Spirit February 2016

Spirit

WHAT YOUTH MINISTRY IS REALLY ALL ABOUT | BRING BACK THE TABLE

The Diocese of West Missouri FEBRUARY 2016 | VOLUME 8, NO. 1

FROM PRIVILEGE TO PILGRIMAGE: CREATING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY - PAGE 12

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

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.

 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 This Issue

3

Editor’s Letter The joy of gifts and goats, the cycles of

4

Keeping Watch We are bringing back the ancient

Cover image: Gary Allman

ON THE COVER

2

SPIRIT | February 2016

The Rev. Marcus Halley, Pastor for Young Adults and Families at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Kansas City, discussing privilege during the "From Privilege to Pilgrimage: Creating the Beloved Community" presentation at the 2015 Diocesan Gathering.

You can read his review of this Anti-Racism Gathering presentation on page 12.

Gary Allman

tradition of performing confirmations during Easter. Lent gives us all an opportunity to adequately prepare.

The Rt. Rev. Martin S. Field

5

Millennium Development Goal Funding Brings Aid to Those in Need Overseas St. John's in

Springfield uses their Lenten fund raising and matching funds from the Diocesan Millennium Development Fund to help those in need overseas.

Karen Horny & David Westervelt

6

Martin Luther King, Jr. - A Christian and WorldWide Prophet A personal appreciation of America’s great prophet and martyr of non-violence.

Vern Barnet

8

What Youth Ministry is Really All About Youth

Ministry has a much more fundamental and important role in the development of our children. It's not just about lockins & games.

Kim Snodgrass

9

Building A Bridge For A New Generation Decisions made in the sixties still impact our campus ministries today. We have a unique opportunity to rebuild.

Beth Marshall

10

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

Digital artwork on page 7 is based on an image of Mahatma (Mohandas) Gandhi, via Wikipedia Commons, courtesy of Gujarat Vidyapith and an image of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Phil Tanziola, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

creation and building good habits.

Bring Back The Table A new interdenominational

mission in Kansas City involving the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and The Diocese of West Missouri seeks to expand the fellowship of Christ’s Table.

The Rev. Dr. Joseph Crowther

12

Walk Together Children, Don’t You Get Weary

A review of the Anti-Racism Gathering presentation, "From Privilege to Pilgrimage: Creating the Beloved Community"at the 126th Diocesan Convention.

The Rev. Marcus Halley

14

2016 Youth Program A preview of what's happening in

15

Directory A directory of the churches of the diocese.

the first half of the year.

Gary Allman | Editor’s Letter

Gifts, Goats, Cycles, and Good Habits CONTACT communications@diowestmo.org  Direct:  (417) 522-5151 LINKS www.diowestmo.org  Episcopal Relief & Development:  http://www.episcopalrelief.org/what-you-can-do/gifts-for-life Growing a rule of life:  http://ssje.org/ssje/growrule/

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ast week, using the logic that can only be driven by a huge attack of procrastination, I tidied my office. Like lots of office spaces, it contained the overflow of impedimenta that my various work activities require. Not least was a large stack of photographic equipment and boxes of extra copies of the Spirit.

I work from home, so my office also tends to collect things that I am sure would cause some consternation in a more formal environment. I was surprised at how much I was able to let go of. Things that a few years ago I had a desperate need to keep no longer have a hold over me. It was while I was sifting through the overflowing detritus of my life, that I came across a gift my son had made for me when he was about six. He made it at school and his woodwork teacher reported that it was something my son had insisted that he wanted to make, and he had come up with the idea himself. It is a tool rack. He made it by fitting ten two-inch dowels into a length of one-by-two lumber. It is one of my prized possessions. I remember not only the great pleasure of receiving the gift, but also the great pleasure and love that went into making and giving it.

Finding that tool rack made me think. Fast-forward twenty-five years from when the gift was given, we live in a very different world. Yes, children still make this sort of loving gift for their parents. However, talking to my friends, I discover that by-and-large the joy of gift giving for adults seems to have all but disappeared. I remember the times when I received great joy from giving; finding that 'just right' item that would brighten a friend's face with a smile. I believe that this joy has been eroded over the years by consumerism. Recently I have felt a sense of dread, verging on panic and acute depression, at those times of year when gift-giving is expected. What do you get for the friend or loved one who already has everything they could possibly need?

Back in December, faced with getting gifts for my family back in the U.K., I found myself in this situation. They have all that they need, and more. I thought long and hard. With so much poverty in the world, my family doesn't need more 'things'. So instead I gave them love. Love in the form of help for our world-wide brothers and sisters in need. Hoping that my nephew and nieces would also understand and enjoy the idea, I bought goats. Yes, you read that right. Goats. Even better, for every dollar I gave, Episcopal Relief & Development matched my spending so maybe we gave twice as many goats as I planned. Unknown by the goats and their new owners, my family enjoyed a great deal of hilarity (some of it at my expense) picking names for the animals.

Next time you are buying a gift for someone who already has it all, why not buy something for someone with true need?

Episcopal Relief & Development has a whole range of animals and useful items you can invest in.

Cycles Creation is full of cycles. Day to night, the seasons of the year, birth to death, and on the grander scale, there is the 'cosmic year', the length of time it takes our sun to circle the galactic core (225-250 million years). Bringing things back to a more human scale, we have the liturgical year, which starts in November/December with Advent, is followed by Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, then Easter which concludes with Pentecost, which in turn is followed by the imaginatively titled 'Season after Pentecost', bringing us full circle.

Producing the Spirit, our challenge is to report on and cycle through the liturgical year, every year, without becoming stale and repetitive. For 2016 we would like to include more news from the churches, particularly we'd like you to share details of your ministries. What worked for you, what didn't, and any tips you have for other churches within the diocese. Please take the time to share your hard (l)earned lessons with everyone.

Good Habits Traditionally the New Year is a time to reflect and start anew with revamped goals and plans for a healthier, more productive, and more spiritual life. Most of these goals are never met, our plans quickly falling by the wayside. I read about how we find the goal-setting relatively easy, and how the planning and execution of those plans to meet our goals so often fails. Several of the articles suggest that it is easier to effect change by creating habits that support the changes and goals you want to achieve.

You can imagine how pleased I was when I received a copy of the Lenten program 'Growing a Rule of Life' from the Society of Saint John the Evangelist. Using the metaphor of gardening and growth, this program sets out to help us define goals in our relationships with God, creation, others, and ourselves. From there we are guided to define a rule of life, the life-long habits that will help us achieve them.

There are supporting notes for group leaders if you would like to run this as a group. Or, you can follow the program on your own. Full details can be found by following the links provided above, and we'll be sharing more information on Facebook and the diocesan website. I'm looking forward to Lent; tilling my garden, and growing my own rule of life. I hope you'll join me. +

SPIRIT | February 2016

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

Lent: Renewing Holiness, Rekindling Commitment CONTACT  bishopmarty@diowestmo.org  (816) 471-6161 LINK  www.diowestmo.org

B

y the time you read this (depending on the speed of postal time to add things that will increase the holiness of our lives and delivery) the Season after the Epiphany may have already to relinquish things that hinder holiness.

In this penitential season we have the opportunity to make become the Season of Lent in the Church’s calendar. Lent an annual spiritual “tune-up”, a forty-day retreat with Our Lord. begins, as it always does, on Ash Wednesday, which this year is Have we allowed worldly cares and the “daily drama” to obscure February 10th, just about as early as it can ever be! our call to holiness? Have self-love and materialism eroded With the opening of Lent, the Church begins again its our relationship with God? Then let us renew our efforts, and annual season when the faithful are summoned to prepare for through our Lenten observance, discipline the body and master the celebration of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. it as we “follow in the footsteps of the poor and crucified Christ” Ash Wednesday opens Lent as a clarion call to “Repent and (St. Francis of Assisi), which is to live a truly Christian life, the believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). For the next forty days (we life of the baptized. don’t count Sundays, they are in Lent, not of Lent), the faithful So Lent is for individuals and also for communities. Lent is willingly submit to fasting and self-denial in imitation of Our about Baptism and living for Christ. Lent is about repentance Lord’s forty-day fast in the desert. and reconsecrating our lives, and that of our churches, to Jesus.

Evolving in the earliest days of the life of the Church, Lent Lent is about standing ready to rejoice anew when we sing “This began as a way for Christians and Christian communities to is the Feast of Victory for Our God”. remind themselves of the value of repentance. The austerity of Of course, Lent leads to Easter, which this year is March 27th, the Lenten season was seen as similar to the people fasting and also just about as early in the year as it can be. Easter will not be repenting in sackcloth and ashes in the Old Testament (Esther this early again until the year 2035 4:1-3; Jeremiah 6:26; Daniel when it will be March 25th. The 9:3). Though originally the earliest it can be is March 22nd, obligation of penance was and it was never that early in all of only imposed on those who Lent is a time to add things that will increase the 20th century, nor will it be in had committed public sins the holiness of our lives and to relinquish the 21st. The earliest it has ever and crimes, by medieval things that hinder holiness. been in my lifetime (I was born in times all the faithful were 1956) was March 23rd in 2008. called to repent and to Easter is, bar none, the most consecrate themselves important celebration in the Christian Church, the most anew to God, their Savior. So Lent is a season for prayerful and important event in the lives of individual Christians, and the penitential preparation for the feast of Easter. most important event in the history of humanity! Everything Traditionally, during this holy season, which is inseparably we hope for, everything God has promised, everything we have connected to the Paschal Mystery (the passion, death, and to offer the world as a Church begins and ends with Easter. resurrection of Christ), catechumens, that is people getting Jesus died and was raised from the dead. Jesus’ defeat of death ready for baptism and confirmation, prepare for the rites of Christian initiation. At the same time current members prepare promises life beyond death to those who are his.

For time immemorial mankind knew only one pattern: for Easter by recalling their baptisms and by spiritual works of humans lived and died. The end. prayer, fasting (moderation and self-denial), and charity (for Since Jesus’ resurrection, there has been a new pattern: example almsgiving). humans live and die and can live again, forever.

Often during Lent, participants eat sparingly or give up a Can you imagine better news than that? I can’t. It’s such particular food or habit. It’s not uncommon for people to give grand news that it has a grand name: Gospel. Good News. And up smoking during Lent, or to swear off watching television or as the angels sang to the shepherds at Christmas, this is “Good eating candy. It’s six weeks of self-discipline. But, Lent is not a tidings of great joy which will be to all the people.” (Luke 2:10) time for dieting for the sake of losing weight, and it’s not just This year, as we celebrate Jesus' resurrection through the a self-help period or a time for restoring one’s self-esteem, as fifty days of the Season of Easter, we will do something new as important as a healthy body, mind, and emotions are. Lent is a Continued ▶ a diocese. We will recapture the 4

SPIRIT | February 2016

Millennium Development Goal Funding Brings Aid to Those in Need Overseas St. John's in Springfield uses their Lenten fund raising and matching funds from the Diocesan Millennium Development Fund to help those in need overseas.

Karen Horny & David Westervelt

LINKS Millennium Development Goals  www.diowestmo.org/our-work/mdg.html  www.stjohnsspringfield.diowestmo.org

ancient practice of holding initiation rites during this period (beginning with the Great Vigil of Easter, which I hope and expect all parishes to observe), and those rites will include five opportunities for Confirmation around the diocese. They will be held on Saturdays starting the Saturday of Easter week.

Here’s the list:

April 2 – Christ Church, St. Joseph – 2 p.m.

April 9 – Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral, KC – 4 p.m.

April 16 – Grace Church, Carthage – 2 p.m.

April 30 – Calvary Church, Sedalia – 2 p.m.

May 7 – St. James’ Church, Springfield – 2 p.m.

Photograph: Andrea Schwartz

D

uring each year’s Lent, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Springfield collects funds to support a specific international project for Episcopal Relief and Development. The Outreach Ministry Group selects the annual project, and over the years the projects have included funds for anti-malaria mosquito nets, goats for villages, shares in a water well, and seeds and tools for families.

In 2015, we focused on collecting money to supply needy families with flocks of chickens. For $135, a family living in poverty was able to receive a flock and appropriate training to give them continuing nourishment and eventually chicks to share with others in their community. Because a flock of chickens is far more than some hens, a rooster and a daily supply of fresh eggs, we reminded parishioners that a gift would continue into the future by helping to train families and community groups to raise poultry and sell surplus stock and eggs in the marketplace. These gifts could change lives!

We asked the members of our congregation to prayerfully consider setting aside some funds for our project as part of their Lenten discipline. On Sunday, February 22, the Outreach Group hosted the coffee hours following each service to provide more information about this life-changing project. There were also announcements during Sunday services, information in our newsletter “The Messenger”, in Sunday bulletin inserts, and on the Outreach bulletin board, plus a display to track fund-raising progress. Our goal was to raise funds for ten flocks, but the Holy Spirit saw fit to motivate our congregation to fund more than 12 flocks! The wonderfully generous response resulted in $1, 655 collected before we requested the $500 offered by

While ERD doesn't say how many chickens are in a flock, the Internet suggests the minimum is 3 or 4.

the diocese in matching funds for Millennium Development projects.

The Millennium Development Grant application must meet certain guidelines. Matching funds of up to $500 are provided for international projects that address at least one of the eight MDG goals. Our treasurer submitted the necessary form along with a letter of approval from the vestry. After approval by the MDG committee and Diocesan Council agreement, we were able to provide funds for more than 16 flocks of chickens that will assist families living in poverty to have better lives in the future. + Karen Horny is Outreach Ministry Group Recorder, and David Westervelt, is the Treasurer at St. John's Episcopal Church, Springfield

Any congregation or parish may present candidates for Confirmation, Reception, or Reaffirmation at any of these grand, celebratory services. Choose the one that suits your schedule and preferences best, consult with your clergy, and please come!

Finally, do you remember when, earlier in this article, I recalled the way the early Church practiced Lent? That their Lenten practice included preparing catechumens for Baptism at Easter? The initiatory rites of the Church have traditionally been a focus of, and have been observed in Easter. We are recapturing this ancient custom as once again the fifty days of Easter becomes the time when the faithful come to Christ in the waters of Baptism, and in the vocational commitments of Confirmation across the diocese. +

SPIRIT | February 2016

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A Christian and World-Wide Prophet A personal appreciation of America’s great prophet and martyr of non-violence.

Vern Barnet

I

LINK Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's Last Sermon  https://youtu.be/SLsXZXJAURk

n 1968, when I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago, I was invited to preach in Bloomington, Illinois on Palm Sunday, April 7. By late March, I had completed my sermon preparations.

Then Dr. Martin Luther central prophet in world-wide King, Jr. was assassinated religious history.

April 4.

I threw out what I had 1. A World-Wide History written and started afresh, of Non-Violence and wrote that I had met When King was 6 years King earlier that year in old, Mahatma (Mohandas) Washington, D.C., where he Gandhi, a Hindu who helped renewed his controversial India to gain independence opposition to the Vietnam from the British raj, said, War. I still remember that “It may be through meeting in a church basement the Negroes that the with a chill. He was late, very unadulterated message late, in arriving. My group of non-violence will be learned that threats on his life delivered to the world.” were serious.

In tracing this history, we I concluded my new discover the irony that Gandhi sermon by saying that himself claimed his Hinduism “King’s death may bring only after being stirred by our nation out of the the writings of a Russian winter of racial injusChristian, Leo Tolstoy, who, tice. Like Christ, he was because of a personal crisis, wounded because of our was drawn to the Sermon on sin as a nation.” the Mount and the Gospel of Obviously our nation Love. is still in winter, in need of As the Harvard scholar confession and redemption.

Wilfred Cantwell Smith has King, whose holiday we shown, Tolstoy himself was observed in January, is a converted to non-violence and central figure in the American social service by the Christian story. Here let me propose in story of Barlaam and Josaphat, three parts why he is also a a retelling of an earlier story from a Muslim source, which 6

SPIRIT | February 2016

in turn received it from the Manichees, who had recast the story of the Buddha, successively called Bodisaf, Yudasaf, and Josaphat. And earlier versions suggest Jain or other beginnings.

Just as Gandhi matured in Hinduism by discovering Christianity, King was strengthened in Christian love by respectful study of the Hindu. King kept a photo of Mahatma Gandhi above his desk.

King adapted Gandhi’s satyagraha, the “truth-force” that Gandhi developed. Here, in outline, are the principles they shared:

of demonic potential within ourselves.

5. While confrontation may be necessary, cherishing the personhood of all involved in the conflict may lead to a creativity beyond what we can presently see.

6. The methods we use to bring about social change must manifest our goals.

Worthy ends cannot justify immoral means. It is more important to establish a nonviolent relationship with one’s adversary than to achieve a specific victory through violence.

7. Achieving justice is an 1. Cowardice is the worst unending process. We possible position. We make mistakes and are can never have all the disappointed along the information we might want way. But in forgiving before we need to act. ourselves we learn that 2. Some situations demand others are also frail, and that we suffer as individuals our compassion for others to achieve freedom for all. deepens.

3. We must start at home, with ourselves. We can 2. The Letter from the authentically urge change Birmingham Jail upon others only to the Every year I read the letter extent that our own spirits King wrote from his jail cell are orderly. in Birmingham. It is a check 4. We must find humanity in on my own claim to spiritual our adversaries and beware

Image: Gary Allman

Mahatma (Mohandas) Gandhi / Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

commitment and service.

King’s approach to the white ministers who complain that he is an “outside agitator” is a model of frank disagreement presented in love. They want him to wait for justice.

He responds “Justice too long delayed is justice denied” and reminds them that he is “in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the eighth century prophets left their little villages and carried their ‘thus saith the Lord’ far beyond the boundaries of their home towns; and just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the GraecoRoman world,”

he too is “compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond” his “particular home town.”

In the darkness of his cell, writing on scraps of paper, to make his case he cites Socrates, Tillich, Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Bunyan, T. S. Eliot and, most importantly, the scriptures. In the letter, King outlines four stages of a non-violent campaign:

1. the collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist, 2. negotiation to redress injustice, and when correction is not forthcoming, 3. deliberate self-purification, and 4. direct action. The “means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.” This is why those engaged in direct action were repeatedly asked, “Are you able to accept blows without retaliating? Are you able to endure the ordeals of jail?” and so forth, emulating the apostles and Jesus himself.

Some have proposed that the Letter from the Birmingham Jail ranks with the epistles of Paul and should be admitted into the New Testament canon.

3. King’s Last Sermon On March 31, 1968, the Sunday before he was assassinated, King preached at the Washington National Cathedral. You can hear a recording of his sermon on

YouTube at the link provided above.

In the national seat of our Episcopal tradition, King quoted the famous words of the great 17th Century Anglican preacher and Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, John Donne, “No man is an island of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

King used Donne to summarize his point that

Even then, before the internet, King saw that the world is interconnected. He said that the challenge is to make the world one “in terms of brotherhood.”

King’s sermon was optimistic. His texts were two passages from Revelation, “former things are passed away” and “behold, I make all things new.” He paraphrases the 19th Century preacher Theodore Parker so well we now identify the words with King himself: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Beyond race and class and every other human category, King’s prophethood, rooted in the Christian faith, speaks to all people everywhere. The youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, he is memorialized across the globe in many places, including, fittingly, the Gandhi King Plaza in New Delhi. His words and his martyrdom challenge us to find today’s ways of fulfilling our baptismal promise throughout the “inescapable network of mutuality,” bending toward justice. +

“We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly …

This is the way God’s universe is made ...”

Today these words, in our time of increasing social fragmentation and inequality, might well chastise us and bring us back to a vision of what God wants for us.

“We are challenged to develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone, and anyone who feels that he can is sleeping through a revolution.”

Vern Barnet’s latest book is Thanks for Noticing: The Interpretation of Desire.

He previously wrote for The Kansas City Star.

SPIRIT | February 2016

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What Youth Ministry is Really All About Youth Ministry has a fundamental and important role in the development of our children. It's not just about lockins & games.

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

Kim Snodgrass

U

nless you’ve stopped to think about it or have been in place by the time they actively involved in youth events, you might be surprised reach nine.”1 And interestto find out that the philosophy of our WEMO Youth ingly enough, “While those Ministry goes beyond creating fun ways for youth to spend time foundations are refined (over together. Ministry to youth involves creating an environment that time) ... their fundamental inspires young people to experience God and become aware of perspective on truth, integrity, their own faith journey. meaning, justice, morality and Youth Ministry connects The Pilgrimage lets us see the ethics are formed quite early in life.”1 Parents have a huge young people to a faith bigger church; past, present first impact, but simply getting community, helping them to and future. MissionPalooza youth to go to church is not the discover a sense of purpose puts faith into action; feet, full answer. In her book Almost and a sense of hope about hands and hearts hit the Christian, Kenda Creasy Dean their future. Our activities ground in the Kansas City serve as enrichment tools area. And finally, the Diocesan says “parents who perform one act of radical faith in that educate and empower; Youth Gathering (DYG) engaging the body, mind, and hosts a plethora of workshops front of their children convey soul. It goes without saying that youth activities should be Parents, if you ever think you are not the fun; because smiles, laughter most important factor in your child’s and joy bind our hearts.

As parents, congregations, development of faith, think again parishes and the diocesan youth ministry staff deliver more than a multitude of programs that work together designed to educate, inspire in common purpose, youth and empower. Youth Network sermons and mission trips.”2 A radical act of faith could mean gain a deeper sense of who events are growing, too; spending a Saturday morning they are as members of Christ’s providing an opportunity to body. connect more often and closer at Episcopal Community Services helping prepare meals.

Each year the Youth to home.

Dean goes on to say “parents Ministry Commission plans Diocesan and Network events and activities with events are one third of a triune must explain "this is how this philosophy in mind. approach where parents, faith Christians live … If you don't say you're doing it because The Happening weekend communities, and program of your faith, kids are going experience is a series of ministries join to be heard to say ‘my parents are really conversations about God, among the many voices Jesus, faith, community, speaking today that influence a nice people’." Youth notice and sacraments and more. The young person’s choices, habits, remember that faith makes you live differently, and parents are Jr. High Retreat focuses on relationships and spiritual first to the scene! discovery; the importance of identity.

Faith communities made questions and the influence Parents, if you ever up of family, teachers, ministry of relationships in our life. think you are not the most co-workers, mentors, leaders Camp WEMO is about taking important factor in your and friends are all major time to build relationships; child’s development of faith, social influences responsible with God and others; and think again! “A person’s moral for keeping our character lighting a fire in our faith. foundations are generally 8

SPIRIT | February 2016

strong, centered and pointed in a sound moral direction.

As Christians, our moral identity is forever being formed through discipleship.

What do you say to young people? What do you do with young people? How do you encourage young people by making sincere connections?

Regular inter-generational worship and personal relationships are highly correlated to young people’s faith.

Basically, youth need to know their church and the adults in their church. How does that happen? It’s not difficult, when we consider youth make excellent readers, Eucharistic Ministers, hospital visitors, mentors to younger children, Vestry members, teachers, and are basically ready to be involved in or mentored into any adult role.

The WEMO youth ministry program is being continually developed to do whatever it can to promote, encourage and support this triune approach. We are working to be more visible, more available, and provide more resources to help this happen. + Kim Snodrass is Youth Network Coordinator for The Diocese of West Missouri.

Barna, G. (1995). Generation next: What you need to know about today’s youth. Ventura, CA: Regal Books.

1.

Dean, K. (2010). Almost Christian: What the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2.

Building A Bridge For A New Generation Decisions made in the sixties still impact our campus ministries today. We now have a unique opportunity to rebuild.

CONTACT  campus.ministry@diowestmo.org LINK  www.dcm.diowestmo.org

Beth Marshall

F

Photograph: Beth Marshall

or many years the Canterbury House located on or nearby religion. Because of this, there a university or college campus was the recognized model is an increasing percentage for campus ministry. Most were staffed, and sometimes also of young adults who identify occupied by a college chaplain. They served as a gathering place themselves as Spiritual But Not for Episcopal students attending that university or college.

Religious (SBNR). In discussions about their ‘spirituality’, At some point (I am told it generation ever seen in was in the 1960s), the Episcopal history. They believe everyone they talk about a desire to help others, build stronger connecChurch got the impression that should be a part of the our young adults headed for community. When questioned tions, and deepen relationships.

They are seeking ways to do college wanted to be left alone about Christianity, studies this. They are asking to be fed. to explore and discover who and discussions with young In looking at this they were. It was believed that adults reveal some disturbing description of young adults they would “come back” after common beliefs – they think today, I can’t help but see a graduation. With this belief, Christians are judgmental, connection between what they many of the Canterbury houses exclusive, hypocritical, value, and the values we hold were closed and sold. It took the intolerant, too political, antidear as the Episcopal Church. church over 20 years to realize homosexual, and they want they had made a mistake. The nothing to do with organized One of the ways we can reach graduating students didn’t come back as expected, and we have Today, we are faced with the challenge suffered the consequences. of not only re-building these important Today, we are faced with the challenge of not only re-building connecting ministries, but doing so with a these important connecting generation unlike any in our history. ministries, but doing so with a generation unlike any in our history. As we re-build, I think it is important for us to understand who our young adults are, and what they think. They are the children and grandchildren of the Baby Boomers, and have several generational labels: Echo boomers, Generation Y, and Millennials. The age range is 18-35, of which there are nearly 80 million, or approximately one-third of the US population.

They are very tech-savvy, are used to constant stimulation, and have grown up with and expect instant communication and gratification. These Students working at the ECS Community Kitchen, Kansas City, Missouri young adults are the most open, accepting, and tolerant

out and connect, not only with our own Episcopal young adults, but also with young adults in general, is through campus ministry. Open the Doors – Reach Out – Connect.

That is our motto for Campus Ministry.

There are very few Canterbury Houses in existence today, and none in The Diocese of West Missouri. Many dioceses, including our own, have begun developing parishbased campus ministries as a way to provide continued support, spiritual growth, and a connection to the Episcopal Church. Having an active campus ministry in parishes or among partnering parishes near our campuses creates a bridge to help our youth to transition to starting the next chapter of their lives. These ministries also give us the opportunity to open the doors wide and invite those who are ‘un-churched’, disconnected, or unfamiliar with the Episcopal Church to come and explore their faith, understanding, and spirituality with us.

A parish-based campus ministry is a community within our church community which provides time, place, and space our college students need to engage in discussions and events according to their schedule, needs, and desire for spiritual growth. The ministry program is run by the clergy and/or laity of the Continued on Page 13 ▶ SPIRIT | February 2016

9

Bring Back The Table A new interdenominational mission in Kansas City involving the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and The Diocese of West Missouri seeks to expand the fellowship of Christ’s Table.

CONTACT reverendjc1@gmail.com   (913) 209-2710 LINK  www.TheTableKC.org

The Rev. Dr. Joseph Crowther

B

y the time I received the official nod to become the Mission Developer for the newest ministry start-up in the Kansas City Metro area last Fall I had already formed a vision for ministry. I could list the emerging ministry’s core values, imagine the rhythm of its life, and clearly describe the impact it planned to make upon Kansas City communities. I knew, for example, that this congregation would never own a building, would be chiefly concerned with deploying persons into the world to bless others, rather than attracting more members to fill pews, and it would function more like a movement and less like an organization. I could even foresee a time when this movement would become a “50/50 congregation” loving its neighbors as itself by giving to others half of all collected resources. Such expressions are possible when a congregation has no mortgage or utility bills. Much about this mission was clear. What I didn’t have was a name.

Determining the congregation’s name proved surprisingly difficult. The congregation would comprise the largely unchurched and formerly churched persons who would rest in the crosshairs of our missional efforts, so a “churchy” name would likely not serve us well. Colleagues tried to help but their suggestions often sounded too trendy or hip.

My wrestling finally ended when I stumbled upon a Henri Nouwen quote.

it offered. I realized, as if for the first time, that it is largely around the table that my faith has been forged and formed.

The table is a place of story sharing and relationship building. It was over Sunday lunches that each week my parents asked, “So, what did you learn about Jesus this

morning?” Around cheap wine and nachos my seminary classmates gathered to contemplate matters of theology and to share life’s challenges.

Sitting late into the night at kitchen tables over coffee and conversation I have peered deeply into the hearts of my parishioners in a manner that an hour on Sunday mornings simply doesn’t afford. Most of us are people of “tabled” faith.

But our table habits are changing. We eat less and less at home these days and when we do it is often in front of a screen instead of one another. American households now spend roughly the same amount of money on fast food each week as they do on groceries. Sixty years ago the average dinner time was ninety minutes. Today, it is barely twelve. We are

There it was! “The Table.”

Simple. Welcoming. Perfect.

The more I considered “The Table” the more possibilities 10 SPIRIT | February 2016

Photograph: Cynthia Schuch

“The church is not an institution forcing us to follow rules but a community inviting us to still our hunger and thirst at its table.”

House churches come together for a Sunday evening 'Banquet' worship.

losing the table. In his latest book, “From Tablet to Table”, Leonard Sweet offers a litany of challenges facing society and the current Church, and he then concludes: “There is one thing that would dramatically change the world we live in and help us to our rootedness in Christ: Bring back the table!”

Whenever and wherever Jesus showed up a table also appeared. On a hill in the wilderness and as a result of an impromptu miraculous feast, thousands instantly became part of the Lord’s family. It was around a makeshift breakfast table on the beach that the resurrected Jesus reminded his frightened disciples that they were to fish for people, not fish. “Feed my sheep,” he commissioned the Church. A few days earlier Jesus reclined at a supper table in a secluded upper room and issued the command for his followers to continue collecting themselves in this way. “Do this, in remembrance of me,” he said. So each time we collect around the table Jesus is “remembered” and joins us again as host, guest and meal itself.

If I handed you a blank paper entitled, “The Church,” and asked you to supply images, what would you

Photograph: Nathan Choate - Creative Photographic

The Rev. Dr. Joseph Crowther presides over an Advent Eucharist

draw? Most people will sketch buildings with colonial steeples, pulpits, pews or stained glass. Those with a slightly broader sense of Church imagine people and activity, perhaps worship.

But no picture of Church is complete without the table.

It has always stood and will forever remain at the center of our faith lives.

So finally I have a name to attach to this mission.

The Table seeks to become a network of house churches that meet regularly in their own neighborhoods to study, pray, feast and “do life” together. These groups will constantly seek to extend The Table by blessing others in their communities, especially those in need. Each weekend these house churches will assemble to worship together and share testimony regarding what God is doing through them. I imagine some worshippers sharing slides of a handicap ramp built for an

elderly lady next door, while others report of backpacks that were provided for local elementary school children.

Then all the groups will gather as one around a table to be fed

by Word and Sacrament before being deployed into the world again. This is the apostolic rhythm of The Table.

In addition to its nontraditional expression, part of what distinguishes this initiative from other mission starts, is its interdenominational character. The Table provides a marvelous opportunity to fulfill the intentions of The Diocese of West Missouri and the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to hold hands in ministry across denominational boundaries.

Jesus drew continual criticism for his table manners and the sorts of persons with whom he chose to sit at table.

The first significant controversy in the early Church was over who was welcome

at the table and who could or should be excluded. The Table is an intentional effort on the part of our denominations to broadly expand Christ’s fellowship realizing that we are most faithfully the Church when we are not seated at separate tables.

I recall vividly an early fall evening on my parents' farm in North Carolina some forty years ago. As an anxious twelve-year-old boy, I stood in a dark field adjacent to our house and watched the headlights of my father’s truck returning home from work. I had lost myself that afternoon. Caught up in play I had neglected my chores.

There would be consequences.

A few moments later I sat banished to my room while the rest of the family sat at the dinner table. I remember thinking this must be the “outer darkness” I had heard about in church, where people “wept and gnashed their teeth”. The food smelled better

than usual that night. The conversation seemed livelier and more joyful when heard from the darkness. Then I heard the unmistakable approaching footsteps of my father. The door flew open and his silhouette filled the doorway. I braced for the rest of the lecture or the piling on of further punishment, and I likely deserved both. Instead, my father softly said, “We’re about to have dessert and it’s your favorite. Why don’t you come to the table?”

I thank Henri Nouwen for unknowingly helping provide a name for this mission. But now that I reconsider it, he really only reminded me of something given in a moment of grace many years ago. + The Rev. Dr. Joseph Crowther has served for 26 years as pastor, mission developer and church consultant in the ELCA.

SPIRIT | February 2016 11

Walk Together Children, Don’t You Get Weary A review of the Anti-Racism Gathering presentation, "From Privilege to Pilgrimage: Creating the Beloved Community"at the 126 Diocesan Convention.

CONTACT frmarcus@standrewkc.org  LINK

I

suppose I should begin by naming the proverbial elephant in in the Episcopal Church, the room – discussing race and racial privilege in the Church different levels and types is a sensitive subject. It violates all rules of respectable, public of racism (and prejudice in conversation. Everyone comes to the table with their own baggage, general), what happens when real or perceived, not only about their experience of race in our prejudice colludes with power nation, but also their experience of conversations about race. So to formalize oppression, and it seems that even before the conversation begins, the cards are what we as Christian people of stacked against us. If we ever actually get into the conversation, faith can do to build the bonds we soon discover that we are often speaking different languages. It of our community. can sometimes feel that our best intentions are not good enough to Our closing activity was meet the challenge of this present age. an exercise that physically contrasted the way God Convention's Gathering And yet, the recent string intends our world to be and Presentations, and in it we of legally-sanctioned killings the way our world actually is. engaged in the topics of of unarmed people of color, We all lined up, held hands, prejudice, racism, racial including 12 year-old Tamir and took steps forward if privilege, and how we as a Rice; rampant Islamaphobia we identified with certain Church can be instruments and the sharp rise in attacks privileged groups – men, of God’s healing in the world. against Islamic communities Christians, white Americans, While only ninety minutes cloaked in the language those who are collegein length, my other two and practice of American educated, clergy, those with presenters and I explored the patriotism; and the shocking a family income of at least statistics of mass incarceration, history of anti-racism work poor education, and lagging economic development of communities of color present us with an opportunity to be Jesus’ hands and feet, eyes and ears, head and heart in a world in dire need of conciliation and healing.

On Friday, November 6, 2015 close to 100 Episcopalians from across The Diocese of West Missouri gathered for the “From Privilege to Pilgrimage: Creating the Beloved Community” presentation to take some steps towards doing just that. This presentation was part of the 126th Diocesan Closing Exercise - we all start out equal, let's see what privileges separate us 12 SPIRIT | February 2016

 www.standrewkc.org $35,000, and more. Before long it became hard to hold the hands with those next to us. Try as we might, each of us has inherited socially-created boundaries that thwart the full expression of community.

Galatians 3:28 suggests that the world in Christ is a world where privilege and inequality are nonexistent. Paul suggests that we are all “one in Christ Jesus.” In Christ, men are not treated better than women and afforded certain privileges by virtue of their maleness. The same holds true for racial, class, gender, sexuality, and even religious difference.

What this exercise made evident is the reality that we have a long way to go before

Photograph: Gary Allman

The Rev. Marcus Halley

Photographs: Gary Allman

▶ Building A Bridge ... Continued from Page 9

The furniture wasn't allowed to stop the closing exercise

Canterbury Club meeting at Christ Episcopal Church, Springfield (8/2014)

this vision of our world is made manifest. We exist in a society where the privileges granted to certain groups of people over others support a culture of inequality which often creates and supports structures that block access and opportunity for many. It is especially insidious because it is invisible, part of the fabric of America, and if we do not intentionally engage and unpack it, we unknowingly reinforce a culture of division.

The Diversity and Reconciliation Commission of The Diocese of West Missouri has worked hard so far this year to create Vision and Mission Statements and to provide spaces for conversations to take place to expose prejudices and implicit biases that we all have so that we can make conscious choices to walk with one another to see each other as sisters and brothers. There will be many more opportunities both for our diocese to celebrate the beauty of diversity among us and to engage in conversations that move us towards the community that God intends for us. Two such upcoming opportunities are: The Feast of Absalom Jones to be held on February 20, 2016 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral,

parish, with the help, guidance, and support of the Campus Ministry Commission and Coordinator. We invite and open the doors to all who seek a safe community to ask questions, learn about God, our relationship to and with God, and what that means for our lives and our relationships with each other. While it is important for our young adults to have a space they can call their own, it is just as important for both communities to come together as one body.

We typically think of Sunday morning service as a time in which to do this, but for most college students this is not a priority on Sunday morning. Do we invite them?

Yes! Do we expect them?

No! Providing a time, place, and space other than Sunday morning is vitally important to the success of campus ministry.

The offering of our time, energy, gifts, and talents to this ministry is just as important, and provides the opportunity of shared community. Shared community goes both ways.

Inviting them to be a part of your parish’s outreach and youth programs are good ways for both communities to work together as one body. It feeds their desire to help others and be valued as part of the larger

and “Seeing God’s Face in Each Other” training that will be held in Springfield, Missouri in May 2016.

More information about both events will be published online and in the eSpirit.

I believe the vast majority of attendees left the conference room encouraged that the work of racial conciliation and healing can take place and that the Church has something powerful to offer a world stymied in estrangement. Paul says in Ephesians 2:14 that Christ has come to tear down the dividing wall. He comes that we all may be one. Do we have a long way to go? Yes. But the length of the journey loses its power to discourage us when we understand who is on the journey with us – the very same God who moved Heaven and Earth to come and see about us and to redeem our living in the divine life of Christ. + The Rev. Marcus Halley is Pastor for Young Adults and Families at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Missouri. He also serves on the Diocesan Council.

community, while giving us the chance to be mentors, or just be present for them. I have found that our young adults have as much to teach us as we have to teach them.

The vitality and life of the Church depends on inviting, including and feeding multiple generations. Because of decisions made many years ago, we have lost some of those generations. The college students of our diocese are begging for a place and space in which they can stay connected and continue their spiritual journey with each other and us.

Our youth are looking for that bridge of connection with us as they cross into a new chapter of their lives. Right now we have a unique opportunity not only to provide ministries that feed our Episcopal college students, but also to invite and introduce the Spiritual But Not Religious to come, see and experience what it means to be a part of the Episcopal Church family and community.

Will we rise to meet this challenge? Or will we miss this unique opportunity, repeat the mistake of letting them go, and lose another generation? + Beth Marshall is Campus Ministry Coordinator for The Diocese of West Missouri.

SPIRIT | February 2016 13

2016 Youth Program |

14 SPIRIT | February 2016

| 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 | February 2016 15

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816.595.5878

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4301 Madison Ave., Kansas City, Missouri 64111