Farewell Homily- Canon Davis Memorial Church, July 29, 2012
I had never been in Sarnia, or heard of Canon Davis Memorial Church before I got a phone call from Bishop Terry Dance in the spring of 2010 wondering if I would be interested in applying to serve as a parish priest here.
That winter I was in my third year as Rector of the South Parkland parish in the Diocese of Brandon, and while I felt my ministry was going well there, and I was the president-elect of the local Rotary Club, there were other considerations.
Family is an important part of any decision on ministry. It seemed to Coline and I that ministry in Ontario would allow us to better fulfill our family obligations. Coline’s mother needed more care than the senior’s home in Dauphin could provide. So we found one in Toronto with more care. But we needed to be closer in the caregiver role.
Our grown children in Toronto, and the Timmins area, were settling down, with marriage plans and children on the horizon.
I spoke to Bishop Jim Njegovan in Brandon and he gave his permission for me to apply to the Ontario dioceses, although he might have been wondering about how to fill a multi-point parish which had been vacant for almost three years before I arrived in 2007.
I sent the letters out the all the Southern Ontario Dioceses, and then came Bishop Terry’s phone call. The point of telling this personal story is that we can all be called to ministry in ways we might not expect.
Wherever we are called, we bring our gifts. I would hope my gift to all the parishes I have served in 11 years as a full-time parish priest is drawn from: my experience in leadership roles as a lay person, my musical skills from choral singing, my passion for proclaiming the gospel through my work in communications, my teaching and organizational skills from my writing efforts over the last four decades.
Perhaps most important I hope I have been able to be a bridge builder. These last forty years have been an era of almost constant change for the church. So many things have changed: liturgy, music, our role in the community, the age and size of our congregations.
I share with you a deep love of the Anglican tradition, as reflected in the Book of Common Prayer, which I grew up with, and as reflected in the Book of Alternatives which I have appreciated for these last 25 years. Both prayer books offer a framework for our Anglican liturgy which is one of the great gifts of our tradition.
It may seem like the Anglican church is in decline, and we are joining other parishes in following that path of decline.
We wonder why with our beautiful church building, our fine rectory, our sizable hall, with its additional rooms in the basement, why the 50’s and the 60’s—when this parish was a happening place—have become distant memories.
Perhaps rather than look at the decline in negative terms, we need to look at it as an opportunity to move in an unexpected direction.
We know we can’t sustain the model of a full-time priest living in the rectory any longer. But there are other options, and since the parish wants to continue, it’s up to everyone, regardless of age, to take part in a process of exploring something new, something creative. This isn’t just up to Pat as the Rector’s Warden, or Ed, as people’s warden, or even the parish council or the small group. It takes everyone.
We don’t know what the future will look like at this point, and as Greg Robbins from St. Paul’s says, it definitely won’t look like what we have now—doing everything we are doing now except with fewer clergy and the same number of buildings.
When you come down to it, buildings can be millstones as well as opportunities of ministry. Since we will all say the most important thing about the church is the people, not the building, and coming together to worship God as a community, then we have to try and think creatively about how our buildings can be used.
I had to think creatively about my own future in ministry when I realized that Canon Davis could no longer afford a full-time priest last fall. So after talking to Coline and the Bishop, I decided that rather than start over again with another parish in Huron, I would take early retirement and move home to Toronto where we have retirement housing. We will be near Coline’s Mum as she continues in her 95th year, and three of our grown children.
At least until I’m 65, I’ll have to work part-time in journalism or in the church to make ends meet. That’s where the creativity will come in. It’s a calculated risk. But we’ve taken risks before.
The two years here have been challenging. It isn’t easy to watch a dedicated group of lay leaders and faithful congregation members come to the realization that the hopes they had of renewal only two years ago, after two long incumbencies, were not going to come to fruition.
I’ve tried to do my best under difficult conditions, including some dissension and opposition to new ways of doing things, to provide a ministry of word and sacrament, pastoral care and administration, and work with parishioners and collegially with other clergy in the deanery and the Diocese.
I wish the entire Canon Davis community well as you attempt to meet the challenge of new realities in the church today. When I came here, it was certainly not with the intention of leaving this soon. But sometimes we have to let go of the old way of doing things before the new way becomes possible.
Now I move into another phase of ministry. And as the words to the famous mariners hymn go:
I feel the winds of God today
Today my sail I lift
Though heavy, oft with drenching spray
And torn with many a rift
If hope but light the water’s crest
And Christ my bark will use
I’ll seek the seas at His behest
And brave another cruise
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Marks of Mission Call for Justice and Safeguarding the Environment
Homily Marks of Mission 4,5 and 6
One of the greatest misconceptions about the Christian faith is that our scriptures and our faith have nothing to do with our political system, our economy, our way of living together in this world.
Perhaps these texts will be familiar: “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich empty away.”
That’s from the Magnificat, from Luke Gospel.
Or how about: “He will establish and uphold peace with justice and righteousness from this time onwards or forevermore.”
Indeed if you looked at our scriptures as a whole you would find more references to economic justice and money than any other subject. More than salavation. More than love.
The powerful and rich in society would like us to forget about this emphasis in both our Old and New testaments. While the early church in its first centuries was a church of the poor and the marginalized, the economic underclass—peasants, and slaves, the leadership of the church from the Roman Empire on became linked to secular wealth and power.
And the social justice dimension of the Christian faith was downplayed, leaving it as primarily a matter of personal devotion.
The final two Marks of Mission, plus a supplementary mark of mission adopted by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada deal with this social justice dimension of our faith.
The fourth mark is “to seek to transform unjust structures of society.”
The fifth mark is “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”
The sixth mark is “to work for peace-making, conflict resolution and reconciliation.”
Transforming unjust structures is rooted in the vision of the prophets of the Old testament. Listen to these words from the prophet of Amos.
“Hear this, you that trample on the needy and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we can sell grain; and the Sabbath so that we might offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
Some things never change. Think of the fraudulent practices of Wall Street bankers, which caused the US economic crisis and led to many people losing their homes, and lifetime savings.
As Christians we need to address these issues from a Biblical perspective. Unjust financial practices and economic exploitation is an offence to God.
The church is at its best when it challenges power. I think of the famous Brazilian Archbishop Dom Helder Camara, a Roman Catholic. He was declared a “non-person” by the military distatorship which ruled the country in the 70’s.
He had been a staunch critic of the government, accusing it of exploiting poor Brazilians to line the pockets of wealthy people.
In a quotation, which has since become legendary, Helder Camara said: “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint. But when I ask why so many people are poor, they call me a communist.”
Archbishop Helder Camara realized that helping the poor wasn’t enough. In oder to do God’s work, to obey his calling he had to challenge the unjust structures which created poverty.
His example has inspired Brazilians since, and now the president of Brazil is a woman who was imprisoned by the military junta, and now leads a democratic nation which has one of the worlds fastest growing economies.
The fifth mark of mission is aimed at protecting our environment for future generations.
When people say economic growth that requires degrading the environment is a defensible position, they are ignoring our Christian calling to safeguard the earth, in order for future generations to live.
It is short sighted in the extreme to ignore climate change, and pollution of our air, water and land. Anglicans from throughout the communion have been working together on environmental issues.
A meeting in Lima, Peru in 2011, concluded that creation is in crisis, yet there is continued degradation of our environment, and an unwillingness on the parts of governments and businesses to take action.
The Anglican Communion Environmental Network set out a series of actions which can be taken by local and national communities to address these issues, through education and action.
In our own diocese we have an environmental action committee which has encouraged parishes to do what they are able to make their own spaces environmentally friendly,
The unofficial sixth mark of mission was originated here in Canada, in recognition of the need for reconciliation and peace making, in light of our history with aboriginal peoples and the abuses of residential schools and reservations.
The thrust of these last three Marks of Mission is seeking God’s Kingdom on earth, and applying Biblical teaching to the way we live out our lives in the economy, in our political system and in our communities.
Christian faith is not pie in the sky by and by as the old expression says. It is not some consolation for injustice which offers the promise of salvation later for suffering now.
Instead our task is to comfort the afflicted, but also to afflict the comfortable. Needless to say that sometimes has created problems when the church’s prophetic witness against injustice has collided with the interests of those of its members whose interest is in maintaining exploitation, and maintaining the status quo.
It is a delicate balance. The church can not be engaged by its nature in partisan politics. But that doesn’t mean it can’t speak out on issues of economic injustice, as the prophet Amos did in his time. Amos, who was said to be a shepherd, was undoubtedly not very popular amongst the wealthy landowners of the seventh century BC.
Neither are Christian churches likely to be popular with politicians and business leaders if they press for changes in unjust structures, or environmental protection measures which put people above profits.
Jesus wasn’t too popular with the Scribes, Pharisees, or the Jewish establishment either when he challenged them to give up their wealth and power and meet the needs of the poor.
But as we move forward as Anglicans in this community, no matter what shape our ministry takes, these issues need to be addressed.
One of the greatest misconceptions about the Christian faith is that our scriptures and our faith have nothing to do with our political system, our economy, our way of living together in this world.
Perhaps these texts will be familiar: “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich empty away.”
That’s from the Magnificat, from Luke Gospel.
Or how about: “He will establish and uphold peace with justice and righteousness from this time onwards or forevermore.”
Indeed if you looked at our scriptures as a whole you would find more references to economic justice and money than any other subject. More than salavation. More than love.
The powerful and rich in society would like us to forget about this emphasis in both our Old and New testaments. While the early church in its first centuries was a church of the poor and the marginalized, the economic underclass—peasants, and slaves, the leadership of the church from the Roman Empire on became linked to secular wealth and power.
And the social justice dimension of the Christian faith was downplayed, leaving it as primarily a matter of personal devotion.
The final two Marks of Mission, plus a supplementary mark of mission adopted by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada deal with this social justice dimension of our faith.
The fourth mark is “to seek to transform unjust structures of society.”
The fifth mark is “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”
The sixth mark is “to work for peace-making, conflict resolution and reconciliation.”
Transforming unjust structures is rooted in the vision of the prophets of the Old testament. Listen to these words from the prophet of Amos.
“Hear this, you that trample on the needy and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we can sell grain; and the Sabbath so that we might offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
Some things never change. Think of the fraudulent practices of Wall Street bankers, which caused the US economic crisis and led to many people losing their homes, and lifetime savings.
As Christians we need to address these issues from a Biblical perspective. Unjust financial practices and economic exploitation is an offence to God.
The church is at its best when it challenges power. I think of the famous Brazilian Archbishop Dom Helder Camara, a Roman Catholic. He was declared a “non-person” by the military distatorship which ruled the country in the 70’s.
He had been a staunch critic of the government, accusing it of exploiting poor Brazilians to line the pockets of wealthy people.
In a quotation, which has since become legendary, Helder Camara said: “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint. But when I ask why so many people are poor, they call me a communist.”
Archbishop Helder Camara realized that helping the poor wasn’t enough. In oder to do God’s work, to obey his calling he had to challenge the unjust structures which created poverty.
His example has inspired Brazilians since, and now the president of Brazil is a woman who was imprisoned by the military junta, and now leads a democratic nation which has one of the worlds fastest growing economies.
The fifth mark of mission is aimed at protecting our environment for future generations.
When people say economic growth that requires degrading the environment is a defensible position, they are ignoring our Christian calling to safeguard the earth, in order for future generations to live.
It is short sighted in the extreme to ignore climate change, and pollution of our air, water and land. Anglicans from throughout the communion have been working together on environmental issues.
A meeting in Lima, Peru in 2011, concluded that creation is in crisis, yet there is continued degradation of our environment, and an unwillingness on the parts of governments and businesses to take action.
The Anglican Communion Environmental Network set out a series of actions which can be taken by local and national communities to address these issues, through education and action.
In our own diocese we have an environmental action committee which has encouraged parishes to do what they are able to make their own spaces environmentally friendly,
The unofficial sixth mark of mission was originated here in Canada, in recognition of the need for reconciliation and peace making, in light of our history with aboriginal peoples and the abuses of residential schools and reservations.
The thrust of these last three Marks of Mission is seeking God’s Kingdom on earth, and applying Biblical teaching to the way we live out our lives in the economy, in our political system and in our communities.
Christian faith is not pie in the sky by and by as the old expression says. It is not some consolation for injustice which offers the promise of salvation later for suffering now.
Instead our task is to comfort the afflicted, but also to afflict the comfortable. Needless to say that sometimes has created problems when the church’s prophetic witness against injustice has collided with the interests of those of its members whose interest is in maintaining exploitation, and maintaining the status quo.
It is a delicate balance. The church can not be engaged by its nature in partisan politics. But that doesn’t mean it can’t speak out on issues of economic injustice, as the prophet Amos did in his time. Amos, who was said to be a shepherd, was undoubtedly not very popular amongst the wealthy landowners of the seventh century BC.
Neither are Christian churches likely to be popular with politicians and business leaders if they press for changes in unjust structures, or environmental protection measures which put people above profits.
Jesus wasn’t too popular with the Scribes, Pharisees, or the Jewish establishment either when he challenged them to give up their wealth and power and meet the needs of the poor.
But as we move forward as Anglicans in this community, no matter what shape our ministry takes, these issues need to be addressed.
A Prayer at Sarnia City Council, July 16,2012
Dear wise and loving Creator:
“Thank you” on behalf of all who are gathered here today. Thank you for your many and abundant blessings in this city of Sarnia, in the province of Ontario, and in this nation of Canada.
Thank you for the gift of life itself, for the measure of health we need to fulfill our callings, for sustenance and for friendship.
Thank you for the ability to be involved in useful work and for the honor of bearing appropriate responsibilities. Thanks as well for the freedom to embrace you or the freedom to reject you. Thank you for loving the human race-- from your boundless and gracious nature.
In the scriptures you have said that citizens ought to obey governing authorities. You have established those very authorities to promote peace and order and justice. Therefore, We pray for our mayor Mike, for those who work in various capacities for the City of Sarnia, and, in particular, for this assembled council. We are asking that you would graciously grant them:
Wisdom to govern amid the conflicting interests and issues of our times
A sense of the welfare and true needs of our people
A keen thirst for justice and rightness
Confidence in what is good and fitting
The ability to work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement
Personal peace in their lives and joy in their task
We pray for the agenda set before them today. Please allow their deliberations and decisions to benefit those who live and work in and around our beloved city of Sarnia.
We pray especially for those in our community who are less fortunate, and in need, for food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, care for the aged, and healing for those with addictions.
It is in your most blessed Name we pray, Amen.
“Thank you” on behalf of all who are gathered here today. Thank you for your many and abundant blessings in this city of Sarnia, in the province of Ontario, and in this nation of Canada.
Thank you for the gift of life itself, for the measure of health we need to fulfill our callings, for sustenance and for friendship.
Thank you for the ability to be involved in useful work and for the honor of bearing appropriate responsibilities. Thanks as well for the freedom to embrace you or the freedom to reject you. Thank you for loving the human race-- from your boundless and gracious nature.
In the scriptures you have said that citizens ought to obey governing authorities. You have established those very authorities to promote peace and order and justice. Therefore, We pray for our mayor Mike, for those who work in various capacities for the City of Sarnia, and, in particular, for this assembled council. We are asking that you would graciously grant them:
Wisdom to govern amid the conflicting interests and issues of our times
A sense of the welfare and true needs of our people
A keen thirst for justice and rightness
Confidence in what is good and fitting
The ability to work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement
Personal peace in their lives and joy in their task
We pray for the agenda set before them today. Please allow their deliberations and decisions to benefit those who live and work in and around our beloved city of Sarnia.
We pray especially for those in our community who are less fortunate, and in need, for food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, care for the aged, and healing for those with addictions.
It is in your most blessed Name we pray, Amen.
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Passing on Our Faith
Marks of Mission No. 2
Teaching Baptizing and Nurturing New Believers
How long have you been a Christian?
Many of us would say we have grown up Christian. We were baptized as infants. We attended Sunday school. We continued to be active through church youth activities, and apart from a brief absence perhaps around the age of 20, we always considered ourselves part of a parish.
Others would have a more specific answer, a time when we were encouraged to become a Christian, and joined the church and were either baptized as an adult, or made a profession of faith to reaffirm our commitment to Christ.
Whatever our background, our Christian journey is just that, a journey, with many stages, and with God’s help growth. And we all have something to pass on to other travellers.
Think of our roles as parents. We, with the help of an education system, help to pass on to the next generation the means to become productive citizens. And we often help each other, within family groupings, and within neighbourhood groups to fulfill that task. It takes a village to raise a child, the old saying goes.
That brings us to our second mark of mission: teaching, nurturing and baptizing new believers.
And on that score our Anglican church in general, and our parish in specific, has not been doing too well lately.
As I was looking over our baptismal and confirmation records looking for a specific request for information, I saw a pattern. During the 50’s and 60’s there were many baptized and confirmed. The numbers gradually but steadily declined over the 70’s and 80’s, 90’s until coming to an abrupt halt in the last decade. The last Baptism was in 2009. The last confirmation was in 2005.
That’s a telling sign that we aren’t meeting our challenge laid out in the second mark of mission.
Now far be it from me to lay blame for this. But when a parish ceases to grown, nurture the next generation, and welcome new adult members, it places its future in jeopardy.
When there are only funerals and no baptisms, weddings or confirmations, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a parish is in difficulty.
In our last Mark of Mission, the first one we talked about proclaiming the good news, telling others about our faith, communicating it in whatever evironments we are in, through our relationships.
We are Christ’s witnesses, not just the clergy or the leadership of the parish.
So we all share in the responsibility for the teaching that comes after the telling. So in that way the second Mark of Mission depends on the first.
Coming to faith is a complex process. And there is a spiritual hunger out there. The days have long past when we can expect that having a beautiful church. Good music and good liturgy are enough to ensure that people will join us in our Christian journey.
We have to reach out to the community, be more in evidence, go beyond our walls. And that can be done in different ways by people of all ages.
We can all be teachers, even if we feel inadequate for the role, because it’s really God who is working through us when we carry out our ministry in Christ’s name, and act as his witnesses.
While I was sorting my papers before our downsizing move which is now less than a month away, I came across a hand written thank-you not from a family who had called me to attend a seriously ill person late at night in the hospital. I prayed with them, and the person died peacefully. They felt through me God had answered prayer to relieve this person of his suffering. I felt, as I always do facing death, that it is God who is in control, and I am humbled to be in the role of intercessor.
So if we approach teaching, baptizing and nurture as a sacred task in which God will give us the strength, then perhaps it might seem more possible.
We Anglicans are often reluctant to talk about our faith, compared to evangelicals and fundamentalists. That’s a good thing in one way, because we don’t offer easy answers. And we view conversion as a complex process, not just a matter of professing a few core beliefs.
But it’s a bad thing because if we regarding faith as a private matter, than we lose a chance to make an impact on someone who might be searching for meaning. Some of the people who are joining churches theses days are doing it later in life. They are more aware of their own mortality, and realize our culture of cinsumption and materialism doesn’t offer all the answers.
So they are questing for something authentic. Our Anglican communion, as I’ve said before, offers the middle way between Roman Catholicism and the reformed tradition. We have music and liturgy which has stood the test of time, and has been modified in the last forty years to incorporate contemporary language and music.
It is the task of the whole body of the church to fulfill our call to ministry—to teach, baptize and nurture new believers.
That hasn’t been our pattern for some time, and while there are other societal factors at work—like the commercialization of Sundays, the growth of two income families, the demands of childrens’ sports and cultural activities---the fact remains that if we want to carry on as active parishes, we need to engage in this second mark of mission.
We need to have new people who are being baptized, taught and coming to faith. We need to take responsibility for each other on our faith journeys.
Another symptom of decline related to the second mark of mission is the absence of thriving Christian education programs for adults, and Sunday schools, other Christian education programs for children.
We are never too old to stop learning about our faith. When Coline came back to the church in her 40’s at a church in Streetsville, Ontario, she went through new member classes which talked out our faith, and how we live it out. That parish has become known for its strength in evangelism and outreach to the community.
So there are challenges, but there are also opportunities. It is a challenging time to be in the church, but also an exciting time because with God anything is possible. It is up to all of us to discern what gifts we can offer to contribute to the mission of the church.
Here is a prayer from the Diocese of St. David’s in Wales which is an attempt to address the five marks of mission. I will repeat it each Sunday for the remainder of this series.
God our Father, always behind us,
God the son, always alongside us,
God, the Holy Spirit, always ahead of us,
Calm our fears and renew our faith,
So that with you we may venture
To break new ground, take risks
And further your mission in this Diocese,
To your honour and glory.
Amen
Teaching Baptizing and Nurturing New Believers
How long have you been a Christian?
Many of us would say we have grown up Christian. We were baptized as infants. We attended Sunday school. We continued to be active through church youth activities, and apart from a brief absence perhaps around the age of 20, we always considered ourselves part of a parish.
Others would have a more specific answer, a time when we were encouraged to become a Christian, and joined the church and were either baptized as an adult, or made a profession of faith to reaffirm our commitment to Christ.
Whatever our background, our Christian journey is just that, a journey, with many stages, and with God’s help growth. And we all have something to pass on to other travellers.
Think of our roles as parents. We, with the help of an education system, help to pass on to the next generation the means to become productive citizens. And we often help each other, within family groupings, and within neighbourhood groups to fulfill that task. It takes a village to raise a child, the old saying goes.
That brings us to our second mark of mission: teaching, nurturing and baptizing new believers.
And on that score our Anglican church in general, and our parish in specific, has not been doing too well lately.
As I was looking over our baptismal and confirmation records looking for a specific request for information, I saw a pattern. During the 50’s and 60’s there were many baptized and confirmed. The numbers gradually but steadily declined over the 70’s and 80’s, 90’s until coming to an abrupt halt in the last decade. The last Baptism was in 2009. The last confirmation was in 2005.
That’s a telling sign that we aren’t meeting our challenge laid out in the second mark of mission.
Now far be it from me to lay blame for this. But when a parish ceases to grown, nurture the next generation, and welcome new adult members, it places its future in jeopardy.
When there are only funerals and no baptisms, weddings or confirmations, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a parish is in difficulty.
In our last Mark of Mission, the first one we talked about proclaiming the good news, telling others about our faith, communicating it in whatever evironments we are in, through our relationships.
We are Christ’s witnesses, not just the clergy or the leadership of the parish.
So we all share in the responsibility for the teaching that comes after the telling. So in that way the second Mark of Mission depends on the first.
Coming to faith is a complex process. And there is a spiritual hunger out there. The days have long past when we can expect that having a beautiful church. Good music and good liturgy are enough to ensure that people will join us in our Christian journey.
We have to reach out to the community, be more in evidence, go beyond our walls. And that can be done in different ways by people of all ages.
We can all be teachers, even if we feel inadequate for the role, because it’s really God who is working through us when we carry out our ministry in Christ’s name, and act as his witnesses.
While I was sorting my papers before our downsizing move which is now less than a month away, I came across a hand written thank-you not from a family who had called me to attend a seriously ill person late at night in the hospital. I prayed with them, and the person died peacefully. They felt through me God had answered prayer to relieve this person of his suffering. I felt, as I always do facing death, that it is God who is in control, and I am humbled to be in the role of intercessor.
So if we approach teaching, baptizing and nurture as a sacred task in which God will give us the strength, then perhaps it might seem more possible.
We Anglicans are often reluctant to talk about our faith, compared to evangelicals and fundamentalists. That’s a good thing in one way, because we don’t offer easy answers. And we view conversion as a complex process, not just a matter of professing a few core beliefs.
But it’s a bad thing because if we regarding faith as a private matter, than we lose a chance to make an impact on someone who might be searching for meaning. Some of the people who are joining churches theses days are doing it later in life. They are more aware of their own mortality, and realize our culture of cinsumption and materialism doesn’t offer all the answers.
So they are questing for something authentic. Our Anglican communion, as I’ve said before, offers the middle way between Roman Catholicism and the reformed tradition. We have music and liturgy which has stood the test of time, and has been modified in the last forty years to incorporate contemporary language and music.
It is the task of the whole body of the church to fulfill our call to ministry—to teach, baptize and nurture new believers.
That hasn’t been our pattern for some time, and while there are other societal factors at work—like the commercialization of Sundays, the growth of two income families, the demands of childrens’ sports and cultural activities---the fact remains that if we want to carry on as active parishes, we need to engage in this second mark of mission.
We need to have new people who are being baptized, taught and coming to faith. We need to take responsibility for each other on our faith journeys.
Another symptom of decline related to the second mark of mission is the absence of thriving Christian education programs for adults, and Sunday schools, other Christian education programs for children.
We are never too old to stop learning about our faith. When Coline came back to the church in her 40’s at a church in Streetsville, Ontario, she went through new member classes which talked out our faith, and how we live it out. That parish has become known for its strength in evangelism and outreach to the community.
So there are challenges, but there are also opportunities. It is a challenging time to be in the church, but also an exciting time because with God anything is possible. It is up to all of us to discern what gifts we can offer to contribute to the mission of the church.
Here is a prayer from the Diocese of St. David’s in Wales which is an attempt to address the five marks of mission. I will repeat it each Sunday for the remainder of this series.
God our Father, always behind us,
God the son, always alongside us,
God, the Holy Spirit, always ahead of us,
Calm our fears and renew our faith,
So that with you we may venture
To break new ground, take risks
And further your mission in this Diocese,
To your honour and glory.
Amen
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Proclaiming the Good News
Five Marks of Mission part one
When Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel prize winner for his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, was asked to put a face to what mission means for Christians, he told a story from his boyhood.
It happened when he was eight or nine years old. His mother was a poor, uneducated domestic worker who cooked and cleaned for blind black women. It was a time when blacks in South Africa were treated as inferiors, and had to carry passes.
Tutu recalled the story recently: “I saw something that I had never thought. There was a white priest in a long flowing cassock and he had a large sombrero hat, and as he passed, he doffed his hat to my mother. White priest, black woman in apartheid South Africa…For him it was a normal thing you do for any woman. This is how he demonstrated that he believed each of us is a God carrier…I wasn’t aware this story would stay with me. I am 80 now.”
Tutu said he later learned the priest was Trevor Huddleston, who later became an Archbishop. “I still remember the impact of Trevor Huddleston’s doffing of his hat, and that it was acknowledging what we say in our theology, you are created in the image of God, and you are a God carrier, and that is what we in our proclamation seek to be saying.”
The proclamation Tutu is talking about is the Five Marks of Mission first developed and affirmed by the Archbishops of the Anglican communion in 1984 and since adopted by the whole communion, and other denominations.
Today, for my last five Sundays with you, I begin a series on the Five Marks of Mission. Our Diocese is attempting to shift to a more missional focus, and the five marks are an important method to help us look at how we are doing—as a communion, as a national church, as a diocese, as a deanery, as a parish.
The five marks are:
First—To proclaim the good news of the kingdom.
Second---To teach baptize and nurture new believers
Third—To respond to human need by loving service
Fourth---To seek to transform unjust structure of society
Fifth—To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the world.
What comes to mind when you hear the word mission. For many of us, there are images of missionaries working with people in Africa, Asia, or Latin America, the great outward mission thrust of the early 20th century.
Another image of mission might be a Billy Graham Crusade or other gathering where people are asked to come forward and profess their faith in Christ.
But these images are only a part of what the five marks of mission are all about.
For Creation God has reached out to the world in love, sharing the bounty of creation with us. He sent his son Jesus to come among us—a gift to the world.
Our response as followers of Jesus begins with the first mark of mission, to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom.
The first Gospel to written down, the Gospel of Mark, begins with the words: “The beginning of the Good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God.”
Later in the first chapter Mark writes: “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying , the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news.”
Proclaiming the good news comes in many different ways, by words, through communications media, but also by our actions, by how we live out the Good news that we believe in.
We live out our Christian faith personally, through prayer, worship, study, and acts of service, and as part of a Christian community. All are important.
One of the memories I have from my early life growing up in the church is hearing that we can’t compartmentalize our lives—Sunday morning is for the church, and God, and the rest of our lives is something completely separate and different.
Archbishop Tutu also reminds us that love is the key to proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom. “Mission is really making us aware of the incredible love God has for all of us. It says things like, you don’t have to earn God’s love. God loves you, period. Everything flows from there.”
Katherine Jefferts Schori, the presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, points to the need to embody the Good News in our daily lives.
“If we walked through life in that way, giving thanks and recognizing the image of God everywhere we go the world would work very differently. We live in a society that so often assumed the enemy rather than the image of God.”
We have a lot to think about as we consider this first mark of mission and how it might apply to our current discernment at Canon Davis Memorial Church in Sarnia.
We are part of a much larger trend---as an aging traditional mainline church in a society where the model of the neighbourhood parish church, with a parish hall, a rectory, and a full-time priest is no longer sustainable.
While that may be the case, the church has survived ups and downs for more than 2,000 years, including dark ages, plagues, wars and revolutions. The task of proclaiming the good news in our particular context remains.
And as a community that wants to be together, to build on an 86 year history, we need to look at where God is calling us now, and how we can proclaim the Good News.
There is no use dwelling on the past, or lamenting the present. We need to focus on the positive. What can we do with the gifts God has given us to proclaim the Good News? What is best way to move forward? With God’s help, and God’s love we can move into a new chapter of our life together.
When Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel prize winner for his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, was asked to put a face to what mission means for Christians, he told a story from his boyhood.
It happened when he was eight or nine years old. His mother was a poor, uneducated domestic worker who cooked and cleaned for blind black women. It was a time when blacks in South Africa were treated as inferiors, and had to carry passes.
Tutu recalled the story recently: “I saw something that I had never thought. There was a white priest in a long flowing cassock and he had a large sombrero hat, and as he passed, he doffed his hat to my mother. White priest, black woman in apartheid South Africa…For him it was a normal thing you do for any woman. This is how he demonstrated that he believed each of us is a God carrier…I wasn’t aware this story would stay with me. I am 80 now.”
Tutu said he later learned the priest was Trevor Huddleston, who later became an Archbishop. “I still remember the impact of Trevor Huddleston’s doffing of his hat, and that it was acknowledging what we say in our theology, you are created in the image of God, and you are a God carrier, and that is what we in our proclamation seek to be saying.”
The proclamation Tutu is talking about is the Five Marks of Mission first developed and affirmed by the Archbishops of the Anglican communion in 1984 and since adopted by the whole communion, and other denominations.
Today, for my last five Sundays with you, I begin a series on the Five Marks of Mission. Our Diocese is attempting to shift to a more missional focus, and the five marks are an important method to help us look at how we are doing—as a communion, as a national church, as a diocese, as a deanery, as a parish.
The five marks are:
First—To proclaim the good news of the kingdom.
Second---To teach baptize and nurture new believers
Third—To respond to human need by loving service
Fourth---To seek to transform unjust structure of society
Fifth—To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the world.
What comes to mind when you hear the word mission. For many of us, there are images of missionaries working with people in Africa, Asia, or Latin America, the great outward mission thrust of the early 20th century.
Another image of mission might be a Billy Graham Crusade or other gathering where people are asked to come forward and profess their faith in Christ.
But these images are only a part of what the five marks of mission are all about.
For Creation God has reached out to the world in love, sharing the bounty of creation with us. He sent his son Jesus to come among us—a gift to the world.
Our response as followers of Jesus begins with the first mark of mission, to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom.
The first Gospel to written down, the Gospel of Mark, begins with the words: “The beginning of the Good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God.”
Later in the first chapter Mark writes: “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying , the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news.”
Proclaiming the good news comes in many different ways, by words, through communications media, but also by our actions, by how we live out the Good news that we believe in.
We live out our Christian faith personally, through prayer, worship, study, and acts of service, and as part of a Christian community. All are important.
One of the memories I have from my early life growing up in the church is hearing that we can’t compartmentalize our lives—Sunday morning is for the church, and God, and the rest of our lives is something completely separate and different.
Archbishop Tutu also reminds us that love is the key to proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom. “Mission is really making us aware of the incredible love God has for all of us. It says things like, you don’t have to earn God’s love. God loves you, period. Everything flows from there.”
Katherine Jefferts Schori, the presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, points to the need to embody the Good News in our daily lives.
“If we walked through life in that way, giving thanks and recognizing the image of God everywhere we go the world would work very differently. We live in a society that so often assumed the enemy rather than the image of God.”
We have a lot to think about as we consider this first mark of mission and how it might apply to our current discernment at Canon Davis Memorial Church in Sarnia.
We are part of a much larger trend---as an aging traditional mainline church in a society where the model of the neighbourhood parish church, with a parish hall, a rectory, and a full-time priest is no longer sustainable.
While that may be the case, the church has survived ups and downs for more than 2,000 years, including dark ages, plagues, wars and revolutions. The task of proclaiming the good news in our particular context remains.
And as a community that wants to be together, to build on an 86 year history, we need to look at where God is calling us now, and how we can proclaim the Good News.
There is no use dwelling on the past, or lamenting the present. We need to focus on the positive. What can we do with the gifts God has given us to proclaim the Good News? What is best way to move forward? With God’s help, and God’s love we can move into a new chapter of our life together.
Monday, 18 June 2012
Report of 170th Synod of the Diocese of Huron
Synod Report June 17/12
We
sometimes forget that in our Anglican system, we are organized and governed as
Dioceses, not individual congregations.
I
am appointed as priest by the Bishop in consultation with the congregation I
serve, and there wasn’t even always consultation.
I
can remember a time when clergy were appointed to congregations without any
consultation by the Bishop. In our Episcopal system Bishops work not only with
their fellow Bishops, but with a Synod structure.
To
those who haven’t been to a synod, there might be an assumption Synods spend
their time debating motions and acting as sort of a parliament.
Not so. Worship and Bible study are a central part of our synod experience. In our
opening service we had an inspiring variety of music, liturgy, and the Bishop’s
Charge, which sets the tone for synod.
This
year’s charge didn’t sugar coat the challenges the Anglican Church faces in the
Diocese of Huron.
Bishop
Bob Bennett called the 170th synod the hinge point in the life of
the church.
“We
continue to build on the faithfulness of the past by struggling with our
present, so that we will journey to a place where God wills us to be.”
Bishop
Bob, who works closely with Bishop Terry,
said the church now in 2012 no longer exists in the same way as it did
at the time of his baptism in the mid-20th century.
“Absolutely
guaranteed that the future will be unanticipated and in many ways
unrecognizable.”
Guiding
us into the future will be the five Marks of Mission developed by the worldwide
Anglican communion. “Feel the strength of the verbs that energize those five
marks: proclaim, teach, baptize, nurture, respond, seek, transform, strive,
safeguard, sustain and renew.”
Bible
studies offered clergy and lay delegates a chance to engage in small group
scripture study after hearing presentations on passages by Bishop Terry, Canon
Steve Harnadek of All saints, and Canon Todd Townshend.
Lyle
Moran, who was our lay delegate will focus on two of the efforts to lay
groundwork for change in the Diocese: the first changes to the canons and
constitution in more than two decades, and the Renew Campaign to raise funding
for parish, Diocesan and national church programs.
Another
primary activity as Synod is a chance for 60 Diocesan Committees and ministries
to connect with clergy and lay delegates and report back, both through plenary
sessions and displays outside in the corridors.
For
me this was different kind of synod because I am retiring from full-time
ministry. At the synod banquet on Monday night, the only formal meal of synod,
tributes are made to the retirees. And we all get a chance to say a few words
of thanks and have our photo taken with the Bishops.
It
was an honour to retire from Huron, although I’ve only spent almost two years
here. I was reminded by how connected we are in the Anglican Church when I
retired at the same time as the Rev’d Canon Don Ford who is at St. John the
Evangelist London. I met Don in the early 70’s when he was in Divinity and I
was an undergraduate arts student at Trinity College.
We
didn’t meet again until going on the clergy trip to Italy this past fall.
Bishop
Bennett closed his charge by reminding us, clergy and laity, that if what
happens in Synod stays in Synod, if what happens in the Cathedral stays in the
cathedral, if what happens in our hearts, stays in our hearts, then we are like
the disciples locked in the upper room in fear before being anointed by the
Holy Spirit.
“We
are God’s spirit-filled, and God’s sent community,” said Bishop Bob. And that
is the message of Pentecost—the day Huron Synod began this year.
Sunday, 3 June 2012
An Anniversary, A Diamond Jubilee and the Trinity
Homily June 3, 2012
This is one of those Sundays where it is hard to know where to begin as preacher. We are celebrating our 86th anniversary as a parish, yet our future is uncertain.
We are also marking Trinity Sunday, named after a doctrine which is difficult to come to grips with, and has confounded even theologians for centuries.
And third, as Anglicans who are part of a worldwide communion which began with the English Reformation and the creation of the Church of England, independent of the Pope in Rome, we are celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second.
And while all of these alone could be a subject for a preacher, I feel called to tackle all three, with your patience.
In reverse order….When we sing God save the Queen, we sing not only the Royal Anthem, we honour a remarkable woman who has served with distinction in a position which no longer has practical political power, but serves as a focus of unity not only for the United Kingdom but for the British Commonwealth.
Having never lived under another monarch because I was born the year of her accession to the throne, it seems remarkable to me that while presidents and prime ministers have come and gone, Elizabeth has remained in her symbolic but still important position as long as she has.
Her gracious and wise reign, which we pray for in the Book of Common Prayer service, has turned even her critics into admirers.
She is at the same time one of the world’s most recognizable public figures, and yet also leads a very private existence away from the cameras.
So we feel we know her. Yet there is much we don’t know about her…unlike some of the younger Royals who have allowed themselves to become tabloid fodder for their indiscrete behaviour.
Next…the Trinity. We may feel we know the Trinity after all the Trinitarian formula—Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a regular part of our worship.
But how easy it is to skip over the words without thinking of the monumental importance of thinking of God as one God, with three persons.
It is a mystery which many books have been written on. It is simple yet profound.
We believe in God who created the universe, who is transcendent—that is over all creation.
Yet that same God is also immanent, or close to us, because he sent his Son Jesus to be among us, to assume human form, to lay down his life.
And the same God sent the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the advocate, the breath of God, to reach out and touch us, now and always wherever we are.
The challenging part is explaining how we can have one God, but three different persons within an “undivided Godhead.”
People from other monotheistic religions would say we are trying to have it both ways---follow the one true God, but see God in three different manifestations.
That is where faith comes in. This is not something we can prove, like a science experiment. We believe God is ultimately beyond our human understanding. That is where both mystery and faith come in.
We have to use our best efforts to understand God, and how He is revealed in scripture, and how he is revealing Himself in the present, and into the future.
That task never ends. It is part of our Christian journey.
And that ties into my final task, the 86th anniversary. Last year we had a remarkable gathering for the 85th anniversary—a full church, people of all ages who have had some association with the parish.
It was a wonderful celebration of how much Canon Davis has meant to many people throughout the years from its beginning as a Sunday school mission for north Sarnia in 1925.
We celebrate that story again today, the many thousands of people who have worshipped here, been baptized and confirmed here, married here, buried here.
We celebrate the life of the parish community here—musical concerts, cubs, scouts, guides, brownies, suppers, dramatic presentations, youth groups, couples clubs. Womens’ groups, mens’ groups, Bible studies.
We also celebrate the relationships many of us have found through the parish—lifelong friends.
The celebration this year is somewhat bittersweet because when I finish in July there will no longer be full-time priestly ministry here at Canon Davis.
The future of the parish, at least as it is constituted now, is uncertain because of declining numbers and limited resources.
The task now is to discern how you the people of Canon Davis can continue to worship together.
The church is not just about buildings. If the building becomes a millstone, which is hard to afford, then it is time to look for other alternatives--- in terms of ministry, parish structure, and worship location.
So as we celebrate another anniversary, let us pray for wisdom is discerning our future together, and in this place, and pray for those who are working with Archdeacon Millward in addressing these challenges.
This is one of those Sundays where it is hard to know where to begin as preacher. We are celebrating our 86th anniversary as a parish, yet our future is uncertain.
We are also marking Trinity Sunday, named after a doctrine which is difficult to come to grips with, and has confounded even theologians for centuries.
And third, as Anglicans who are part of a worldwide communion which began with the English Reformation and the creation of the Church of England, independent of the Pope in Rome, we are celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second.
And while all of these alone could be a subject for a preacher, I feel called to tackle all three, with your patience.
In reverse order….When we sing God save the Queen, we sing not only the Royal Anthem, we honour a remarkable woman who has served with distinction in a position which no longer has practical political power, but serves as a focus of unity not only for the United Kingdom but for the British Commonwealth.
Having never lived under another monarch because I was born the year of her accession to the throne, it seems remarkable to me that while presidents and prime ministers have come and gone, Elizabeth has remained in her symbolic but still important position as long as she has.
Her gracious and wise reign, which we pray for in the Book of Common Prayer service, has turned even her critics into admirers.
She is at the same time one of the world’s most recognizable public figures, and yet also leads a very private existence away from the cameras.
So we feel we know her. Yet there is much we don’t know about her…unlike some of the younger Royals who have allowed themselves to become tabloid fodder for their indiscrete behaviour.
Next…the Trinity. We may feel we know the Trinity after all the Trinitarian formula—Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a regular part of our worship.
But how easy it is to skip over the words without thinking of the monumental importance of thinking of God as one God, with three persons.
It is a mystery which many books have been written on. It is simple yet profound.
We believe in God who created the universe, who is transcendent—that is over all creation.
Yet that same God is also immanent, or close to us, because he sent his Son Jesus to be among us, to assume human form, to lay down his life.
And the same God sent the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the advocate, the breath of God, to reach out and touch us, now and always wherever we are.
The challenging part is explaining how we can have one God, but three different persons within an “undivided Godhead.”
People from other monotheistic religions would say we are trying to have it both ways---follow the one true God, but see God in three different manifestations.
That is where faith comes in. This is not something we can prove, like a science experiment. We believe God is ultimately beyond our human understanding. That is where both mystery and faith come in.
We have to use our best efforts to understand God, and how He is revealed in scripture, and how he is revealing Himself in the present, and into the future.
That task never ends. It is part of our Christian journey.
And that ties into my final task, the 86th anniversary. Last year we had a remarkable gathering for the 85th anniversary—a full church, people of all ages who have had some association with the parish.
It was a wonderful celebration of how much Canon Davis has meant to many people throughout the years from its beginning as a Sunday school mission for north Sarnia in 1925.
We celebrate that story again today, the many thousands of people who have worshipped here, been baptized and confirmed here, married here, buried here.
We celebrate the life of the parish community here—musical concerts, cubs, scouts, guides, brownies, suppers, dramatic presentations, youth groups, couples clubs. Womens’ groups, mens’ groups, Bible studies.
We also celebrate the relationships many of us have found through the parish—lifelong friends.
The celebration this year is somewhat bittersweet because when I finish in July there will no longer be full-time priestly ministry here at Canon Davis.
The future of the parish, at least as it is constituted now, is uncertain because of declining numbers and limited resources.
The task now is to discern how you the people of Canon Davis can continue to worship together.
The church is not just about buildings. If the building becomes a millstone, which is hard to afford, then it is time to look for other alternatives--- in terms of ministry, parish structure, and worship location.
So as we celebrate another anniversary, let us pray for wisdom is discerning our future together, and in this place, and pray for those who are working with Archdeacon Millward in addressing these challenges.
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