Sermon: Pentecost 2 2013

Here is my sermon from last Sunday, Pentecost 2, 2013. Bishop Yu was making his annual visitation, so I was thinking about how the Gospel for the day (Jesus healing the Centurion's Slave, Luke 7.1-10) could teach us about the Bishop-Parish relationship. Also on my mind were the brilliantly theatrical Elijah vs. 450 Prophets of Baal passage (1 Kings 18.20-39) and Paul's defensive-sounding opening in his Letter to the Galatians (Galatians 1.1-12).

By the way, Our awesome "Leader of the Readers" had assigned herself to the Elijah reading and decided to dramatize it. She didn't even feel the need to ask me, which is why she is so awesome.

After my sermon, during the response time, there were some really good reflections from people, but I don't feel it's appropriate for me to share those online at this point. Maybe some day. But this week they noted that basically sometimes we are the outsiders, and sometimes we are the insiders, and understanding which position we occupy in which context is important.

A visiting seminary professor paid me the great compliment of saying that our Liturgy of the Word (the first half of the service leading up to the Offertory) was more "robust" than a typical Anglican Church. He was particularly impressed with the quality of the readings, psalmody, and my responsive sermon. Certainly a richer engagement with the scriptural Word has been a priority of mine for the past two years or so.

So it was a very successful visit with the Bishop, and I think it reflected many of the best qualities of Messiah.

Archbishop Justin's Enthronement Sermon

Regular readers will know I am very fond of Canterbury Cathedral and that I have been there several times for retreats and pilgrimage. One of the neat things about watching the new Archbishop of Canterbury's "Enthronement" was seeing some faces in the background that I know from my time there. The Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral, of course, but also some of the vergers with their cassocks and cool ear-bud-radio setups. The best video I've been able to find that is streamable is this one:



It includes his short sermon, which I thought was quite nice. He talks about how God's Grace liberates our courage to get out of the boat and attempt to walk on the waves. There is a lot of talk like that in Christian circles on both sides of the pond. The rest of the ceremony was a beautiful example of English Cathedral Worship at its best, and it makes me long for it. I could swear I could feel the coolness of those stones (and oh, if they could talk!). So much beauty and gravitas, and yet it was all so human. Sigh.

But I couldn't help but have my impressions of the moment tempered by the gut-wrenching posts of the MadPriest blogger (Reverend Jonathan Hagger):

I was ordained nearly eighteen years ago. In all that time I have broken no canon laws and I have not been subject to any disciplinary proceedings. I have not even broken those laws that morally perhaps I should break. All I want is permission to officiate. I cannot understand how the church authorities can get away with punishing me without there being a crime or any due process. I am in pain. My wife is in pain. My marriage is in pain because of all the pain. To stop this pain I need one man to sign a piece of paper giving me permission to officiate. After that I can begin, with the help of women, to return to my vocation in life. I simply do not understand why this cannot happen in a blink of an eye and the frustrating ridiculousness of it all is driving me mad. This is just theatre. They are going to open the door for him whatever because his face fits. All his life doors have been opened for him. I asked him to open a door for me and he said he "no".(Source)

And there you have it--the double nature of the church as both blessed and broken. And for every inspiring bishop who rises to the "throne" you find scattered about plenty of broken and scarred people who did their best. I'm not saying anything negative about Archbishop Justin or about whether or not Jonathan is right to be so hurt by him. I know very, very little about that particular situation. Understanding the details wouldn't change the fact, however, that Jonathan is in pain. He was called to serve God, got ordained, and now feels abandoned by the institutional church. And when I hear a story like that I take it as a solemn warning that the same thing could very well happen to me in the blink of the eye. Read the Psalms if you don't believe me.

So this business about "stepping out onto the waves" gets real right quick when your job or something else you love is on the line. And I think that we need to stare death in the face if we are going to swing our legs over the gunwale. For every majestic enthronement I think we need to listen to at least one story like Jonathan's to keep us honest about what we are about when we follow Christ. We are about dying in order to live. We are supposed to pick up our cross daily and follow Him, and that entails stumbling, often.

Episcopal Election Time!

The Diocese of Toronto is really big--some say the biggest in the world: 237 congregations spread across 26,000 square kilometres. It would be utterly impossible for one bishop to cover such a vast area, so the "Diocesan" Bishop (Colin Johnson) is assisted by four "Suffragan" bishops. In Toronto we also call these "Area Bishops" because they are each responsible for a particular geographic chunk.

One of these, George Elliott, is retiring, so an election has been called to replace him. Each active clergy person gets a vote, as do representatives of the non-ordained from each congregation. The number of "lay delegates" for the election depends on the number of parishioners on an average Sunday. Messiah gets one. They are elected an the Annual Vestry Meeting of each parish.

This will be my third episcopal election since moving into this Diocese seven years ago (the last two elected Linda Nicholls and Patrick Yu). With each election I find myself more and more invested in the process for several reasons. First, I actually know most of the people running--some of them quite well and some only by reputation. Second, I've become more engaged with Diocesan level projects that will be greatly impacted by the election. Third, I see how my particular parish will also be impacted by the decisions that this person makes (not so much directly, since we are currently in Patrick Yu's area and it seems unlikely that the Archbishop will shuffle the areas around, but indirectly as they collaborate with the other Bishops in a council known as the "College of Bishops"). And fourth, because I'm more connected than ever with my clerical colleagues, this is something we like to talk a lot about.

Incidentally, I was honoured to be asked to be an official nominator for one of the candidates: The Rev. Canon Dr. Isaac Kawuki-Mukasa. I know Isaac from when he worked as part of the Congregational Development Department of the Diocese. He came to Messiah a couple of times when I first arrived to facilitate some group discernment processes.

To help people decide their vote, the Diocese decided to produce a video interview which I will post below. I was not directly part of the team that produced this video, except that I provided some technical advice to Tim Harry (the Diocesan Videographer) as my church provides the space for his production office. (I'm hoping to expand this production capacity in the future, BTW, but that's another blog post). I've been working with Tim as a Producer, Executive Producer, video-geek, or dude-about-church for some time now, and it's been gratifying to see how his skills have been quickly increasing. He was under a lot of time pressure to produce this video quickly and at very little expense, and I think he did a fantastic job. I should also mention that he was assisted by Ian Ford on the shoot.



It's really neat to me to see how the production quality and turn around time of these video projects for the Diocese are getting better and better. But even more significantly, the culture around the use of media in the Diocese has shifted to the point that I think everyone just assumed that such a video would be created. It has become one of the many tools we use to communicate. There is also a facebook page specifically set up for people to ask their questions and for candidates to respond in a free-form social media dialogue. It's not much a step from this to honest-to-God evangelism with content intended for those outside the church family. I'm certainly advocating and working to make that a reality in various ways.

Anyway, back to the election! Here are the candidates:

• The Rev. Canon Andrew Asbil
• The Rev. Canon Allan Budzin
• The Ven. Peter Fenty
• The Ven. Gordon Finney
• The Rev. Canon Dr. Isaac Kawuki-Mukasa
• The Rev. Mark Kinghan
• The Rev. Warren Leibovitch
• The Rev. Canon Stephen Peake
• The Rev. Canon Jennifer Reid
• The Rev. Nicola Skinner
• Major The Rev. David Warren

As I said, I know many of these candidates well, but part of the nature of church election, versus a straight-up civil one, is that it is not considered polite to be too forthright about your support. One is always supposed to couch their opinions about who would make a good leader in various pious nods to humility or God's will or something like that. But buy me a drink and I'll tell you what I think (as, indeed, I think most people involved in this process will). There are substantial differences between these candidates, more so than the video would even suggest since it was difficult to get into depth with 11 candidates, three questions, and 40 minutes!

I find this process fun. Major aspects of how we live out God's call are at stake--and that's fun to discuss and debate. No smoke coming out chimney's, perhaps, but it's still an eccentric and foible-filled way to choose a leader!

A Day at the Diocese

I had back-to-back meetings at the Diocese today. First there was the pre-meeting meeting. Then there was a meeting. Then a post-meeting meeting. Then another meeting. Then another post-meeting meeting. Uhhg. But at least they were interesting meetings. Several of them were about the upcoming Vital Church Planting Conference. I'm one of the organizers this year. One of my responsibilities is organizing the workshops. One of these will be given by Archbishop Johnson, so I had a meeting with him and two of my colleagues to brainstorm about the workshop.

It's the first time I've been in, or even seen, his Grace's Office. I've been in Bishop Yu's office a few times, of course, but never my boss's boss. It's nice without being opulent. Certainly it's much smaller than the positively palatial episcopal offices I remember from the Diocese of Connecticut! There were the usual religious nick-knacks: icons and crosses and portraits of his predecessors. I noted that the Archbishop doesn't care for the overhead florescent lighting, using window light and lamps instead. The couch was comfortable, seemed like it would work well for napping (my main criteria for judging couches). I showed him a baby picture of Henry and showed me a picture of his newest grand daughter.

The meeting itself went quite well. We had little difficulty organizing our thoughts about what we need to cover and how we will go about doing it. Eventually "++Colin Toronto" opened up a diptych-thing hanging on the wall to reveal a white board. I smiled, thinking of the white board in my own office that currently has notes about Holy Week. At the end of the meeting I took a picture of the white board with my cell phone camera and e-mailed to one of my partners in crime, who is going to type them up. I think we all felt energized by the upcoming Conference. The coffee his Assistants brought us didn't hurt, either.

From there it was straight into another meeting. This time it was the "Fresh Expressions Working Group." These are the folks that oversee church plants and other new ministries emerging in the Diocese as they come to the Diocese seeking support. It's a wonderful committee to be on, because we get to talk about all the new, wonderful things happening. it's exciting and humbling to hear about the kinds of ministry happening all around us.

Also, the sandwiches were quite good today. The Admin. Assistant that ordered them is new, and so the caterer was new, too. None of us get paid to serve on this committee, so good sandwiches are probably a sound investment considering that some very talented people volunteer their time on committees and boards like this! I look at people like Duke V. and Jenny A. with a certain amount of awe. Check out The Church of the Resurrection to see what I mean--Duke did an amazing job rebooting that parish. Jenny is now the Canon Missioner for the Diocese and has recently produced this Lenten Bible Study to help parishes begin to think in terms of the Missio Dei. The Diocese has come a long way even in just the last couple of years towards realigning the entire organization towards a missional future, and I'm really excited by the possibilities that creates for a place like Messiah.

The truth is, my participation in all these Diocesan projects is not entirely altruistic. The future of the Diocese and the future of my parish are very much linked, and the opportunities for Messiah's future are to be found in the conversations around Fresh Expressions and Missional Church. I'm learning a ton about the new reality of the church in the 21st Century through my service to the diocese and I expect that my parish will benefit. Churches that are willing and able to adapt to the new ways of being church will thrive. Those that don't are going to continue the long, slow slide into obsolesce. I'm not saying that "inherited" church won't continue, it will, but it will be touched by transforming grace, too. Mission is not optional.

It was an exhilarating five and a half hours straight of meetings for me. Sitting in the car to drive home I realized that my brain felt like cottage cheese left out on the counter too long. I spent the balance of the day working from home, answering e-mails and making calls. For supper I cooked a quick stir-fry to use up some veggies. So it goes.

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FEWG

FEWG--The Fresh Expressions Working Group--is a Diocesan Committee that primarily is responsible for overseeing church planting in the Diocese of Toronto. That means both serving as gate-keepers to the money set aside to assist in setting up church plants (through the grant process and ultimately controlled by Diocesan Council), but even more importantly we companion on-going projects, think strategically about where God may be calling the Diocese next, and recruit and discern potential missional leaders.

I'm a very junior member of this committee and have only been to three meetings so far, but I have to say that I am extremely impressed with how they do business/ministry. I'm not sure I have been a part of a committee than has been more open to the work of the Holy Spirit. It is not uncommon for people to speak about how they think God has been active in the work they are talking about. And we speak quite a lot about how God's providence is working itself out in the Diocese of Toronto. It's a very "spiritual" sort of discussion that we have around that table. It's also quite down-to-earth nuts-and-bolts, too, but there is no contradiction there. I wish there was a way to share some stories from that committee because I think people throughout the Diocese would be encouraged both by the good news of what we are discovering in this process as well as by the amazingly holy way that the committee and the planters have gone about the work of building up the Kingdom. Very, very cool.

I also appreciate how fun these meetings are. Lots of laughing and joking around. They feed us lunch (sandwiches and pop), and we do a devotional time before the meeting starts in earnest. The Archbishop, Colin "Double-Cross" Johnson, joins us. (His nickname "double-cross" comes from the way he follows the tradition of putting two crosses in front of his name since he became Archbishop.) The meetings last about two hours.

A sign of a good meeting is that everyone leaves feeling even more excited about their work than when they entered. Something about getting a group of enthusiastic people together ought to create something between them that it is powerful and exhilarating, you know?

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Feeling Papish?

The Vatican, ever helpful, has decided to make it easier for individuals, parishes, and perhaps even (crossed-Cardinal's-Fingers) dioceses to convert the Roman Catholicism.

A new canonical entity will allow groups of Anglicans “to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony,” Cardinal William Levada, the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said at a news conference here. (Source)

I can understand how the Vatican could see an opportunity here. There are some Anglican Churches that really don't like the overall move towards women bishops and allowing gay clergy, in particular. And really, is Anglican liturgy that different from the Roman Way? So why not simply take whole congregations lock-stock-and-barrel if they are willing to swear allegiance to the Holy See?

These congregations will get to keep their (married) clergy (presumably after they've been re-ordained) and their liturgies. However, they probably won't get to keep their buildings since these usually belong to the (Anglican/Episcopal) Diocese and not to the parish, per se.

Hard not to be cynical about this. Seems a bit opportunistic. Then again, we've been taking Roman Catholic refugees for a long time, too. But never whole parishes as far as I know.

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Bishop Johnson Elected Metropolitan

Bishop Johnson, the Bishop of the Diocese of Toronto, was just elected to be the Metropolitan for the Province of Ontario. This means that we will be the head of the Ecclesiastical Province that includes the Dioceses of Moosonee, Algoma, Ontario, Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara and Huron. Most Anglicans in Canada are within that jurisdiction. He will remain the Bishop of Toronto, but his new responsibilities will be added.

Archbishop Johnson outlined two areas that he would like to concentrate on. “I’d like to continue the work that the Province is doing in terms of advocacy, particularly for the poor and the needy in our society. The second area is continued work on renewal of theological education.” (He recently accepted the appointment by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be the chair of the Theological Education for the Anglican Communion International Steering Committee.) (source)

Congratulations to the now ARCHBishop, Colin Johnson!

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Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan, Greer, at a very important meeting. I think he's getting some surprising news.

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Video of Union Station B2CS Event

Here is a video based on the bishops' event at Union Station this morning. If you are interested in knowing more about Back to Church Sunday in the Diocese of Toronto, I heartily recommend Rev. Michael Calderwood's blog. He discusses it in more detail than I've done in these pages! You might also look at the Diocese's Back To Church Sunday Resource page.



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Operation MITRE

Philip + with Fr. Michelle in background

Colin + with Fr. Jeff in background

Regular readers know I'm one of the people in the Diocese of Toronto involved in making the Back to Church initiative happen. This is a programme coming out of the Church of England that encourages parishioners to invite people to church with them on a particular Sunday (this year: Sept. 27th).

The planning group met with Bishop Poole last week and decided that we needed to do something big to get some media attention and to encourage local churches and parishioners. So we decided to have the bishops stand in front of Union Station in Toronto handing out invitations to church! We ended up sending down four bishops (Colin, Patrick, Linda, and Philip) in full Regalia (alb, cope and mitre). Each bishop was given a chaplain in case the episcopal presence necessitated a major pastoral need. So Michelle Childs, Jeff Kennedy, Angela Emmerson, and I were there to field anyone who felt the need to have a longer conversation. We also had our Diocesan PR person (Stuart Mann) plus a consultant brought in to help with media relations.

First surprise: lots of media. Even before we left the Diocesan HQ at 6:40 A.M. Philip+ had done a radio interview for CBC. Two TV stations sent crews to meet us at the site. They cut live into Breakfast Television (a show on CityTV) for interviews with the bishop. We may be on CTV and CP24 tonight. For print media we had people from the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, and The National Post.

Second surprise: the media lingered. The reporters seemed quite engaged with the scene and stayed the whole time (about two hours) we were there. They snapped pitures and took man-on-the-street interviews.

Third surprise: we were received well by the crowds. We handed out 2,000 invitations in about an hour and a half. We had very, very little negativity. Most people accepted the invitations we handed out. A few declined. Others went out of their way to receive our handouts. Some were really glad to see us and greeted us enthusiastically. Two or three asked us to pray with them. Very few had anything negative to say, and that is remarkable!

So we walked back to the Diocesan offices to debrief feeling pretty good about ourselves! Certainly we managed to create some buzz!

Early press: Toronto Star....

Bishops make pitch to startled commuters
Denise Balkissoon
Staff Reporter

Idling taxis, hot dog stands and four smiling Anglican bishops in full regalia. That was the sight greeting sleepy-eyed commuters leaving Union Station during this morning's rush hour.

Sporting long, damask robes of pearly white or sky blue, heads topped with pointed bishop's hats, the clergy passed out cards encouraging the Bay Street hordes to make their way to a house of worship this Sunday. Most people accepted the handout drowsily, without comment; others seemed startled or amused at the group's elaborate outfits. A few passers-by stopped for quick chats before scurrying along to their offices.

"You invite people to baseball games or to the movies," said Bishop of Toronto Colin Johnson. "Traditionally, we've not been good at inviting people to come to church." .... (source)

The whole thing felt very Ninja-Priest like. I mean, there we were right in on the busiest spots in all of Canada, saying, "Good Morning!" Naturally, I got some video. I'm working like a madman in Premiere Pro editing it together...

Here's some of the National Post's take:

In full regalia, Anglican bishops go to Union Station seeking parishioners
By Matthew Coutts

A sight more commonly saved for Sunday, or not at all, greeted commuters leaving Union Station this morning: Anglican bishops in their ecclesiastical vestments welcoming them with a smile.

Wearing the white pointed hats, or mitres, and flowing gowns reserved for the leaders in the Anglican community, several area bishops gathered to invite passerby back to church.

Four bishops, including the Bishop of Toronto Colin Johnson, and several volunteers, canvassed Union Station as part of an international Christian initiative that designated September 27 as “Back to Church Sunday.”

“People have been falling out of the habit of going to their churches or places of worship,” said Bishop Philip Poole, area bishop for York-Credit Valley as he handed out simple cards inviting the recipient to be a guest at their local church.

“This isn’t about Anglican proselytization, this is about promoting a return to your place of worship.”

Bishop Poole said while most people will rush past to get to work, many people stop for a brief chat. Some of the most receptive were people from other religions, he said, who were open to discussing their connection to the their faith.

Dressed in a flowing baby blue gown, known as copes, Bishop Poole caught the eyes of a number of pedestrians as Bishop Linda Nicholls chatted with a young man while wearing a similar white and red outfit nearby. .... (Source)

A great way to spend the morning!

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The Bishop!

The bishops are much on my mind. I had a meeting with two last week, and I'll be seeing more of them this week, too. The bishops will be at Union Station here in Toronto on Thursday morning in full regalia to draw attention to the Back to Church Sunday initiative. Bishop Yu asked me to serve as his "chaplain." Each bishop will have on of us nearby to handle any pastoral needs that may arise from the situations. No doubt we'll get some crazies... and probably some people with pressing pastoral needs, as well! Having us around the bishops will also help people realize this the real deal, and not just three or four nut jobs.

I was planning to be there anyway, as I was asked to get a little footage for You Tube.

I'll seeing a bishop again on Sunday--Bishop Blackwell is coming to Messiah to do the confirmations.

All this made me think of some of my favourity Monty Python bishop skits. Behold this classic:



The central conceit of this skit is telling; the bishop and his cronies attempting to rescue hapless priests from being killed in comical ways. Alas, the days when I thought yelling "help" out the window would bring the bishop's assistance came to a close when I was in seminary. Back then I belonged to a different diocese (not Toronto) and I desperately needed the bishop's help and sent him letters. He didn't respond, or, for that matter, pass the letter on the Canon to the Ordinary or do anything else about my need. When I saw him about a year later I told him in person how disappointed I was that he didn't respond to me. He apologized and meant it, but it wasn't the first or last time he let me down. I remember thinking, cruelly, that that he apologized like someone who does it a lot. At the time I became a little bitter about my relationship to the bishop and the diocese, to be honest.

Years later I would find out that during this period the Bishop's wife had been suffering from a degenerative neurological condition. No one knew just how overwhelmed he was until after he took early retirement to care for her. He kept it from almost everyone, and it became understandably difficult for him to pay attention to some seminarian in trouble. He was a really nice guy, don't get me wrong, and I loved him, but I learned pretty quick that neither the bishop nor his staff were going to do much to help me.

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Annual Review

Today I had my annual ministry review with Bishop Yu. We met in his new office down town, and I have to say I like having him down here better than before. Easier to get with, and it's kind of neat to stop by the Diocesan HQ and see various people I know there.

We followed a specific format based on form I filled out with questions like, "What were your greatest accomplishments in the last year," and so forth. we also talked about some of the things I felt could have been better. We spoke at length about some of the challenges and potentials in the congregation and how I'm addressing them.

About the most useful suggestion he made is to develop and execute a "Discipleship Making Strategy." this is something I've thought of before, but having him remind me how helpful this could be to Messiah's mission put it back in my mind. Perhaps after the Stewardship Campaign is over (Dec/Jan) we can start a programme like that.

In general, the bishop seemed pleased with what has been happening at COTM. It's nice that the numbers (both people and money) are up a bit from last year (though still below what they were just a few years ago). They are also still below the benchmark for a sustainable pastoral-sized parish. That means that theoretically there are not enough people to support a full-time priest. The magic number, incidentally, is 100. It takes about 100 average Sunday attendance per full-time priest on staff.

of course, I've written here before that I'm not sure these kinds of benchmarks are very helpful. They may be a way to understand what's happening when an inherited church is facing decline, but they don't lead us to an emerging future mission. Instead they tend to just make us want to try harder at what isn't working.

After an hour with the bishop we ended with some prayers and I went on my way.

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Softball, cigars, Betsy update....

Softball last night was fun. My batting was much improved from two weeks ago--I managed several base hits, two ground-outs, and a fly-out to left field. Not bad, considering. I rewarded myself with a Cigar. I don't smoke very often, but playing ball with the guys in the park, wife away, seemed like the right time to indulge. I deeply thankful that I have an opportunity like this to hang out with guys my own age and do and say the sorts of things that guys do and say when they are together. Ah... bonding!

It's starting to become a mad dash to get stuff done before my trip. I have almost exactly a week left! I have my annual ministry review with Bishop Yu this afternoon. In the mean time I'm working on several other projects. I MUST finish the job description for the Minister of Music position today or tomorrow so I can start advertising that job before I go away on vacation. That way we can have interviews lined up for when I return. I originally drafted up some notes and other stuff right after Matthew announced that he would be leaving at the end of the summer, but I'm glad I've waited this long to finish that project. The time has given me new perspective on what kind of musician and worship leader I want and how I want to present it. Interestingly, the congregation has not said much to me about this except to express gratitude and appreciation for what Matthew has done. As usual, people seem to trust that the parish leadership will make a good decision about the future of the music programme, and no one feels the need to push a particular agenda. I think I have a pretty good idea of what people liked about Matthew and would like to see retained.

I talked with Betsy today. She is well. Belly getting bigger. Athens getting hotter. She is learning a lot, but the programme is intensive. Lots of homework and memorization to do. Interestingly, her roommate in a New Testament Professor who graduated from Union Theological (where my sister is currently studying). It's a good school, and I suddenly seem to have a lot of connections to it.

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Synod 2009

Synod was nuts. Fun, but nuts! Got up at 4:30 A.M. on Friday to give me time to pack and to finish the stuff for our workshop. We were a little later leaving from the church than planned, but we still made it to the Synod location (Durham College in Oshawa) before registration closed. As a result, however, I always felt like I was barely keeping with the day's events. Along the way I put down my seersucker jacket on the back of a chair and went back for it there was no sign. Lost and found hadn't received it. Hopefully someone will turn it into the campus security soon. Otherwise, it's a causality of war. Bummer, I love my seersucker suit!

Anyway, I set up a display for the ARC. People seemed to like what they saw and heard about. No word on a grant, yet. Cross your fingers!

Phil Potter came from the U.K. to talk about Fresh Expressions and Missional Church. I was struck that a lot of people in our Diocese hadn't heard of these concepts before. Hopefully this Synod took care of that. We probably spent two-thirds of our time talking about Missional Church and the other third talking about the same-sex blessing issue. We did that (in both cases) using the Indaba process that the Archbishop of Canterbury used at the last Lambeth Conference. So the pattern was gathering as a whole synod (some 600 people?) for worship and singing, bible study, and listening to a talk by the Bishop or Phil Potter. Then we'd go off into smaller Indaba groups of about 40 people to share. Our group was fine, though I did hear that some of the Indaba groups got little uncomfortable when the same sex issue was discussed.

You see, the Bishops are proposing a policy that would create a structure to last in this interim time of uncertainty in the church. They believe the question of whether the church will recognize "gay marriage" is really up to the national church. Yet, in the mean time, there is a need to establish a "generous pastoral response" to gay and lesbian Christians who come to us seeking the blessing of the church. The proposed policy would allow a small number of parishes chosen by the bishop to offer blessings to long-term, committed relationships. No parish and no priest will be required to participate. The bishop will have to give permission for the blessings on a one-by-one basis. The policy would also involve the drafting of guidelines for how that blessing would look, liturgically, but it clearly fill fall short of a "marriage." In addition, a group will be formed to evaluate and oversee the implementation of this policy.

In our Indaba group of about 40 there were only four people that didn't like the direction the Diocese was heading, but almost of them said that they "could live with" with the policy. I heard that some other groups were more contentious. For the time being, however, nothing changes. This is only a proposal. The vote will come later, probably at the next Synod that gathers at St. Paul's Bloor Street in November.

On Friday afternoon Kerrie and gave our workshop. We had about 30 people in the room. I had a Powerpoint presentation and handouts and posters on the walls and books for people to look at. The hour went quickly, but people seemed to get something out of it. One person told that they found it very "permission giving."

Friday sessions weren't over until 9 p.m. After that many of headed to the campus pub. I brought my bottle of Woodford Reserve Bourbon. The bar didn't seem to mind for the first couple of hours. Eventually the manager did come over and take my booze! She kept it behind the bar until I left. At the pub I had many fine conversations with friends and colleagues. Eventually they closed the bar around 2 A.M. A couple of us went back to a room to keep the party going. I finally went to bed at 4:30 A.M.

I admit I was a little tired when I showed up to morning prayer at 8:30... but at least I was there. Coffee... Coffee... More coffee... More sessions and Indaba groups. The whole thing wrapped up around 3 and we got on the road not long after that. During the conference they had separated the members of the parishes from each other, so it was only in the car ride home that the three of us from Church of The Messiah could talk and share. It seems that people enjoyed themselves and learned some new things.

Back at home I was toast. I had Chinese delivery and watched the recording of the Blue Jays FINALLY winning a game. Went to bed at 6 p.m.--slept until 6 a.m. this morning! Got up, felt great. More in my next post!

Bishop's Company Dinner 2009

This evening a healthy contingent of Church of The Messiah folks (10 of us) went to the "Bishop's Company Dinner." This is an annual fundraising event in the Diocese of Toronto that raises money for the relief of clergy in need. Most problems that clergy run into cannot be truly solved with money, but it can certainly help! The dinner is a real mix. There are, of course, the people that give the money. Then there are clergy, of course, that come courtesy of the generosity of those donors! As you might expect, it ends up being a kind of who's who of the Diocese.

We had a blast at our table. I swear we were laughing more than any of the other tables--thank God we were at the edge of the room and not the centre! Of course, I'm an extrovert so I really get off on a room full of people I know! Lots of networking. Lots of laughter. And naturally I used the opportunity to move some of my projects forward! More about that later, perhaps.

Man, I love my peeps.

-t

Bishop Johnson in the News

My boss

My Diocesan Bishop, Colin Johnson, and his family were profiled in the Toronto Star today. Most people know that Ellen, the Bishop's wife, is Quaker, but it was interesting to read some of the details of how they worked out their religious differences in order to be married. It turns out they got a little help from their Bishop at the time, Ted Scott:

Former Anglican primate Ted Scott, a mentor of Johnson's, helped the young couple find their way before they got married.

One weekend in particular, when Johnson was doing a field placement in Chatham as part of his studies to become a priest, Ellen was visiting. Scott happened to be in the southwestern Ontario city for a confirmation, and offered Ellen a lift back to Toronto.

In the four hours they drove the 401, Scott and Ellen talked about life, love and faith, and the woman received affirmation from the very top of her future husband's church that she need not change for the man she loved.

"He welcomed her to the family and told her she didn't have to be something she wasn't," says Johnson, still in awe at the generosity of the gesture some 30 years later.

The couple was married shortly thereafter, in 1977 at the Quaker Meeting House in Newmarket. (source)

I think one of the most important role bishops have is being permission-givers, even when it's not apparent that permission is needed! The equivalent moment of parish leadership is probably simply staying out the way of a good work begun!

-t

Bishop Robinson's Prayer Controversy

The plot thickens... HBO said that they didn't broadcast Bishop Robinson's prayer because the Inaugural Planning Committee had decided to put it in the "pre-show." The Obama people have apologized and said that this was a mistake. So today the whole Lincoln Memorial Concert will be re-broadcast, with the Bishop's prayer.

Here is a summary of events around this from Rachel Maddow:


As for the prayer itself, here the video currently circulating on the web:


I imagine that this was a challenging prayer to write! But I'm proud that the Episcopal Church had such a central role in everything. I have some friends on staff at Washington National Cathedral and I'm curious what kind of stuff they have going on around the Inauguration.

-t

Sermon - Reign of Christ 2008

This sermon was given by Bishop Abraham Ackah of the Diocese of Wiawso, Ghana, on November 23 (Reign of Christ), 2008, at The Church of The Messiah.



Here's a direct link to the MP3 file...

-t

Rock Eucharist

Today was a bit wild and wonderful at COTM. It was a "Rock Eucharist"--so lots of non-cheesy, interesting Christian Contemporary hymns supported by the choir, bass, and drums. And, of course, Matthew rocking out on the piano. Kids were in church the whole time. Attendance was excellent. And on top of all that we had a guest preacher: Bishop Abraham Ackah from Ghana and his wife.

Bishop Ackah is the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Wiawso. He has about 15,000 Anglicans on the rolls worshiping in 70 congregations in 17 parishes served by 25 priests and 50 catechists. That means that the priests are stretched very, very thin among so many people and congregation. There are plenty of people who feel called to ordained ministry and plenty of opportunities to train them (including scholarships of various kinds, etc.). the problem is that Wiawso is rural and very poor and can't really pay many of their priests. Incidentally, the bishop told me that he has refused to accept payment, either, since he feels he can't be paid when his priests aren't. the lack of economy development is hindering his ability to create sustainable ministry.

So, he has come to Toronto (and COTM) seeking partnerships to help. The outlines of such a partnership are still up in the air, but I'm eager to hear more and gave him some advice about next steps.

So church was very encouraging and fun today!
-t

Barack and the Bishop

During his campaign, Barack Obama consulted Bishop Gene Robinson (The first openly gay bishop) three times to learn about what it's like to "the first." From the times...

Bishop Robinson, in London as a guest of the gay rights group Stonewall for its annual “Hero of the Year” awards dinner at the Victoria and Albert Museum tonight, said that Mr Obama’s campaign team had sought him last year and he had the “honour” of three private conversations with the future president of the United States last May and June.

“The first words out of his mouth were: ‘Well you’re certainly causing a lot of trouble’, My response to him was: ‘Well that makes two of us'.”

He said that Mr Obama had indicated his support for equal civil rights for gay and lesbian people and described the election as a “religious experience”.

Bishop Robinson described his conversations with him as part of Mr Obama’s “extraordinary” outreach to all religious communities, not just Christian groups. Mr Obama, although not a member of The Episcopal Church to which Bishop Robinson belongs, is a committed Christian with the United Church of Christ.

He said that the Mr Obama was taller than he had expected and described him as “Lincolnesque”, both literally and metaphorically. They discussed the dangers both of being demonised by opponents and idealised by supporters.

Bishop Robinson said: “And I must say I don’t know if it is an expression here in England or not but he is the genuine article. I think he is exactly who he says he is.” ...

The bishop said: “He is impressive, he’s smart, he is an amazing listener. For someone who’s called on to speak all the time when he asks you a question it is not for show, he is actually wanting to know what you think and listens.” (source)

You can read even more about the reporter's interview with Bp. Robinson (and even listen to the audio clips) here.

This is a very interesting revelation about the way Barack solves problems: find someone who has been there, and ask them! But they didn't just talk about Robinson's unique history:

I pressed him on the Millennium Development Goals. I wanted to know whether he thought more about them than just they were a good idea but whether he had any intention of pushing for their full funding and so on.”

Of course, we are only finding out about this now that the election is over because some people would have been very upset to hear about this.

-t