The Rev’d Canon Amy Chambers Cortright
Annual Meeting – Vicar’s Address
1/22/12
Good Afternoon!
The Dean has shared a lot of really, really good news with you about where we have been this year and where we are heading in 2012 and beyond. It is truly an exciting time in the life of Christ Church Cathedral.
As the Vicar of our congregation, I am tasked with the nuts and bolts of congregational life, with oversight of our common life, specifically in the areas of Inreach, Outreach, Worship and Education.
As I mentioned in my address at the Annual Meeting last year, when I arrived at the Cathedral, nearly a year and a half ago, the first thing I looked for was a list of ministries and chairs – but I couldn’t find even one. I knew that we needed to spend some intentional time getting organized – and establishing a clear picture of what was happening here, when, - and by whom -- following the why, of course -- the critical work of Chapter.
It was quite evident that some structural work was necessary. This past year has been spent capturing each ministry, assessing status, identifying leadership and categorizing. “The Chart” as it has been fondly named, is a work in progress. It is a great start – “first generation” so to speak.
My goal for this morning is to leave you with a clear understanding of how this new structure works. The six ministry areas of Christ Church Cathedral are: Inreach, Outreach, Communications and Evangelism (one), Education, Worship and Administration. Each and every ministry in this place falls into one of these categories. Some ministries may fall into multiple categories, but for the purposes of organization, I have given each one a “home” on the chart.
For each ministry area, two Chapter liaisons are assigned and act as go-betweens for the individual ministries - and Chapter. The Chapter liaisons do not chair any ministry areas and may or may not serve on any of the ministries in his or her area. As Vicar, I oversee the ministry areas of Inreach, Outreach, Worship and Education. As Dean, Mike oversees Communications and Evangelism and Administration.
One week before Chapter meetings, liaisons send an e-mail to the Contacts of each ministry in their area asking if Chapter involvement is desired or required in any way. In this way, each and every ministry has monthly contact with Chapter.
With our new structure, two persons are required to serve as “Contacts” for each ministry with very few exceptions (which are noted). In this way, responsibility is shared and we know that at least two people are willing to “claim” and live out each ministry. Sustainability is very important in our work and all too often we suffer the classic church syndromes of burnout, ownership and resentment – and in some cases, more than one or all of them at the same time. Ministry is to be for us, though sacrificial, life-giving and joyful.
In the spirit of clarity and sustainability, some ministries that have been traditionally linked at the Cathedral are now separate so that the work of one group is more focused and manageable.
If you are the head (one of two “Contacts”) for a ministry at the Cathedral, you should be notified about your new Chapter liaison (assignments will be made after the elections of this meeting) - and you should be receiving a monthly e-mail asking if your ministry has anything to report or anything upon which Chapter must decide). Please be in touch with me if that is not happening. Copies of the Ministry Structure may be found at your tables – please take one if you are interested. I encourage each of you to take a look at the two enlarged ministry charts on the wall in this room and in front of the elevators. Thank you so much everyone who filled out the time and talent portion of the stewardship form -- for those of you who have not done so, please do take a look and consider where you might use you gifts for ministry in this community. I encourage everyone to look these ministries over -- does something intrigue you? Is there something listed that you didn't know about?
I also encourage you, in the coming months, to watch for continuing liturgical renewal at the Cathedral. At specifically appointed periods during the year, each liturgical ministry, beginning with our brand new Guild of Vergers will receive special attention including recruitment and training. We are especially excited about weaving more and more of our younger members into these rolls.
I would like to extend my gratitude to all of you, to Dean Mike Kinman and Chapter; to the clergy and lay staff of Christ Church Cathedral and especially to those who have stepped down from leadership positions this past year. If you are here, please stand.
A round of applause!
Grace and peace to you. Please know that I hold each and every one of you in prayer as we being another year working together in Jesus’s name. Thank you.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
2011 – A Year of Many Changes and New Things at Christ Church Cathedral
Here's what was on the tables at the annual meeting on Sunday ... an accounting of many new things that happened and changes that occurred in the year past. We haven't been letting moss grow under our feet!
2011 – A Year of Many Changes and New Things at Christ Church Cathedral … Changed service times from 8, 9, & 11:15 to 8 & 10 … adopted new structure for Cathedral ministries … began restructuring of liturgical ministries with establishment and training of Guild of Vergers… called a Dean … began partnership with the Bridge Sunday Lunch Program … began partnership with Nkope Health Clinic in Malawi … hosted Icons in Transformation … completed first round of Back to Basics classes and began first Discipleship Group … called a new Dean … was catalyst for starting Magdalene St. Louis … closed the Cathedral bookstore … revamped financial structure for greater transparency and clearer authority for Chapter … began new tradition of Black History Month preacher … ended tradition of Flower Festival Eucharist and street fair … entered into partnership with Park Pacific and Missouri Botanical Garden to replant and care for Library Park … began One Metropolitan Square noonday prayer service … became Winter Outreach shelter site … began the Outreach Initiative to explore and affirm new outreach ministries … Dean and Chapter engaged in work on building shared leadership … hosted Sept. 11 remembrance service … began raising funds for Christmas greens in July so we can know what our budget is and more deeply observe Advent … started coffee hour after 10 am service … began Liturgy of the Word for children … established interior design committee to make decisions about interior design issues in Tuttle Building … cleaned up Nave and repainted first floor of BTM in preparation for icons exhibit … Getting People Started group began handing out newcomers bags … Tower bells restrung … Tower Bell Ringers group began … Tithed $120,000 from Pope Bequest locally and internationally … paid off more than $1.4 million in debt, including “burning the mortgage” on the White Fund Loan … Hosted Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori … Hosted new Bishop of Lui, Stephen Dokolo and his wife, Lillian … began partnership hosting Humanitri meetings … began Sunday intraCathedral field trips for Sunday School … and probably other things we’ve forgotten!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Why Christ Church Cathedral is banning polystyrene (aka: styrofoam)
Last Thursday, the Cathedral Chapter voted unanimously to ban the use of all styrofoam products related to all food service on church property effective March 1, 2012. This was in response to a proposal brought to Chapter by Cathedral member Barbi Click, who writes this explanation of why we have taken this important step. Many thanks, Barbi!
Why are we banning polystyrene (aka Styrofoam)? Because we are stewards of this creation, what we do…or don’t do…matters. God created an ideal world, complete with everything needed to sustain life and allow it to thrive. While polystyrene (aka Styrofoam) products are incredibly convenient and inexpensive in the short run, these are not conducive to the idea of sustaining or the thriving of life.
Polystyrene is made from petroleum. The production of one ton of the foam requires 685 US gallons of oil, emits 20,000 tons of CO2 and over 2000 tons of greenhouse gases. In the production process, benzene, a carcinogenic chemical, is used. Due to its presence, food in direct contact with the polystyrene packing can be affected. More than 20 cities in the United States have banned the use of expanded polystyrene for food packaging.
It does not biodegrade without a suitable solvent. In fact, it has the durability to remain intact for hundreds of years. This is important to know because people in the US alone throw away 25,000,000,000 styrofoam cups every year. Those cups that make it into the landfill, take up a lot of space, estimated at 30% of the space in landfills worldwide. Many end up in our sewer systems and waterways doing harm to marine life and wildlife by slowly starving to death animals that ingest it.
Due to the fact that polystyrene is expensive to recycle, few waste companies will do so. For those companies that will recycle Styrofoam, the requirements for those wishing to do so are cost and time prohibitive for most individuals and organizations.
It is with all of this in mind that Christ Church Cathedral Chapter decided to join other parishes within the Diocese to prohibit the use of polystyrene/Styrofoam for food service at all functions, public or private.
(This information comes from a variety of sources, including but not limited to the US Environmental Protection Agency, all-recycling-facts.com, and the Green Restaurant Association)
Monday, January 16, 2012
God is calling ALL OF US.
In 1985 I went away to college,
it was my junior year, I had just completed my Associates Degree, from Jefferson College,
and I was headed to Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University), in Springfield, Missouri.
My Dad drove me and my belongings to school, to help me move into my dorm room.
And after we got everything in place. A trip to the bookstore, and the grocery store, then he slipped me some money, got into the minivan and drove away.
I specifically remember thinking. Ok, now what?
My friends from high school were not moving down until 2 days later, and my room mate didn’t arrive until the day classes started.
Honestly it was the loneliest 2 days I had ever spent. I was away from my family,
and I was away from my constant companion, my twin brother Mike,
The person who had always been with me for 19 years.
I honestly went back to my dorm room.
Sat on my bed and just sat for about 15 minutes.
I decided that I would try to figure out where all my classes were for the following week.
So off I went on a self guided tour of the campus.
A few hours later I was heading back to my room, and was walking across the quad, in front of the student center, and I ran into a group of students from one of the Fraternities.
They invited me to hang out with them, so I figured why not!?
They also invited me to dinner with them. Which I did go to.
At this time I was not yet an Episcopalian, so didn’t think to look into the Episcopal Campus presence.
Eventually my friends arrived on campus and I began to plug into other activities.
But I did eventually join that fraternity and I made some very close lifelong friends.
Fast forward a few years, after I was graduated I was living in Columbia, Missouri.
I was invited to a wedding of one of my fraternity brothers.
And it was back in Springfield, and in this Episcopal church right off campus.
I had driven by it many times, in my years at SMS, but I never thought to stop in.
And I’ll be honest, the liturgy grabbed me.
I was captivated by the vestments, the language, the inclusiveness.
For once in my life I really really wanted to take communion.
I was not yet baptized yet either so I did not go up, but I went away thinking, I really want to do that.
I was living in Columbia, Missouri at the time, and I did what most people did when I returned.
I picked up the yellow pages. (There was no internet then kids!).
I found, Calvary Episcopal Church.
I called for service times, and attended the next Sunday service.
This would have probably been around the end of July, of 1988.
I attended for a few weeks, and then called up one of the Associate Rectors at the time.
And asked to meet with him. We started some baptism classes.
And in the meantime, I started to plug into the Canterbury Club there for the University of Missouri and Stephens College that met at Calvary.
I met some great friends.
Mike Kinman, Robin Kinman, and Heidi and Mike Clark to name a few.
A few weeks later August 31st, at the start of classes at Mizzou, I was baptized.
My sponsor? Was the entire Episcopal Campus Ministry group.
What amazed me is the community aspect of my baptism.
Everyone was participating and joyful at my becoming a member of the church.
And I was all so happy to be able to have communion and to share it with that group. It was a very memorable event for me.
Forming communities became important to me.
When I moved to Omaha, a year later, I sought out a few Episcopal churches, and eventually settled on St. Andrew’s.
And as we were close to the University of Nebraska Omaha,
and had a few students attending I approached our rector and asked, about starting a college, young adult group.
His response. “sounds good what are you going to do about it?”
A bit of Trivia: how many of you have seen the Jack Nicholson movie “About Schmidt”?
The priest who counsels Nicholson’s Character “Warren Schmidt” was my old rector Bob Kem.
But that’s a bit of a tangent.
What I didn’t know was at that time was that looking to create communities for students and young adults, became a pattern for me.
When I moved to Chicago in 1992, I sought out a church close to me and eventually got involved in the Vocare movement, which is a young adult, version of Happening or Cursillo.
The common denominator here was a sense of knowing where people were loneliest and stepping in to build community.
I did not seem to realize it but I had to be drawing on my own experience my first time away in college.
And how lonely I was those first two days.
A community sprang up and got me, and that made all the difference for me.
You see as someone who was always identified as “one of the twins”.
Having another identity to be a part of something else helped me, in my life.
And once I was involved in a faith community, something else happened.
You see I believe that the natural response we have to our baptism is to go out and to seek to serve in the world.
We look for where Christ calls us to work, to bring the good news to the world.
To build communities where all can receive a new identity and a new life, as a part of the body of Jesus, here and now.
The natural response of our baptism is to go and do diaconal work.
The Association of Episcopal Deacons has published a pamphlet entitled. Engaging the Diakonia of All Believers: and it in part says:
All Christians are called through the baptismal covenant to live out diakonia through what they do and how they live their daily life in the world.
This is the first and most fundamental expression of diakonia.
Organized expressions of diakonia occur at the congregational level, as well as through those who are set apart as ordained deacons.
Deacons are to model and lead, by inspiring, empowering, and engaging every baptized person in living out the diakonia of all believers in everyday life.
Deacons do not – cannot – “do” diakonia on behalf of the baptized, but they help to lead all people, including the ordained, into the servant ministry of all believers which is the essence of our baptismal covenant.
Too often we bring persons into our church through baptism, or confirmation and then we don’t do anything with them.
Our response should be. We have opportunities, HERE and HERE, and HERE!
To proclaim God’s presence in the world .
Through our words and through our actions. Now I’m not talking about some Pelagian heresy of salvation through works, but that by the belief that we are known as Christians by the fruit we bear.
And that is to care for the least.
When I was living in Chicago, I took an extension course of Education for Ministry from the Episcopal Seminary in Sewanee, and the last of the 4 year course of study we looked at Calls to ministry and our gifts.
And looking at what spoke and formed me in my life began to coalesce a call to the Diaconate.
And in reading from the prayerbook the rite for the ordination of a deacon, I found that during the examination, the part about deacons being called: “to serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely”
And it hit me. “THE LONELY” that’s what I had been doing all those years.
Trying to find for myself a way to fit and and trying to offer to a place where the church can intersect with the lonely in our communities, especially the young adult and the students , all where I lived, especially in Columbia, Omaha, and Chicago.
Now this is just my story. And it is a story of how I was called to the diaconate.
But not all callings are to the ordained ministry.
I sit on the Commission on Ministry and we tell seekers all the time, that the question we are answering is not “are you called to ministry”, because that answer is YES.
Everyone is called to some kind of ministry, we have to figure out what.
Many are called to specialized lay ministries.
Myrna Wacker is called to the altar guild,
Our choir members are called to give the gift of their voices of praise in voice and music.
Brother Franklin is called to a devotional life in monastic community. Some are called quietly to pray for others.
Some called to teach Sunday school.
Some to visit the sick and to take them the eucharist.
Some are called to tend to the gardens and flower beds around the cathedral. Some are called to acolyte,
some called to volunteer at Saturday Breakfast,
or to assist at the bridge on the Sunday that we serve lunch there.
Some feel called to explore the possibility of creating a Magdalene (Thistle farms) model outreach here in St. Louis.
All of us are called.
And all glorify god and exercise our baptismal covenant when we do these things.
When we do these things we are witnessing to the saving power of Christ.
Society looks at us and says “who are they? And why do they do these great things?”
The answer is we are compelled to.
If we truly take serious our baptismal vows, and if we truly believe the Gospel teachings we HAVE to.
There is opportunity all around us.
To live out your lives as Christians.
You just have to hold your breath and take that first step.
Step out of your comfort space and do it!
Because you know in trying you cannot fail!
Think about that! What could you accomplish if you knew you couldn’t fail!?
Or if you knew that you wouldn’t be ridiculed or thought less of for trying.
If you knew that in your trying you made Jesus smile?
That is our calling.
To be together in community, as the body of Christ, to tend to the least in our midst.
That’s what being a Christian is all about.
And how exciting is it to be doing it here in this space and this time?!?
I invite you to look back, see how God has been preparing you.
How has god been calling you to service?
What gift of yours does the church need?
Does the community need?
And how can we as a community help you discern and to accomplish this?
To help you live into and fulfill your baptismal vows?
That is why the church community exists, to equip and teach us how to live into God’s expectations.
How will you answer your call?
it was my junior year, I had just completed my Associates Degree, from Jefferson College,
and I was headed to Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University), in Springfield, Missouri.
My Dad drove me and my belongings to school, to help me move into my dorm room.
And after we got everything in place. A trip to the bookstore, and the grocery store, then he slipped me some money, got into the minivan and drove away.
I specifically remember thinking. Ok, now what?
My friends from high school were not moving down until 2 days later, and my room mate didn’t arrive until the day classes started.
Honestly it was the loneliest 2 days I had ever spent. I was away from my family,
and I was away from my constant companion, my twin brother Mike,
The person who had always been with me for 19 years.
I honestly went back to my dorm room.
Sat on my bed and just sat for about 15 minutes.
I decided that I would try to figure out where all my classes were for the following week.
So off I went on a self guided tour of the campus.
A few hours later I was heading back to my room, and was walking across the quad, in front of the student center, and I ran into a group of students from one of the Fraternities.
They invited me to hang out with them, so I figured why not!?
They also invited me to dinner with them. Which I did go to.
At this time I was not yet an Episcopalian, so didn’t think to look into the Episcopal Campus presence.
Eventually my friends arrived on campus and I began to plug into other activities.
But I did eventually join that fraternity and I made some very close lifelong friends.
Fast forward a few years, after I was graduated I was living in Columbia, Missouri.
I was invited to a wedding of one of my fraternity brothers.
And it was back in Springfield, and in this Episcopal church right off campus.
I had driven by it many times, in my years at SMS, but I never thought to stop in.
And I’ll be honest, the liturgy grabbed me.
I was captivated by the vestments, the language, the inclusiveness.
For once in my life I really really wanted to take communion.
I was not yet baptized yet either so I did not go up, but I went away thinking, I really want to do that.
I was living in Columbia, Missouri at the time, and I did what most people did when I returned.
I picked up the yellow pages. (There was no internet then kids!).
I found, Calvary Episcopal Church.
I called for service times, and attended the next Sunday service.
This would have probably been around the end of July, of 1988.
I attended for a few weeks, and then called up one of the Associate Rectors at the time.
And asked to meet with him. We started some baptism classes.
And in the meantime, I started to plug into the Canterbury Club there for the University of Missouri and Stephens College that met at Calvary.
I met some great friends.
Mike Kinman, Robin Kinman, and Heidi and Mike Clark to name a few.
A few weeks later August 31st, at the start of classes at Mizzou, I was baptized.
My sponsor? Was the entire Episcopal Campus Ministry group.
What amazed me is the community aspect of my baptism.
Everyone was participating and joyful at my becoming a member of the church.
And I was all so happy to be able to have communion and to share it with that group. It was a very memorable event for me.
Forming communities became important to me.
When I moved to Omaha, a year later, I sought out a few Episcopal churches, and eventually settled on St. Andrew’s.
And as we were close to the University of Nebraska Omaha,
and had a few students attending I approached our rector and asked, about starting a college, young adult group.
His response. “sounds good what are you going to do about it?”
A bit of Trivia: how many of you have seen the Jack Nicholson movie “About Schmidt”?
The priest who counsels Nicholson’s Character “Warren Schmidt” was my old rector Bob Kem.
But that’s a bit of a tangent.
What I didn’t know was at that time was that looking to create communities for students and young adults, became a pattern for me.
When I moved to Chicago in 1992, I sought out a church close to me and eventually got involved in the Vocare movement, which is a young adult, version of Happening or Cursillo.
The common denominator here was a sense of knowing where people were loneliest and stepping in to build community.
I did not seem to realize it but I had to be drawing on my own experience my first time away in college.
And how lonely I was those first two days.
A community sprang up and got me, and that made all the difference for me.
You see as someone who was always identified as “one of the twins”.
Having another identity to be a part of something else helped me, in my life.
And once I was involved in a faith community, something else happened.
You see I believe that the natural response we have to our baptism is to go out and to seek to serve in the world.
We look for where Christ calls us to work, to bring the good news to the world.
To build communities where all can receive a new identity and a new life, as a part of the body of Jesus, here and now.
The natural response of our baptism is to go and do diaconal work.
The Association of Episcopal Deacons has published a pamphlet entitled. Engaging the Diakonia of All Believers: and it in part says:
All Christians are called through the baptismal covenant to live out diakonia through what they do and how they live their daily life in the world.
This is the first and most fundamental expression of diakonia.
Organized expressions of diakonia occur at the congregational level, as well as through those who are set apart as ordained deacons.
Deacons are to model and lead, by inspiring, empowering, and engaging every baptized person in living out the diakonia of all believers in everyday life.
Deacons do not – cannot – “do” diakonia on behalf of the baptized, but they help to lead all people, including the ordained, into the servant ministry of all believers which is the essence of our baptismal covenant.
Too often we bring persons into our church through baptism, or confirmation and then we don’t do anything with them.
Our response should be. We have opportunities, HERE and HERE, and HERE!
To proclaim God’s presence in the world .
Through our words and through our actions. Now I’m not talking about some Pelagian heresy of salvation through works, but that by the belief that we are known as Christians by the fruit we bear.
And that is to care for the least.
When I was living in Chicago, I took an extension course of Education for Ministry from the Episcopal Seminary in Sewanee, and the last of the 4 year course of study we looked at Calls to ministry and our gifts.
And looking at what spoke and formed me in my life began to coalesce a call to the Diaconate.
And in reading from the prayerbook the rite for the ordination of a deacon, I found that during the examination, the part about deacons being called: “to serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely”
And it hit me. “THE LONELY” that’s what I had been doing all those years.
Trying to find for myself a way to fit and and trying to offer to a place where the church can intersect with the lonely in our communities, especially the young adult and the students , all where I lived, especially in Columbia, Omaha, and Chicago.
Now this is just my story. And it is a story of how I was called to the diaconate.
But not all callings are to the ordained ministry.
I sit on the Commission on Ministry and we tell seekers all the time, that the question we are answering is not “are you called to ministry”, because that answer is YES.
Everyone is called to some kind of ministry, we have to figure out what.
Many are called to specialized lay ministries.
Myrna Wacker is called to the altar guild,
Our choir members are called to give the gift of their voices of praise in voice and music.
Brother Franklin is called to a devotional life in monastic community. Some are called quietly to pray for others.
Some called to teach Sunday school.
Some to visit the sick and to take them the eucharist.
Some are called to tend to the gardens and flower beds around the cathedral. Some are called to acolyte,
some called to volunteer at Saturday Breakfast,
or to assist at the bridge on the Sunday that we serve lunch there.
Some feel called to explore the possibility of creating a Magdalene (Thistle farms) model outreach here in St. Louis.
All of us are called.
And all glorify god and exercise our baptismal covenant when we do these things.
When we do these things we are witnessing to the saving power of Christ.
Society looks at us and says “who are they? And why do they do these great things?”
The answer is we are compelled to.
If we truly take serious our baptismal vows, and if we truly believe the Gospel teachings we HAVE to.
There is opportunity all around us.
To live out your lives as Christians.
You just have to hold your breath and take that first step.
Step out of your comfort space and do it!
Because you know in trying you cannot fail!
Think about that! What could you accomplish if you knew you couldn’t fail!?
Or if you knew that you wouldn’t be ridiculed or thought less of for trying.
If you knew that in your trying you made Jesus smile?
That is our calling.
To be together in community, as the body of Christ, to tend to the least in our midst.
That’s what being a Christian is all about.
And how exciting is it to be doing it here in this space and this time?!?
I invite you to look back, see how God has been preparing you.
How has god been calling you to service?
What gift of yours does the church need?
Does the community need?
And how can we as a community help you discern and to accomplish this?
To help you live into and fulfill your baptismal vows?
That is why the church community exists, to equip and teach us how to live into God’s expectations.
How will you answer your call?
Reflections on Minstry: Birthday Parties at the Juvenile Detention Center
Cindy, one of our newest friends at Christ Church Cathedral, shares this experience of helping out with one of the Cathedral's many ministries ... birthday parties at the juvenile detention center with Episcopal City Mission.
On Jan 6, I attended the birthday party at the juvenile center, and I just wanted to communicate how much I enjoyed my experience. I am new to St Louis, and I heard of the program at a Sunday service. It caught my ear. I came from a family in which birthday's were recognized and it was a day of feeling very special. I thought of the bday kids in the center who were feeling very low. Maybe some came from a strong home, but I really doubt it. I figured that most were not feeling very special.
My boyfriend and I arrived at the center and was warmly greeted by Dannie. He even stood outside waiting for people to arrive. What a pleasant group of people that had gathered. Dannie stated that he had been doing this program for 10 yrs. He certainly will be rewarded for his effort.
We were told that in the City of St Louis center that we really were not allowed to mingle, sit, and talk with the kids. As we met the kids, the kids and adults just stared at one another. The kid's clothes were color coded. The oldest in red, seems a bit aloof. The younger kids in blue giggled and seemed excited. As the kids shared their treat basket, you could see more smiles and everyone relaxing. I was actually shocked to see how most kids were quiet and attentive to their Bingo Cards. With delight, they would shout out "Bingo", and sport big smiles came when they selected their prize.....and even multiple quiet thanks were whispered to me as they reached into the gift basket. A sad thing that I witnessed; a kid shouted Bingo and seemed very excited. It turns out that he didn't really have one and got no prize. He quit playing thereafter. I am sure that that is how he handles most failures in his life. Other kids had the same let down, and yet, tried again. There were only 3 girls, and one had a birthday. After she shyly listened to us sing "Happy Birthday", she received a big bag of goodies, and squealed at something that she saw inside. In that moment, I knew that she must have felt special.
As we left, we all walked out together to our cars. I felt safe the entire night. I slept well that night, remembering the smiles and joyful energy, and knew that we had done something good that night.
Sincerely, Cindy
If you're interested in find out more or getting involved in our birthday parties at the juvenile detention center, contact Dannie Franklin at dannie.franklin (at) att.net.
If you're interested in learning more about Episcopal City Mission, the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri's ministry with youth in detention, go to www.ecitymission.org.
On Jan 6, I attended the birthday party at the juvenile center, and I just wanted to communicate how much I enjoyed my experience. I am new to St Louis, and I heard of the program at a Sunday service. It caught my ear. I came from a family in which birthday's were recognized and it was a day of feeling very special. I thought of the bday kids in the center who were feeling very low. Maybe some came from a strong home, but I really doubt it. I figured that most were not feeling very special.
My boyfriend and I arrived at the center and was warmly greeted by Dannie. He even stood outside waiting for people to arrive. What a pleasant group of people that had gathered. Dannie stated that he had been doing this program for 10 yrs. He certainly will be rewarded for his effort.
We were told that in the City of St Louis center that we really were not allowed to mingle, sit, and talk with the kids. As we met the kids, the kids and adults just stared at one another. The kid's clothes were color coded. The oldest in red, seems a bit aloof. The younger kids in blue giggled and seemed excited. As the kids shared their treat basket, you could see more smiles and everyone relaxing. I was actually shocked to see how most kids were quiet and attentive to their Bingo Cards. With delight, they would shout out "Bingo", and sport big smiles came when they selected their prize.....and even multiple quiet thanks were whispered to me as they reached into the gift basket. A sad thing that I witnessed; a kid shouted Bingo and seemed very excited. It turns out that he didn't really have one and got no prize. He quit playing thereafter. I am sure that that is how he handles most failures in his life. Other kids had the same let down, and yet, tried again. There were only 3 girls, and one had a birthday. After she shyly listened to us sing "Happy Birthday", she received a big bag of goodies, and squealed at something that she saw inside. In that moment, I knew that she must have felt special.
As we left, we all walked out together to our cars. I felt safe the entire night. I slept well that night, remembering the smiles and joyful energy, and knew that we had done something good that night.
Sincerely, Cindy
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
"Taking the Fear out of Evangelism" -- a sermon on the Baptism of Our Lord.
Preached by the Rev. John Good at Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday, January 8, 2012
Yet I still think we Episcopalians are more frightened by evangelism than arrogant about it. If you are anything like me, you are scared that someone will ask you to do the one on one, arm twisting persuasion that is the stereotype of evangelizing tactics. Most of us have encountered that stereotype in pushy people who ask us if we have been "saved." My late wife's quick answer to such people was, "Yes, 2000 years ago." But that usually did not satisfy them. They were not really interested in whether she had been saved. They were interested in whether she had been saved the "right way," which, of course, was the emotional way they had been saved. We Episcopalians are not so arrogant that we think we know the right way to be saved. Indeed, many of us have questions about what it means to be saved. So we aren't very motivated to persuade others to do it our way.
You will be glad to hear that most experts on evangelism do not endorse the pushy approach, not because it scares church members like you and me, but because it doesn't work very well. Less than two per cent of present church goers say they began to go to church because someone persuaded them that going to church was a good idea if they wanted to get saved. That isn't even as good as the aquarium by the seashore. Four per cent of current church members were first attracted to the church by the beauty of its buildings. Evangelist crusades, like Billy Graham’s, account for another four per cent. Six per cent come to church membership through satellite programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Day Care Centers that use church buildings.
That leaves something like 84% of all other church goers. Researchers tell us they started attending because they were invited by a member of the church. Many of them were probably invited the way I was. My parents "invited" me to attend Presbyterian Sunday School when I was about 5 years old. Nonetheless, being invited by a friend who goes to church is the way almost all adult non-church goers become adult church goers. That fact may explain why the Episcopal Church has not grown for more than five decades, and in fact, has lost a million members during that time. You see, it is estimated that the typical Episcopalian invites a friend to church about once every thirty years. It'll take a while to make up that million member loss if we keep up that blistering pace.
On the other hand, our fear of evangelism should be calmed if we know that the only thing we need to do to contribute to evangelism is invite our friends to church. To make our role even less anxious, we don't need to invite all our friends; just those whom we think might find in the church peace to allay anxiety, strength to bear adversity, a place to act on their idealism, or a way to find meaning for their life, claim their identity, and affirm their worth. When we invite friends to church we turn the evangelizing process over to the congregation. It's worship, teaching, and fellowship present Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit in such ways that the guests we invite are often led to believe in him as Savior and follow him as Lord within the context of the church. In the Episcopal Church you don't have to believe before you can belong. From the early days of the church the Celtic Christians, led by St. Patrick, taught us that belonging leads to belief. So today we welcome all seekers to belong to the church without requiring them to believe what the church teaches, knowing that in time many of them will come to trust their lives to the God revealed by Jesus and proclaimed by the Church.
If evangelism starts with belonging to a congregation, the congregation needs to be a place that welcomes new folks and makes them feel comfortable within its fellowship. Our congregation needs to practice an extravagant hospitality to newcomers and visitors, believing that anybody who joins us for worship in this place has come seeking the love of God in one way or another. The only way they can tangibly feel God’s love is from the way the members greet them and care for them. So we do have another role in evangelism. Each of us is called to extend the hospitality of God to all newcomers and visitors to this church. That means greeting them warmly during the passing of the peace and after the service concludes. We need to make an effort to engage in conversation with anybody we don't know or see here regularly, beginning with the words, "I don't believe I have met you. I'm John (or Joanne, or Alice, or Ted, or Chuck or whatever your name is)." We can let the conversation proceed naturally from there, but we need to remember that our purpose in talking with these folks is to let them see the love of God in action.
You may have been wondering why I have devoted this sermon to a prosaic lecture on evangelism instead of trying to inspire you with a message based on the scriptures for today. Full disclosure: I am a member of the GPS team—the "Getting People Started" team—that the Chapter established to help make our congregation better at evangelism. My purpose today was to teach how each of us, individually, can help Christ Church Cathedral fulfill its calling as an evangelizing fellowship. As for the scripture, today's gospel tells how a split in the heavens, a descending dove, and a reassuring voice revealed to Jesus who he really was. That is what we call an "epiphany"—an unmistakable revelation of God. God wants this Cathedral and all congregations of the church to be epiphanies to the world, revealing God’s love for all people. Taking our part in the evangelizing process is one of the ways we help our congregation make that epiphany.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
"Our Holy Names" -- A sermon for the Feast of the Holy Name
“After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”
Some good news to start this New Year.
At about 11:30 Wednesday night, December 28, after a long pregnancy and labor, Anne and Perry Trolard’s child was born. A nine-pound boy.
When I got the news, I asked Anne “does he have a name?” And she said, “Not yet. We want to get to know him a little bit.”
Now some people might call that new parents being nervous and indecisive. But I think that shows an appreciation for what names are. Names are our parents’ dreams for us. They honor friends and ancestors. Parents choose names as they dream of what good of the past their new child will embody and what new things they hope this new child will become.
That was certainly true for Robin and me. First of all, let me tell you it is no easy task choosing a name when one of the choosers is an elementary school teacher. I can’t tell you how many names were taken off the table because of an association with a child in some past class. But choose we did. For our first child, after spending some time considering Jack, after my dad’s brother who was killed in World War II, we settled on Schroedter … my mother’s maiden name. For our second child, we chose Hayden planning on calling him Hays, in honor of one of the most dear and honorable people we knew, our former Bishop Hays Rockwell.
And of course each of them have taken those names and have shaped them, becoming their own person. And maybe someday someone will look over their new child, and dream of who he might be, and think of them.
So Anne and Perry took their time, got to know their son, and thought about what their dreams were for him.
Of all the ways each of us is different from the other, one thing we have in common is that, sometime after our birth, someone gave each of us a name that was a hope and a dream for us.
Just for a moment, find one person next to you and share what you know of the story of your name. Where does it come from? What does it mean? And if you don’t know either, share what it means to you. You might have to triple up in some cases but make sure nobody is sitting by themselves.
People take 2-3 minutes and share stories of names.
Names are powerful. Names are who we are and dreams of what we will become.
Today is the Feast of the Holy Name. Where eight days after his birth, Mary and Joseph took their child to have him circumcised … to mark that he was not an outsider but part of the family of faith. And something else happened … he was given a name. A name that represented the best of his ancestors. A name that was the hope and dream of who he would become. A name that was given not just by Mary and Joseph but by an angel who knew this child was indeed God incarnate.
"After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus.”
Jesus – the name given by the angel, God’s own messenger.
Jesus – also translated Yeshua or Joshua – the great ancestor who finally led the people out of the wilderness and into the promised land.
Jesus – which literally means “God is salvation”
Even though there are many different reasons why we come here this morning another thing we all have in common is when we come here, we are gathering as people of many names and many dreams in the name of one person. We are gathering in the name of Jesus.
And so, for just a few minutes, let’s look at what that means.
We gather in the name of Jesus. We gather in the name of the one whose name and whose life proclaims, “God is salvation.”
Every waking moment, we are so aware of what we dearly wish we could be saved from: Fear. Rejection. Loss. Loneliness. Hunger. Doubt. Uncertainty. Anger. Addiction. Debt. The list goes on and on and on. And every waking moment, we are sold a bill of goods that promises to save us but never truly delivers.
Mostly, we are sold the lie that spending and consuming can save us. The lie that there is no itch that cannot be scratched by just buying one more thing. But it is a lie. Because no matter how much we buy or consume, there is still a hole left at the end of the day. Even though whatever anesthetic we choose might dull the pain for a while, the fear, rejection, loss, doubt, uncertainty … all of it is still there.
And so we gather in Jesus name. We gather in the name of the one whose very name proclaims something different. Proclaims that God is salvation.
God is salvation. What saves us? The truth that there is a God who knows our truest name. A God who knows our best dreams and sees us as deeply beautiful. What saves us? The truth that there is a God whose knowledge of us is so deep and whose love for us is so boundless that there is no need for fear, no rejection that can matter, no loss that can ever be permanent.
Are you afraid? God is salvation.
Are you lonely? God is salvation.
Are you hungry? Are you angry or sad or imprisoned by addiction?
God is salvation.
It’s an amazing truth. But like most amazing truths, what wells up in us when we here it is the question of Mary at the annunciation: “But how can that be?”
Well, it can be because when we gather in the name of Jesus, we take on the name of Jesus. When we gather in the name of the one whose name proclaims that God is salvation, we become the bearers of that salvation – to each other and to the world.
When we gather in Jesus name, together we become Jesus, we become the Body of Christ. We become ambassadors and agents of salvation. And how do we do that? How does God do that through us? The same way the original Jesus did. One person at a time. By learning each other’s names. By loving and saving the world one life, one name at a time.
Did you ever notice that Jesus never healed huge groups of people. Every healing story in the Gospels is intensely personal. Jesus meets each person, gets to know them, learns their name – even the demons -- and loves them with a depth of love that cannot help but save them. And as the Body of Christ gathered in Jesus’ name, that is our gift as well.
It starts by doing what we just did this morning. It starts with sharing and learning a name. It starts with turning to the person next to us and saying, “This is who I am. Tell me who you are.”
Gathering in Jesus’ name is not about building huge programs that give a little bit of help to faceless, nameless crowds. Who we are and what we are about … gathering in Jesus’ name … is intensely personal. It is meeting one another – in here and out there -- meeting one another and getting to know one another and loving each other in ways specifically tailored to each person with a depth of love that cannot help but save us from whatever pain we need saving from.
It means sharing our dreams and sharing our wounds with one another. It means not only risking loving but risking letting ourselves be loved. It means not just talking to and spending time with the people we know and like but reaching out to the stranger and letting them reach out to us. It means sharing and learning a name. Finding a stranger and saying, “This is who I am. Tell me who you are.” And discovering together that God is using each for the other in the mystical and wondrous dance of love and salvation.
Anne and Perry did settle on a name for their son. Lorne Lucas Trolard. I’ll leave it to them to tell you why they chose it and what this name means. But mostly, I’ll leave it to all of us to, as Lorne grows, get to know him better and let him get to know us. To say to him “Lorne, this is who I am, show me who you are.” To look for ways we can let God love him through us and let God love us through him.
To proclaim together that God is salvation and to be that salvation for one another. To live with him as fellow members of the Body of Christ, the gathering of the Holy Name of Jesus. AMEN.
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