September 2017 Connections by Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio

Tradition does not mean to look after the ash, but to keep the flame alive. ~ Jean Jaures

Being Episcopalian 101 I am a lifelong Episcopalian. I say lifelong, because between you and me, I detest the term “cradle” Episcopalian. First of all, I’m not aware of any other denomination that uses it. It sounds so pretentious, like my Episcopalianism was somehow bestowed upon me on my birth, like a royal title or a birthright. Yes, I was born to an Episcopalian, but I like to think that the fact that I still am one as an adult is on me, not on some inherent gift. Secondly, most people of a certain age were born a “cradle” something, right? OK, so you were “born” Presbyterian, but what have you been doing since then? I prefer the term lifelong because I remain an Episcopalian. Because I choose to be a part of this church, still. OK, enough with the terminology. Being Episcopalian – what does it mean? What is it about this particular expression of Christian faith that draws us in? I’ll have to admit, being born into the faith sometimes makes it a little difficult for me to understand. I’m a tiny bit jealous when someone shares with me how he or she found the Episcopal Church as an adult – that the liturgy, or the music, or the cycle of the liturgical year, or whatever, was just what they were searching for. I’ve never felt that way about any of these things – it was always just “church” to me. (And truth be told, I’m not a big fan of some of the pageantry and processing.) But I do realize with appreciation that the church that I was fortunate to grow up in and didn’t have to search for provides for me a place to worship God and practice my faith along with all my doubts and all my questions. Where I can agree to disagree with something

someone else in my church believes, and we can still both be faithful Episcopalians. And where my priest can be a girl and I can support ordination of my LGBTQ friends and not be labeled a heretic. For this issue, we’ve assembled a simplified Episcopal Church primer, to attempt to delve into what makes us – us. There’s a little history, a little terminology, a little dogma and doctrine, all alongside some beautiful stories and thoughtful reflections. Whether you came to the Episcopal Church with your spouse and stayed for the coffee, or you've found here just what you were searching for, I hope that it helps you to better understand the faithful community that you have chosen to become a part of. And if you’re a cra- I mean lifelong – Episcopalian like me, you may be tempted to skip reading this issue, but I really hope you don’t. Even if you don’t learn anything new (and I’m betting you will), I hope that reading the stories and reflections, and looking over this synopsis of our common faith will awaken an appreciation for the faith community you have chosen to remain a part of. Feel free to share a copy with someone who hasn’t found us yet – it may help them find just what they are searching for. (If you need extras, shoot me an email. We’ll be happy to send them along.) Connections editor Julie Murray serves as Associate Director of Communications for the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Contact her at jmurray@diosohio.org. 3

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Tradition

What to pass on and what to let go his edition of Connections is about tradition. We can think of tradition as something to cling to, or as something that holds us back. But from the perspective of the church, tradition is a living stream that relates us to our Christian forbears and steadies us for what lies ahead. Literally, tradition means what is handed on. This is a process we all participate in, as we deliver what we have learned as followers of Jesus to those who

are going to take our place in the future. This is a tricky project in a world that is changing so quickly. The church no longer enjoys automatic credibility in the public realm, and is itself changing so quickly that it is hard to know what to pass on and what to let die on our watch. And even the truths we wish to convey may require a fresh look and a new approach. Here are three traditions that run deep in our church, each of which merits renewed attention.

The Book of Common Prayer As the Episcopal Church begins to contemplate a revision of its Prayer Book, it is worth considering why our tradition values an element of uniformity in its worship. In some ways uniformity goes against the grain of American culture, with all its emphasis on individualism and autonomy. But Anglicanism has always insisted that following Jesus entails the acceptance of life together in Christ, even when we disagree. That’s why the breaking away of certain groups of Episcopalians over the ordination of women and, most recently, the ordination of openly LGBTQ persons, was so shocking. Many of us thought that our commitment to a common life would be stronger than the temptation to jump ship. I admire the bishops in our midst who have not agreed with these changes but have not left. At our best, we are a church that maintains unity even when unity is strained. I serve on the church’s Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music, which has been charged with considering possible paths toward a revision of the Prayer Book. In that capacity I have received a lot of email expressing fear that a church wide dialogue about revision will simply fuel more division. That is an understandable fear, but I believe our tradition’s grounding in common prayer (and to fellowship especially in disagreement) means we can debate how we worship, and in so doing can revitalize our commitment to common prayer.

Apostolic Succession This is a teaching central to Anglicanism, but seldom spoken of these days. According to this teaching, duly consecrated bishops maintain an unbroken line of descent from the apostles. What does this really mean? It is hard to say whether bishops constituted a distinct order of ministry to begin with. “Bishop” (in Greek, episkopos) simply means overseer or supervisor, and in the New Testament episkopos and presbyter (Greek for the elder, from which we get the word “priest”) seem to be interchangeable terms. But by the second century episcopacy had emerged as a distinct ministry of care for all the ministries of the local flock. Then, as the church continued to spread rapidly across the Roman Empire and beyond, bishops came to be seen as a link between the local church and the wider body. Thus, apart from their role as leaders in the local community, they were expected to embody the local community’s connection to the universal church and thus its fidelity to the Gospel. So the office of bishop became associated with guardianship of the faith and the preservation of Christian unity. This is why, very early on, it required three bishops to

ordain a new bishop: this rule helped to ensure that the new bishop was accountable to something larger than the local diocese. (To this day this is true.) The idea was that, if a bishop were ordained in a way that was accountable to the larger church, it would ensure continuity of sound teaching and the strengthening of bonds across regional divides. This was the whole point of “apostolic succession,” as it came to be called: a church committed to being connected to its origins and therefore accountable to the whole body of Christ. This is what being Episcopalian is all about: not being special, not being separate, but being about the unity that all Christians are called to in Jesus Christ.

The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral In 1886 the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church wrote an open letter to all Christians, professing their willingness to unite with them, forsaking all denominational traditions if these four principles (which they considered to be essential to the Christian tradition) were adhered to: (a) the authority of the Old and New Testaments; (b) the Nicene Creed; (c) baptism and holy Eucharist and (d) the historic episcopate, as locally adapted. This statement was affirmed two years later by the Lambeth Conference (a worldwide meeting of Anglican bishops convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury). Both documents are printed in the Book of Common Prayer, pp. 876-878. This courageous and visionary call to unity is a prime example of what it means to be truly traditional. On the one hand, we must be clear about what has been handed down to us, and out of that treasure, what is essential and what is not. That is to say, we must be fierce guardians of absolute truth, and willing forsakers of what is not absolute, even if it means shedding cherished parts of our identity. That is scary and hard. It is no wonder that we have not yet been able to follow through with what we said in 1886. The difficulty is not simply our fear of loss if we open ourselves fully to traditions that differ from our own. It is also our perennial hesitancy to claim the traditions and teachings that bind us most deeply to Jesus and to the universal church. The authors of the Chicago-Lambeth quadrilateral dove deep for their own time, naming the core of the Christian tradition as they saw it. Can we do the same? On that bedrock we can dare to change.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal serves as Bishop of Southern Ohio. You can contact him at tbreidenthal@diosohio.org.

Episcopal/Episcopalian episcopal = adjective Episcopalian = noun

Wrong: Tom and Betty go to the Episcopalian Church. Correct: Tom and Betty are Episcopalians. They attend an Episcopal Church. The word “episcopal” refers to governance by bishops. The historic episcopate (bishops) continues the work of the first apostles in the Church: guarding the faith, unity and discipline of the Church, and ordaining men and women to continue Christ’s ministry. An Episcopalian is a person who belongs to The Episcopal Church, which encompasses churches in the United States and 16 countries. These include: Taiwan, Micronesia, Honduras, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Churches in Europe (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland). The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, an international association composed of over 80 million people in 44 regional or national churches in more than 160 countries, all in full communion with the Church of England and, more specifically, with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Sources:

“Questions & Answers About the Episcopal Church,” The Rev. Winfred B. Vergara, episcopalchurch.org. Episcopal Beliefs, The Diocese of Texas, www.epicenter.org. “e-pis-co-pal lan-guage: Defining Church Terms,” The Rev. Gene Britton, Forward Movement Publications, 2001.

Did you know?

The full legal, corporate name of the Episcopal Church is the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. When the church was incorporated in 1821 the full legal name was the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, but it was changed when the church became international.

Emblems of the Episcopal Church On Oct. 16, 1940, the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies adopted an official flag for the Episcopal Church. This was the 251st anniversary of the day the General Convention ratified the Constitution and Canons and adopted the Book of Common Prayer. The flag was designed by William M. Baldwin, a member of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Long Island, New York.

Sources: http://archive.episcopalchurch.org/ 109399_14290_ENG_HTM.htm

The same design is incorporated in the Episcopal Church seal, which was also adopted by the 1940 General Convention. The seal and flag serve as emblems of the Episcopal Church. The design is seen on signs, publications, decals, letterheads, pins, and many other places. Some congregations display the Episcopal Church flag and the American flag in the church or parish hall.Â

A brief history of the Episcopal Church The beginnings of the Church of England, from which The Episcopal Church derives, date to at least the second century, when merchants and other travelers first brought Christianity to England. It is customary to regard St. Augustine of Canterbury's mission to England in 597 as marking the formal beginning of the church under papal authority, as it was to be throughout the Middle Ages. In its modern form, the church dates from the English Reformation of the 16th century, when royal supremacy was established and the authority of the papacy was repudiated. With the advent of British colonization, the Church of England was established on every continent. In time, these churches gained their independence, but retained connections with the mother church in the Anglican Communion. In 1789, after the American Revolution, an assembly met in Philadelphia to unify all Anglicans in the United States into a single national church. A constitution was adopted along with a set of canonical laws, and the English Book of Common Prayer of 1662 was revised, principally by removing the prayer for the English monarch. Samuel Seabury was ordained in Scotland as the first American bishop.

1517: Martin Luther publishes 95 Theses, sparking the Protestant Reformation.

1549: The first Book of Common Prayer is approved, with Thomas Cranmer as principal author.

1559: The third Book of Common Prayer is approved. Puritans protest. 1563: The ThirtyNine Articles are prepared; they are approved by Parliament in 1571.

1521: Pope designates Henry VIII "Defender of the Faith." English monarchs to this day retain the title. 1529-36: Henry VIII and Parliament take over the administration of the Church in England.

1553: Mary becomes Queen, restores Roman Catholicism, and burns Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley at the stake. 1558: Elizabeth I becomes Queen upon Mary's death and re-establishes

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson serve on vestries.

the Church of England, with the English monarch as its highest earthly authority.

1579: The first English-language Communion service is held in the Western Hemisphere (California) by Sir Francis Drake's chaplain. 1603: Elizabeth I dies at age 70; James I, of Scotland becomes king and authorizes

a new translation of the Bible. 1607: The Church of England is established in the first permanent English-speaking settlement in the New World, Jamestown, Virginia. 1611: King James Version of the Bible is published. 1620: Pilgrims (Puritan religious refugees) land at Plymouth Rock. 1662: The

fourth Book of Common Prayer is approved, which is still in use by the Church of England. 16071785: The Church of England in New World is overseen by the Bishop of London. The vestry system develops. Clergy are paid from taxes.

1776: The Declaration of Independence is signed. Most Anglican clergy, who have sworn loyalty to the King in their ordinations, stay loyal.

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1783: The Treaty of Paris ends the Revolutionary War.

1784: Samuel Seabury of Connecticut is consecrated the first overseas Anglican bishop by Scottish non-juring bishops, after being elected in Connecticut and rejected by Church of England bishops, who, legally, could not ordain him. Seabury promised to use the Scottish 1764 Communion service, based on the Eastern Orthodox service. 1785: The First General Convention of the Episcopal Church is held, with clergy and lay representatives from Delaware, New

York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. The General Convention authorizes the preparation of an American Prayer Book and names itself the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. 1786: The proposed American Book of Common Prayer is approved for use on a stateby-state basis. 1787: Samuel Provoost of New York and William White of Philadelphia are consecrated bishops by the Church of England. The second General Convention adopts basically the present Episcopal Church structure. A revised Book of Common Prayer, prepared by White, is adopted; this version of the Book of Common Prayer is based on the 1662 Prayer Book with the exception of the 1764 Scottish Communion Service.

1804: Absalom Jones is ordained the first black priest in the Episcopal Church. 1833: The Oxford Movement (AngloCatholic) begins in England. In the following decades, many new Religious Orders (i.e., monastic communities) were formed. 1861-65: During the American Civil War, Southern Episcopal dioceses join the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Confederate States of America, but are welcomed back after war ends. Other denominations experience long term (100+ years) splits. 1885: The House of Bishops adopts the Chicago Quadrilateral. General Convention approves the Quadrilateral in 1886. 1888: The Lambeth

Conference of Anglican bishops adopts the ChicagoLambeth Quadrilateral. 1919: The National Council (now the Executive Council) is established by General Convention. The Office of the Presiding Bishop is established to oversee national church programs.

1928: The revised Book of Common Prayer includes language updates and a new translation of Psalms. “Love, honor, and obey” is dropped from the bride’s vows in the service of Holy Matrimony. 1940: A new Hymnal is approved. 1944: Henry St. George Tucker

becomes the Episcopal Church’s first fulltime Presiding Bishop. 1970: The first authorized women members join the House of Deputies. 1974: The first eleven women are ordained to priesthood in an “irregular” service in Philadelphia. 1976: General Convention approves the ordination of women, and “regularizes” 1974-75 ordinations. First reading on new Prayer Book. 1979: Second reading approves new (present) Book of Common Prayer. 1982: A new Hymnal is approved. 1989: Barbara Harris is consecrated the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion. 2006: Katharine Jefferts Schori of Nevada

is elected the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church for a 9-year term. She is the first and only woman to be a church wide leader in the Anglican Communion. 2012: The Episcopal Church approves the trial use of an official liturgy to bless same-sex couples and their unions.

2015: The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry was installed as the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church on November 1, 2015. Source: “History of the Episcopal Church,” Copyright 1999, Diocese of Oregon. www. episcopalchurch. org/page/ history-episcopal-church

The Book of Common Prayer he Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is unquestionably a central part of our Anglican tradition. But why? It is worth looking at the three parts of the title of the book itself for some illumination: book, common, and prayer. Â

Book

Â Back in 1549, when the first Book of Common Prayer was published, it was a technological revolution. Printed books themselves were still pretty novel, but the real innovation here was in this book as a collection of liturgies. Before that first BCP, to celebrate Sunday services, the priest would need a whole stack of volumes (probably hand copied). In the BCP, Thomas Cranmer and colleagues consolidated a host of material into

one place. Because this was a printed book and not a manuscript, it was also relatively affordable. That's not all though. Now the people of the church had the same book as the priests of the church. Anyone who could read English could follow along and see all the prayers. Anyone who wanted to look up the readings of the prayers for a particular day could do so. Putting the liturgies into a book was a big part of the English reformation, as now the scripture and the prayers of the church were open and accessible to all.

Common

Before the first BCP, there were lots of different liturgies in use in England. With the BCP, the whole church began to use the same prayers. Thus the language of prayer became one of the ways the church was bound together. Even today, the English BCP is still the official prayer book of tens of millions of Anglicans all over the world. But even when people aren’t praying words of merry olde England, we Anglicans are offering our prayers in ways that are shared across cultures and nations. An Anglican visitor who showed up at your church in Ohio on a Sunday morning – even someone from Rwanda, Hong Kong, Scotland, or Argentina – would immediately recognize our worship, even if they didn’t know the particular prayers or even the language. Some years ago, I attended an Ash Wednesday service in Dar es Salaam, and I was able to worship with my whole heart even though I didn’t understand a word of the Swahili prayers. “Common” also has another dimension. In the Episcopal Church, we all use the same prayers, no matter our church’s size or style. While there are lots of ways our common prayer allows us to be creative, there are also some limits. This keeps one priest from making a local church so idiosyncratic that its members would no longer feel at home in another congregation. This also means that local churches do not edit our prayers, possibly taking the church outside the boundaries of our shared Christian faith.

One last aspect of “common” is that the BCP binds us together across time as well. While many of our prayers were composed especially for our current (1979) book, many others are quite ancient. And the entire book is infused with scripture.

Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer is not just for the professionals. It is a book for every Anglican, or any Christian who wants to conform her or his life to sacramental outlook of the prayer book. While our Sunday services are included in the prayer book, there is also much more. Starting on page 136, you can find wonderful one-page devotions for individuals and families, simple prayers that could bind a household together in prayer. Page 814 marks the beginning of a whole section of lovely prayers for many occasions, including those times when we want to talk to God, but we can’t quite figure out how to form the words. There are lots of other gems in the prayer book, so I encourage you to go exploring. If you do not own a prayer book for your home, I invite you to get your own copy. You can get travel sizes or large print or whatever you need. You can certainly find the entire book online (www.bcponline.org), but there is something particularly satisfying about opening the pages of prayer book and searching for treasure. It won’t take you long to find wonderful prayers.

The Rev. Canon Scott Gunn serves as Executive Director for Forward Movement, and as one-half of the Supreme Executive Committee of Lent Madness. Contact Scott at sgunn@forwardmovement.org. And if you’re not familiar with Lent Madness, check it out at lentmadness.org.

A memoir:

Being black in the Episcopal Church

My first exposure to the Episcopal Church was in 1954 when I first moved to Lincoln Heights outside Cincinnati, along with my dad and two brothers. The city prided itself as being one of the few all black cities in the country, having a black mayor, city council, police and fire chiefs and other municipal workers.

Historical image courtesy of St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal Church.

My best friend at the time was William “Billy” Schooler. Billy’s family were members of St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal Church in Lincoln Heights. The church was founded by the Sisters of the Transfiguration, an order of nuns affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The nuns and the church operated a school K through 8th grade at the time. (Later, when my youngest son became of school age in the early 60s, his mother and I enrolled him in the school and became involved in the Parents and Teachers committee there.) St Simon’s rector, the Rev. James ”Jim” Francis, was also the headmaster of the school. He was a community activist and allowed the church to be used as a meeting place for those of us who were engaged in the civil rights struggle and who embraced the “Black Power” philosophy that was prevalent at the time. As a child growing up in Louisville, Sunday church services were an all-day affair. My family were members of Lincoln Heights Baptist Church, which was not as active early on in the civil rights movement. I taught Sunday school there for a while. But as I got older the style of worship and the length of the services became less appealing to me. I began to attend early Mass at St. Simon with Billy Schooler on occasion and liked the idea of being through with church by 9 a.m. on Sundays. And there were no evening services! When I was grown with my own young family, I liked that I could get church out of the way early and have the rest of the day to enjoy for rest and recreation. At some point, Jim Francis and I began to talk about taking the Catechism classes in preparation to become a member of the Episcopal Church. As soon as I became a member, he appointed me to serve on the Long-Range Planning Committee of the parish. The diocese had just instituted a series of weekend training events for team members, and thus was my first introduction to the Procter Conference Center. Following the riots throughout the country in 1968, the bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio, the Rt. Rev. Roger Blanchard, moved his office to Cincinnati City Hall to lead a dialogue among city leaders on the issues of race relations. Informal conversations began to take place among white and black Episcopalians on the church’s role in addressing the problem of racism in the church and society.

In 1971 the Diocesan Convention, under the leadership of Bishop Krumm, adopted a resolution to engage in a process of Action Research and to retain a consulting firm to assist the Institutional Racism Research Team in this work. Jim Francis submitted my name to the bishop to serve on the team, which consisted of black and white representatives from across the diocese. This experience was quite empowering. I was the youngest person on the committee. The project consisted of several phases of action research modality that looked at the policies and practices of the diocese to identify acts of racism and to come up with recommendations to rectify the situation and take corrective measures. One of the findings of the Institutional Racism Project was that there was no black program staff person in the diocese – the staff was all white. A recommendation from the team led to Bishop Krumm hiring the Rev. Lorentho Wooden as Community Affairs Officer, the first black priest on diocesan staff. This was also a time that a few black activists in the diocese began to self-organize as the Black Caucus of the diocese. The Rev. Bartlett Cochran, rector of St. Margaret’s, Dayton, was the convener. Father Cochran had served as rector of St. Margaret’s under Bishop Hobson. The story goes that the father of our current Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev Michael Curry, who was also an ordained priest, came to meet with the then Bishop Hobson inquiring about a position as priest in the diocese. Bishop Hobson’s reply to Father Curry was, “I don’t know what I can do with you – I already have one boy in the diocese.”(referring to Father Cochran) I tell that story because I am so proud and grateful to this diocese to have come from such depths of the sin of racism in our midst to the strides we have taken over the years on this journey toward wholeness and freedom for all of God’s children. Looking back, I have had the opportunity to be mentored by some outstanding clergy and lay persons, male and female, in this diocese. To God give the glory. John Harris is a member of St. Simon of Cyrene, Lincoln Heights. He previously served as diocesan treasurer for several years.

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Episcopal beliefs We believe: The Holy Scriptures are the revealed word of God, which inspired the human authors of the Scripture, and which are interpreted by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Nicene Creed (BCP, p. 358) and the Apostles’ Creed (BCP, p.96) are the basic statements of our belief about God. (The Apostles’ Creed is the ancient creed of baptism and is used in the church's daily worship to recall our Baptismal Covenant. The Nicene Creed is the creed of the universal church and is used at the Eucharist.) The two great sacraments given by Christ to the Church are Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. The teachings and beliefs of the Episcopal Church are articulated in an "Outline of the Faith" in our Book of Common Prayer (p. 846) The Episcopal Church follows the “via media” or middle way in our theology and discussions because we believe that, whether or not we agree on a particular topic, we all are beloved by God and can have thoughtful and respectful discussions. The Episcopal Church celebrates diversity of people and worship styles, yet all worship follows the form set out in the Book of Common Prayer. We are known for our engaging and beautiful worship services. We honor tradition and strive to live by the example of Jesus Christ, welcoming the stranger and the outcast, helping our neighbors and offering love and forgiveness.

Sources: Episcopal Beliefs, The Episcopal Diocese of Texas http://epicenter.org “Questions & Answers About the Episcopal Church,” The Rev. Winfred B. Vergara, http://episcopalchurch.org.

Scripture, tradition and reason: A three-legged stool In Anglicanism, and in the Episcopal Church, the cornerstones of our faith and sources of authority are scripture, tradition and reason. The balance between each of these three sources is often characterized as a three-legged stool – a concept attributed to Anglican theologian Richard Hooker (15541600). A stool with three legs will collapse if any one of the legs is not equal with the others. And so it is with the balance between scripture, tradition and reason in church doctrine. Because they are held as equal in authority, each of these sources needs to be interpreted in context with the other two.

Scripture

Scripture is the word of God contained in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The 39 books of the Old Testament contain the story of God’s love from the time of creation to the birth of his son, Jesus Christ. The books contain God’s laws as He gave them to the Hebrew people. The New Testament contains Christ’s teachings, the accounts of his life as told by his followers and the beginning of his Church. It is written in 27 books. Within an Episcopal worship service, Scripture is read in the lessons, the Gospel (the teachings of Jesus), the Psalms (poems from the Old Testament) and other prayers. Additionally, 2/3 of our guide to worship, the Book of Common Prayer, comes directly from the Old and New Testaments.

Tradition

We are not Christians in isolation but are part of a living faith that spans 2000 years. Tradition is the embodiment of our experience as Christians throughout the centuries. The heart of our tradition is expressed through the Bible, the Creeds (statements of faith, written in the first centuries of the Church’s existence), the Sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism and the ordained ministry passed on by Christ to his Church. (Apostolic succession). Our tradition is expressed with many voices, among which are a variety of worship styles, languages, cultures, architecture and music. Our tradition encourages this diversity. We seek to value the life and story each person brings to the community of faith. As in a multi-textured tapestry, each person’s offering is woven into the life of the whole, making it stronger and more beautiful.

Reason

Each one of us, with God’s help, makes a decision about how we use tradition and Scripture in our lives. A personal relationship with God allows us to realize and celebrate our lives to the fullest. The gift of reason, as a complement to Scripture and tradition, leads us to seek answers to our own questions and to grow spiritually. Being active in a community of faith strengthens us to carry our faith into the world. Weaving Scripture, tradition and reason together, we strengthen our faith and grow as children of God.

Sources: “Authority, Sources of (in Anglicanism),” http://episcopalchurch.org Episcopal Diocese of Texas, http://epicenter.org

Street Church

a traditional way to worship in an untraditional place

ou might be tempted to label St. John’s Street Church as just another outreach program for the poor. But simply calling it an outreach program doesn’t capture the essence of what is going on each week at the corner of W. Broad Street and Central Avenue in Columbus. Street Church certainly does minister to the homeless, but it’s also a very real congregation. It’s just like any other congregation that holds a second service on Sundays. Only instead of holding the service in a Nave, they take the service out of the church and into the neighborhood. Street Church held its first service on Easter in

2006 and has held services every Sunday ever since. Immediately following the 10:30 a.m. service at St. John’s, the congregation, along with Lee Anne Reat (Vicar) Craig Foster (Deacon) and Meribah Mansfield (Deacon), start loading up cars with everything they need for their second service. The people who attend Street Church are predominantly poor and homeless, yet there is a dedicated group of parishioners who attend week after week regardless of snow, rain, heat and illness. Of course, there are people who come and go as with any other congregation, but Street Church has people who have faithfully worshiped with them for years. Bishop

standing. This Breidenthal is a congregaobserved that there tion united by were people in God and by attendance at his their shared most recent visitastruggles of tion in 2017 whom everyday life. he remembered The line from his very first between “us” visitation there 10 and “them” that years earlier. is often difficult On any given to erase in the Sunday, Street best-intentioned Church draws 40 congregations is to 150 people from nonexistent at the community. Street Church. It After the service is very easy for is over, a healthy me to imagine lunch is provided Jesus being in to everyone. St. Longtime Street Church parishioner Edie looks forward to Bishop Breidenthal's yearly visit, and attendance at John’s strives to marks the occasion by dyeing her hair purple. Photos by David Dreisbach Street Church. model health and You know when you are there that you are standing on holy wellness, both spiritually and physically, so only healthy food ground. choices are offered at their gatherings. This is one way they For those of us who have been fortunate enough to visit are helping to reduce the devastatingly high rate of diabetes, Street Church, the experience is a graceful and beautiful high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity in their neighreminder that there is no “us and them.” There is only “us.” borhood. Three other area churches help St. John’s with the lunch; St. Mark’s, Upper Arlington, Liberty Presbyterian in Powell, and New Life Church in Grove City. At first glance, one might assume that they have such reguDavid Dreisbach serves as Director of lar attendance at their services because of the free meal that Communications for the Diocese of Southern follows each service, however that truly doesn’t seem to be the Ohio. Contact him at ddreisbach@diosohio.org. case. Bishop Price tells the story of being there on one Sunday that was bitterly cold. He offered to just do prayers and skip the Eucharist so everyone could eat and get out of the cold more quickly. He was surprised to find that the unanimous response was, “No! We want the whole service and we want to take communion.” As Lee Anne Reat said, “The minor discomfort of winter weather was nothing compared to the healing power of Eucharist.” Street Church brings multi-faceted healing to the hurting people in their community. When you worship at Street Church, you can’t help but think to yourself, “This is the way Christians were meant to worship.” A neighborhood church. Not a church where people in the neighborhood can go, but a church that goes straight to the people in the neighborhood. Worshiping together. Crying together. Grieving together. Laughing together. Eating together. The Sunday I went to Street Church, people were grieving over the death of a beloved member who had just lost his battle with substance abuse. There was no judgment; just grief, love and under-

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Episcopal vestments and symbols Mitre

A mitre is probably the piece of clothing most often associated with bishops. If you have seen a chess set, you'll know that even the chess pieces called bishops are topped off with mitres. Although there is some dispute about how longstanding the tradition is (some people claim it is from the time of the apostles!) there is no question that mitres have been worn by bishops for at least 1,000 years. Mitres are usually white, gold, or red, sometimes quite beautifully embroidered, and have two tails called â&#x20AC;&#x153;lappetsâ&#x20AC;? that fall from the back. The shape of the mitre is supposed to represent the tongues of fire that rested on the heads of the disciples gathered in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost, when God sent the Holy Spirit to the Church. A bishop receives a mitre during his or her ordination as a bishop, when the Holy Spirit comes to the new bishop in the same way that the Holy Spirit came to the first disciples. You will notice that, during church services, bishops take their mitres on and off, depending on what is happening in the liturgy. For instance, the bishop always removes the mitre when offering prayer to God.

Rochet and chimere

A rochet is a vestment of white linen or similar material and is generally used only by bishops. It has long sleeves that often end in ruffles or pleated cuffs. It usually is worn under a chimere. The chimere is a robe without sleeves worn over a rochet or alb. Traditionally black, in recent time bishops usually wear red. It typically is not worn with a chasuble or cope. Bishop Breidenthal, at his 2007 consecration, with a mitre, cope and crozier.

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Chasuble

A sleeveless outer vestment worn by the celebrant during the Eucharist, the chasuble may be oval or oblong with an opening for the head. It typically reflects the liturgical color of the day. The chasuble and cope are both derived from the outdoor cloak worn by all classes and sexes in the Greco-Roman world. Chasubles vary widely in fabric and style, from plain cloth to elaborate designs.

Cope

A cope is a ceremonial cloak â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or cape â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that is semicircular, richly ornamented, with a clasp in front and a hood in back. It is worn over the alb and stole. The shape is derived from the outdoor overcoat worn in the Roman empire. The presider usually wears a cope at non-Eucharistic liturgies in place of the chasuble. He or she may wear a cope at the Eucharist during the entrance procession and even during the liturgy of the word. Bishops sometimes wear it when performing Episcopal functions such as ordinations and confirmations. Bishops, priests, deacons, cantors and others may also wear a cope.

Crozier

Episcopal ring

Since the Middle Ages, new bishops have received episcopal rings at their ordination as a sign of the office. It can be a signet ring, with the seal of the diocese inscribed in the metal or stone of the ring. The ring then can be used on official documents that call for the bishop to affix a seal in sealing wax. Modern Episcopal rings are often made of gold and ornamented with the purple gem, amethyst. The Episcopal ring is usually worn on the ring finger of the bishop's right hand.

Pectoral cross

The crozier is one of the symbols of the governing A pectoral cross, typically made of silver or gold, was office of the bishop. Many see the crozier as symbolic used by the pope in the 13th century and came into of a shepherd's crook, so it serves as a reminder that a general use by bishops in the 16th century. The cross bishop is the shepherd of God's flock. In the Episcopal is suspended by a chain around the neck and usually Church, the croziers often have curved or hooked tops. hangs at about the breastbone or pectoral muscles of Some people say the shape of the pointy end of the cro- the wearer. Some pectoral crosses are adorned with zier is a reminder for a bishop to encourage the flock jewels. to follow the right path and the crook is to help those who have strayed return. This article is reprinted from Interchange, May 2007.

Newly ordained priests Maggie Foote, Maggie Leidheiser-Stoddard and Kevin Beesley with Bishop Breidenthal. All are wearing chasibles over a white alb.

Tradition, yes. But is it effective? 20

There is one question I ask myself in relation to tradition: Is it effective? In high school and college I worked in a local department store in Huntington, West Virginia. I learned and had to implement many traditions. One of these traditions never made much sense: No one sits when you are working. There are no chairs allowed. Even if there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a single customer in the whole store, no employee sat down.

Is it effective for the rector/vicar to run a vestry meeting? It is certainly our tradition. It is canonical. But is it effective? Does it empower lay people in the decision-making process of their church?

I was young. My feet and body could handle it. But the older men and women took a beating from this tradition. I understood its point. When a customer came to your counter or department, your job was to help them, not sit on a chair and point at the merchandise. (I know this story dates me because now it is hard to even find a clerk in a department store.) But I wondered why, at least for the older folks working in the store, they couldn’t have a chair as long as they got up when there was a customer. It would allow them to work longer and with less physical discomfort. Overall it would seem to be more effective. I worked in the store long enough to see this change happen, but on a very limited basis. Yet the tradition of no sitting down remained the norm. It took me a long time to apply the same logic to the church. Is it effective for the rector/vicar to run a vestry meeting? It is certainly our tradition. It is canonical. But is it effective? Does it empower lay people in the decision-making process of their church? I don’t find many people asking this question. Is it effective for the church office to be staffed and open every weekday? Does it bring new people into the church? Does it help connect the church to the community? Do the members of the church make use of it or is most of what happens in the office done through e-mail and phone? Limited budgets should be leading churches to wonder if there is a more effective way. Is it effective to use only the liturgy in the BCP in worship? It is canonical. But is it effective? At the Bible Buds, a gathering of Episcopal clergy in Columbus where we talk about the scriptures for the upcoming Sunday, I tried an experiment in regard to the collect for Trinity Sunday. We began by reading the collect for Trinity from the BCP (p. 176 or 228). Then I asked if I could read another collect for Trinity Sunday:

Most blessed Trinity, the Lover, the Beloved, and the Love that exists between them: May we so share in your divine dance, that our lives may be for ever entwined with you, both now and for ever. AMEN.

The group immediately asked where it came from. I replied that it was from Women’s Uncommon Prayers. I could see some interest and some skepticism on the faces around me. Some people are attracted to new things and ready to experiment with tradition and other people are skeptical of new things and hold tighter to tradition. I asked them which collect they thought was more effective. Most thought the one above was more effective than the BCP but would hesitate to use it because it is not authorized. Then I said, “Though it is in a book written in the 1980s, it is not modern. It was written by St. Augustine in the 4th century.” So it is traditional, but not contained in our more narrow tradition. Tradition is larger than what is in the BCP. In worship, we Episcopalians – lay and clergy –have often opted to think that what is effective is just implementing The Book. And when people do not connect to what we are doing or why we are doing it, we wring our hands and wonder what is wrong with them. Is it effective? Asking the question, evaluating our ministry from this viewpoint, works whether you hold tight or loose to tradition. It also implies that we will spend some time evaluating our mission and ministry and have the courage to change what is not effective. The Rev. Dr. George Glazier serves as Priest-in-charge at Trinity, London.

Bishop Krumm ordains Doris Mote to the priesthood.

The ordination of the "Philadelphia Eleven"

Ordination of women

The Episcopal Church first authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate at the 1976 General Convention, but the women’s ordination movement in the Episcopal Church can be traced back to the 1850s, when women were first set apart as deaconesses in several dioceses. However, deaconesses were not recognized as “in holy orders” for more than 100 years, in 1970. Although a resolution to allow ordination of women to the priesthood narrowly failed at the 1973 General Convention, sentiment for women to be ordained continued to grow throughout the country, and in 1974, 11 women were “irregularly” ordained as priests by three retired bishops in Philadelphia, PA. The resolution making women eligible for ordination in all three clergy orders was approved in Minneapolis on September 16, 1976. In the Diocese of Southern Ohio, Doris Ellen Mote was the first woman ordained to the priesthood. Ordained to the diaconate in June 1974, Mote was ordained to the priesthood on January 29, 1977 by Bishop John Krumm. She served as an Assistant at Christ Church, Dayton from 1975-79. Other early ordinations include: • Rona Robertine Harding, ordained as

deacon 5/7/77 and priest 11/18/77. Served as Chaplain, United Campus Ministry in Oxford, 1975-80. • Susan C. Lehman, ordained as deacon 5/28/77 and priest 11/30/77. Served as an Associate at Christ Church, Glendale 1977-80, and Vicar at Holy Spirit, Cincinnati 1978-82. • Noel Julnes-Dehner, ordained as deacon 5/26/78 and priest 6/24/79. She was the first women to serve on the staff at Christ Church, Cincinnati (now Christ Church Cathedral) • Mary Chotard Doll, ordained as deacon 6/14/78 and priest 4/7/79. Served as Assistant at St. George, Dayton 1978-80 and Rector at Calvary, Cincinnati, 198089. • Karen Lynn Eversman, ordained as deacon 11/25/78 and priest 11/4/79. She served at Grace Church, Cincinnati 1978-80, and as Associate at St. Peter, Delaware, 1980-83. Throughout the late 70s, more women were being ordained in Southern Ohio but none were being called to lead congregations. Bishop Krumm, a great supporter of women’s ordination, called for a policy diocesan-wide that required congregations to interview at least two female candidates

before calling a new rector or vicar. The first women called to lead Southern Ohio congregations were Susan Lehman, appointed as Vicar at Holy Spirit, Cincinnati, in 1978 and Mary Chotard Doll, elected as Rector of Calvary Cincinnati in 1980. Slowly, more followed. Elizabeth Lilly was appointed Vicar (Deacon) of St. David’s, Vandalia, in 1982. In 1983 she was appointed Vicar (Priest) of Church of the Good Shepherd, Norwood. In 1983, Jane Todd Gurry was called and elected as Rector of Church of Our Saviour, Cincinnati, M. Sue Reid was elected Rector of Church of St. Edward’s, Whitehall, and Anne Wilson Robbins was elected Rector of St. David’s, Vandalia. Anne Warrington Wilson was called and appointed as Vicar of Church of the Nativity, Cincinnati, in 1984. In 2016, 81 of the 222 canonically resident clergy of the diocese were women, or 36%. This number is slightly higher than the national average of 34%. Sixteen women serve as either Rector, Vicar, or Priest-in-charge of a congregation. Thank you to the Rev. Anne Warrington Wilson for her help in researching this article.

TIMELINE 1855 The Order of Deaconesses begins when Bishop William Rollinson Whittingham of Maryland sets apart two women to serve as nurses. 1885 First Deaconesses ordained in Episcopal Church. General Convention would later adopt deaconesses canon in 1889. 1919 General Convention recommends including deaconesses in Clergy Pension Fund, but Board says they are not "clergy". 1920 The Lambeth Conference of Bishops concludes that “ordination” of a deaconess confers on her holy orders. In 1930, the Lambeth Conference changes its mind and asserts deaconesses are not in holy orders.

The Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, first woman elected bishop in the Anglican Communion

Sources:

1944 Florence Li Tim-Oi ordained priest in Hong Kong. To protect her bishop from censure, she agrees not to function as a priest.

History of Women’s Ordinations, Pamela W. Darling, 2001, archives of the Episcopal Church website: http://arc.episcopalchurch.org/ women/two/25yearsagao.htm

1971 Li Tim-Oi’s orders are recognized after the Anglican Consultative Council declares it is "acceptable" for a bishop to ordain a woman if the national church or province approves.

Journals of the Annual Convention, Diocese of Southern Ohio, 1978, 1979, 1980, 2016

1973: General Convention rejects ordination of women to priesthood. In December, women deacons presented alongside men for ordination to priesthood in New York, but bishop refuses. 1974 Eleven women deacons are ordained to the priesthood on July 29 by two retired and one resigned bishop at Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia. The House of Bishops rules the ordinations of the “Philadelphia 11” invalid on Aug. 15. 1975 Four women deacons are ordained to priesthood at St. Stephen’s & Incarnation in Washington, D.C on Sept. 7. On Sept. 19, HOB censures the bishops who ordained Philadelphia 11 and decries the ordination of the “Washington Four” 1976 General Convention approves canon to open priesthood and episcopate to women on Sept. 15. 1977 The Rev. Jacqueline Means becomes the first woman ordained a priest under the new canon on Jan. 1. Women ordained in Philadelphia and Washington are regularized. One hundred women ordained by end of year. 1988 Barbara C. Harris is elected suffragan bishop of Massachusetts, first woman elected bishop in the Anglican Communion. 2006 Katharine Jefferts Schori elected as first female Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church

An early deaconess of the church

“Calvary names Ms. Doll rector,” Interchange, June 1980.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, first female Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church The "Washington Four" just prior to their ordination to the priesthood

Interactive timeline of the history of women’s ordination: https://www. episcopalchurch.org/library/article/ interactive-timeline-history-womensordination

While customs may vary, traditions remain the same

An email came in, a response back and then more emails went out from me. That’s how this reflection came to be in discussing the idea of traditions in the Church. The initial email invitation asked if someone from St. Philip’s would offer some information and/or history on traditions in the “Black” church – traditions that were, to use the same word, particular (as opposed to peculiar) to black Episcopalians at St. Philip’s, Columbus. I said yes because, even though my two kiddos would disagree, yes is one of my favorite words. I also thought there might be an education piece for not only me but for our wider diocese – particularly in a time when we are all urged to come together since the last presidential election. So I sent more emails, inviting some of the writers, doers, and thinkers of St. Philip’s to take this on or offer input. But there was no response. It lay dormant for some days before inquiries went out: “Did you get my email about this?” “Oh yes,” was the reply. “Aaaannnnddd?” What came next was interesting and reminded me of a truism that was revealed to me by that foremost researcher of the Church, Diana Butler Bass, a few years ago in a diocesan gathering we had in London (Ohio). There is a difference and a misunderstanding about what we mean by traditions and its cousin known as customs. That there was no offered response from those parishioners was because to them, it was a confusing question. They said, “We’re Episcopalians; our traditions are the same as any other Episcopal churches. We don’t understand what is being asked.” In response, I offered some observations that I had not seen in other places, but was quickly reminded that those were not particularly “black” traditions. This made me reflect more on what Butler Bass had said, but also, I remembered what the Rev. Dr. Harold Lewis insisted on in his book, And Yet with a Steady Beat, that the anchor of black participation in the Episcopal Church was rooted in the Church’s understanding of catholicity. That ‘C’ word which means not the Roman church, but universal inclusiveness. Which, as we are speaking about traditions, is a pretty neat tradition to uphold and celebrate.

A communicant receives Communion by intinction.

And so, what the people of St. Philip’s do each and every Sunday (and as their priest, I hope every day) is to uphold that tradition but also the other pillar-like traditions of our Christian faith and life: Love. Justice. Equality. Worship. Praise. Prayer. Loving our neighbors as ourselves. How that is done is in a customary way that each focal point of our churches interprets differently. When those parishioners and I were discussing this together, I mentioned some of these customs as local traditions. One, for instance, being the Final Fling held on the weekend before Ash Wednesday. This semi-formal affair is a chance to come together to dance, dine and devolve of ourselves anything that might hinder a fuller observation of Lent. But that is not unique to St. Philip’s. Another word for that process is called Mardi Gras. We just do it in good Episcopal order, sort of like saying ‘hosanna’ instead of ‘HOSANNA’. Another of our local customs that sometimes throws off visiting clergy is how the majority of the parish receives Communion. Here, intinction is the norm. The priest carries the Sacraments together, dips the bread into the wine, and then places it onto the tongue of the communicant. But this,

too, is hardly an innovation. As a former Roman Catholic, I have been transported back to my boyhood. And if one were to consider this practice in a traditional sense, rather than locally customary, it recalls and remembers a reverence for the Eucharist as the body of Christ and not a mere memorial. But, it should be noted too, that when the parish hosts a crowd, out of hospitality we forgo this custom in the interests of Eucharistic expediency. Finally, one other custom at our black parish is something called the “Repast.” This is a meal offered by the parish to the family of a deceased member following the funeral and interment. Usually consisting of chicken, green beans, and mac & cheese – food that might recall some stereotypes of black culture – the Repast is called a reception in almost every other parish where I have been involved. Only light sandwiches and desserts are the typical fare of the latter. Having just returned from the annual Union of Black Episcopalians conference, I can note that there are, more broadly, customs which we embrace and engage, but all can be located within the broader sphere of ‘Tradition’. Meaning that while not done everywhere, these practices are all done somewhere. Customs such as holding hands and singing the Lord’s Prayer; a hearty blend of African-American and Blue Hymnal music, with organ and drums; and good old, beloved to some, high church habits of using incense and being liturgically dressed to the nines. Again though, all of that is not peculiar or particular to the “Black Church.” There is a possibly apocryphal story about two priests walking down a sidewalk in New York City. One was black and one was white. As they walked along, the white priest, young and perhaps naïve, asked, “Why is there even a Union of Black Episcopalians? There isn’t a Union of White Episcopalians!” The black priest whirled to face his companion. “Sir!” he said. The Episcopal Church IS the Union of White Episcopalians!” In sharing that story, one that is not mine, I head toward a conclusion for us all. And that is: Given the scope of what has been shared here, we do something peculiar in seeking out the particularity of one another. And there is a slight rapping of worry in the back of my head that in seeking to define ourselves in particularity, we dance too close to those traditions that have kept us apart in seeing those different as peculiar. The reality is that what goes on at St. Philip’s is not too dif-

St. Philip's parishioners live it up at the Final Fling

ferent from what goes on in other congregations, Episcopal and otherwise, as all seek to follow the traditions of how to live as faithful Christians. What we all do is employ our local customs to express ourselves. The beauty, wisdom and strength of grasping this distinction allow us to alter and change, to customize our communities. It is a way that allows for each of us responsible for creating community to take the insights, habits, processes, prayers and practices that may illuminate those which we use as our daily bread. In other words, by understanding that often what we do are customs for our times and not traditions for the ages, we have the chance to be Romans (not the Catholic kind but the originals) who were adept at adopting, and not Greeks, who felt obligated to recreate the wheel each time there was a feeling to do something new. That may be some good news for us to think on, and to reconsider the stakes when faced with the traditional challenge of “we’ve always done it this way!” Because the truth is we haven’t. Which leads us to the further truth that God nowhere and no way ever said stay right in place and do the same thing over and again. From page one where God says “Lights ON!” to the end of the Good Book, it is a story of movement. That too, is a tradition. A tradition that is to be celebrated and which we are free to customize so we have a pretty good ride to do the work, live the life, and be the people God dreams for us to be. The Rev. Charles Wilson serves as Rector at St. Philip’s, Columbus.

While customs may vary, traditions remain the same

A communicant receives Communion by intinction.

St. Philip's parishioners live it up at the Final Fling

Structure and governance The General Convention, comprised of the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops, is the governing and legislative body of The Episcopal Church. The Presiding Bishop is the Chief Pastor and Primate of the Church. The current Presiding Bishop is Michael Bruce Curry, elected in 2015.

The gift(s) of tradition I have a college classmate who is a priest in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church. Over the years, Fr. Michael has taught me many things in a calm, subtle and wise manner, not the least of which is the central importance of tradition to Eastern Orthodox Christians. Here’s how he explained the matter to me in a phone conversation some weeks ago: Fr. Richard: I’m writing something on “tradition” for our diocesan magazine and I’ve been trying to remember that important word for “passing on or handing on” found in First Corinthians 15? I understand that it is particularly important theologically in the Eastern churches. Fr. Michael: Right, it’s paradosis…and it means literally “a gift given forward.” Paul writes in First Corinthians 15:3: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received…” And in our Prayer of Institution in the Divine Liturgy, we quote St. Paul again: “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread…” You see, this “handing on” is all about gift-giving – gifts to the Church; gifts for the world; and gifts that cause us always to remember the Blessed Trinity. Fr. Richard: Yes, that’s our action in the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion too, but I am moved by two things you’ve emphasized: 1) that all that we have is a gift, not a possession we have earned or can hold to or control; and 2) it is given forward, not a memory alone, a promise for the future. So, it really is about hope in important, last ways. I never got to explore this point about hope with my friend in this particular conversation, but I plan to the next time we talk. I think this is exactly where the distinction between healthy 28 traditions and dangerous (even idolatrous) traditionalism is

Historically, bishops oversee the Church in particular geographic areas, known as dioceses. There are 109 dioceses in the Episcopal Church worldwide. Each bishop and diocese, operating through a local annual council or convention, determine the character of life and work in that diocese within a set of general decisions made by the General Convention. These decisions are formalized as canons, or rules that govern. Each diocese elects and sends clergy and lay representatives to the General Convention. marked. (You’ll remember the old line that “tradition is the living faith of the dead while traditionalism is the dead faith of the living!”) And certainly the Eastern churches are careful about making that distinction in our prayer and in our discipleship. Upon reflection, following this impromptu conversation between two old friends who see too little of each other yet share much in life, I have begun to look for those “gifts given forward” manifested all around. The liturgical year is such a gift. It is shared by Orthodox and Anglicans, and through it we are enriched by Eastern Christian influences like the Great Vigil of Easter, expanded Advent celebrations, Eucharistic Prayer ‘D’, iconography and monastic prayer practices. But let’s never forget the gift of friendship that is at the heart of this “handing on.” It was to friends gathering together at table fellowship that Paul told what he knew about the love of God offered in that greatest of gifts given forward: Jesus the Lord. Likewise, it is among friends that we do our best forward-giving, and it is the purpose of the church to make the table of fellowship broader and longer and wider so that God’s gift – for God’s holy people – can be given forward. Fr. Michael has taught me many things, and this insightful definition of tradition (paradosis) will not easily be forgotten, nor will it be stored away for my personal use. It will, with God’s help, be given forward for others to hear and know and share in their lives.

The Rev. Dick Burnett serves as rector of Trinity Church-Capitol Square, Columbus.

The annual convention of the Diocese of Southern Ohio takes place the second Friday and Saturday of November each year. Congregations elect lay delegates who, along with the clergy, represent their congregation at the convention. Local congregations are led by a rector, vicar or priest-incharge. A parish calls, or hires, the rector after a search process. Similarly, a mission congregation calls the vicar, but the bishop, as the rector of the mission, appoints the vicar. A priest-in-charge is appointed to a congregation by the bishop for a contracted period of time. The congregation may choose to call the priest-in-charge as rector or vicar when the contracted period ends.

The Rev. Chris Yaw, in his book, Jesus Was An Episcopalian (and you can be one too!), describes the structure of the church in this way: General Convention = Congress House of Bishops = Senate House of Deputies = House of Representatives Presiding Bishop = President Executive Council = Cabinet Dioceses = States (or regions therein) Diocesan Conventions = State Legislature Bishops = Governors Deaneries = Counties Parishes = Cities Vestries = Town Council Rectors = Mayors

Congregations also hold their own annual meetings, and elect members as representatives on the vestry or mission council. The vestry is the governing board and legal entity of the congregation. Vestries are led by a senior warden, who supports the rector or serves as leader when a rector is not in place; and a junior warden, who takes responsibility for the property of the congregation. The similarity of our structure to the United States government is not merely a coincidence – many of the founding members of the church were also framers of the US Constitution. Sources: Episcopal Beliefs, The Episcopal Diocese of Texas, www.epicenter.org Jesus Was An Episcopalian (and you can be one too!), Chris Yaw, 2008

The Rev. Dick Burnett serves as rector of Trinity Church-Capitol Square, Columbus.

divine justice that completely caught me off guard. What Dylan calls the “chimes of freedom” are literally bolts of lightning flashing in the sky above him. The storm drives the young singer towards shelter. He stares out from under the eaves of a building, watching the lightning, and what he sees are not human slogans, but streaks of celestial electricity. And every bolt he witnesses, Dylan calls a chime of freedom – a divine signal to the outcast and world-weary that help is on the way.

The grace of repetition

’ve been listening to Bob Dylan for 21 years now. I got into him when I was 16, and didn’t look back. I had heard of Dylan as a protest singer – I knew he was famous for his connection to and empowerment of social causes in my parents’ generation – but my interest was always in his more personal work. I was a teenager after all, and a particularly angsty, lovesick one at that. I skipped “Blowin’ in the Wind” to get to “Girl of the North Country.” I passed up “With God on Our Side” so I could soak (and sulk) in “One Too Many Mornings.” I fast-forwarded “Chimes of Freedom” to sing “To Ramona.” I wasn’t

drawn to social causes: I was interested in self-expression and authenticity. And girls. Sure, Dylan was apparently the voice of a generation, but to me he was a lone pilgrim, singing ragged, dirty songs of love and loss like nothing I’d heard before. He expressed frustration, exuberance, annoyance, longing, giddiness, and wariness – all with a weird, snarling articulation. Teenage me was all in on this strange troubadour. Twenty years is a long time to listen to someone. Eventually you get around to those songs you passed over the first hundred times around – not because you matured or became a better person

(let’s not kid ourselves). Perhaps out of boredom, you go back and try to discover something new among the old. Your ears just start tuning into things you hadn’t noticed before. A few days ago I got on a plane and, with time to spare, I decided to give some of those “cause songs” a shot. I queued up the last album of Dylan’s acoustic folk era, “Another Side of Bob Dylan” and dug into a signature tune called “Chimes of Freedom.” In all my years of listening to him, I’d only heard this song a handful of times. But this day I decided I would actually listen. What emerged was a lively tone poem to

“Tolling for the aching whose wounds cannot be nursed, for the countless confused accused misused strung-out ones and worse, and for every hung up person in the whole wide universe.” This fifty year-old song that has been in my periphery for two decades just now broke into my consciousness. For the first time I finally hear my favorite singer belt out this paean to the God who responds to the profound longing for divine redemption and salvation. After years and years, I finally have ears to hear. One Sunday morning after worship, I was in the sacristy with a long-time acolyte. She was beside herself and could not wait to share. “Do you realize what we just said?” she asked. “When?” “Just now!” she said, “In the prayer right after communion we said that we are living members of the Body of Jesus!” “Yes, we did.” “I’ve been coming here for years,” she said, “And this is the first time I’ve ever really heard that! We take communion and we are part of His Body!” She had tears in her eyes as she marveled at the grace of God, like chimes of freedom, flashing before her and telling her she belonged more fully than she could ever have imagined. It took years for her ears to tune into

this great truth. Thank God we say it every week so she could finally hear it. This is grace. The grace of repetition is that it recognizes we need to hear the Gospel over and over again before our ears can be tuned to the truth of it. God knows we need repetition if we are ever to really hear. We need to witness and say the same things over and over and over and over. We need to tune things out so that we can tune back into them. We need to get bored so that we can get restless, and in our restlessness seek out new truths in the old songs.

It was only through repeated listening and faithful engagement that I was able to figure out what I really believe, who I really am. This is not a polemic, by the way, against innovation in worship or spontaneous prayer – nor is it meant to be one more lame apology for a dying liturgical tradition. There can be something profoundly snobby about insisting that people will eventually like traditional Anglican worship if only they sit through it enough times – or that less rigid, more spontaneous, accessible worship expressions are inherently cheap and shallow. It doesn’t have to be either/or. You can love the ear candy that is the Beatles and the challenging rasp of Bob Dylan at the same time. The fact that you can immediately hum “All You Need is Love” does not somehow make it less sophisticated or potent than the mercurially wordy “Chimes of Freedom.”

But the fact remains that many of us engage in a worship that needs to be repeated beyond comprehension before we are able fully to comprehend it. As we meditate this month upon tradition, it might be helpful for us to recognize what a large part repetition plays in the life of our tradition. Episcopalians are prone to self-mockery, saying, “We’ve always done it this way.” But tradition is one of the three legs of our muchvaunted dogmatic stool, and the truth is, repetition has helped us figure out what we really believe, and who we really are. In the repetition of our tradition, new understandings emerge. I was first drawn to the authenticity of Dylan’s stubborn loneliness, and only much later realized I also loved the authenticity of his prophetic voice. Likewise, I was first drawn to my church through their stubborn intellectual spirituality, and only much later realized I also loved the stubborn adherence to centuries-old prayers and rituals. It was only through repeated listening and faithful engagement that I was able to figure out what I really believe, who I really am. We are not exactly who we were yesterday. Every time we choose to trust in and surrender ourselves to our inherited ritual, we open ourselves up to finding something new in the old songs – we hold out the hope that we may yet have ears to hear Jesus anew in the well-worn places of our prayers. When we accept the value of repetition in worship, we open ourselves to the chance that we will gaze upon those chimes of divine freedom flashing, and we conjure the possibility that this time we will know they flash for us. The Rev. Phil DeVaul serves as Rector at the Church of the Redeemer in Cincinnati.

The grace of repetition

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n 1937 a great flood poured over the banks of the Ohio River, submerging the streets of Cincinnati and causing schools, factories and stores to be closed. The displacement and loss in their parish inspired a leader of St. Barnabas Episcopal Mission in the West End, Captain Laurence “Cap” Hall, and his wife Sadie, to create a safe haven, a ‘place of Joy’ for children already suffering from poverty and intense summer heat. In 1945 the Rev. Maurice “Mac” McCrackin, a prominent Presbyterian leader, integrated the St. Barnabas - West Cincinnati Church, newly formed through a merger that preserved two declining Episcopal and Presbyterian congregations. Then in 1947, Mac led the way to make Camp Joy the first integrated camp in this area for inner-city youth. After moving through five different locations, Camp Joy found its permanent home in 1959 on 317 acres in Clarksville, Ohio in Warren County. Continuing its tradition of inclusion, Camp Joy’s services have expanded to serve over 13,000 participants a year, including children with medical challenges, in foster care or other hardships.

Joy

oy n”s – Camp Jd re ild h C ti a n ily weeken m a Cincin Campers froy summer camp and fam program enjothroughout the year. experiences

Partnering with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Camp Joy serves over 800 children and families through 15 programs for campers with heart conditions, cancer, juvenile arthritis, blood diseases, asthma, cerebral palsy, tuberous sclerosis and other medical challenges. In addition, the camp serves area schools through life-changing outdoor education and the business community through leadership and teambuilding programs. The connection with the Episcopal Church remains strong. Support from Christ Church Cathedral’s Camping and Youth Opportunities Committee provides scholarships for youth living in foster homes or struggling neighborhoods, and many supporters through the Indian Hill Church have also been involved in supporting Camp Joy’s mission. But Camp Joy is hoping to further reconnect with the diocese to explore possibilities to work together to serve youth in our community. The camp is happy to host any Episcopalians who are interested in discussing possibilities on how their work can enhance diocese programs. You can learn more about Camp Joy on their website, www.camp-joy.org Mike McGinty serves as Executive Director for Camp Joy Foundation. Contact him at mikemcginty@camp-joy.org

”Cap” Laurence Hall, a captain in the Episcopal Church”s Anglican Church Army, founded Camp Joy for the children of St. Barnabas Church in the West End. He and his wife, Sadie, were the first leaders of the church”s new camping program.

In celebra anniversary, tion of Camp Joy”s 80th thanked curr the camp has hosted a Church. Cament leaders in the Episc nd nities to workp Joy is exploring oppoopal underserved with the diocese to se rturv youth in our community. e

Joy

oy n”s – Camp Jd re ild h C ti a n ily weeken m a Cincin Campers froy summer camp and fam program enjothroughout the year. experiences

Procter Summer Camp

A tradition of Christian community

outhern Ohio has a long history of embracing and empowering campers through our summer camp ministry. Procter Summer Camp, in the farmland outside of London, Ohio, welcomes children, youth and families of all backgrounds to an intentional Christian community of joy, fun and refreshment. Camp programs are built on stories, shared memories and ritual; we sing silly songs, rejoice when a fellow camper catches a fish, share bread and wine in a joyful Eucharist, and close our day with songs and stories around a campfire. In 2017 we embraced our sacred traditions and incorporated new stories, songs and programming. With “Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters,” serving as this summer’s theme, the formation program encour-

aged campers to examine what they are thirsty or longing for, and what places or communities are oases or life-giving to them. The scripture used for the theme is found in Isaiah 55. One of the popular favorite lines from that passage this summer was “for you shall go out in joy and be led back in peace.” The camp staff saw this in action each week. Campers arrive on the property gleeful to be in community and on the farm, and are led back to their communities in peace to love and serve the Lord. Through our baptismal covenant we proclaim that we are reborn through water and the spirit, and take on a new life in Christ. May this peaceful water of connection that flows through the camp community quench our thirst and

make all things new, while we hold fast to our camp tradition, unconditional love in Christian community. In what we hope will become a new tradition, Procter this year partnered with the Latino Ministry Commission to offer campamento para familias, a bilingual English/Spanish family camp. The campers, congregants from the Latino Ministry Center in Forest Park, shared songs with the community, enthusiastically embraced the art of friendship bracelet making, spent afternoons at the pool and shared stories among their families and with the community. Most of all, these campers, enjoying Procter for the first time, were present in the peace that comes from hearty meals, supportive community and spending time at camp together. Campamento taught us that, when implemented thoughtfully, our camp traditions are timeless and inclusive. We hope campamento para familias continues to be part of the Procter tradition for years to come.

Learn more about the youth programs at Facebook.com/DSOYouth and on Instagram: @dsoyouth. Connect with the Procter Center at proctercenter.org.

Andrea Foote serves as Interim Director of Youth and Summer Camping Ministries. You can contact her at afoote@proctercenter.org.

Procter Summer Camp

A tradition of Christian community

Learn more about the youth programs at Facebook.com/DSOYouth and on Instagram: @dsoyouth. Connect with the Procter Center at proctercenter.org.

Andrea Foote serves as Interim Director of Youth and Summer Camping Ministries. You can contact her at afoote@proctercenter.org.

Videos What is the difference between an Anglican and an Episcopalian? Maple Anglican answers the question of what is the difference between Anglicans and Episcopalians https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=n1UDJjVWMW0

Byron Rushing’s 15-minute History of the Episcopal Church The Honorable Byron Rushing of the Diocese of Massachusetts is vice president of the House of Deputies, and majority whip of the Massachusetts House of Representatives https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=US0UnK6wNPc

The Dylan Mass at St. James Episcopal Church Celebration of the Eucharist using the music and words of Bob Dylan, first performed at St. James's Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA, on March 3, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=PjndusQEYCk

You can find all of these live links online at dsoConnections.org

continue

the conversation

RESOURCES

Information on the history of the Episcopal Church, including a comprehensive historical timeline can be found on The Episcopal Church’s website, www.episcopalchurch.org.

The Episcopal Diocese of Texas has a lot of information on the Episcopal faith on their website, www.epicenter.org.

Forward Movement offers dozens of resources on the Episcopal Church and Anglicanism, www.forwardmovement.org.

TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING AN EPISCOPALIAN (according to Robin Williams)

10. No snake handling. 9. You can believe in dinosaurs. 8. Male and female, God created them; male and female, we ordain them. 7. You don’t have to check your brains at the door. 6. Pew aerobics. 5. Church year is color-coded. 4. Free wine on Sunday. 3. All of the pageantry, none of the guilt. 2. You don’t have to know how to swim to get baptized. 1. No matter what you believe, there’s bound to be at least one other Episcopalian who agrees with you.

God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. All of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. I honor my tradition, I walk through my tradition, but I don’t think my tradition defines God, I think it only points me to God. ~John Shelby Spong 37

You can find all of these live links online at dsoConnections.org

continue

the conversation

RESOURCES

Information on the history of the Episcopal Church, including a comprehensive historical timeline can be found on The Episcopal Church’s website, www.episcopalchurch.org.

The Episcopal Diocese of Texas has a lot of information on the Episcopal faith on their website, www.epicenter.org.

Forward Movement offers dozens of resources on the Episcopal Church and Anglicanism, www.forwardmovement.org.

TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING AN EPISCOPALIAN (according to Robin Williams)

143RD ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE DIOCESE OF SOUTHERN OHIO

The 143rd annual convention of the Diocese of Southern Ohio will be held November 10-11, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency Cincinnati. This convention will be like no other! In addition to a greatly condensed business meeting, programming will include time for learning, time for talking, and fun opportunities for fellowship. To help frame our conversations, we will welcome the Rev. Paul Fromberg, rector of St. Gregory of Nyssa in San Francisco and author of The Art of Transformation: Three Things That Churches Do That Change Everything, as keynote speaker. Several workshops on making transformations that will help us connect with our neighborhoods will be offered. All are welcome – you do not need to be a delegate to attend! Making dining an opportunity for fellowship is another big change. Lunches on Friday and Saturday will be plated, sit-down meals. And in place of a banquet Friday night, there will a fun opportunity to go into and learn about the neighborhoods of Cincinnati, all while enjoying great meals and meeting new friends. More information on this is coming soon. While the business meeting will be condensed, you can see that our days will be filled! In order to make time for all of these activities, convention will be called to order at 9 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 10. For those travelling into Cincinnati on Thursday evening, Christ Church Cathedral is offering a bicentennial walk-about reception celebration from 5 to 7 p.m. and early convention check-in will be open from 6 to 8 p.m. Stay tuned to e-Connections or check our convention website dsoconvention.org for information as it becomes available. Online early-bird registration will open September 18.

IMPORTANT DATES/ DEADLINES SEPTEMBER 11 Deadline for Constitution or Canonical changes 18 Online early-bird registration opens 28 Deadline for nominations, resolutions, annual committee reports

OCTOBER 9 Deadline for hotel reservations at guaranteed rate 13 Early-bird registration ends. $25 late registration fee enacted on Oct. 14 15 Pre-convention hearing at St. Peter’s, Gallipolis, 2 p.m. 18 Pre-convention hearing at St. Patrick’s, Dublin, 7 p.m. 22 Pre-convention hearing at Christ Church, Dayton, 2 p.m. 25 Pre-convention hearing at St. Barnabas, Montgomery, 7 p.m. 31 Absolute deadline for all nominations 31 Online late registration closes

NOVEMBER 1 Necrology due 9 Cathedral Bicentennial celebration reception, 5-7 p.m.; early check-in, 6 to 8 p.m. 10 Onsite check-in and late onsite registration opens at 7:30 a.m.

CERTIFY YOUR LAY DELEGATES

Congregations are canonically required (see Canon III, Section 5) to submit a Certificate of Election of Lay Delegates as soon as possible after they have been chosen at your annual meeting. If your congregation has not yet reported your election, you can submit the certification form on our convention website, dsoconvention. org. If your lay delegates have changed since a certification form was submitted, you must complete a Change of Delegate form, which can also be found on dsoconvention.org.

CONSTITUTION AND CANONICAL CHANGES

Proposed amendments to the Constitution or Canons of the Diocese of Southern Ohio must be submitted in writing by September 11. Send proposed changes by email to convention@ diosohio.org. Contact diocesan chancellor Joseph Dehner at 513.651.6949 or jdehner@ fbtlaw.com with any questions.

RESOLUTIONS

Proposed resolutions can be submitted at dsoconvention.org and must be received by Sept. 28. Those submitting resolutions are expected to attend (or have a representative present) at all pre-convention hearings. Contact resolutions committee chair Jim Heathcote at 937.446.2108 or jheathcote@earthlink.net with questions.

NOMINATIONS

Please consider submitting your name for one or more of the positions to be elected at the forthcoming 143rd Convention. A list and description of those positions is available at our convention website dsoconvention.org. A reminder: The deadline for nominations that will be posted online prior to the preconvention meetings is September 28. Nominations received thereafter will be posted online weekly, but not after October 31. Direct any questions to Jon B. Boss at jbboss@fuse.net or 513.761.2630.

PRE-CONVENTION HEARINGS

Convention delegates are strongly encouraged to attend a hearing in order to make informed decisions when voting at convention. Mark your calendar now for the date of the meeting in your area.

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS

The convention will be held at the Hyatt Regency Cincinnati. The address is 151 W. 5th Street. The guaranteed rate (single or double) is $122 plus applicable taxes. Please remember to bring your church's tax-exempt form with you when you check in to avoid state sales tax. You can book rooms either online at https:// aws.passkey.com/go/KDSO, or by calling 888.421.1442. You will just need to reference the group’s name (Diocese of Southern Ohio) when booking and then your room will be booked inside the group’s block. Either reservation method is acceptable. Make sure you receive a confirmation number. The cut-off date for the guaranteed rate is 10/9/17. After this date rooms and/or rates are not guaranteed.

NECROLOGY

The necrology is a list of people from each congregation that have died since the last convention. Submit these names to Sherri Martin at smartin@diosohio.org by Nov. 1. If you have questions, contact Sherri at 800.582.1712 ext. 105.

EXHIBITOR INFORMATION

Part marketplace, part ministry fair, the exhibits are one of the best parts of convention! Consider sharing your ministry in an exhibit at the convention. The cost for an exhibit is $25 per table, with an additional $25 if you require electricity. (Plan to bring your own power strips and extension cords.) Registration opens September 18.

143RD ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE DIOCESE OF SOUTHERN OHIO

IMPORTANT DATES/ DEADLINES SEPTEMBER 11 Deadline for Constitution or Canonical changes 18 Online early-bird registration opens 28 Deadline for nominations, resolutions, annual committee reports

NOVEMBER 1 Necrology due 9 Cathedral Bicentennial celebration reception, 5-7 p.m.; early check-in, 6 to 8 p.m. 10 Onsite check-in and late onsite registration opens at 7:30 a.m.

CERTIFY YOUR LAY DELEGATES

CONSTITUTION AND CANONICAL CHANGES

RESOLUTIONS

NOMINATIONS

PRE-CONVENTION HEARINGS

Convention delegates are strongly encouraged to attend a hearing in order to make informed decisions when voting at convention. Mark your calendar now for the date of the meeting in your area.

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS

NECROLOGY

EXHIBITOR INFORMATION

Changing times call for greater support

The conservative estimate for what it would have cost for a 16g iPhone in 1991, assuming it could have been built at all, is $620,000. It probably also would have weighed in at more than 100 pounds! Back in 1991, the year the Episcopal Community Services Foundation (ECSF) was founded in the Diocese of Southern Ohio, in addition to there being

no iPhones or any smartphone, there was also no Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Google, Wikipedia, texting, blogs, podcasts, or crowdfunding. No tablets. No Playstation. In 1991, Windows was 3.0 and came on something called a floppy disk. A postage stamp was 29 cents. Wi-Fi existed, but very few could use it, and you had to

dial in to the Internet with a modem. Napster was the beginning of “streaming.” A “portable” computer weighed more than 8 pounds and cost about $4,000. Cable television had 70 channels. People wrote checks to pay bills and carried cash in their wallets. There were only 116 Starbucks in the U.S. Consumer and multi-generational marketing recognized only three generations: The Greatest, the Boomers, and GenXer’s. Millennials were just starting middle school and Generation Z was but a twinkle in someone’s eye. It was a time that saw the rapid growth of the mega-church, as well as the rise of the religiously unaffiliated and the “spiritual, but not religious.” A lot has changed in the world, the Church, and our diocese since ECSF was founded. Today, both the philanthropic and the congregational ministry landscapes are dealing with the different behaviors and goals of seven generational groups, each with different giving, spiritual, technological and cultural patterns and characteristics. Many churches are struggling to survive in struggling communities. Once-vital ministries that served the “urban poor” have needed to turn their focus to the neighbors-in-need right outside their doors. We have heard from many of our ministry partners that they are deeply worried about sustaining ministries that are vital to their communities at a time when they are facing an aging congregation, dwindling attendance and resources, as well as flagging energy. There are ministries in our diocese that have ended in the last few years because of “ministry fatigue” and/or an aging congregation with fewer and fewer members to pick up the call to serve, or they couldn’t afford to sustain them financially. Some of our congregations don’t have phone lines, computers or office equipment. Yet they still are doing all that is possible to serve their neighbors, often with minimal resources or resources not capable of keeping up with demand. Even our more financially healthy congregations have expressed concerns that the number of parishioners willing or able to volunteer for ministry, especially during the week, has dropped significantly. It’s a national trend with estimates that congregations of all denominations are finding fewer than 20% of their members volunteer for any ministry program at all! Nonprofit ministry organizations, whether parish-based or secular, increasingly are unable to recruit or even sustain the work that needs doing with their current volunteer pool. What we have heard consistently from our ministry partners is that grants are only part of the resources needed to address their challenges. They need expertise in, and the resources for, connecting better with their communities, com-

munity partners, and other diocesan ministries. Most of all we heard the voices of many who want to know they are not alone in their work and have the support of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Just as we can’t be the Church of the 1960s or even the 1990s anymore, so too have nonprofit organizations locally, nationally and globally, had to look at what it means to be effective, impactful and relevant today and for the future. In 2015, the ECSF Board of Trustees began its own Exodus journey, a time of discernment about ECSF’s history, purpose, relevancy, and impact in our diocese and for our congregations. We began asking questions about what we need to be as the supporting foundation of our diocese moving forward. And, what does that look like in how we work together, the resources we share, and for how we live into our part of the diocesan vision. Most importantly, we reflected upon the vision that formed ECSF in 1991. In the late 1980s the diocese began exploring a significant change in the way mission and ministry were funded in Southern Ohio. At that time, what we now call the “Mission Share” was two parts: the Diocesan Assessment, a straight percentage assessment for each congregation; and the Parish Pledge, a voluntary stewardship campaign to encourage congregations to give above the assessment level to support congregations and their ministries. ECSF would assume the Parish Pledge campaign and expand it to include individual Episcopalians in our diocese, inspiring a generous spirit in our parishes and parishioners, supporting each other in looking beyond our doors to the needs and work of ministry in our common communities. Inspire and support each other in the living out of our Baptismal Covenant through active, generous, and committed congregations and their outward-looking ministries. This purpose is just as vital today as it was in 1991. In fact, our need to inspire, support, and encourage each other is even greater as so many of our congregations face significant challenges. Churches that are passionate and selfless about the people outside their doors, the people God calls us to care about, are healthier. They recognize that our work towards the Kingdom of God is now, not just in the hereafter. And that is why the #1 criteria for ECSF grants has always been, and will continue to be, “How does this congregation actively participate in and provide significant support for this ministry?” Transformation that is impactful and responsive doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process that calls us to discernment, intentionality, innovation and creativity, while respecting the traditions and ethos of our faith. We’re working on it, with Continued on next page

Changing times call for greater support

God’s help. We’ve started a collaborative process with the Commission on Congregational Life (COCL) and the Church Foundation to explore a common and simpler application process for congregations, as well as find ways to provide a more holistic approach to building healthy congregations and ministries. Bishop Breidenthal has repeatedly called for greater connection among us and we’ve started that. Beginning with the 2017 grants process, congregations and major donors contributing to ECSF will be connected as sponsors to a sister congregation and its ministry in prayer, in support, and in hope. They will share together in our common bond, the work and

stories of that ministry. We cannot foretell the changes and transformations in technology and culture our society and world will experience in the next year, next decade, or of course the next millennium. Whatever those changes, God’s purpose and call to us will remain unchanging and constant: to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves.”

Grace Episcopal Church, College Hill Community United Empowerment Grant made possible by the generosity of the Family of Gene Wilson

The Rev. Suzanne LeVesconte serves as president of Episcopal Community Services Foundation.

St. Andrew's, Dayton Dayton Episcopal Food Pantry

Holy Trinity Episcopal Church Bellaire Motivational Morning Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor Munchies/Community Meal St. Andrew's, Cincinnati Summer Camp Reading

St. James, Zanesville Friendship Dinner Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor St. John's, Columbus Health, Hope, and Hospitality

2017 ECSF Grant Recipients

St. John's, Columbus Youth Empowerment Grant made possible by the generous support of Christ Church (Springfield), and St. Mark’s (Dayton)

All grants are made possible by the generosity of Episcopalians of the diocese

St. John's, Columbus Workforce Readiness

Church of the Advent, Cincinnati Open Door Ministry Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor

St. John's, Worthington Kindway/EMBARK

Christ Church, Dayton CityHeart

St. Mark's, Dayton Kemp School Community Partnership Grant made possible by the generous support of St. Mark’s (Upper Arlington)

Christ Church, Springfield Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) of Springfield

St. Paul's, Logan Feeding Ministry Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor

Christ Church, Springfield Peace Camp

St. Peter's, Gallipolis Dry Bottoms Grant made possible by the generous support of St. Timothy’s (Anderson)

Church of Our Saviour, Cincinnati Food Ministries Grant made possible by the generous support of All Saints (New Albany), St. Alban’s (Bexley), Trinity ECW (Hamilton), Trinity (Troy), and Episcopal Retirement Services Church of Our Saviour, Cincinnati Latino Ministry/ Grant made possible by the generous support of St. Patrick’s (Dublin) Transformacion Price Hill Church of the Redeemer, Cincinnati Home Comforts Grant made possible by the generous support of Church of the Ascension (Middletown), St. Anne’s (West Chester), St. John’s (Lancaster), St. Paul’s (Logan), St. Peter’s (Gallipolis), and Good Shepherd (Athens)

St. Peter's, Gallipolis Loaves and Fishes Grant made possible by the generous support of St. Patrick’s (Lebanon) St. Stephen's, Columbus Neighborhood Services Trinity, Columbus IDs for Ex-Offenders & Homeless Grant made possible by the generous support of St. Christopher’s (Fairborn) Trinity, Columbus In the Garden Trinity, McArthur Layette

Church of the Epiphany, Nelsonville Feeding Ministry Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor

Trinity, Troy Partner s in Hope Grant made possible by the generous support of St. Christopher’s (Fairborn)

Church of the Good Samaritan, Amelia Community Supper & Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor Emergency Pantry

On behalf of all our ministry partners, ECSF would like to thank all who have contributed to the work of mission and ministry being done by our congregations for the building of God’s Kingdom throughout the Diocese of Southern Ohio.

Grace Episcopal Church, College Hill Community United Empowerment Grant made possible by the generosity of the Family of Gene Wilson

The Rev. Suzanne LeVesconte serves as president of Episcopal Community Services Foundation.

St. Andrew's, Dayton Dayton Episcopal Food Pantry

Holy Trinity Episcopal Church Bellaire Motivational Morning Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor Munchies/Community Meal St. Andrew's, Cincinnati Summer Camp Reading

St. James, Zanesville Friendship Dinner Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor St. John's, Columbus Health, Hope, and Hospitality

2017 ECSF Grant Recipients

St. John's, Columbus Youth Empowerment Grant made possible by the generous support of Christ Church (Springfield), and St. Mark’s (Dayton)

All grants are made possible by the generosity of Episcopalians of the diocese

St. John's, Columbus Workforce Readiness

Church of the Advent, Cincinnati Open Door Ministry Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor

St. John's, Worthington Kindway/EMBARK

Christ Church, Dayton CityHeart

St. Mark's, Dayton Kemp School Community Partnership Grant made possible by the generous support of St. Mark’s (Upper Arlington)

Christ Church, Springfield Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) of Springfield

St. Paul's, Logan Feeding Ministry Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor

Christ Church, Springfield Peace Camp

St. Peter's, Gallipolis Dry Bottoms Grant made possible by the generous support of St. Timothy’s (Anderson)

Church of the Epiphany, Nelsonville Feeding Ministry Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor

Trinity, Troy Partner s in Hope Grant made possible by the generous support of St. Christopher’s (Fairborn)

Church of the Good Samaritan, Amelia Community Supper & Grant made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor Emergency Pantry

Community Iftar a tradition of hospitality

n June 8, St. James, Clintonville, hosted our 14th annual Community Iftar to honor and welcome our Muslim neighbors. The event was a resounding success, and we invite other congregations to host their own iftars and experience the rewards of true hospitality. What is an iftar? During the month of Holy Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunup to sundown and break their fast with an iftar meal. Ramadan fasting is a spiritual practice that teaches discipline and empathy for the experiences of the hungry. Traditionally, an iftar is a social event with a communal meal, and the hungry are invited to share in the bounty. In 2003, parishioner Joy McCorriston started the tradition of St. James’ iftars in response to growing fear and prejudice against Muslims in the United States. Hosting an iftar is a concrete way to extend love and hospitality to our Muslim neighbors. Volunteers make new friends and learn about another faith while showing guests that many Christians accept and value Muslims. True hospitality is not only for those who look or worship the way we do – the Bible calls us to stretch our limits and to love the stranger. The St. James Iftar has evolved from a small gathering to a banquet that requires every available table and chair. This year, we hosted about 170 people, including representatives from Noor Islamic Cultural Center, Abubakar Assidiq Islamic Center, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Our guests broke their fast with water and dates and prayed together in our repurposed fellowship hall, then

The Community Iftar at St. James, Clintonville. Photo by Steven Farber. joined us in the basement for the meal. The atmosphere was warm and cheerful, with a mixture of returning friends and first-timers, as well as several young children who ran laps through the crowd and enjoyed the play area. After the meal, the Rev. Bruce Smith, Priest Associate, gave a tour of the church to several curious guests. This event would not have been possible without the generous support of many people, including the members and vestry of St. James; the Rev. Phillip J. Harris, Priest-in-Charge; and our friends at All Saints, New Albany; St. Matthew, Westerville; and North Broadway United Methodist Church. Volunteers and donors provided homemade side dishes and desserts, beverages, money to cover the cost of the catered entrée, and time

and energy for setup and cleanup. Hosting a community iftar need not be difficult or expensive. Next Ramadan will be May 15 – June 14, 2018. The hosts should provide a meal and an open space for prayer with any religious images covered or removed. The meal must not include any pork or alcohol, and any meat should be halal, meaning it has been prepared under Muslim law. Halal meat is available from many Middle Eastern butchers and restaurants. The St. James organizers would be delighted to answer any questions you may have about putting together your own event – get in touch at office@stjamesclintonville.org. Emily Wendel is a member of St. James, Clintonville.

Expanding connection to the community by exploring implicit bias

arishioners at Grace Church, College Hill, are familiar with inclusion in parish life and in its outreach to the community. Grace is a diverse congregation that celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2016. As evidenced by the array of flags over the entryway to the nave of the church at the corner of Hamilton and Belmont Avenues, this faith community has embraced and includes families from Uganda, the surrounding community and members of the GLBTQ community for many years. One of the most widely known and attended outreach efforts hosted by Grace members is the Wednesday evening community dinner, which welcomes adults and youth from around the area and across the city to enjoy a nutritious and free home-made meal once a week. Another is the monthly Wednesday evening healing services, which combines drumming and the laying on of hands in a healing circle of movement and praise. In the spirit of broadening our understanding of diversity and inclusion, Grace began “Stir the Pot,” a small group dialogue that focuses on important issues and allows participants to explore current day topics as they impact communities across race, gender, and ethnicity. The most recent dialogue conversation focused on developing a greater understanding of implicit bias as it relates to fully participating in the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement espoused by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. In response to the current climate of racial and ethnic divisiveness in Cincinnati and nationally, members of

Grace convened to discuss and learn how implicit bias hinders our ability to be full participants in the Jesus Movement. Most importantly, a heightened awareness of our own implicit biases allows us to see Christ in all our neighbors as we extend the hand of outreach and faith by welcoming all members of the community. A second dialogue on implicit bias is planned for a date in October; we’d love to have you join us! Check out our website, gracecollegehill.org to learn more about our outreach ministries and programs. Jacquelyn McCray, Ph.D., is a practitioner of community dialogue and civic engagement and a member of the Grace Church Mission Council. J White, an educator and community advocate, chairs community outreach, organizes the Wednesday Community Dinner at Grace, and is a member of the healing team.

Community Iftar a tradition of hospitality

Expanding connection to the community by exploring implicit bias

Conference a great week of fellowship and learning for church musicians

The 67th annual Sewanee Church Music Conference was one for the record books. Several new events were sprinkled amongst the standard fare. Our faculty for the week included Todd Wilson, who is on the faculty of Cleveland Institute of Music, as well as Director of Music at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland. Todd’s easy manner and clever sense of humor brought out the best of the attendees. When Todd directed, Peter Conte was the organist and vice versa. Peter Conte is the Grand Court Organist at Macy’s in Philadelphia, as well as a church musician at St. Clement’s. Our Spiritual Director for the week was the incomparable Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, whom I refer to as “The Garrison Keillor of the clergy set.” Normally during a week of conference, attendance at chapel tends to wane as the days go by, but not so with Barbara preaching. Very few attendees skipped services, as the sermons presented were fascinating. In addition, Barbara presented lectures during the week, also extremely well attended. Her latest book, The Also Life, was the general theme of her lectures. Monday evening, the arrival day, was celebrated with a beautiful Compline service and was held in All Saints’ Chapel, with choir stalls’ candles lit – a reminder to all of the reason we were at Sewanee. Tuesday evening, we enjoyed a concert by a wonderful early music choral group from Birmingham, Alabama. Wednesday night we enjoyed Todd Wilson and Peter Conte playing the Gerre Hancock Memorial Recital. Easily this was the finest organ recital I personally have ever experienced! Thursday evening, many of us gathered around Barbara Crafton for a book signing and to listen to her read several selections. Friday evening, the attendees presented

Left to right, front: John Glaze, St. Mary’s, Hillsboro; Justin Wiget, All Saints, Portsmouth; Jennie Harner, St. Mary’s, Hillsboro; Stanley Workman, 2nd Presbyterian, Portsmouth; Shiloh Roby, Christ Church, Cincinnati; Todd Wilson, Faculty, Cleveland; Ned Brooks, St. James, Wooster. Missing from the photo: Douglas Ritchey, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus; Laura Rocklin, St. Phillip’s, Circleville. es. A week on the Holy Mountain provides an Evensong service, which was very well outstanding music, wonderful worship, attended. Following this was the annual beautiful scenery as well as blessed fellow“Frolic” where several attendees present ship with fellow church musicians. humorous skits. Saturday evening, our If you are a church musician and yearly banquet and the realization that have never attended one of the Sewanee soon our time at Sewanee would be over. Conferences, you should consider making Our final event, the culmination of our plans now. The 2018 dates are July 9-15 week together, Sunday Eucharist. and the faculty will include Robert Simpson Too soon, Sewanee in our rearview for Choral and Stephen Buzard for Organ. mirror, we headed back to Ohio where we Our Chaplain for the week will be the Rev. began counting the days until our southErika Takacs. You can learn more about the bound trip to Sewanee returns. Sewanee Conference by visiting the webOne of the outstanding features of the site: www.sewaneeconf.com. There you will Sewanee Conference is the atmosphere of find the 2018 schedule, to give you an idea family. Attendee Jennie Harner learned of what to expect, as well as information this first hand this year. After a fall, the about things to do and see in the area, his“family” not only stepped in to care for her tory of the conference and much more. You needs while she was at conference, helpcan even listen to Evensong and Sunday ing in any way they could to make her as Eucharist from 2017. comfortable as possible, but also, upon her return home, have followed her doctor visits John Glaze serves as organist at St. Mary’s, and ensuing surgery on her broken bone, assuring her of their prayers and well wish- Hillsboro.

St. Margaret’s celebrates 125th anniversary St. Margaret’s, Dayton, will celebrate its 125th anniversary October 21-22, and the congregation cordially invites you to come out and join us in the celebration. On Saturday, October 21 at 4 p.m., we will present our "Total Praise" concert in commemoration of the 125th Anniversary of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church. The Central State University Chorus and the World Class Dayton Contemporary Dance Company will be our featured performances. These two outstanding local performing arts groups are rooted in the African-American experience. Both groups are internationally known and highly recognized for exceptional performance and quality community engagement. The concert will be held at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 5301 Free Pike, Trotwood, Ohio 45426. Concert Tickets will be available for sale at $30. For additional information and tickets, call St. Margaret’s at 937.837.7741 or 937.275.4675.

COMING UP NEXT: THE CONVENTION ISSUE Get the 411 on all things convention. Submission deadline Oct. 1.

Conference a great week of fellowship and learning for church musicians

COMING UP NEXT: THE CONVENTION ISSUE Get the 411 on all things convention. Submission deadline Oct. 1.

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

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