Spirit April 2016

Spirit

TAI CHI AND TEA | THE WAY - FROM MEMBERSHIP TO DISCIPLESHIP

The Diocese of West Missouri APRIL 2016 | VOLUME 8, NO. 2

PALM SUNDAY - CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SPRINGFIELD

Publisher

The Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

Editor

Gary Allman

Spirit is published by: The 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. Canon Dr. Steven Rottgers, Canon to the Ordinary

In This Issue

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Editor’s Letter Re-introducing Sabbath Time, reminding

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Keeping Watch What does it mean to be Easter People?

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How can we live up to our Baptismal Vows and follow Christ's example?

Tai Chi and Tea How a once-a-week morning exercise program at Grace Church, Carthage grew into exercise, fellowship, and an appreciation of tea.

Claudia Mundell

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Work, Play, and Holy Living Are work and play

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Ashes-to-Go, In Extremis Ash Wednesday can be

8

Ordinations The Rev. Elisabeth Sinclair, one of the

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WEMO Youth Report It is going to be another busy

Submission Guidelines

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

Gary Allman

The Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

Submissions/Letters

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

ourselves of the good we do, and developing a Rule of Life.

opposites? Can the cross unite them in holy living?

Vern Barnet

observed on the go – anywhere.

Dan and Anita Philbrick

 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

Additional Image Credits Photograph on page 5 by Flickr user Michael Scott www.flickr.com/ people/sarahandmikeprobably/used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

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Cover image: Gary Allman

Palm Sunday 2016. Being a bit late getting Spirit to print has its advantages. In this case the opportunity to include this picture of Bishop Marty with the St. Cecilia Choir at Christ Episcopal Church in Springfield.

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The choir's director, Rachel Murad is pictured far right.

year for the youth, the diocesan youth coordinators and the many volunteers who help make sure that all the youth events run smoothly.

Kim Snodgrass

Are Your Family and Church Prepared? It’s Time to Be Ready Spring, with its potential for storms, is a good

time to review how prepared you and your church are for an emergency.

The Rev. David Lynch

The Way - From Membership to Discipleship The story of the renewed Adult Catechuenate in the Episcopal Church.

Larry Ehren

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diocese's most recent ordinands tells us a little bit about herself.

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Campus Ministry - Winter Gathering 2016

At the beginning of January college students met in Kansas City for the annual Winter Gathering, a time of ministry, fellowship and learning.

Beth Marshall

BKSM Welcomes Lay Students, Offers New Lay Scholarship BKSM has been encouraging lay-

people to become students in their classes. There is now a scholarship available to lay people too.

The Rev. Deacon Casey Rohleder

St. Matthew's, Ozark St. Matthew's is a small storefront church in a strip mall in Ozark. Its numerous community ministries and big heart set an example other churches can learn from.

Bruce Prater

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Directory A directory of the churches of the diocese.

Gary Allman | Editor’s Letter

Lenten Reflections, Celebrating the Good CONTACT  communications@diowestmo.org Direct:  (417) 522-5151 LINKS www.diowestmo.org  Growing a rule of life:  http://ssje.org/ssje/growrule/ I’m looking forward to tying it all together at the end of Lent, and forming my own rule of life. Among other things, I’m hoping that I can build into my rule opportunities to be more grateful. I want to be grateful not only for what I have and receive, but also for what is in my power to give.

Bishop’s Day with Wardens, Vestries, Administrators & Clergy This year's Bishop's Days took place at Christ Church Springfield and St. Andrew's Kansas City. Each event had around 100 people in attendance. They were great opportunities for learning, networking, and fellowship. Make a note to watch out for these events next year and join us. +

Canon Steve Rottgers working his magic on the morning warm-up at Christ Church, Springfield

Photographs: Gary Allman

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top. Clear your mind, breathe deeply, and for a brief time let the busy-ness of life flow by. Close your eyes and enjoy the moment.

That’s Sabbath Time. It’s finding a space in our lives to stop and just be. I’ve mentioned Sabbath Time before; it is a powerful and valuable rejuvenator of the soul. I’ve found it so good I will keep on mentioning it whenever the opportunity arises. It’s also a practice I manage to forget and lose touch with all too often. During Lent I’ve been working on how to re-establish my commitment to Sabbath Time.

Pausing, reflecting, and taking stock is an aspect of many people’s Lenten devotions. During my daily reflections, I came across an article that made me pause. Of course I failed to note the source, so I can now only make a feeble attempt at paraphrasing the text. In essence, the author briefly examined how, at a personal level, our worship makes a point of our seeking forgiveness for our transgressions and has very little time dedicated to celebrating the good that we do. That touched a nerve. What good had I done for others that day? How had I helped someone? Had I been a good disciple, as we are all called to be? Before I knew it, I had jumped tracks straight into seeking my failings. Okay, maybe you can do better at this than I did. I found it hard. Even a couple of weeks later, I’m still struggling with this. Sitting at my desk day in, day out, it’s difficult to see good coming from my emails, telephone conversations and social media posting. However, the good is there if I care to look for it. It might be in a kind word or action, a Facebook post that resonates with someone somewhere, or maybe just a simple smile when someone needs it. Not all good has to be bold gestures.

If you follow the diocesan Facebook page (if not, please do!) hopefully during Lent you will have noticed our daily Lenten postings from the Society of St. John the Evangelist on “Growing a Rule of Life”. However you choose to classify your personal grip on life: be it disorganized, lapsed-organized, organized, controlled, or overwhelmed; these daily exercises can speak to you. They provide an opportunity for reflection and thought aimed at regaining the intentionality in our lives that we can so easily lose. It has offered a holistic approach, dealing with our relationships with others, creation (nature), ourselves, and God. The exercises have been thought provoking. Reading others’ comments, prayers and observations online has been enlightening, not to mention intimidating and humbling. Although the program was run during Lent, the resources are freely available and can be used for small group study at any time of year.

Elaine Gilligan - Diocesan Human Resources - Finance Assistant provides assistance at the Bishop's Day at St. Andrew's, Kansas City

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

Resurrection, the Great Equalizer CONTACT  bishopmarty@diowestmo.org  (816) 471-6161 LINK  www.diowestmo.org

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don’t know who coined the phrase, but someone once described Christians as “Easter People”. That term has remained in use over many years and is often glibly revived each year about this time. But then again, what does it mean to be “Easter People”?

Answering this question succinctly is rather difficult, but here’s an attempt: Easter People trust in, and their lives are motivated by, Jesus’ promise that all who believe in him will have everlasting life.

Our response to this unmerited gift is to worship God, offering praise and thanksgiving for what God has already accomplished for us in the ministry of Christ Jesus. You see, long before any of us were born, and long before any of us needed Jesus’ victory over death, God had already completed his merciful plan. God’s plan anticipated our need in an omniscient, prevenient, and merciful way. It’s a bit mind-boggling to think that God pre-planned the mercy he would extend to us before any of us now alive on earth came along, even before we sinned and needed God’s mercy!

But there is more to being Easter People than worship.

Beyond thanks and praise, each Christian is called to a singular kind of life, a distinct way of living. If Easter’s message is Good News – is Gospel – then we, as an Easter People, are compelled to respond to God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal years by leading lives that genuinely reflect our new status. We are a people forgiven, healed, and renewed by Jesus’ Body and Blood, and we are called to share that Good News with the whole world.

Our response can, should, and must be rooted in love – unconditional love. Jesus told us that love for God and love for our neighbor is the foundation of Christian living. Because God first loved us, loved us so much that God’s only Son came to bring us salvation, the suitable response is not only to love God as deeply and fully as we are able, but also to love everyone else as deeply and fully as we love ourselves. Many of us have heard this same principle all through Lent. It’s in the Penitential Order in the Book of Common Prayer, which quotes Jesus in the Gospel of Mark: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength ... Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Unfortunately – as Shakespeare’s Hamlet said – “... there’s the rub!” For most of us the second part of Jesus’ Great Commandment is a great deal more difficult than the first.

Most of us have no trouble conjuring up the image or memory 4

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of someone hard, even impossible, to love unconditionally.

I write this article in the same week of the terrorist attack in Brussels, Belgium, which was in all the news. How do we love those who kill with resolve and without remorse?

But this difficulty comes closer to home. How do we love someone who is mean, or manipulative, or callous, etc.? How can we love someone whose political views and rhetoric is so opposite of what we would espouse and proclaim?

It seldom helps to be reminded that the people who differ from us are the people for whom Christ died. A loving, distant God in heaven is much easier to love than “those people” with whom we live on this closer, crowded planet we call Earth.

But that is precisely what we urgently need to do. Human beings in general are a tough bunch, an unforgiving and vengeful lot. We want to “get even” for what we take to be a slight, an offense, or an attack. By “getting even” we usually mean we want to return the slight, the offense, or the attack equally or even with escalation. Our wounded pride is satisfied by wounding another. Is there love in that?

What we fail to recognize, what we fail to honor, is that through Christ we are all already “even”, so there’s no need to “get even”. Jesus, as Paul writes, died “once and for all.” If Jesus died for all equally, if he rose to benefit all equally, then maybe we are summoned to respect one another equally. We are all equally loved, equally forgiven, equally saved by God through Christ Jesus. If we can respond to Jesus’ summons, maybe we can begin to live the second of Jesus’ Great Commandments with greater success. This is what it truly means to be an “Easter People.”

In this time of violence, fear, argument, and disagreement, God continues to invite us to love, not to hate. God continues to call us to look beyond the immediate to the eternal. What we do in a moment of anger or outrage might satisfy our pride, but in all probability an action triggered by wounded pride is inconsistent with the loving future God wants for us. It is not God who has created the turmoil that surrounds us; the world’s turmoil is of our own making and is born from our love of self above our love of others.

This Easter, amidst the joy and celebration of our new lives in Christ, let us also celebrate the joy of new life with others.

Let us begin to set aside our pride and petty differences that not only separate us from each other, but also separate us from God. Let us strive to become an “Easter People” who know and reflect God’s love through our love for one another as equals – equally beloved children of God. +

Tai Chi and Tea How a once-a-week morning exercise program at Grace Church, Carthage grew into exercise, fellowship, and an appreciation of tea.

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his year saw the fifth anniversary of bending to touch toes, building friendships, and developing varied new tea tastes. This special time started when Julie Anderson got permission to meet in Grace Church, Carthage's basement for ‘some kind of an exercise program’. No one was quite sure what would develop, so all were invited because women of any age always want some new plan for losing weight. For the initial gathering, Julie who was a newly retired kindergarten teacher brought the stretching exercises her mother had used at the assisted living center where she lived.

The first meeting in the church basement was attended by women aged 60 to 85. That first morning of stretching and yoga-like poses did not seem like much of a challenge, but they enjoyed the session so much they didn’t want it to end. So everyone trooped upstairs and someone put on the tea kettle in the church kitchen. Another found some tea bags in a cupboard. The church nurse passed through and offered healthy granola bars to the group. Everyone agreed to meet again the next week.

The group consensus was to do only exercises that did not include getting down on the floor, offered no hard aerobics, and made no one sweat if at all possible! The retired teacher became the leader and brought soft music to use during the stretching. Later she asked everyone to bring in a favorite exercise that had worked for them in the past. She then added a children’s exercise song to the mix, and that forced the group to march and jump a bit. Two minutes of balancing was added to the list. Then eight minutes of deep breathing and meditation was included to end each session.

Some ladies came for a few sessions and then dropped out, but in a couple of months a steady attendance developed as about ten women began to form a cohesive group. Each morning after 45 minutes of exercise, the women went to the church’s Common Room for tea and a type of fellowship.

Women from different faiths and backgrounds met over the tea pot where they began to sample different kinds of tea, sometimes a cookie, but always there was a hearty discussion of books, families, and life’s challenges that each had faced during the week.

In time they began to call themselves the Tai Chi and Tea group. Eventually, none of the regulars wanted to miss it. If an appointment made someone miss the workout, she came late anyway to share the teapot time. Somehow tea time became a

Photograph: Michael Scott

Claudia Mundell

LINKS  www.gracechurch.diowestmo.org

blessing not to be missed, and the women learned to see the truth in the old proverb that says “the way to heaven passes through a teapot”.

Thursday morning sat 9:30 a.m. have become a time for stretching and an occasion for experiencing a sense of comfort over a teapot. Here a group of ladies join together to create a spa for both the body and the soul. The church mugs aren’t fine china and the napkins aren’t delicate cloth. But no one seems to notice. If two cups warm two hearts, here at Tai Chi and Tea many hearts (not to mention aging muscles) are warmed at least once a week. + Claudia Mundell, while not officially a member, says that she hangs around Grace Church to experience abundant faith and community.

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Work, Play, and Holy Living Are work and play opposites? Can the cross unite them in holy living?

Vern Barnet

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he world is shot through with suffering and horror. It is also filled with beauty and love. Through Lent and Easter Day, we observed, practiced, and celebrated the reconciliation of such countering realities through the crucifixion and the resurrection of our Lord. Now through the six weeks of Easter we can strengthen our intentions with His grace.

As Lent began, I had such for the sake of God, and ... thoughts when I assisted with to play the divinely ordained a Godly Play class at Grace and game of the liturgy in liberty Holy Trinity Cathedral. Julie and beauty and holy joy before Brogno, the teacher, produced God.” (The Spirit of the Liturgy, a purple bag from which the 1935) children saw emerging first And the great scholar of one irregular flat purple slab, play, Johan Huizinga, believed then another puzzling shape, that “In the form and function until six pieces were united of play, … man’s consciousness together to form a purple that he is embedded in a cross. sacred order of things finds After the children had its first, highest, and holiest a chance to recognize the expression” (Homo Ludens, unutterably “sad” meaning 1938/1949). of the cross, the pieces were Play grows from imagiturned over. They were white, nation. I cherish that warm showing that the cross is also summer afternoon when my “wonderful,” for Jesus is still son was three. We sat at the with us. Then the purple bag back yard picnic table, eating was turned inside out to reveal watermelon. My son finished it is white on the inside, and his slice; only the rind was left. the children hear, “Easter He looked up at the crescent turns everything inside out moon in the sky and at the and upside down.” rind, and called it the moon.

The mystery of Easter was Then he changed his mind; declared through play. now it was the smile of a Cheshire cat; finally it became 1. Play as Imagination a boat, “and I’m going to take We adults also do Godly it into the tub for my bath,” he play — through the liturgy. announced.

I don’t think I am being Think next of the client heretical in suggesting that we following a therapist’s may apprehend divine mystery suggestion to “place your through play. Even the deceased father in this chair pre-Vatican Roman Catholic and tell him how you feel.” writer Romano Guardini We may justify this makepresents worship as play: “The believe because the client soul must learn to waste time 6

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may uncover truths about the relationship with the parent that otherwise might have gone unexplored. But that is looking at the play externally, from the therapist’s viewpoint, or from the client’s assessment after the fact. During the play itself, imagination is the engine of freedom which generates discovery.

Now think of the arts. Let’s take poetry. William Blake asks, “Tyger, tyger, burning bright / In the forest of the night, / What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” We do not object; we do not say that no tiger, even one spelled tyger, can understand and answer him. But by imagination, even far removed and safe from any such beast, we are drawn to contemplate the ingenuity and majesty of the Creator.

Perhaps the Anglican poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge best and most succinctly identifies the process by which art awakens in us that which is not present, or which we did not know was present, in his famous phrase, the “willing suspension of disbelief ” (Biographia Literaria, 1817).

Imagination can be folly, but it can also lead us to deeper understanding of how the world works and to conceive of a better world, God’s kingdom.

2. Play as Performance Two people in love gather their families and friends together and a priest presides in a holy festivity. The couple are not married until the priest says, “I pronounce that they are wed to one another ...”1 It is the performance of the words, “I pronounce,” that effects the new reality. This is not mere romance; it is a legal fact.

In a liberal sense, marriage is gradual, preceding and following the ceremony; but it is the play of words that brings the new reality into focus and public recognition.

I do not know whether the ancients revered the performed word more than we do in our age of Twitter.

They certainly knew that mere utterance of certain words actually performed the thing uttered, such as “I confess” or “I welcome you” or “I warn you” or “I apologize” or “I promise” or when an authorized person says, “I baptize you.” The speaking of such words in context constitutes the act itself.

And when for us the priest prays at the holy table that the gifts of bread and wine be sanctified to become for us the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, God honors the performance of the rite’s words and transforms the Eucharistic elements into the Continued ▶

Ashes-to-Go In Extremis Ash Wednesday can be observed on the go – anywhere.

Dan and Anita Philbrick bread of heaven and the cup of salvation.

3. Play as Work

With performatory language the world began.

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Could the ancients who gave us the Scripture imagine a more magisterial way of expressing the power of the word divinely spoken? And in our own age of science, is there a more beautiful way of proclaiming how, after some 15 billion years, we have our being in the cosmic drama? Merely by speaking, the world came to be.

A composer of music plays with sounds in time, a painter plays with shapes and colors, an actor plays with character and presence. Their imagination produces works of art.

Play is an activity whose meaning is intrinsic; it justifies itself. My son took his watermelon rind boat into the tub simply to enjoy it. We listen to music simply for pleasure, without any further purpose — unless we do it for pay or some other external reason, when it is also work, which is activity for a purpose outside of the activity itself.

The writers of Exodus (20:11) explain the Sabbath by citing God’s rest from work on the seventh day. Like them, we often see work and play as opposites. The Sabbath is holy, for one puts aside labors done

for ends beyond themselves.

The Sabbath is play; the liturgy is play; what is holy needs no justification beyond itself.

But if we are to be like children (Luke 18:16), can we find our work is actually play? If we take pleasure in our work and find meaning simply in performing it, every day becomes a Sabbath. In divine mystery, the pieces of work and play are turned inside out and upside down.

When offered as praise to God, even the most menial labor is sanctified as vocation.

Our hymn by George Herbert offers such sacrifice of praise “seven whole days, not one in seven” (The Hymnal 1982, Hymn 382).

In Godly Play, the pieces of the cross, purple and white, sadness and exaltation, are emblems of our own lives of suffering and joy. When we dedicate our work to God, doing our best but leaving its fruition to His hands, as Jesus yielded to the Father on the cross, we turn work to play, and play is holy living. + Vern Barnet’s latest book is Thanks for Noticing: The Interpretation of Desire.

He previously wrote for The Kansas City Star.

The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage 2 - The Episcopal Church 1

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shes to ashes, dust to dust. This part of the Ash Wednesday service has come to have deep meaning for us.

The season of Lent calls us to examine ourselves and our relationship with Christ, and we feel pretty strongly about doing this, beginning with ashes. As we were to be on a ‘Robert Burnsthemed’ Celtic Caribbean cruise over Ash Wednesday this year, we were concerned about availability of this rite on the cruise ship.

So, at Fr. John Burton’s suggestion, we took our own ashes.

We spent the day of Ash Wednesday in Falmouth, Jamaica. Seeing the hardship and poverty all around us, we were reminded of some of the reasons we support Episcopal Relief & Development, and just how fortunate we are.

Back on the ship, we were unable to find a chaplain, and were told one was not available. Before going down to supper, it was with a deep sense of humility that we imposed ashes on each other.

We then went down to the formal dining room, with a bit of witness on our foreheads.

While waiting to go into the dining room, we were approached by another member of our group.

“Where did you find ashes?

I’m Catholic, and ashes are important to me. I could not locate anyone to take care of this today”. I told her, “Well, we brought our own, just in case. And I would be most happy to share, if you do not mind receiving them from an Episcopalian”. With an almost startled look, she said, “Oh, that would be wonderful; please do”. So, although there

were dozens of people in that crowded foyer, it was like there were only the two of us, and the ancient words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. And it was done.

Within half an hour, someone else, also Catholic, asked the same question, “Where did you find ashes?”

The answer and discussion were pretty much the same.

And it was done again.

Two other people, both Catholic, both formerly strangers but now friends, gave us a chance to share a bit of our faith. Both expressed heartfelt thanks, but we were the ones who felt so very privileged to be able to do this for them.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Ashes to go – in extremis? Perhaps so, even in the middle of the Caribbean, hundreds of miles from any church. + Dan and Anita Philbrick are regular communicants at St. Thomas A’Becket, Cassville.

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Ordinations

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Photograph: Gary Zumwalt

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eet one of our recently ordained priests, The Rev. health barriers. Five units of Elisabeth Sinclair. Mother Elisabeth was ordained into Clinical Pastoral Education the Sacred Order of Priests on January 30 by The Rt. in Wisconsin and South Rev. Steven Miller, Bishop of the Diocese of Milwaukee, where she Carolina helped me discover is canonically resident. Her ordination took place at the Church of the sense of meaning, joy, the Redeemer, Kansas City, where she is currently serving. and purpose I had missed in previous occupations. My The Rev. Elisabeth Sinclair I longed to be able to more internship and residency wisely navigate and expound I was raised in a Christian, them. Through the seminary’s supervisors encouraged me to non-denominational church vocational aptitude testing and pursue ordination and Board and have slowly transitioned Certification. I was blessed to my Nurse Practitioner mom’s into the Episcopal church suggestion, I started to explore work for Aurora Healthcare over the past 11 years. I value (in Wisconsin) as a hospital the possibility of chaplaincy. the rich instruction and and hospice chaplain for three I hoped to be a military community I have experienced years during my discernment chaplain but ran into age and from many denominational process for ordination. I expressions of the “Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic church.” My parents were missionaries in West Africa when I was young, so my world-view has been shaped by living among people of various ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds.

Because of my parents’ vocation(s), I spent a lot of my young life in church and ministry contexts. I have loved to read and teach since I was a little girl, so those interests directed my undergraduate education and subsequent employment. However, I found myself persistently restless. With the support of my newfound Episcopal church, where I worked part-time as the Children and Family Ministries director, I started Bethel Seminary’s “in-ministry” distance learning M.Div. program. The Holy Scriptures had often L-R. Bishop Marty, Mother Elisabeth and Bishop Steven Miller been life-giving to me, and

completed my Anglican Studies Certificate at Virginia Theological Seminary last spring and felt conflicted about whether to return directly to chaplaincy or gain experience as a parish priest. Because I came to the Episcopal Church late and sometimes still find it a cross-cultural experience, parish ministry seemed a wise course. Mercifully, Church of the Redeemer, Kansas City, Missouri and I found each other, and I accepted their two-year curacy offer this past summer.

It’s a privilege and joy to serve as Redeemer’s Associate Rector for Congregational Development. Although I remain canonically resident in the Diocese of Milwaukee, I have been graciously and generously welcomed here.

My greatest personal joys include my siblings’ children, my fiancé Bryan Spoon (postulant in the Diocese of Northern Virginia) who lives and works in Springfield and attends Christ Episcopal Church, and my dog Shadrach.

Bryan and I will be married April 16th in Wisconsin.

It has been a year of many wonderful (and yet stressful) transitions. I rejoice over God’s daily, sustaining graces and the opportunity to learn and minister in this community. +

WEMO Youth Report It is going to be another busy year for the youth, the diocesan youth coordinators, and the many volunteers who help make sure that all the youth events run smoothly.

CONTACT  wemo.youth@diowestmo.org LINK  www.youth.diowestmo.org

Kim Snodgrass the body, mind and soul; it is a place to experience If you are an acolyte mentor, God, build new skills, learn clergy person, Sunday School and form friendships that teacher, ministry leader, Altar last a lifetime. Camp is fun, Guild Director, youth ministry too – because smiles, laughter worker – basically anyone and and joy bind our hearts. everyone who engages youth on The deepest community can a regular basis – Base Camp is be sensed when trust and for you. understanding carry each Base Camp is the new name day forward. If our staff is for WEMO Youth Ministry successful, youth will gain Retreats, a place and time not only self-esteem and where we can come together to self-confidence through prepare for the youth ministry their experience, but a journey mentally, physically deeper sense of who they and emotionally. We need each are as members of Christ’s other and all the tools available body. Everything we do is to us to develop and strengthen designed to inspire, educate our youth ministry. We’ll be and empower youth! introducing our new Base And, again this year we’ll Camp Manual which is full of host some really engaging helpful information, and we activities including exploring will be hosting several minithe awesome “backyard” with workshops on topics of interest. acres of woods, fields, creeks Our first base Camp runs and (new this year) a lake!

April 15 - 16. The cost of Base Each and every day there Camp is provided for through will be inspiring, thoughtthe Diocesan Youth Ministry provoking, and empowering program budget. things to do! Youth can challenge themselves to climb Summer 2016 a rock wall and ring the bell, There’s so much to look or zip 300 feet into the woods forward to this summer, from the Zip Line Tower. starting with ...

There are opportunities to go swimming, kayaking, Camp WEMO paddle boarding, hiking, play Camp WEMO is more than games or have fun practicing archery skills. Relax, enjoy just a fun way for youth to spend a week of summer; camp nature, worship God, be part of small group discussions, is a place where we can make make a craft, sing around the a positive difference in each campfire and enjoy. This is other’s lives. The activities at totally what camp is all about! camp provide enrichment for

Base Camp

all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” In a very tangible way MissionPalooza lets us be Pilgrimage Christ’s hands and feet in the world.

Do you know our For five days this summer Anglican roots? The story of – July 26 - 31, youth from Anglicanism in the US is a West Missouri and beyond will tumultuous one, filled with come together in community, colorful characters and brave mission, fellowship and deeds. Women and men, worship-both inside and known and unknown, left outside the walls of the their mark on history and Church. And, for the 17th year shaped this church for us.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, July 8 - 17th this summer, Kansas City will open their youth will begin a pilgrimage across the country, discovering doors in hospitality to be our “home” at night so youth can both the historical figures who shaped the church in the spend their days in the urban mission field heeding Christ’s beginning of this country, call to feed the hungry, visit and the living people, lay and ordained, who are working to the sick, and comfort those shape the church today. Most in need. When we serve, we grow. importantly, we will explore MissionPalooza is open to how God calls each one of us high school students (rising to shape this ongoing story in freshman through graduating our own way by asking these seniors).

The $125 event fee questions: What has shaped covers all activities, meals its past? Who is shaping its and a t-shirt.

We invite youth present? How are you called to to sign up and invite their shape its future? friends to a transformational The Pilgrimage is open to experience this summer! + high school students (rising freshman through graduating Kim Snodgrass is the diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator. seniors). The $600 event fee covers all transportation, activities, entrance fees, meals and a comfy cot!

The $250 event fee covers lodging, meals, activities and a Camp Care Kit.

MissionPalooza “Seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself. Strive for justice and peace among

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Are Your Family and Church Prepared? It’s Time to Be Ready Spring, with its potential for storms, is a good time to review how prepared you and your church are for an emergency.

CONTACT  rector@episcopal-bluesprings.org LINK www.ready.gov   www.episcopalrelief.org  www.weather.gov

The Rev. David Lynch

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lert! The storm sirens are sounding in your neighborhood.

The news is broadcasting a tornado warning for your part of the city. The sky is eerie and menacing! Are you prepared? with your parish to plan a time As we enter the storm to meet and discuss what to season of spring, may this serve as a reminder to consider do when emergencies happen, and what to do when you are creating and updating your parish and family “emergency confronted with situations that are beyond your resources to plans”. control.

Every year many are Determine how prepared affected by natural and you are to address the human-made disasters that common emergencies of; leave lives and property fire, flood, weather, intruder, shattered. Don’t be part of evacuation and continuity of these statistics. Take the time operations.

How protected are to meet with your family and

10 SPIRIT | April 2016

your home and parish records?

Are there redundancies in place to recreate records and continue worship services, for paying bills, and serving your parish community?

Have you considered partnering with a school or another church to share facilities should your facilities be rendered unusable, or to help others who may need a temporary meeting space for similar reasons?

Starting with conducting risk assessments that simply answer the ‘what if ’ question You can create simple procedures and guidelines to inform others at home and in the church how to be safe, and what to do when the unexpected happens.

We all have a plethora of resources available to us to help us plan for emergencies and disasters. I encourage parishes to establish relationships with their Police-Fire/ EMS and Emergency Management agencies in their cities and counties. Each of these agencies is willing and able to provide information

and assistance as you develop your plan.

The Red Cross is one of our best local resources for immediate and long term information. They not only are key responders in times of emergencies, but they also offer some of the best resources for training, information and planning. Some basic ideas to consider even if you don’t have a formal plan: • Get and install an AED and learn CPR •

Get and install a first aid kit and let people know where it is

•

Do a fire drill (address evacuation)

•

Plan a fire extinguisher training class

•

Get and install a weather radio (in the best place to be heard when the buildings are being used)

•

Identify a recovery plan and continuity of operations plan

•

Protect your records (fire-safe, redundant files off-site)

•

Don’t reinvent the wheel, learn from others.

On April 30, 2016 the diocese will present an Emergency Prepared Church workshop from 9:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m. at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City. The workshop will help identify how to get started, and what resources are available to create an emergency plan that fits your parish and home.

Professionals from the fire service, law enforcement, Red Cross and Church Insurance will provide valuable presentations. Breakout sessions in the afternoon will more specifically address key aspects

of planning, and will provide time for questions and demonstration of resources.

Fr. Frank Sierra, from St. Phillips in Joplin, will give a noon keynote talk sharing experiences and providing insights gained from the Joplin tornado.

This workshop is the first of several planned to be presented around the diocese in the coming year. + The Rev. David Lynch is Rector at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Blue Springs, Missouri. He is a retired Emergency Medical Services Chief from Johnson County, Kansas. Fr. David has been involved in emergency preparedness for churches while working in EMS through the 1980s to the present. He is also a member of the Emergency Planning Committee for the diocese.

All the pictures for this article were provided by Fr. David. They were taken on May 6, 2007, following the EF-5 tornado that leveled Greensburg Kansas. Fr. David responded at the direction of the Bishop of Kansas, offering aid to the Diocese of Western Kansas and stayed to help Kiowa County Hospital recover records from the basement of the demolished Hospital.

He also checked up on EMS crews who had been deployed from Johnson County, Kansas to cover the area in place of the local Fire/EMS system. The devastation was incredible. To return today, it is wonderful to see the resilience of those who stayed and rebuilt.

SPIRIT | April 2016 11

The Way - From Membership to Discipleship

CONTACT  theway@kccathedral.org LINK  www.kccathedral.org

The story of the renewed Adult Catechumenate in the Episcopal Church.

Larry Ehren

I

t is Wednesday evening in downtown Kansas City, and a group of about twenty adults of different ages, shapes and backgrounds gather in Founders’ Hall at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral at 6 p.m. During the next two hours they will share a meal together, process a ‘table question’ that is always more than polite chat, engage in a presentation concerning spirituality, Christianity in everyday life, or the Episcopal Church, share in a small group the Gospel from the previous Sunday, and close with shared prayer and a blessing.

This is not an ‘instruction” class, a program that is the ‘flavor of the month’, or another committee meeting.

This is the ancient process of the Christian community called the Catechumenate.

It is both ageless and new to our times. It is both liturgy and adult faith formation. At the Cathedral, this process of growing in faith and discipleship is simply referred to as “The Way”.

A group of individuals worked with the Dean to discern a plan for the future.

They decided to explore an adult formation process that would make sense in the 21st century. Adults were joining the congregation who had been active, but were inactive, who came from a variety of Christian denominations but wanted to explore the Episcopal Church. Some were ‘cradle Episcopalians' who wanted to renew and affirm their faith, and others had never been baptized or were unchurched and were looking for more in their lives.

The Easter Vigil is the highlight of the liturgical year at the Cathedral. Easter 12 SPIRIT | April 2016

Vigil is a time when adults are baptized, confirmed, or reaffirmed in their Baptism.

What was needed was a process that was rooted in the living tradition of the Church, and relevant to the pastoral needs of adults in the 21st century. A process that would be appropriate preparation for this sacramental moment.

The contemporary Catechumenate is a process, not a program. It is not about simple membership in a Church, but about calling and enabling adults to be disciples of Christ. As in ancient times, it is marked by stages of growth with celebrations, or rites, within the whole worshiping community. As with the ancient Church, the change and renewal in faith of the adults engaged in “The Way” invites the whole congregation to do the same in their lives.

The seeds were planted during a Cathedral sponsored weekend workshop three years ago presented by The Rev. Paul E. Hoffman, the author of Faith Forming Faith. A number of Episcopal, Lutheran, and Presbyterian congregations

gathered over that weekend.

They became aware of the ancient roots and rites of the Catechumenate in the early church and how it addresses the needs of adults seeking faith today. Beyond the content presented, participants experienced the process of growing toward Christian initiation and renewal at Easter.

Like any journey worthy of the name, it occurs over time in stages, with rites marking ‘milestones’ on that journey.

First stage: Inquiry This stage is marked by the invitation to adults to come with their questions and to meet others who are seeking a deeper knowledge of and relationship with God; who want to discuss the story and values of the Gospel, or simply want to explore the Episcopal Church.

It concludes with the communal Rite of Welcome.

Many times this occurs in Advent.

Second Stage: Catechumenate - Time of Instruction and Growth This stage is marked by a more focused instruction in the Christian faith: its history and practice of personal prayer, its communal worship and life. Usually some experience of service and ministry is a component of this stage.

It concludes with the Rite of Enrollment, usually at the beginning of Lent.

Third Stage: Immediate Preparation for Baptism, Confirmation, Reception, or Reaffirmation This state focuses upon conversion and openness to the work of the Spirit through prayer and reflection. The participants are asked to recognize more deeply their own brokenness and also how the grace of God is at work. Sponsors have a special place during this time. This stage is marked by different rites of blessing and by the formal presentation of various treasures of the Christian tradition such as the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ and the ‘Apostles’ Creed’ during Sunday liturgies.

During this time, candidates are also paired with a sponsor who is already an active Episcopalian.

The conclusion of this stage, usually at the Easter Vigil, is the Celebration of Baptism, Confirmation, Reception into the Episcopal Church, or reaffirmation of one’s Baptism as an adult.

Fourth Stage: Growing into the Mission and Mystery of Faith (Mystagogia) For those who have committed themselves to baptismal living and to

LINK North American Association for the Catechumendate  www.naac.org RESOURCES Go make Disciples: A Handbook to the Catechumenate, Augsburg Fortress Press Faith forming Faith: Bringing new Christians to Baptism and Beyond, Paul E. Hoffman Cascade Books The Book of Occasional Services 2003, Church Publishing The Catechumenal Process: A resource for Dioceses and Congregations, Office of Evangelism Ministries, The Episcopal Church Celebrating the Rites of Initiation: A Practical Guide, James F. Turrell Church Publishing

ministry, this is a time to reflect upon their share of the paschal mystery recalled in Holy Week and Easter.

They ponder how they have been changed by the work of the Spirit active in the catechumenal process and in the sacraments. Time is spent exploring how their lives and talents can now be put to use in service of the Gospel, and how to live faith every day.

This stage often concludes on Pentecost with the rite of Affirmation of Vocation.

Why Have I Never Heard of This?

The Catechumenate has roots in the early Christian Church of the first centuries following Jesus’ life and ministry.

As with many things, it developed and looked different in various locations and circumstances in which Christian communities found themselves. We do know that this initiation process was a gradual one of welcoming adults attracted to the Christian Gospel and life. This process involved a mutual sharing to get to know the people who were attracted to Christianity, what was the Good News of the Gospel, what was involved in the Christian life, and a personal introduction into the experience of a local praying community. Special moments of this process were celebrated

with rites, which used prayers and symbols we easily recognize today: human touch, the sign of the cross, prayers, light, water, oil, presenting the Scriptures,etc.

The first three centuries of the Christian Church were tenuous times. Christians were not “mainstream” in the cultures in which they lived. It was hazardous to be a follower of Christ, dangerous to be a disciple, and certainly not a step up in social status.

The process of growth in faith and ‘experiencing a change of heart’ to truly be a follower of Christ within a community and in everyday life was not taken for granted. Christians were a committed minority supporting one another in a culture that proclaimed many gods. When a person became a member of the “Body”, the community provided formation and support in preparation for Baptism and the Eucharist. Before these believers were ever called Christians, they were simply called the “Followers of The Way” (Acts 9:2).

Things changed with the gradual establishment of Christianity as an accepted religion of the Roman Empire when Constantine was Emperor. For the first time, large church edifices were built, less secrecy was needed to avoid persecution, and the number and reasons why people wanted to formally be

Christian changed. Slowly the Catechumenate went dormant in a church that entered much more into the ‘main stream’ of culture. The Catechumenate seemed to retreat to the history books, and the practice of Baptism and the Rites of Initiation changed for many years. Baptism of Infants became the norm.

Times and pastoral needs change over time. In Europe, during the 19th century, there was an energetic renewal in the study and nature of Sacred Scripture and the forms of prayer and worship in the Christian Church. Much of this renewal was the result of more scientific, historical, and critical methods being applied to literature, history, and society by people of faith. The liturgical renewal movement developed over a century and a half to reform Christian worship to be true to its roots and relevant to the time. The Anglican Communion was one of the Christian churches greatly touched by this renewal, and it influenced the revision of the Book of Common Prayer.

In that renewal, the Church was called to ponder the core practices of the Christian community, especially Baptism and Eucharist.

In the Episcopal Church, the 69th General Convention gathered in 1988 to focus on a number of concerns.

One of those concerns was

the meaning of Christian Initiation and renewal in our own time and culture. The challenge was to be true to our Christian roots and practice while addressing the needs of our time. A number of resolutions from that convention focused on the restoration of the Adult Catechumenate in the Episcopal Church. Rites of the Catechumenate were formally included in the Book of Occasional Services.

A number of resources were created to assist the process of establishing the Catechumenate in local Episcopal congregations.

A national pilot project to establish the Catechumenate in congregations occurred in the Diocese of Milwaukee to provide ‘best practices’ for the wider church. National and regional Episcopal gatherings were organized to assist in the establishment of the Catechumenate in local congregations and dioceses.

Today, there are a number of Episcopal churches (small and large, urban and small town) who have been engaged in the Catechumenate for decades, with the highlight being celebration of Christian Initiation at the Easter Vigil. + Larry Ehren is coordinator of The Way, the Adult Catechumenate, at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City.

He currently is an Anglican Certificate student at Bishop Kemper School for Ministry, and Vice President of the North American Association for the Catechumenate.

SPIRIT | April 2016 13

Campus Ministry Winter Gathering 2016 At the beginning of January college students met in Kansas City for the annual Winter Gathering, a time of ministry, fellowship and learning.

CONTACT  campus.ministry@diowestmo.org

Beth Marshall

O

service – Dining in Dignity.

Ken also spoke of plans to add a breakfast in the near future.

He invited the students to come back and be a part of the Community Kitchen ministry.

After lunch the students gathered at The Church of the Good Shepherd for two informational sessions with guest speakers: The Rev. Dr. Steve Rottgers, Canon to the Ordinary, and The Very Rev. Don Compier, Dean of Bishop Kemper School of Ministry (BKSM).

The students were given the opportunity to explore their ‘Elevator Speeches’

with Canon Rottgers. Dean Compier talked about what BKSM has to offer to laity as well as those considering ordination. In between sessions, the students had an opportunity to be creative with materials for Praying in Color and making personal prayer beads.

A home cooked dinner was served, and we were joined by Bishop Marty and Donna Field, Fr. Steve Rottgers, Dean Don and Yola Compier, Fr. Galen Snodgrass, Fr. Tim Coppinger, and Fr. Chas Marks. They all participated in the ‘Round

Photograph: Beth Marshall

n a brisk but sunny Saturday morning in January, college students took time out of their Christmas Breaks and traveled to Kansas City for the third annual Campus Ministry Winter Gathering.

The event began with Some people were very good at time spent in outreach at this! Conversations abounded the Episcopal Community as students helped wash and Services' (ECS) Kansas City chop vegetables, and helped Community Kitchen. Once reorganize items. aprons and hair nets were Lunch was provided by donned, Hunger Relief the staff of the Community Ambassador Ken Cabean Kitchen, and Ken engaged the laid out the game plan, students with conversation followed by instructions and about the facility and the demonstrations in kitchen service it provides for the safety. We all got to practice surrounding community. our ‘outdoor’ voices when it He shared plans for the came to taking a knife from its then upcoming launch of holding place to a workstation. a sit-down restaurant style

LINKS  www.dcm.diowestmo.org  www.facebook.com/groups/166954675189/

Dean Don Compier with Campus Ministry students 14 SPIRIT | April 2016

2016 High School Grads & Current College Students Help us connect with and keep you in the loop with information about upcoming events and opportunities for both our diocesan ministry and the General Church by filling out the student information form on-line (Get Involved/Student Registration), and joining our Facebook Group, The Diocese of West Missouri Campus Ministry.

Get Adopted!

In the spirit of supporting you while you are away at school, an adopting church will send goodies your way once a month. Churches and

students can sign up on our website.

If you are a current student or a graduating High School senior and have not received our Campus Ministry Backpack filled with fun and useful goodies, please contact the Campus Ministry Coordinator.

Photograph: Beth Marshall

Table with Clergy’ session that followed.

Many thanks to The Church of the Good Shepherd, Ms. Kathleen Potter, the attending clergy and their spouses, and all who made this event fun and meaningful for our students. And a special thanks to Ms. Kathy Kapp for rearranging her schedule to come and help get dinner on the table!

Summer Events Nurture Your Nature – Renew your spirit with some time in God’s creation. The venue we are considering will offer attendees the chance to camp, canoe, fish, hike, and swim, while exploring what it means to ‘Get Grounded’.

Tentative dates: July 10-15 Family and Community – Outreach and Mission. Taking care of and helping our church family as well as those in our communities. Tentative dates: Late May, Early June

Discussions with Canon Steve Rottgers

Adults!

If you are interested in helping with or participating in Campus Ministry events, please contact us. + Beth Marshall is the diocesan Campus Ministry Coordinator.

Crafting with Campus Ministry Coordinator Beth Marshall (Front right)

SPIRIT | April 2016 15

BKSM Welcomes Lay Students, Offers New Lay Scholarship BKSM has been encouraging lay people to become students in their classes. There is now a scholarship available to lay people too.

The Rev. Deacon Casey Rohleder

T

CONTACT  bksmoutreach@gmail.com  (785) 259-4672 LINKS  www. bishopkemperschool.org/ Scholarship Applications:  www.bishopkemperschool.org/scholarships/ every month, taking classes for personal enrichment or continuing education. Doug and Cecelia McNair, who attend Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, are two such students.

The McNairs will be received into the Episcopal Church at Easter. In addition to taking part in the catechesis program at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, [See “The Way - From Membership to

Photograph: Deacon Bob Hirst

he Bishop Kemper School for Ministry (BKSM) is dedicated to offering high-quality, affordable theological education for all people in the dioceses and synod it serves. In addition to providing theological training to those seeking ordination as deacons or priests, BKSM encourages the participation of lay students in all its classes.

The Very Rev. Dr. Don persons to study together with Compier, BKSM Dean, those studying to be ordained. explains: “All baptized Students acquire strong Christians are ministers! collegial and supportive bonds And we all partner together that will sustain them in their in service of the Church and particular call.” the world. BKSM provides BKSM typically welcomes unique opportunities for lay three to five lay students

Cecelia and Doug McNair 16 SPIRIT | April 2016

Discipleship” on page 12.] they have attended a number of BKSM classes in church history, ecclesiology, and sacraments over the past several months to learn more about the Episcopal Church.

“A program whose main mission is preparing individuals for ordination might seem an unlikely ‘fit’ for lay participants like us” explains Doug. “But, in fact, some of what is changing about adult participation in church is a growing hunger for authenticity and deeper engagement with theology and church practice in community with others.”

Cecelia explains why she likes taking classes at BKSM. “The focus weekend coursework and class discussion are always intellectually challenging and stimulating for us, but it has made us grow more in our faith. If you decide to take a class for personal enrichment, you will be encouraged in the class discussions to articulate your beliefs and reasoning and explore what it means to have faith more fully.”

To further the mission of educating laity and future clergy together in ways that enhance all ministries, BKSM would like more lay students,

Photograph: Deacon Bob Hirst

receive one scholarship per academic year.

Scholarship applications are accepted on an ongoing basis, but they are due on the first of the month for the next month’s course. For example, if you wish to attend a class in May 2016, the start date of the class is April 11. Therefore, your scholarship application must be submitted by April 1.

However, late applications will be accepted if no award has been given for the month.

The scholarship has been funded in memory of The Venerable Jim Upton.

Archdeacon Upton was ordained to the diaconate in the Diocese of Kansas in 1984 and served as Archdeacon under Bishops Smalley and Wolfe. He served a variety of parishes and ministries around the diocese and was instrumental in the development

of the Kansas School for Ministry, BKSM’s predecessor in the Diocese of Kansas.

He was known for his deep passion for servant ministry, and he was a nationally recognized resource on the modern diaconate.

More information and the online application form are available at the link provided at the top of page 16. + Deacon Casey Rohleder is Assistant to the Dean & Communications and Outreach Specialist at BKSM.

Upcoming Classes April 9-10, 2016

September 9-10, 2016

Christian History Tasks of Theology Contemporary Ethics Soteriology

Introduction to Scripture Old Testament III Diakonia II Modernity and After

May 14-15, 2016

October 8-9, 2016

Anglican Identity Doctrine of the Incarnation Parish Administration

Contemporary Mission

Old Testament I Anglican History Social Witness of the New Testament Theology of Education Ministry

July 2016

November 12-13, 2016

Prepare/Enrich Facilitator Training: (7/6-7) BKSM Student/Alumni Retreat (7/8-9) New Student Orientation (7/9-10)

Contemporary Mission History of the Episcopal Church Adult Catechesis and Formation

August 13-14, 2016

Foundations of Ethics Diakonia I Polity and Canons Pastoral Theology

June 11-12, 2016

Photograph: Deacon Bob Hirst

like the McNairs, to discover all that the community has to offer. To that end, BKSM now has a scholarship for students wishing to take a class for personal enrichment or continuing education. The Jim Upton Scholarship provides a $100 stipend to one lay student each month throughout the academic year.

The $100 stipend covers the cost of auditing a class. If a scholarship recipient wishes to take a class for credit, $100 will be applied to the $180 tuition cost.

Recipients must be a lay member of an Episcopal church in the Diocese of Kansas, Nebraska, West Missouri or Western Kansas.

As such, no individual currently in the process for Holy Orders is eligible.

Scholarship recipients can

Christian Spirituality Old Testament II Christian Theology II Catholic Tradition

December 10-11, 2016

SPIRIT | April 2016 17

St. Matthew's, Ozark St. Matthew's is a small storefront church in a strip mall in Ozark. Its numerous community ministries and its big heart set an example other churches can learn from.

Bruce Prater

S

t. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Ozark, Missouri is a small but vibrant congregation meeting in a storefront church in downtown Ozark. St. Matthew’s is the newest "organized mission" in West Missouri having attained that status in 2014. The church is part of the EChO (Episcopal Churches of the Ozarks) Regional Ministry and is ably led by Father Tim Coppinger, Priest in Charge, and Mother Laura Hughes, Priest in Residence. We have a very effective ministry team of Lay Eucharistic Ministers, Lectors and a Lay Preacher. Our Sunday morning Bible study, held before our regular worship service, is well-attended. Our numerous outreach programs support our community and our Change 125 Lives goal.

B

ible Study at Springfield Senior and Rehab Center

evening to anyone who shows up. We have been providing this community meal for six years. This ministry arose from On Tuesday Mornings we a “Stone Soup” supper initiated hold Bible Study at Springfield during Lent by Deacon (now Senior and Rehab Center. This Mother) Anne Cheffey. It is led by Lisa Barns, one of was so well received that our Lay Eucharistic Ministers. the congregation decided to She has led this Bible study continue it every week. session every Tuesday morning It usually takes a team of since 2000. The congregation six to eight people, including supports this ministry and a those who prepare and cook Communion Service three the meals in their homes, to times a year. During the provide the meal. In 2015 we 2015 Christmas Carol and served over 1,800 meals, down Communion Service we had 37 slightly from 2014. We also of the residents in attendance. provide a copy of each month's Community Meals menu to the Nixa and Ozark We provide a free, homeschool systems for inclusion in cooked meal every Wednesday the “Backpack” food program.

Following our community meal, we have a Prayer and Praise service, which is led by a different member of the congregation each week. This is also well attended and much enjoyed by all.

Shared Worship Space

For the last three years the congregation of St. Matthew’s has passed out ice cold bottles of water at the Farmer’s Market on the square during the anniversary week of the founding of the community of Ozark. We wrap businesscard-sized, flexible, refrigerator magnets around the water bottles, securing them with rubber bands, and pass them out to all comers. This is one of the ways in which we make ourselves known in the community, where we are now known as the “downtown” church.

St. Matthew’s makes a monthly donation of both food and money to Least of These, the only full-service food pantry in Christian County.

St. Matthew’s provides a space for a small Lutheran congregation to meet each Sunday evening. We also provide space for AA to meet in our hall four nights a week.

Community Celebrations Least of These

School Supplies

Gifts

We also donate annually to needy families or individuals at Christmas. In 2015 we made up gift baskets for the women at 'Freedom’s Rest', the Christian County Women and Children’s Shelter and provided gift-wrapped toys for all the children in the shelter. We needed two large vehicles to transport all the gifts!

St. Matthew's

St. Matthew’s is a vital, St. Matthew’s collects school active, mission oriented, supplies and provides them to Christ-centered congregation the Ozark school system, which that welcomes everyone. + distributes them to needy Bruce Prater is a licensed Lay Preacher children.

Photograph: Gary Allman

and Lay Eucharistic Minister at St. Matthew’s, Ozark.

St. Matthew's, Ozark, Missouri 18 SPIRIT | April 2016

Christmas at Springfield Senior and Rehab Center

| DIRECTORY

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

St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Bolivar

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Clinton

All Saints' Episcopal Church, West Plains

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Kansas City

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Kansas City

(417) 667-2607 www.allsaintsnevada.diowestmo.org (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.christchurchsj.diowestmo.org

Christ Episcopal Church, Warrensburg (660) 429-1133 www.christepiscopalwarrensburg.org

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Kansas City (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

(417) 777-2233 www.stalbansozarks.org (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

(660) 885-8008 www.orgsites.com/mo/stpaulsepisc

(816) 931-2850 www.stpaulskcmo.org

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

www.facebook.com/St-Augustines-EpiscopalChurch-Kansas-City-MO-153813961296920 (816) 921-8534

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Maryville

St. George Episcopal Church, Camdenton

St. Peter and All Saints Episcopal Church, Kansas City

(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

(660) 582-5832 www.stpaulsmaryville.org

(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

(417) 869-6351 www.stjohnsspringfield.diowestmo.org

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Trenton

St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Excelsior Springs

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Monett

St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Kimberling City

St. Thomas a Becket Episcopal Church, Cassville

(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. Mary's Church, Fayette

www.nermwestmo.org/st_marys_fayette0.aspx

St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Kansas City (816) 842-0975 www.stmaryskc.org

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

www.facebook.com/stphilipsepiscopaltrentonmo (417) 235-3330 www.ststephensmo.org

(417) 846-2155 www.saintthomasabecket.org

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

Trinity Episcopal Church, Lebanon

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

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

WEMO Youth

Grace Episcopal Church, Carthage

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

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

Grace Episcopal Church, Chillicothe

St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Independence

eSpirit Newsletter

(417) 358-4631 www.gracecarthage.org

(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.com

(816) 373-5333 www.stmichaelschurch.org

St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church, Noel (417) 475-3852 www.stnicholasnoel.webgarden.es

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

www.diowestmo.org/espirit/espirit-newsletter. html

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

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 | April 2016 19

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Permit #668 Kansas City, MO

Celebrating 20 Years!

816.595.5878

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www.BishopSpencerPlace.org

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4301 Madison Ave., Kansas City, Missouri 64111