March 2016 Connections

Connections news • ideas • events March 2016

Issue 2 Vol. 3

Reconciliation THE DIOCESE OF SOUTHERN OHIO

www.EpiscopaliansInConnection.org

RECONCILIATION

T

Are we down with it?

his edition of Connections is about reconciliation, looked at from various angles.

All the stories and testimonies presented here center on overcoming separation, enmity and prejudice within the framework of Christian faith.

This is the true work and the true Sabbath of the church, which is constantly called and empowered to break down walls and bring people together. As the Letter to the Ephesians says, “Christ is our peace… He has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (2:14). The author is referring specifically to Jews and

Gentiles, but the passage is applicable to every wall raised by pride and greed; whether racist, sexist or xenophobic.

We often assume that reconciliation with one another is our primary goal as Christians. That’s true, but only if we don’t forget that reconciliation begins with God, not us.

Paul tells us that God “has given us the ministry of reconciliation,”

RECONCILIATION BEGINS WITH

GOD NOT US

(2 Cor 5:18), but a better translation might be that we have been given the ministry of the reconciliation – the reconciliation that God has set in motion through the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5:18).

So we are called to be reconcilers, but that’s not where we start.

We start by accepting or rejecting God’s offer of reconciliation with us, individually and collectively. That requires us to recognize our own reluctance to be reconciled with our enemies, and the distance that this reluctance places between us and God, who demands that we always

seek God’s grace even for those who least deserve it, even ISIS. We must resist their cruelty with all our hearts, through and by all legitimate means, just as our parents and grandparents resisted the Nazis in their day, but we separate ourselves from God if we demonize these enemies and regard them as being beyond the reach of love.

Why? Because each of us has been embraced by God when we least deserved it: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Rom 5:10).

This is a good lens to look through at Easter, since Easter, which is inseparable from Good Friday, is first and foremost about how Jesus’ supreme act of love on the cross (his total refusal to hate) opens the way for us to start over every day to live our lives out of love. We are reconciled to God by his death because he demonstrated God’s infinite love for us. We are saved by his resurrection because the story is not now over. We have time and eternity to take God’s love in.

It’s not just that Jesus offers us a model to imitate – we have such models in Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa and Oscar Romero, among many others. If we were just trying to emulate a role model, we would soon fail. What we have in Jesus is God’s own participation in our weakness and need, so that God’s love can become our love, and God’s goodness can become our vehicle for change. Jesus’ birth, ministry, death and resurrection mean that the torrent of God’s love is available to us here and now. Indeed, we were fashioned by God to receive and channel that torrent in our daily lives, making it available to others.

So back to reconciliation, which comes from the Latin word for returning into the council chamber, like negotiators who had left the room and are now willing to talk.

For all of us, there are negotiations that have broken down, or conversations we have been afraid to have. Jesus is always calling us back into the room. How shall we do that?

The New Testament was written in Greek, and the Greek word we translate as reconciliation offers us

another entryway into the concept.

Katallage literally means a changedown, or a complete change. In Greek literature it came to mean a turn-around in a relationship, so that conversation could resume.

I like the idea of reconciliation as a “change-down.” It reminds me of a hoedown – getting down to dancing when the day’s work is over. Or the slang expression for being okay with a suggested course of action: “I’m down with that.”

Looked at this way, reconciliation as change-down means knowing that God has chosen to come down to us in Jesus, and so everything is indeed changed – God is “down” with us, and so we can take the risk of putting our false work aside – everything we do to defend our positions in an at atmosphere of hostility – and enter into the hoedown that is our true work and our true rest. Are we down with that? I pray so.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal is the Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Contact him at tbreidenthal@diosohio.org.

FOR ALL OF US, THERE ARE NEGOTIATIONS THAT HAVE BROKEN DOWN, OR CONVERSATIONS WE HAVE BEEN AFRAID TO HAVE. JESUS IS ALWAYS CALLING US BACK INTO THE ROOM.

HOW SHALL WE DO THAT?

3

G

AWAKENING

rowing up with red hair and freckles in the early 1970s, I am no stranger to being “the other.” While now there seems to be an abundance of ginger kids running around, back in the day I felt like a freak – and other kids were happy to contribute a long list of names and phrases that only confirmed that I was. (I’d rather be dead than red on the head…)

I gravitated toward other “others,” and my childhood cycle of ‘best’ friends included a Chilean immigrant and the only African American kid in my school. Everyone was OK in my book. I knew what it was like to be an outsider, so we were alike, right? Imagine my surprise then, when as an adult I learned that I am racist.

In her book Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race, author Debby Irving says that growing up in an all white community in New England, she didn’t even realize that white was a race. Raised in what she refers to as a “culture of niceness,” race never came up as a topic in polite conversation.

Setting out in the world as a adult determined to be a good person and to help the less fortunate, she puzzled at the tension she felt around people of other races and cultures in her worry not to offend them; and at the same time wondered

why her efforts at diversity in arts administration never seemed to have much effect. A personal epiphany, her “waking up,” as she calls it, began a journey where Irving now devotes her life to writing and education of racial justice.

“Learning about how racism works didn’t challenge me just because it was new information,” Irving writes. “It was completely contradictory information, a 180-degree paradigm reversal, flying in the face of everything I’d been taught as a child and had believed up to this moment.”

Moving along through my own adulthood hand in hand with the “others” of society and trying to love my neighbor as myself, when I learned in Anti-Racism training that all white people are, in fact, racist, the words were like a lightning jolt to my psyche. My gut reaction was one of self-defense – I’m not like that! But slowly, slowly, my ears opened, and I had my own waking up. I came to understand that I was born into and was operating in a system of privilege that is set up for me to have opportunity after opportunity to succeed – all based on the color of my skin.

Just because I had no real awareness of that system doesn’t make it any less true, or me any less a part of it. And now that I am aware, I am duty-bound to work to change that very system.

As humans, we all have our biases. Our bias toward another may be based on race, culture, religious belief, sexual orientation or appearance, or may be as little as not being able to see eye to eye with them – and in our mind we delegate them to the “other” category. But the very definition of reconcile is “to make (oneself or another) no longer opposed; to become friendly with (someone) after estrangement or to re-establish friendly relations between two or more people.” And for that to happen, one of the people in the relationship has to change.

“Self-examination and the courage to admit to bias and unhelpful inherited behaviors may be our greatest tools of change,” says Irving. Truly listening and discovering an ugly truth about yourself – that’s where the journey toward reconciliation can begin.

Julie Murray serves as Associate Director of Communications for the Diocese of Southern Ohio.

Contact her at jmurray@diosohio.org.

PEOPLE AND BOXES

I

’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve spent most of my professional life stereotyping people. Of course, we didn’t call it stereotyping. We called it market segmentation. You and I have been grouped into so many market segments that your head would spin if you knew the half of it. I’m not just talking about name, address, age and gender – those parameters are mere child’s play compared to the depths of what today’s data can provide. And it’s not just loyalty cards and website subscriptions that are putting you in segments either – it’s all of your behavior. If you drive a Honda, love to garden, live in a house of a certain value, go to the opera, go to church and give to charities, then you are probably in a segment with many other people who share all of these traits.

I won’t go into detail about how all of this helps to market products, but trust me, we can pinpoint our message with laser precision to motivate people.

I’ve been tasked with putting groups of people into very specific categories for many clients over the years. However, I am often perplexed by the number of times I’ve walked into a client’s office and they’ve told me that they want to go after the ‘African American market’, or the ‘Gay market’, or the ‘Latino market’ or the ‘Asian market’. They talk about communicating with each group as if the entire group is one homogenous unit, rather than consisting of a complex and diverse group of people. It’s as if Americans of European descent can be segmented down a thousand ways, yet minorities just fall into the one category that makes them a minority. Of course, once a client realizes that they can make more money by not grouping minority groups into one homogenous group, they quickly change their practices.

From an evolutionary standpoint, human beings were built to stereotype. The brain is really quite good at quickly separating things into categories; it’s how we have survived. In prehistoric times, you wouldn’t have had to have seen many of your friends being eaten by a saber-toothed tiger to put saber-toothed tigers in the “dangerous” category. The problem is, of course, that quickly putting people into categories is both degrading and not very useful.

We see Muslims being called-out in the media, so our mind

puts them into the “dangerous” category like they are a sabertoothed tiger. The problem is that all saber-toothed tigers are dangerous, but all Muslims are not. When it comes to putting people into convenient categories, our evolutionary predisposition to stereotyping gets it REALLY wrong. Not convinced?

Then do the math.

The absolute highest estimate of the number of Muslims who are members of ISIS is 200,000 (U.S intelligence estimates the number to be much lower, between 9,000 to 18,000).

With 1.6 million Muslims worldwide, even with the highest estimate of 200,000 Muslims being part of ISIS, that still puts the percentage of Muslim terrorists at .000125 percent of the Muslim community. Hardly worth the wave of panic that goes through many people’s minds when they find they are seated beside a Muslim on an airplane.

I wonder what would happen if I could remain hyperfocused on the fact that my mind is continually putting people into categories? I pretend like I’m past all of that stereotyping.

After all, I see each minority group as a rich and diverse group of amazing individuals. However, just as soon as I’m patting myself on the back about my depth of understanding for the human race, something is said that I don’t like and I put every viewer of Fox News into one big category in my head. (Please forgive me if you’re a Fox News fan. I’m working on it.)

I suppose we’ll never be able to completely stop putting people into categories. However, real reconciliation will be able to start only when we become acutely aware that we are constantly categorizing others and we strive to move our relationships beyond our own internal market segmentation.

David Dreisbach serves as Director of Communications for the Diocese of Southern Ohio.

Contact him at ddreisbach@diosohio.org.

5

RECONCILIATION

OR NOT

P

residing Bishop Michael Curry recently said, “One of the most important statements of our time was given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he said we must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or we will perish together as fools – the choice is ours: chaos or community.”

He went on to say, “(King) was right when he said that in the late 1960s and the sentiment is even more profoundly true now. We must learn to live together even in the midst of intense disagreement and profound diversity. We will either create beloved community or a horrific catastrophe.

Religious faith must be a positive force toward that end – and that is what Jesus of Nazareth came to show us.”

Our diocese has a long history of addressing the issues around race. For over 40 years we have been a leader in acknowledging complicity to racism and strategizing on how to resolve it. As a result of our own analysis, this diocese, under the leadership of Bishop Blanchard and Bishop Krumm, began addressing the underlying causes of racism and began work on a radical process of healing.

Years later, the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church formed the Anti-Racism Committee and created a church-wide training program, Seeing the Face of God in Each Other. Former committee chair, the Rev. Dr. Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, had this to say about racism and the training program: “This anti-racism training and action is offered to the church in the spirit of hope. Though often resisted as a ‘negative’ term, when examined from the perspective of the Gospel, anti-racism is indeed a positive term. It represents an intentional turning away from a Church defined by racism to a vision of community in which one group is not dominant over another.

Those engaged in anti-racism are participants in the development of a ‘beyond-racism’ church tradition and part of a change process seeking reconciliation on the personal, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels of society. The truth sets us free. It is ultimately our resistance to the Spirit that divides us as a people – not race, or ethnicity, or religion, or nationality. May we all live in the hope that the Episcopal Church will continue to strive to become an institution where we see – and honor and respect – the face of God in each other.”

?

The diocese has continued its work through that training program. Our Anti-Racism Training Task Force works tirelessly to provide several trainings each year. We are one of only a few dioceses that require all elected and appointed persons to diocesan offices to have anti-racism training. Our number of participants continues to rise, slowly, and congregations are beginning to provide studies on their own trying to understand the continued racial dissonance that permeates this world.

The Church has continued to fight racism in all walks of life.

Recently, the Trinity Institute sponsored a weekend of examining racism and where we are now. This offered opportunity to everyone across the Church to be engaged with each other in listening, hearing and learning various and unique ways in which to continue this work. The 78th General Convention approved two significant resolutions around this work. One provides $2,000,000 to expand efforts on reconciliation and the other is for dioceses to encourage a book study on Michele Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. These and other resolutions are designed to help the Church to move one step closer to achieving God’s purposes.

It is the hope of the Task Force that the people of this diocese continue to support the efforts in understanding race and its impact on society, through attending the trainings offered throughout the year, by attending the yearly diocesan celebration of the life and ministry of Absalom Jones, the first African American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church, and

by giving thanks for the significant role our diocese played in the establishment of the Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. More importantly, we hope that all will take the time to: • Understand our identity, which is complex. We are constantly changing – who we are today is not who we will be tomorrow. Be honest in this assessment.

• Listen! Listen! Listen! It is so important for us to listen to the other. Hear their stories, and begin to understand how and why decisions are made.

• Make new friends with those we do not know. We all know that we have more compassion for those we know and our resources become more fluid, so take the time to meet the other.

• Stay in the present. The past is important so that we will not repeat it, and the future is what we look forward to. But if we are to make a difference, we need to stay in the present.

• And, finally, love as Jesus loved. Open your eyes and see the other as Jesus saw them.

So which will it be – beloved community or horrific catastrophe?

Debby Stokes is the chair of the Anti-Racism Task Force for the Diocese of Southern Ohio and a member of St. Philip’s, Columbus. If you want to learn more about Anti-Racism training offered through the diocese, contact Debby at dstokes1@live.com.

7

A view from the ‘middle’

We are “coconuts.” On the Indian sub-continent, we are viewed as “brown” on the outside and “white” on the inside, for we have the privilege of spending a majority of our lives away from the motherland. We are part of an immigrant experience that saw India export Science, Technology, Engineering and Math professionals all around the world.

In the United States, most South Asians began crossing the shores following the Immigration Act of 1965. As South Asians, we are beneficiaries of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the perpetual struggle of African Americans for racial justice. In many ways, South Asian immigrants did not have to endure the social and economic hardships that bonded our African American brothers and sisters. Yet our experiences as South Asian Americans in a post-9/11 world are pretty daunting.

Here’s a snapshot of some of our individual experiences around the issue of race.

8

MANOJ’S experience

M

y name is Manoj. Manoj, in Sanskrit, roughly translates as “lover of the mind.” I was christened with this name. My surname is Zacharia, a name passed down through generations of many priests in the Syrian Christian tradition as this name means “Yahweh remembers.” My father’s name is Mathew and my mother’s name is Elizabeth.

These names are Anglicized variations of the Aramaic-Syriac of Mathaiyahu and Aleysheva. Contrary to the belief of many of my American friends, their names were not given to them when they converted to Christianity. My wife and I descend from first (yes, 1st) Century Christians who were converted by the Apostle Thomas in India. However, if one were to look at me, they’d see someone who is not typically depicted as a Christian. I am brown and I have a beard. I’ve been stereotyped not only outside of the church but also inside.

All through elementary, middle and high school, I felt that I was always excluded because I did not fit in as either white or black. Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, I have grown accustomed to “random” checks at the airport, suspicion and, at times, overt looks of disdain because of how I looked and the perception that I have the last name of a “stereotypical” terrorist – Zacharia.

The curious thing is that I am a minority in all its essences.

In the United States, I am a minority because of my color and in India I am a minority because of my religious and ethnic identity as a St. Thomas or Syrian Christian. Coupled with this is the fact that the people of my ethnic-religious identity in India label me a “coconut.”

JOELLE’S experience

I

didn’t really experience racial “difference” until I moved to the United States. I have lived in Bahrain, India and Canada. My first experience confronting difference was in a classroom setting in suburban New Jersey. I had just been hired as an adjunct to teach an Introduction to Literature class. When I walked into the classroom, the professor who was wrapping up his things from the previous class looked puzzled and asked me, “Are you sure that you are teaching English?” The only thing I could do to keep from fuming with anger was to laugh and pass off his comment as Euro-chauvinism as he probably deemed me unworthy to teach the language which his ancestors used as a tool of colonialism to subjugate people who looked like me across the world.

Moving to Cincinnati from New York, I have felt that people here have a hard time in relating to me. I find Cincinnati to be struggling with a historic legacy of addressing issues of racism based on two colors – black and white. But grappling with anything in-between is trying for many people.

For instance, at the grocery store, there are a curious few who presume that I, as a seemingly exotic individual, know and can share South Asian cooking recipes off the top of my head. When I purchase beef or pork, there are some who are quite puzzled as I look like someone who is not permitted by religious law to eat either beef or pork. The irony of the matter is that I find it intriguing that people are trying to protect me from breaking what they perceive to be my religious laws, but at the same time, I feel oppressed by the exertion of such stereotypes on me. I guess that such ambivalence actually falls in a “gray zone.”

Our personal narratives reflect our perceptions about our social location. In many ways, we are privileged because of our social location as an educated middle-class family that has strong community support in our church and wider social network. Yet in many ways, outside of these networks we are consistently contending with prejudice and fear.

Manoj Mathew Zacharia is Canon Sub-Dean at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati. He is currently ABD from his Ph.D. program in the area Philosophy of Religion. Joelle Thomas Zacharia, M.A., M.Ed., is married to Manoj. Her vocation is currently lived out in her capacity as Project Manager for the Zacharia household. Prior to her arrival in Cincinnati, Joelle taught College English and worked in the area of Curriculum Development for non-profit and for-profit organizations.

9

Why I’m prejudiced

AND SO ARE YOU

I

spend much of my time on the road, speaking to large audiences. Since Charleston, I promised myself that I’d bring up race and white privilege as often as possible. I do it awkwardly and imperfectly, but I do it. Since I’ve started speaking about this, one thing that I’ve had to resist is shutting down and

shutting up in response to this refrain: BUT I’M every thought hostage and examining it for truth. And NOT RACIST. I AM NOT PREJUDICED. I WAS now I’m an advocate for women’s equality with a fierce RAISED BETTER THAN THAT. I need you to heart for women – I know that women are equal. I please try to hear me on this. know what my body is for. It’s not for selling things.

We are raised by our families, but we are also It’s for loving and learning and resting in beauty and raised by our culture. fighting for justice. I know that every body on this I am a feminist. At my heart, I am Earth has equal, unsurpassable worth. a fierce, bold advocate for women. But And YETYOU CAN BE I was raised in a sexist culture. I was I still have the poison in me. I still have raised in a world that tried to convince all the biases that were instilled in me me through media, through certain AND STILL HAVE for decades. Because we are what we conreligious organizations, through inadsume. We become the air we breathe. So equate history books and through the subconsciously – I would likely still judge RUNNING beauty industry – that female bodies a thinner, younger woman to be worth are worth less than male bodies – and more than a heavy, older woman. My THROUGH that certain types of female bodies mind and heart would correct that misYOUR VEINS. (thin, tall, young) are worth more than guided snap judgment – but it would take YOU CAN BE other types of female bodies. a deliberate moment.

The daily deluge of images of womWhen I was thirty-five, I noticed that en’s bodies for sale and the onslaught the wrinkles on my forehead were deepAND YOUR of emaciated women’s bodies held up ening and I found myself driving to a SUBCONSCIOUS as the pinnacle of female achievedoctor’s office and paying HUNDREDS ment and the pervasive message that of dollars to have Botox (POISON) CAN BE THE REV. women exist to please men was the air PAINFULLY injected into my forehead.

LYNN CARTERI breathed decade after decade. I was a To make my face worth as much as EDMANDS radiation canary living in a mine and the younger, smoother faces on TV. I the toxins were misogyny. I got sick LITERALLY knew better. But my subfrom it. Not because I’m a bad, sexist conscious did not know better. My subperson but because I was just breathing sexist air. conscious had not yet caught up with my mind and I became bulimic and it’s taken a lifetime to recover. my heart, because it was (is) still poisoned. It took a It is harder to unlearn than it is to learn. And it is deliberate moment to stop poisoning myself. To stop very, very difficult for a woman to be healthy in a letting the poison in the air crawl underneath my world that is still so very sick. It is the ultimate victory skin. to love yourself in a world that is promising you a milI am a fierce, forever feminist. But I still have lion times a day that you have no right to. It is a vicsexism and misogyny running through my veins. It tory that requires constant attention. So I’m working takes a lifetime to clear these out. You can be one hard at health and wholeness every day. I’m taking thing and your subconscious can be another thing.

ANTI-RACIST PREJUDICE

ONE THING ANOTHER THING.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

11

WE DO NOT HAVE A BLACK PROBLEM. WE DO NOT HAVE A WHITE PROBLEM. IDENTITY IN BLACKNESS OR WHITENESS ALONE IS A PROBLEM.

WE HAVE A HUMAN FAMILY PROBLEM. This is what we’re talking about when we talk about prejudice. About white privilege. Our culture has taught me to be prejudiced against older women, wrinkly women, heavy women, and even thin women (hate them, they’re better than you).

And our culture has also taught me to be prejudiced against black people.

How many images of black bodies being thrown to the ground have I ingested? How many news reports have I inhaled passively – how many images of jails filled with black bodies? How many casually racist jokes have I swallowed? Over the decades and centuries and days, we’ve breathed in countless images meant to convince us that black men are dangerous and that black women are dispensable and that all black bodies are worth less than white bodies. We have just been breathing.

We must be humble about what we have become.

Listen. We can be good, kind, justice-loving, antiracist people in our hearts and minds – but if we’re living here – we’re still canaries raised in a racist mine. We’ve still been breathing the air – and we’ve been conditioned. So our knee-jerk reaction to a black man approaching us might be fear. Our subconscious might kick in before our mind and heart can catch up. And we might pull that trigger faster than we would if the body approaching us was white. And that black girl not responding to our request to stand up – well we might take

her down faster than we’d ever take down a white body. Because our subconscious has been trained to believe she’s belligerent, disrespectful, dangerous and dispensable.

You can be anti-racist and still have prejudice running through your veins. You can be one thing and your subconscious can be another thing.

We must be humble about what we have become.

We do not have a black problem. We do not have a white problem. Identity in blackness or whiteness alone is a problem. We have a Human Family problem. We are all being poisoned, and so are our children. We have got to come together to help clear the air so we can all breathe. This is going to require serious people who are humble about what they have become.

This moment is not asking us: are we racist or not?

This moment in our country’s history is asking us: Are we humble or not? Do we have eyes to see what we have become and the courage it takes to unbecome?

Glennon Doyle Melton is the New York Times Bestselling Author of Carry On Warrior, The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life. She is founder of the award-winning blog Momastery and the non-profit Together Rising. For more information on Glennon, please visit www.momastery.com.

Walking through the door to reconciliation:

WATCH YOUR TOES!

S

t. Paul reminds us that the Church is one body with many parts and all of the parts are essential.

To live in Christian community for any extended period of time means that eventually we are going to step on people’s toes – it’s unavoidable. Over the years I have stepped on people’s toes and I have had my toes stepped on, and my guess is that your experiences are not all that different. I have found that new ideas for ministry are often good opportunities to get your toes stepped on, and vice versa.

Once I was part of developing a new worship experience for small children and their families. The head of the altar guild informed me that they would not set up or support this endeavor – they wanted nothing to do with it. This took a lot of the wind out of our sails and definitely wiped out some of our enthusiasm, but we pressed on and over time that worship experience became very popular and attracted a lot of new people to our church.

Some time later that same person, still head of the altar guild, came in to my office and told me that my skills at setting up for worship at the new service were a complete disaster (this was absolutely true) and that the altar guild insisted on taking over.

She then presented me with a new communion set specifically for the children – which she herself had purchased.

I’m not sure you can draw a picture of reconciliation, but it was definitely in the room at that moment, along with a whole lot of grace. I have concluded that stepping on each other’s toes is part and parcel of following Jesus to the Kingdom. In fact, if we are not doing it we are probably not trying hard enough. But the door to reconciliation is always open, and when we walk through it, it is often the very best part of the journey.

The Rev. Jason Leo serves as Missioner for Congregational Vitality in the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Contact him at jleo@diosohio.org.

13

SHOWING UP WITHIN THE WALLS

Cape Coast Castle, Ghana

Where reconciliation

BEGINS The entrance to the male slave dungeon at Cape Coast Castle

S

urrounded by the ashen grey fortress walls, I could feel in my bones the endless pain of my ancestors. The room, with virtually impenetrable meter-thick masonry and an arched roof with only a tiny window near the top, was the male slave dungeon in Cape Coast Castle, the largest trading fort for human chattel on the coast of West Africa.

It is almost certain that some of my own ancestors – my very flesh and blood – passed through that room just a few centuries ago, never to see their homes or families again.

Immediately above that dungeon sat another small room – the Anglican chapel. Used by the staff and families of the fort, it housed an Anglican priest, daily prayer and weekly Eucharist. Historians tell us that the imprisoned men below could hear the English hymns of the worshippers above, and the worshippers could hear the desperate horrifying cries of the tortured captives below. And there I stood, the descendant of African slaves and a seventh-generation Episcopalian (whose Anglican heritage goes back to the plantations of South Carolina before the Civil War) dedicating himself to a life of ministry in this Church.

Pope Francis and ecumenical guests at the Papal service of Prayer for Christian Unity. Photo courtesy of the Catholic Herald.

Daily in this Christian life, we are confronted with the stark realities, images and reports of the extreme violence and suffering caused by our own human sin. So frequently in our country, our church and even our diocese, we have grappled with these issues of reconciliation. So often it is around everchanging events but incessantly stagnant lines of division.

How does our love of Christ compel us to repent of our sins, forgive, seek forgiveness and share Christ’s love with one another? How do we live with the sins of those who came before us, and the past injustices that we cannot erase? How do we carry on a tradition in which we have sometimes found ourselves inattentive or even contributing to the suffering of others? How are we to atone and oppose the degradation not only in the past but also in the very world in which we live?

For the last several months, I have had the great honor to serve as a missionary at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at the Joel Nafuma Refugee Centre in Rome, Italy. As the morass over Islamic refugees exploded onto the global scene, I have had the pleasure to work with some of those same MiddleEastern migrants every single day. I continue to hear their stories of perilously fleeing heinous atrocities to seek survival and a better life. Having been in both Paris and Istanbul shortly before brutal attacks recently rocked those two great cities, I have witnessed the often-disheartening reactions of the public as fears of terrorism have raised anxieties and provoked hateful rhetoric across the globe. But I have also looked into the eyes of hundreds of peace-loving Muslim refugees, wondering why so many in the West confuse them for the same radical terrorists from whom they are fleeing.

And as our Anglican Communion faces its ongoing struggles with unity and reconciliation, I followed the recent developments from the Anglican Centre in Rome – a world-renowned meeting place for interfaith, ecumenical and inter-Anglican dialogue. There and elsewhere, I have had the honor of speak-

ing recently with more than a half-dozen primates about their hopes for our global fellowship, praying with them for the grace to walk together in the love of Christ.

If these experiences have taught me anything, it is that reconciliation cannot take place at a distance. It requires us to pick up and go there – to look our fellow children of God in the eye.

It requires us to grapple doggedly with the complex crevices and tangled layers of our identities, and to overturn the weighty dustcovered stones that hide our past transgressions. It requires us to venture to uncomfortable places within ourselves and one-another, resisting the urge to protect ourselves with the feeble armor of defensiveness. This is not an easy task, but it is one that the Gospel constantly implores us to undertake.

Recently I was blessed to take part in the annual Papal Service of Prayer for Christian Unity. For the first time in recent memory, before my eyes, Pope Francis not only invited ecumenical clergy to be present, but he even had two ecumenical guests – including Anglican Archbishop David Moxon – stand side-by-side with him to bless the congregation together.

While there remain so many divisions that continue ceaselessly to separate us from one another, these critical gestures are where the seeds of reconciliation are nurtured. Here is where the centuries-old wounds of hatred and even violence begin to be healed. In motions large and small, from the heights of power to the average parishioner in a small local chapel, we are all called to the work of reconciliation. Yet our chapels can be of no use unless we begin by showing up – and standing together in the dungeon of our transgressions.

Charles Graves IV is a postulant for Holy Orders in the Diocese of Southern Ohio and currently serves as a mission worker with the Young Adult Service Corps in Italy. He regularly blogs about his experiences at http://charlesgravesiv.blogspot.com/.

The entrance to the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center in Rome

GOD

DEEP IN THE WOUNDS Disability and the Way of Life

Disability and the Way of Life Disability and the Way of Life

T

The Rev. Joseph Kovitch

he priest rises from his wheelchair and balances just so, holding on to a handle added to the back of the wooden altar by a loving congregation.

“How appropriate, holding on to the altar for dear life,” the priest muses. Lifting the bread... “This is my Body, which is given for you.…” Lifting the wine… “This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for all people…” comes a Prayer, comes a Fraction, comes a Revelation.

Holding up the Body of Christ amongst the people, and breaking the bread, and parting the

broken body, the priest is overwhelmed with the scene before him – as if the Eucharist that he has celebrated for the past 13 years has suddenly became transubstantiated, not in bread and wine, but in the very lives of those standing before him, as well as within himself. An epiphany in early Advent, simply framed by two broken pieces of bread, comes the words, “the gifts of God for the people of God!” – and a moment of clarity.

For a tableau unfolds in the midst of people and priest – a wheelchair, a vulnerable priest holding on for dear life to the real presence of the Christ broken, and the gathered people of God – lives he knows so well, lives of wounding and shame, love and hope.

It is here that a Eucharistic theology is revealed through disability, when a priest and a church are embraced by a risen Christ, finding God through mutual dependency. The words “inner wheelchair” echo in the mind of the priest, and at that moment the Word and sacrament proclaim to the ecclesia that we are a community of disability and loved by a disabled God who makes us whole. A risen Christ stands before a people in hiding and says, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” As we cry, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20) As Nancy Eiesland writes in her book, The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability, “In presenting his impaired hands and feet to his startled friends, the resurrected Jesus is revealed as the disabled God. Jesus, the resurrected Savior, calls for his frightened companions to recognize in the marks of impairment their own connection with God, their own salvation. In so doing, this disabled God is also the revealer of a new humanity. The disabled God is not only the One from heaven but the revelation of true personhood, underscoring the reality that full personhood is fully compatible with the experience of disability. (p. 100)” “My Lord and my God!” Such are words calling the church to recognize that justice and reconciliation among those living with a disability begin when we recognize the image of God imbedded in each and every human being. It is acknowledg-

ing that the very ones who are labeled disabled in this world can become the greatest teachers to the “temporarily-abled” in revealing that we are all beautiful and offer so much to the human experience. And that all are created Imago Dei. “A new humanity…” Such are words calling us to claim an imperative to utilize the gifts of those living with disabilities, not only in our congregations but also in our entire world. A new humanity that celebrates our vulnerability as the very pathway to God and neighbor. A new humanity that embraces its own inner wheelchair as a pathway to a reconciliation that leads to a liberation into authentic community – a recognition of such deep love for God and neighbor that we are liberated to embrace the “beautiful me and the beautiful you.” For when we embrace what is and acknowledge our own shame, we begin to see our sister and brother in Christ in the broken places and celebrate resurrection hope, as we dare touch their wounds.

As a spiritual leader living with a visible disability these past nine years, I have discovered the power of vulnerability as a pathway to the other. The liberatory gift of loving what is can invite others with visible and invisible disabilities to find the courage to celebrate who they are, and in turn be a liberating witness to the world. When I embrace my disability as an opportunity to glorify God, I can set others free from the “tyranny of the perfect” into a true jubilee.

A true church of reconciliation is an exemplar of the Kingdom of God willing to become holy listeners, for justice begins when we pay attention and truly see the “other” just as they are – and call them beloved. As I have rolled along my pilgrim’s way, I have discovered that I have a choice to see my journey as a gift, and in that recognition, let my life speak. All of this began for me when I was embraced one Sunday morning by a Holy Communion and a feast of friends.

It is acknowledging that the very ones who are labeled disabled in this world can become the greatest teachers to the “temporarily-abled” in revealing that we are all beautiful and offer so much to the human experience.

The Rev. Joseph Kovitch serves as Priest-in-charge at St. Matthew’s, Westerville.

17

Learning about

bias

W

hen our boys’ neighborhood friends play with toy guns or hide and seek in the neighborhood at night, we will have to tell our sons they cannot go out and play.

Why is that? Friends and society tell us young black teens, even younger than 12-year-old Tamir Rice, are seen as black men. You may remember that Rice was killed in November 2014 by two shots fired by police officers in Cleveland.

The officers drove their cruiser up in the grass next to a park gazebo and got out with their guns raised, firing shots at Rice less than ten seconds after exiting their cruiser. Police dispatchers failed to tell the officers that the caller reporting a suspicious person said it might be a teen with a toy gun. The gun wasn’t real.

To many white people, a young black male is immediate cause for concern. This same standard does not apply to young For the sake of our white teens. And it is important for all of us to take a two sons, now ages deep look inside to recognize that this bias exists, to underfour and ten months, stand why we are conditioned to react as we do and to queswe will have to always tion and modify our attitudes toward our non-white neighbe knowledgeable and bors.

If you’re not sure what proactive about race white privilege is then you have likely benefited from not to help them become having your race held against you. successful.

As white parents, we pledged to prepare our black sons to navigate a set of societal rules and expectations that do not apply to us. Still, somebody had to explain to us the very real constructs of white privilege as we navigated the adoption process.

We learned to think deeply about our own privilege after deciding to adopt. When we learned we could not conceive children, we searched our souls and carefully researched and considered our options. Whether we were open to children of any race was never a question. Adoption forms, classes and discussion groups opened our eyes to systemic issues of race. The depth of the learning and awareness we lacked was both astounding and guilt inducing.

We have learned to never stop listening and educating ourselves. For the sake of our two sons, now ages four and ten months, we will have to always be knowledgeable and proactive about race to help them become successful.

We are all one in Christ Jesus. We believe this, but we had to face our own naiveté in what does not ring true for a majority in our society. It was imperative for us to understand bias and

how deeply it exists within our world. Misconceptions about race abound. People of color are widely marginalized in ways big and small. Have you ever thought about what “flesh” colors in bandages means or what color a “normal” flesh-colored crayon is? “Flesh” color is not flesh color for anyone except Caucasians. Brown is flesh color for various populations, including African Americans.

We noticed how in our social, professional and worship circles we were surrounded by mostly white faces, and we have had to make concerted efforts to spend both our time and our money in places and with people of various racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds. This teaches our boys we value people of all colors and beliefs.

We were very far removed from the real issues of race that are getting worse, not better. But we knew that we had to learn to understand how we were contributing to the problem and how we could become allies to people of color in a system that is detrimental to them and beneficial to us. We have worked to understand the racial history of America, understand the Black Lives Matter movement and speak out about marginalization and oppres-

sion. We encourage those who love our children to do the same, instead of staying silent. It’s upsetting to say “All Lives Matter” in response, because all lives WILL matter only when black lives do.

We have learned to listen more and acknowledge as white people that we don’t experience racism, so we know much less than we thought we did. Reverse racism is not real. Racism is a systemic way of oppressing people of another race – people of color have never had systemic power over whites in the US. We have learned to diversify where our information originates. We understand that disparities persist in relationship to poverty and racial equality, and we contribute time and energy to organizations that we believe are working toward equity for people of color.

Our work is ongoing; and we must commit our lives to it. It’s the only way we may reconcile ourselves with God for the sake of our children and the promise of progress.

Nikki and Chris are the proud parents of two sons. The family attends St. James, Westwood.

It is time to stop the stigma

A

few years ago, a coworker died as a result of cancer. During her illness and treatment, there was an outpouring of help, including meals for the family. After her death, her closest coworkers formed a team that participated in the annual cancer fund-raising walk, which took place overnight. Even after all these years, they continue to participate in the walk in honor of their coworker.

The stigma of cancer, which I recall from my childhood, has been destroyed. In addition to the help to family and the in memoriam fund-raising, you can now be a cancer survivor, a decorated veteran of our war against cancer. However, such is not the case with mental illness.

When one of my family members had a psychotic episode and was diagnosed with a mental illness, I mentioned it at work and at church, as I had to take some days off to deal with the aftermath. There were no meals brought to our house. There were no fund-raising events to raise money for research and cures. I did have a few people call me to the side, and in hushed tones, tell me how sorry they were for my family member, that they had a family member in a similar situation. While it was somewhat soothing to at least have acknowledgement of the problem, I was bothered that the hushed tones were back.

Mental illness is seen as shameful; we do not discuss it in polite society and we quickly avoid those who are mentally ill. We need to recognize that mental illness is a biological disease. Yes, someone with a mental illness can be challenging to be around, depending on the extent of the illness, but such a person is not to be shunned. We need research to find better medications and better treatments. We need psychiatrists and case workers and clinics and housing so that the mentally ill can live with dignity, instead of finding treatment only within the incarceration system, and then only when their untreated illness has grown to devastating levels. We need to be able to say, "My wife or brother or son is mentally ill" or even "I am mentally ill" and not be told that if we just worked harder, prayed harder or had more faith, we would be fine.

The financial costs of mental illness are enormous; the social costs are far greater. The stigma that we still attach to mental illness brings back the hushed tones and the ostracizing of a large and growing portion of our neighbors. It is time to stop the stigma so that we can reach out to the mentally ill and their families and make them a full part of our connected humanity.

Mark E. Conrad serves as Senior Warden at St. John’s, Lancaster. He is the Vice President of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) in Fairfield County.

RESOURCES Simpson, Amy. Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission. IVP Books, Downers Grove, Illinois. 2013. p. 137. http://www.inmi.us/ http://www.inmi.us/data/FaithToolKit-QuickRefGuide_rev2.pdf

20

mental health?

WHY SHOULD YOUR FAITH COMMUNITY CARE ABOUT

A

ccording to the statistics, 1 in 4 people in your congregation is affected by mental illness. Mental illnesses is found in people from all walks of life; it doesn’t discriminate. Stigma keeps people from sharing their experiences with their illness, and the church is often silent in its support and care.

In the ancient western world people believed ‘evil spirits’ flew around and possessed people. In the 4th Century, when Christians established the first hospitals, people with mental illness were included among those who were cared for along with other types of illness. Yet as time passed, the perception that people with mental illness were possessed by demons “led to widespread persecution, including burning and torture alongside those accused of witchcraft.”

As people such as Martin Luther, John of the Cross and Abraham Lincoln identified in their writings that they suffered from symptoms we identify as depression, the perspective that mental illness was caused by demon possession began to decline. And yet the care for individuals with severe mental health issues moved from the home to hospitals.

Many living with mental illness could be found in jails and the ‘poor house.’

By the late 1800s, in spite of institutions developed with humane protocols and moral treatment, the prevention and development of chronic mental illness continued. The response was for each state to build institutions to house chronic patients. These state-run institutions were not well funded for the long term and by the mid 1980s the number of individuals living in state-sponsored facilities was almost 1/3 of what it had been from its peak in the 1950s. As the institutions were dismantled, more outpatient mental health services were expected in communities. But the burden on

communities to care for people with chronic mental health concerns has been greater than their capacity to do so.

Today there are advocacy movements working within the community to provide comprehensive treatment and support for those with mental health issues. Yet the stigma remains.

Popular media, misinformation, fear that mentally ill people are violent in the extreme (a statistic that is not borne out against the general population), behaviors that result in social disruption and a host of other notions all conspire to stigmatize those with mental illness.

“Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but give yourselves to humble tasks; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” [Romans 12.16-17] What can the Church do to show we want to embrace those with mental illness? Amy Simpson in her book Troubled Minds suggests several ways the church can respond, among her suggestions are the following: Get professional help if you are struggling with mental illness. Tell your own story, if you or a loved one are struggling. Educate yourself about mental illness (Some resources are listed on the previous page). Be assertive by speaking the truth of God’s love when the language of stigma and shame is associated with those with mental illness. Talk about it freely.

Be in relationships and be present with those living with mental illness. Exude love and acceptance.

The Rev. Anne Reed serves as Canon for Mission in the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Contact her at areed@diosohio.org.

21 21

Continue the conversation Check out

Bishop Michael Curry's sermon, Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice, the 2016 Trinity Institute.

videos of interest on our new vi

I Am Not Black, You are Not White Viral video by Prince Ea.

w video page dsoConnections.org/video

Two young women's excellent performance piece about their differences at Brave New Voices 2012. (Warning: Contains a small amount of profanity. )

Matrix director Lana Wachowski talks about coming out as a transgender person at the HRC Visibility Awards.

REV RN

REFLECTIONS ON CLERGY HEALTH

In the bleak midwinter, sometimes we could use a belly laugh. Here is one that will resonate with my dear colleagues.

I get a call from the hospital early one morning due to a critical incident with a congregant. With that, I put on my “formal attire”– clergy shirt and Anglican collar, the rest of the “tux” and off I go. The visitation took longer than expected.

Having a doctor’s appointment that morning, and running tight on time, I went directly to the doctor’s office to be seen.

I walk in; they go through their ritual vital stats acquisition.

The medical assistant asked me how I was doing, to which I replied, “Just fine.” She sits there looking at me and responds, “Are you sure you’re fine?” (OK, I was fine when I walked in here – what does she know that I don’t?) Tick… tick… tick… I replied, “Yes, I really am fine.” Tick… tick… tick…. She peruses me more. “So tell me, what did you do to your neck?” (What did I do to my NECK? I felt around – no lumps, bumps or rash. I had not burned my neck with the curling iron. I had no

For all the meals you prepared that got cold or reheated 3+ times, for all the times you and the family ate alone, thank you.

For all the date nights and other plans that got cut short, thank you.

For all the times when your friends are taking getaway weekends which you will never get (unless you go without us) because we work every weekend, thank you.

For all the times when personal holiday traditions had to be put aside or long delayed because of the nature of what we do, thank you.

(That includes all the little kids and grandkids that have to wait to open presents!)

For all the times when we seem to get all the limelight, and for all the times you are expected to play the role of the unpaid parish leader (insert whatever – musician, Sunday School teacher, etc.), thank you.

For the grace and control you exhibit, knowing that sometimes you have to “fake it till you make it”, thank you.

For your unconditional love and support, for your understanding our moods, for making this journey with us as unsung partners in ministry, thank you.

For all those other unknown ways that you help us make this happen, by prayer, praise, thanksgiving and being our port in the storm (and the one who helps calm our choppy seas), thank you.

Thank you God, for those loving others who make this journey with us. Bless them, keep them, and infuse them with an abiding sense of your love, grace, joy and peace. Amen!

And to my colleagues … “Hey, what happened to your neck?”

The Rev. Ruth Paulus is a registered nurse and serves as rector of St. Christopher’s, Fairborn.

relationships

pain.) Tick… tick…. Tick…. “To my knowledge, I haven’t done anything to my neck.” More assessing on her part, and then, “Well, that is the strangest cervical collar I have ever seen.”

As my brain implodes, I started to laugh so hard I thought they were going to have to give me a breathing treatment. Really trying not to be rude, I gasped, “This is a clerical collar, not a cervical collar – I am an Episcopal priest!” She then looks at me and says, “Well, thank God! I thought I missed something.”

She goes out into the charting area, and I hear her say “Oh… by the way, there is nothing wrong with the neck of the patient in Room 2. She’s just a priest.” I am still laughing – and heck, if I had not been crying so hard, I could have posted a sign and charged admission! (10% of which I would have tithed to the church, of course!)

In the bleak midwinter, we have what I feel are strategically placed celebrations like Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day. I have been pondering those with whom we share our “belly laughs” as well as our frustrations, sorrows and other varied emotions on a daily basis. In the worst way, I just wanted to share my collar story with someone dear to me.

So, this column, this edition, is for all those to whom we yearn to tell our day’s events – our spouses, significant others, kids, those with whom we share the closest parts of the living of life. The purpose of which is to say the meekest and most humble of “thank you.” (Meister Eckhart stated that if the only prayer we ever said was “thank you”, that would suffice. I’m sticking to it!)

For all the times you have listened with your “stoles on”, when we come home tired and weary of yet another issue gone wrong in the congregation, thank you.

For all the times when the phone rang at 2 a.m. and we have to leave, because our work is 24/7/365, thank you.

25

My view:

The “suspension” of the Episcopal Church

Recently world headlines screamed about the ‘suspension’ of The Episcopal Church (TEC) when Primates of the Anglican Communion met at Canterbury on January 11-16. In that action, TEC has been restricted from fully participating in activities of the Anglican Communion, initially for the next three years. Depending on the source you read, we have been ‘suspended’, ‘suffered consequences’ and several other inflammatory headlines, as a result of our stand on inclusion of LGBT persons in the life of the church and our approval of same-gender marriage.

However, there is more to this than the headlines have presented.

Meme courtesy of facebook.com/ anglicanmemes

the former primate of the Anglican Church in Kenya, once said, “Our understanding of the Bible is different from them. We are two different churches.”

One must note that, Africa, as a whole, is oppressive to LGBT persons; in approximately 70 countries, persons can be imprisoned or even executed for being homosexual. In several cases, the Anglican Church has taken a position of support for these draconian laws and associated

punishments.

Our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry noted that the Primates statement about TEC was “not the outcome we expected.” And the President of the House of Deputies, the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, emphasized that TEC will not step back from its firm belief in the sanctity of all people. It is up to the Anglican Communion and God as to what will happen at the end of the three years. We can only pray that the words ‘initially for three years’ in the communiqué are not portending of things to come.

In short, The Episcopal Church will continue to work around the world to spread the good news of the Gospel, to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked and heal the sick (Matthew 25:35-36), as we are directed by Jesus.

It is our work now, while we are saddened for the Anglican Communion and this misguided spirit that mocks the teaching of Jesus, to pray for the world and all those that are persecuted as we move forward, following our belief in the sanctity and belovedness of all people of God. The Rev. Deniray Mueller serves as the legislative liaison for the Diocese of Southern Ohio and as convenor of the Social Justice and Public Policy commission. Contact her at deniray@deniray.com.

Bishop Breidenthal has posted a video on his video blog page about his thoughts on the Anglican Communion and the Primates’ discipline of the Episcopal Church.

Check it out at www.diosohio.org/video.

relationships

First of all, it is important to understand that the Anglican Communion is NOT the governing body of all the Anglican (and Episcopal) churches in the world. Officially, the Anglican Communion is a group of Christian Churches derived from or related to the Church of England, including the Episcopal Church in the US and other national, provincial, and independent churches. The Anglican Communion has no official legal existence, nor any governing structure that might exercise authority over the member churches. This loose relationship in no way resembles the Roman Catholic Church and its council of cardinals. We are bound by friendship and belief in following the teaching of Jesus.

Second, even within TEC, the churches actions toward LGBT persons have caused schism. More conservative dioceses and bishops within TEC have deviated from the church’s official position on inclusion of gays. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) was formed in protest of TEC’s position on LGBT matters. (Interestingly, the Anglican Communion primates continue to skirt the issue of admitting the ACNA to the Anglican Communion by referring their request for admission to the Anglican Consultative Council. And yet the primate of ACNA was mistakenly offered a paper ballot at the meeting to vote on the ‘suspension’ of TEC. The ballot was returned without a vote.)

Archbishop Justin Welby called this recent meeting of the primates to try to defuse the animosity that exists between certain members of the Anglican Communion and TEC. But there have been rumblings of ‘schism’ ever since the 1970s when TEC issued a statement that gay men and lesbians “have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.” Many of the African primates of the Anglican Communion have an interpretation of biblical scripture that suggests to them that The Episcopal Church is non-biblical and non-Christian. Benjamin Nzimbi,

27

PEOPLE

connected Harris honored The Liberian Episcopal Community in the United States of America (LECUSA) has chosen to honor John Harris for his support and dedicated service to LECUSA and the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE) at their 11th annual gathering on April 2. Harris, a member of St. Simon of Cyrene, Lincoln Heights, also serves as treasurer for the Diocese of Southern Ohio.

Stepping out in faith Bob McGonagle, sexton at Church of the Redeemer, Hyde Park, retired in February after serving the congregation for 15 years. Bob’s life with Redeemer has been an incomparable lens into the way of Jesus. In Bob’s words: “From 1997 to 1999, I was on the streets of Cincinnati, chasing drugs and alcohol while working in temporary services. In 2000 – the night of the Millennium – I gave back the life I never owned to our Lord Jesus Christ. In 2001 the Episcopal Church took a chance on me and discovered my heart to serve my fellow man and woman as stated in our Baptismal Covenant.”

During his time as sexton, Bob also served as verger at Redeemer and he accompanied parishioners young and old on an astounding 61 mission trips. That work hasn’t been easy, and suffering a broken heel while on a mission trip to El Hogar a few months ago prompted his decision to retire from Redeemer and “take a step out in blind faith.”

“It’s never too late to change, and sometimes for me, changing everything has been the blessing!” says Bob. His retirement is sad news for the people of Redeemer, but for Bob, the challenge of change is calling him to something new.

REST IN PEACE The Rev. Cara J. “Jay” Calvert died Nov. 15, 2015. He was 92 years old. Ordained a deacon in 1989 by Bishop Herbert Thompson, Calvert served his diaconal ministry at Trinity, Hamilton. A memorial service was held at Trinity on Nov. 21.

The Rev. A. Raymond Betts, III, senior priest of the diocese, died January 13, 2016, after a happy, 90-year life. Betts served as rector for 17 years at Grace Church, College Hill, and served as interim rector for 20 years at churches throughout Ohio, Idaho and Maui.

He is survived by his beloved wife of 30 years, Mary McLain, and three children, two stepchildren, five grandchildren and two stepgrandchildren.

A memorial service was held at Grace Church on January 23.

The Rev. Barbara Schlachter, former co-rector of Trinity, Troy, died Feb. 17 after battling ovarian cancer. Barbara was one of the first women to be ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in 1977 and helped to found the Episcopal Women’s Caucus, serving as its first president. In addition to her time in this diocese, she served parishes in White Plains NY, Staatsburg NY, and Cedar Rapids, IA. She served on the Church Deployment Board, was the first ordained woman to serve on the Executive Council and chaired the Committee on the Status of Women. She also was chosen by the EWC’s Angel Project to be a pastoral presence in the Diocese of Fort Worth, a diocese whose leadership opposed women’s ordination.

Barbara is survived by her husband, the Rev. Mel Schlachter, two children and two grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Feb. 22 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Iowa City.

Jackson to receive Distinguished Alumni Award

Runners and walkers gather at St. Philip's, Circleville, for the first annual Circleville Turkey Trot.

Local priest spearheads new Thanksgiving tradition

T

Getreu is hoping to make this event a tradition in Circleville. The race was very well attended, especially for the first year. The church had no set goals for the first year but hoped for about 150 participants and to raise three to five thousand dollars. Amazingly, there were approximately 260 participants, and the event raised over $8,000!

Getreu was involved in the Granville Turkey Trot (presented by St. Luke’s, Granville) for several years and watched it grow from a small crowd to a huge event raising over $100K. He hopes St. Philip’s can do the same for the community of Circleville.

Submitted by Paula Getreu

relationships

hanksgiving Day 2015 looks to be the beginning of what is intended to be a significant fund-raiser for the establishment and funding of a centralized warehouse with coordinated systems for food ordering and rendering to local pantries in Pickaway County.

The first annual Circleville Turkey Trot, spearheaded by Fr. David Getreu of St. Philip’s, Circleville, and hosted by the congregation, was a Thanksgiving Day 5K walk/run through the streets of Circleville (starting and ending at the church), complete with live turkeys!

All proceeds from the event benefitted the Food Pantry Network of Pickaway County, an initiative under the Pickaway County Hunger United Group.

The Alumni Executive Committee of The General Theological Seminary has announced that the Rev. Paula M. Jackson, Class of 1985, is the recipient of the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award. Jackson has served as rector of the Church of Our Saviour/La Iglesia de Nuestro Salvador in Cincinnati since 1990.

The award will be presented to Jackson during the next annual Alumni Gathering at General Seminary, at the Memorial Eucharist on May 10, 2016, at which she will also preach.

Congratulations, Madre Paula!

29

Roger and Nancy approaching the town of Sahagun

Pilgrimage, like life, all about the journey

W

e followed a yellow arrow for 31 days. Sometimes it was a sign or marker engraved with a scallop shell, pointing us in the right direction. We walked on natural paths, paved roads and rocky trails, crossed water on Roman bridges and stepping-stones. We trekked along vineyards and pastures, through suburbs, medieval villages and city streets. We visited cathedrals, monasteries and tiny village churches. On sabbatical last spring, we walked the Camino de Santiago.

We walked 500 miles of this centuries-old pilgrimage route, from St. Jean Pied-de-Port, France, to Santiago de Compostela, allegedly the burial place of St. James the Apostle. The “Camino Frances,” the route we took across northern Spain, is the most well known one, but there are many. A pilgrim in times past didn't fly to Madrid, take the train to Pamplona and take a taxi to St. Jean Pied de Port like we did. In medieval times, the route was out your front door!

The two of us had talked about doing this pilgrimage for years, and our “empty nest” finally made it possible last spring. We are still savoring, processing and even grieving the experience. It provides a lens through which we look at much of our life these days.

One of the biggest realizations was how little we really need. We carried everything on our backs – not much more than drinking water, a change of

A long stretch of the Camino between Najera and Santo Domingo de Calzada

relationships

and where to remain for the evening. clothes, some rain gear and a little bottle of Life at home is not nearly as simple: Our bath gel that served as soap, shampoo and respective parishes, the demands of home laundry detergent. Staying at small hotels and yard, the endless options and long along the way, we didn't have to carry camplists of things to do. The simplicity of our ing gear. Nor did we carry much food, unless life on the Camino is probably what we we knew we had a long stretch ahead. As miss most. is traditional for pilgrims, we took a stone When we finally reached Santiago, our from our garden at home to leave at the pilgrimage complete, we submitted our pilCross of Iron. We also carried a few items grim's passports, full of stamps from our that friends had given us: a couple of charms stops along the way. Having thus proved and a weightless origami peace crane, a Lego that we'd walked the whole distance, we tennis player, and a tiny book of quotations were awarded our Compostela, a Latin from folks at St. Tim’s. Traveling lightly, we certificate of completion. But, as nice as had everything we needed. it was to arrive in Santiago, it struck us We did need our fellow peregrinos (pilthat it is not the destination but the jourgrims). For starters, we had each other. ney that matters. Truth is, Santiago was Walking together all those days was a great kind of touristy, the cathedral covered in way to mark 35 years of marriage. We've scaffolding, and the famous Botafumiero been doing this for a long time: walking side Nancy’s boots following a marker out of the city of Leon (huge incense burner) wasn't swinging at by side, carrying each other’s burdens and the pilgrims’ mass the one day we were sharing joys. But there were many other there. It was all kind of anticlimactic, but pilgrims too. We met a number of folks reminded us that our life journey is not about “getting there” who were marking retirement or other transitions. Some but what we experience, what we do, and what and whom were simply tourists or said it was on their bucket list. The we love along the way.

Camino de Santiago is no longer solely a Christian pilgrimPerhaps the biggest lesson learned on the Camino was age. It is for spiritual seekers of all religions or no religions, a reminder that life itself is a journey. It includes smooth and more than a few who aren’t looking for anything but roads and bumpy places, days of dense fog and breathtaking company or simply a hike. Regardless, we were amazed at panoramic views. It is all about the journey. As our journey the depth of the bonds that were formed between us and our continues as parents, as priests, as peacemakers and as fellow travelers – some with whom we could barely carry on a conversation. Koreans, Italians, Spaniards, Germans – you friends, we find ourselves grateful for all who have been our companions on the way, and for Jesus who is always here name it, the young and the old, all were our companions with us. “Yo soy el camino, la verdad y la vida,” said Jesus. on the road. We greeted one another with the words “Buen Camino.” But beyond the words was a deep awareness of our “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” shared humanity as we shared the road.

Life was so simple. Get up.

The Rev. Nancy Hopkins-Greene serves as priest associate at Pack up. Make sure we had our Church of the Redeemer, Hyde Park. Her husband, the Rev. Roger pilgrim's passports stamped.

Greene, serves as rector of St. Timothy’s, Cincinnati.

Find a place for a cafe con leche and breakfast, and hit the road, following those yellow arrows and scallop shells. We knew exactly what we needed to do. The big daily decisions were where to stop for our second (and third, and sometimes fourth) cafe con leche, and when Check out more pictures of Nancy and Roger's pilgimage on the Camino de Santiago on Pilgrim’s our news blog, dsoConnections.org passports

31

Celebrating 85 years of ministry St. Simon of Cyrene, Lincoln Heights, will celebrate its 85th anniversary in 2016. The congregation invites you to join with them as they celebrate this milestone with an exciting and spirit-filled weekend of activities May 14-15.

The theme for the weekend is Hope is Our Anchor. On Saturday, May 14, the congregation will hold a celebratory banquet at the Doubletree Guest Suites in Sharonville from 6 to 10 p.m. Live music will be courtesy of The Muzic Company.

Tickets are $35 per person. Please RSVP by March 15.

Then on Sunday, May 15, Holy Eucharist at 10 a.m. will feature guest preacher the Rev. Canon James Francis.

St. Simon’s is located at 810 Matthews Drive in Lincoln Heights. Call 513.771.4828 for more information.

CONGREGATION SUPPORTS FLOOD VICTIMS IN TIME OF NEED After 20 continuous days of rain in Ohio last fall, flash flooding occurred throughout parts of the diocese, causing damage to over 365 homes. For the families who have lost everything, there is no government assistance or other support.

In Gallipolis, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church has engaged in responding to the families in need. The Homer Saunders family lost everything in the flood, including their home and their personal belongings. After a very difficult year of losing their son and then a car accident that caused traumatic brain injury and lesions on the brain of the wife, the Saunders lost their home when four feet of water washed through it. They do not have flood insurance, as they do not live in a flood plain.

Deacon Carolyn Cogar represented St. Peter’s at the Ohio VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) table and Diocesan Resident AJ Stack verified the congregation’s support for the Saunders family. Mother Leslie Flemming met with diocesan Disaster Task Force Chair Chris Kelsen and Disaster Coordinator Mary Bates to outline a recovery plan for the Saunders family. The family lived in their garage until their home could be repaired. With many prayers and lots of support, the Saunders family is now able to return to their home.

Long-term recovery will continue into 2016, as new floors and new walls still need to be built. God continues to bless the Saunders family and St. Peter’s, Gallipolis, as we explore the many ways of assisting those families in need.

Submitted by Mary Bates, Disaster Coordinator

Parish nurses offer series on End of Life issues The Parish Health Ministry Committee at St. Philip’s, Circleville, recently completed a five part series offering on “End of Life Issues”.

The presentations were offered every Sunday evening by nurses from St. Philip’s, as well as guest speakers. The series was open not only to members of the parish but also to surrounding churches in Circleville. Topics included: Medicare, Living Wills, Advanced Directives, DNR status, Home Care options, POA/TOD, Wills, Trusts, Long Term Health Care, Organ Donation, Funeral Arrangements, and Funeral Liturgy. A total of 110 individuals attended several or all of the programs.

Submitted by Paula Getreu

Where is your church headed?

congregations

CoCL Best Practices Conference Saturday, April 30 Procter Center

Answer this question – where exactly is your church right now? Really think about it for a moment, and be honest. Is an attachment to your church building draining church finances? Is your church active in the community or just a bit player?

Now imagine your ideal church scenario – maybe it’s pews full of engaged, excited congregants; a community of mission-oriented participants; generous, vital ministries communicating the Good News of Jesus Christ…sounds GREAT, right?

Finally, compare the reality of where you are with where you want to be. For some churches, this disparity can be sobering, if not downright scary.

The truth is that in the current atmosphere of economic uncertainty, it is vital that church leaders have a clear and decisive path into the future – but figuring out how to forge that path is anything but easy. It takes grit, determination, and the ability to “dig deep” to uncover truths in your mission, identity and sustainability, truths that are sometimes difficult to face. But you don’t have to face it alone!

The Commission on Congregational Life (CoCL) is uniquely positioned to understand your needs and “growing pains” as you seek to discover ways to enable your congregation to thrive. We want to help you discover real, solution-oriented, “outside of the box” ideas, not Band-Aids, as you seek to grow your church. Ideas like ecumenical partnerships, forging neighborhood relevance or leveraging your real estate to become income generating.

To get started, plan to attend CoCL’s Best Practices Conference, presented by the Episcopal Church Building Fund. Join us on April 30 at Procter Center for an exciting day of reimagining congregational futures. This free event is sure to direct you toward finding that path to your best outcome!

You can register for Best Practices online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/best-practices-conference-tickets-21387932883 or contact Tammie Vanoss at tvanoss@diosohio.org or 513.421.0311.

33

The gift of

W

CONNECTING

hen St. Matthew’s, Westerville, moved from their buildings – containing all of the trappings and accoutrements one might expect – they entered a time of diaspora, worshipping first in an office building and then in the historic chapel of a Presbyterian Church, before settling into worship in a pub. Parishioners packed much of the furniture, books, liturgical ware and other things, using what they needed and storing what they didn’t, hoping to use them again in the future.

All Saints, New Albany, has been on a bit of a journey itself. Worshipping first in a synagogue, then in a school cafeteria, the congregation eventually built their current worship, office and education space ten years ago.

At the time, it seemed appropriate to build and furnish the space with minimal ornamentation – and thus it remained for a decade. Following the retirement of their founding rector, the Rev. Rick McCracken-Bennett, the Rev. Jason Prati was appointed as Priest-in-Charge at All Saints. During conversations about enhancing the vision for the church, many parishioners expressed to Fr. Jason a desire to incorporate more liturgical furnishings in their worship space.

In a sermon last fall, the Rev. Joseph Kovitch, priest-in-charge at St. Matthew’s, urged the parishioners to be extravagantly generous and to give themselves away. The vestry and Fr. Joseph recognized that they had some liturgical pieces that they couldn’t use in their current gathering space and

The Revs. Joseph Kovitch and Jason Prati with one of the beautiful banners loaned

by St. Matthew’s, Westerville, to All Saints, New Albany. wondered if there was a community in need.

Cathy Bagot, Episcopal House Facilitator for St. Matthew’s, tasked with clearing out several spaces at St. Matt’s administrative, mission and ministry center known as the Pray.

Think.Love. House, came upon a collection of banners that were among the items the congregation utilized in their former worship space. Remembering that Bishop Breidenthal encourages the congregations and people of the diocese to explore and make connections, and having had a recent conversation with Fr. Jason about All Saints’ recently appointed Building and Grounds Committee, Bagot thought this seemed

like a wonderful opportunity for the community of St. Matthew’s to share a part of their history as a loan to allow these beautiful banners to adorn another congregation’s worship space.

After consulting with the church member who originally gifted the banners, Fr. Joseph and the vestry voted to share the banners as a way to create a connection with a neighbor parish. St. Matthew’s loaned three Slabink banners; depicting the baptism of Jesus, the disciples fishing and Jesus’ healing ministry, to All Saints for use in their worship space. Along with a fourth banner depicting the Holy Family purchased through the generosity of an anonymous donor at All Saints, the banners were hung the week before Christmas.

This is not the first time St. Matt’s has responded to Fr. Joseph’s encouragement to adopt extravagant generosity. Earlier in the fall they loaned 40 boxes of Catechesis of Good Shepherd material to All Saints, Pleasant Ridge, Cincinnati, for their children’s formation program.

As St. Matthew’s has begun to choose its new Episcopal path in Westerville, they have discovered a renewed mission and the strength it has always had – in the gift of hospitality and sharing of God’s blessings.

Connections and extravagant generosity indeed!

Submitted by the Rev. Jason Prati, All Saints, New Albany, and Cathy Bagot, Episcopal House facilitator for St. Matthew’s, Westerville.

Spring offerings from the

SCHOOL FOR MINISTRY Four School for Ministry courses will be offered March 11-12 at Procter Center.

COST IS $30 PER COURSE. REGISTER AT WWW.DIOSOHIO.ORG.

LIVING AS SERVANTS OF JESUS: PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL THROUGH LITURGY AND PRAYER The Rev. Jason Prati Friday, March 11, 9 to 11:30 a.m.

Manifested in the disciples’ encounter with the Risen Jesus on the journey to Emmaus, our celebration of the Eucharist unfolds for us the Life of Christ and our relationship with Him. This course will help you to live an authentic liturgical life which creates harmony between what the Liturgy celebrates and how we live and “pray it out” on our daily lives.

GENERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND WORSHIP The Rev. Stephen Smith Saturday, March 12, 1 to 3 p.m.

How are generations different from one another and how does that change the kinds of worship that speak to them? We will explore the ramifications of generational differences on the so-called “worship wars” in the church, how to bridge the gaps, and how to welcome those to whom the church has yet to speak effectively.

congregations

LIVING AS SERVANTS OF JESUS: WORKS OF MERCY AND JUSTICE The Rev. Lee Anne Reat Friday, March 11, 1 to 3 p.m.

Our post-communion prayer sends us out into the world to love and serve God. How do we carry out that ministry in ways that truly respects the dignity of every human being? This class will look at what the Bible has to say about ministries of relief, rehabilitation, and community development.

SACRAMENTAL PRESENCE IN PASTORAL VISITATION The Rev. Mary Raysa Saturday, March 12, 9 to 11:50 a.m.

This class will have two components: 1. All Christians are called to a ministry of serving others. What’s in your Pastoral Toolkit? What kinds of pastoral care experiences might you be called to — from caregiving, to surgeries, to emergencies, to end of life issues? How will YOU be prepared to answer the call?

2. The Eucharistic Visit. A special ministry carrying the Holy Sacrament to thee homebound, the infirm, and the elderly.

How do you prepare and practice the ministry of sacramental presence in extending the Body of Christ to others?

35

CONNECTIONS

The official publication of the Diocese of Southern Ohio www.diosohio.org

The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, Publisher David Dreisbach, Art director Julie Murray, Editor Amy Svihlik, Designer Dave Caudill, Copy editor

Submissions: Connections encourages the submission of articles and pictures. We reserve the right to edit material offered for publication. All submissions must include name, phone and email address for verification.

Send submissions to communication@diosohio.org.

Next deadline: April 1

Connections (USPS 020933) is published bimonthly by the Diocese of Southern Ohio, 412 Sycamore St., Cincinnati, OH 452024179. Periodical postage paid at Cincinnati, OH. This publication is sent to all members of Episcopal congregations in the Diocese of Southern Ohio and is funded by mission share payments to the diocesan operating budget.

Other subscriptions are $10 annually.

POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to Connections, 412 Sycamore St., Cincinnati, OH 45202-4179.