Respectful debate on gay ordinations underway

There is a very respectful debate going on as I write this on the floor of the House of Deputies over whether to repeal B033, the resolution approved three years ago that mandated a moratorium on any further ordinations of bishops who are openly gay. 

Thirty deputies were chosen by lot to speak today, and I've listened as we've been packing for our Shrine Mont weekend. Everyone appears to be listening in silence; no applause. 

In talking on the phone a few minutes ago with Paul Brockman, who is there as an alternate, he said it is less a debate and more "statements of opinion."

Those speaking are speaking slowly and respectfully. Some have pointed out that homosexuality is not accepted by most of the Christian world and thus our actions tear at the fabric of the body of Christ. Others have pointed out that we need to be serious when we say "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You." You will be able to read a full account later at Episcopal Life on-line by clicking HERE.

We are headed to Shrine Mont for our parish retreat weekend, and much looking forward to connecting with people. There will be plenty of time next week to catch up on General Convention, so this may be the last entry until Sunday. The vote will be taken possibly tomorrow or next week. Whatever the House does must also be approved by the House of Bishops for there to be any change. And the weekend tends to be light at General Convention (you can expect that Disneyland will be brimming with Episcopalians tomorrow). 

Until we are back on line, blessings to all...

Jim & Lori

New saints headed for the Episcopal calendar?

This gets little noticed in the midst of the noise over the Big Issues at General Convention: Who will be included on the calendar of saints on the Episcopal calendar? 

Our method of saint-i-fying is much less elaborate than in other traditions (no canonization or miracles required). Rather it is up to General Convention each three years to add names to the book called "Lesser Feasts and Fasts." 

The honorees this year include naturalist John Muir, composer Henry Purcell and Frances Perkins, the Labor Secretary in the New Deal. You can read more about this by clicking HERE.

Earlier this week the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music Committee considered these additions. But here is the rub: 100 names were proposed, and the committee seems to be headed toward including all of them in a book for "trial use" over the next three years. To say that it will be unwieldy is an understatement, and to have 100 new saints on the calendar all at once seems to me to make each one "lesser" not greater.

When I was a alternate deputy to the 1996 General Convention in Philadelphia, it was my privilege to vote to include Absalom Jones, who started the first integrated Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. We made a real big deal of it at convention. It would be great if General Convention could make a big deal for, say, John Muir and Frances Perkins and maybe leave it at that. 

General Convention: They get busy

I've been a bit busy today, so I haven't paid much attention to General Convention. But I did hear from friends who are on the floor at convention, and I had a great phone conversation with Paul Brockman, who is a member of St. Paul's and an alternate deputy from Virginia. Paul has been everywhere, testifying at various committees on various issues, and he was headed off to one of the big hearings of the week that was considering proposals to allow priests to bless same-sex unions.

Another of my friends told me the major highlight for her today was Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' homily this morning at the daily Eucharist (the photo is from the Eucharist this morning). Bishop Rowan began with a thank you to the Episcopal Church for inviting him, listening to him, and especially for hanging in there with the Anglican Communion in the stormy debates over sexuality and other issues.

"Thank you too for your continuing willingness to engage with the wider life of our Communion," he said. "I do realise that this engagement has been and still is costly for different people in different ways: some feel impatient, some feel compromised, some feel harassed or undervalued, or that their good faith has been ungraciously received. I'm sorry; this has been hard and will not get much easier, I suspect. But it is something for which many of us genuinely are grateful to you and to God."

This evening I watched a webstream of the floor session, and it had its lighter moments, as when a deputy rose with a "point of personal confusion." The vote counting machines didn't work, but most deputies seemed to be rolling with the glitches. The floor session ended with deputies talking to each other one-on-one in small discussions about how they've been affected by the moratorium on ordaining new bishops who are openly gay. Deputies needed to be open to each other enough to share in this conversation, and that brings me round to Bishop Rowan's homily this morning:

This is what we are here for as a Church. Our life as church declares to the world that God's longing is for a humanity like this, a humanity broken open for intimacy. Broken open: because there is a cost in the creation of the humanity that God longs for. At the very beginning of all things, and at the very beginning of the story of God's people, the word of God speaks into a dark emptiness and brings life and light. 

By sheer divine freedom, God brings light, makes a humanity where there was no humanity, a community where there was no community. And God makes us able to receive his mercy where once we could not even understand that we needed it. In a word, we have been called from nothingness; but this means that we still stand over that abyss of emptiness – an inner void that only the Word of God can hold and fill and make to be something that is real and living. Sin is our constant temptation to slip back into nothingness, into unreality – the void of our own individual desires and agendas, the void of a self that deludes itself into the belief that it is really there on its own, independent of God and of others.

So when God in Jesus Christ restores humanity to its proper place in God's heart, Jesus has to face full-on the strange power of nothingness, the power of the terrors and dreams that are generated out of the self in its urgent attempts to keep itself alive by its own strength. Jesus dies because we don't want to die – to die to our fantasies and self-centred plans and dreams. To follow him is to risk stepping into life by recognising that something in us must die – so that everlasting and true life may live.

General Convention: Welcome baskets, hugs and hope

The first full day of General Convention is now past, and judging by my email and the Episcopal News Service reports, it was a crush of activity. The top of the news was dominated by a committee hearing on proposals for developing same-sex marriage rites, and the testimony was impassioned on both sides of the issue. No vote was taken. You can read about the hearing the reaction by clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams held a private 30 minute meeting with advocates for the inclusion of gays and lesbians, but by agreement, no one was talking about what happened in the meeting. The Archbishop later appeared on a panel discussion on the global economic crisis and his comments were quite thoughtful.

"We have suddenly discovered we have been lying to ourselves," he said. "For the last decade or more there has been a steady erosion of trust in our financial life. Our word has not been our bond. We have learned to tolerate high levels of evasion and anti-relational practices. We have lied to ourselves about the possibility of profit without risk."

You can read more about his remarks by clicking HERE.

With all that, what struck me the most were the reports of infectious hospitality amongst those at convention. There was a panel discussion by representatives of four dioceses that are rebuilding after voting to leave the Episcopal Church: Pittsburg, Quincy, San Joaquin and Fort Worth. The representatives of the rebuilding dioceses  reported finding welcome baskets in their rooms, placed by another diocese, and hugs in the hallways. Everyone I heard from told me of warm greetings and wonderful reunions.

And Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the openly gay bishop whose ordination as a bishop has caused such worldwide controversy, had this to report last night, and I leave you this because it gives me hope:

It's hard for me to move from one place to another because of being stopped by countless numbers of people who want to say hello, tell me they have been praying for me, and to wish me well. More humbling still are the many people (surprisingly many, and usually young people) who want to tell me that my election is the reason they're in The Episcopal Church, or more usually, why they've returned to the Church, after year of being disillusioned with the institutional church. Wonderful, but exhausting too. Many seem so very grateful for the witness of New Hampshire to the wider Church. It is often easy to forget what our life and ministry and witness mean to the greater Body of Christ -- and it is a humbling expression of support for all of us in New Hampshire.

Who is the guy in the green jacket?

General Convention watchers are wondering: Who was the guy in the loud green jacket and bow tie who introduced Bishop Katharine and Bonnie Anderson yesterday? He is none other than The Rev. Dr. Gregory S. Straub, executive officer and secretary of General Convention. Here is his job description:

The Executive Officer is appointed by the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies. As Executive Officer he/she oversees all aspects of the work of Church governance, from site selection through supervision and funding of the work mandated by the convention. The Executive Officer may also be elected to serve as the Secretary of the House of Deputies and, if elected by both houses of General Convention, Secretary of the General Convention.

Presiding Bishop: The mission is local

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori addressed the General Convention this afternoon and she touched on many themes around "the crisis" in the church and in the world, particularly the economic crisis which she laid at the feet of human sin. 

"The crisis is about focusing on the most important and most essential things first," she said. 

There is something else she mentioned that won't get the headlines but is worth underlining here, and perhaps somewhat in juxtaposition to what I wrote this morning about our church being more than local.

She reminded us that, in the end, our mission is on our own street, in our own community. Our mission is local, and the church is our parish.

"The church as a whole should not be doing mission work that can be done better at the local level," she said. "Some mission is more appropriate and effective at the parish and diocesan level. This church as a whole, for example, shouldn't be running Camp East of Eden for kids from all over the church." But, she suggested, we could "share our best practices."

Although she didn't say it exactly, there is a certain seduction in these large national church gatherings (having been to them myself) that Bishop Katharine seemed to be cautioning the General Convention to be wary of being pulled into. The General Convention is not the church but is a governing body. Yet the church is greater than the sum of the parts; somehow we need to keep the whole in our sight. "The temptation is to see our small part of God's mission, the one each of us holds most dear as the reason for this church's existence," and then "get selfish."

She also issued a reminder that as hard as we work on building and preserving our church, "the structures of the church are for God's mission but not God's mission itself."

And a footnote to the first day's session: It was closed by a prayer out of the Book of Common Prayer read from an iPhone at the podium. The world turns.

Steaming to General Convention: More than merely local

The 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, the once every three years gathering, gets underway this morning in Anaheim with the first committee hearings scheduled to begin at 7 am Pacific Daylight Time. 

There is not much yet to report; mostly what I've been hearing is about the travels to Anaheim. Some drove, many flew and a few, like my friend Bishop Greg Rickel of Seattle, took the train. Bishop Greg put this on his blog late last night, and it bears worth repeating because he bears witness to why General Convention is more than about mere legislating:

I learned for the first time that, other than the government of India, our General Convention is the largest parliamentary body in the world. That, in and of itself, is not necessarily something to be proud of, but it does seem to point to the desire for vast representation, and a willingness, or at least a wish, to hear others, to be the wider Church, in one place, even if only every three years. Lambeth, the gathering of bishops from around the Anglican Communion held last summer, is another such event and chance at that, held every ten years, and I must say that experience did shape me, that brief moment in time; being the wider Church in one place. In such situations one cannot hold so readily to the provincial notions that are so easily held when we are merely local.

I will post here from time-to-time about General Convention as developments dictate, and from time-to-time we may veer off the convention path and blog on other things -- maybe a poem or two. 

Lori and I will be at Shrine Mont this weekend with about 150 of you, and we are so looking forward to being there and spending time getting to know our wonderful parish and its people more deeply.

The Episcopal Church General Convention convenes this week

Beginning tomorrow (Tuesday), the Episcopal Church will convene the 76th General Convention, the once-every-three years gathering that legislates policy for our denomination and a great deal more. 

An estimated 10,000 people, including dignitaries like Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will descend upon the Anaheim Convention Center (near Disneyland) in Southern California. The convention will last two weeks, and will spark a great deal of information, misinformation, commentary and news reports.

I will blog daily on the events of General Convention, doing my best to keep abreast of developments from a host of sources. Various delegations (called "deputations") will be blogging, along with bishops and various interest groups. I will monitor all this so you don't have to. That said, you probably should bookmark a special website set up by the Diocese of Virginia deputation for their daily reports and insights. You can find it by clicking the site called: CENTER AISLE.

Lori and I will be at Shrine Mont this coming weekend for our annual parish retreat, and then we will head to Anaheim for the closing days of the convention. We will blog from there once we arrive.

Before all this gets rolling, here are a few basic facts you need to know:

* There are 110 dioceses represented at General Convention, including 16 dioceses from outside the United States that are associated with The Episcopal Church. 

* The General Convention is our highest legislative body, and it is structured as a bicameral legislature. The House of Bishops (functioning like the Senate) has 200 bishops. The House of Deputies (as the name implies, like the House of Representatives) has approximately 1,500 voting lay and clergy deputies and alternates. The deputies are elected at diocese conventions (or "council" as it is called in Virginia), usually two years before each General Convention. 

* Most of the work is done in legislative committees, and General Convention sometimes seems to have more committees than the Congress. Much of the legislation will be reported to the floor of convention in the second week (when we are there), which usually makes the second week more exciting than the first.

* Voting in the House of Bishops is straightforward: One vote per bishop, majority rules.

* Voting in the House of Deputies is harder to follow. Each diocese has eight deputies: four clergy and four lay. The diocese deputation casts a single vote for or against each piece of legislation. For a deputation to cast an affirmative vote, three of the four clergy and three of four lay deputies must vote "yes." In other words, it takes at least six of the eight to cast an affirmative vote for that diocese to vote "yes," making it easier to defeat a bill than pass it. 

* Most deputations bring a few alternates so that each diocese is fully represented at all times while deputies take a break off the legislative floor. Paul Brockman from St. Paul's is an alternate representing Virginia and will no doubt have voting time on the floor. 

ISSUES

At least three related issues will dominate the news reports, and you can also bet other news stories will come as well. The three headline issues involve our church's approach to the inclusion of gays and lesbians, and our relationship with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The House of Deputies will be holding an unusual "Hearing of the Whole" on July 9-10 to consider rescinding "B033," which is the title given to a resolution approved in 2006 that declared a moratorium on ordaining any new bishops who are non-celibate gays (this in response to the reaction against New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson). 

That resolution has sparked a great deal of lobbying to retain or repeal it. After the hearing of the entire house, the Committee on World Missions will make a recommendation to the House.

There are also several resolutions asking the church to develop ceremonies for gay marriages or same-sex blessings. Such resolutions in the past have been generally viewed more favorably in the House of Deputies but defeated in the House of Bishops. Readers of this blog from Northern California should note that Bishop Barry Beisner introduced a resolution advocating same-sex blessings recommended by his diocesan convention in 2007.

Also watch for reaction to a private meeting Archbishop Rowan will hold with eight leading advocates for the inclusion of gays and lesbians. Those slated to be in the meeting include Integrity founder Louie Crew of New Jersey and my friend Michael Barlowe of San Francisco. That the archbishop even agreed to the meeting has already sparked a great deal of screed by those who are attempting to form an rival Anglican province in the United States.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Rowan has asked the convention to study and comment on a proposed Anglican Covenant between each of the 38 national provinces of the Anglican Communion. The General Convention is not being asked to vote on it, which is probably a blessing because it will allow the conversation to come with less pressure. Watch for buzz words like "the Ridley Cambridge Draft" -- it all has to do with the proposed covenant.

Those are the hot topics, but there will be much more going on. Watch for resolutions not as newsworthy but which will have a far reaching impact on how we fulfill our mission in our communities and in the world. Look for resolutions on economics, global warming and foreign missions.

And, as always, those at convention will worship together each morning and in various other gatherings. The convention hall will be filled with exhibits, and we will bring you photos and observations of all of it and the spectacle once we arrive. Stay tuned to this space throughout the week. 

Cartoon by Paul Walker; "Unbuntu" emblem of General Convention by Paul Fromberg.

Back in Charlottesville

We are back in Charlottesville, traveling all day on the Fourth. We were delayed getting out of Dulles, but the benefit was seeing seeing fireworks displays across the countryside from our commuter plane as it puttered its way down to Charlottesville.

Thanks to all of our family and friends in California. Your love and hospitality was amazing, both in moments of great joy and in sadness at the farewell to a young friend on Friday evening. And we are happy to be back in Charlottesville with all of our friends here.

We hope you enjoyed some pie on the Fourth!

Blessings,

Jim & Lori

Pie art by Sacramento artist Wayne Thiebaud

Celebrating our independence and religious freedom

You may not know this: Independence Day - the Fourth of July - is an official feast day on the Episcopal calendar, right up there with the feast day for Peter and Paul and all the saints.

The reason Independence Day is a church day isn't that the founders of our nation were necessarily saintly, but because the Episcopal Church was born in the American Revolution and the fight for independence from Great Britain.

Many of our nation's founders, particularly the Virginians, were members of the established colonial church which so happened to be the Church of England. Once free from Britain, they still wanted to retain what later became known as an "Anglican" form of worship. Thus was born the Episcopal Church. There is much more to the story than this, but that is enough for now.

There is another element to this worth noting in our contemporary world so torn by religious conflict. The founders of the United States believed that all things ultimately come from God, and their religious values were at the heart of their individual moral perspective. They certainly believed that those values informed how they would govern a young nation, and those values permeated the document we celebrate this weekend, the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Yet the founders were repelled by the idea of a theocracy, a religiously based government. They had experienced such a government. The British monarch was also the head of the Church of England, and it had been only a century since Britain had endured a calamitous civil war between factions of Protestantism. The founders of the United States wanted no government with any official religion.

These values of religious freedom went even deeper than that. God was at the center of founders' moral life, but they understood that people see and hear God differently - or not at all. Even amongst the Virginia Episcopalians -- Thomas Jefferson and George Washington chief among them -- their understanding of God differed dramatically (and those divisions remain today).

The founders envisioned democracy as the way people could live (sometimes in great tension) in a society made up of peoples from many lands, many traditions and many religions, or no religion. The United States would not be a "Christian nation" but a nation that could allow people to find God each in their own way without being coerced by the powers of government. Jefferson's 1786 Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom stated the reasons clearly:

"Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness..."

Over two centuries, this free market of religion has allowed Christianity and every major religion to flourish like in no other nation on earth precisely because none was the official religion. One only look at England to see the outcome of a church being supported by the state: The Church of England, some say, will all but disappear by 2050.

More ominously, we also only need look at contemporary theocracies, Iran chief among them, to see the dangers of a nation governed by religious institutions. Our independence as a free people was hard won, and that independence was from not just a colonial power, but from theocratic government. We do well to celebrate our religious freedom this Independence Day:

Summer connections in the West

We are winding up our time with family and friends in California, our first extended stay since arriving in Charlottesville in August 2008 (we've made some quick trips for funerals and graduations).

On Tuesday we saw my mother, Jean, again, and had a very pleasant visit. It is sunny and hot in Northern California. Here's a photo taken by her caregiver, Carla.

And to many of you, thanks for asking about her and keeping her in your prayers. She is doing much better than she was six months ago, and we are very pleased about that.

This past weekend, we took in a baseball game at our AAA League Sacramento River Cats, and friend scored us great tickets at field level behind home plate. Here's a photo of us at the game -- unfortunately, the Cats (the Oakland A's farm team) lost to the Colorado Sky Sox (the farm team for Chicago White Sox).

And, a little walking around Berkeley always pays off with wonders. Here's Lori outside a store that sells soap on 4th Street; and the gardens of Berkeley are exploding in color right now -- my hometown is truly one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

Finally, here's a photo from the Sacramento Farmer's Market showing a vendor selling giant cucumbers from the planet Mars.

See you soon, love to all,

Jim & Lori

Photos from the Community Garden celebration

Alas, we missed the Community Garden celebration last week, but we sent sunny weather from the West! Thanks to Martien Halvorson-Taylor for a terrific slide show (see below) of the celebration. By the way, if you want to do an hour or two of work at the garden, it is all for a good cause -- producing food for the poorest among us. The garden is located on 10 1/2 Street just south of Grady.

And if you have photos of other St. Paul's events, PLEASE send them to me and I will post on this blog. To see the photos from the garden celebration, just click HERE.

Remembering my father's birthday

Today is my dad's birthday; he would have been 86 today. David Richardson died five years ago. My dad loved the sea and loved sailing. He had skippered various small ships in World War II, and after the war he captained a sea-going tugboat between San Francisco and Pearl Harbor.

Even after he left the Navy and went into the business world, he kept his love of the sea all his life. When I was young, he and I spent countless hours sailing on San Francisco Bay.

In later years he brushed up on his seamanship, took an exam and got a Coast Guard license so he could hire out skippering yachts for those who owned them but did not know what to do with them on the water. Mostly he worked the Pacific coast, but he and I once piloted a large yacht down the Hudson River, past Manhattan, and out to its summer mooring in Connecticut Sound (he the skipper, I the crew).

The photo at right of my father was taken by a U.S. Navy photographer in 1944 while he was on a patrol searching for downed American fliers along the coast of New Guinea (sadly, none were found). The sailing photo below is from the day we took my father's ashes out to San Francisco Bay and scattered them at the Golden Gate. Our friend Karen sent this poem a few years ago, and I always think of my dad when I read it.

To Alexander Graham

by W. S. Graham

Lying asleep walking
Last night I met my father
Who seemed pleased to see me.
He wanted to speak. I saw
His mouth saying something
But the dream had no sound.

We were surrounded by
Laid-up paddle steamers
In The Old Quay in Greenock .
I smelt the tar and the ropes.

It seemed that I was standing
Beside the big iron cannon
The tugs used to tie up to
When I was a boy. I turned
To see Dad standing just
Across the causeway under
That one lamp they keep on.

He recognised me immediately.
I could see that. He was
The handsome, same age
With his good brows as when
He would take me on Sundays
Saying we’ll go for a walk.

Dad, what am I doing here?
What is it I am doing now?
Are you proud of me?
Going away, I knew
You wanted to tell me something.

You stopped and almost turned back
To say something. My father,
I try to be the best
In you you give me always.

Lying asleep turning
Round in the quay-lit dark
It was my father standing
As real as life. I smelt
The quay’s tar and the ropes.

I think he wanted to speak.
But the dream had no sound.
I think I must have loved him.

The Monday Funnies will be taking a break for a few weeks during General Convention.

The Senate... one more time tonight!

Well, my prayer on Friday in the California Senate didn't take. They are still stuck in the mud with the biggest budget mess for any state in national history. I got a call last night asking me to come back tonight to open a rare Sunday evening floor session with a prayer (Senate Chaplain Rabbi Mona Alfi has wisely fled on her vacation). So back I go tonight. This better work. I am not phoning these in from Virginia. Here is a sneak preview of tonight's prayer, for the California Senate:

Holy and gracious God, we give thanks for the people of this state who have put their trust in this government and in the leaders in this chamber. Give to our lawmakers the strength to bear the burdens before them; instill within them the courage to make difficult choices; fill them with patience to work together especially when it is seems impossible; and grant them the heart to make decisions that are just and right for all those who dwell in this blessed land. AMEN

Baby John

We are still taking some time off, visiting family and friends. I want to share this photo with you from last weekend's wedding rehearsal. You may have noticed the photo on the left of the baby being baptized (that's my arm sprinkling the water).

Well, baby John is a little larger now. Here he is, on the right. He is the nephew of Susan, our bride last Saturday (and Susan took the baptism photo a year ago used on this blog). Here is a photo I took of John at the wedding rehearsal dinner. His grandfather's arm is on the left (the father of the bride).

Blessings and love to all,

Jim & Lori

Back in the Senate

You may have heard that California is struggling to fill a $24 billion hole in a $101 billion budget (were it fully funded). This is a seriously awful mess.

Meanwhile, we've been hanging around Sacramento the last few days seeing friends including folks who work in the Legislature.

So when word got around we were here, I was invited Friday morning to the state Senate, where I served as the Chaplain for four years, to offer the morning prayer. It was great seeing many old friends, and being back up on the dais. Lori took the photo. Here's the prayer I offered for Friday:

Holy and gracious God, be with our governor and lawmakers as they confront the issues that perplex them; give to them clarity in vision, creativity in thought, and openness to listening. Give to all of these leaders here gathered patience and forebearance with each other, and the courage to act not in their own self-interest, but for the good of all your people in our state and nation--Amen.

What do you want The Episcopal Church to look like?

The Episcopal Church is taking a survey amongst the rank-and-file about our vision for the future. What should the church look like in ten years? Should we focus on evangelism and diversity? Social justice? What should our priorities be as a denomination? The national church has an eight-question survey for you. Take it by clicking HERE. The deadline for completing the survey is July 28. You can read more about the survey at Episcopal Life on-line by clicking HERE.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados, sand dabs and other delights of summer

We took lunch to my mother today after first grazing the Berkeley Bowl, an independent grocery which must have the largest produce section in the western world.

We picked out choice avocados, lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, fava beans and mushrooms. Then we moved onto the fish counter and selected a few sand dabs, a Pacific Coast family favorite for generations.

We then drove to my mother's house and Lori prepared an amazing meal. My job was to cut the tomatoes and debone the 'dabs. And thanks to one and all for asking about my mom -- she is doing much better these days and walking much better.

Technically speaking, we were at the new Berkeley Bowl. The old one is still around, a feast for the senses in its own right. The new one, further west of Ashby, is big, clean and has a produce section at least as big as the old Berkeley Bowl. We are truly blessed to have so much fresh food and the farmers who grow it here in California.

Here are a few photos I took at the Berkeley Bowl. And if this is making you hungry, check out Lori's food blog by clicking: Lori K's Cafe.

Cheers!

Focusing on the mission, looking around corners

Over the years I have heard a few people say that the church should be “run like a business.” By that they sometimes mean the church should spend as little money as possible.

It is true we should not be wasting money. However, the most efficient way to run the church would be to close it. We don’t produce anything. Closing the place would be cheaper than paying for salaries and upkeep on the building.

That probably won't work real well.

Yet there is another way to look at how the church should be run like a business.

On Monday evening, I saw an interview of Ivan Seidenberg, the CEO of Verizon, the cellular telephone and communications giant, on the Charlie Rose show. Seidenberg made two points about business with broad implications for any organization including churches.

First, he said, successful businesses stay true to their core mission. The people in the organization know exactly what they do, and they do it with excellence.

Second, Seidenberg said, leaders “look around the corners.” They figure out what is ahead and get there first.

The challenge, Seidenberg said, is being lulled into complacency by concepts that work well now but which will not work well when the world changes. And since the world is constantly changing, leaders must always be looking around the corners to see what is ahead and be ready to get there. It isn’t easy and leaders don’t always get it right.

Let me reflect on his points as they relate to the church.

First, we need to know who we are and what our mission is: We are the people of God and our mission is to proclaim by word and deed the reality of the Resurrection. Our tools are many: liturgy and music, education for all ages, pastoral care, and reaching into the community with justice and compassion, to name only a few.

But the tools are not the mission. The tools change and adapt to changing circumstances while the mission never changes. You might say our mission can be summed up as “Giving Hope.” We must be creative in finding new tools even as the mission never changes.

To keep our mission steady in our gaze, it helps to have a succinct and clear mission statement (though most church mission statements I’ve seen usually say more about the tools than the mission). We ought to be able to measure what we do with the yard stick of our mission statement. Here’s St. Paul’s mission statement, and when you read it, ask yourself whether specific things that we do fits the mission:

The Mission of St. Paul’s Memorial Church is to celebrate and
bear witness to God’s love in our community, the University of
Virginia, the region, and the world beyond us. By our worship,
our teaching, and our outreach we seek to make known God in
Christ, equipping our members for service in the world.

Keep in mind the mission statement is not the mission; it is only another tool to focus on the mission. We should not be overly focused on creating the perfect mission statement. We should be focused on the mission itself. If we do not keep our focus on our mission we have no reason to exist as an institution. In other words, maintenance of the institution is not the purpose; the mission is the purpose.

And that brings me to Seidenberg’s second point:

To be truly faithful to the mission requires looking around corners to see what is ahead. For us it means we cannot be content to do things the way we’ve always done them. Ministry must adapt before we round the corners.  

What worked 40 years ago – or even 10 years ago – may not work now. For example, the clergy cannot assume that providing Sunday worship and weekday pastoral care is all they need do even though that worked before. The clergy must be in the classroom and in the community, and exploring new ways to deepen and expand our core ministry. 

Meanwhile, laity’s role in ministry is expanding at every level. One recent example: our university students launched a highly successful Taize worship service on Tuesday evenings which will be back in the Fall. Another example: We have a dedicated group of hospital visitors who provide pastoral care beyond what the clergy can do. Each of those tools is working well now, but we must be ready to adapt each of these tools as circumstances change. The laity and clergy together need to find new ways to work as team in providing ministry at every level.

I would be remiss in not mentioning one other corner we need to look around: communications. At St. Paul’s, we have joined the internet revolution with websites, blogs and electronic newsletters. But there is much more that we can be doing if we are to reach new people and continue to be faithful to our core mission. I will say more on that in another post.

Taking time away: A wonderful wedding and the wonders of Pt. Reyes

We are in Northern California reconnecting with our dearest ones. On Saturday I had the pleasure of presiding at the wedding of Susan, who we've known since she was quite tiny. Susan and her two sisters are as near to being daughters as we will ever have, so this wedding was truly "in the family."

Our joy was ten-fold -- a thousand-fold -- because we nearly lost Susan 18 months ago from a medical condition she did not know she had. The UCLA Medical Center doctor who saved her life and his wife came to the wedding, and everyone shook his hand Saturday and more than a few tears were shed. Miracles do happen.

The wedding was held in a wonderful little chapel at Nicasio, a tiny town near Pt. Reyes (and the wedding party and guests occupied nearly every inn around Pt Reyes this weekend).

For those unfamiliar with the geography, Pt. Reyes is a triangular chunk of land that sticks straight out into the Pacific Ocean north of the Golden Gate. The distinctive landscape is shaped by the San Andreas fault slicing it off from the mainland.

It is said that in 1579 Sir Francis Drake beached the Golden Hind at what is now called "Drake's Bay" because the ship's seams were splitting open from the weight of Spanish gold. That would also mean the first Anglican worship service in North America was held in California at Pt. Reyes.

Pt. Reyes is now part of the Golden Gate National Seashore, making it part of the National Park system.

The terrain unbelievably spectacular, and the weather is windy and harsh. Sandstone

cliffs resembling Dover can be seen far from shore, and from vistas near Chimney Rock on the point jutting out to sea.

Sea lions long ago set up shop in a rookery below the steepest rockiest cliffs near the point, and we could see a few in the water this weekend (and hear their barks from the cliffs above).

During the whale migration season in April or so, the California Grays can be spotted from the lighthouse as they round Pt. Reyes on their migration to warmer waters off Mexico. Terrific hiking trails abound at Pt. Reyes, and we've dayhiked and backpacked most of them over the years.

Here are a few photos from the wedding and around Pt. Reyes I took this weekend.

The Monday Funnies

Thanks to artist Dave Walker, here, at last, is a tour of a typical clergy office. Any resemblance to the living or dead is merely a coincidence. Welcome to the Monday Funnies...

Bishop Johnston meets at St. Paul's

A few days ago, Bishop Shannon Johnston visited St. Paul's and met with members of our Gay-Straight Concerns group. Bishop Shannon listened as each person told something of their own story. The bishop then discussed various developments in the Anglican Communion and some of the issues that are facing General Convention this summer. 

We are very grateful that Bishop Shannon spent time at St. Paul's and with this important group in the life of our parish. We look forward to having him back on a Sunday later this year or early next year. 

I am especially grateful to those who came to the meeting, for their faithful sharing and listening, and for their courage and their commitment in standing up for the equality of all people. I pray we will continue to witness to the Grace and love God intends for all of us.

And thanks to Gwynn Crichton for the photo.

Fiat Lux: One year later

I launched this blog one year ago today. I had never blogged before, but somehow managed to maneuver through the labyrinth of blogspot.com to get this out in the ethernet. 

My first blog entry was brief, and I wrote this: "I will post here from time to time items I find of interest, either in the church world or in the world at large, and I invite your conversation. Yes, this is no substitute for talking over a glass of your favorite beverage, so consider this to be a conversation starter."

That first post generated six comments.

Since then, there have been 367 posts in this space, including this one. In October, I added a counter, and since then there have been more than 20,000 views of this blog from all over the world and from every continent except Antarctica. Many of you have left comments (for those wondering how, click on "Comment" below each post). Many more of you have sent private emails or mentioned something in conversation about something you saw on the blog.

For me, I've enjoyed this immensely. My journalistic bones get their exercise by writing this blog daily, and I suspect I get more out of this than you do. I am especially appreciative of those who have sent me poems, essays and jokes for inclusion in Fiat Lux. Forgive me if I haven't used everything. There are days when a poem from Karen or joke from Bill or Pat have kept this blog up-and-running. Many mornings I have no idea what to put here until after I've read the papers and my email, and had a cup of coffee.

You may not have noticed: there is a related blog to this one where all of the poems on this blog are compiled in an easily accessible listing. You can reach that blog by clicking HERE or by clicking on the hand-and-pen icon on the left side of the screen.

I've tried to keep things simple; usually only one entry per day. On the left side of your screen are various links for causes and organizations that I support, and a blogroll of various blogs that I enjoy, not all of them church-related. This week I also added a link to the St. Paul's Memorial Church site on Facebook. From time-to-time there will be other additions, tweaks and improvements, and please send me your suggestions for others.

Some have asked about the name of the blog -- Fiat Lux -- which is Latin for "Let there be Light." The phrase comes from my personal mission statement, borrowed from the Song of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79), quoted to the left at the top. And those with blue-and-gold toenails have also noted that Fiat Lux happens to be the motto of a certain large public university from which all Richardsons have graduated.

Thank you so much for following this blog, for your prayers and support and all of your comments. And, again, as I wrote at the outset, "this is no substitute for talking over a glass of your favorite beverage, so consider this to be a conversation starter."

Photo of Nepal sunrise, credit to REI.

Standing in the rain

It rains a lot in Charlottesville, and lately it seems like every day. The woods are now thick with foliage, and from our front porch the line of trees now blocks the view of the Ragged Mountains a few miles beyond. Here's a poem for a warm rainy day from our friend Karen in Tennessee (another place where it rains a lot):

What’s Left

by Kerrie Hardie

I used to wait for the flowers,
my pleasure reposed on them.
Now I like plants before they get to the blossom.
Leafy ones – foxgloves, comfrey, delphiniums –
fleshy tiers of strong leaves pushing up
into air grown daily lighter and more sheened
with bright dust like the eyeshadow
that tall young woman in the bookshop wears,
its shimmer and crumble on her white lids.

The washing sways on the line, the sparrows pull
at the heaps of drying weeds that I’ve left around.
Perhaps this is middle age. Untidy, unfinished,
knowing there’ll never be time now to finish,
liking the plants – their strong lives –
not caring about flowers, sitting in weeds
to write things down, look at things,
watching the sway of shirts on the line,
the cloth filtering light.

I know more or less
how to live through my life now.
But I want to know how to live what’s left
with my eyes open and my hands open;
I want to stand at the door in the rain
listening, sniffing, gaping.
Fearful and joyous,
like an idiot before God.

Come help at the community garden

Our community garden at 10 1/2 and Grady is sprouting! Please come join the crew tomorrow (Thursday) at 5:15 pm for an hour or two of weeding, staking and tending to the garden. 

All of the food will be donated to the community, and this is a great opportunity to meet other members of St. Paul's and some of our neighbors.

Next Wednesday June 24, the garden organizers are planning a celebration at 4:30 pm. Plans for the celebration: food, musical instruments, games, possibly creating an art project inside the circle, and to have some poems be visually up in the garden by that time as well as scriptural or poetry by anyone  who would like to read.