The Harvest, March-April 2013

Inside The Harvest From the bishop

Bishop Wolfe describes the gift of Anglicanism by saying it represents a bigger God, bigger even than our ability to comprehend. Page 2

ECS parish award

St. Aidan’s, Olathe, received the 2013 Parish Award for Community Service and Collaboration from Episcopal Community Services of Kansas City. Page 4

Campus missioner leaving

Campus missioner the Rev. Michael Bell has accepted a call as a chaplain in his home diocese of Los Angeles and will be leaving Kansas at the end of May. Page 4

Maundy Thursday feet

“A Sole Ministry” helped wash the feet of 200 people in Kansas City and provided them with shoes, socks and foot care. The event took place on Maundy Thursday.

Page 5

Missionary to Nepal

Karin Feltman, a member of St. Margaret’s, Lawrence, is getting ready to become a full-time missionary in the Southeast Asian nation of Nepal, in spite of her fears. Page 6

Teams heading to Kenya

About 50 people in three teams will travel to Kenya this summer to work on a variety of new and continuing projects to aid the people in the region of Maai Mahiu, through the Kansas to Kenya ministry.

Page 7

Tocher Lecture

Dr. Miroslav Volf explored how people can live with and respect others with whom they profoundly disagree during Tocher Lecture activities April 25 in Overland Park. Page 7

Around the diocese

Read about the dedication of the building for Episcopal Social Services in Wichita, Diocesan Convention deadlines, and more. Page 8

Military meeting

The Rev. Gail Greenwell, rector of St. Michael and All Angels in Mission, was the only clergyperson at a recent National Security Roundtable at Fort Leavenworth, as a guest of the Command and General Staff College. Page 9

Bombing aftermath

The Boston Marathon bombings that rocked that city and the nation had an impact on Episcopalians who live and worship nearby. Page 10

First-ever women’s summit draws more than 170 to Wichita

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest More than 170 women from across the diocese filled the parish hall at St. James’, Wichita, April 19-20 for the firstever diocesan Women’s Summit, and they heard speakers explore how women see themselves through the lens of scripture and modern culture.

The event had as its theme “Women and Girls: Made in the Image of God.” Attenders included women of a variety of ages, from college students to those in their 80s, and table groups were formed from people of varying ages.

That helped bring about “lively discussion, full of insights and recognitions,” according to Nancy Kelley from Trinity, Lawrence.

Biblical images

Keynote speaker Dr. Deirdre Good, professor of New Testament at General Theological Seminary in New York, said the Bible, in spite of its strong patriarchy, includes many references to God and Jesus that aren’t gender-specific.

She noted that God’s own self-naming — to Moses in the burning bush — was “I will be who I will be.” That declaration she said, “is about existence, not gender.”

Additionally, when God created human beings, the Hebrew word used for man, “adam,” is a collective noun for all of humanity.

Good said that Jesus is portrayed in the

Photo by Melodie Woerman

Ashley Petty (center), a member of St. James, Wichita, and a student at Wichita State University, speaks during small group discussions. Listening are (left) Marjorie Williams, also from St. James, and the Rev. Christine Gilson, rector of Trinity, El Dorado.

New Testament in a way different from the usual depiction of men of his era. Men “had to exert their masculinity in those days,” she said, and were preoccupied with how they looked and were perceived by others.

Stories about Jesus don’t show those concerns, she noted, but do recount his willingness to show what his culture saw as feminine traits, such as tenderness and letting others be in control. He even used feminine imagery in parables, she said.

Rector of St. Aidan’s, Olathe, dies of cancer March 24, Palm Sunday, saying, “I had hoped we would all have more time with Juli. She was one of the The Rev. Juli Sifers, rector of St. most faithful and prayerful priests I Aidan’s, Olathe, died of cancer at have known. I will miss her and her her home on March 23. She was 71. many wise contributions to the work of this diocese. She She had served was a trusted advisor the church since to me, and her death January 2005, first is a tremendous loss as priest in charge both for her family and then as recand for her extended tor. She had been St. Aidan’s parish present for Sunday family.” services until a He also spoke few weeks before of the depth of her she died, when her faith. “She taught strength began to everyone she endecline. In early countered so much March she made the The Rev. Juli Sifers about Christ’s love, decision to go on not only through her disability so the congregation could words but through her life and now, proceed with plans for the future.

Her husband, Russ, was with her even in her death. Juli fought canwhen she died. Bishop Dean Wolfe cer with dignity and grace, and she had visited her earlier that day, never let the illness define her. She along with Deacon Fran Wheeler, was first and foremost a Christian woman.” who serves the parish.

Bishop Wolfe shared the news of (Please see Rector, page 4) her death with diocesan leaders on

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

Images from the culture

Jodie Simon, a professor of Women’s Studies at Wichita State University, displayed a variety of images that show that American culture’s primary expectation of women is that they be beautiful and thin.

Participants watched the latest version of Dr. Jean Kilbourne’s groundbreaking video “Killing Us Softly,” which focuses on how women are portrayed in modern (Please see Summit, page 3)

Presiding Bishop to visit in October Episcopal Diocese of Kansas report Bishop Dean Wolfe has received word that the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, will make a visit to the diocese Oct. 5-6 to help dedicate the remodeled Bethany Place Conference Center.

The conference center renovations were part of the Crossroads capital campaign.

Details of her visit still are pending but tentatively call for the dedication service to take place on Saturday, Oct. 5.

This will be Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori’s second trip to the Episcopal The Most Rev. Diocese of Kansas.

Katharine Jefferts Schori She was here in 2009 to help celebrate the diocese’s 150th anniversary. She was the Diocesan Convention keynote speaker and preacher at the Convention Eucharist. v

2 • The Harvest • March/April 2013

From the Bishop

The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe

Anglicanism: a bigger God 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 email) 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: May-June issue: June 1 July-August issue: August 1 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

Dear Friends, I recently was asked to address the question, “What is Anglicanism’s gift to the Christian witness?” It is a complex question, but to answer it in the simplest manner, I believe Anglicanism represents a bigger God. Years ago I saw a production of the Broadway musical “Your Arms Too Short to Box with God.” It was a musical based on the Gospel of Matthew and is a potent celebration of the African-American gospel tradition.

I never forgot it.

The title of the musical found its origins in a sermon by James Weldon Johnson on the Prodigal Son. “Young man – Young man – Your arms too short to box with God. But Jesus spake in a parable, and he said: A certain man had two sons, Jesus didn’t give this man a name, But his is God Almighty.

And Jesus didn’t call these sons by name, But every young man, Every where, Is one of these two sons.”

(And every young woman everywhere is one of these two children.)

The theme of that musical was a reminder that the God who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end ... the God who wipes away the tears from our eyes ... the God who proclaims death will be no more and that mourning and crying and pain will be no more ... is greater than the little gods we conjure up in our small minds.

Our God is bigger than that 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 Justin Welby Lambeth Palace, London WE1 7JU, United Kingdom www.anglicancommunion.org Episcopal seat: Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, England

The Episcopal Church

A community of 2 million members in 109 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 more than 11,000 members in 46 congregations, 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

Photo by Melodie Woerman

Bishop Wolfe on ‘Day 1’ radio broadcast May 26 Bishop Wolfe will be the featured preacher May 26 on the Day 1 radio broadcast that is heard on more than 200 stations across the U.S. and overseas.

His sermon for Trinity Sunday is entitled “What Kind of Math Is This?”

Day 1, previously known as “The Protestant Hour,” is a nationally syndicated ecumenical radio program that has been broadcasting every week for 68 years.

A list of radio stations that carry the broadcast, as well as a link to listen to Bishop Wolfe’s sermon, are online at http://day1.org/

Ours is the God who is more immense than our I say, “Our God is much, much bigger than that.” human capacity to begin to comprehend him. (Or And this is one of the great gifts we bring to “her” if you prefer. You see, we don’t even know the wider Christian witness. We bring our belief how to speak about this Holy Entity. Maybe our in God who is big enough to ancient Hebrew forebears knew be God. a little something when they We seek to create a actually Anglican theology also determined the name of God was tends to be more self-effacing too holy to be spoken or even culture of respect. than traditions that believe written) We look for a they have captured the corner Every single time another on God’s truth. As a body we Christian tradition says, “Chilmiddle way. are quick to acknowledge we dren should be quiet. They might just be wrong, and in should sit still and far to the We understand these candid admissions, I back. They shouldn’t have a worship as a window believe we become more auvoice. They can’t receive Comthentic witnesses to the light munion. They don’t know what into heaven. of Christ. it means” …

We believe any God who I say, “Our God is bigger We believe praying can save sinners of our caliber than that.” shapes believing. is a God big enough to save Every time a Christian tradianyone. Anglicans believe in tion says people who have differa God who possesses enough ent levels of melanin than you or grace to receive us, weeping I have shouldn’t be treated equally… and exhausted, back into God’s loving arms.

I say, “Our God is bigger than that.”

Every time a church says, “Women can’t be A gift to Christian witness given Holy Orders. Women can’t serve behind the What is Anglicanism’s gift to the Christian witaltar. A woman can’t pronounce the blessing. Girls can’t light the candles or carry the cross or assist at ness?

We seek to create a culture of respect, honoring the altar”… the integrity of the other.

I say, “Our God is bigger than that.”

We look for a middle way. Anglicanism has a Every time a church says people who have been pier, a foundation, in the Catholic tradition and ancreated by God to love someone of the same sex other pier, a foundation, in the Protestant tradition. (and then actually do so) are condemned to the We are always looking for common ground. fiery flames of hell forever..

We understand worship as a window into Then I say, “Our God is bigger than that.” heaven. We value it. We work at it. We sweat the Every time a church says people can’t be truly Christian and vote for people who believe the sick, details. the poor and the elderly need to be protected and (Please see Bishop, page 3) cared for…

March/April 2013 • The Harvest • 3

Summit: Those who attended ‘glowed with the Spirit’ (Continued from page 1) advertising. What is shows, she said, is that men aren’t routinely judged on their appearance. “But for women, your worth depends on your looks.”

Simon said that this must change, not only because it harms women but because it also skews the way men think of women.

“We have to stop the media’s message being the only one we hear,” she said. “Aware citizens must see themselves as more than consumers of what advertising offers.”

Old Testament surprises

Dr. Melissa Tubbs Loya, who teaches at St. Paul School of Theology and the Kansas School for Ministry, said that the Old Testament includes some surprising images of women, in spite of its strongly patriarchal nature.

The word “woman” appears once for every three mentions of “man,” she said, but when women do appear in stories, they are described by what they do and not by how they look.

“Deborah in the book of Judges is described as wise, courageous and a warrior,” she said. Matriarchs like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah exist alongside the Hebrew patriarchs in Genesis, and women warriors took up arms to save the people of Israel.

Tubbs Loya noted that Eve often is viewed as a temptress, luring Adam into breaking God’s command not to eat the forbidden fruit.

Photos by Melodie Woerman

Speakers at the Women’s Summit included (above) Dr. Deirdre Good, New Testament professor at General Seminary in New York; (top right) Jodie Simon, a women’s studies professor at Wichita State University; and Dr. Melissa Tubbs Loya, who teaches at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City.

What the text of the Genesis story shows, she said, is that Eve hadn’t been created when God gave that command, drawing ripples of laughter across the church parish hall.

“There’s not just one thing the Hebrew Bible tells us about women,” she said. “There’s no one definition of womanhood.”

Deep discussions

Those attending were given time following the presentations to discuss a variety of questions,

including what positive or negative messages they received as children, the joys and frustrations of being female, and what women of faith can do to change disparities for women and girls around the world.

The depth of conversation led Caroline Howard, a member of St. Peter’s, Pittsburg who is a student at the University of Kansas, to note, “It was hard to take a break.

We didn’t want to stop listening and talking!”

Dana Jackson, who became a

member of St. John’s, Abilene less than a year ago, said she thought mixing ages for discussion “was nothing short of brilliant.” She said she found in the event “some of the most accepting, generous, kind women I had met in my entire life.”

Roxie Drautz, a member of St. Michael and All Angels in Mission, agreed. “Everyone was excited to be an Episcopal woman and glowed with the Spirit.”

Ellen Wolfe, one of the event organizers, applauded the “open-

ness and enthusiasm” of all those who attended.

“People arrived with a high level of excitement and willingness to listen to the speakers with open hearts and minds, and to meet and share candidly with one another in the small group discussions.”

Participants also heard from Nyakio Kaniu-Lake, a member of St. Thomas’, Overland Park, about the Agatha Amani House in Kenya, which was the recipient of the offering at the closing Eucharist.

Nearly $2,500 was raised to help build the safe house for women who in Kaniu-Lake’s words, “are abused and endure violence and have nowhere to go.”

The house is part of the Kansas to Kenya ministry.

Bishop Dean Wolfe was the celebrant at the closing Eucharist, and St. James’ rector, the Rev. Dawn Frankfurt, preached.

In her sermon she said, “The world attempts to define us with definitions that are inadequate, incomplete and misfitting. Our personal identities are who we are. They may not be recognized by the world and may be known only to God and ourselves.”

St. James not only offered space for the event but also provided the meals. Kelley said the church’s lovely setting and hospitality made this event “the opposite of what I’ve grown to expect in the way of women’s church meetings.”

Ellen Wolfe said event evaluations offered “almost unanimous support” for a future event. v

Some of the more than 170 women at the first-ever Women’s Summit listen to a presentation by Jodie Simon of Wichita State University.

The event, which filled the parish hall at St. James’, Wichita, took place April 19-20.

Bishop: Jesus invites us to love one another as he has loved us (Continued from page 2) We believe praying shapes believing, and so we pay a lot of attention to all the ways one can pray: • chanting and silence; • Morning, Noonday and Evening Prayers; • the beauty and simplicity of Compline; • the incomparable Anglican cathedral choral traditions; • the myriad celebrations of Holy Communion; • the intensity with which we celebrate Baptism or Confirmation, a Reception or a Reaffirmation

of Faith; • the dignity with which we conduct a wedding or a funeral; • the passionate way we journey through the church year with its profound walk to the cross and tomb and eventually to the Resurrected life in Christ.

Anglicans also hold a profound appreciation for paradox. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. The rich will be poor and the poor will be rich.

And Anglicans believe deeply in the Incarnation. We believe in outward and visible signs.

We have real wine, we tell real stories, we live real lives. We do not keep our

beer hidden in the vegetable drawers of our refrigerators.

We believe the paradox that proclaims Christ was fully human and fully God, and we believe that Christ was both. So we look for real ways to make a difference in the world.

We buy bread for the poor, work in shelters for the homeless, go to Haiti to educate children, go to Kenya to assist the sick. We go to the city to wash the feet of the poor and to give them shoes for the long journey of life in which we all share.

Jesus also invites us to love one another as he has loved us, and Anglicans accept this invitation sincerely, hopefully, even readily.

And the attempt to love as Christ has loved, is this not the most faithful path any Christian could hope to follow?

I, like so many of you, am risking my life on the words of this man. And there is no risk I am more willing to take. We are to ask every single person who seeks to become part of our tradition to do the very same.

This is what all Anglicans attempt to do. It is our sincere, stumbling, imperfect, faithful, glorious gift to the Christian endeavor.

May God continue to bless us all.

Faithfully, +Dean v

4 • The Harvest • March/April 2013

Campus missioner ECS parish award goes to St. Aidan’s leaves for L.A. post My intent has been to leave the campus ministry program even better than I found it.”

He said his experience workThe Rev. Michael Bell, who ing with college has been a diocstudents will help esan campus mishim minister to sioner since 2010, older adults in will be leaving his new position that position at in the Diocese the end of May to of Los Angeles. take a job in his “Young adults home diocese of and older adults Los Angeles. grapple with He has acceptmany of the same ed a call to bebig questions come chaplain at about identity, The Canterbury, a purpose, meansenior living and The Rev. Michael Bell ing and love in retirement community in Rancho Palos Verdes, their lives.”

In addition to his duties servCalif. The facility is operated

by Episcopal Communities and ing the multiple campus ministry programs across the diocese, Services of Pasadena.

Bishop Dean Wolfe made Bell has been responsible for the announcement in a message launching “thelo!”, an urban sent to diocesan clergy and lay ministry experience in Wichita for young adults, as well as YAleaders on April 2.

He said, “Father Bell has LEARN, an online education been called back to a new min- program for leadership develistry in his home diocese, which opment among college students appears to be a perfect fit for his and others. gifts and interests. We have been pleased to have Michael work- Search is underway The diocese already has ing in Kansas, and we appreciate the contributions he has made begun to advertise the posito our excellent and innovative tion throughout the Episcopal Church. Bishop Wolfe said, campus ministry programs.”

In reflecting on his three “The excellence of the people years of service as campus who have held campus mismissioner, Bell said, “I’ve been sioner positions in the Episcopal gifted with the privilege of serv- Diocese of Kansas invites the ing with wonderfully dedicated highest level of applicants. I am and authentic people through- excited about the new possibiliout our diocese, both young ties that are in front of us.”

Canon to the Ordinary the and older alike, who through example and encouragement Rev. Craig Loya said he expects have influenced my continuing the search process to take place formation as an ordained min- over the summer, with the hope ister and my continued grow that a new priest can be in the as a fellow disciple of Christ. position by early fall. v

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

ESS plans ‘Kindness Moves Me’ 5K run/walk June 15 Episcopal Social Services-Venture House and Breakthrough Club of Wichita are sponsoring the inaugural “Kindness Moves Me” 5K run/walk on Saturday, June 15.

The 3.1 mile race begins at 8 a.m. in front of the ESS building at 1010 North Main near downtown Wichita.

The fee to enter the race is $25 in advance or $30 on race day.

Teams of runners or walkers are welcome.

In addition to the entry fee, participants are asked to perform an intentional act of kindness on race day. Jennifer Wise, ESS director of development and public relations, said, “The Kindness Moves Me 5K is not just an event, it’s really a kickoff for a yearlong kindness movement in Wichita.”

The event continues the theme of kindness started by the Episcopal agency last year with its first-ever Intentional Acts of Kindness Day. A second kindness day took place May 4.

Those who don’t want to run may purchase a race entry for someone who otherwise couldn’t afford it, Wise said.

There also is a 1K family fun walk/run, to help parents teach children the important of kindness.

Registration information is available on the ESS website, www. esswichita.org or by calling (316) 269-4160.

Since 1983 ESS has served people in need, especially in the downtown area, as a broad-based social service agency.

— Melodie Woerman v

St. Aidan’s, Olathe, received the 2013 Parish Award for Community Service and Collaboration from Episcopal Community Services of Kansas City in recognition of its outstanding outreach ministries.

On behalf of the congregation senior warden Paul Reed accepted the award, which was presented during the agency’s annual recognition banquet April 19.

The parish was noted for its extensive commitment to serving others, including providing weekend food to 275 students each week through the BackSnack program; cooking and serving more than 325 meals every fourth Thursday at the Center of Grace operated with the Johnson County Food Ministry; volunteering weekly at the food pantry at St. Paul’s, Kansas City; and collecting hats, underwear, Paul Reed, senior warden at St. Aidan’s, Olathe, accepts the parish’s gloves and scarves every Christmas award for outstanding outreach ministries given by Episcopal for children in the area. v Community Services of Kansas City.

Before the ashes of the Rev. Juli Sifers are scattered on the Bethany Place grounds, Bishop Dean Wolfe (left) censes the urn held by Deacon Fran Wheeler, while Sifers’ widow, Russ (right), looks on.

Photo by Deacon Bob Hirst

Rector: Sifers helped parish grow, expand its outreach (Continued from page 1) Sifers had been a member of the Council of Trustees, the diocese’s governing body, completing her second term in October 2012. She also had been a member of that group’s Executive Committee.

She was involved with Cursillo and Education for Ministry, and she was a founding member of “Winds of Harmony,” a contemporary Christian music group that began when she and her husband were members of St. Thomas’, Overland Park. Surviving band members played at her funeral.

As rector of St. Aidan’s, she led the parish toward new growth and expanded outreach ministries into the community. She created a large group of acolytes in order to involve children and youth in the worship life of the church.

Priest: something she was, not did

Sifers’ funeral took place on April 6, the Saturday after Easter, at Grace Cathedral in Topeka.

Bishop Wolfe preached at the service, noting, “On the Saturday before Jesus made his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, Julianne Sifers made her triumphant entrance into the presence of God.” He said that Sifers had undertaken a variety of roles in her life, culminating in her service as a priest. “Juli Sifers was a wife, a mother, a friend, a counselor, a musician, a teacher, a mentor and countless other things, but she was, in the deepest possible meaning of this term, a priest in the Church of God. As those of you who knew her will attest, being a priest was not something Juli did, it was something Juli was.”

He said that Sifers was one of the rare people

whose very being radiated with the love of God. “And while Juli would surely shush me before this word came out of my mouth, can’t we now say that there was something of the holy in Juli?” he asked.

“It’s not a term we use often and we dare not use it carelessly, but are there not people who by their pure devotion and their absence of malice, who by their self-sacrifice and complete commitment to the good of others, convey in the clearest possible manner the very light of Christ?”

Strength came from God

Sifers’ strength as a person and as a priest came only from God, the bishop said. “Juli’s power was not her own. It was the quiet, subtle and resilient power that originates in Christ that was expressed through her. God can and does bring God’s love into the broken places of this world, and he uses people like Juli and like Russ and like you and like me. Even us.”

After the funeral, at her request, Sifers’ ashes were scattered on the diocesan grounds in Topeka, known as Bethany Place, on the site of the proposed new Leadership Center. Construction of the building is one of the goals of the Crossroads campaign, for which she served as chaplain, including writing a special Crossroads prayer. Additional contributions of more than $1.5 million are needed for it to be built.

In lieu of flowers, the family requested memorial contributions to the St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church Outreach Fund (in care of the church, 14301 South Blackbob Rd., Olathe KS 66062-2537) or the soonto-be-renamed Kansas/West Missouri/Nebraska School for Ministry (sent in care of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas, 835 SW Polk St., Topeka, KS 66612-1688). v

March/April 2013 • The Harvest • 5

A man washes his feet in a basin of soapy water while a woman lets hers finish drying after using a towel.

Maundy Thursday ‘Sole Ministry’ reaches hundreds in K.C. Story and photos by Melodie Woerman The Maundy Thursday ritual of foot washing added a practical aspect when two Kansas City-area congregations, along with their bishops, helped wash the feet of about 200 people and handed out shoes and socks during “A Sole Ministry” March 28.

There also was a free foot care clinic for anyone who needed to chat with a nurse.

Participants included Kansas Bishop Dean Wolfe, West Missouri Bishop Martin Field, and the clergy and members of St. Michael and All Angels in Mission, and Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, Mo. The event was the idea of the Rev. Gail Greenwell, St. Michael’s rector, who said she had wanted to do something like this since her days in seminary, when she learned that “the church’s sacraments have their roots in real human need and activity,” she said.

Last summer she pitched the idea to the new dean of the Kansas City cathedral, the Very Rev. Peter Deveau, and they started planning They decided to have it at the Kansas City Community Kitchen, which serves hundreds of free meals every day from its location east of downtown Kansas City, Mo.

Bishop Dean Wolfe (front) and St. Michael’s rector the Rev. Gail Greenwell hand out boxes of donated shoes.

Volunteers were kept busy sorting through 175 pairs to find the correct size.

The kitchen is a ministry of Episcopal Community Services, which serves people in need in both dioceses.

Greenwell said ECS Executive Director John Hornbeck was a great help promoting the event among the kitchen’s regular clients.

A volunteer nurse checks a man’s freshly

Warm water and fluffy towels

Maundy Thursday was a sunny but chilly day, so a large red-and-white striped tent was set up in the kitchen’s parking lot as a sheltered spot for the foot washing. By noon a line of waiting participants snaked around the building.

Plastic basins of fresh soapy water were carried in and out by volunteers. Sometimes clergy washed feet, and sometimes people did it for themselves. Another basin of clear water provided a rinse, alongside stacks of fluffy towels.

Nurses from the Kansas City Care Clinic volunteered their time to care for minor foot problems, trim toenails and make referrals, as well as provide blood sugar checks for diabetics.

Kirk Isenhour, the director of marketing and development for the Care Clinic and a St. Michael’s member, called the event “a great activity,” with the five volunteer nurses able to help a number of people all in one place. He said

washed feet for problems he’s reporting.

the Care Clinic would like to offer more health checks at the kitchen.

Everyone who came received a pair of new socks, as well one of the 175 pairs of shoes donated by members of the two churches. The shoes especially were in demand, until the supply ran out.

“We could have distributed twice the amount of shoes as we had on hand this year,” Greenwell said.

St. Michael’s already is encouraging members to start purchasing any shoes they find on sale to make sure there is an adequate stock next spring.

But beyond the practical benefit to those on the receiving end was the spiritual lift for those who served.

“Every day people in our community fight the battle to overcome debilitating issues related to living in poverty,” Greenwell wrote in the parish newsletter, Week by Week, “and in a small but significant way we were able to relieve a bit of their suffering. For a brief instant, we as a faith community stepped into their shoes and were given a glimpse into their stories.”

Flu and fleece in the fall

Greenwell said a review of the event by members of both churches and the Care Clinic was so positive that they don’t want to wait until next Holy Week to serve again.

Plans already are underway for “Fall, Flu and Fleece” on Thursday, Oct. 17. “We will pass out warm winter clothing and offer flu shots,” she said.

Greenwell said she expects the partnerships that have been built from the foot washing to keep growing. “This group is on fire about our joint ministry!” v

6 • The Harvest • March/April 2013

Lawrence woman readies for mission to Nepal

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest Karin Feltman, by her own admission, is pretty fearless. She is terrified of only two things — spiders and heights. So why is she preparing to become a long-term missionary in Nepal, where spiders are everywhere and where eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains are located?

“My whole life has led up to this point,” she said. “I’m fulfilling God’s purpose for my life.”

Feltman, a member of St. Margaret’s, Lawrence, plans to leave for Nepal early next year and stay for at least five years and maybe longer.

She’s no stranger to mission trips — she’s done 15 of them since 2005, including short-term relief work after Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti, and she’s also headed medical trips to Kenya (she’s a nurse) through the diocesan Kansas to Kenya ministry.

But this experience will be different. She will move there to become part of a community and work to reduce their poverty and provide long-term sustainability After a year of language and cultural immersion in the capital of Kathmandu, she will work in a mission hospital in the western Nepali village of Dadeldhura, where she’ll help treat things like bites from tigers, leopards and bears, leprosy and tuberculosis, as well as assist with surgeries and some of the 1,400 births that take place there each year.

Since this is the only major hospital to serve a region with more than a million people who live in dire poverty, she knows she will see a wide variety of cases.

In addition, Feltman said she will provide community health education to neighboring villages and also will work to prevent human trafficking. Nepal is a source country for girls and boys who are enslaved by this crime, often forced to engage in the sex trade.

FAST FACTS

Submitted photo

Karin Feltman plays guitar at a hospital in Dadeldhura, Nepal, during a visit there in May 2012. Feltman, a member of St. Margaret’s,Lawrence, will become a long-term missionary there beginning in 2014.

Going full-time

So how did Feltman go from her comfortable life in Lawrence, where she owns a home, works at the local hospital, is active at St. Margaret’s and was able to make mission trips overseas, to a life-changing decision to pack up for Nepal?

Part of it was practical. “I’d do one trip and then was planning the next one,” she said. “It was hard on the hospital to plan.”

Besides, she was hearing God’s call.

“God was telling me the next step is fulltime.”

So a couple of years ago, before Feltman even knew where she might be going, she paid off all her debts, sold half her belong-

ings and took in a roommate who can help care for her house while she’s gone (she will return then on periodic trips home).

She even cut her hair short to make it easier to maintain.

Why Nepal?

So why Nepal? Feltman laughed as she described the path that led to this small country in Southeast Asia nestled between India, Tibet and Bangladesh.

“I’d never even been to Nepal,” she said.

“I thought if I went anywhere it would be to Africa. I love Africa and have a heart for Africa.”

She decided to become part of a Christian missionary group called TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission) that works in Chad, Zimbabwe and Nepal. As she prayed for an outcome that reflected God’s agenda and not hers, every door in Africa kept closing. “Only Nepal worked,” she said.

To test her sense of call, she went to Nepal for two weeks in May 2012. While there she said she faced so many spiritual battles “I felt like Job,” she said.

When she arrived in Nepal a political strike shut down all travel and left her stranded in Kathmandu not knowing a soul. She experienced spiders everywhere, a language barrier and coming face-to-face in the dark with a jungle cat.

Eventually she made her way to the hospital in Dadeldhura where she will be working, and was warmly welcomed by the missionaries there. “I received a lot of support from them,” she said.

She returned home convinced of her call to work in Nepal, knowing that by law she can’t openly speak of her Christian faith and instead will share the gospel through her acts of service and love.

Parish is behind her

Photo by Karin Feltman

A man carries live chickens on a pole as he walks along a street in Dadeldhura, Nepal, during a 2012 visit to the Asian country by Karin Feltman.

Feltman, a member of St. Margaret’s, Lawrence, was in Nepal exploring a call to become a full-time missionary there.

Feltman decided to set early 2014 as her target date to leave. Her sister died in late 2012, and she didn’t want to leave her family to celebrate the holidays this year without her, too.

She even started classes to tackle her spider phobia. By March she was able to hold a large tarantula in her hand.

She also had to get busy raising money.

As is customary for missionaries, she has to provide her own financial support while

Nepal lies between China and India in the Himalayas in Southeast Asia With almost 57,000 square miles, it’s about the size of Arkansas Eight of the 10 tallest mountains on Earth are in Nepal. The tallest is Mount Everest, at 29,035 feet.

It has a population of more than 29 million Its capital is Kathmandu The primarily language is Nepali The main religion is Hinduism

Want to help?

Here’s how to help Karin Feltman with the $3,600 a month in expenses while she is a missionary in Nepal: For ongoing electronic payments, contact Feltman at eramazon@aol.com Send checks to: TEAM PO Box 969 Wheaton, IL 60187 Note for Account #F011057 Karin

serving overseas. TEAM, which has had a presence in Dadeldhura since the 1960s, has determined she’ll need to raise $3,600 a month, which covers not only her living expenses there but also health insurance, taxes, travel to and from Nepal, and ministry expenses while there.

“They know how much support is needed so missionaries don’t have to struggle,” she said. “And it’s the same amount whether you’re a doctor, nurse or teacher.”

St. Margaret’s has embraced her call as a missionary and has expanded it to a parishwide effort, St. Margaret’s Mission to Nepal. “The entire parish is involved,” Feltman said. “I’ll be St. Margaret’s missionary to Nepal.”

The rector, the Rev. Matt Zimmermann, created support teams to help with fundraising and prayers, now and after Feltman leaves. This spring, members have been learning more about Nepal, including monthly after-church suppers featuring native food.

The church also has sponsored fundraisers, including a March Madness basketball bracket challenge and a “Grown Ups Night Out.” They’re also selling “Destination Nepal” T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts.

Some people have made monthly pledges and others have made one-time gifts.

Feltman said so far she’s raised 52 percent of her goal. What she needs most is pledges of ongoing monthly support.

“I am confident God will raise the money,” she said. “He will make it possible for me to go.”

When she does, she suspects she’ll have to battle loneliness. “My family and friends are all here,” she said. “I’m going alone.”

But she said none of her friends are surprised that she’s made this decision. “They know that this is exactly who I am and what I should be doing.”

Even if it means living with spiders. v

March/April 2013 • The Harvest • 7

Three teams are headed to Kenya this summer

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest Three teams of people from the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas will be on their way to Kenya this summer to continue work on a variety of projects already underway and begin some new ones.

About 50 people are traveling with the Kansas to Kenya ministry, which for several years has engaged in development and health-care projects in the area around Maai Mahiu and All Saints Anglican Church, according to Deacon Steve Segebrecht, director of Kansas to Kenya, also known as K2K. The groups going are: college team, led by the Rev. Patrick Funston, soon-to-be rector of St. Paul’s, Manhattan, and K-State campus intern Taylor Mather. Bishop Dean Wolfe will be traveling with this team. community team, led by Joe Bob Lake and Nyakio Kaniu-Lake of St. Thomas, Overland Park. Deacon Barbara Gibson of St. John’s, Wichita, will be the chaplain. medical team, led by Pat Parker, St. Margaret’s, Lawrence, and Diane Kruger, St. Stephen’s, Wichita. The Rev. Scott Gunn, director of Forward Movement Publishing in Cincinnati, will be the team chaplain.

Women’s safe house

A project new to K2K this year is work on Agatha’s House, a safe house for abused women being built in Naivasha, near Maai Mahiu.

The college team will be completing interior and exterior work, landscaping and a garden, and security fencing. The community team will develop rain water and drip irrigation systems for the garden.

The house is the brainchild of KaniuLake, a native of Kenya, where violence against women only recently has been recognized as an issue, she said. “Women who are abused and endure violence have nowhere to go.” Agatha’s House will offer shelter to some of those women.

Harvest file photo

Drip irrigation projects, like this one installed in 2012 with the help of Gary Chubb (right) of St. John’s, Parsons, will be among the projects people from the Diocese of Kansas will tackle while in Kenya this summer with the Kansas to Kenya ministry.

Bishop Dean Wolfe will make his third trip to Kenya, traveling with the college team, and while there he will dedicate the Osborne Library in Maai Mahiu.

The library, which opened last November, was given in memory of his parents by John and Renee Osborne, formerly of St. James’, Wichita, who now live in Florida.

The library is filled not with books but with 37 e-readers, electronic devices like a Kindle that allow cheaper and easier distribution of greater numbers of books to the 1,200 students the facility serves.

While in Kenya, Bishop Wolfe will preach at the Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd in Nakuru.

During his previous trips he has met with members and leaders of the Anglican Church of Kenya, including a 2007 visit with then Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi.

Ongoing work

Each of the three teams also will continue work already in place in the Maai Mahiu region. In addition to Agatha’s House construction, college team members will participate in educational programming at the Osborne Library, aided by collegeaged students from the Anglican Church of Kenya.

They also will get to hike nearby Mt. Longonot with their Kenyan counterparts.

The community team will build two more houses for members of All Saints Church, and will install more drip irrigation and rain water collection systems in the area.

They’ll also be involved with the Economic Gardening Project, which helps women develop small businesses.

The team again will offer instruction on health care and nutrition, as well as information on women’s rights.

Segebrecht said members of this team will include engineers, business leaders, librarians, information technology specialists and nurses, as well as professors from the University of Kansas and Kansas State University.

Health care, which was the original work that launched K2K, will be provided by a variety of professionals with the medical team. Segebrecht said practitioners will include nurses, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and pre-med and pre-dental college students.

Pharmacists will arrive early to give lectures in clinical pharmacy at the University of Nairobi, and team dentists will work with dentists from a local hospital, who now are able to provide mobile dental clinics in Maai Mahiu with portable equipment provided last year by K2K.

New microfinance project

Segebrecht said K2K recently has formed a partnership with the Anglican Diocese of Nakuru and Five Talents International to create a microfinance program called the Nakuru Community Development Trust (NCDT).

Microfinance projects allow people in developing countries to borrow small amounts of money to start their own small business and help lift their families out of poverty.

K2K will provide a portion of an initial three-year budget for the trust; after that the program will be self-financing.

The community team’s work with the women in the Economic Gardening Project will help them qualify for NCDT loans. v

Tocher lecture: how to respect those with whom you disagree 1 Peter 2:17 — “honor everyone.”

“This is a command, not a suggestion,” he said, that goes beyond Dr. Miroslav Volf used the an- merely tolerating someone. “It nual Tocher Lecture to answer a requires respect.”

Respect for another is rooted question he sees as important in in the person’s intoday’s pluralistic herent dignity, he religious environsaid, because human ment: How do you beings are created in live with and respect the image of God. others with whom “So I have to honor you profoundly disthe integrity of the agree? person as a creature Volf, a professor of God,” he said. of systematic theolRespect means ogy at Yale Univeryou still can dissity and founder of agree with another, the Yale Center for he said, and in fact Dr. Miroslav Volf Faith and Culture, it does require a perspoke April 25 at St. Thomas, Overland Park, where son to stand by his or her beliefs.

But be sure you are clear about this year’s event took place.

He addressed about two dozen why you disagree with another clergy and lay leaders during an person, he cautioned.

“You may actually disagree informal afternoon session, with more than 100 people attending with your image of them,” he said.

“You can spend a lot of energy the evening lecture.

The event is sponsored by the opposing something people don’t actually claim.”

Kansas School for Ministry.

Volf noted that the command Volf said the key to creating a culture of religious respect among in 1 Peter was to honor everyone, people rests on two words from not just those whose beliefs and

By Melodie Woerman Editor, The Harvest

Photos by Melodie Woerman

Dr. Miroslav Volf speaks to the crowd of more than 100 people gathered at St. Thomas, Overland Park, April 25 for the annual Tocher Lecture.

behaviors one supports.

“God’s love is unconditional,” he said, “so I must respect everyone whom God loves.”

Even if it’s hard to see within another’s faith, “Give them the benefit of the doubt that there is something worthy of respect,” he said.

“All truth is Christ’s truth. All light is God’s light. So whatever truth there is, we rejoice.”

Volf said he agreed with a rabbi who said Jews had no need to convert anyone. “We don’t convert,” he said. “We just witness Christ’s presence.”

He went on to say that if people have wrong views, one is free to invite them to change. But even then, respect must govern the conversation.

During his afternoon session, Volf said the question of respect for people with differing religious beliefs is increasingly important, since the number of religious adherents of all faiths continues to grow.

In 2001 believers amounted to 3.8 billion people, an increase of 3 billion in just 100 years. v

8 • The Harvest • March/April 2013

Around the diocese

St. John’s, Abilene helped members get rid of unwanted items with a Trash and Treasure sale May 4. Proceeds were designated for the 2013 shortfall described as the “God will provide” section of the budget.

Trinity, Arkansas City took care of some needed maintenance by cleaning the educational building to get it ready for the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and installing a doorbell for the convenience of the church’s Montessori school.

Trinity, Atchison children engage each week in Godly Play, a hands-on method of Christian education. In April they focused on the Easter season and learning more about St. Catherine of Siena.

St. Mark’s, Blue Rapids has a fresh look in its parish hall, thanks to the work of parishioners who in recent months have painted the walls, repaired and replaced ceiling tiles, and installed new energy-efficient water heaters and faucets in the restrooms.

St. Paul’s, Clay Center received a gift of a truck from member Brian Bauer, designated for parish food ministries. It will be used to take food to the church’s summer food program for young people in the city park as well as other food ministry projects.

St. Andrew’s, Emporia designated offerings from Easter services for youth-focused activities for teen and “tween” parishioners, including summer camp scholarships and a Vacation Bible School.

Epiphany, Independence used the ministry of food hospitality to make its presence known April 13 with a food booth at the season’s opening of Riverside Park and Zoo. They served grilled hot dogs, chips and drinks.

St. Margaret’s, Lawrence offered a free two-part series on retirement planning led by parishioner Carl Kurt. Helpful information on a variety of financial instruments and plans was part of the pre-retirement planning.

Trinity, Lawrence in March saw its Interfaith Food Pantry serve 561 people in 296 households in need of food assistance.

Donations of food and money help keep the shelves stocked for twice-weekly distributions.

St. Paul’s, Leavenworth has begun providing a free community meal on the second Saturday of each month, as part of a project with other local churches. A meal is available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for anyone who wants to come and eat.

St. Andrew’s, Derby invited members to stay after church April 21 for a potluck lunch and time for people of all ages to play board games.

St. Paul’s, Manhattan offered a “Swap What Ya Got” sale for women and their friends on April 5. Donations were displayed for others to discover and take home, with leftovers given to the church’s Encore thrift shop.

St. Martin’s, Edwardsville undertook a major clean-up of the church building and grounds on March 23. The effort helped spruce things up inside and out before Easter.

St. Paul’s, Marysville is gathering photographs of special seasons and occasions at the church for possible inclusion in a set of notecards that would be sold as a fundraiser.

Trinity, El Dorado in March approved a donation of $1,250 from the parish Capital and Outreach Fund to benefit the “Kids Need to Eat” program in El Dorado.

St. Michael’s, Mission highlighted parish young people with Youth Sunday April 14. They filled many roles during worship, including ushers, readers, Eucharistic ministers, choir members,

Convention deadline set Aug. 15 has been set as the deadline to submit items for action at this year’s Diocesan Convention, Oct. 25-26 in Topeka.

Nominations

Names may be submitted for these positions to be elected: Four clergy and four lay deputies to General Convention and Provincial Synod Four clergy and four lay alternate deputies to General Convention and Provincial Synod One clergy and one lay atlarge member of the Council of Trustees One clergy at-large member of the Council of Trustees, unexpired term (1 year) Nominations should be sent to

Nominations chair Ashley Petty, 731 S. Rutan, Wichita, KS 67218.

Convention also will ratify lay members of the Council of Trustees that will be elected by convocations at their September meetings.

Debatable resolutions

Proposed debatable resolutions should be sent to Resolutions chair the Rev. Jan Chubb, 1329 Grand Ave., Parsons KS 67357-4256.

Amendments to canons or constitution

Proposed amendments to the diocesan constitution or canons should be sent to Constitution and Canons chair Frank Taylor, P.O. Box 550, Olathe, KS 66051. v

Photo by Episcopal Social Services

ESS building dedicated in March

Bishop Dean Wolfe speaks with some of the 125 people gathered for the March 20 dedication of the building that houses Episcopal Social Services-Venture House in Wichita.

In late 2012 the agency moved into the building at 1010 North Main after it unified with Breakthrough Club, a mental health support and services organization that previously had been under the ESS umbrella.

The building is located near downtown Wichita in a neighborhood with several health care and housing agencies with which ESS hopes to partner to benefit their clients.

In addition to the bishop’s blessing, the dedication service included Rhandee Goodwin, a former employment program student, who read the lessons, and Margaret Williams, a longtime representative payee program volunteer, who led the Prayers of the People.

People who attended the dedication also had the chance to tour the facility. v

acolytes, cantor and thurifer.

They also sold baked goods to raise money for a mission trip to Honduras this summer.

Ascension, Neodesha marked its name festival with a special Ascension Day service May 9.

Coffeyville’s vicar the Rev. Antoinette Tackkett was the celebrant.

St. Matthew’s, Newton marked the seventh anniversary of the parish’s representative payee program, which had begun in 1997 under the umbrella of Episcopal Social Services in Wichita.

It became a free-standing program in 2006 and now serves about 125 people each month.

St. Aidan’s, Olathe offers a service on Sundays at 1 p.m. for residents of Sunrise, an assisted living facility near the church.

The service is led by Deacon Fran Wheeler with assistance of a Eucharistic Visitor, with as many as 25 people attending.

Grace, Ottawa provided a fun evening for area teens during spring break when Bryan Turner and his heavy metal band were joined by two other groups for a jam session in the church basement. It was reported to be a fun but really loud evening.

St. Thomas, Overland Park prepared for final approval of occupancy for its new addition, which includes an expanded parish hall and kitchen, which provides greater space and a welcome through a new exterior entrance.

St. John’s, Parsons continues

to offer its weekly school-year, Thursday-night Laundry and Latte outreach to students at Labette Community College at the local laundromat.

St. Peter’s, Pittsburg Sunday school collected more than $1,100 during Lent toward the purchase of animals for people in need through the Heifer Project. The parish also helped collect toiletry items for the local Wesley House to aid people in need.

St. Luke’s, Shawnee launched a new Saturday evening service April 6, described as “informal, inclusive and inquiring.” The church also encouraged Sunday morning regulars to commit to attend the Saturday service for a period of time to help it become established.

St. Francis, Stilwell had to improvise liturgically when a snowstorm cancelled the Palm Sunday service. Instead they celebrated the blessing of the palms before the start of the Maundy Thursday agape meal. Other Holy Week services took place as scheduled.

Grace Cathedral, Topeka is recruiting men and women to play on the church softball team this summer. The group plays in a lower-level competition league through the county Parks and Recreation Department.

St. David’s, Topeka has started a monthly fellowship dinner called “Super Saints Social Supper.” The first gathering in February drew 220 people, and subsequent ones brought together

folks who worship at the church’s four weekend services.

St. Luke’s, Wamego Wednesday evening children’s ministry has planted its annual spring garden, with lettuce, onions, broccoli and potatoes now in the ground.

The weekly ministry also includes a potluck supper.

Good Shepherd, Wichita had a special stewardship event in February to mark Chinese New Year with fellowship, culture and food, including spring rolls, lettuce wraps and a hot pot. Another event is scheduled in May. St. Bartholomew’s, Wichita continues its monthly free giveaway of clothing from its extensive clothing bank. It also makes its inventory available any time the Episcopal Wichita Area Refugee Ministry welcomes Burmese arrivals from refugee camps.

St. James’, Wichita provided its 84th annual Olde English Tea May 4, complete with high tea delicacies like finger sandwiches and lemon curd tarts, as well as a bake shop, fashion shows and a variety of items for sale.

St. John’s, Wichita hosted a family game day April 13, with all ages welcome. It was a nonelectronic event, with the focus on family board games.

Grace, Winfield members came to church April 28 in work clothes and then spent time cleaning and polishing the wooden pews and other wooden appointments in the altar area. v

March/April 2013 • The Harvest • 9

People

Mission rector meets with Army officials at Ft. Leavenworth By the Rev. Gail Greenwell

Submitted photo

The Rev. Gail Greenwell is joined by her student escort, Major Rob Parmenter, during her April participation in a National Security Roundtable discussion at the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth. She was the only clergyperson invited.

In late April I had the great privilege of participating in a once-in-a-lifetime experience — the National Security Roundtable at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Ft. Leavenworth. I am grateful to friend and St. Michael’s member Jeff Ellis for nominating me to serve as a civilian participant among such luminaries as retired three-star generals, defense contractors and experts in cyber-espionage.

The CGSC recruits the best and brightest Army officers for this highly specialized degree in Advanced Military Studies. Nearing the end of their degree program in April, the college invites civilians to engage in the Security Roundtable with students, retired generals, military contractors, professors and current officers.

In surprisingly candid debate and information sharing, we were able to learn how the Army is looking at current threats and challenges — such as the drawdown in Afghanistan — and how they are looking at ethical challenges such as cyber-warfare.

I was impressed with the transparency with which they discussed some of the ethical shortfalls of the past — Abu Ghraib torture and the Petraeus infidelity scandal.

I had expected, and hoped, that most of the questions would be directed at the civilian experts in security and electronics.

What surprised me were the questions they directed at me, the only clergyperson.

They wanted my thoughts on the ethics of nation building, the social consequences of refugees and relocations, and the ethics of creating a cyber-equivalent of human beings. “What is the essence of being human?” one student asked me.

It was clear that these men and women greatly value the input of civilians. They are very much aware of the tendency toward “group think” when the planning and feedback come only from within. Much of what we discussed has crossover application to leadership and planning in any context.

There were times in the discussion I felt dizzy from all of the acronyms. It was like immersion in a foreign language. It was a rich discussion and one in which I gained much and maybe even contributed. Retired Lt. General John Miller invited me to return in the fall for another event they call the Symposium on Ethics.

My student escort, Major Rob Parmenter also is a Portland, Oregon, native, so we had much in common. He will graduate in a few weeks and then will be deployed to Afghanistan. This is a particularly difficult and delicate time for this mission, as we draw down our troops.

I ask your prayers for Major Parmenter and all of his colleagues. Our country has a promising future with these men and women as representatives of our nation and as military leaders.

The Rev. Gail Greenwell is rector of St. Michael and All Angels in Mission. v

Seabury senior named area scholar She has been editor-in-chief Emilie Padgett, a senior at Bishop Seabury Academy of the school’s newspaper and has worked on the in Lawrence, has yearbook since been named the eighth grade. She top scholar on the also has been active Academic All-Star Team selected by in student governthe Lawrence Jourment. nal-World.

She lettered in tennis, basketball She was selected and soccer, and from 28 Lawrencehelped start a swim area students who team at the school. were nominated by Emilie Padgett She also has their principals and been an active volunteer at the counselors.

Padgett has earned a number Lawrence Community Shelter, of academic awards and will be the Special Olympics and the attending Duke University in the Lawrence Humane Society.

Her parents are Brent and fall. Her interests include journalism, chemistry and business. Melissa Padgett. v

Clergy news The Rev. Patrick Funston has accepted a call to become rector of St. Paul’s in Manhattan and will begin his ministry there on July 1. For the past two years Funston has been chaplain and teacher at Bishop Seabury Academy, the diocese’s secondary school in Lawrence. His wife, Michael, recently served as interim youth missioner for the diocese.

The Rev. Chris Arnold has been appointed by Bishop Wolfe as priest in charge at St. Andrew’s, Emporia. He will begin his ministry there at the end of June. Arnold most recently has served as priest in charge of St. Mary’s in Middlesboro, Ky., in the Diocese of Lexington.

The Rev. Bill Breedlove, assistant rector at St. Michael and All Angels in Mission since June 2009, has accepted a call to become rector of Church of the Good Shepherd in Hayesville, N.C. His last Sunday at St. Michael’s was May 5.

Condolences go to Deacon Leland Allen on the death of his wife, Roberta, on April 28; to the Very Rev. Steve Lipscomb on the death of his father, Harry, on April 16; and to Archdeacon Monte Giddings on the death of his father, Carl, on April 23. v

Photo by Melodie Woerman

Jackie Meens (left), president of the Episcopal Church Women of Province 7, joins Ellen Wolfe during the April Women’s Summit in Wichita. Meens made her first visit to the Diocese of Kansas to attend the event.

Province 7 ECW president visits Kansas Jackie Meens, president of the Episcopal Church Women for Province 7, made her first trip ever to the Diocese of Kansas in April to attend the Women’s Summit and came away impressed with the number of young participants.

“Seeing all the young women here is really touching,” she said.

“To see all the ones born in the 70s, 80s, 90s — you just don’t see that. This is the first diocese where I’ve seen that.”

Meens, who is from the Diocese of Fort Worth, came at the suggestion of Lonnie Isaak, a member of Epiphany, Independence who is the Province 7 rep-

resentative to the national ECW board.

Meens said she is committed to visiting each of the 12 dioceses in the province, a regional grouping that stretches from Kansas and Missouri to the southwest and includes Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and parts of Louisiana and New Mexico.

Her goal is simple — to get more women involved in the work of the Episcopal Church at the province level. To do that, she said, “I have to meet them face to face.”

She wants to make official women’s organizations like Epis-

copal Church Women more relevant. “We need to make ECW something valuable,” she said.

She wants women to be more aware of the historic role they have played in the church, founding many early congregations and sustaining them financially.

She also wants to support women in the ministries they undertake within the church today.

Meens said she looks forward to sharing her experience at the Women’s Summit with others in the province. Beyond that, she said she found her time in Wichita “enriching personally.”

— Melodie Woerman v

10 • The Harvest • March/April 2013

National and international news Anglican news briefs Episcopal News Service and Anglican Communion News Service  Courts in two states return property to the Episcopal Church. Judges in California and Virginia have ruled that property claimed by people who have left the Episcopal Church does not belong to them and must be returned. Orange County Superior Court Judge Kim G. Dunning on May 6 reaffirmed her May 1 order that property occupied by St. James Church, Newport Beach, Calif., is held in trust for the current and future ministry of the Diocese of Los Angeles and the wider Episcopal Church.

On April 18 the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed an earlier ruling returning Episcopalians to their church home at The Falls Church in Falls Church, Va.  Primate to lead South Sudan national reconciliation process. The president of South Sudan has appointed the archbishop of the Episcopal Church of Sudan to chair the national reconciliation committee “trying to heal the mental wounds”’ in the world’s newest nation after 40 years of war. Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul was appointed by Salva Kiir, who was facing many questions from the public and the media about why the he had earlier suspended the “much-needed” national reconciliation process. The committee will launch a national campaign for reconciliation coordinated over the next four to five years by the Office of President and the South Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission.  Diocese of Chicago to share $10 million gift. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago announced April 25 that it will share a $10 million gift from Ab Nicholas and his wife, Nancy. Mr. Nicholas is the founder of a Milwaukee-based investment advisory firm that manages mutual funds. It is the largest gift in the diocese’s 187year history. The gift will be shared with Living Compass Faith and Wellness Initiative and will create The Nicholas Center, a facility at the St. James Commons in downtown Chicago. The center, expected to open in 2014, will be home to overnight retreats and programs that foster the health and wellness of Episcopal leaders and the vitality of church congregations.  Delaware, Rhode Island bishops welcome same-sex marriage laws. The Episcopal Church bishops of Rhode Island and Delaware both were active supporters of the legislative processes that led to those two states becoming the 10th and 11th states to allow same-sex marriage, and now they are working with their dioceses to respond to the changes in state law. Bishop Nicholas Knisely of Rhode Island said he would allow same-sex marriages to occur in congregations where both the clergy and vestry are in agreement. Delaware Bishop Wayne Wright said he will be talking to clergy and lay leaders of congregations “about how we can best respond and support them in their pastoral ministries.”  Ghana storms affected 25,000, destroy churches, schools, clinics. The northern region of Ghana has been hit by several storms during March and April and the government has declared the affected areas a disaster zone. There are five dead, many injured, and flooded areas that have resulted in the displacement of people, the loss of property and the loss of crops. In total, more than 25,000 people have been affected. Several homes and institutions have been affected, including 12 Anglican school and two Anglican clinics. Four churches had their roofs ripped off.  Diocese of Texas approves transfer of hospital. The Episcopal Diocese of Texas on April 19 approved an agreement for the transfer of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System to Catholic Health Initiatives, a nationally recognized health care system. CHI will contribute more than $1 billion to create a new Episcopal Health Foundation, which will focus on the unmet health needs of the area’s underserved population. In addition, CHI has committed an additional $1 billion for future investment in the health system.

The diocese said it remains committed to its health care mission through the new Episcopal Health Foundation.  British called to pray for the media. Churches and Christians in England were urged to mark Sunday, May 12 as a special day of prayer for the media and to contact their local newspaper, radio and TV station to find out what prayers they would like on their behalf. The call came from the Church and Media Network, which works to promote links between the church and the media. v

Episcopalians among those impacted by Boston bombings Compiled from reports by Episcopal News Service The bombings that rocked the Boston Marathon April 15 severely injured a teacher at a Maryland Episcopal school but otherwise left Episcopal Church members physically unharmed.

Erika Brannock, 29, who teaches preschoolers at Trinity Episcopal Children’s Center in Towson, Md., lost part of her left leg after being injured by one of the bombs. She was in Boston to cheer for her mother, who was one of the runners and was uninjured.

Brannock’s sister, Nicole Gross, 31, suffered two broken legs and a severed Achilles tendon, according to media reports.

Together in prayer

One church, Trinity at Copley Square, was near the finish line and was closed for several days while the area was treated as a crime scene by law enforcement authorities. But even then members found a way to be together for prayer and support.

Just three days after the bombing, what the Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, Trinity priest in charge, called “a goodly number of Trinity parishioners” gathered for a service of music and prayers at the intersection of Berkeley and Boylston streets, which had become the main gathering place for the area still closed by the attacks.

During the service the choristers led the singing of “Amazing Grace” and “America the Beautiful.”

Lloyd said, “I can’t tell you how good it was to see the faces of our Trinity community, the strength it brought to catch up with one another, the assurance it gave that we’re all in this together.”

The Temple Israel synagogue opened its doors to the congregation on Sunday, April 21, and Trinity’s congregation filled the 900-seat sanctuary. The FBI allowed Trinity officials a half hour on April 20 to go inside their building to gather vestments and the wine and bread for Eucharist, according to one report.

Photo by Trinity Church, Boston

Members of Trinity Church Copley Square prepare for Holy Eucharist April 21 at Temple Israel. The church was closed that day because it is located near where the Boston Marathon bombs went off and was within the area cordoned off by police as a crime scene.

Rabbi Ronne Friedman told CNN that the synagogue was honored to host Trinity in an hour of need.

“It was beautiful, moving,” he said. “And it was a reminder of the deep bonds that exist between us.

It reminded us all that our proximity is not just geographical.”

He added, “I think we all very much felt it was one Boston.”

‘So, where is God?’

During the service Lloyd addressed a question on the minds of many. “So where is God when the terrorists do their work?” Lloyd asked. “God is there, holding us and sustaining us. God is in the pain the victims are suffering, and the healing that will go on. God is with us as we try still to build a just world, a world where there will not be terrorists doing their terrible damage.”

The Church of the Good Shepherd in Watertown is just a few blocks away from where the

second bombing suspect was captured on April 19 and near the scene of a shoot-out between the suspects and police.

The Rev. Amy McCreath, Good Shepherd’s priest-in-charge, was in touch with her congregation by email on April 19 while residents were asked to stay off the streets and again after the nearby capture that evening.

The church was open on April 20 for prayer and companionship.

Diocese of Massachusetts Bishop Thomas Shaw, SSJE, came to Good Shepherd on Sunday, April 21 “as a sign to us of the prayers and companionship of the larger church,” McCreath told her parishioners.

The church had healing ministers to pray with people during communion and a guided discussion during the Liturgy of the Word for children, “to help them process the events of the week and recover their calm and hope.” v

Church members safe after Texas explosion A day after the April 17 devastating explosion of a fertilizer plant, reports confirm Episcopalians from West, Texas, are safe, according to officials from St. Paul’s, Holy Spirit, and St. Alban’s in Waco, just 15 miles to the south.

The blast killed 14 and injured more than 200.

“It felt like a bomb and sounded like a bomb,” said Joanna Strom, a West resident who is also the parish secretary for St. Paul’s in Waco. Strom, who lives a few miles from the fertilizer plant, knew there was something wrong immediately.

The Rev. Chuck Treadwell, rector of St. Paul’s, said everyone was accounted for at their church and school. Holy Spirit, Waco, reported that a couple

of their families lived in West, but they are OK, although one of the families had to be evacuated.

St. Alban’s, Waco, also reported everyone as safe.

Calls to the West-area churches came from a number of worried Episcopalians eager to help.

On April 23, Diocese of Texas disaster relief coordinators visited the area to make an assessment on behalf of the diocese.

The Ven. Russ Oechsel, archdeacon, and the Rev. Gill Keyworth are veteran responders, playing integral roles in the recovery after Hurricane Ike in Galveston and the wildfires in Bastrop.

— Reports from Episcopal News Service and the Episcopal Diocese of Texas v

March/April 2013 • The Harvest • 11

Seven months later, effects of Hurricane Sandy remain

By Mary Frances Schjonberg Episcopal News Service When Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the United States seven months ago, the so-called “Frankenstorm” gave some New Jersey Episcopalians new ways of understanding the biblical experiences of exile and Passover.

The winter contingent of St. Elisabeth’s Chapel-by-the-Sea in Ortley Beach is in exile. Sandy swept the seasonal chapel off its moorings near the beach, across Barnegat peninsula and into the bay the night of Oct. 29, 2012.

The members are worshipping in East Dover Baptist Church on the mainland each Sunday.

It’s a nice building and the people and pastor have been very welcoming, Senior Warden Dennis Bellars said. After the bishop’s chair was found in the ruins of Ortley Beach, the congregation allowed the St. Elisabeth’s members to keep it in the sanctuary.

Still, Bellars said, “it’s not home.”

About 40 miles south in Beach Haven near the end of Long Beach Island, Holy Innocents Episcopal Church sits about a very short block from the Atlantic with Pearl Street forming the northern boundary of its block.

Sandy breached the Pearl Street dune and “green sea water was running down Pearl Street for a couple of tides,” according to the Rev. Frank Crumbaugh, Holy Innocents’ rector.

Houses on the north side of Pearl Street were flooded but the water got no closer to the church and rectory than the sidewalk on the south, he said.

“That’s a powerful sign of deliverance,” Crumbaugh told Episcopal News Service. “When you look at that, you understand what ‘Passover’ means in a new way.”

Yet, Crumbaugh is clear that “we weren’t preserved to celebrate our good fortune; we were preserved to stand

Iola church reaches out to hurricane victims

Photo by Tim Larsen, office of Gov. Chris Christie

Rain dumped during Hurricane Sandy floods homes and businesses near the ocean north of Seaside, N.J. on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012

with people who weren’t and that’s been a powerful sign in Beach Haven.”

And that has been the other power biblical lesson Sandy left in its wake: churches have a role in their communities based in Scripture.

‘We are alive’

“Everybody knows what we’ve suffered and lost, and everybody continues to feel those losses and, at the same time, we’re like Paul,” Crumbaugh said.

“We’re chastised but not killed; killed and, see, we are alive.”

The same could be said in Tuckerton, on the mainland about 10 miles across the bay from Beach Haven.

“I really am trying very much to have this congregation be the church, which is really the body of Christ connected to one another and the world in a way that hopefully is somewhat different than a secular relief institution,” said the Rev. Martha McKee, vicar of Church of the Holy Spirit in Tuckerton.

“We’re working very hard on supporting the people who need help and

walking with them through this process, but also supporting the people who are helping others.”

Each congregation is faced or will be faced with the task of discerning what role it is being called to take in the post-Sandy life of its surrounding community.

While the St. Elisabeth members hope to be back in their repaired fellowship hall in time for summer services, they face the larger issue of how to rebuild their church.

Insurance will cover the cost of rebuilding the same size building out of the same materials, Bellars said, but the members have many ideas beyond those basics.

Keith Adams, Diocese of New Jersey disaster recovery coordinator, will soon host a visioning session for St. Elisabeth members.

Some of the members, Adams said, have already told him that if God took away the church and left them with a clean lot “then God wants us to do something; he’s giving us an opportunity.” v

The people of St. Timothy’s, Iola, are continuing their relationship with the people of St. Elisabeth’s Chapelby-the-Sea in Ortley Beach that was begun in the weeks after Hurricane Sandy swept away the congregation’s church building.

The small conSubmitted photo gregation in south- The Rev. Jan Chubb holds east Kansas has a teddy bear bound for New been sending teddy Jersey to give hope and bears with bright comfort to someone hit by sunflower necker- Hurricane Sandy. chiefs, accompanied by gift cards and notes of support, and they regularly receive thank-you notes from grateful New Jerseyans.

One woman wrote, “In the midst of all of the sadness and destruction that Super Storm Sandy unleashed on us, St. Timothy’s has brought me hope and opened my heart.”

Another wrote, “When I received your card, I cannot begin to tell you how much it has meant to me during these trying times. I have it in a frame in my kitchen and look at it often for inspiration. Bless you my friends.”

Thanks to the efforts of the Rev. Jan Chubb, the church’s vicar, the entire diocese has the opportunity to provide kitchen and other household items for people who lost everything in the massive storm.

Called “Heart of the Home,” the project asks churches to collect kitchen supplies, home office items or other household goods (extension cords, shower curtains, etc.) to help people once they are able to return to a home.

A brochure describing the project is on the diocesan website at http://www.episcopal-ks.org/life/ documents/Heart-of-the-Home.pdf. v

Global mission is focus of meeting in Bogotá Lynette Wilson Episcopal News Service

Photo by Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson (left), Church of Sweden Archbishop Anders Wejryd and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori show off a statement pledging concerted environmental action.

Churches pledge climate conversation The Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Church of Sweden (Lutheran) committed during a climate change conference in Washington, D.C. My 1-2 to “leading a conversion of epic scale, a metanoia, or communal spiritual movement away from sin and despair toward the renewal and healing of all creation.”

The theme of the conference was “sustaining hope in the face of climate change.”

The conference included two public sessions at St. John’s Episcopal Church at Lafayette Square, across from the White House, as well as visits to Capital Hill by the official participants to advocate for climatechange action. — Episcopal News Service v

An hour and half outside densely populated Bogotá in the mountains sits Mision de Santa Marta and behind it, a farm.

It is the only parish in Facatativá, a municipality populated by mostly farmers, and in addition to the farm — which is not under cultivation because of lack of resources — the parish runs a clinic. On May 8, more than 50 people attending the Global Episcopal Mission Network conference visited Iglesia Santa Maria.

Ninety Episcopalians from North, Central and South America and the Caribbean met May 5-9 in Bogotá, Colombia, for the network’s 18th annual conference. This one’s theme was “Companions in Faith and Resources: Participating in God’s Mission.”

GEMN is a network of individuals, representatives of development organizations and diocesan mission representatives who are committed to sharing mission information and promoting mission.

In a departure from previous GEMN conferences, in addition to mission, the Bogotá gathering included a focus on financial sustainability. In 2012 the dioceses of Province 9 adopted self-sustainability as a focus.

Founded in 1963, the Diocese of Colombia is

the youngest diocese in the Episcopal Church and one of seven Province 9 dioceses spread across the Caribbean and Central and northern South America.

The others include Venezuela, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador Central, Ecuador Litoral and Honduras, all of which were represented at the conference.

Conference attendees had the opportunity to visit Mision Del Espiritu Santo, a small parish located in Soacha, a poor community on the outskirts of Bogotá populated by internally displaced people, where the church has started a program that serves single mothers and homeless women providing education, assistance with health care and empowerment.

Participants also had an opportunity to learn more about the social and economic situation in Colombia through mission site visits including Mision Divino Salvador, a parish in Bogotá that provides a shelter for homeless elderly people and also runs an after-school program for area youth.

GEMN, the largest mission group in the Episcopal Church, provides a place for people interested in mission to connect and share ideas, said Tim Skimina, chair of Companions in Christ, a Diocese of Northern Indiana ministry with the Diocese of Honduras, and a GEMN board member.

“Anyone who is interested in mission can be involved in GEMN,” he said. v

12 • The Harvest • March/April 2013

Reflections on faith and life

Sharing the Good News

Confirmation class leads to building own beliefs Note: This reflection on 1 Corinthians 13 was written by a member of the youth confirmation class at St. Michael and All Angels in Mission as part of the “iConfirm” service that concludes their confirmation instruction.

I’ve played every trick in the book to avoid those Sunday morning classes, and I never thought I’d be saying this, but I am so glad my mom has kept pushing me to go, because the things I’ve learned have been so valuable.

I now know how to share my ideas. I’ve learned

By Natalie Kidwell to accept other beliefs. I’ve taken huge steps in my journey with God. Love. That’s what God is all about.

I’m learning to enjoy the little things. I’m quesBut if this kind of love was portrayed on TV tioning what I’ve been taught. I’m building my shows, it’d be a bit of a letdown, wouldn’t it? In own beliefs. fact, most of the time, it is And above all, I’m learning rude, it does insist on its own that love never ends. way. But if this love that I’m learning to enjoy Thank you Kelbe, Bill, Jim, we’ve grown accustomed to the little things. I’m Steve and Laurie for never givisn’t love, then where do we ing up on me. Thank you Penny, find real love? questioning what Karen and Sue for all the things The answer is simple — I’ve been taught.

I’m you guys have done for me over God. That much is obvious. the years.

But how do you find God building my own Thank you, Mom and Dad, in a supposedly post-Chrisbeliefs. And above for showing me how to believe. tian world? This is the major all, I’m learning that Than you Lou and Nate for all challenge that I have faced. the laughs we’ve shared. Thank I’ve been afraid to come love never ends. you, Ms. Nicole, for treating me to Youth Group. I’ve been like an adult, talking to me and scared to come to confirmabeing an amazing mentor. tion class. Not because of Thank you, St. Michael’s, for helping to shape what I might find there, but who. I’ll admit to it.

I’m afraid of being judged; I’m scared to be dif- my faith in every way imaginable.

And finally, thank you God, for teaching me ferent; I’m afraid of being vulnerable. that love never ends.

If someone attacks your beliefs, they make you Natalie Kidwell was confirmed at St. Michael’s question everything you know, everybody you’ve on May 5 by Bishop Dean Wolfe. v ever trusted.

Diocesan Calendar June 2013

July 2013

1 Camp staff orientation, Camp Wood YMCA, Elmdale

1 Bishop Wolfe on vacation (through July 14)

Bishop Wolfe in Kenya (through June 11) 2 MegaCamp, for youth in grades 3-12, Camp Wood YMCA, Elmdale (through June 8)

15 MissionPalooza, youth urban ministry experience, St. Paul’s, Kansas City, Mo. (through July 21) 16 Council of Trustees meeting, Bethany Place Conference Center

8 English mystical tradition class, Bethany Place Conference Center (through June 9) 13 Education for Ministry training, Bethany Place Conference Center and Grace Cathedral (through June 15) 16 Bishop Wolfe on vacation (through July 14)

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www.episcopal-ks.org

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