons can only be appreciated when those relationships are allowed to mature.

They are good lessons, and fantastic ones to practice during a time like Lent when we are encourage to allow God to take us out of our comfort zones and into a deeper fellowship with Him through self-examination, prayer and fasting.

So I hope people appreciate a little change in the Sunday morning worship. Because even though change can be scary, it can often bring us into a closer relationship with God, our neighbors and ourselves.

Culture, culture, culture....

Here are some interesting ideas from Peggy Nonnan's recent column in The Wall Street Journal...

America is good at making practical compromises, and one of the compromises we've made in the area of arts and entertainment is captured in the words, "We don't care what you do in New York." That was said to me years ago by a social conservative who was explaining that he and his friends don't wish to impose their cultural sensibilities on a city that is uninterested in them, and that the city, in turn, shouldn't impose its cultural sensibilities on them. He was speaking metaphorically; "New York" meant "wherever the cultural left happily lives."

....This was behind the resentment at the Adam Lambert incident on ABC in November. The compromise was breached. It was a broadcast network, it was prime time, it was the American Music Awards featuring singers your 11-year-old wants to see, and your 8-year-old. And Mr. Lambert came on and—again, in front of your children, in the living room, in the middle of your peaceful evening—uncorked an act in which he, in the words of various news reports the next day, performed "faux oral sex" featuring "S&M play," "bondage gear," "same-sex makeouts" and "walking a man and woman around the stage on a leash."

....I don't mean to make too much of it. In the great scheme of things a creepy musical act doesn't matter much. But increasingly people feel at the mercy of the Adam Lamberts, who of course view themselves, when criticized, as victims of prudery and closed-mindedness. America is not prudish or closed-minded, it is exhausted. It cannot be exaggerated, how much Americans feel besieged by the culture of their own country, and to what lengths they have to go to protect their children from it....

Read the entire article here...

A favorite of the Season

Just enjoy it. Take a moment, close your eyes and imagine the press of life to disappear.

Must Read Alert...

Here is a recent column in the Anglican Journal, the national newspaper for the Anglican Church in Canada.

Read this...its worth the time. Here is a just a piece...

If the makers of Coca-Cola can sell a billion cans of sugar water every 48 hours, surely the Anglican Church of Canada can add value to people’s lives, insists Nicolosi. After all, he says, index finger stabbing the air above his head, “We’ve got Jesus!”

Read it here.

A good read of the holidays...

Here's a review of a new book about church music...just in time for the Christmas.

When Samuel Sebastian Wesley was appointed organist of Hereford cathedral in 1832, he found that the eight adult members of the choir were all clergymen aged between 49 and 78. Five were in poor health, two were deemed to be sub-standard and the 78‑year-old was exempt from attending services.

This was the crisis in which cathedral music found itself, at a time of clamour to take away revenues from the Established Church. That music survived at all in the Church of England at the Reformation had been touch and go.

Cathedrals had precentors, responsible for choral services. But at St Paul's in the 1830s, the Precentor (a canon, on a fat £2,000 a year) appeared so infrequently that when he did once turn up for a service, the dean's verger did not recognise him, and refused him entry to his stall. The wit Sydney Smith, a fellow canon, referred to this precentor as the "Absenter".

How this sorry state of affairs was transformed by the end of the 19th century, when cathedrals enjoyed a weekly round of well-attended choral services, is a theme of "In Tuneful Accord," (Canterbury Press, £19.99), a study of church musicians of the past two centuries by Trevor Beeson.

You can read the entire review here...

When were you saved?

When were you saved? This is a question that is often asked of Episcopalians who live and work in my part of the country. I have often tried to help my parishioners with an answer to the question...This YouTube video is spot on, and presents in a video format what I have repeated time and again. I hope it helps...

Vatican holds poor folks hostage

I can't believe this...The Roman Church has lost its mind...

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

Read the entire story here.

Read the Episcopal Cafe reaction here.

I'm tired of their self righteous nastiness towards The Episcopal Church. They are the ones that have gone to far....using charity as a club...shameful!

One of the many reasons why I am part of the Ecclesia Anglicana

This is also one of the reasons why I think the psalms should always be sung in divine worship...

Thanks to The Topmost Apple for this post.