Windsor Listening Process: Report to the Parish

Several months ago, Bishop Peter Lee invited St. Paul's to participate in a pilot project to explore a method of "listening" on the deeply divisive issues of sexuality. I was asked to invite four people to engage in a conversation with four people from St. John the Baptist Church in Ivy. Their conversations would be moderated by a trained facilitator.  

The four individuals from St. Paul's whom I invited to participate were Peter Dennison, Simeon Fitch, Margaret Mohrmann and Mildred Robinson. The wider context for this was the Windsor Report of the Anglican Communion a few years ago recommending that the Communion as a whole engage in a listening process, though no specific process was suggested.

The group began meeting in Lent and their conversations were strictly confidential. The dialogue was not designed to bring consensus on sexuality issues, but allow viewpoints to be heard with respect. The facilitator has written a confidential report to Bishop Lee, who is most interested in knowing whether their method could have a wider application and what adjustments might need to be made. The method itself can be found by clicking HERE.

I am very grateful to Peter, Simeon, Margaret and Mildred for devoting considerable time, energy and commitment to this process, and especially for their courage engaging in a dialogue that required them to be vulnerable with each other and a group from a very different congregation than our own. The four have correctly concluded that to respect the process they cannot answer questions about it.  Instead, our group has prepared a report to the parish. The report will be posted on the St. Paul's website, and I am posting it in full here:

Windsor Dialogue Listening Group

St. Paul’s Memorial Church

Report to the Parish

May 5, 2009

Group Members: Peter Dennison, Simeon Fitch, Margaret Mohrmann, Mildred Robinson


The “Windsor Dialogue Listening Process” is part of a 2008 report from the “R-5 Commission” (appointed by Bishop Lee in 2007). The full report, including the details of the Listening Process format, is available on the Diocese of Virginia website at: HERE.

As part of the pilot program for the Listening Process, twelve parishes throughout the diocese were paired; St. Paul’s was matched with St. John the Baptist, Ivy. Our rector, the Rev. Jim Richardson, and St. John’s vicar, the Rev. Kathleen Sturges, each named four parishioners to the Listening Group. The Group met six times in two-hour sessions from March 8 to May 3, using the Windsor Dialogue Commission designated format, under the guidance of a diocese-trained facilitator.

At the initial session we agreed to “ground rules” for the group that included boundaries, confidentiality, and a commitment to listen carefully and make “I statements.” It is important to note that the stated objective of the Listening Process is neither persuasion nor argumentation, but open and honest communication with the goal of mutual understanding. The process is about listening and sharing, not debate; understanding without requiring agreement. In our experience, the sharing was indeed honest and open, at times intense, and all participants consistently manifested respect and quietly focused attention. As a result, the process was more a series of monologues—with such responses as there were mostly signaling understanding, empathy, and appreciation—than it was a conversational dialogue. Nevertheless, we believe the objective of mutual understanding was indeed accomplished.

According to the R-5 Commission report, the overarching goal of the Listening Process is “discernment of a possible ‘emerging consensus’ with regard to the permitting of ‘local option’ for the blessing of same-gender unions” in the diocese. In no session, however, was this topic among those provided in the format; in none of our meetings was it a subject of discussion. Likewise, there was no provision in any session for direct discussion of scriptural passages variously said to forbid, permit, or support committed same-gender partnerships, nor did that discussion happen. It became clear instead that the Listening Process itself is not directly about those questions, but about all that we each bring to the table when we consider (or debate) the full sacramental inclusion of those among us who are gay or lesbian, not only in baptism and Eucharist, but in matrimony, ordination, and consecration.

Each two-hour session followed a similar format: After an opening prayer, participants responded to an opening statement or question (an “ice breaker” so called, although in most sessions it was considerably more substantive—and difficult—than “ice breakers” generally are). We then spent the majority of the two hours in the “sharing time” segment, in which we responded to specific topics or questions in some depth, with the facilitator ensuring the “ground rules” were followed. The session concluded with a reflective Bible study, in which we read the designated passage through three times, with silence between the readings, and then spoke of connections we saw between the text and what we had been talking about during the session.

In the initial session, we explored what could be called our “spiritual autobiographies,” telling each other our background in and current relation to our faith and to the church; the Bible passage that ended that session was Luke 19.1-7, in which Jesus invites himself to the house of Zaccheus the tax collector. We took this discussion further in the second session, which focused on our experience in our own parish in some detail, including what draws us and keeps us there and whether and why we might consider leaving. For this session, our Bible study centered on Psalm 84, “How lovely is thy dwelling place.” After an hour’s break for supper (scheduling was definitely one of our biggest problems; this was a two-session marathon day), we continued with the third session, in which the focus broadened beyond church to our memories, from childhood on, of experiences in which we felt particularly included or excluded. The biblical text for that evening was Acts 10.1-20, the story in which Peter dreams that God challenges and corrects him about definitions of “clean” and “unclean,” after which he is then called upon to baptize the non-Jewish Cornelius and his family.

The fourth session was the crux of the process, and certainly the most difficult time of “sharing.” The subject was sexuality but, in keeping with the tenor of the process, it was not what we think about sexuality and its possible expressions, but rather our own experience of coming to awareness about sexuality and how our understanding has changed over time. This session is the only one of the six in which we were asked to speak directly about sexuality; the subject certainly arose in other sessions, but only because we knew it was the subtext of the entire process. The concluding Bible study was reflection on Genesis 1.26-31, the first of the two stories about the creation of human beings—the story of male and female created as two facets of androgynous humanity, not the later Genesis 2 story in which woman is fashioned from man’s rib to be a helper to him.

At our fifth meeting, we first talked about what had stayed with us from the previous session, and about whether and how what we heard had affected our views of the current controversy in the church. We then spoke of our hopes for the future of the church, what we think it should look like, and finished with reflection on Matthew 15. 29-37, the feeding of the 4000—in which, as was noted by the group, Jesus creates abundance and Jesus’ disciples are charged with distributing it. The final session was largely evaluative; we spoke of what we had experienced and learned over the previous sessions, and in doing so crafted the report our facilitator would forward to the Bishop. The concluding Bible study was of Acts 2.1-13, the story of Pentecost, when the observers responded to the power of the Holy Spirit in a variety of ways, including bafflement, curiosity, and derision.

The report generated in that session, we learned late in the process, is for the Bishop only and is not to be shared with our own parishes. Together with reports from the other five groups, all of which have now completed their meetings, our responses comprise the results of this pilot study. We have no information, and little basis on which to speculate, about what will now happen in this process or what the Bishop or the R-5 Commission expected or hoped for from it.

When asked, in the final session, what we had learned from the process, our answers were all over the board. In many ways, it was truthful to say we had learned nothing that showed a clear path forward. On the other hand, we learned a great deal about ourselves and about each other. We learned the sweetness of true, heartfelt communication, when trust is present and honesty valued. We saw how a sense of community is born out of that trust, openness, and safety. We learned both how different “Episcopalians” are, and how alike. We learned that, no matter where we stand on issues or what our experiences have been, talking about sex in “I statements” is far from simple; it is both difficult and complex. The complexity of what we all bring to our discussions about sexuality and the church is a very good thing to have learned, casting doubt on simplistic and reductive polarizations, the usual fodder of debates on questions of scriptural interpretation and definitions of justice.

The Listening Process did not, and perhaps is not really designed to, engender or uncover consensus on the issues about sexuality currently troubling the church. However, it seems to us to have rich potential for fostering respect, trust, and love among the members of our diverse diocese, even when we are not of one mind on matters of sexuality. Through this groundwork comes the hope for us at St. Paul’s for a progressive future where all of God’s children are affirmed in their right to the full sacramental blessings of the Church. It is clear that the Holy Spirit is at work in our diocese—we surely covered sacred ground in our courageous sharing and heart-felt listening—yet the work at hand is just beginning. As a group we appreciate the trust and support St. Paul’s gave us as we experienced this process; we now ask you to pray that the Bishop continues this process and to support the work required to make whole our part in the Body of Christ.

25,000 Pennies from Heaven

This very generous offer comes from our friends and fellow members of St. Paul's, Charles and Joy Perry, and I highly commend it to you:

25,000 Pennies from Heaven

We Social Security recipients have been notified that later this month each of us will receive an extra check for $250 as a gift from the Economic Recovery Act.

Some of us need this money for expenses of living. For others, Joy and I included, this gratuity represents 25,000 Pennies from Heaven. Each of us intends to pass the $250 on to St. Paul's as a gift over and above our annual pledge.

We make this intention public in the hope that a number of our fellow pensioners may wish to join us. You might note on your check to St. Paul's "Pennies from Heaven."

Charles and Joy Perry

Tentative ruling in San Joaquin

The Fresno County Superior Court has indicated it is ready to rule in favor of The Episcopal Church in its property dispute with the breakaway congregations of the Diocese of San Joaquin which have aligned with the Diocese of the Southern Cone (Argentina) and taken church property with them. This is a big step along a difficult path, although we can expect more legal wrangling beyond this. Whether this will have an impact on other cases, it is too soon to tell.

It is my hope and prayer that the congregations who broke with The Episcopal Church will now find a way back, that all involved will find a way to reconciliation, and that those who still wish to leave will amicably settle these property disputes as brothers and sisters in Christ so that mission of the Gospel will be advanced.

Here are the pertinent paragraphs from the trial court in Fresno:

The documents are clear. Only the "Bishop" of the Diocese of San Joaquin has the right to the incumbency of the corporation originally entitled "The Protestant Episcopal Bishop of San Joaquin, a Corporation Sole" and given the number C0066488 by the Secretary of State. Moreover, the Episcopal Church has spoken as to who holds the position of Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin — Reverend Lamb. Defendants challenge Lamb's election as Bishop on procedural grounds such as notice and quorum, but this court has no power to rule on the validity of the Episcopal Church's election of its Bishops.

Both the United States Supreme Court and California courts have held that in the case of hierarchical religious entities the civil courts must accept as binding and defer to decisions by religious tribunals with respect to religious doctrine, practice, faith, ecclesiastical rule, discipline, custom, law, membership, polity, clergy credentials and discipline, as well as religious entity governance and administration....

Accordingly since the Episcopal Church has seen fit to recognize Lamb as the new Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin, we must do so as well.

Faiths Act Together: The Story of a Bednet

Today please spend the next 4 minutes and 45 seconds looking at the video below: The Story of a Bednet. You might be able to save lives.

The Episcopal Church is committed to the Millennium Development Goals of shrinking world poverty by 2015. That may sound utopian, but it is not if you consider that a major culprit in world poverty is malaria. More than 1 million people die every year from malaria, and it is preventable. For a few dollars, we can distribute mosquito nets in Africa and Asia, the hardest hit regions of the world. To learn more about what we can do, click HERE, and please have a look at this video: 

Our Youth Group sharing prayers from many traditions

This past fall, our teenage youth group embarked upon an incredible spiritual adventure: they set out to visit a different congregation each month. Associate Rector Janet Legro, our youth leader, called it "Church on the Road." 

The youth visited not just congregations from different brands of Christianity, but congregations from other faiths as well. Our young people came away with a deepened appreciation of how human beings find and worship God in many languages, cultures and customs. This spring our youth group completed their visits, but by no means finished their spiritual journey.

This past Sunday, our youth group led our worship, and we were treated to a series of "Prayers of the People" that borrowed from the congregations our youth group visited. Here below are those prayers, and a few photos of the youth leading our service Sunday. Blessings to all.

Prayers of the People by St. Paul’s Youth

The prayers of the people this morning come from those prayers we experienced when we visited other religious communities in Charlottesville and a Lakota prayer from the communities we will visit in June.

Lotus Prayer from the community at Yogaville 

O Lord, the Light of Lights, Kindly lead us to that Light of Wisdom and enlighten our hearts. Help us experience that Light within and without. Help us see the same Light, the same Spirit dwelling everywhere in everything. 

Lord, in your mercy, hear our Prayer.

Help us recognize the central unity. Help us realize we are Your image, Your children, no matter what the differences are. Let us behold Your Spirit running through all. Give us the strength and courage and capacity to experience that Peace and Joy and share that experience with everyone.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our Prayer.

Help us to get away from these selfish temptations with which we are creating all the differences, all the fights, and all the wars. We have suffered enough due to our ignorance. Please guide us to know our brothers and sisters and to know we are all parts of your family.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our Prayer.

Buddhist Prayer from Tashi Choeling Buddhist Center

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness;
May all be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow;
May all live in equanimity, without too much attachment and too much aversion,
And live believing in the equality of all that lives.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our Prayer.

Muslim Prayer: by Aminah Sharif Goling

In the name of God, the Beneficent and the Merciful, We pray to You peace. Peace that comes from within our hearts, which is authentic. Peace that radiates through out the whole of humanity that brings harmony. Peace that is rooted in understanding one another and sustained through times. Peace that recognizes not only the similarities but also the differences between and among people. Peace, in your Name.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our Prayer.

Christian Prayer from Mother Teresa

Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our brothers and sisters throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give peace and joy.

Lord in your mercy, hear our Prayer.

Lakota Prayer from Black Elk, Oglala Lakota

Great Spirit, you are everywhere. You hear whatever is in our minds and hearts, and it is not necessary to speak to you in a loud voice. You lived first and are older than the prayers that are sent to you. All things belong to you. Thus we now send up a voice on behalf of everything you have made.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

Monday Funnies

Last evening, Lori and I went to choir party. We had a wonderful time with the members of our very hardworking and dedicated choir. They are a very creative bunch, and a few had some suggestions for updating some hymns to attract the less committed. Here's the list:

1. A Comfy Mattress Is Our God
2. Joyful, Joyful, We Kinda Like Thee
3. Above Average is Thy Faithfulness
4. Lord, Keep Us Loosely Connected to Your Word
5. All Hail the Influence of Jesus’ Name
6. My Hope is Built on Nothing Much
7. Amazing Grace, How Interesting the Sound
8. My Faith Looks Around for Thee
9. Be Thou My Hobby
10. O God, Our Enabler in Ages Past
11. Blest Be the Tie That Doesn’t Cramp My Style
12. Oh, for a Couple of Tongues to Sing
13. He’s Quite a Bit to Me
14. Oh, How I Like Jesus
15. I Lay My Inappropriate Behaviors on Jesus
16. Pillow of Ages, Fluffed for Me
17. I Surrender Some
18. Praise God from Whom All Affirmations Flow
19. I’m Fairly Certain That My Redeemer Lives
20. Self-Esteem to the World! The Lord is Come
21. Sit Up, Sit Up for Jesus
22. Special, Special, Special
23. Spirit of the Living God, Fall Somewhere Near Me
24. Stick Nearby, It’s Getting Dark Outside
25. Take My Life and Let Me Be
26. There is Scattered Cloudiness in My Soul Today
27. There Shall be Sprinkles of Blessings
28. What an Acquaintance We Have in Jesus
29. When Peace, Like a Trickle. . .
30. When the Saints Go Sneaking In
31. Where He Leads Me, I Will Consider Following
32. God of Taste, and God of Stories
33. Lift Every Voice and Intellectualize

And thanks to Dave Walker for his cartoon with a musical theme, sort of.

Spectacular Sunday at St. Paul's

Today was awesome at St. Paul's. Our youth led the service, with prayers and songs and sermons. Later this week I will post their "Prayers of the People," which they took from the various faith traditions from congregations they've visited this year. The energy was huge and the congregation enthusiastic. Thanks to Janet Legro and all the young adults.

Then we had lunch in the parish hall and walked over to open our new Community Garden. The drizzle did not seem to dissuade many from this epic moment. A good 30-plus folks put in the first planting: lettuce and tomato starts, flowers and a few herbs. 

The lettuce starts, incidentally, were donated by Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. We hope the community garden will provide food for the neighborhood and a gathering place building community.

Here are a few photos I took today at the garden. Margaret Haupt is holding the first lettuce start before putting in the ground. Lori has a basil start in her hand. The rest of the photos are self-explanatory. Enjoy!

Come bless our Community Garden Sunday

Tomorrow will be another huge Sunday at St. Paul's. The youth of the parish will lead our worship at 10 am. After worship, I will do a Q&A in the Chapel with anyone who is interested.

Then let me invite you to the opening of our community garden. We will bless the garden at 1 pm. 

This is an amazing project. Although the official opening is Sunday, a dedicated group of parishioners and Canterbury Fellowship university students have been working hard and planning the details for weeks. Earlier this week they began preparing the soil for the Spring planting (the photos were taken Friday). 

Major thanks goes to The Rev. Neal Halvorson-Taylor for his extraordinary work in casting the vision, corralling our resources and organizing our team to make this a reality. 

The Vestry in April approved the plan and appropriated $2,000 for start-up costs, and several Vestry members have been invaluable members of the planning and planting team. We have also asked for assistance from the Diocese of Virginia, and we welcome the involvement of other Episcopal churches in the vicinity.

This is not just any garden. The location is on Grady and 10 1/2 streets, in a predominantly African American neighborhood. The property owner has invited us to build this garden as a ministry to the neighborhood and has made a five-year commitment to us to allow us to use the property as a community garden. We hope to grow food to give to the food closets in Charlottesville, and build a green place in the neighborhood where people can gather. We still haven't named the garden -- that will come, and ideas are welcome. 

Swine flu and our worship

In recent days I have received many inquiries about the H1N1 swine flu and any special measures we may take to protect ourselves in our worship services. I have monitored various health alerts, and I have consulted with the bishop's office and various colleagues in other churches about measures they are taking. Here is the best advice I can give you and your families:

1- If you or anyone in your family is feeling ill or has immune system issues, please stay home and consult your doctor.

2- If you are well, please come to church to pray for the sick and those who are anxious about becoming sick.

3- Please wash your hands frequently, and wash your hands before coming to church. Please cover your mouth if you need to cough or sneeze, and then wash your hands.

4- You do not need to shake hands during the passing of the peace. A wave of the hand or a nod is perfectly fine.

5- All of the clergy will be using hand sanitizer before distributing communion bread.

6- You do not have to receive wine from the common cup. You can always dip your bread in the cup, or cross your arms when the cup comes by and the chalice bearer will say a prayer (you don't have to shake your head).

Please keep those who are sick in your prayers, and do come to worship as you are able.
Jim+

"We have seen strange things today."

Jesus asks his inquisitors: What is tougher? Forgiving sins or healing the sick? For good measure, Jesus does both: he heals a leper and forgives his sins, though the man has not asked forgiveness. The inquisitors are baffled and all they can come up with is "We have seen strange things today." The story is in this morning's Daily Office reading (Luke 5: 12-26). The question from Jesus, of course, is meant to toss us off our heels and see the Kingdom of God in ways we do not expect. 

This story and others like it contain another element as well: Reconciliation. Forgiveness comes as a declaration by Jesus that the one who is healed is not only made whole in body, but is reconciled in spirit with the Creator. It comes without the baggage of guilt, but rather as a pronouncement of reconciliation. Healing is not complete without reconciliation. In the months ahead, I plan to explore this theme occasionally in preaching and on this blog.

There is another piece to this reconciliation business: In the Luke story, Jesus tells the healed leper to go to the priest and make an offering. Similar stories elsewhere in the gospels have Jesus telling the healed ones to go to the temple or go back to their villages. Notice that Jesus is telling these folks to go to the very people who rejected them: priests, temple authorities. Jesus looks for reconciliation with the persecutors, he sends them evidence of healing and wholeness in the hope the persecutors will repent -- turn around -- and be made whole. This concept, of course, the inspiration for the Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero and Desmond Tutu. Each confronted the oppressors not with guns, but with reconciliation. And sometimes hearts and minds do change. That is our Hope.

Blessings to all this day.

Spring and the cycle of life

Spring is in full blush in Virginia. We took a trip up to Northern Virginia yesterday afternoon to pick up my cousin Cait, who is here for a few days from Ireland. The trees along the route are gushing with new green. The colors in Virginia change daily: red or pink on the redbud trees one day, then the dogwoods burst into white the next day. Meanwhile, the green canopy on the big trees is bursting forth.

Yet with all of this new life of Spring, there is a sharp contrast with the farewells we are enduring at St. Paul's in recent days. We've had three funerals in a week, and there are two more coming in the next week. These always seem to come in clusters. Seasons are predictable. But the cycle of death and new life has no rhythm, no predictability; death and life comes when it comes, often at the same time. 

Our friend, Karen, sent a Mary Oliver poem this morning that captures this well, I think. The photo goes with the poem, and is from the Shenandoah National Park from our hike a couple of weeks ago. Here you are:

In Blackwater Woods 

by Mary Oliver

Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

Celebrations, gardens, meetings, busy-ness

I am told that things will soon slow down at St. Paul's. But it doesn't seem that way yet. There has been no let up since Lent and Easter. We had the wonderful baptisms of two Sundays ago; this Sunday we celebrate our youth, and they will be taking over most everything in the 10 am worship. The column restoration project out front is in full swing. We've also had a series of memorials and funerals, with more to come in the next few days. 

Meanwhile, our Community Garden is about to be launched this Sunday (more on that in another post on another day). Later in May we will have our first annual "Choir Celebration Sunday" and the music being planned is awesome. Bishop Shannon will be in Charlottesville at noon today, and my calendar is jammed with meetings. It is much too easy to get caught up in all the business of busy-ness and forget that Church is more than about the tasks in front of us.

During Lent, the amazing Barbara Crafton sent this little missive along that helps keep things in perspective, I think, and I pass it along it here: 

The nice thing about church is that it's not all up to you. Not all the resources can come from within you. Maybe none of them can, not today. Church isn't just you at your very, very best. Sometimes it's you at your next-to-worst, and you must rely on others within it to carry you where you cannot go on your own. You may not have it all together, but at least you are not alone in this: they are there to lean on -- the composers and the organ builders, the painters and the sculptors. Many of them are dead, and hence have more time than you do. Things probably look a lot calmer from where they sit.

Ask them for help. Life swirled around them, too -- maybe not as fast as it swirls around you, but the past was no cakewalk. They survived it long enough, and with enough energy, to leave us beautiful things, things to hear and see, things that can take us to a better place at times when we really need to go to one.

Friends and fava beans, hope and forgiveness

Waking up this morning to a beautiful Spring day in Charlottesville, I am thankful we will soon settle into our own house. Another chapter begins in our life in the East, the page turns again. I am also mindful, very much so the last few days, that my friends, my family, my dear ones, live in many places, some close by, some not too far, and some very far away. Those pages of my life are still with me.

I am blessed to have so many people surrounding Lori and myself, staying in touch with us, sending love and prayers, and staying connected with us.

Yesterday afternoon, Lori and I had a wonderful conversation at the produce section of a local grocery store with a member of St. Paul's who was delighted to hear our news of getting a house. When we got back to our apartment, I had a quick phone conversation with a neighbor in Sacramento on how to cook the fava beans we had just purchased at the local grocery. Sometimes conversations in produce departments and on the phone about fava beans are more meaningful than any sermon I could devise for the pulpit.

Last week, I said farewell to my old newspaper friend, Jerry, last week in Sacramento. It was a good day for many reasons, it was especially wonderful to reconnect with so many friends from journalism and the state Capitol ("The Building"); we took up where we left off, sometimes years ago. 

Our friend, Karen in Tennessee, sent this lovely poem this morning, and I rather like it because hits the tone just right, so I share it with you. The photos I took awhile back; one is the sunrise looking east from the mountains above Denver, taken on our trip east last summer. The other is along the Deschutes River near Bend, Oregon. Blessings to all.

In Colorado , In Oregon , upon

by Joshua Beckman

In Colorado , In Oregon , upon
each beloved fork, a birthday is celebrated.
I miss each and every one of my friends.
I believe in getting something for nothing.
Push the chair, and what I can tell you
with almost complete certainty
is that the chair won't mind.
And beyond hope,
I expect it is like this everywhere.
Music soothing people.
Change rolling under tables.
The immaculate cutoff so that we may continue.
A particular pair of trees waking up against the window.
This partnership of mind, and always now
in want of forgiveness. That forgiveness be
the domain of the individual,
like music or personal investment.
Great forward-thinking people brought us
the newspaper, and look what we have done.
It is time for forgiveness. Dear ones,
unmistakable quality will soon be upon us.
Don't wait for anything else.

Late breaking news: We have house

At last, we have a nest of our own in Charlottesville. We signed the papers today to buy a house here!

The house is just south of Charlottesville in a wooded area on a mountainside. The house has a great living room/dining room and guest suite on the main floor perfect for entertaining, and bedrooms upstairs for us. Watch for hanging plants on the porch to the right. We also want to put native plants and wildflowers in front to replace the lawn.

Out in back is a terrific playground apparatus for all the parish kids. And the house is only a 10 minute drive from St. Paul's.

Our new next door neighbor, we discovered yesterday, is a retired Presbyterian minister and the founder of Virginia Interfaith Power and Light (St. Paul's is a member, and this blog promotes the green organization to the left on this page). We are therefore going to dub our mountain "Holy Hill" (with apologies to the GTU) and the house "Glebe Cottage." 

 We are delighted! Moving commences immediately. Now if someone can find us the keys.

Monday Funnies

It is time once again for The Monday Funnies. I thought we'd give Dave Walker the day off. He'll be back next week. For today, here is an oldie but goodie. I ran this video last summer. It is time for a reprise. Enjoy!

Celebrating the University of Virginia

I arrived back in Charlottesville late Saturday evening. Today we mark the near-end of the academic year and the many contributions to our church, community and the world by our people connected to the University of Virginia. 

I am constantly amazed by the creativity, intellect, and self-less service of the people of St. Paul's, and that is in no small measure because so many of them are connected to this great university, either as faculty, staff, students or alums. Others are connected (like us) because we were drawn to Charlottesville on the strength of this "academic village." Come join us, and The Rev. David McIlhiney will be preaching.

Winging my way East

I am traveling today, flying out of San Francisco to Dulles. I should be back at St. Paul's in time for Sunday's worship services which will be focused especially on our special relationship with the University of Virginia and the end of the academic year. And I do hope everyone will take the time to show their appreciation for The Rev. David McIlhiney, who will be preaching at all our services and is retiring at the end of July. It is not too soon to contribute to a gift "purse" for David; you can make your check payable to St. Paul's, and mark the memo line "David McIlhiney gift."

As I wing my way east today, I will read the usual assortment of newspapers and magazines. Here is a thought-provoking item from Jim Wallis at Sojourners:

The Religious Right was a Christian mistake. It was a movement that sought to implement a “Christian agenda” by tying the faithful to one political option -- the right wing of the Republican Party. The politicizing of faith in such a partisan way is always a theological mistake. But the rapid decline of the Religious Right now offers us a new opportunity to re-think the role of faith in American public life.

To read Wallis' full article, click HERE. Blessings to all.

Remembering my friend and colleague Jerry Gillam

SACRAMENTO -- Today is Jerry Gillam's day. Jerry is an old, dear friend who died on Holy Saturday. Today we remembered his life.

My day began at an early morning breakfast gathering of old reporters from the state Capitol, most of them now retired. Someone brought a newspaper clipping with a photo of Jerry interviewing Jess Unruh in 1962. I would have been nine-years old at the time.

At 11 am we celebrated Jerry's life at a memorial Eucharist at Trinity Cathedral. The church was packed with reporters, columnists, legislative staffers, and politicians: Willie Brown and Bill Campbell, Bill Baker and Bev Hansen. Veteran gubernatorial press secretaries were there: Larry Thomas, Donna Lucas, Kevin Brett, Sean Walsh. And Jerry's colleagues were there from the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, San Diego Union-Tribune, Oakland Tribune, Riverside Press-Enterprise, USA Today and on and on. His family was there, and his buddies from his Alcoholics Anonymous group were there.

We remembered Jerry the way he wanted to be remembered. Here is what I preached today.

For most of my adult life, I was a newspaper reporter, and for most of that time I was a reporter in the Capitol – The Building – first with The Riverside Press-Enterprise and then with The Sacramento Bee.

Twenty-four years ago, I walked onto the floor of the state Assembly for the first time, and I was greeted by a very large man wearing a long black leather jacket, and his hair was slicked back. I figured he was probably not a security agent because he was carrying one of these, a big pencil, and besides, he was too nice of a guy.

He introduced himself as Jerry Gillam, and he showed me where I was supposed to sit, and he called me “Jimmy” right from the start. Now, mind you, only three people have ever gotten away with calling me “Jimmy”: my mother, Bill Endicott, and Jerry Gillam.

I knew of Jerry Gillam before I met him. In the early ’70s, as a UCLA student and a student of bylines, I was very aware of the Jerry Gillam, Los Angeles Times, byline long before I ever set foot in Sacramento.

So to be greeted on my first day in the Capitol by a legend was terrific. That he was a nice guy was even more amazing.

And he gave me good advice that first day, like telling me to take a wide-berth around Lou Papan, who was in one of his volcanic moods. Jerry was the Dean of the Press Corps, and he took care of us, all of us.

Jerry represented an era when journalists were dedicated to their craft, not merely a career, and were dedicated to each other, not out of collusion but out of a sense that the public would be best served if we could help each other get the story and get it right.

Jerry really was the Dean. He started in The Building when Pat Brown was governor and Jess Unruh was Speaker. To give you some perspective, Jerry arrived here before Willie Brown. Jerry was here for seven governors, nine Senate president pro tems, and 14 Assembly Speakers.

The politicians came and went but always there was Jerry Gillam.

Yet the Building never co-opted him. Jerry was a reporter’s reporter: he had a gravely voice, he asked pointed questions, usually with a smile. He’d start many questions with “Do you mean to tell me…”

Jerry took the time to learn the beat. He knew how the Building worked, who to talk to, who to avoid, who might be telling the truth, and who wouldn’t. Jerry believed in the public’s right to know, so he shared his knowledge of how things worked with the rest of us.

He had a great memory for details, but he checked the clips. The story is told by Bob Schmidt of the Long Beach Press-Telegram about how Willie Brown once flip-flopped on some issue-or-other, as politicians are wont to do. Jerry looked up the clip, and read back to Willie his earlier contradictory quote.

Willie replied: “It’s what I said last that counts.”

I hope you will share more of these stories a little later on in the hall across the way at the reception. [You can also share stories by clicking HERE.]

There is another side to the story, there always is. Great reporters are not always the easiest people to be around for those who love them because much of the time, they aren’t around. The greats are chasing the story, and there is always another story to chase. His family paid the price for that, and he’d be the first to tell you that.

Jerry was a man of large appetites: As you have heard from my friend, Rusty, he was a drinker, and he went through a time of great personal upheaval because of his drinking. He wanted you to know that fact, and he wanted you to know it because he got into AA and stayed with it. It is never too late to get your life together.

Jerry was deeply religious, and in the world of journalism, I can tell you that is not considered a virtue. He hid it well from most of you, but not from me. He had been a Roman Catholic most of his life –he was, after all, a major Notre Dame fan. But his Catholicism was more than about being Irish. He came to this Episcopal church about 7-8 years ago because his reporter’s indignation could no longer stomach the excuses for the pedophile scandal made by the Roman Catholic hierarchy. That really got him in the gut, right here.

He and I had many great conversations about God, about churches, about organized and disorganized religion, and about the mysteries of life and death.

Many of our conversations were at Zelda’s, over a pizza. The pizza was probably not a good thing but Jerry loved that, too.

Jerry suffered from diabetes, and he suffered a great deal. He had an operation to repair the circulation system in his right leg a few years ago, and the operation did not go well. He was in and out of the hospital for weeks, he lost the leg, and many of us thought we would lose him.

Jerry was not afraid of death, not at all. But he loved life, he loved June beyond imagining, and he loved all of you. He wanted every minute God would give to him. Jerry was a soldier in more ways than one, and he fought back against long odds. He left this earth a couple of weeks ago.

I have been around death many times, but I will never get used to it. Death remains a mystery to me, a mirror into which we “see dimly,” as the apostle Paul puts it. Yet I also know this to the depths of my soul: Death is not the end of the story. Death does not get the last word. Not today and not tomorrow.

Life and love gets the last word.

The biblical passages we hear today were chosen by Jerry’s family, and tell us a huge amount about Jerry’s faith in a God brimming with love and generosity. The reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is about how love is greater than faith itself. What you believe, or don’t believe, does not amount to a hill of beans compared to how you live your life in love. Doctrines and beliefs are trivial compared to living a life based on love.

Paul describes love as “patient and kind” and how “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

In the end, when our outter self finally fades away, what abides is faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.

In the passage we hear from the Gospel of John we hear more about this: Jesus tells us about a God brimming with generosity who has many dwelling places – dwelling places for everyone – for Jerry, for me, for you – for all of us.

We are surrounded today by the symbols of Easter. Jerry left us on the Eve of Easter, Holy Saturday. The large candle in front of me is called the “Paschal Candle” and was lit for the first time on Easter Eve, the night Jerry died. We are wearing the white vestments of Easter, and we are saying Easter prayers. Jerry was baptized and confirmed into the faith of Easter.

The Risen Christ of Easter opens the door – and brings Jerry out of his pain, and binds his wounds and heals him and brings him to his dwelling place. Life and love get the last word.

Still, we don’t know – we cannot yet know – what this heavenly dwelling place is like. I imagine it to be like a big dinner party, served by the best chefs in the world, and Jerry is at the banquet joined by everyone he loves. The dinner is free, tips are not accepted.

Our God, the God Jerry knows, is a loving God who breathes into us new life even when our bodies finally fail. The worst thing in life really is not death. Yes, it is OK to cry today because Jerry is gone from us and because we are the ones left in pain. But it is also right to laugh because the hurts and wounds of Jerry’s life are no more, and Jerry is healed.

Our God, the God Jerry knows, is a Creator of unlimited love, a creator who has made many dwelling places for all manner of people, no matter who they are or what they may have done.

It doesn’t matter what mistakes you have made in your life, or what you believe or don’t believe. The awesome power of God’s grace and love knows no limits, no boundaries. Not even the grave can limit the power of God’s love for each of us.

That is the deepest meaning of the Easter faith Jerry knew in this world.
Death is only a horizon. We cannot quite see over the horizon now, but those we love are really very, very near to us.

In a few moments we will celebrate Holy Communion, our great Easter meal, and those we love who are gone from us will be surrounding this table with us and with their love.

We will remember again the Last Supper of Jesus on the night before he died. Even though Jesus faced certain death – as we all do – Jesus broke bread with his disciples and shared his cup, telling them – urging them – to be thankful for the blessing of the new life that is to come for each of us.

Jerry loved this church, and he loved to come to this table, where he shared in our Communion. Today, I am convinced, he is here with us sharing at this table, and he is healed, and whole, and everything that wounded him, or brought pain and hurt, is wiped away.

It is in this sharing of our Communion, that all of us, together, can show our thanksgiving for the blessings God has given us, the blessings of those who have touched us, the blessing of the life of Jerry Gillam.

So please, let me encourage you, no matter you background, to join in making this Communion into a Great Thanksgiving for the life of Jerry Gillam. Please join us at the Table.

And then when you leave here today, know this: Jerry’s gift of life is a reminder to all of us to be the best you can be, to live every day knowing life is an awesome gift. Love your friends and love your family, don’t let a single day go by without saying so – and show it. Be slow to anger and quick to forgive. Let the little stuff go.

Life can be a wonderful adventure, and life extends beyond the horizon where we cannot yet see.

There are many roads and infinite horizons ahead for all of us, more stories to tell and more stories to write, and all of us get to do both. So have strength and courage, patience and wisdom – and may the love of God be your ever-present guide.
AMEN

Arrived safe in San Francisco

I am a bit late with the posting today. I arrived in one piece in San Francisco, after midnight eastern time, and spent the night in Berkeley with friends. Today I will visit my mother in the East Bay, and then head to Sacramento. The memorial service for Jerry Gillam is Friday at 11 am at Trinity Cathedral, 2620 Capitol Ave. To read memories of Jerry, click HERE.  Obituaries from the Los Angeles Times and Associate Press can be found there as well.

Lori told me the Earth Day dinner and youth group auction was wonderful. Thanks to all for your hard work and generosity!

Blessings to all,

Jim

Happy Earth Day

Today is Earth Day, and I hope all of us will find new ways to heal this planet, "our island home."

Tonight, as mentioned here yesterday, St. Paul's is hosting an Earth Day dinner as a gift to the parish and community. Most of the food will be locally produced. I hope you can join us.

I will be winging my way to California to preach at the funeral of a very dear friend, Jerry Gillam of the Los Angeles Times. Jerry was the "dean" of the state Capitol press corps, he came to Sacramento when Pat Brown (father of Jerry) was governor. Jerry was a reporter's reporter and one of the friendliest, greatest guys you will ever meet. You can read memories of Jerry on a blog by clicking HERE. Friends of Jerry are invited to email me with memories and I will post them.

Earth Day is tomorrow: Come join us

I was in high school during the first Earth Day in 1970. Perry Tyson, our forward-thinking principal (he really was), made sure we knew about it. He held a school assembly with speeches about the stewardship of the earth and what we could do to stop pollution. I remember we went out and picked up litter and cans beside the road that weekend. It was a start.

Tomorrow we honor Earth Day again, living under the dire threat of climate change and economic upheaval. Tomorrow evening at 6 pm at St. Paul's we are sponsoring an Earth Day dinnner, featuring more than a dozen dishes prepared with local ingredients by local cooks.

Perhaps in that small way we can make a dent in a big problem, and highlight what we can do as individuals and families to lessen our impact on the Earth. Please come join us if you can; the dinner is free.

We hope we have a big turnout because our youth group will be auctioning off splendid items (including some vacation cabin stays) to help them on their way to help others this summer. Please come for this dinner, a gift for those who care and share. 

A big "Shout-out!" and Bono's tending to the soul

A few items to bring to your attention today. First, I want to give a big congratulations to my friend, The Rev. Michele Racusin, who was elected priest-in-charge at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Family in Fresno, Calif. Michele began her ordination process under Bishop John David Schofield who would not ordain women, and her path led down many roads far from her Central Valley home. 

Michele ended up serving at Grace Cathedral, far from her family, commuting to the San Francisco Bay Area (these conflicts in the church have real impacts on real people). With the newly organized Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, Michele was able to rejoin her family in Fresno. This week she becomes among the first women to lead a parish in San Joaquin. You can read about Michele and her journey by clicking HERE.  Michele was raised up in the Diocese of San Joaquin, the first woman to run the gauntlet successfully in that diocese. This is big milestone for Michele, Holy Family and San Joaquin.

Other women priests are serving in charge of parishes and missions in San Joaquin as well, thanks to the new lay leadership of the diocese and Bishop Jerry Lamb, who was elected to take over after the split with the Schofield faction. The other women serving are The Rev. Kathryn Galicia as priest-in-charge at St. Francis, Turlock; and The Rev. Linda Huggard as Vicar at St. Andrew's, Taft and as priest-in-charge at All Souls, Ridgecrest. Linda is also a good friend; Lori and I went on a trip to Belize with Linda and a small group through Episcopal Relief and Development to build houses for hurricane victims in 2002.

In the second item for you today, Simeon Fitch of St. Paul's brought this to my attention: A commentary in The New York Times by Bono (the rock star) on the topic of Easter and tending to the soul. Bono, known not just for his music but also for his advocacy and contributions to ending world poverty, writes there was still something missing: His inner life. Bono found himself back in the pews:

It’s Lent I’ve always had issues with. I gave it up ... self-denial is where I come a cropper. My idea of discipline is simple — hard work — but of course that’s another indulgence.

Then comes the dying and the living that is Easter.

It’s a transcendent moment for me — a rebirth I always seem to need. Never more so than a few years ago, when my father died. I recall the embarrassment and relief of hot tears as I knelt in a chapel in a village in France and repented my prodigal nature — repented for fighting my father for so many years and wasting so many opportunities to know him better. I remember the feeling of “a peace that passes understanding” as a load lifted. Of all the Christian festivals, it is the Easter parade that demands the most faith — pushing you past reverence for creation, through bewilderment at the idea of a virgin birth, and into the far-fetched and far-reaching idea that death is not the end. The cross as crossroads. Whatever your religious or nonreligious views, the chance to begin again is a compelling idea.

To read all of Bono's commentary, click HERE. May you have a great day ahead filled with many blessings.

Monday Funnies

As you know if you have been by St. Paul's in the last week, or if you have read this blog, we have a big repair job underway with the columns out front. That is no laughing matter, of course. And there are more repairs to come elsewhere in our building and around our grounds. 

But as you can see from Dave Walker's cartoon, church buildings always have a few little problems. If you think we have parking issues, it is all systems normal.

And here are a few lame jokes, at the expense of the clergy, to brighten your Monday. It is time for the Monday Funnies...

* * *

Easter was finally over and the pastor’s wife dropped into an easy chair saying, “Hoo boy, am I ever tried.”

The minister looked over at her and said, “I had to conduct two special services last night, three today, and write then give a total of five sermons. Why are you so tired?”

“Dear,” she replied, “I had to listen to all of them.”

* * *

A boy was watching his father, a pastor, write a sermon.

“How do you know what to say?” he asked.

“Why, God tells me.”

“Oh, then why do you keep crossing things out?”

* * *

A little girl became restless as the preacher's sermon dragged on and on. Finally, she leaned over to her mother and whispered, “Mommy, if we give him the money now, will he let us go?”

Baptisms and kids: A great Sunday at St. Paul's

We had an incredible morning at St. Paul's -- 11 baptisms! Last night, Lori and I went to the young-family picnic on the grounds of the church. It was definitely kids' weekend at St. Paul's.

This morning, Pastor Janet Legro preached a moving sermon, phrased as a letter to the children being baptized. She asked them as they grow up to look for the "Wow" moments in their lives and notice God with them. All of the children being baptized will be given a copy of her letter and we hope their families will read it to them as they grow older.

After the sermon, the church school children, about 50 strong, marched up the center aisle (see photo); the adults stood and sang to the kids: "We are Marching in the Light of God." 

Then all of the kids sat around the baptismal font as we baptized 11 babies and children. The kids had the best seat in the house. We had quite the celebration!

When our worship was over, the children and families headed outside for an Easter egg hunt on our grounds (see photo). What a Sunday! 

If you or a loved one is interested in being baptized, the next opportunity will be on Pentecost Sunday May 31 at 10 am. Please contact the church office or a member of the St. Paul's clergy for more information.

The Spring and the Farmers Market is here

One of the delights of Charlottesville is the Farmers Market, just a block off the downtown mall. 

This morning Lori and I got up early with our shopping bags and cruised our way through the market. 

In my case, more like grazed. I especially enjoy the Salteñas de Mamá, a terrific Bolivian chicken pie wrapped in a napkin. The fresh bagels a few booths away were great too!

The market is not just about the arugula and tomato plants, of which there are many. It is also a social gathering.

We bumped into several members of St. Paul's. Lori Brannock has a jewelry booth (see photo) and Cyanne Williams was nearby selling all sorts of fun artistic notecards and other treasures. And see the photo of our friend Max. He found dandelions growing by the sidewalk.

It is a little early for most of the food to come in. But the boothes are full of daffodils, apples, lettuce, scallions, cheeses and various other local delicacies.