Spirit August 2015

Spirit

BISHOP KEMPER SCHOOL FOR MINISTRY - CLASSES FOR ALL | LESSONS FROM AFRICA

Diocese of West Missouri AUGUST 2015 | VOLUME 7, NO. 4

GENERAL CONVENTION ROUNDUP - PAGE 4

Publisher

The Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

Editor

Gary Allman

Spirit is published by: Diocese of West Missouri 420 West 14th St. Kansas City, MO 64105

Editorial Board Members

Gary Allman, Communications Director Angela Crawford, Communications Assistant The Rev. Dr. Steven Rottgers, Canon to the Ordinary

Submissions/Letters

We welcome submissions of news articles, photographs and letters to the editor on topics of interest to the diocese.

Submission Guidelines

We will consider all submissions, but it helps us immensely if you can follow the submission guidelines provided on the diocesan website.

In This Issue

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Editor’s Letter Learning to deal with the variety of ideas and opinions within the church can be seen as a curse and a blessing.

Gary Allman

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Keeping Watch Bishop Marty looks back at the 78th General Convention including the election of our next presiding bishop, and the results of three of the key resolutions.

The Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

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The Bishop Kemper School for Ministry Classes for All Everyone is invited to consider taking one of the many courses offered by Bishop Kemper School for Ministry in the 2015-2016 academic year.

Casey Rohleder

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Yearning in flesh and spirit When we yearn to know

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Lessons from Africa A reflection on four months living

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Only a Wet Baby Likes Change Part 3 of a Series

another, rather than use another, love becomes holy.

Vern Barnet

 www.diowestmo.org/spirit-article-submission.html

Back Copies

You can see the latest Spirit magazine and an archive of Spirit issues going back to the winter of 2011 by following the link below.

 www.diowestmo.org/spirit/spirit-magazine.html

Contact

 (816) 471-6161 ext. 17  communications@diowestmo.org  www.diowestmo.org  www.facebook.com/diowestmo

in Botswana.

The Rev. Sidney Breeze

about Adaptations in the Diocese of West Missouri. In this edition of the Spirit we look at Area Confirmations.

The Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

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Forma What is Forma? Why should you join and go to the

conference? Kim Snodgrass tells us about last January’s conference and encourages us to consider attending Forma next year.

Kim Snodgrass

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Changing 125 Lives Christ Episcopal Church in

Lexington leads the way with a simple and inspiring project to change 125 lives.

Cover: Summerlee Walter, Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina

Gary Allman

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SPIRIT | August 2015

ON THE COVER Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry The Presiding Bishop-elect is pictured delivering the sermon at the closing Eucharist of General Convention on July 2, 2015.

Read about Bishop Curry’s election and General Convention in ‘Keeping Watch’ on page 4.

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Directory A directory of the churches of the diocese.

Gary Allman | Editor’s Letter

Episcopalians - Bless ‘em

CONTACT communications@diowestmo.org  Direct:  (417) 522-5151 LINKS www.diowestmo.org  Spirit online extras:  http://goo.gl/PY5EEP EfM Website:  http://efm.sewanee.edu/ contentious resolutions were debated and approved. You can read some of the details of these in Bishop Marty’s ‘Keeping Watch’ article on page 4. I wasn’t part of the diocesan team at Convention, but thanks to the Internet, I was able to watch simulcasts of both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. What I saw was a well-mannered, orderly debate, followed by a response to the voting that showed a deep respect for the opinions and feelings of the people who vote in the minority. In both houses, following the announcement of the outcomes of the marriage resolutions votes, there was no obvious jubilation. Subsequently, Bishops and Deputies who voted against the resolutions were afforded the opportunity to voice their concerns.

The question before us now is this: Can the Church community as a whole - that is you and me - react as admirably?

Can we respectfully and lovingly accept our differences of opinion and continue to work with one another and emphasize our points of agreement?

I certainly hope so, because isn’t that part of ‘Loving one’s neighbor as oneself ’, and isn’t that also a part of the rich diversity of beliefs and opinions of which we Episcopalians are so justifiably proud?

EfM - The End of an Era At the beginning of June two classmates and I completed our Education for Ministry (EfM) course. I estimate that we each put in over 900 hours of class and study time over the four years’ duration of the course. I heartily recommend EfM to anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of Christianity, their faith, and who is interested in reviewing and developing their ministry to the Church. Try it. It is life-changing. +

Photograph: Ginger Davis Allman

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he vestry meeting had just finished, and a typical Ozarks torrential downpour was in progress. A few of us, rather than running to our vehicles, were sitting in the parish hall waiting for the rain to stop.

As we talked, our conversation turned to what is meant by a blessing. We are blessed before we leave church each Sunday.

We have our pets blessed. I have heard of ships, bicycles, and motorcycles being blessed. I’ve also crammed myself into a tiny space to take a picture of Bishop Marty blessing a bathroom.

Civil marriages are blessed, and many people are concerned about the blessing (and now solemnization) of same-sex marriages. So, we wondered, what exactly is a blessing? As a fourth year EfM student at the time, I was rather embarrassed to confess that an exact definition escaped me. Later Fr. Ken Chumbley and Bishop Marty came to my rescue. Fr. ken wrote: “A blessing, biblically speaking, is asking for God’s favor, for God’s outpouring of goodness, for God’s enlivening action upon a person or situation.” Bishop Marty added: “When the Church blesses it isn’t only asking for God’s outpouring. Under the authority given to the Church by Jesus, the Church acts for God, to do what God would do. Therefore, when the Church acts for God, what God would do has been done in truth and in reality.”

It sounds to me like a blessing applies to all the above and much, much, more.

Unfortunately, what the Church chooses to bless can in some cases become a challenge, albeit a challenge to determine God’s true will. We’ve all heard of the three legs of the proverbial Anglican Stool: Scripture, Reason, and Tradition. One of my observations is that Episcopalians sometimes appear to treasure Reason more than Scripture and Tradition. I’m sure you’ve heard the quote, attributed to Robin Williams, “No matter what you believe, there’s bound to be at least one other Episcopalian who agrees with you.” It is this wonderful (blessed?) inclusiveness and acceptance that can also put us on the perilous path toward conflict. A community that encourages its members to think for themselves cannot be surprised when diametrically opposed trains of thought occur.

The problem arises in how we deal with these conflicts. All around us, today’s society appears to have abandoned the art of the reasoned and well-researched discussion. Not to mention that it seems that the possibility of shaking hands and ‘agreeing to disagree’ is no longer an acceptable outcome. Increasingly modern ‘debate’ is more of a diatribe resulting in (or actually including) petty insults and an amassed crowing upon the delivery of some point that apparently bludgeons the opposition’s argument into insignificance.

So it might have been at the Episcopal Church’s recent 78th General Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, where several

L-R. Back row: EfM Mentors, John Svagera and Meg Hannah.

Front row: EfM Graduates, Marsha Patterson, Barbara Worman and Gary Allman

SPIRIT | August 2015

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KEEPING WATCH | The Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

Looking in the Rearview Mirror: The 78th General Convention Bishop Marty on the election of our next presiding bishop, and the results of three of the key resolutions.

CONTACT  bishopmarty@diowestmo.org  www.diowestmo.org  (816) 471-6161

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SPIRIT | August 2015

the election, and it was done. On November 1, 2015, our new Presiding Bishop will be installed to his office in a service at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. I plan to attend to represent our diocese.

Photograph: Donna Field

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y now I hope every Episcopalian in the diocese knows that our Church just completed another General Convention, this one in Salt Lake City, Utah from June 24 - July 3. It was the second General Convention I have attended as a Bishop of the Church. It was also one of the most interesting, joy-filled, and pivotal. What follows is my account, my impressions of this most recent triennial gathering.

As predicted in previous articles in the Spirit, three issues garnered most of the attention among convention-goers and the media: marriage, the election of a new Presiding Bishop, and governance restructuring for the Episcopal Church.

As a member of the House of Bishop’s legislative committee on Governance and Structure, I was intimately involved in the latter, the re-imagining of our governance. I was also privileged to be part of the balloting for the next Presiding Bishop. And, while I was less involved in “perfecting” the resolutions around the topic of marriage, I was certainly involved in debating those resolutions.

Let’s start with the most exciting moment of the convention: the election of the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, Bishop of North Carolina, to be the Episcopal Church’s 27th Presiding Bishop.

Bishop Curry was elected on the first ballot, garnering 121 of the 174 votes cast by bishops assembled at the Diocese of Utah’s historic St. Mark’s Cathedral. When the ballot returns were announced, and it became known that Bishop Curry had received more than the 89 votes needed to elect, the whole throng of bishops broke into spontaneous and prolonged applause – a standing ovation that lasted for what seemed to be 10 minutes! When order was restored, our current Presiding Bishop, The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, officially invited Bishop Curry to come forward to be presented to the House of Bishops as the Presiding Bishop-elect. As he made his way forward, the bishops broke into a second round of sustained, unconstrained applause. It was a powerful and emotional moment. I understand that the same response greeted the news in the House of Deputies, which quickly gave consent to

Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry with Bishop Marty

Governance restructuring was probably the least headlinegrabbing of the major accomplishments of this convention.

The noteworthy aspect of restructuring was how it cleaned up and clarified lines of authority and accountability for the staff of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (aka DFMS – the staff that leads and administers the many and varied Church-wide programs that benefit every level of our Church’s ministry). Also, the roles of the Presiding Bishop and President of the House of Deputies were cleared up and defined, as was the chain-of-command and accountability of senior-level management of DFMS. Lastly, the process of preparing the church-wide budget was modernized and streamlined.

All these technical changes are designed to allow our Church to respond to missional opportunities quickly and with clear focus.

The Diocesan team at General Convention 78, Salt Lake City, Utah. Bishop Marty, Deputies, Alternate Deputies, ECW and Youth

Along with the changes to Canon I.18, both houses of convention also approved two, new, trial, marriage liturgies, proposed by the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music.

These are designed for use at the marriage of any couple.

These actions will bring joy to some, but certainly not to all.

Perhaps, we all can take a clue from the loving, understanding response by the majority of members of the House of Bishops and the way they affirmed the minority of bishops, who felt unable to vote to approve the changes to the marriage canon or to approve the trial marriage liturgies. The minority report produced by these bishops was, by action of the House of Bishops, made an attachment to a release of the canons and liturgies. Copies are available to any and all Episcopalians.

What was modeled here is deep listening to one another without demonizing, dehumanizing, or demeaning. There was disagreement, yes. But all positions and beliefs were honored.

And we will stay in mutually challenging conversation as we explore the way ahead.

Here is a lesson for our own diocese as well as the whole Church. +

Photograph: Donna Field

Of course, the most newsworthy matters enacted (gaining more attention from the secular press than any other aspect of convention) were the resolutions about marriage.

The marriage resolutions arose from the work of the Task Force on the Study of Marriage established by the 2012 General Convention in Indianapolis. Tasked with drafting a report to the 2015 convention, the task force spent three years identifying and exploring the biblical, theological, historical, liturgical, and canonical dimensions of marriage. They examined the pastoral need for clergy of this Church to officiate at civil marriages of same- sex couples in states that authorize such, and they also consulted with married couples, with those in other lifelong, committed relationships, and with single adults. They conferred with other churches of the Anglican Communion and with ecumenical partners. Overall they considered the issues raised by changing societal and cultural norms and legal structures, including legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships between two people of the same sex, in the U.S., and in other countries where The Episcopal Church ministers. Lastly the task force developed norms for theological discussion and tools to aid theological reflection at local levels of the Church.

It was a huge job and the fruit of their labor was seven essays on the history, theology, and practice of marriage and two proposed resolutions. All nine of these were published some months before convention and prompted several responses and a lively dialogue. Both resolutions introduced by the task force eventually passed, but not without great debate and much honest sharing. The end result is this: a new “Canon I.18: Of the Celebration and Blessing of Marriage”, with gender-neutral language, was adopted to replace old “Canon I.18: Of the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony”. This decision - which will be remembered for its juxtaposition to the Supreme Court’s recent decision about marriage equality in the United States opens the Church to the regularization of same-sex marriage.

Youth, Deputies, and Alternates

SPIRIT | August 2015

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Guest Column | Casey Rohleder

The Bishop Kemper School for Ministry Classes for All Everyone is invited to consider taking one of the many courses offered by Bishop Kemper School for Ministry in the 2015-2016 academic year.

CONTACT  bksmoutreach@gmail.com  (785) 259-4672

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sacredness. BKSM is here for the questioners and the sure; for the seekers and those already on the path. All are welcome.”

Anne Merideth Kyle (’15), is a candidate to the priesthood currently serving as the presbyteral intern at Grace Episcopal Church, Jefferson City. Her presenting church is All Saints’ in West Plains. As someone who took 30 classes to complete her program of study, Kyle attests to both the quality and diversity of the school’s courses. “The Bishop Kemper School for Ministry brings a wide variety of stimulating courses a little closer to home, which makes it a more convenient and affordable learning option.” Like Lyle, she appreciates the diversity of the student body, “which adds a unique richness to class discussions and meal-time conversation.”

Classes cover topics in theology, history, ethics, ministry, preaching, and spirituality. While most courses are open to students not seeking ordination, a number of courses topics may particularly appeal to lay people, such as Christian Spirituality (August), Introduction to Scripture (September), Contemporary Mission (November), and Anglican Identity (May). See the sidebar for a list of all 2015-16 courses.

Classes at BKSM are taught by both ordained clergy and lay leaders from across the four dioceses. This year, four faculty members hail from the Diocese of West Missouri. The Rev. Dr. Bill Fasel (Ministry Developer, Northeast Episcopal Regional Ministry) is teaching two classes on Christian formation and

Photograph: Melodie Woerman

he Bishop Kemper School for Ministry (BKSM) invites you to consider taking one of the almost 30 courses lined up for the 2015-2016 academic year. Classes are open to all students, whether you are seeking ordination to the diaconate or priesthood, wanting to become licensed in a lay ministry or simply interested in taking a class or two for personal enrichment.

A college degree is not required to take classes for personal enrichment.

BKSM provides to individuals a high-quality, yet affordable way to learn more about the Episcopal Church, and it is a wonderful opportunity to spend a weekend of worship and fellowship with men and women from the Episcopal Dioceses of Kansas, Nebraska, West Missouri and Western Kansas. The Very Rev. Dr. Don Compier, BKSM dean, said, “We welcome all people who seek to deepen their knowledge of their faith and their church. As disciples of Jesus we must always grow in our understanding. The warm, communal context of BKSM is an excellent and hospitable place to faithfully learn with sisters and brothers from other dioceses.”

Jim Lile, a third-year student on the priest track from St. Philip’s, Joplin, concurs about the unique learning environment.

He said, “A weekend at the Bishop Kemper School is a truly remarkable experience. Surrounding and pervading all that we do is a spirit of worship. God has brought us to this place and our meals, conversations, classes, and services all share a special

Class 2, BKSM - August 2014 6

SPIRIT | August 2015

CONTACT The Very Rev. Don Compier:  bksmdean2@gmail.com  (816) 217-4053 LINKS Register for courses:  http://www.bishopkemperschool.org/register-for-courses.html BKSM Website:  http://www.bishopkemperschool.org the Rev. Virginia Dabney Brown (retired) is teaching classes in spirituality and pastoral theology. Dr. Victor Matthews (St. John’s, Springfield) joins BKSM this year, teaching two different Old Testament classes while the Rev. Amy Cox (’13) joins BKSM as the colloquium leader for first-year students.

Fr. Bill Fasel, who in July became the second chairperson of the BKSM Board of Directors, is a vocal supporter of BKSM as resource for lay education. “BKSM was founded in 2013 to provide educational resources for all orders of ministry, and not simply to prepare persons for ordination. Many of the courses we teach now are of value to lay ministers just as much as for ordained. Furthermore, over the next couple of years, the school will be creating new curricula specifically targeted to lay ministers in our dioceses, and we will be delivering these courses in a variety of ways that will make a BKSM education easier and more convenient, even in some of our far-flung places.”

Courses at BKSM follow a regular pattern every month.

About four weeks before class meets, students receive the syllabus from the course instructor. Students spend the month leading up to class completing all the assigned readings and any pre-class writing assignments. Classes meet the second weekend of the month in Topeka for face-to-face instruction during what is called the “focus weekend.” Then, students spend the next month completing any papers or projects. However, if students prefer to audit the class, they are not expected to complete any of the writing assignments; they simply finish as much of the reading as they can and benefit from participating in the focus weekend.

Lay people may take classes for credit or simply audit them.

For-credit classes cost $180 per class, while audited classes cost $100 each. This fee covers tuition, overnight accommodations at Upton Hall (on a space-available basis), and all meals. Books are not included in this fee.

Additional information and an on-line course registration form is available on our website. Interested individuals may also contact the The Very Rev. Don Compier. +

BKSM Courses: August 2015 - May 2016 August 8-9, 2015 January 9-10, 2016 Christian Spirituality Pentateuch & Writings Catholic Tradition September 12-13, 2015 Introduction to Scripture Prophets Educational Philosophy

Christian History I Christian Ethics Pauline Epistles Doctrine of God

February 13-14, 2016 Christian Theology I Forms of Christian Ethics Evangelism Ecclesiology

October 10-11, 2015 Social Witness of the Old Testament) British Christianity Adult Education

March 12-13, 2016 Sacraments Gospels

November 14-15, 2015

April 9-10, 2016

Contemporary Mission History of the Episcopal Church Modernity and After

Christian History Tasks of Theology Contemporary Ethics Soteriology

December 12-13, 2015

May 14-15, 2016

Foundations of Ethics (online) Diakonia I Polity and Canons Pastoral Theology

Anglican Identity Doctrine of the Incarnation Parish Administration

Casey Rohleder is the Communications and Outreach Specialist at BKSM, and Third-Year Student, priest track, Diocese of Western Kansas.

SPIRIT | August 2015

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Yearning in flesh and spirit When we yearn to know another, rather than use another, love becomes holy.

Vern Barnet

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SPIRIT | August 2015

Photograph: Terry Clinton - https://www.flickr.com/photos/terryclinton/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic

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friend says that spiritual yearning is utterly different from sexual desire. I disagree. I remind him that scripture says God is love (1 John 4:8), and that marriage, one result of yearning, “signifies to us the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church . . .” (Book of Common Prayer p423).

Our secular culture has a pleasure is hardly praisedifficult time affirming that worthy, but the throbbing sexual union is analogous to to know another intimately the experience of God. While may indeed be holy. For the eroticism of the Song some, such yearning is best of Solomon is clear, many fulfilled in celibate service or Christians are at least faintly circumstance. For others, the embarrassed by the book erotic commitment opens a and some interpret the fleshy dedicated path to God. language as mere ecclesiastic All faiths recognize the metaphor. danger of love because it, Our understanding of like a white-hot iron bar marriage has developed since in a sweltering forge, can the 1552 Book of Common sear body and soul. But Prayer which justified that intense fire can also marriage in the first place for meld souls in knowledge so “the procreacion of children.” intimate we call it union.

The 1979 Book of Common This knowledge is not Prayer gives “mutual joy” as rational information, but the the first reason for marriage. transcendent ecstasy about The recent Supreme Court which the mystics wrote. decision about same-sex The arts, perhaps better marriage seems to be more than theology, express the aligned with the latter view holiness of desire. Here are of marriage. three examples which, to me, Augustine of Hippo was show that knowing another, surely right to condemn like knowing God, can sensual love when it is happen only when we empty selfish, but wrong to think ourselves of the desire to use that being “turned on” is sin. another for our own pleasure, He seems to have approved of and instead, leaving aside our sex only as a rational activity agendas, seek simply to know to produce children. Perhaps the other. the Persian poet Rumi was 1. A Sculpture of Desire closer to the mark when he writes, “The throbbing vein Of Christian art, surely will take you further than one of the most daring works any thinking.” is Bernini’s 1652 sculpture, Desiring the use of The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, in another for one’s own

Bernini’s Transverberazione di santa Teresa d’Avila (The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa)

the Cornaro Chapel of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.

She is presented voluptuously as the angel above her aims his arrow. She twists and quivers as if in orgasm.

Here is a passage from her autobiography: “I saw in [the angel’s] hand a long spear of gold, and at the

iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails...and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive

pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God.” Her yearning was not to use God, but to know God. Similarly, it seems entirely appropriate to me that lovers should, in the fire of their embrace, shout “O God!” When we behold, rather than use, desire is purified of selfish intent and we are emptied so God may fill us.

2. A Dance of Desire Some years ago I visited Spain where a young friend, a guitarist, was studying. I told him I wanted to see real flamenco, not the touristy delights with castanets, but the traditional ecstatic wail of desire.

We met in Madrid past midnight. We passed though a restaurant still busy with customers into an unmarked back room. While some men were singing and others playing guitars, a woman was dancing a mature embrace of both desire and desolation. The crowd was lifted into religious rapture with shouts of “Al-lay!” and I recognized the Andalusian pronunciation of the Muslim term for God, Allah. Does she dance of a human or the divine Lover?

Few art forms are so clearly indebted to so many religions as flamenco. The

hand gestures arise from Hindu dance, and the cante, the song, is a rich reminder of Jewish, early Christian, Arabic, and gypsy scales and rhythms.

At my side my guitarist friend whispered, “Blues and flamenco are both born in pain.” As slavery and freedom both dwell in that American art form, I see the yearning and satisfaction that shape flamenco.

Somehow this art, like faith, transforms brokenness and disappointment into praise.

The yearning of the lover for the beloved, from a distance or in the closest moment of ravished release, exposes the realm of the sacred to be known, but not used.

3. A Poem of Desire John Donne was Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, 1621-1631. His lines, “No man is an island” and “Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” are often quoted, as is his sonnet beginning “Death, be not proud.” His poem, The Canonization, argues that intensely committed lovers should be considered saints.

Donne’s most paradoxical and profound expression of desire is Holy Sonnet XIV, perhaps written when he was agonizing about converting to the Church of England.

Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

I, like an usurp’d town to another due, Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end; Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captiv’d, and proves weak or untrue.

Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov’d fain, But am betroth’d unto your enemy; Divorce me, untie or break that knot again, Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

The technicolor terms “passion” and “rapture” should not have their beauty reduced to monochrome in theology. The Passion of Christ is indeed the utmost act of love, and the Rapture is a union with God beyond comprehension.

A child’s wonder and curiosity to know the world, if unthwarted, opens to God. And when adults cease from using one another and simply behold the world and the beloved as an unmerited gift, an intimation of heavenly bliss appears. I ask my friend, Is not such love a profound mystery taught and cherished, the Church? +

In this sonnet, God is Trinity, blacksmith, glassblower, battle chief - and molester. The very first word, batter, is a problem because we know how utterly wrong battering is. Donne is first a city under siege and then a partner desiring a different lover. The sonnet climaxes by uniting what we think as opposites: chastity and rape. The logic is shocking and irresistible, at once both sacrilegious and unassailably pure. Abandoning all desires to use God, Donne wants only to know and be possessed by God. The sonnet’s sexual language parallels our spiritual yearning to behold rather than to use, as the movements of the dance and the undulation of the sculpture also suggest.

Vern Barnet, founder of the Kansas City Interfaith Council, wrote the weekly “Faith and Beliefs” column for the Kansas City Star for eighteen years.

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Lessons from Africa A reflection on four months living in Botswana.

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The Rev. Sidney Breeze

 http://www.diowestmo.org/publications/botswana.html

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he following are extracts from my Botswana journal; four months in a non-western culture. What does a boy from New York now living in Missouri in the central United States have to learn from living 10,000 miles away in Africa? too obsessed with schedules The capital city, Gaborone, and plans. There always is very different from the rest of Botswana. It attempts to be a something which will save us. It may be a sense that we modern city with government buildings, malls, a busy airport are not going to change the world in a day, but we can be and traffic! But in many ways faithful in the moment. That’s it is still a village. The people the African way. work for the government or agencies which support the Security government. The people are from all over the country and The experience in the bring their village and tribal city is different to that customs with them, adapted to out in the bush and small city life. villages. Gaborone is very security conscious. There Time are walls around houses and complexes with barbed wire A Westerner has to make a big adjustment here. One takes on top. There is a gate and maybe even a security patrol. a break for tea several times a day, usually consisting of a cup My apartment complex has a of tea and some biscuits. We sit wall and guard, my windows have bars. There is a gate at around a talk and enjoy each the entrance to my apartment other’s company; no agenda. in addition to the door. I have But that is an easy one. The not seen any violence since big time thing comes around coming here. People, for the schedules and making plans. most part, are gentle and Schedules are often changed courteous. But stories are told with little notice. Meetings do not start at the appointed time. of break-ins. So we live in a People arrive for church during sort of armed fortress. You do not see your neighbors except the Eucharist. There is always as they come and go through time for another hymn! Plans the gate. may be made, but often there The bush and the villages is little action on them. Maybe are different. There may later. It’s Africa time. My wife be walls around family and others who know me may compounds, but you can think that this fits me well.

Mary says I have the least sense usually see over them and gates are not locked. People of time of anyone she knows! wander in and out to visit.

But it has not been an easy In the center of the village adjustment, even for me. there is the Kgolta; the tribal But, if you get past our gathering place for talking preoccupation with schedules, and making decisions as a you end up enjoying the laid community. back atmosphere. We seem 10 SPIRIT | August 2015

Fr. Sid (center) visiting a cattle post near the village of Matsiloje, Botswana

Messy

Riding in one means you give up your personal space and Botswana is messy in you are touching the people many ways. The most obvious on either side. No one seems is in the landscaping or the to mind this. It is part of living lack of it. Boulevards and in Africa. Combis stop often the sides of streets are not along the way, so a trip can often maintained. Grass and take three times as long as it weeds grow along the side of would in a car. I ride them the streets and roads. Street when I am not in a hurry, but maintenance is at a minimum; then I have access to a car, so it pot holes everywhere. The only is not a necessity. landscaping that is maintained is at government buildings or Utilities elegant hotels and resorts.

Utilities are another There is something to adjustment. Everyone has an this casualness and the look electric meter, but the power of it all. We in America are company does not send out obsessed with lawns and greenery. We spend huge sums bills. Instead you got to their office or the grocery store and of money planting, watering pay for electricity in advance. and maintaining them. I It means watching your meter realize that when I get back home, I must continue to take and then paying and entering a code into the meter to add care of the yard and garden, kilowatts. Since electricity in but I will be looking to make something I pay on my own, it easier to maintain and eco-friendly in terms of water. I have been vigilant in usage.

I turn on the water heater when I get up in the morning Travel and turn it off after breakfast.

Automobiles are an When I leave in the morning, expense that many cannot I turn off the fans, etc. I keep afford, so they walk or take track of my usage on a sheet of the ‘combis’ (vans that follow paper by the front door. If you specified routes for around run out of kilowatts, the power 3.50 pula - 5 cents). The goes off. combis are everywhere. They are crowded (15-18 people) and not air conditioned.

There are also “rolling blackouts;” times when the power goes out for no reason. The problem seems to originate in South Africa.

Botswana is attempting to increase its own generating capacity, but much of their electricity comes from South Africa. And they are over capacity. So the blackouts happen. It has happened almost every other day since I arrived. And I have learned to cope with it.

Cell Phones and Internet Everyone has a cell phone in Africa; sometimes two or three. The phone service is handled in the same way as electricity. No one seems to have a plan and I do not think that there are bills for landlines or cell services. I bought a cheap phone when I arrived.

I “buy time” when I need it.

And the phone company is more than willing to sell you time and let you know when you are running low. It’s all prepaid. The only thing I need do is keep track of my usage.

Connecting to the Internet is another matter. The school where I teach has an internet connection. But it is very slow and often down. I finally got frustrated enough to talk to the local cell phone company.

They set me up with an Internet connection and now I can use Google to talk to people back home.

Tribal Traditions Everyone in Botswana has what he or she calls his or her “home village.” It’s the place for family celebrations. You go there to reconnect every so often. The kgotla is the center of every village. It is where the chief and elders meet to make decisions. All men are included in these meetings.

Woman can also speak. I have not attended one of these

meetings, but it seems to be about consensus.

The chief in a village is a hereditary position. In addition to speaking for the whole village the chief holds court and makes decisions on certain infractions of tribal law. I asked a chief how he makes decision; does he have books of the law. He pointed to his head and smiled. There are books, but as one growing up knowing he would be chief, he learned the law from his father or other family members. It is a common sense law; one that is based on community values.

It reminds me of when I was young and the United States was not as corporate as it is now. Everyone was watching the children! When I did something wrong, my parents found out before I got home. The town (village) was part of the parenting system.

Discipline was under the control of parents, but there were lots of eyes watching.

So when I did something wrong it was dealt with by my parents and those affected. The police and courts were never involved.

late night shopping. Grocery stores are open until 8:00 p.m.

Sunday most stores, except for groceries, close around 2:00 p.m.

The flag was symbolically designed to contrast with the flag of South Africa (with black, red and green colors), since the latter country was ruled under an apartheid Getting the News regime. Hence, the black stripe with the white frame came Botswana has a number to epitomize the peace and of newspapers, with several harmony between the people coming from South Africa. of African and European The local publications seem descent who reside in biased in terms of political thought and slant. Most seem Botswana.

There is a peace and pretty oblivious to what is harmony about living in happening in Europe and Botswana that is hard to the United States. They do explain. People are often write editorials about us, but huddled together in close are pretty critical about the contact, poverty is at your government and president, doorstep and lives can be in terms of foreign policy shortened by disease and and especially Africa. The accidents. But I have never writing is a little strange to a seen anyone lash out with Westerners taste. angry words or actions. There My news in Botswana is is a gentleness of spirit in fairly limited; limited that is as to what is happening in the Botswana. People care about one another. Children are States. But I do have access to British Broadcasting Company treasured and often live at home into young adulthood. and Aljazeera. I have gained Tolerance is a national ethic. great respect for these two The “village” mentality and news sources. The biggest value continues to inform the difference I note is the lack of way people interact with one right/left wing rhetoric and another and with children. My constant politicizing of the prayer and hope is that as this news I am used to from U.S. place develops the people do broadcasters.

Shopping not lose sight of the value of the village way of life.

The People There are no Wal-Marts This is not to say that or super grocery stores. It The flag says it all! The flag Botswana is a perfect place. takes a while to get used to of Botswana consists of a light There are issues of women’s the shopping experience in blue field cut horizontally in rights, a subtle homophobia, Botswana. This makes a big the center by a black stripe sexual promiscuity, wealth difference in shopping. There with a thin white frame. distribution, and security. is a place called ‘Game’ in one But there is also an honesty of the local shopping centers inherent in the people and that has a loose Super-store leaders that understands the feel. It is not as big, but does various issues and is willing to have a broad collection of discuss and work on solutions. goods. However, the choices These wonderful, peaceful and are fewer. tolerant people have much to Woolworths stores are teach us as we look for ways everywhere. I thought that The national flag of Botswana to deal with some of the same they went out of business in the 1970s, apparently not here. Adopted in 1966 to replace the issues here in the U.S. + Woolworths has clothing and Union Jack, it has been the flag The Rev. Sidney Breeze is retired and serves on Bishop Marty’s staff as food stuff. of the Republic of Botswana Ministry Developer for Sacred Hills Most stores close up at Regional Ministry. since the country gained around 6:30 p.m. so there is no independence that year.

SPIRIT | August 2015 11

Only a Wet Baby Likes Change Part 3 of a series about adaptations in the Diocese of West Missouri. In this issue of the Spirit we look at Area Confirmations.

The Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

CONTACT bishopmarty@ediowestmo.org   (816) 471-6161 LINKS www.diowestmo.org  Spirit Online: www.diowmo.org/spirit/spirit-magazine.html

F

Photograph: James Hale

place on Sunday mornings or the last two issues of Spirit, I have briefly detailed the during the Bishop’s visit, adaptations underway in West Missouri. To be sure, these but – because they are still alterations will not affect all members of the diocese, and important – confirmations not all will even notice they have taken place. Still, for those who will take place, instead, at Area want to know or who have been following along, I offer this third Confirmation Services that and final installment to this mini-series.

The first article (in the April Spirit) charted out recent changes to the diocese’s deaneries, to the number of deaneries (down from 4 to 3), to their rosters of parishes and congregations (more evenly sized and resourced), and to their purpose (an enlarged role in the missional program of the diocese).

The second article (in the June issue) was about Episcopal Visitations. Most Episcopalians are familiar Confirmation at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City with the times the Bishop comes to preach, teach, leadership, not liturgies and will be held throughout the confirm and receive candifellowship. diocese. dates, to share fellowship, etc.

(To get the fuller story, We have experimented The new scheme of Episcopal see the articles from previous with this stratagem through Visitations has the Bishop issues, which are available 2015. Our first Area visiting more frequently, but online through the diocese’s Confirmation was held in only ½ the time on a Sunday. website.)

May at St. Andrew’s, KC, At Sunday visits there will be Now, the final installment and over 50 persons from worship and fellowship, but of this series is about confirmore than a dozen churches not the rite of confirmation. mations, and in a way it were confirmed or received.

The other ½ of the visitations continues the explanation of Another one is set for will be at a time other than the reworking of the plan for November (see more below).

Sunday mornings and will Episcopal Visitations.

In 2016, we will fine-tune involve consultations with As mentioned, confirmaour experiment by moving tions will no longer take 12 SPIRIT | August 2015

Area Confirmation services into two distinct times of the Church Year: 1.) the Great 50 Days of Easter and 2.) the days around All Saints’ Day. This pattern has several things to recommend it.

First, having Area Confirmations during Easter recaptures the ancient practice of conducting the rites of initiation during the Church’s most sacred time. In the ancient Church, Lent was a time for preparations for baptism, for renewal, for reconciliation, and for rededication of self to the cause of Christ. The Easter season, beginning with the Easter Vigil, (in addition to celebrating the Resurrection) was expressly a time for baptisms (especially appropriate at the Vigil) and for celebrating all rites of dedication and commitment.

Of these latter rites, the sacramental rite of Confirmation is the most preeminent. Thus, we can recapture the ancient relationship of Lent and Easter.

All Saint’s Day, also, is a historic and traditional baptismal feast, and having a service or two around this Holy Day (usually 6 months or so after Easter) will allow

Photograph: James Hale

The diocese’s first Area Confirmation at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City

allow for whatever classes of preparation were to be held, and to hope the would-be candidates didn’t already have plans that would keep them from being at the confirmation service. In the new plan, the time for final preparations will always be the same. Each year the parish will know, as the calendar turns to a new year, that it is time and that Lent is the period for preparations and formation to come to their culmination.

The third thing that recommends this design is that all churches will be on the same schedule, and – especially for smaller congregations, but really for any and all – this allows for combined formation efforts which might enhance and enrich the dialogue and exploration of faith and commitment to faith that should be the hallmark of this time. It also would allow for opportunities for sharing retreats, special speakers, or a time with the Bishop.

Opportunities for partnering are only limited by your imagination.

The fourth thing that recommends this course is that it allows each church to

celebrate the newly confirmed.

Here is what I mean by that.

When confirmations in the past have taken place on the day of the Bishop’s visit, the newly confirmed have had to share the spotlight with the Bishop and his spouse, to whom people instinctively want to be a good host. Area Confirmations allow the parish, on the Sunday following the Area Confirmation, to receive the newly confirmed back and to celebrate their new and significant commitment, without the Bishop’s visitation detracting from the moment.

Here’s how I envision this going. On the Sunday prior to an Area Confirmation, those who will be presented as candidates should be recognized in the parish liturgies, prayed for, and pastorally sent to make their confirmation commitment. On the Sunday following, the parish should mark their new commitment with a festive reception, or picnic, or something big!

To be confirmed is a huge commitment that involves how one will live the rest of his or her life. That is incredibly

significant, and should not go uncelebrated.

So, we are off on a different path. I am excited by what we have experienced, the joy, energy, and excitement of coming together to stand with individuals at a significant point of personal commitment to God through his Son, Jesus Christ. I still bask in the glow of the grand spirit of our first Area Confirmation.

I look forward to each Area Confirmation being an experience of the largeness of God’s love and the largeness of God’s universal Church.

Our next Area Confirmation, and the last one for 2015, will be at Christ Church, Springfield on November 14 at 10 a.m.

The 2016 schedule will be published later this year. + Bishop Marty is the eighth Bishop of the Diocese of West Missouri.

Photograph: James Hale

those who may join too late for Easter-tide confirmations to make their confirmation without waiting a year.

The emerging plan is to have 5 Area Confirmations at various points around the diocese during the 50 days of Easter and have 2 more (one north, one south) around All Saints’ in November.

Remember, any church can present candidates at any of these services – or at all the services if you are so blessed and so inclined. You get to choose, so pick the date and location that is best for your parish or congregation. The schedule and locations will be available later this year.

The second thing that recommends this pattern is the simplification of the Christian Formation calendar in each congregation and parish. In the old model, the time of the year when the Bishop would show up was always moving through the months and seasons (it happened every 16-18 months). Formation workers and clergy were always having to remember the inconsistent date of the Bishop’s arrival, to count back a certain number of weeks to

SPIRIT | August 2015 13

Forma What is Forma, and why should you join and go to the conference?

Kim Snodrass

F

orma is a great conference and what an opportunity for anyone and everyone interested in Christian Formation!

For those unfamiliar with Forma, it is a grassroots association of members of The Episcopal Church and kindred individuals and institutions that supports, networks, advocates for, resources, and celebrates Christian formation leaders in their Christian formation ministries.

The conference offers There were workshops for attendees the opportunity everyone, both lay and clergy! to rest, laugh, be inspired Best Practice Principles for and make new friends! This Spiritual Growth: Lessons year’s annual conference was from Willow Creek Applied held in January. The keynote to the Episcopal Church; Best speaker was bestselling Practices in Digital Faith author Brene Brown, research Formation; Engaging Young professor at the University of Adults, On and Off college Houston who has spent the Campuses; Gray Matters (what past decade studying vulner“matters” to seniors navigating ability, courage, worthiness the unchartered and and shame. Alongside Brene unexplored years of aging); were four additional wellMinding the Gap: Building up known plenary speakers and 4th-6th Graders; and “What Are a musician; each uniquely We Doing?” were among the inspirational and motivational!

LINKS Forma Website: http://episcoforma.org/ Registration: http://episcoforma.org/2016-conference/

choices, and there were many more.

One of the best things about attending a Forma conference is the opportunity to see, hear and feel the passion for Christian formation that is in the church today. Succumbing to frustration is easy when we receive a less than enthusiastic response to new ideas.

Surrendering our vision for formation is far less painful than confronting apathy. The good news is that no one has to go it alone. There are friends to be made, co-workers to engage with and teachers who can help us grow and develop our ministries.

Every conceivable subject can be addressed from the perspective of our formation

as Christians; from social justice to stewardship, from poverty to organizational skills, from parenting to religious understanding.

More than ever before, people need Christian Formation to be intentional, and being formed and shaped by the Spirit of God is of the utmost importance to our well-being.

Learning new (or not so new) ways to do that is what Forma is all about!

Mark next year’s Forma Conference on your calendar.

Bring anyone and everyone interested in Christian Formation to Philadelphia next January 27-29, 2016! + Kim Snodgrass is Youth Ministry Coordinator with the Diocese of West Missouri.

Changing 125 Lives Christ Episcopal Church in Lexington leads the way with a simple and inspiring project to change 125 lives.

Gary Allman

LINK  www.nermwestmo.org/christ_church_lexington0.aspx

14 SPIRIT | August 2015

Photograph: Mickey Simnitt

M

eeting the diocesan challenge to start a project in 2015 to have a positive effect on the lives of 125 people doesn’t have to be complicated. Christ Episcopal Church, Lexington’s solution was so simple and elegant I had to share it.

For example, one star Each week the members is for 125 personal hygiene of the church are encouraged to add a star and, if they wish, kits, another is for driving a to make a note of their contri- family from the local shelter to Kansas City, another for bution in a small journal.

Lexington member Mickey driving four women in their Simnitt told us that the poster eighties to Independence for the day, and one star repreidea came from Deacon sents sharing extra food with a Sharron Heathman and was neighbor. + created by another member, Maggie Bonanomi. Each star Gary Allman is Director of can represent more than one Communications with the Diocese of West Missouri. person being served.

Christ Church Lexington’s Changing 125 Lives poster. More stars are being added each week

| DIRECTORY

Diocese of West Missouri Diocese of West Missouri:  (816) 471-6161 | ď„ƒ www.diowestmo.org All Saints' Episcopal Church, Nevada (417) 667-2607 www.allsaintsnevadamo.org

All Saints' Episcopal Church, West Plains (417) 256-2215 www.allsaintswestplains.com

Calvary Episcopal Church, Sedalia (660) 826-4873 www.calvarye.org

Christ Episcopal Church, Boonville

(660) 882-6444 www.nermwestmo.org/christ_church_boonville_0. aspx

Christ Episcopal Church, Lexington

(660) 259-3605 www.nermwestmo.org/christ_church_lexington0. aspx

Christ Episcopal Church, Springfield (417) 866-5133 www.christepiscopalchurch.com

Christ Episcopal Church, St Joseph

(816) 279-6351 www.episcopalstjosephmo.org

St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Bolivar (417) 777-2233 www.stalbansozarks.org

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Kansas City (816) 523-1602 www.standrewkc.org

St. Anne's Episcopal Church, Lee's Summit (816) 524-5552 www.saintannesls.org

St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, Kansas City (816) 921-8534

St. George Episcopal Church, Camdenton (573) 346-4686 www.saintge.diowestmo.org

St. James Episcopal Church, Springfield (417) 881-3073 www.stjamesspringfield.net

St. John's Episcopal Church, Neosho (417) 451-3644 www.stjohnsneosho.org

St. John's Episcopal Church, Springfield (417) 869-6351 www.stjohnsepiscopalmo.org

Christ Episcopal Church, Warrensburg

St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Excelsior Springs

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Kansas City

St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Kimberling City

(660) 429-1133 www.christepiscopalwarrensburg.org

(816) 452-0745 www.episcopalcogs.org

Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Kansas City (816) 741-1136 www.redeemerkc.org

Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Blue Springs (816) 228-4220 www.episcopal-bluesprings.org

Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, Mountain Grove (417) 926-5217

Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City (816) 474-8260 www.kccathedral.org

Grace Episcopal Church, Carthage (417) 358-4631 www.gracecarthage.org

Grace Episcopal Church, Chillicothe (660) 646-4288 www.graceepiscopal-chillicothe.org

Grace Episcopal Church, Liberty (816) 781-6262 www.graceepiscopalliberty.org

Shepherd of the Hills Episcopal Church, Branson (417) 334-3968 www.shepherdofthehillsepiscopal.org

(816) 476-2932 www.esepiscopal.org (417) 739-2460 www.stmrks.org

St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church, Village of Loch Lloyd (816) 331-2222 www.marymag.com

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Kansas City (816) 931-2850 www.stpaulskcmo.org

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Lee's Summit (816) 524-3651 www.stpaulsls.org

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Maryville (660) 582-5832 www.stpaulsmaryville.org

St. Peter and All Saints Episcopal Church, Kansas City (816) 942-1066 www.stpaas.org

St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Harrisonville (816) 884-4025 www.stpetersharrisonville.diowestmo.org

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Joplin (417) 623-6893 www.stphilipsjoplin.com

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Trenton St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Monett (417) 235-3330 www.ststephensmo.org

St. Thomas a Becket Episcopal Church, Cassville (417) 846-2155 www.saintthomasabecket.org

Trinity Episcopal Church, Independence (816) 254-3644 www.trinityindependence.org

Trinity Episcopal Church, Lebanon

St. Mary's Church, Fayette

(417) 532-3433 www.facebook.com/pages/Trinity-EpiscopalChurch-in-Lebanon-Missouri/510154842396985

St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Kansas City

Campus Ministry

www.nermwestmo.org/st_marys_fayette0.aspx (816) 842-0975 www.stmaryskc.org

St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Savannah St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Ozark (417) 581-1350 www.stmattsozark.com

St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Raytown (816) 353-4592 www.stmatthewsraytown.org

St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Independence (816) 373-5333 www.stmichaelschurch.org

St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church, Noel

Beth Marshall (660) 728-1140 www.dcm.diowestmo.org

WEMO Youth Kim Snodgrass (417) 793-0780 www.youth.diowestmo.org

eSpirit Newsletter www.diowmo.org/espirit/espirit-newsletter.html

Spirit Magazine Online www.diowmo.org/spirit/spirit-magazine.html

(417) 475-3852 www.stnicholasnoel.webgarden.es

St. Oswald's in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, Skidmore www.stoswaldinthefields.diowestmo.org

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Clinton (660) 885-8008 www.orgsites.com/mo/stpaulsepisc

For the most up-to-date information about events in the diocese, church resources, news, church & clergy directories, and more, visit the diocesan website. www.diowestmo.org

SPIRIT | August 2015 15

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