The Harvest, May-June 2010

Inside The Harvest UTO grant Mother-to-Mother of Kansas City has received a $4,000 United Thank Offering grant to expand its ability to help families in need. Page 2

Diocesan Con vention Conv Noted speaker Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina will be featured at this fall’s Diocesan Convention. Convention deadlines also are announced. Page 4

KSM opens classes Upcoming classes at the Kansas School for Ministry will be open to non-ordination track students through a special policy. Page 5

Fighting c hildhood hunger childhood Two parishes, one small and one large, have found a way to feed hungry children during summer months when other programs disappear. Page 6

Lending a hand to Habit at Habitat Volunteers, including college students and Bishop Wolfe, helped the construction of a Habitat for Humanity house get off the ground in Coffeyville. Page 7

Around the diocese Find out why a church was surrounded by emergency vehicles in May, and see a classroom wall full of crosses. Page 8

Four ordained Two priests and two transitional deacons were ordained by Bishop Wolfe during a service June 5 at Topeka’s Grace Cathedral. Page 9

Ser ving the poor Serving A Lawrence man will spend the next year working among the poor in New Haven, Conn., as part of a church-sponsored vocational discernment program. Page 9

Lambeth of ficial q ues tioned official ques uestioned Anglican Communion Secretary General the Rev. Kenneth Kearon left some members of Executive Council wishing for more clarity when he spoke to the group on June 18. Page 10

Gulf oil disas ter disaster Prayers and financial help are needed most for those whose jobs have been lost on the Gulf. Read also about a Houston church where prayer brought oil executives and environmentalists together. Page 11

‘W e are all connected’ ‘We Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, a trained oceanographer, writes that the oil disaster reminds us of our connectedness. Page 11

St. Clare’s mo o its ne w home movves int into new Pentecost service welcomed worshippers to Spring Hill

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

P

entecost took on special meaning for the people of St. Clare’s, the newest worshipping congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. On May 23 they had their first public worship service in their new home in historic downtown Spring Hill.

Until then, worshippers had met in the living room of the congregation’s vicar, the Rev. Philip Hubbard, and his family in Overland Park. Hubbard was hired by the diocese in 2008 to start a new congregation in Johnson County, part of the greater Kansas City area.

The decision to give St. Clare’s a permanent home in Spring Hill, a town of 6,500 that straddles the Johnson and Miami county line, came earlier this year, based on its potential for growth in the area.

Man ir st-timer att ender Manyy ffir irst-timer attender enderss Hubbard said about half of the 39 people at the Pentecost service were attending St. Clare’s for the first time.

Patti Stites and her husband, Art Canright, had met Hubbard at the local Farmer’s Market and, struck by his enthusiasm, decided to visit that day. They’d never been to an Episcopal church for worship before, but Canright called it “fun” and Stites said Hubbard’s conversation-style sermon was “very enjoyable.”

Susan and Don Traub met Hubbard at the Farmer’s Market just the day before and as longtime Episcopalians were delighted to learn they could attend an Episcopal Church without leaving Spring Hill. Former members of St. John’s in Abilene, the couple had been driving to Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in downtown Kansas City, Mo., for church.

Photos by Melodie Woerman

A young worshipper shakes a red-ribbon Pentecost streamer during the first public worship service of St. Clare’s in Spring Hill on May 23.

Don Traub said he liked the pioneer feel of St. Clare’s startup. “That’s the way the church was built,” he said.

Scott and Jacque Snavely and their three sons were at St. Clare’s for the second time on Pentecost; the congregation had a

Facebook phenomenon Lawrence priest’s site, “Unapologetically Episcopalian,” has 7,000 fans celebrating the Episcopal Church

Prayer guides Crossroads effort

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

W

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

T

he Rev. Ron Pogue didn’t like what he was hearing from fellow Episcopalians. It wasn’t conflict or theological disagreements that troubled the interim rector at Trinity, Lawrence, the most — it was all the apologizing.

“I was weary of people apologizing for being who we are as a church,” he said. “Things like, “We don’t do Bible study,’ ‘Our music is stuffy,’ ‘The Prayer Book is hard to use, ‘We’re all about conflict.’”

On the evening of May 1, after reading what he called a particularly apologetic and whiny e-mail, he’d had enough.

He went to Facebook, the popular Internet-based social networking site, and created a page he called “Unapologetically Episcopalian” as a place to celebrate the positive things happening across the Episcopal Church.

He invited his circle of Facebook friends to join the site, and from there

Please see St. Clare’s, page 3

Photo by Melodie Woerman

The Rev. Ron Pogue, interim at Trinity, Lawrence, is the creator of Unapologetically Episcopalian, a Facebook site celebrating the good things happening in the Episcopal Church. In two months it has 7,000 fans.

the word spread rapidly.

Within five days the page had more than 3,000 “fans,” and now, about two months later, that number is more than 7,000, making it something of a Facebook phenomenon in Episcopal circles.

And the people who signed up as fans are making their voices heard there, something he’d suspected would happen.

Please see Facebook, page 3

hile the effort is underway to secure initial gifts to the diocesanwide fundraising campaign, “Crossroads: Securing the Path to Tomorrow,” Director of Development and Stewardship Char DeWitt said what makes it all possible is prayer, including a special prayer composed just for the effort.

Earlier this year Bishop Dean Wolfe announced the launch of a major fundraising campaign designed to provide lay and clergy leadership for parishes across the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas.

The focus of the effort is the Kansas School for Ministry, which currently educates people for ordination as priests and deacons. Plans call for the school to expand its offering to include extensive lay ministry education and training.

Money raised will create a major endowment for KSM and will build a Leadership Center to provide additional classrooms and refurbished diocesan offices.

In addition, 10 percent of all money raised will go to diocesan outreach and mission efforts.

Please see Prayer, page 2

2 • The Harvest • May/June 2010

Mo ther-t o-Mo ther ministr Mother-t ther-to-Mo o-Mother ministryy receiv es $4,000 UT O grant receives UTO Episcopal in ement invvolv olvement

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

Publisher: The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe, Bishop Editor: Melodie Woerman A member of Episcopal News Service and Episcopal Communicators, The Harvest is published six times a year by the Office of Communications of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas: February, April, June, August, October and December.

Stories, letters and photos are welcome. They will be used on a space-available basis and are subject to editing. Send all material (preferably in electronic format or by e-mail) to: Melodie Woerman, editor The Harvest 835 SW Polk St. Topeka, KS 66612-1688 phone: (800) 473-3563 fax: (785) 235-2449 mwoerman@episcopal-ks.org Send address changes to: Receptionist 835 SW Polk St., Topeka, KS 66612-1688 receptionist@episcopal-ks.org Upcoming deadlines: July/August issue: July 15 September/October issue: Sept. 15 Subscription rate: $1.50 annually Third class mailing Permit No. 601, Topeka, Kansas POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Episcopal Diocese of Kansas 835 SW Polk St. Topeka, KS 66612-1688

The Anglican Communion A global community of 70 million Anglicans in 38 member churches/provinces in more than 160 countries.

Archbishop of Canterbury The Most Reverend and Right Honorable Rowan Williams Lambeth Palace, London WE1 7JU, United Kingdom www.anglicancommunion.org Episcopal seat: Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, England

The Episcopal Church A community of more than 2.1 million members in 110 dioceses in 16 countries in the Americas and abroad.

Presiding Bishop The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017 (800) 334-7626 www.episcopalchurch.org Episcopal seat: Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

The Episcopal Diocese of Kansas A community of 12,000 members in 45 parishes, two diocesan institutions and one school in eastern Kansas.

Bishop The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe 835 SW Polk Street, Topeka, KS 66612-1688 (785) 235-9255 (800) 473-3563 www.episcopal-ks.org Episcopal seat: Grace Episcopal Cathedral, Topeka

T

he United Thank Offering has awarded a $4,000 grant to the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas for the Mother-to-Mother Ministry of Kansas City. The money will be used to assist in the establishment of a branch ministry with the local Social and Rehabilitation Services office.

There the program will offer spiritual and emotional support to mothers and fathers living in poverty while raising children.

Mother-to-Mother Ministry is a human services organization established in 1988 by Church Women United, an ecumenical Christian women’s movement.

Its Kansas City branch exists to provide encouragement, motivation and family enrichment programs, to help create what it calls “wholesome, healthy and nurturing environments.”

It will target families in need in Kansas City, Kan., and Wyandotte County, the most economically depressed area in the state.

In recommending the Mother-to-Mother grant application for UTO’s consideration, Bishop Dean Wolfe wrote, “This program of help and hope has aided more than 100 families by addressing issues of housing, homelessness, employment, education and numerous other social and economic issues facing families in poverty today.”

Kansas City’s Mother-to-Mother program has a long history of Episcopal support. Key among those is the involvement of Deacon Jesse and Alversa Milan, dating back to the program’s founding.

St. Martin’s, Edwardsville, the Milans’ church home for a number of years, has provided annual financial support, and Episcopal Community Services for a decade provided school supplies for children in the program.

Fighting po ty povver erty According to its website, the United Thank Offering “addresses compelling human need through grants to projects that alleviate poverty, both domestically and internationally, within the Anglican provinces, dioceses and companion dioceses.” It supports programs that address poverty of women and children; make a significant impact; demonstrate new and innovative work; and are a part of a planned diocesan mission strategy.

Claudia Conner, United Thank Offering coordinator, said this year UTO received 120 requests totaling approximately $5.7 million. It awarded grants totaling $2.16 million to 69 applicants. Of those, 40 were domestic dioceses of the Episcopal Church, 10 were companion dioceses and 19 were international grants.

UTO is a program of the Episcopal Church that dates back to 1889. It operates under an independent national committee that oversees grants. Y

Pra Prayyer: Efforts are paying off Continued from page 1 DeWitt said that the first action taken in the earliest stages of contemplating such a campaign was the formation of a prayer team, chaired by the Rev. Juli Sifers, rector of St. Aidan’s, Olathe. “And before we even had a campaign, we had a prayer,” DeWitt said.

She said Sifers had offered the prayer she’d composed at a few planning meetings but hadn’t provided it in written form. At a meeting in November 2009 to decide on a theme for the campaign, Sifers distributed her prayer in written form.

Independently the two efforts used similar language and pointed to similar themes, DeWitt said.

“Both used the image of a path,” DeWitt said, as well as an emphasis on the need for additional educational opportunities.

Comes fr om pra from prayyer Sifers said the prayer came to her out of her own prayers during the campaign’s planning stages. “I think of it as a prayer of hope,” she said.

Early on Sifers recruited prayer team members, including at least one person from each of the diocese’s four convocations. They have committed to using the prayer regularly in their own devotions.

One of the team members, Roxie Drautz of St. Michael and All Angels in Mission, said using the prayer daily has made her more aware of the way the church educates people in response to the Holy Spirit’s call to service.

Myrline Winkler, St. Luke’s, Wamego, said she has added her own petitions on behalf of current and future students at the School for Ministry and for their ministries. Mike Morrow, St. John’s, Wichita, said he plans to create a Southwest Convocation prayer team to support the campaign’s efforts.

Sifers said the prayer also is used regularly at meetings of the Council of Trustees, the governing body of the diocese between conventions, as well as in all meetings of those involved in the Crossroads initiative. “The prayer has been used in devotional time all over the diocese,” she said.

Pra est ed Prayyer erss manif manifest ested DeWitt says she has called on the prayer team frequently during this phase of the campaign, when conversations are taking place with potential donors of major gifts. “When there’s a special event or a key meeting, I ask them to pray specifically for that,” she said. She also has asked the prayer team to ask for open hearts as people consider this effort, and she said she sees evidence of those prayers at work.

“People we talk to are so keen on what we’re trying to accomplish here,” she said. “I’m certain those prayers of the prayer team are being manifested.”

DeWitt said prayer will be even more critical when the campaign is opened up to the entire diocese, planned for after the first of the year.

She said congregations and individuals are welcome to begin

The Crossroads prayer O God, our anchor of hope and eternal light: you breathe your life-giving Spirit into the congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. Through that same Spirit, you have called us to join together to spread the Gospel by providing a home and resource for the Kansas School for Ministry.

Bless our labor, so that we may equip the saints for building up the body of Christ. Show us the people to whom we should go and the paths we should travel. Help us to understand the deep longings of each heart to make a difference in the world, and enable all your people to respond with open hearts.

All this we ask through Jesus, our Redeemer and steadfast companion.

Amen.

using the prayer during worship or private devotions. Y

May/June 2010 • The Harvest • 3

St. Clare’s: Membership has tripled since the move Continued from page 1

At last year’s Diocesan Convention Bishop Dean Wolfe called for 10 Episcopal families in the greater Kansas City area to become missionaries to St. Clare’s. The Burtons are the first to answer that call.

“soft opening” the week before to make sure they were comfortable in their rented space before the public opening May 23. The Snavelys had been members at St. Philip’s when they lived in Topeka but after moving to Spring Hill had attended a Roman Catholic church in nearby Gardner.

Scott Snavely learned of St. Clare’s when he met Hubbard at the city’s Home and Business Expo, and he jumped into the congregation with gusto. He helped create yard signs announcing the new church that were placed around town, and that effort resulted in a family visiting on Pentecost and most Sundays after that.

Hubbard said another of his evangelism effort brought a family out that day, too. A few days before, the parents had been discussing the need to find a church home, and he arrived at their door just two hours later to invite them to St. Clare’s.

Member ship has tripled Membership

Above: Children enjoy face painting and balloon animals at a “Party in the Park” June 19 in Spring Hill. St. Clare’s sponsored the event to greet their new neighbors in Spring Hill, and about 30 folks stopped by.

Photo by Sonya Hubbard

Fir st missionaries ffound ound First Jim and Margie Burton are joining St. Clare’s as missionaries, current Episcopalians who will become part of the new church to aid in its growth. The Burtons have been members of St. Michael and All Angels in Mission for 16 years, and the decision to leave was both painful and joyful.

The pain comes in leaving a church home that has nurtured them for so many years, but that same nurture led them to this new ministry. “We were formed for this by the community we love at St.

Left: A sign in the window of the space rented by St. Clare’s in downtown Spring Hill greets regulars and newcomers arriving for worship.

Michael’s,” Margie Burton wrote in the parish newsletter.

She also said the decision to make the move came after a lot of prayer, and in the process “we were convinced that God wants us

to help start this new church.”

St. Michael’s sent them on their new spiritual journey by commissioning them as missionaries to St. Clare’s during a service on June 13.

Hubbard said he now counts about 29 regulars among his flock, which is triple the nine people who attended the last worship service in his living room. Having a visible location in a permanent place in an area without any other Episcopal churches is starting to pay off, he said.

In the weeks since the festive Pentecost opening, Hubbard said attendance has averaged about 25 or so.

He realizes this way of starting a new congregation is different. In many church plants, he said, all the effort goes into a huge opening worship service, knowing attendance will immediately fall to half that. “We started smaller,” he said, “but we know most of these people. They’re going to stick.”

Beyond just attending, though, Hubbard said the 29 regulars are becoming more deeply involved.

“I see them coming closer to the center,” he said. “They’re getting more involved, more committed.

People are starting to say of St. Clare’s, ‘I belong here.’”

That involvement was evident in a citywide event the congregation sponsored June 19 at the local park. The “Party in the Park” featured food, music and a variety of activities, all coordinated and staffed by St. Clare’s mem-

bers. The food was provided by members of St. Michael’s, Mission.

Hubbard said about 30 Spring Hill residents stopped by during the day, and he had almost everyone in the congregation there helping. Another 30 or so people came from area Episcopal churches, who also had been invited to join in the festivities.

Hubbard said Bishop Wolfe, who attended the event, encouraged St. Clare’s to include area Episcopalians.

“We wanted them to see the Episcopal church they are helping to start,” he said. “We want them to know that we are their church plant,” he said.

Word of St. Clare’s is starting to spread in the area, Hubbard said. A story in the Miami County Republic brought an Episcopal family from Paola to worship, and Hubbard was asked to serve as chaplain at the local American Legion post’s Memorial Day observances at the town’s cemetery.

Hubbard said his congregation already is seeking ways to take greater responsibility for its corporate life, and he’ll be starting classes later this year for those wanting to be confirmed or received.

An informal governing structure also is planned that will better allow everyone’s voice to be heard as the church grows.

Hubbard said that, while still small, he believes St. Clare’s is doing “really, really well.”

Reflecting on where his congregation has come in a short time he said, “We may be an infant, but we have really rosy cheeks.” Y

Facebook: Site gives voice to those who love the Episcopal Church Continued from page 1 “I’ve felt for a long time that there are a lot of people out in the vital center of the church with middle way, via media, viewpoints that get drowned out by people screaming on the extremes,” he said. This, he believed, was a place those views could be heard.

Pogue is clear, though, that Unapologetically Episcopalian isn’t a place for debate or conflict. “We need to talk about differing viewpoints,” he said. “I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t do that. But there are plenty of other places to do that.

That’s just not what this site is for.”

Celebrating the cchur hur hurcch What he has seen celebrates the best of what the Episcopal Church has to offer, he says. “I read stories of how the Episcopal Church is playing a role in the transformation of someone’s life, a role in caring for their families and friends, how the Episcopal Church has reached out to all sorts and conditions of people. These are the things that impress me the most,” he said.

Pogue facilitates discussions among fans with frequent posts, including sections from Morning or Evening Prayer, or a link to a YouTube video of a choir singing an uplifting hymn.

He said he spends about half an hour a day on the page, usually from a laptop propped on a century-old desk in his Lawrence apartment. A Facebook app on

lar vacation spots.

Pogue’s wife, Gay, designed the Unapologetically Episcopalian logo and also has created a special welcome page to help direct anyone looking for the site through search engines, such as Google.

Lo ts of comments post ed Lots posted

Pogue often uses his iPhone to post to the Unapologetically Episcopalian Facebook site when he’s away from his computer.

his iPhone lets him post comments and links that way, too.

He’s enlisted the aid of a couple of priest colleagues around the country to help him administer the site, although he’s still responsible for about 75 percent of that effort.

He tries to offer a personal welcome to every first-time commenter and often encourages writers to say more about the good things their local church is doing.

He also has helped steer ongoing conversations among users to the “discussion” tab on the site, allowing people to engage more deeply in areas of specific interest, ranging from favorite translations of the Bible to environmental ministries to which Episcopal churches are located near popu-

Recently Pogue has starting engaging fans with questions that allow community interactivity, one of the hallmarks of social networking sites like Facebook. He asked whether people take their own copy of the Book of Common Prayer with them to church, and he quickly received more than 170 replies, describing everything from well-worn confirmation gifts to new Prayer Book/Hymnal combinations to the Prayer Book for iPhones.

He also asked a question that has been on his mind for some time — “For what good thing is your Episcopal church known on the community grapevine?” That drew 110 comments describing ways in which local Episcopal churches are making a difference in their communities, which also means, he said, that those churches are raising the profile of the entire denomination in their local setting and helping non-Episcopalians think of more than conflict when they think of the Episcopal Church.

Pogue said he wants to pose even more of these kinds of questions, hoping that the more people get used to saying positive things about the Episcopal Church on Facebook, the greater the likelihood they’ll

How to find “Unapologetically Episcopalian” Facebook users can find the site by logging in to www.facebook.com and searching for Unapologetically Episcopalian. do that in other settings, too.

“Maybe it will make us more inviting, not just more welcoming,” he said. “We are dropping the ball. We don’t invite people to church. But if people feel confident saying something good about their church on this site, they may do that with an invitation to someone to ‘come and see.’”

The connections being made on this Facebook page give Pogue great satisfaction. “Episcopalians who are trying to find ways to accomplish Christ’s work need to hear from other Episcopalians who’ve discovered solutions,” he said. “Unapologetically Episcopalian provides a place for that to happen.” Y

4 • The Harvest • May/June 2010

Nor th Car olina bishop North Carolina to highlight 15 1st con 151st convvention

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

In addition, convention will ratify four lay members of the Council of Trustees picked by the convocations. The convention also will adopt a proposed mission plan, or budget, for 2011.

N

Photo by Melodie Woerman

Silenced organ now refurbished

The organ at Grace Cathedral, Topeka, stood silent and disassembled in early May as part of a major internal repair of the instrument’s electronic components.

The repairs were necessitated by ongoing electrical problems caused by a lightning strike several years ago.

Troubles began this year during Holy Week, and replacement parts helped fix the organ enough to have it working for Easter. It failed completely the following week during Sunday services.

Schantz Organs, the instrument’s manufacturer, and MUSICOM, the maker of the electronic solid-state internal components, worked to design, manufacture and ship new parts. They were installed and tested just before Pentecost, all under warranty.

Cathedral organist Steve Burk said, “The new system is stateof-the-art and has all of the ‘bells and whistles’ — gadgetry new to us — available to help the organist play the instrument.”

Burk said the cathedral also has purchased a new set of pipes, a 16-foot Echo Bourdon. Once installed, the Cathedral organ then will have 63 ranks (sets) totaling 3,579 individual pipes. Y

orth Carolina Bishop Michael Curry, one of the most sought-after speakers in the Episcopal Church, Aug. 2 deadline is se sett is scheduled to speak and preach Aug. 2 is the deadline for at this fall’s 151st annual Diocnominations, debatable resoluesan Convention. tions, and proposed changes to the While a final agenda hasn’t yet diocesan constitution and canons been set for the Oct. 22-23 event, Bishop Michael Curry Bishop Curry is on tap to preach of the Diocese of North Carolina to be submitted to the chairs of those committees. at the Convention Eucharist and Nominations should be sent to the Rev. Betty deliver a keynote address to lay and clergy delegates Glover at chaplainbetty@sbcglobal.net. assembled at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka.

Nominations should include a brief biography of Kansas Bishop Dean Wolfe said, “I consider Bishop Curry to be one of the finest preachers in the nominee, a high-resolution digital photograph the Episcopal Church, and I am honored to have and the office for which the person is running.

Proposed resolutions should be sent to the Rev. him join us for our convention. People still talk about his speech to our convention back in 1994, so he Shawn Streepy at shawn@stlukes.net.

Proposed changes to the diocesan constitution made an impression on a lot of people in Kansas!”

Bishop Curry, 57, became bishop of the Diocese or canons should be sent Frank Taylor at of North Carolina in June 2000. He is the first Afri- ftaylor@nhrk.com. can-American bishop to lead a southern diocese in erials a Materials avvailable soon the Episcopal Church. A native of Chicago, Bishop Mat Diocesan Convention registration materials are Curry graduated from Hobart College and received his Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity due to be mailed to each lay and clergy delegate about School. He has been awarded honorary doctorates Aug. 1, and the convention book, which contains all from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., material to be voted on in October, will be mailed to all delegates right after Labor Day. It will form the and from Yale. basis of discussions at pre-convention convocation Elections, mone er moneyy matt matter erss on tap meetings in each region of the diocese.

This year convention delegates will vote to fill While times are not yet set for those meetings, the following offices: dates have been finalized: Deputies to General Convention (four clergy and Sept. 11 for the Southeast and Southwest Convofour lay deputies, and four clergy and four lay cations; and alternates); Sept. 25 for the Northeast and Northwest Convo One clergy and one lay at-large member of the cations.

Council of Trustees; and Once available, all material also will be posted One clergy person to fill an unexpired term on on the diocesan website at www.episcopal-ks.org/ the Ecclesiastical Trial Court. convention2010. Y

EFM helps laity understand, express their faith Education for Ministry website

L

ay persons face the difficult task of interpreting the richness of the church’s faith in a complex and confusing world. They need a theological education that supports their faith and also teaches them to express that faith in day-to-day events.

As the emphasis on lay ministry has grown, EFM has come to play an important role by providing a program that develops an informed and knowledgeable laity.

Many people think that one must be ordained in order to be “a minister.” The fact is that all baptized Christians are called to be active participants in the church’s total ministry.

The EFM program is preparation for the ministry to which we all are called. It is that vocation for which we pray at the end of the Eucharist: “And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.”

Seminar is hear heartt of EFM EFM is a four-year program. The seminar group is the nucleus of the Education for Ministry program. A group consists of six to 12 participants and a trained mentor who meet weekly over the course of a nine-month academic year. These meetings are usually from two and a half to three hours in length.

Participants are given weekly assignments to study with the help of resource guides. Year 1 participants study the Old Testament, year 2 participants study the New Testament, year 3 participants study church history and year 4 participants study theology.

Students spend between two and four hours in study and preparation each week. In the seminars,

members have an opportunity to share their insights and discoveries as well as to discuss questions that the study materials raise for them.

More important is the development of skills in theological reflection.

The goal is to learn to think theologically. By examining their own beliefs and their relationship to our culture and the tradition of our Christian faith, participants can learn what it means to be effective ministers in the world.

The seminar is supported by a life of prayer and regular worship. EFM groups are encouraged to develop a pattern of worship appropriate to their situations. Liturgical materials are furnished with the course materials.

18 K ansas gr oups Kansas groups The Diocese of Kansas has 18 active EFM groups with 127 participants. These groups are in Atchison, Derby, Kansas City, Lawrence, Newton, Topeka, Wamego, Wichita and Winfield.

EFM Online provides people who cannot attend a weekly face-to-face group an opportunity to participate in this course of study.

Tuition for the program is $350 a year. Because the Diocese of Kansas is a sponsoring diocese, students here pay $110 less than those in a non-sponsoring diocese.

If you are interested in more information about an EFM program in your area, please contact one of the mentors listed.

Contact diocesan EFM coordinator Mike Morrow (mmorrow4@cox.net or (316) 686-0956) if you are interested in starting an EFM program in your area, or if you would like to participate in an online EFM program.

For more information about EFM, visit their website, www.sewanee.edu/efm. Y

EFM groups stretch across diocese Education for Ministry groups are taking place in parishes across the diocese. If interested in participating, contact one of the trained mentors listed here.

Mike Morrow, Diocesan coordinator and mentor, St. John’s, Wichita mmorrow4@cox.net or (316) 686-0956 Robert Telthorst, St. David’s, Topeka rtelthorst@me.com Larry Bingham, St. Michael’s, Mission larryb@sblsg.com Cal Cormack, St. Michael’s, Mission ccormack@kc.rr.com Barbara Gibson, Grace Cathedral, Topeka bgibson10@cox.net Arceile Ridgeway, Grace Cathedral, Topeka arainbow@cox.net Scott McCloud, St. Matthew’s, Newton samccloud@gmail.com Mary Anne McCloud, St. Matthew’s, Newton mary_annem@yahoo.com Deacon Bob Hirst, Good Shepherd, Wichita roberthirst@sbcglobal.net The Rev. Art Rathbun, St. Luke’s, Wamego ajrad@ksu.edu Elizabeth Galligan, St. Luke’s, Wamego

bethgalligan@gmail.com Paul Rillema, St. James, Wichita paul.rillema@wichita.edu Dana Scheele, Atchison/ Holton (Disciples of Christ) dscheele@holtonks.net Deacon Kitty Shield, St. James, Wichita kshield1@cox.net Teresa Rogers, St. James, Wichita teresan-rogers@cox. net Russ Sifers, St. Aidan’s, Olathe russ@valomilk.com Sid Sutton, Trinity, Lawrence sjs007@sunflower.com Tod Sutton, Trinity, Lawrence todsutton@sunflower.com Karen Deal, Grace, Winfield kdeal@sbcglobal.net Kathy Townley, St. Thomas, Overland Park ktown2talk@aol.com The Rev. Tom Wilson, St. Andrew’s, Derby rector@standrewsderby. org

May/June 2010 • The Harvest • 5

KSM opens its classes tto o all int erest ed students interest erested Episcopal Diocese of Kansas

include opportunities for both classroom instruction and independent study. he Kansas School for Ministry has anEach course lasts a total of eight weeks, and stunounced that its courses will be open this dents devote the first four weeks of each course comfall to anyone in the diocese interested in pleting preparatory reading and initial assignments. advanced theological education but who Class meetings take place during the is not pursuing ordination. second weekend of each month; class The Rev. Andrew Grosso, the sessions convene at 5:30 p.m. on Friday school’s coordinator and rector of Trinand conclude around 6:30 p.m. on Satity, Atchison, said KSM classes would urday. Students then devote the last four be appropriate for those wanting adweeks of the course completing any advanced continuing education or simply ditional reading and final assignments. personal enrichment.

Those interested in participating in He also said that KSM classes are not KSM classes but who are not pursuing an appropriate first step for those trying ordination will be enrolled as special stuto discern a call to ordained ministry. dents and thus will not receive credit toThat process begins with a person’s conward either the two-year diaconal studThe Rev. Andrew versation with his or her rector or vicar, ies program or the three-year presbyteral Grosso, Kansas followed by formal entrance into the School for Ministry studies program discernment process.

During the 2010-2011 academic year, coordinator Grosso noted that some courses, the cost for each course will be $150 for however, by virtue of their topic and design, will be those in the ordination process and $75 for nonrestricted to those who are preparing for ordination. ordination track special students.

KSM, which had been founded in 1997, susThis covers a student’s tuition, overnight houspended operations in the fall of 2006 to reorganize ing and three meals (dinner on Friday, breakfast and the school and establish a sounder financial base of lunch on Saturday) while class is in session at the operations. The school reopened in the fall of 2008 Bethany Place Conference Center. and since then has included people who previously In order to keep the number of students in each had been enrolled at KSM, as well as several new course to a manageable number, each course will students. To date all the new students have been have an enrollment cap, and courses may vary in the pursuing theological studies as part of the prepara- number of students admitted. tions for ordination as deacons or priests.

Those interested in enrolling in a particular course Grosso said that since reopening in 2008, the are encouraged to pursue registration as early as school has enrolled 17 students and has offered more possible; the deadline for registration for each course than 30 different courses facilitated by more than will be four weeks prior to each class session (e.g.

20 instructors. the deadline for enrollment in August courses will The school now offers both a two-year course of be July 16, for enrollment in September courses will study for those preparing for ordination to the be Aug. 13, etc.). diaconate and a three-year course of study for those To enroll, or for more information, contact the pursuing ordination to the presbyterate.

Kansas School for Ministry coordinator, the Rev. Courses meet monthly (August through May) at Andrew Grosso, at rector@trinityks.org or (913) the Bethany Place Conference Center in Topeka and 367-3171. Y

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Photo by Deacon Bob Hirst

Theologian explores language Dr. Stanley Hauerwas, professor of theological ethics at the Divinity School of Duke University, gestures during one of the speeches he gave as part of the annual Tocher Lecture. He spoke at St. Michael and All Angels in Mission on May 20.

During an afternoon session for clergy,. Hauerwas repeated an address he had given to graduates of a Mennonite seminary.

In it he said the main task of ordination is to be a teacher of Christian language. He said, “Prayer is at the heart of Christian speech. You are called to help people learn to pray.”

In the evening session attended by about 100 people, Hauerwas said the Christian experience of Pentecost was one of speaking with another language, which in our day allows believers to understand those who suffer. He also noted, “Jesus is the language of God.” The Tocher Lecture is sponsored by the Kansas School for Ministry. Y

CAMPUS MINISTRY NEWS Students of ts ffor or Haiti’ offfer ‘Hear ‘Hearts

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ollowing the tragic earthquake in Haiti, college students all over the diocese were asking the same question, “What can we do to help?” From many discussions and much prayer, the campus ministry “Hearts for Haiti” project was begun.

Students throughout the diocese embraced the project and raised money in a variety of ways: Bracelets with “Hearts for Haiti” were sold; Students did odd jobs for local parishioners in exchange for a donation; Change jars were set up in various congregations; and Students led awareness-building and money-raising walks for Haiti.

College students in the Diocese of Kansas raised $3,250 for Haitian relief, to be given through Episcopal Relief and Development. Y

Do yyou ou kno w a student going know to college this fall?

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n just a few weeks, students all over the Diocese of Kansas will be heading to college. The diocesan campus ministry program now has an Episcopal presence on 10 campuses throughout the diocese, where Episcopal students meet for fun, meals, study, worship, outreach and support.

Campus Missioner the Rev. Susan Terry wants to reach out to every college student she can. To do that, she needs to know who and where they are, and how to reach them.

She needs your help.

If you will be a college student this fall, or if you are the parent or grandparent of one, please give her the following information: Student’s name Name of college Student’s cell phone number Student’s e-mail address Student’s home parish Send this information to: The Rev. Susan Terry, Campus Missioner, 3209 W. 25th St., Lawrence, KS 66047.

You can e-mail the information to Terry at sterry@episcopal-ks.org or reach her by phone at (785) 250-0784. Y

KSM classes announced ffor or ne xt academic yyear ear next

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he following courses will be offered during the coming year and will be open to anyone in the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas interested in participating (instructor’s name in parentheses):

AUGUST (class sessions: Aug. 13-14) BIBL 200: New Testament Survey (Dr. Jim Lewis) THEO 100: Survey of Church Dogmatics (The Rev. Andrew Grosso) SEPTEMBER (class session: Sept. 10-11) ANGL 100: Anglican Identity (The Rev. Cathie Caimano) MINI 400: Pastoral Theology (The Rev. Lisa Senuta) OCTOBER (class session: Oct. 8-9) BIBL 100: Old Testament Survey (Dr. Jim Lewis) ETHC 200: Contemporary Ethics (The Rev. Gail Greenwell) NOVEMBER (class session: Nov. 12-13) HIST 100: Survey of Church History (The Rev. Craig Loya) HIST 300: British Christianity (The Rev. Bill Wolff) MINI 300: Educational Ministry (The Rev. Susan Smith) DECEMBER (class session: Dec. 10-11) MINI 100: Liturgics (The Rev. Kelley Lackey) SPIR 100: Christian Spirituality (The Rev. Tom Wilson) JANUARY (class session: Jan. 7-8) BIBL 110: Old Testament 2: Pentateuch (Dr. Melissa Tubbs Loya) THEO 300: Doctrine of the Incarnation (The Rev. Andrew Grosso) FEBRUARY (class session: Feb. 11-12) BIBL 210: New Testament 2: Gospel Traditions (Dr. Jim Lewis) ETHC 100: Survey of Christian Ethics (The Rev. Andrew O’Connor) MARCH (class session: March 11-12) HIST 500: History of the Episcopal Church (The Rev. Bill Wolff) MINI 600: Parish Administration (The Rev. Gar Demo) APRIL (class session: April 8-9) MINI 200: Homiletics (The Rev. Don Davidson) MINI 500: Evangelism and Congregational Development (The Rev. Steve Mues) THEO 200: Doctrine of God (The Rev. Andrew Grosso) MAY (class session: May 13-14) BIBL 120: Old Testament 3: Prophets & Writings (Dr. Melissa Tubbs Loya) BIBL 220: New Testament 3: Pauline Epistles (The Rev. Dick McCandless) To enroll, or for more information, contact the Kansas School for Ministry coordinator, the Rev. Andrew Grosso, at rector@trinityks.org or (913) 367-3171. Y

6 • The Harvest • May/June 2010

School’s out, but hunger doesn’t take a summer break St. Paul’s, Clay Center, joins with community partners to feed 75 children every day

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

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t. Paul’s, Clay Center, faced a challenge if it was going to offer a second summer of daily lunches for hungry children in town. Harvesters, the major Kansas City food bank that provided prepackaged meals for 50 children last summer, no longer would provide the food they’d expected.

That meant that St. Paul’s would have to buy and prepare all the food themselves and raise the money needed. So the congregation set about doing just that.

Donna Long, who helped establish last summer’s Kid’s Café, came up with an administrative budget of $6,300 for the nine weeks the program would operate, including purchase of a refrigerator and freezer to store the food, and a modest stipend for a meal site coordinator — and the cost of food would be on top of that.

Then she and other church members got busy.

Donations pour in They covered all the administrative costs with grants, including $3,200 from the city of Clay Center and $1,500 from Clay County, along with smaller donations from other churches and civic groups. Church members Jim and Carol Brown donated a sign to hang above the meal site to guide kids to the location and advertise St. Paul’s involvement.

Harvester’s helped Kid’s Café become a qualified summer feeding program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which

reimburses them $2.76 per meal served. Loans from parish members helped Long and coordinator Sandy Ruthstrom buy food until the federal repayments kicked in at the end of June.

Gr owing number Gro numberss Lunch is served from the small shelter house near the public pool weekdays from 2-3 p.m.

Long said the number of kids eating lunch has grown steadily all summer. The first week saw about 50 youngsters, but that number has shot up to nearly 75 daily.

Long said that its location near the pool may be attracting more kids as the weather heats up, and summer school has also ended, putting more kids outside.

Any young person who comes by gets lunch, Long said, without having to show any need. But their experience in past summers tells them many kids really need this program to ward off hunger.

It takes a lot of people to prepare and serve that much food every day, and Long said they have a growing list of dedicated volunteers who help.

Three to four people cook lunch every day, and another five to six help serve. Most people take a turn once a week, with about 50 St. Paul’s members accounting for the base of volunteer support.

With St. Paul’s kitchen in the church basement, Long looked for a first-floor location for food preparation. Common Ground, a local non-profit agency supported mostly by area churches, offered their large kitchen, where the Kid’s Café has located the new equipment it purchased.

Photo by the Clay Center Dispatch

Members of St. Paul’s, Clay Center, cut a ribbon to start their second summer of Kid’s Café, which this year is feeding as many as 75 hungry children a healthy lunch every day.

Yumm hes ummyy lunc lunches Long said that by buying their own food, they have been successful in satisfying the palates of sometimes picky young eaters.

“There’s almost no waste,” she said. “They are really eating this food, especially the fresh fruits and vegetables.” Watermelon is a special favorite, she said.

USDA guidelines dictate milk, protein, produce and grains be served each day. Long and Ruthstrom are meeting those with tasty entrees like barbecued pulled pork sandwiches, fajita chicken salads, beef and bean burritos and chicken wraps, along with an occasional hamburger cooked on the grill. They always offer fruits and vegetables, and Ruthstrom insists on cookies every day as summertime treats.

Long buys fresh food from the two grocery stores in town. Both

let her charge items for easier record-keeping, and one gives her a 10 percent discount. Bulk items are purchased at a warehouse-type store in nearby Concordia.

In June that amounted to 13,000 pounds of food given away to 681 people in 228 households, a task they accomplished in just 90 minutes.

Food ministr xpands ministryy e expands

A point of pride

Once a month St. Paul’s volunteers become a precious commodity, as the parish sponsors another Harvester’s program – the Mobile Food Pantry. Since last summer, Harvester’s has delivered a semi truck full of nonperishable food (dairy products, fruits and vegetables, and bread and bakery goods) to the parking lot of the local department store every third Wednesday.

In addition to those cooking and serving at Kid’s Café, more than a dozen volunteers from the church help hand out food to people as they drive through the parking lot.

Long said the 90-member parish takes pride in helping feed its neighbors, last year saying the parish’s mission was “to provide food wherever it’s needed in our community.”

In describing the success of the Kid’s Café and its expansion this year, she applauded the work of her fellow Clay Center Episcopalians.

“Something that is truly rewarding is being supported by the community,” she said, “but it takes the people of St. Paul’s to provide the nucleus of planning and coordinating, and the fire to get it going and keep it going.” Y A client holds bags of food received through Michael’s Market, a food program run by St. Michael’s, Mission, that makes sure hungry kids have enough to eat during the summer.

Photo by Jackie Christie

St. Michael and All Angels in Mission looks out for 51 local students

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

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arishioners at St. Michael and All Angels in Mission were alarmed when they realized their student friends at Crestview Elementary School would be suffering this summer.

The parish has supported some of the school’s most at-risk youngsters through tutoring, clothing drives and serving as classroom volunteers, but especially with weekend food through the BackSnack program sponsored by Harvesters, Kansas City’s food bank.

The program doesn’t operate during summer months, so they checked to see what that would mean for their students.

The Rev. Gail Greenwell, St. Michael’s rector, said the school’s social worker was alarmed. “She expressed concern about the potential for extreme hunger for some kids,” she said, even using the term “food insecurity.” BackSnacks — a weekend’s worth of healthy, nonperishable food packed into attractive backpacks — were very important to those kids, the social worker said.

Greenwell and others at the church decided on an answer — they’d create their own summer snack program for their Crestview buddies.

They took two week’s worth of BackSnack menus and calculated what it would cost to buy the same food themselves. An estimate of $5,000 to $6,000 for the summer made it affordable, so they went back to the school social worker to finalize the plan.

She found that families of 51 of the 60 children already served by the parish wanted to participate, so parishioners got busy buying food in bulk.

Snac ks and a garden Snacks With the school unavailable during summer months, the parish set up a distribution center on Saturday mornings under a tree near the church parking lot and called it Michael’s Market.

“We try to make it a fun, festive atmosphere,” Greenwell said. Participating families drive up and receive bags of food.

Greenwell said they’re providing each child about half the food he or she needs to eat during the week.

Beyond that, the parish members have planted and tend a garden on land donated by parishioners Carrie and Duart Duff. Produce has been earmarked for Michael’s Market, enabling those families to have fresh, homegrown produce.

The parish outreach fund, which was ready to cover the costs of the summer food, got a boost when Episcopal Community Services of Greater Kansas City said it would pick up the tab.

Aw ak e-up call wak ake-up Greenwell said that participating in programs like BackSnacks and Michael’s

Market has been a wake-up call for many in the 2,000-member church, located in an economically comfortable section of Johnson County. “Lots of people here now realize that social services don’t pick up all the slack for those in need,” she said.

She also quoted statistics indicating that suburbs have become home to the largest and fastest-growing poor population in the country, and the rate in Johnson County is growing at twice the national average.

Armed with bags of food, homegrown produce and willing volunteers, St. Michael’s is doing what it can to make a dent in those numbers. Y

May/June 2010 • The Harvest • 7

The house at 1325 W. 10th St. in Coffeyville will belong to the Sherry Freeman family once it’s built. Volunteers from across the diocese have pitched in to help get construction started.

Hands for

Habitat Building effort takes shape with help from the bishop and Kansas college students

Chloe Alexander (left) and Laura Cook, both students involved with campus ministry at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, haul plywood during a college mission trip to help with the building of the Habitat house. Cook, the daughter of the Rev. Jim and Peggy Cook of St. Luke’s, Shawnee, is a peer minister in the campus ministry program.

Story by Melodie Woerman Photos by the Very Rev. Jerry Adinolfi

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fforts by the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas to build a Habitat for Humanity house in Coffeyville got a big boost this spring with an infusion of labor from some hardworking college students — and from Bishop Dean Wolfe.

They all were present for a special Sunday workday on May 16, right after the completion of Sunday services at St. Paul’s, where Bishop Wolfe confirmed nine people.

The team of college students — which included three students from the University of Kansas, along with the campus interns from KU and from Kansas State and diocesan Campus Missioner the Rev. Susan Terry —

Taking a break from construction are (from left) Campus Missioner the Rev. Susan Terry, K-State campus intern Cortney Dale and KU peer minister Laura Cook.

Bishop Dean Wolfe (right) chats with construction supervisor Jerry Marnell. Bishop Wolfe lent a hand to the Habitat building effort after his visitation to St. Paul’s in Coffeyville on May 16.

stayed on for the rest of the week.

Joining efforts with community construction volunteers, the group spent much of their time nailing 3-by-3 foot sheets of plywood over their heads to enclose the front porch.

Construction and community None of the student volunteers had any prior construction experience, but they said they learned quickly, thanks to the efforts of local volunteer Clarence Ray. Laura Cook, a peer minister at KU whose home parish is St. Luke’s, Shawnee, praised Ray’s help. “He did a wonderful job educating us, and soon we were acting like professionals,

walking around like we knew what we were supposed to be doing,” she said.

Joel McAlister, campus intern at KU, said while hard, finishing the challenge of enclosing the porch was very rewarding. “It was very satisfying to step back and look at our finished part of the project,” he said.

But beyond some new skills in carpentry, students said they gained a sense of participation in the St. Paul’s community.

Caroline Howard, a KU peer minister from St. Peter’s, Pittsburg, said students were invited to church members’ homes every evening for dinner. She said the people were “incredibly warm and hospitable” and said, “By the end of the week we felt we had become a part of the community of St. Paul’s.”

She said all involved enjoyed the experience in Coffeyville so much that they want to come back for the dedication when this house is finished and are looking forward to helping

with the construction of another Habitat house.

Funded by donations Construction began on the house in late April, with a handful of volunteers from around the diocese supplementing local St. Paul’s members and volunteers from the community.

By the time the student group had left, diocesan Habitat liaison Joe Miller said the house was decked, shingled and wrapped, with soffets completed and half the facia boards covered in aluminum.

A roof also has been put in place, and summer volunteers have installed all the windows.

The diocese is sponsoring construction of the house, thanks to generous contributions of $37,000 from across the diocese and a $25,000 grant from Episcopal Relief and Development.

That total not only will pay for construction of this house but will fund half the cost of a second one. Y

8 • The Harvest • May/June 2010

Around the diocese St. John’s, Abilene received a gift of new folding tables from the Alcoholics Anonymous group that meets at the church.

Trinity, Arkansas City has a resale shop, Trinity Treasures, that for summer boasted items including vintage dinnerware, serving dishes and a selection of crystal, all at affordable prices.

Trinity, Atchison hosted its annual parish picnic June 6 at a local park. The parish provided meat and drinks; side dishes were provided by parishioners, who were encouraged to invite friends and family to the event.

St. Paul’s, Clay Center used a skit and role-playing to help people become more comfortable inviting people to church. The vestry has identified personal invitations as its best marketing plan.

St. Paul’s, Coffeyville hosted Bishop Dean Wolfe for his annual visitation May 16, during which he confirmed five young people and four adults. Two people reaffirmed their baptismal vows.

St. Andrew’s, Derby asked talented parishioners to assist while the choir was off on its summer break. Musicians and others were invited to provide the Offertory during Sunday worship.

St. Martin’s, Edwardsville offered its grounds as the location for a picnic by an area ambulance crew celebrating National Emergency Services Week.

Trinity, El Dorado saw its outdoor labyrinth blessed when Bishop Wolfe visited on May 2.

A service of Evening Prayer was part of the celebration.

St. Andrew’s, Emporia of-

fered a Blessing of the Bicycles June 13, to help celebrate the beginning of a safe summer. The day included a picnic, and members were encouraged to invite friends for the day.

St. Thomas, Holton presented a potted geranium to every mother on Mother’s Day, courtesy of a parish member.

Epiphany, Independence welcomed the Rev. Kathi Babcock the day after her ordination to the priesthood with a fried chicken covered dish lunch following her first celebration of the Eucharist. Babcock is assigned to the parish and was a member there before attending seminary.

Covenant, Junction City used Morning Prayer as the Liturgy of the Word during Sunday morning Communion services June 6 through July 11, to acquaint people with the richness of the Daily Office and to allow greater liturgical participation by youth in the church.

St. Paul’s, Kansas City organist Paul Shinn is a semifinalist in an international jazz competition in solo jazz piano. The finals will take place in July in Montreaux, Switzerland.

St. Margaret’s, Lawrence collected medical supplies for the people of Kenya. Parishioner Karin Feltman headed the diocesan medical mission trip to Kenya this summer, and members collected items such as over-thecounter medications, vitamins and eye drops.

Trinity, Lawrence Interfaith Food Pantry served 508 people in April, with more than 1,800 people served during the first four months of the year. The pantry is located at Trinity and supported

by it and other area churches.

St. Paul’s, Leavenworth has created an environmental stewardship program, designed to help move the church and its community forward in understanding people’s role in creation.

St. Paul’s, Manhattan offered a “spin” on the traditional Vacation Bible School with St. Paul’s Intergenerational Night. Once during summer months all ages were invited to the church for food, songs and conversation.

St. Michael’s, Mission hosted a summer “all-parish read” using The Kings of Kings County by local author Whitney Terrell. The novel is loosely based on the founding of Johnson County, where the parish is located. Two discussion times were scheduled, led by parishioner and fellow author Doug Worgul.

St. Matthew’s, Newton continues its monthly gathering of nonperishable food but added a summertime collection of school supplies for kids in need, to be distributed by the local Salvation Army.

St. Aidan’s, Olathe hosted its annual “gospel golf” event June 27. The round of gold used real clubs and “as many golf balls as you care to lose.” Scoring is based on Matthew 20:16 — “The last shall be first.”

Grace, Ottawa welcomed diocesan Campus Missioner the Rev. Susan Terry June 20, when she preached and met with people who wanted to be involved in the parish’s outreach to students at nearby Baker University in Baldwin City.

St. Thomas, Overland Park sold live Maine lobsters as a

Photo by Good Shepherd Church, Wichita

Classroom of crosses Sunday School teachers Leslie Foster and Teri Rupe and their students at Good Shepherd, Wichita, enjoy the recent remodeling of their grade 4-5 classroom, dubbed “Club 4/5,” during a recent open house for the parish.

The room is adorned with a variety of crosses that were donated by church members. Y

fundraiser for the Interfaith Hospitality Network, a local ecumenical group that fights homelessness. Orders were taken on June 19.

St. John’s, Parsons began offering its Sunday evening service twice a month, starting in June.

Once a month will be a Taize-style service, and the other will include Holy Eucharist.

St. Peter’s, Pittsburg is discussing whether to continue its longstanding pattern of two services on Sunday morning or combine worshippers into one. For the summer, the one-service model will be used, at 9 a.m.

Epiphany, Sedan sponsored a mission trip for young people to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota July 2-10. The parish’s rector, the Rev. Marcus Cunningham, was among those making the trip.

St. Clare’s, Spring Hill is offering the Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. The 13week course meets on Wednesday nights and offers a common sense approach to personal finances, including biblical principles.

Grace Cathedral, Topeka sought congregation members as “seasonal singers” to augment the choir during vacation periods or to allow people a shorter commitment for choir service.

Car 54, thank you!

Photo by St. Paul’s Church, Manhattan

The streets around St. Paul’s, Manhattan, were surrounded by police, ambulance and fire vehicles on May 19, but it was all for a happy reason — to say thank you to local emergency personnel.

Parishioner Eleanor Blaker organized more than 40 church members to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner, allowing people to stop by when their schedules allowed. Sunday school students even provided special decorated placemats.

The celebration was in observance of Emergency Personnel Appreciation Day. Y

St. David’s, Topeka member Alice Soper was honored by the International House at Topeka’s Washburn University for her many years of service on behalf of foreign students studying there.

She has been a board member and chair of the local bazaar and has been an English tutor at the International House for many years.

St. Luke’s, Wamego sent 11 young people to diocesan church

camps this summer, each one aided by a scholarship that covered one-third of the fees to attend.

St. Jude’s, Wellington in April celebrated the 44th ordination anniversary of former vicar the Rev. Avelino Bagyous. The parish also is busy planting its third pizza garden — one that includes crops suitable for topping a pizza.

Good Shepherd, Wichita staged its annual garage sale June 25-26. Its purpose was to make affordable, quality items available to the neighborhood.

St. Bartholomew’s, Wichita baptized Leland Stuhlsatz, the great-grandson of member Anna Seaton, on Pentecost.

St. James’, Wichita has a YACHT club — that’s Young Adults Come Here Tuesdays. It’s a potluck dinner with Evening Prayer in the Guild Hall every Tuesday, designed for 20- and 30somethings.

St. John’s, Wichita hosted a Cinco de Mayo festival on May 1. The event promised food, games and, most especially, fun St. Stephen’s, Wichita welcomes its neighbors for a seventh annual neighborhood ice cream social June 6. Everything for a summer meal — including hamburgers, hot dogs, homemade ice cream with toppings and other deserts — were provided by church members.

Grace, Winfield helped about 30 girls have a memorable prom this year through its Prom Dress Exchange. Gently used dresses were made available for those needing one, along with shoes, jewelry, cosmetics and perfume.

Shoppers came from five nearby towns. Y

May/June 2010 • The Harvest • 9

People

Kansan receiv es grant receives to help with seminar seminaryy costs

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Photo by Melodie Woerman

Bishop Dean Wolfe (center) ordained four women in a service June 5 at Grace Cathedral in Topeka.

(From left) The Revs. Antoinette Tackkett and Dixie Junk were ordained as transitional deacons; the Revs.

Sue Oldfather and Kathi Babcock were ordained as priests.

Four ordained in June ser vice service

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ishop Dean Wolfe ordained four women during a service June 5 at Topeka’s Grace Cathedral. Two of them are completing a journey to priesthood; the other two were ordained as transitional deacons in preparation for ordination as priests at a later date.

The new priests are the Rev. Kathi Babcock and the Rev. Sue Oldfather.

Babcock, a recent graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary, was a member of Epiphany, Independence before she began the ordination process. She is returning to her home parish and will serve there and at nearby Ascension in Neodesha as an associate priest, working with the churches’ vicar, the Rev. Gerald Eytcheson.

Oldfather recently graduated from the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee,

Tenn., and she is pursuing employment opportunities outside the diocese. She was a member of Good Shepherd, Wichita.

The Rev. Dixie Junk and the Rev. Antoinette Tackkett were ordained as transitional deacons.

Junk, who graduated from Saint Paul School of Theology (Methodist) in Kansas City, Mo., will be continuing her internship this summer at Trinity, Atchison. She is in conversation with Bishop Wolfe about a parish placement after that. She was a member of St. Michael and All Angels, Mission.

Tackkett, who was a member of St. Paul’s, Coffeyville, is completing a course of Clinical Pastoral Education this summer in New Jersey. When she returns in the fall, she will undertake an internship in the coming academic year with a variety of parishes in the Southeast Convocation. Y

eter Doddema, a seminarian from Trinity, Lawrence, has received a scholarship grant from the Society for the Increase of the Ministry (SIM) for the upcoming academic year.

Doddema will be in his third and final year at Virginia Theological seminary in Alexandria, Va. He was one of 87 Episcopal seminarians from 49 dioceses across the United States to receive assistance from SIM, which was founded in 1857 to aid those preparing for ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church.

Grants from SIM for the upcoming year will total $251,000,

the highest amount in the society’s history, according to a press release.

Of that total, $40,000 comes from a pool of $200,000 established by General Convention resolution in 2009 to help relieve seminarian debt in the coming triennium. The Convention selected SIM to administer that fund.

Recipients of the needs-based SIM awards represent each of the 10 official Episcopal seminaries, as well as bishopapproved theological study programs at non-Episcopal seminaries.

SIM has provided financial help to more than 4,800 students during its 153-year history. Y

Two parish administrat or administrator orss re tire af t er long t enures retire aft tenures

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arish administrators in two congregations, with a combined service of 51 years, retired this spring.

Marty Eidson, who had served her own parish of Epiphany, Independence, as well as Ascension, Neodesha, for 29 years, retired May 2. Epiphany held a surprise retirement party for her on that day, complete with a covered dish lunch. She plans to continue volunteering at the church, while also caring for her grandson, Kellen.

Administrator duties will stay in the family, though, as they are

undertaken now by her daughter, Kelli Eidson-Ebert.

Ruthie Townsend retired from Trinity, Lawrence, after 22 years of administrative service.

She was honored with a reception following her last day in the office on May 28.

Townsend said she has served alongside 11 priests and six deacons during her tenure. She thanked members for helping her as a non-Episcopalian learn about the church and said the Episcopal liturgy and Prayer Book had strengthened her own faith. Y

KU grad joins program to help the poor

Clergy news

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

The Rev. Ron Reed retired June 20 as vicar of St. Paul’s, Kansas City. He had served at St. Paul’s since 2003.

Before that he was rector of St. James, Wichita, and also was stewardship officer for the Episcopal Church.

Earlier in his ministry he served several parishes in Pennsylvania.

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teven King, a member of St. Margaret’s, Lawrence and a 2009 graduate of the University of Kansas, has been selected for an appointment through the Episcopal Service Corps to work at St. Hilda’s House in New Haven, Conn.

He will be one of seven interns at St. Hilda’s House, which it describes on its website as a 10-month residential young adult discernment program devoted to spiritual formation and urban ministry while living in community.

Like all the interns, King will be assigned to work during the week at a social agency committed to serving the poor. He will be working at Christian Community Action, which he said provides emergency food and shelter for people who are homeless.

Interns there are paid a small stipend, with their housing, most meals and health insurance provided. King said keeping their salary low reinforces their commitment to identifying with the poor they will be serving.

King, who is 23, said he applied to several programs around the country that operate under the auspices of the Episcopal

pecially to those, like him, Service Corps, a group of who are exploring an orprograms for young dained call, and all the inadults designed to help terns must participate in a them discern their life’s program of intentional vocation. discussion of theology For King, he believes and formation. that discernment likely will lead him toward orNur tured b Nurtured byy dination as a priest, which diocesan pr ograms programs made the program at St. King has been inHilda’s House very atvolved in just about every tractive.

Steven King program for youth and In addition to their young adults offered by work at an outreach agency, the interns are required to partici- the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. He pate in the liturgical life of Christ Church, served as a peer minister as a youth and a parish located next door to the former with the campus ministry program at the rectory where the young adults will live. University of Kansas.

Most recently he was co-program diKing said that can range from serving at one of the Sunday Eucharists to offici- rector for senior high summer church ating at Morning Prayer to lighting candles camp, and he was co-director for the junat Sunday evening Compline, which draws ior high students at the annual Miqra students from Yale and other campuses in event.

He’s also been a regular at more diocthe area. esan summer camps and Happenings than Episcopal identity is crucial he can count.

King said some Episcopal Service This will be King’s first time living outCorps programs don’t have the same side Kansas, and he said he thinks it will strong emphasis on Episcopal Church in- be fun to see a new part of the country. volvement as St. Hilda’s, and that’s a key But, he said, “it’s always anxious moving element that drew him there Its emphasis out of your comfort zone and realizing on vocational discernment is geared es- your life is changing in a big way.” Y

Deacon Pat Murphy has retired from her position as parish administrator at St. Paul’s, Kansas City.

She remains assigned as a deacon in that parish.

The Rev. Amanda Eiman has been called as assistant rector at St. James, Wichita, beginning July 26.

She has been serving as assistant rector at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Va., and as a religion teacher at St. Agnes and St. Stephen’s School there.

The Rev. Judith Culver, former priest at Calvary in Yates Center, died May 14 in Liberal. She was 71.

In retirement she also had served at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Rio Rancho, N.M. She was buried June 12 at Yates Center Cemetery. Y

10 • The Harvest • May/June 2010

National and international news Anglican news briefs Episcopal News Service

Lambe th of Lambeth offficial calls Anglican div er sity a ‘pr oblem’ diver ersity ‘problem’ Episcopal News Service

Moravian Church OKs full communion agreement — The Northern Province of the Moravian Church voted June 18 to enter into full communion with the Episcopal Church during its quadrennial Provincial Synod at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Penn. The Episcopal Church agreed in the summer of 2009 to enter into a full communion relationship with the Moravians. The Moravian Church’s Southern Province is expected to vote on full communion during in September. Each province can independently enter into full communion relationships. The Moravian Church is relatively small and concentrated in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Moravians in America are part of the worldwide Christian communion formally known as the Unitas Fratrum, or Unity of the Brethren, which was founded in 1457.

‘Padre Alberto’ becomes Episcopal priest — In a bilingual service at Church of the Resurrection in Biscayne Park, Fla., Diocese of Southeast Florida Bishop Leo Frade received Alberto Cutié as an Episcopal priest and instituted him as priest-in-charge of that congregation. As a Roman Catholic priest, Cutié was well known nationally and throughout Latin America when photos of him and Ruhama Buni Canellis, whom he married last June, kissing on a beach appeared in early May 2009 in a Spanish-language publication. Shortly afterward, he was removed from the Miami Beach church he was serving. During the past year, Cutié has served as a lay pastor at Resurrection, a congregation that had dwindled to 20 to 30 people. Now there are two Sunday services, English and Spanish, with combined attendance of about 250 each week. The congregation is a mix of white Anglo, African-American, Hispanic, West Indian and Haitian.

Police drive pilgrims away from Zimbabwe shrine — Hundreds of Anglican pilgrims traveling to the Bernard Mizeki Shrine for their annual commemorations on June 25 were driven away by the Zimbabwe Republic Police despite court rulings granting them access to Anglican church property. Mizeki was a 19th century African Christian missionary and martyr. The Zimbabwe High Court had previously ruled that the church property should be shared by the Diocese of Harare and a breakaway faction led by former bishop Nolbert Kunonga until the dispute over ownership is resolved. Kunonga has refused to comply with the ruling.

Diocese of Virginia wins property appeal — The Supreme Court of Virginia on June 10 ruled in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church in a church property dispute. The Supreme Court held that although disagreements had caused “a division” within the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia, the breakaway congregations had affiliated with a church that was not a branch of either the Episcopal Church or the diocese. Such an affiliation is required, the court said, for Virginia’s one-of-a-kind “Division Statute” to apply.

Council pledges aid, urges shorter convention — The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council June 18 allocated $246,000 in seed money to begin work on its earlier challenge to the wider church to raise $10 million to help rebuild the Diocese of Haiti.

In addition, it agreed to offer two loans to the reorganizing Diocese of San Joaquin for use “in its protection of diocesan properties and continuing operations.” The council also asked Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson to shorten the 77th General Convention in 2012 to eight days as a cost-savings measure. The change means the convention will have three fewer hours of legislative time and 6.5 fewer hours for committee time.

Archbishops eye proposals on women bishops — The archbishops of Canterbury and York have “signaled their intention” to propose amendments to draft legislation on women becoming bishops in the Church of England. The amendments would preserve a female bishop’s episcopal authority while providing an alternative for those who are “unable to accept the new situation,” according to a June 21 press release from Lambeth Palace.

General Synod voted in February 2009 to send a draft measure on women bishops to a revision committee so it could rework the legislation. The archbishops’ amendments would mean that two bishops could exercise episcopal functions in the same jurisdiction, while ensuring that a “Code of Practice would contain guidelines for effective co-ordination ... so as to avoid duplication or conflict in the exercise of episcopal ministry.” Y

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he Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, told the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council June 18 that when Diocese of Los Angeles Bishop Suffragan Mary Glasspool was ordained as the church’s second openly gay, partnered bishop, the church ought to have known that it would face sanctions.

However, he said that in the recent removal of Episcopal Church members from some Anglican Communion ecumenical dialogues “the aim has not been to get at the Episcopal Church, but to find room for others to remain as well as enabling as full a participation as possible for the Episcopal Church within the communion.”

The secretary general said that the Episcopal Church is free to make any decision that it wants to make but, he added, that the Glasspool decision put the church “out of step with the rest of the [Anglican] Communion” on same-gender issues.

“There is a logic which says if you do not share the faith and order of the wider communion then you shouldn’t represent that communion to the wider church,” he said.

Questions lef ered leftt unansw unanswered Kearon’s remarks came during a 35-minute question-and-answer session with the council on the last day of its June 16-18 meeting near Baltimore.

Council member Bruce Garner of Atlanta told ENS afterwards that he had “never witnessed so much obfuscation in such a short period of time” in his entire life.

“We were polite,” he said, “but we asked him questions he could not or would not provide answers to.”

At the beginning of the session with Kearon, Jefferts Schori asked the council to vote on his request that the session be closed to all but council members. His request was decisively rejected by a show of hands.

Kearon said at the outset that he would tell the council “the way I see it because I don’t think the way I see it is the way any of you see it.”

He then began by saying that the “problem of increased and growing diversity in the Anglican Communion has been an issue for many years” and added that by the 1990s leaders in the communion began to name “the diversity of opinions in the communion and diversity in general as a problem and sought some mechanisms to address it.”

House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson said at a later news conference that the Episcopal Church does not see diversity as an issue in the same way that Kearon presented it.

After his prepared statement, members of the council’s Committee on World Mission and Anderson posed six questions to Kearon that reflected a compilation of questions the committee had received from council members. Council member Diocese of Ohio Bishop Mark Hollingsworth asked Kearon about interventions in his diocese by a bishop of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

Kearon said Southern Cone Archbishop Gregory Venables had been asked for “a clarification of the current state of interventions into other provinces.

There’s a deadline for his response and there’s a deadline in that letter to end the interventions.”

During his remarks, Kearon also said that he has asked whether it “constitutes an intervention and is therefore a breach of the third moratoria” if a communion province has among its bishops one who is exercising ministry in another province without that province’s permission.

“That question has not been addressed by any of the instruments of communion so I and the archbishop don’t have guidance on that particular question,” he said.

ENS photo by Mary Frances Schjonberg

The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon (right), secretary general of the Anglican Communion, and Diocese of Pittsburgh council member Jim Simons talk together June 18 after Kearon’s conversation with the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council.

Hollingsworth said that he was puzzled about how the communion could declare a moratorium on interventions and then say it cannot determine what constitutes an intervention.

Kearon’s meeting with council came 11 days after he announced that he had sent letters to five Episcopal Church members of the inter-Anglican ecumenical dialogues with the Lutheran, Methodist, Old Catholic and Orthodox churches “informing them that their membership on these dialogues has been discontinued.”

Kearon acted in response to Williams’ May 28 Pentecost letter in which he proposed that representatives serving on some of the Anglican Communion’s ecumenical dialogues should resign their membership if they are from a province that has not complied with moratoria on same-gender blessings, cross-border interventions and the ordination of gay and lesbian people to the episcopate.

He specifically referred to the Glasspool consecration and the unauthorized incursions by Anglican leaders into other provinces.

PB calls actions ‘unf or tunat e’ ‘unfor ortunat tunate’ Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori described the decision by Lambeth Palace to remove Episcopalians serving on international ecumenical dialogues as “unfortunate ... It misrepresents who the Anglican Communion is.”

Jefferts Schori’s comments were made during a June 8 press conference at the Anglican Church of Canada’s General Synod 2010.

Before the sanctions were imposed on the Episcopal Church as a consequence for having consecrated a lesbian bishop, Jefferts Schori said she had written a letter to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams expressing her concern.

She said, “We have a variety of opinions on these issues of human sexuality across the communion ...

For the archbishop of Canterbury to say to the Methodists or the Lutheran [World] Federation that we only have one position is inaccurate. We have a variety of understandings and no, we don’t have consensus on hot button issues at the moment.”

Marites N. Sison of the Anglican Journal, the newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada, contributed to this report. Y

May/June 2010 • The Harvest • 11

Responding to the Gulf oil disaster How to help: money, prayers needed for those hit hard

Prayer bringing oil workers, environmentalists together

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Episcopal News Service

he Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast has devoted a section of its website to compiling resources for responding to the Gulf oil spill.

Prayers and liturgy suggestions can be found at www.diocgc.org/prayers-for-theoil-crisis-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/ .

This prayer was written by the Rev. Beverly Gibson, sub-dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile, Ala. We pray today for the preservation of our natural environment, especially the Gulf of Mexico and the lands and waters it touches: Guide those who labor to contain the oil that endangers the creatures of sea and land; Strengthen those who work to protect them; Have mercy on those whose livelihoods will suffer; Forgive us for our carelessness in using the resources of nature, and give us wisdom and reverence so to manage them in the future, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Bulle tin inser ts a Bulletin inserts avvailable Episcopal Relief & Development has created bulletin inserts about recovery efforts that can be used any Sunday. They can be downloaded at: www.er-d.org/userfiles/ Gulf_oil_halfpage(1).pdf Y

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U.S. Coast Guard photo

Jeff Phillips, environmental contaminants coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, rescues a brown pelican from the Barataria Bay in Grand Isle, La., June 4.

State and federal wildlife services pulled about 60 brown pelicans that were covered in oil from the bay area in just two days.

How you can help oil spill victims Episcopal Community Services of Louisiana is helping families in Terrebonne Parish whose livelihoods and businesses have been affected by the oil spill by providing immediate emergency help with food, medicine and utilities.

Secure, online donations can be made through their website, www.ecsla.org.

Click on “Donate” in the left-hand column, then select “Gulf Oil Spill Response Fund” from the donation options. All money raised will go directly to families in need.

il company employees and environmental activists gathered in vigil on June 24 at St. Stephen’s Church in Houston, offering prayers for those affected by the Gulf Coast oil spill and pledging to help renew the environment.

“I knew we needed to be together to pray about it when I mentioned the oil spill at a worship committee meeting and two people started crying,” said the Rev. Lisa Hunt, St. Stephen’s rector.

About 50 people attended the service, where representatives from the oil industry, the Sierra Club and others addressed the crisis.

One of the speakers was a middle school student “who as part of our summer program went down to Galveston Bay to plant marsh grass and talked about how important it is to participate in renewing the world,” Hunt said.

The oil well ruptured on April 20 when an explosion blew up an offshore rig above it, killing 11 workers. The well has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the ocean, soiling large stretches of the Gulf coastline.

For Hunt and other Gulf Coast area pastors, the situation is anything but simple. Employees of the oil companies and ancillary support industries, as well as environmental activists, are among their parishioners. Everyone is affected, Hunt said.

“We’re really having to engage the ambiguity of this and as the impact rolls out, in terms of the economy, stewardship and relationships, the strains will be deeply spiritual and will be very personal, too, or have the potential to be.”

Hunt, who said that people are experiencing “a deep sense of doom,” said the crisis is “calling us to conversion in a deep, deep way, personally and corporately. This is a huge evangelism opportunity.”

Evelyn Merz and other members of both Houston’s Sierra Club and the group’s Lone Star state chapter hold regular meetings at St. Stephen’s. Merz said the church is uniquely positioned to address the crisis because of “its perspective on responsibility to creation.

“We’re at a crossroads … almost like the Industrial Revolution,” she said. She explained that while the Industrial Revolution dramatically changed life for the average person and the world, there were no consequences attached to its relentless pursuit of oil. “But now, consequences are attached,” she said. “The question is, what are we going to do?”

Petroleum employee Neil Jones, a St. Stephen’s parishioner who also spoke at the vigil, said the industry as a whole is embarrassed and humbled by the disaster. “We feel very sorry for those impacted by the spill, whether personal or family loss and the loss that will occur as a result of the pollution that is occurring,” he said.

“I tried to make the connection that if anything good can come out of an incident like the Gulf spill, it should be the learnings that help to make the industry safer for the future,” he added.

Hunt said the vigil was an effort to reach out to neighbors “who are mourning and to provide a service … to raise consciousness that people are praying about this. We were praying about technology and its limits and our responsibility to share it with God.” Y

Presiding bishop reminds that ‘we are all connected’ By the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

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Photo by Cindy McCrory

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori walks along the banks of Weeks Bay in Fairhope, Ala., during a visit to the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast in May 2009.

Weeks Bay is an estuary that flows into Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

he original peoples of the North American continent understand that we are all connected, and that harm to one part of the sacred circle of life harms the whole.

Scientists, both the ecological and physical sorts, know the same reality, expressed in different terms.

The Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) also charge human beings with care for the whole of creation, because it is God’s good gift to humanity.

The still-unfolding disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is good evidence of the interconnectedness of the whole. It has its origins in this nation’s addiction to oil, uninhibited growth and consumerism, as well as oldfashioned greed and what my tradition calls hubris and idolatry.

Our collective sins are being visited on those who have had

little or no part in them: birds, marine mammals, the tiny plants and animals that constitute the base of the vast food chain in the Gulf, and on which a major part of the seafood production of the United States depends.

Sins af ther afffect o other therss Our sins are being visited on the fishers of southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, who seek to feed their families with the proceeds of what they catch each day.

Our sins will expose New Orleans and other coastal cities to the increased likelihood of devastating floods, as the marshes that constitute the shrinking margin of storm protection continue to disappear, fouled and killed by oil.

Yet the reality is that this disaster just may show us as a nation how interconnected we really are. The waste of this oil — both its unusability and the mess it is making — will be visited on all of us, for years and even generations to come.

The hydrocarbons in those coastal marshes and at the base of the food chain leading to marketable seafood resources will taint us all, eventually.

That oil is already frightening away vacationers who form the economic base for countless coastal communities, whose livelihoods have something to do with the economic health of this nation.

The workers in those communities, even when they have employment, are some of the poorest among us. That oil will move beyond the immediate environs of a broken wellhead, spreading around the coasts of Florida and northward along the east coast of the U.S. That oil will foul the coastal marshes that also constitute a major nursery for coastal fauna, again a vital part of the food chain.

That oil will further stress and poison the coral reefs of Florida, already much endangered from warming and ocean acidification. Those reefs have

historically provided significant storm protection to the coastal communities behind them.

No ultimat e escape ultimate There is no place to go “away” from these consequences; there is no ultimate escape on this planet. The effects at a distance may seem minor or tolerable, but the cumulative effect is not.

We are all connected, we will all suffer the consequences of this tragic disaster in the Gulf, and we must wake up and put a stop to the kind of robber baron behavior we supposedly regulated out of existence a hundred years ago. Our lives, and the liveliness of the entire planet, depend on it.

This is an excerpt of an article that was first published on the Huffington Post website, www.huffingtonpost.com.

Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in marine biology and oceanography. Y

12 • The Harvest • May/June 2010

Reflections on faith and life

Sharing the Good News

Are yyou ou making rroom oom ffor or Jesus?

By the Rev. Tom Miles

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ature abhors a vacuum, at least that’s what I learned as a kid. But a more specific axiom came from my friend, Jack. It was his conviction that if you set up a card table in the median of Interstate 80 west of Sidney, Neb., it would be full of stuff in three minutes.

“Jack’s Law” is that any horizontal plane will collect clutter, especially kitchen and dining room tables. I have tested that premise over some 30 years and found it true.

One example of this phenomenon is to be found among our friends as we take Holy Communion to them in their homes.

Bedside tables are no exception. By the time we gather the things we need next to us in bed, we find we have used every available space. So one of the things visitors have to do is find a few inches of horizontal space to place the vessels we use for Communion.

Finding space ffor or the sacrament

July 2010

August 2010

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Diocesan office closed for Independence Day

1

Bishop Wolfe at St. Thomas, Holton

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Kansas School for Ministry class, Bethany Place Conference Center, Topeka (through July 10)

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Deadline for submitting nominations, debatable resolutions and changes to the constitution and canons for Diocesan Convention

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Bishop Wolfe at St. Andrew’s, Derby

18 Southeast Convocation board meeting, St. John’s, Parsons 25 Bishop Wolfe at St. Matthew’s, Newton

13 Kansas School for Ministry class, Bethany Place Conference Center, Topeka (through Aug. 14) 15 Bishop Wolfe at Ascension, Neodesha and Epiphany, Independence

plishments, as well as newspapers and books.

All of these things are emblems of a full and meaningful life, and there in the midst of it all is the sacramental presence of Jesus, giving it all its true significance.

As I reflect on this, I realize that the incarnate Lord is constantly coming into our lives, not just on the days we receive Communion but always.

Jesus finds his place among the trophies of our life, among the pains we suffer and the joys we celebrate, among the duties and responsibilities we bear.

No matter what fills our lives, our Lord is a constant presence, guiding, strengthening and comforting us.

It seems that our challenge is to recognize him there. The presence of Jesus gives a new perspective to our lives and to all we hold dear.

So how does the presence change or challenge our understanding of our lives? I believe that when Jesus finds room in the clutter of our lives he comes to change things for the good. We would do well to welcome him.

Tom Miles is rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan. This reflection first appeared in the June-July issue of The Epistle, the parish’s newsletter. Y

17 Council of Trustees meeting, Grace Cathedral, Topeka 22 Bishop Wolfe at St. Bartholomew’s and St. Christopher’s, Wichita 29 Bishop Wolfe at St. Luke’s, Wamego

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As many of us have reflected on our experience taking Communion to our friends, we have marveled at how similar “this finding space for the Sacrament” is to our own lives. After all, finding time to gather with other Christians for worship and fellowship is trying to find room for Jesus as well.

I’ll spare you my usual lecture about finding room for Jesus in our lives. I understand the plight we all share. What I want to suggest is that we can learn about the practice of taking Communion into homes.

The important thing to remember is that Jesus comes into our lives regardless of how full they are. We have only to be willing to receive him.

Then a space will be found.

Here’s another way to look at finding a place for Jesus. I have been struck by the powerful image of seeing the vessels for Communion among all the cherished tokens of life. There are pictures of loved one, mementos and trophies of accom-

The important thing to remember is that Jesus comes into our lives regardless of how full they are. We have only to be willing to receive him. Then a space will be found.

Diocesan Calendar

The mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas is to gather, equip and send disciples of Jesus Christ to witness to God’s reconciling love.