The Saints of Summer: William Porcher DuBose

One of the things I love about the Episcopal calendar is running across names of saints who are, albeit, a bit obscure in our own time but who are much worthy of our consideration. Today is the feast day of William Porcher (pronounced "Por-shay") DuBose, born in 1836 in South Carolina, died in 1918.

He ought to be a household name in every Episcopal parish of Charlottesville.

As near as I can tell, DuBose is the only saint on our calendar who is a graduate of the University of Virginia, having matriculated in 1859. He went on to the Episcopal priesthood, and founded the School of Theology at Sewanee, Tennesee, where he served as Dean until 1908.

He taught moral theology, was a prolific writer and mined the best theological trends of his era from the Anglo-Catholic Oxford movement to the Evangelicals. "We need the truth of every variant opinion and the light from every opposite point of view," he once said, voicing an ethic out-of-favor in some quarters of our church.

We owe him much for his creativity, theological gravitas, and the work that continues at Sewanee (including Education for Ministry which came long after his time but is very much in keeping with the foundation he set at Sewanee).

Back from Sewanee: Education for Ministry

Lori and I are safely back in Charlottesville after our trek to-and-fro Sewanee, Tennessee. We were there for a three-day training as "mentors" in the Education for Ministry program, which has a long and hallowed history at St. Paul's. We hope to start a new EfM group in the Fall on Monday evenings.

Although, truth be told, I dreaded the trip because the drive is nine hours each way, not counting breaks, I always come away invigorated by EfM training. Lori and I were in different training groups (I hope you will ask her about her group). My group was led by Mary Ann Bryant, from Chicago, who is one of the most experienced and skilled trainers in the EfM system. I also reestablished friendships with the staff that directs the program.

My training group included mentors from Tennessee, Alabama and Chicago. We did nearly every theological reflection in the EfM book, and we learned a great deal from each other and Mary Ann about group life, theological reflection and how we are called to be ministers honoring each other for the gifts God has given us.

I came away invigorated and inspired by EfM and its possibilities, and hoping a few folks at St. Paul's will join us on the EfM journey this fall. It is a big commitment, but as anyone can tell you who has been through EfM, the experience can be life changing.

We will host a meeting at 7 pm on Monday Aug 3 at St. Paul's to talk about EfM with anyone who is interested. We also have a terrific short DVD to show you that will explain more. Come join us!

If you are reading this blog far from Charlottesville, please check out EfM at an Episcopal church near you, or go to the EfM website by clicking HERE.

The top photo, by the way, I took looking west from the Sewanee mountaintop off to the west across the Great Plains at sunset. The other is from the center of campus and the old chapel.

On the mountain: Sewanee

SEWANEE, Tennessee -- We've made it through our first full day of "mentor" training for Education for Ministry (please see yesterday's blog entry for explanation of EfM). 

There are three groups training at once, and Lori and I are in different groups. The training begins early in the morning and ends at 9 pm. One more day to go after today, though we should get done after lunch Saturday and then we will head back to Charlottesville.

For those who have not been here before, the University of the South (Sewanee) sits on a mountain top in a lovely village. The university was built in the 19th century to look like Oxford and Cambridge, and the professors and honors students still wear black academic gowns to class. (Bishop Shannon Johnston graduate).

Sewanee is also an Episcopal seminary, and the staff of EfM is in a small building behind the School of Theology. It is worth seeing if you can make the trek.

Heading to Sewanee, poetry awaits

We are headed to the Episcopal seminary at Sewanee, Tennessee, for a few days to take a class (more on that tomorrow), and we will be back Saturday. The photo at right is from inside the chapel at Sewanee, I took it a few years back when I was there for a seminar.

We are much looking forward to a wonderful drive through places we've never seen, and NOT being in an airport. Tonight we will stay in Knoxville, and we are going to visit our friend Karen, her husband Jim, and we are especially excited to meet their Baby J, who came into this world only a few short months ago.

Those of you familiar with this blog know that Karen contributes most of the poetry here, for which I am endlessly grateful and eternally inspired. So that reminds me, we've had an awful much of church politics here lately and nowhere enough of poetry. So here, dear ones, is a recent offering from Karen...

Fire 

By Judy Brown

What makes a fire burn
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
Too much of a good thing,
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water would.
So building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood.

When we are able to build
open spaces
in the same way
we have learned
to pile on the logs,
then we can come to see how
it is fuel, and absence of the fuel
together, that make fire possible.

We only need to lay a log
lightly from time to time.
A fire
grows
simply because the space is there,
with openings
in which the flame
that knows just how it wants to burn
can find its way.