The Living Church

Coulda Shoulda

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 07:00:39 GMT

By Dane Neufeld

Reading from 1 Corinthians, 10:15-24

15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? 19What do I imply then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24Do not seek your own advantage, but that of others.

Meditation

Because today’s culture wars have taken such deep root within our churches (maybe they originated there), we have not been very good at applying these verses. The Christian is not “free” from every aspect of the law; some obvious prohibitions still apply. But for St. Paul, the building up of the body, the “advantage” of another, is to be the true light guiding our moral decisions.

Just because it is possible or permitted to do something (at least, in our view), does not mean we should flaunt it carelessly before our church community, or even that we should do it. This may seem like basic emotional or relational intelligence, but it is not how we have tended to engage each other on difficult matters within the Church. We tend to hurl ourselves at each other, declare our principles without compromise, draw our lines in the sand.

There is a time for that kind of thing, but it’s probably not as often as we think. Day to day Christian living, St. Paul seems to suggest, requires a certain amount of restraint and caution. We need to be attentive to the complexities of other people’s lives, we need to think about other’s challenges and considerations before our own, we need to prayerfully consider what the circumstances before us require. Of course, I could do this or that. But what is best for those around me? What will bring peace and comfort to my community? What will take me further from my own self-centered drives and ambitions?

Deciding what “builds up” and what is “beneficial” requires some discernment, but spiritual attention towards our own actions and words forms the heart of Christian living.

♱

The Rev. Dr. Dane Neufeld is the rector of All Saints Fort McMurray at the end of a highway in Northern Alberta.

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Bishop Love Ends Lonely Fight on Same-Sex Marriage

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 20:02:08 GMT

By Kirk Petersen

By announcing his resignation as the IX Bishop of Albany on October 24, the Rt. Rev. William H. Love spared the diocese and the wider Episcopal Church the potential bitterness of debating and imposing a penalty on him.

“Given all that has happened, and that which was still to come, I believe that to stay any longer would be more of a detriment to the Diocese than a help,” he said, speaking to the 152nd diocesan convention, which was held online.

When the resignation takes effect on February 1, there will no longer be any American jurisdiction of the Church where the use of same-sex marriage rites is forbidden. That will fulfill the intention of the 2018 General Convention in passing Resolution B012. After that resolution, the six other domestic bishops who had barred same-sex marriage rites exercised a provision that allows them to have another bishop oversee such marriages.

The resignation pre-empts the need for a public hearing regarding penalties, which was to have taken place on October 26 in front (virtually) of the same Hearing Panel that ruled on October 5 that Love violated his vow to “engage to conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church.”

Once that verdict was reached, Love’s departure as Bishop of Albany was probably inevitable. The resignation eliminates the possibility of a harsher sanction — “deposition,” the term the Church uses for removal from ordained ministry. Love could have filed an appeal, touching off a process that might drag on for months. “I have no reason to believe that appealing the Hearing Panel’s Decision would result in any different outcome,” he said.

The resignation accord was approved by Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry and by the Hearing Panel, so there will be no further proceedings.

The accord stipulates that Love will begin a one-month terminal sabbatical on January 1, and his resignation will take effect February 1. Love’s order barring the use of same-sex marriage rites in the Diocese of Albany continues for the time being, but will expire with his episcopacy on February 1. Under the canons, the diocesan Standing Committee will become the ecclesiastical authority, and will direct the search for a new bishop.

Love, 63, will still have voice and vote in the House of Bishops, will be able to perform all the duties of a priest. He could serve as rector of a parish or exercise pastoral care for a conservative parish in a liberal diocese, under the terms of delegated episcopal pastoral oversight (DEPO).

The convention was live-streamed from Christ the King Center in Greenwich, New York, with only a handful of people physically in attendance. Love disclosed his resignation in front of the main altar of the Center’s Chapel, at the end of lengthy opening remarks about the diocese and the business of the convention. He delivered the news dispassionately, save for a brief catch before the word “resign,” and displayed no trace of animus. A spokesperson said the bishop would have no comment beyond the statement.

Later in the day, the Church released a statement confirming the details Love had announced. The statement said: “Presiding Bishop Michael Curry expresses sadness for the pain that has been experienced across the theological spectrum and also his continuing support for the Church’s intention that all persons have access to marriage rites authorized by the Church. He expresses thanks for Bishop Love’s faithfulness as Bishop of Albany and wishes him well in retirement. Bishop Curry anticipates a collaborative and respectful transition in episcopal leadership and prays for healing, reconciliation, and mutual flourishing across deeply held theological differences.”

Love closed his remarks with a note of encouragement for the diocese. “Over these past 14 years, you have accomplished so much together, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. God has used you to help bless countless lives in our communities and beyond. The Lord is powerfully present in the Diocese of Albany and will help lead you though the uncertainties of the coming days – if you fix your eyes on Jesus. In Him, we find hope, truth, unity, strength, and peace.”

Bishop Love Resigns

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 14:49:38 GMT

The Rt. Rev. William Love, IX Bishop of Albany, announced during his address at the Diocesan Convention on October 24 that he will resign as bishop on February 1, and support a transition to new leadership for the diocese. Under the terms of an accord settled on October 21 between Love and Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, he will have a one-month terminal sabbatical, beginning on January 1. The hearing panel which found him guilty of violating his ordination vows also agreed to discharge all further action against the bishop.

Bishop Love’s pastoral directive of November 2018, which bans the use of liturgies for same-sex marriage in the diocese will remain in force until his resignation takes effect, he said. The presiding bishop’s restriction on his ability to enforce the directive also will stand.

Below are excerpts of Bishop Love’s announcement of his resignation, which came at the end of his address to the 152nd Diocesan Convention.

After much thought and prayer, recognizing that whatever disciplinary action would be offered would not be anything I could in good conscience agree to, I have made the very difficult, but necessary decision to resign as Bishop of Albany, effective February 1, 2021 – the 14th Anniversary of my becoming the Bishop Diocesan. Given all that has happened, and that which was still to come, I believe that to stay any longer would be more of a detriment to the Diocese than a help. …

I will work with the Presiding Bishop through the Office of Pastoral Development to help foster a healthy transition from my leadership as Bishop Diocesan, as the Diocese begins a new chapter in its history

During these past 14 years, I have tried as best I could by God’s grace and the empowering and leading of the Holy Spirit to be faithful and obedient to the Lord’s call on my life as a Bishop in Christ’s one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. I have tried to be faithful and obedient to God’s Holy Word as best I understand it, as revealed through the Holy Scriptures, recognizing its authority over my life and the ministry entrusted to me. …

I have tried by God’s grace and the guidance and empowering of the Holy Spirit to faithfully uphold my ordination vows, despite the recent ruling of the Hearing Panel, and to carry out the unique ministry of bishops, as “one with the apostles in proclaiming Christ’s resurrection and interpreting the Gospel,” testifying to “Christ’s sovereignty as Lord of Lords and King of Kings.”

I have worked hard to “guard the faith, unity and discipline of the Church… celebrating and providing for the administration of the sacraments of the Church… and sharing with my fellow bishops in the leadership of the Church throughout the world.” …

It has been my goal these past 14 years to help the Diocese of Albany remain Christ-centered, focusing on the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, working together as one church, faithfully proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the world. To the degree that I have succeeded in these things, I give praise and thanks to God. To the degree that I have failed in these things, I ask your forgiveness.

I deeply love and care for the Diocese of Albany, and each of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ. Serving you and our Lord these past 14 years as Bishop of Albany as been one of the greatest privileges and blessings of my life.

Artists Remain Essential, Says Mario Sprouse

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 09:05:01 GMT

By Retta Blaney

Mario Sprouse is an essential worker in New York City. Although he hasn’t had a day off since the pandemic struck in mid-March, he is full of energy. His focus is to heal.

The work that Sprouse sees as essential is that of an artist. In his case, a composer, musician, and musical director. What he is passionate about healing is the commonly held idea that a career in the arts and a life of financial struggle go hand-in-hand.

“I dislike the starving artist syndrome,” he said. “It doesn’t honor God’s gifts to us. I’ve dedicated my life to combatting any of those negative attributes about artists. We are essential workers. Always have been, always will be.”

To spread this message, he published Precious & Honored: A Spiritual Handbook for Artists, which grew out of discussions with members of his arts group at Marble Collegiate Church in midtown Manhattan. The theme for one year was Whealth Management for Artists, combing the ideas of wealth and health.

“For 50 years I’ve been dealing with artists,” he said during a telephone interview from his house in Queens. “Those who look at their skills as God-given don’t look to the world for employment. They look to God.”

Sprouse made these comments in mid-August, with all the city’s entertainment industry — concert halls, theaters, dance studios — shut down since March 12, with no date scheduled for reopening. Even in the face of this, Mario Sprouse seems incapable of despair.

“Performing artists have a unique position at times like this,” he says. “We are intuitive. We are seers. We see the present time and we project into what the future will be. There’s a lot of no work going on but a tremendous amount of creativity just filling our universe.”

While New York’s theaters have been empty, actors, singers, dancers, choreographers, and directors have mastered video conferencing to present musical fundraisers and concerts, and to perform virtual plays with actors chiming in from their own homes. Costume designers have pitched in to make masks.

“We’re collaborative people. It doesn’t matter if I’m on one end of the phone and you’re on the other. I can collaborate with you and get something done.”

One of his current examples of this is his work with playwright Glynn Borders to bring to new life Borders’ play The Dark Star from Harlem: The Spectacular Rise of Josephine Baker. Sprouse, who graduated with a degree in music theory and composition from The City College of New York in 1970, wrote the music and lyrics for this show, which was seen in November and December in a full-length production at Off-Broadway’s La MaMa experimental theater. Borders is working on a socially distanced script.

“We are creative people, imaginative and creative beyond measure,” Sprouse says. “It’s always with you. These times bring out our best.”

Much of the work going on now is unpaid, but Sprouse sees that as a problem for performing artists at any time.

“People are not being paid because we give our work away for free so often,” he says. “We, as artists, set that up.”

Which is why he published Precious and Honored at his own expense in 2018. It combines spiritual principles and Scripture with the experience of the members of the Marble Collegiate group now called Arts Ministry. The material is presented simply and clearly using the alphabet and divided into 15 empowering lessons, each fitting for one day’s meditation. The ABCs of Driving Your Own Car sets the tone, establishing the underlying premise that people can live productive lives “and still make money as the artists we were divinely created to be.” The A is for Authority, with the reminder that “we need to take authority over the gifts, talents and skills that we were given.” To back this up, Spouse quotes 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control.”

Similarly, B represents Boldness and C, Confidence. The handbook sells for $12 and is available at preciousandhonored.net. Sprouse was adamant that it would be available only in print so people can touch it, write in it, carry it with them or keep it by their bedside and send it to a friend in a letter-sized envelope. The title comes from Isaiah 43:4: “You are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you.”

“We have these gifts, talents and skills as gifts from God so let God direct how we use them. When you put the A to Z together it’s almost impossible to fail.”

He plans this to be the first in a series, although he doesn’t know yet what the next theme will be.

“I have to talk to God about that,” he says with a laugh, adding that he has decades of possible lessons.

Sprouse has been part of Marble Collegiate’s ministry to artists since the fall of 1982 and now serves as coordinator of Arts Ministry, one of two part-time paid positions he holds there. He is also the associate director of the live-streaming Marble Vision, from which he is furloughed.

Unlike most churches that began live streaming because of the pandemic, Marble has been doing it for more than two decades, attracting viewers from around the world. The church is empty now but each Sunday at 11 a.m. worshipers see archival film of full pews and close-ups of the recently restored stained glass windows while listening to and watching the choir, considered to be one of the city’s finest, as well as musicians and soloists. The service is interspersed with prayers, a Scripture reading, and a sermon delivered live from the ministers’ homes. Marble Collegiate is the oldest congregation of the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Church in New York City, organized in 1628 by the Dutch West India Company. For a half century it was led by the Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, with people lining up around the block to hear his sermons. It is still widely thought of as “the-power-of-positive-thinking church,” evoking Peale’s best-selling book.

Outside of his church work, Sprouse has been involved with cataloguing the massive music/media collection of the late Gordon Parks, the photographer, musician, writer, and film director for whom he was the musical assistant for more than 20 years. He performed at Parks’ funeral at The Riverside Church in 2006, was the music supervisor for three of Parks’ films and produced Parks’ first CD of original classical music. He has provided musical arrangements for several other short films and musical direction for several theatrical events. Carmen McRae, Hubert Laws, Cornell Dupree, Buster Williams, Freddie Hubbard and Grover Washington, Jr. are among the jazz artists who have recorded his musical arrangements. Orchestrations and original songs written by Sprouse have been performed live by Gregory Hines and Phylicia Rashad.

Sprouse developed his love for the arts growing up in the Bronx, the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. He was surrounded by the sights and sounds of art and music from a variety of cultures and these influence his work today. He attended St. Augustine Presbyterian Church where he learned to play the piano.

“This was the melting pot in which I developed my firm belief that spirituality and the arts are inseparable. If anyone thinks the arts are not necessary, try going through a time like this without music. Someone recorded it for you. This pandemic has focused the world internationally on the importance of the arts. It’s an opportunity.”

Retta Blaney is an eight-time award-winning journalist and the author of Working on the Inside: The Spiritual Life Through the Eyes of Actors, which features interviews with Kristin Chenoweth, Edward Herrmann, Liam Neeson, Phylicia Rashad, Vanessa Williams and many others.

Holy Boldness

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 07:00:01 GMT

By Chuck Alley

Reading from the Gospel of Luke, 11:1-13

1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” 5And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Meditation

Our boldness in prayer is a reflection of our trust in God as our Father. The persistence with which we make our petition is also directly proportional to how strongly we desire that it be fulfilled. If we knock at God’s door in pursuit of those things that we need to live our lives according to his will, then the door will be opened — according to God’s knowledge of the best timing. Most importantly, we should pray to promote God’s kingdom in the world — to do what is right in God’s eyes.

God will answer our prayers as is best for us, whether we recognize that fact or not. As our boldness in asking is a matter of faith, our recognition of his good and perfect will and his precise timing is also a manifestation of our faith. God is perfectly good, so he is only going to give us what is good. We have the assurance that when we ask for something we need, we will not be given something that will harm us. It goes without saying that the converse is also true. God will never send us evil when we make our request to him — even if we mistakenly ask for it. What father is going to give his son a scorpion to eat, even if the son asks for it?

♱

Chuck Alley is a retired Episcopal priest and an adjunct associate professor of anatomy on the medical faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University. He and his wife, Scottie, have three children and nine grandchildren.

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Deadline Looms for Abuse Claims Against Boy Scouts

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 23:57:57 GMT

By Kirk Petersen

Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry has notified all domestic diocesan bishops that a November 16 deadline is fast approaching for filing claims against the Boy Scouts of America related to sexual abuse litigation, and urged bishops to spread the word within their dioceses.

“Any congregation which may have sponsored or been affiliated with a BSA troop may want to consider if the congregation, any of its parishioners or members of such troops may have claims against the BSA that should be asserted,” said the Rt. Rev. Audrey C. Scanlan, Bishop of Central Pennsylvania, in an email to the diocese.

In the Diocese of Tennessee, the Rev. Jody Howard, canon to the ordinary, told churches “you may have a potential claim in the bankruptcy that would entitle your congregation to protections from BSA’s insurance in the event of a lawsuit naming the troop/pack etc that met at or was sponsored by your congregation.” Howard also provided a four-page message and Q&A document to help churches decide if they need to file a claim.

The deadline for receiving claims is November 16 at 5 p.m. Eastern time. The date was specified by Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein, who is overseeing the bankruptcy claim filed by the Boy Scouts in February. Adding to the time pressure is the fact that filing is a complicated process, as spelled out in the 63-page motion and claim form approved by the court.

The bankruptcy filing is intended to protect some of the assets of the BSA, while also creating a large settlement fund for abuse victims. The filing covers only the national organization, not the more than 200 separately incorporated local councils that administer the scouting program in a particular geographical area.

Curry spoke with the bishops on October 19 in a Zoom meeting. Spokesperson Nancy Davidge confirmed that the call occurred, and said it was a regularly scheduled, weekly Zoom meeting that the bishops have begun to hold during the pandemic to discuss a variety of issues.

The Boy Scouts potentially face tens of thousands of claims of child sexual abuse. Judge Silverstein ruled in mid-October that the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice could join the mediation negotiations toward a settlement. The coalition says it represents 28,000 clients. Another group, Abused in Scouting, says it represents 13,000 clients. BSA was founded in 1910, and many of the abuse claims date back decades.

“The Boy Scouts of America believes our organization has a social and moral responsibility to equitably compensate all victims who were abused during their time in Scouting,” according to a post on bsarestructuring.org, “We also have a duty to carry out our mission for years to come.”

The BSA Annual Report for 2019 says the organization had 2.1 million members, working with nearly 800,000 adult volunteers. BSA reported $1.36 billion in assets and $616 million in liabilities at year-end.

An Open Door for Gospel in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 17:55:52 GMT

By Jesse Masai

Before 2010, Erupata was a quiet, remote village along the floor of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, steeped in the rhythms of its people, their livestock, and nearby wildlife.

Save for periodic immunization efforts by Anglican Development Services and short-term visits by itinerant evangelists, the village had little interaction with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Missioners and residents in Erupata

All that changed when, in 2012, Rev. Samuel Githinji, the chaplain of St. Paul’s University in Central Kenya, dispatched one of his students, Rev. Francis Ole Kiok to the bishop of the nearby Diocese of Kericho, Jackson Ole Sapit. He asked Bishop Ole Sapit, who is now the primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya, for partnership in establishing a mission among the Maasai people of Erupata. Both men are ethnically Maasai. The Nilotic tribe live in a region that straddles the Kenya-Tanzania border. Ole, in the Maasai language, means “son of,” while Erupata means “raised ground.”

“Bishop Ole Sapit gave us full support, whenever we requested it. We carried out our first mission that year amidst a prolonged spell of drought,” recalls Ole Kiok, who now ministers at the university.

He continued engaging with the people of Erupata, inviting them to be baptized and confirmed, and to grow in discipleship.

Named in honour of the university’s pioneering efforts, St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Erupata now stands 50 kilometers (about 31 miles) from the world-famous Maasai Mara National Reserve, near the Tanzanian border, and 117 kilometers from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. It is now a mission of Narok Parish, whose principal church is 36 kilometers away.

The Rev. Nolavy Arisoa, now with the Anglican Church of Madagascar’s Diocese of Toliara, was part of a group of college students from the university who accompanied Rev. Githinji and Ole Kiok on the first mission campaign in 2012. The road to Erupata was very muddy, she remembered, and students needed to get off the university’s bus and clear bushes before they could continue with their journey.

“When we arrived, we slept in a classroom whose doors couldn’t be locked. We were quite afraid because wild animals were hovering around. We were warned in advance to be vigilant, just in case an elephant, lion, leopard, hyena, zebra, or wildebeest popped in. We had to stick together at all times, including during door-to-door evangelistic outreaches,” she says.

As they explored the village, the students mostly found women because men were out in the African savannah either hunting or grazing cattle, while ensuring that no predators attacked the village.

The women were responsible for making tiny mud houses, locally referred to as ‘manyatta.’

“We helped one lady build her hut before sharing the Gospel with her. This was very encouraging to her. She became keen to hear what we had to say,” remembers Arisoa.

Digging out the University bus

On their part, indigenous Christians provided geographical directions and guidance about cross-cultural awareness, including teaching the students local songs, which drew several residents to the outreach efforts.

A grateful local resident offered them a goat when the mission came to an end.

“I realized that we stay stronger together. People are more responsive when they feel that they are being respected as persons and their culture is understood. This provides an open door for the Gospel to reach their hearts,” Arisoa observes.

The Rev. Rebecca Bartocho, now with the Reformed Church of East Africa’s Kitengela Parish, coordinated many of the details for the first university mission, which has become an annual event, with ecumenical support.

“I helped the Anglican Communion start and sustain a church, in the process learning much about opinion leaders, resource mapping, prayer, and fasting,” she says.

To help Erupata’s evangelists earn a living, St. Paul’s University raised money to start a tiny shop, which the villagers valued because the nearest large town, Ewaso Nyiro, is 23 kilometers away. The mission team also bought a solar charger for lighting and phone power. The current evangelist, Emmanuel Kosen, serves the community by leading midweek fellowship meetings, as well as worship services on Sundays and vigils.

The Erupata mission now hosts not only a church with 130 seats, but also a mission house and an elementary school, built with contributions from the university and indigenous Christians. Villagers provided land for the mission station.

Though the congregation was originally composed of women and children only, the diverse leadership of the university mission teams have inspired men to also join the Church. It now has 30 men, 100 women, 45 youths and 70 children The first Church wedding at Erupata will be held December 29, 2020, in a move that is expected to encourage youth towards chastity.

The Venerable Samuel Ole Naikumi, vicar of Narok Parish, says the mission is now planting another church six kilometers away.

“Following negotiations by the archbishop, Compassion International began sponsoring 151 orphans from Erupata and surrounding villages in 2018. As a result, so many more children are coming to worship with us,” he adds.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the East African nation, Erupata was teeming with life. The internet had even arrived two years ago.

Now it faces uncertainty. The mission center, which could become a hub for evangelization in the region and northern Tanzania, continues to grapple with the challenges first experienced by the university mission team, including human-wildlife conflict.

“We are fighting with animals over scarce water, and recently lost three people to cholera. We travel 21 kilometers to reach the nearest dispensary. Young people ask us if we can put up an empowerment center. Our girls, on the other hand, wonder when we will put up a safe house to shield them from female genital mutilation and teenage pregnancy. It is overwhelming,” says Ole Naikumi.

The archdeacon’s predecessor at Narok Parish, Musa Kamuren, who is now the Bishop of Baringo, believes Erupata needs all the help it can get.

“The congregation has taught us that we can bring change from within by going to where people are and staying with them. Faithful person-to-person preaching and raising indigenous missioners creates ownership, as opposed to previous outreach models. Deep-rooted story-telling, on the other hand, enhances discipleship,” he concludes.

Jesse Masai is a freelance journalist based in Limuru, Kenya.

What About Mary?

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 07:00:25 GMT

By Chuck Alley

Reading from the Gospel of Luke, 10:38-42

38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 41But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Meditation

When we interpret things based on our understanding of fairness, we usually end up comparing ourselves favorably against others. Martha approaches Jesus in order that he will rule on her behalf and make Mary do what she thinks Mary ought to be doing. Martha determines that her way is superior to Mary’s and, therefore, Mary does not measure up to the standard of what is right. Jesus will have none of it, because Martha is measuring a person’s worth based on how much one does.

Mary, too, is “busy” being a disciple; however, she has her eyes and ears focused on Jesus. Also, she is not demanding that others take the same path that she is taking. For her, Martha’s role is that of service and hospitality, while in this moment, her role is at the feet of Jesus. There is no sibling criticism or self-justifying superiority in Mary.

The story of Martha and Mary is one that teaches us a lesson about living in community. There is only one way to the Father and that is Jesus. However, there are many ways to Jesus depending on the gifts that we have been given. We are to be one in Christ. Our unity is not based on our approach to Christ, our method for following him, or our denominational label, but in obeying him.

♱

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Mercy Means Giving Yourself

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 07:00:20 GMT

By Chuck Alley

Reading from the Gospel of Luke, 10:25-37

25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” 29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Meditation

The prophet Micah proclaimed to the people that God requires them to act justly and love mercy and…walk humbly with [their] God (6:8), and that God delights to show mercy (7:18). In the book of Hosea, God tells his people that he desires mercy, not sacrifice (6:6). Again, according to the prophet Zechariah, This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion for one another” (7:9). And in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his disciples that those who are merciful will be shown mercy (Matt. 5:7).

If mercy is so central to our proper relationship of obedience to God, then what is it to look like in our lives? Fundamentally, mercy is the gift of ourselves. To show mercy is to abandon our agenda, schedule, task list, immediate objective, comfort, even our safety, in order to be with others in their need. Like the Samaritan, we are called to show mercy and compassion to our neighbor. It is an interruption in our lives and interferes with our plans because it is a call to concentrate all our thoughts and efforts on that neighbor. It means that when disaster strikes, we do not go about business as usual. Nor do we use others’ suffering as an opportunity to show off our own ethical prowess. We put all this aside, fall on our knees in prayer for comfort for the comfortless, healing for gaping wounds, and the light of hope in the depths of darkness. Each in our own way must turn aside from self-seeking agendas and seek the temporal and spiritual welfare of the victims of evil — not just today, but continually until God’s peace is restored.

♱

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Saint Thomas Takes Six-Week Sojourn for Singing

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 23:09:17 GMT

By Neva Rae Fox

While most schools were planning and fretting about opening for the fall semester, Saint Thomas Choir School opted for an innovative move – literally a move. The entire boarding school – books, faculty, musical instruments, and 29 students – moved for six weeks from New York City to new quarters at Incarnation Center in Deep River, Connecticut, for the opening of school in September. And, by all indications, the move has been an educational success.

Planning for this relocation started shortly after the pandemic forced the shutdown of all schools in March. In addition to the restrictions imposed on schools, the Rev. Carl Turner, rector of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York, pointed out the Choir School also must follow the COVID-19 guidelines established for choirs of all sizes. “That means they are treating our choir the same as the Metropolitan Opera chorus,” he remarked.

Head of School Amy Francisco explained in a letter, “Following a two-week quarantine period in which every community member completed a symptom checklist, limited their activities to ones deemed safe by medical authorities, and completed a COVID-19 test, the faculty and staff arrived at Incarnation Center on September 10.”

Leaving behind the sidewalks and buildings of a bustling New York City, the students adapted quickly to the new environs, about 30 miles east of New Haven. Saint Thomas’ students hail from eight states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

At Incarnation Center, students and faculty adhered to social distancing standards, and COVID-19 testing was administered. After following this strict regimen plus two negative COVID-19 tests, the students were able to interact and see each other without masks, prompting great joy.

Francisco reported, “We achieved a major milestone: our second round of COVID-19 tests came back negative for our entire community, and we were — at last — able to take off our masks and be socially un-distanced! When they heard the news, the students and teachers ripped off their masks, cheering, hugging, and jumping up and down with excitement. This outpouring was followed by the boys attending their first full choir rehearsal since mid-March and our first time breaking bread sitting shoulder to shoulder around a communal table.”

“When they first took their masks off, their joy was palpable,” the rector reported. “They are singing! They are playing their instruments! They are learning!”

For musicians and budding artists, this was quite the feat. Director of Music Dr. Jeremy Filsell observed, “The irony is that, while academic classes have been made to work so well online by faculty and students alike, music-making cannot and the lockdown sadly denied the boys the musical and social interaction that is so much a part of being in this choir.”

He added, “That the boys have jumped back into their musical pursuits so hearteningly has been to their remarkable credit.”

One student shared, “My favorite part about being at Incarnation was when we got to take off our masks. It was hard to have to wear them around all the time, and when we took them off, we could finally sing as a choir again!”

Much planning went into ensuring a quality education, both academically and musically.

“This is creative problem-solving, thinking outside-the-box in an entrepreneurial way,” Saint Thomas Interim Director of Communications Blake Martin observed. “The important thing is that education has continued. The boys have been able to spend time outside with a front row seat to the seasons change, and that has created an immersive experience.”

“We gave up the steel and concrete of Manhattan for the bark and branches of the woods of Connecticut,” science teacher Dr. Matthew Gilbert echoed. “While the rest of the world adapts to distance learning and part-time, in-person instruction, we have the luxury of an environment in which chipmunks, squirrels, deer, hawks, and frogs are our nearest neighbors, and masks and social distancing are already a distant memory.”

Turner stressed the importance of regular updates that have been shared throughout the Saint Thomas community. “We are a school, a community – not just the church that owns the school. Parents have been involved and have been supportive. Alumni have been supportive.”

The rector added, “Every day there has been a social media feed, just for parents.”

As one student noted, “It still feels a lot like normal school because we have the same teachers and classes.”

Alas, the time at Incarnation Center is nearing an end, as home-schooling and online instruction will commence shortly. The six-week relocation to Connecticut “concludes on October 25, at which point the boys and faculty will have a well-deserved two-week break,” explained Victoria Vanasco, the school’s director of admissions and communications. “Distance learning begins on November 9.” The students will be at their homes while the New York City campus remains closed.

Gilbert observed, “While watching the children enjoy the life we have here, it’s hard to imagine that this must end, and we will re-enter the world and once again help shoulder its burdens.”

While the school continues to assess and monitor COVID-19 restrictions, a future session at Incarnation has not been ruled out. “It was a much-needed oasis of normal for students and faculty alike and vital to our mission of nurturing and training choristers to have a safe place to sing without masks or social distancing,” Vanasco said. “We are deeply grateful to Incarnation Center for being such wonderful hosts and for helping make our temporary residence a great success.”

Saint Thomas Choir School was founded in 1919 for boys in grades three to eight, “in the Anglican tradition of all-male choral ensembles,” according to the website. The boarding school is affiliated with Saint Thomas Church in Manhattan.

People & Places: October 21,2020

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 10:03:39 GMT

Appointments, ordinations, receptions, and retirements from around the Episcopal Church, as printed in the November 1 issue of The Living Church.

Appointments

The Rev. Matthew Addington is assistant rector of St. Francis, Greensboro, N.C.

The Rev. David Bailey is extended supply priest of St. Mary’s, Hillsboro, Ohio.

The Rev. Corrie Cabes is assistant rector of Heavenly Rest, Abilene, Texas

The Rev. Chase Danford is priest in charge of Trinity, Asbury Park, N.J.

The Rev. Rose Eby is rector of St. Timothy’s, Athens, Ala.

The Rev. Marna Franson is missioner for Marquette County for the Diocese of Northern Michigan.

The Rev. Morgan Gardner is priest in charge of St. George’s, Newport News, Va.

The Rev. Lilian Hyde is interim rector of Trinity, Galveston, Texas.

The Rev. Annette Joseph is regional missioner for Christ Church, Cape Girardeau, Mo. & St. Paul’s, Sikeston, Mo.

The Rev. Canon John Kellogg is rector of Christ Church, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

The Rev. Cynthia Moore and the Rev. Pamela Thiede are co-vicars of the Calumet Episcopal Ministry Partnership (St. Augustine’s, Gary; St. Barnabas in the Dunes, Gary; St. Christopher’s, Crown Point; St. Paul’s, Munster; St. Stephen’s, Hobart; and St. Timothy’s, Griffith, Ind.).

The Rev. William Nesbit is priest in charge of Grace, Jefferson City, Mo.

The Rev. Jason Oden is priest in charge of Advent, Walnut Hills, Ohio.

The Rev. Shirley M. Porter is rector of St. Christopher’s, Perry, Ga.

The Rev. Genevieve Razim is interim rector of St. Timothy’s, Lake Jackson, Texas.

The Rev. Mary Bea Sullivan is interim rector of All Saints’, Birmingham, Ala.

The Rev. Brian Tarver is rector of St. David’s, San Antonio.

The Rev. Kevin Veitinger is rector of All Saints,’ Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.

The Rev. Dn. Virginia Whatley is deacon of Good Shepherd, Fort Lee, N.J.

Ordinations

Diaconate

Central Florida: Rusty Hazelrigg (parish deacon, Ascension, Orlando, Fla.), Angel Lopez (assistant, St. John’s, Kissimmee, Fla.), Susan Moorehead (parish deacon, Grace, Ocala, Fla.).

Dallas: Trent Pettit

Fond du Lac: Nicole Misoni Beeck

Fort Worth: Paula Jefferson

Georgia: Rita Spalding

Iowa: Eric Joseph Rucker, Mariam Ruth Sawyer

Kentucky: John Charles Halton, Valerie Joan Mayo (campus minister and urban missioner, Diocese of Kentucky)

Lexington: David Thomas Goodpaster, Charles Halton

Los Angeles: Christie Ann Mossman, Dominique Nicolette Piper

Louisiana: Benjamin Jerome Nobles

Maine: Jean Cavanaugh, George Sheats

Maryland: John Deason

Minnesota: Mary Anderson, Mary Beth Farrell, Kate Maxwell, Pat Whitney

Mississippi: Tim Adams (parish deacon, Grace, Canton, Miss.)

New Jersey: Kyle Cuperwich (deacon administrator of Grace, Pemberton & St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Lumberton, N. J.), Robin Pierre, Shelton Radix

Virginia (for Western Tennessee): Mary Margaret Winn

Western Louisiana: Madeleine Rebouche

Western North Carolina: Kevin Todd

Wyoming: Paul Cripps, Annemarie Delgado, Mike Evers

Priesthood

Maryland: Jill Williams (curate, Christ Church, Ridgewood, N.J.)

Milwaukee: Michael Delashmutt (vice president, dean of academic affairs, and associate professor of sacred theology, General Theological Seminary, New York), Esther Kramer

Minnesota: Chris Boehm Carlson (assisting priest, St. Martin’s-by-the-Lake, Minnetonka Beach, Minn.), Katie Capurso Ernst (co-director, Mission Institute, Northborough, Mass.), Maggie Nancarrow (director of children, youth, and intergenerational ministry, St. Matthew’s, Saint Paul, Minn.), Tom Roy (assistant rector, St. John’s, St. Cloud, Minn.), Molly Weiss, Frank Whitman

Missouri: Mary Moloney Haggerty (priest-in-charge, St. Barnabas, Florissant, Mo.)

New Jersey: Thomas Szczerba (assistant, Grace, New York), Jorge Liriano Martinez (Iglesia San Andres, Camden, N.J.).

New York: Heidi Rose Thorsen (associate chaplain, Episcopal Church at Yale, New Haven, Conn.), Meredith Eve Ward (priest associate, Ascension, New York).

New York (for Virginia): James Hamilton Bates Morton III (Rockwell Fellow, St. James, Manhattan).

Western New York: Gerald Hilfiker (vicar, St. Paul’s, Springville, N.Y.), Rosaleen Nogle (priest in charge, St. Mark’s and All Saints, Buffalo, N.Y.)

Receptions

New Jersey: Andrew Calandriello (from the Roman Catholic Church).

Retirement

The Rev. Dr. James Melnyk as rector of St. Paul’s, Smithfield, N.C.

Mr. Penn Perry as executive director of Trinity Center, Pine Knoll Shores, N.C.

The Rev. Elenito Santos as assistant rector of St. Margaret’s, Waxhaw, N.C.

Blessed to Tell

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 07:00:03 GMT

By Chuck Alley

Reading from the Gospel of Luke, 10:17-24

17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

21 At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

23 Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

Meditation

The relationship of the righteous kings and prophets who existed before the Incarnation to the disciples and believers living after Pentecost is like that between journalists who report on the news and those who interview the news-makers. By God’s grace we have been granted access to God and given the privilege of sharing with the world the message we have received directly from his mouth. Middle men and interpreters need not corrupt what we have been given. We can put the message in quote marks and not have to qualify all we say with statements like “according to a reliable source,” because we are there ourselves. By being in his presence, we become eye-witnesses to the working out of God’s will. While the prophets could only proclaim what God had promised and, therefore, report in the future tense, we can use the past and present tenses to tell the world what God is doing.

It is true that we are links further down the chain chronologically. Yet as such, we have even more evidence of the transforming effect that the message of salvation through the cross of Christ has made on the world. One man—

in three years of public ministry,
with twelve commoners as his chosen leaders,
without any military action,
without ascension to political or religious institutional power,

caused the mightiest human empire to become Christian within three hundred years, and is still changing lives twenty-one hundred years later.

When we raise our heads above the surface of the pool of our own concerns, how can we not feel incredibly blessed? How can we not be encouraged, even as individuals, to go out and share the good news with all our neighbors?

♱

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New: 11/1 TLC Online

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 21:06:51 GMT

The November 1 World Mission edition of The Living Church is available online to registered subscribers.

For our cover story, correspondent G. Jeffrey MacDonald and photographer Asher Imtiaz report from the Navajo Nation reservation on the growing food delivery ministry of the Episcopal Church, serving a population that has been devastated by COVID-19.

Kirk Petersen describes the guilty verdict in the disciplinary hearing of Bishop of Albany William Love, for defying the General Convention’s approval of same-sex marriage rites.

Petersen also reports that a decision on whether to postpone General Convention 2021 will be made in November, and describes the existential crisis facing Episcopal Migration Ministries on Election Day.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England issues a report excoriating the Church of England, and Mark Michael has the details.

Three retired bishops passed away within days of each other in early October, including former Bishop of Colorado Bill Frey, and Michael recounts the life of one of the Church’s most influential evangelicals.

Anglican evangelicals have established a mission in Erupata, a remote village in Kenya, and Jesse Masai describes their challenges and triumphs, while Muthuraj Swamy reimagines Christian mission.

Elizabeth Anderson explores the life of 4th-century Saint Ammonius the Earless, and in De terra veritas, Michael explains that it is the first in a series of reflections on some of the “new” saints added to the calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts.

In our Ethics column, Simon Cuff parses the differences between the affairs of God and the affairs of State, asking “Why Should Christians Vote?”

Pamela A. Lewis describes how a Jersey City painter is reinterpreting Old Masters by using them as inspiration for works featuring modern African Americans.

All this plus more news and book reviews, People & Places, and Sunday’s Readings, from an independent voice covering the Episcopal and Anglican world since 1878. Consider subscribing today.

NEWS

Bishop Love Loses Trial on Same-Sex Marriage
A Man Full Alive: Remembering Bill Frey

FEATURES

The Lights of The World
Nov. 9: Ammonius the Earless, Hermit, 4th Century
By Elizabeth (Liza) Anderson
An Open Door for the Gospel in Kenya’s
Great Rift Valley | By Jesse Masai
Learning, Connecting, and Reconciling
By Muthuraj Swamy
Planting a Crop of Relationships in Navajoland
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, with photos by Asher Imtiaz
Narrating the Bible with Tyler Ballon
By Pamela A. Lewis

ETHICS

Why Should Christians Vote? | By Simon Cuff

BOOKS

Citizen | Review by Nathaniel lWarne
In Search of the Common Good
Review by Jordan Hylden
Converting Britannia | Review by Christopher Corbin
One Soul at a Time | Review by Zac Koons

OTHER DEPARTMENTS

De terra veritas
People & Places
Sunday’s Readings

Planting a Crop of Relationships in Navajoland

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 20:30:31 GMT

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald

FORT DEFIANCE, Ariz. – Ordained last year at age 45, the Rev. Leon Sampson, curate at Good Shepherd Mission here on the Navajo Nation reservation, is still getting to know the local community.

Inez Velarde at St. Luke’s in the Desert

But on days when there’s food to deliver, Fr. Sampson shows up like a trusted old friend at homes squirreled away in trailer parks and clustered in hillside carveouts. He knows which wandering horses will trot up to say hello, which dogs require special handling, which homes have a disabled person inside, and which ones have been ravaged by COVID-19. With coronavirus infection and death rates on the reservation nearly twice as high as in the hardest-hit states, a food-bearing Navajo priest gets a warm reception.

“In this house here – she has lots of grandchildren, so we’ll give her diapers, too,” Fr. Sampson says as he pulls up with a 10-by-6-foot trailer in tow, packed with provisions for the monthly delivery. He opens the door of the church’s GMC Yukon and announces his arrival.

“Hey, we’ve got some food for you!” he calls, and Debra Wauneka comes outside with a smile. “And here’s a starter box and some soil to help you teach your grandkids about gardening.”

Sampson’s micro-level insight stems from this new ministry that was spawned by the pandemic, a lifeline for remotely located Navajo. Fueled by churchwide generosity, the ministry is breaking the ice, not only between Sampson and individual Navajos, but also between the Episcopal Church and the tribal community. It’s enabling the church to start addressing a raft of material needs and plant a crop of new relationships.

Fr. Leon Sampson

What began as a food outreach of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland (ECN) to church-affiliated families has grown to encompass 300 to 400 households per month. Some recipients have Episcopal ties, but most do not. These families live too far from the distribution hubs to be noticed by other humanitarian outreach projects, says ECN Bishop David Bailey. Thanks to this ministry, Navajo families can stay at home and eat healthily, and get relief for other needs, from clothing to heating fuel.

“The food boxes help us out a lot because it keeps us from having to go out and get exposed to the virus that we know is out there,” says Jolena Yazza, who shares her trailer home with four other adults, including her 88-year-old father who suffers from dementia and is high-risk for virus complications. “I know a couple people who’ve had it and recovered. These food boxes make [the virus] avoidable.”

Sampson finds his burgeoning flock where modern infrastructure ends and interdependence is a way of life. His route winds from Fort Defiance up through Blue Canyon on lumpy dirt roads. All the while, his high school-aged daughter rides shotgun and keeps track of deliveries on a handmade map.

They pull into dirt-patch hovels where vehicles on blocks don’t run but plenty of unsaddled, unfenced horses do. So do packs of collarless dogs, when they’re not lounging five or six to a home. Here prefab units and other modest designs rely on plywood patches to cover exterior holes. Worn-out tires are repurposed for all sorts of tasks: holding down roofs, fencing off boundaries, and getting piled high into “snowman” sculptures just for fun. An estimated 30 percent of Navajo Nation residents lack running water, which explains the outhouses, metal water tanks lined up outside, and hoses snaking from tanks into windows en route to a sink.

COVID-19 has been devastating under these conditions. As of October 10, 6.1 percent of Navajo Nation residents had tested positive, versus 3.7 percent in Louisiana, the most infected state. The death rate on Navajo Nation was .33 percent, as compared to .28 in New York City and .18 in New Jersey, the state with the highest death rate. Put another way: the likelihoods of contracting or dying from COVID-19 are nearly twice as high in Navajo Nation as in the most high-risk states.

It’s easy to see how COVID-19 has left such a trail of destruction. Many who’d left the reservation for service industry jobs returned home to Navajo Nation when virus-driven shutdowns led to layoffs. Some reportedly brought the virus with them. Overcrowded housing, poor sanitation systems, lack of running water, and high rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes have all helped the coronavirus wreak more damage here than elsewhere.

A volunteer prepares to deliver food boxes

Encouraging Navajos to stay at home and boost immune systems are primary goals of the new feeding outreach, an uphill challenge here in this vast food desert. Only 13 grocery stores serve an area the size of West Virginia. That’s a big reason why deliveries include not just citrus and nutrient-rich vegetables, but also soil, seeds, and cedar planting box for starting a vegetable garden.

The food-growing component “teaches a generation how to sustain itself,” Fr. Sampson says. “We don’t just deliver and feed people because they’re in need. We also give them a choice for how to dictate their own future. Respecting that gives them a sense of pride, a sense of identity. It’s not just a charity case.”

This outreach would not have been possible as recently as one year ago. ECN had no obvious entrée and no wherewithal to engage people like Ms. Wauneka in her neighborhood tucked away in the wooded hills outside Fort Defiance. Nor did ECN have the financial muscle to spearhead outreach beyond its other hubs in Farmington, New Mexico, and Bluff, Utah.

Despite acute material needs on the reservation, where 43 percent live in poverty, ECN has been limited in what it could do over the past 10 years, according to Bishop Bailey. As the only area mission in the Episcopal Church, ECN receives funding for operating costs, and priorities are set in consultation with the Presiding Bishop. The mandate has focused on building up indigenous leadership, rebuilding physical infrastructure, and ministering to the Episcopal flock, who are concentrated in nine congregations and two house churches. Impactful relief work in the wider community has been largely beyond reach – until now.

“This is a whole new ministry for us, and it’s been caused by the pandemic,” Bishop Bailey says.

Jim Ellison and Rosie James receive food from Good Shepherd Mission

Support for the work comes from a patchwork of donors of monetary and in-kind gifts. Supplies for distribution come in part from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and from a California-based nonprofit called Giving Children Hope. Costs incurred by ECN include those for long-distance transportation, such as refrigerated containers and trucking fees.

Once-a-month food distributions (down from twice a month over the summer) cost about $30,000 to fulfill, Bailey said. Individuals, congregations, and dioceses have largely bankrolled the work. Donors have given four freezers and two trailers, he says. The Diocese of Northern Michigan has organized national fundraising efforts for Navajoland. The Diocese of the Rio Grande diverted its wholesale account with Sysco to help keep Navajoland pantries stocked last spring.

Now Bailey hopes the giving will continue as the church strives to help not only with food but also with heating assistance this winter.

“My biggest fear – and I’ve expressed this to a number of dioceses and others – is that we’d get into the deep fall and winter, and people wouldn’t continue to see the need” and stop giving, Bailey says. “This is not going away for us in Navajoland. I do not see us being able to have any relief from this until there’s a vaccine.”

The Navajoland Area Mission was created in 1978 with a vision to raise up indigenous Episcopal leaders. Today ECN receives $1 million in the triennial Episcopal Church budget for 2019 through 2021, but that hasn’t been enough to shield staffers from sharing in pandemic hardships. An across-the-board 10-percent salary cut this year has forced priests and others to cut back on personal spending.

“For me, it’s meant giving up meat, living on beans, going vegetarian,” says the Rev. Michael Sells, priest in charge of All Saints Church in Farmington, on the reservation’s edge. “If somebody gives me some chicken, I’ll cook that. Living on beans gets a little boring.”

But even as clergy weather hardships of their own, the new feeding ministry is giving them an opportunity to make a difference for their fellow tribesmen and tribeswomen – and to make ministry connections where they hadn’t before.

The Rev. Canon Cornelia Eaton

Fr. Sells, Fr. Sampson, and the Rev. Canon Cornelia Eaton, canon to the ordinary, are all Navajos. They are among seven ordained indigenous leaders who are helping fulfill the ECN vision. Through the food outreach, the wider community is encountering the new, long-awaited face of the church.

“People are becoming more aware of what we’re doing here,” Canon Eaton says. “I think what they see is Navajo clergy. And when you have Navajo clergy, Navajo clergy understand… With some of the natives, they don’t trust Christianity. They don’t trust churches. They don’t trust any of that because of the painful legacies brought upon the indigenous peoples. But I think they’re beginning to see us now as a church that is not about that. We’re a church that is about repairing relationships, reconciling and meeting them where they are.”

When Eaton and Sells set off from Farmington to deliver food on a warm fall day, their first stop is the micro hub for outreach: St. Luke’s in the Desert, a tiny stone church on a sagebrush-dotted hill overlooking an austere, sunbaked landscape. It is the church of Inez Velarde, a 68-year-old COVID-19 survivor, lay leader, and friend to all in need. If anyone needs help in this barren land 30 miles southeast of Farmington, they know to tell Velarde. Her connections make it happen.

Once a few food boxes are set up in St. Luke’s hall for anyone in need to pick up, Velarde leads Eaton and Sells to bring food to a family she hears is hurting. Dirt roads lead to an isolated trailer home. The only neighbors are vehicles, scattered in a de facto automotive graveyard where car windows get used for target practice. On the ground are empty snack wrappers, worn-out tires and six dogs. Two teens come out for the food.

“My mom and dad are home but they just don’t like coming out and talking,” the teen girl says.

“That’s understandable,” Eaton says. “I’m a priest down there at San Juan Mission at the Episcopal Church. We try to get food out to families. Is it helpful?”

“Yeah,” she says. She goes on to answer Eaton’s questions, explaining that the only way to complete her homework now is via cellphone.

Jessica Tso has two teenage daughters sharing a twin mattress

Such moments capture how Navajo priests are building new ties beyond the Episcopal community. Loading boxes and other food-related chores alongside other men gives Sells a window into their lives, he says. The experience tells him who needs work, who needs diapers, how many live in a given home, and so forth.

The insights help. Talking with Jessica Tso during her food delivery, Sampson learns she has two middle school-aged daughters sharing a twin-sized mattress. He tells her about a new program targeting the Navajo Nation bed shortage: it can get her a new mattress, box spring, and frame. He says her family could get help in other areas, too, such as securing coal for this winter’s heat and hauling water.

Down the road, Sampson learns Wauneka, the grandmother, isn’t just feeding herself and a few grandkids. She’s feeding nieces, nephews and other relatives. If any vegetables spoil, she feeds them to horses roaming the area in search of food and water, but most of it gets turned into meals for the neighborhood, where she says everyone is related.

Before the pandemic, “I used to feed like maybe 15 or 20 people per day,” Wauneka said, noting that she would feed children whose parents worked late, and others. “Now I usually call them and tell them to pick [the meal] up somewhere that I can leave it. They come and get it.”

Getting familiar with neighbors’ needs can shed light on unexpected dangers. Hand sanitizer, it turns out, isn’t for everyone. Sampson warns pantry volunteers to watch out for one particular family. Sampson has been to their home, which had no exterior door until the church supplied one, and he knows what they do with sanitizer there. They dilute it with water and stay drunk all day, nursing what becomes for them a toxic cocktail known as “ocean.”

As more material needs and challenges come to light, the church intends to keep responding as long as support for doing so holds up. And those on the frontlines are hopeful about where this array of new relationships might lead.

“The pandemic for us has been horrible, but the other side of the pandemic will be extremely beneficial for the work that we’re doing in Navajoland,” Bishop Bailey says, “because of the relationships that we’re building that were not available to us prior to the pandemic.”

The second article in this two-part series will explore how the Episcopal Church in Navajoland is relating in new, encouraging ways to Navajo culture.

True Worship

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 07:00:52 GMT

By Chuck Alley

Reading from Revelation, 7:9-17

9 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. 10They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” 14I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. 16They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; 17for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Meditation

This glorious vision of the throngs worshiping before Jesus gives us a glimpse of what the true Church looks like from the perspective of heaven. The Church is neither an ethnic people nor does it obliterate the ethnicity of its members. They are clearly identifiable as being from every nation, tribe, people and language. Yet, together they stand before the throne of Jesus and in one voice cry out, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Although much has been said about these white robed worshipers of Jesus as being those martyred in the tribulation, such an identification may be too narrow. Rather, the washing of robes in the blood of the Lamb may simply be seen as being purified through the sacrifice of Christ. As in the ancient custom of baptism, when the newly baptized were given a white robe upon emerging from the water, their white robes may symbolize rebirth in Christ. St. Paul described those who believe in Jesus as having “put on Christ” (Rom. 13:14). Thus, to come out of the great tribulation is to choose to turn from the sinful and oppressive ways of the world, die to self, and follow Jesus, being led by the Spirit as a new creation.

♱

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Rest in Peace, Rise in Glory

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 20:46:06 GMT

Obituaries, as printed in the October 18 issue of The Living Church.

Brother David Allen, SSJE, a priest and monk of the Society of St. John the Evangelist who served in the community’s Japanese province for many years, died August 17, aged 91, in the 60th year of his religious profession.

He was a native of Spokane, Washington, and enlisted in the U.S. Navy upon his graduation from Washington State University. After serving in the Pacific Fleet during the Korean War, he answered a call to ordained ministry and studied at Church Divinity School of the Pacific. Shortly after his ordination to the diaconate in 1958, he entered the Society of St. John the Evangelist, and became a priest later that year.

In 1962, he was sent to serve in the order’s Japanese province, quickly becoming proficient in the language, and helping in both English and Japanese speaking congregations. He edited the society’s Japanese newsletter, Mi Tsuka, and served as warden to a female religious community, the Sisters of Divine Charity.

He returned to the order’s Cambridge House when the Japanese province was closed in 1975, serving in different roles within the community. He learned enough Cantonese to celebrate the Eucharist and to preach on occasion and became one of the founders of the Boston Chinese Ministry based at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Shortly before Covid-19 lockdowns began, declining health forced Brother David to move to a long-term care facility. He wrote to the community in the spring, “I have come to know my present attitude is one of joy and peace … and that I have accepted with joy what has happened to me … accepting my life as it has become, so cut off from what it had been. Each morning I wake up reciting a line from the psalms, ‘This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.’” 

Brother David is survived by his brothers in the Society of St. John the Evangelist.

The Rev. Harwood “Woody” Bartlett, who believed God’s first question of him would be, “Well Woody, did you get anything done?” and pursued a ministry focused on care for “the least of these,” died September 21, aged 86.

Though born in Brooklyn, Bartlett moved to Atlanta at 13, and, his family recalled, “was a die-hard Braves fan and enjoyed a cold Coca-Cola until the end.” He studied engineering at Georgia Tech, and after serving in the U.S. Air Force, attended Virginia Seminary to prepare for the priesthood.

He was ordained in 1962 and served first as Episcopal chaplain at his alma mater, where he founded Tech Tutorials, a program that still connects Georgia Tech students with elementary school children in troubled schools. He became vicar of St. Francis Church in Macon, Georgia, in 1967, where he was involved in local civil rights advocacy and integrated the parish.

Bartlett moved back to Atlanta in 1972 to serve as rector of St. Bartholomew’s Church, and expanded the congregation’s outreach program. He left parish ministry after ten years at the church to focus more intensely on social ministry. He served as director of the Diocese of Atlanta’s charitable foundation and led the transformation of downtown Atlanta’s formerly dilapidated Imperial Hotel into a model for affordable, supportive housing.

He later became deeply involved in environmental issues, writing a book, Living by Surprise, A Christian Response to the Ecological Crisis, in 2003. With his wife, Carol, he founded Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, an organization that continues to provide resources to help congregations advocate for the care of creation. He loved travel and was a talented needle-pointer, and is survived by his wife, five children, and eight grandchildren.

The Rev. Sarah McRae “Sally” Fox, an advocate for the poor who served parishes in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and her native Louisiana, died August 9, aged 80.

Born in Ferriday, Louisiana, she grew up in towns across the state, and attended Louisiana State University before ultimately graduating from St. Mary’s Dominican College with a degree in education. Fox was deeply involved in church and school life while raising her four children but began to discern a call to ordained ministry. She enrolled at Seminary of the Southwest in 1979, and was ordained as a deacon in 1985, and as a priest four years later.

She served at St. John’s, Royal Oak, Michigan, for four years, and after a short–term assignment in Toledo, came to St. Stephen’s in Houston, where she was on the staff for ten years. In retirement, she was priest-in-residence at St. John’s in Minden, Louisiana. Her family remembered, “she cared for AIDS–stricken patients, homeless families, inner-city children, and abused women. She fed the hungry, clothed the needy, and spoke for the meekest among us. She gave things she needed to people who needed them more and the world is a better place because she walked among us.”

Fox was preceded in death by her son, James, and is survived by a son and two daughters, her husband, Doug, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

The Rev. Dr. Robert Eugene Reynolds died at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 12. He was 83, a native of Arizona and a graduate of Arizona State University and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

Reynolds was ordained deacon and priest in 1966. After a full career serving as rector of parishes in Washington State, Oregon, and California, he and his wife Elizabeth retired to Cincinnati in 2005 to be near family.

He came out of retirement to serve St. Thomas Church, Terrace Park, Ohio, as interim rector for two years and then as a member of the clergy staff until his death. The Church Divinity School of the Pacific awarded him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 2012.

He is remembered by colleagues and parishioners for his leadership skills, in guiding parishes and church committees with a steady hand; his mentoring skills with seminarians and clergy; and even his carpentry skills, with which he enhanced the churches he served.

He is survived by his wife, three children, three stepchildren, 11 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Apolitical Senior Leader Elected Hong Kong Abp.

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 18:43:48 GMT

By Mark Michael

The Rt. Rev. Andrew Chan, senior among the leaders of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui’s three dioceses, was elected Archbishop of Hong Kong and the province’s next primate by the provincial synod on October 18. Chan, 58, will continue to serve as Bishop of Western Kowloon after he succeeds the current archbishop, Paul Kwong, who will retire early in 2021.

An institutional leader with decades of experience, Chan was largely educated in the UK. While a signatory to several joint statements about Hong Kong’s violent clashes between pro-democracy protesters and police over the now fully imposed Security Law, Chan has kept quiet about the subject for months. A report in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post says he is “generally regarded as a mild-tempered clergyman, without displaying any outwardly political allegiances.”

Chan was a signatory to a pastoral letter that expressed tentative support for the protests shortly after they broke out in April 2019, “We are pleased with the innocent heart of most youth, who are willing to stand up for their ideals, to fight for the freedom that they cherish, and to face with courage against external threats,” the letter read. It also urged Hong Kong’s government to take the students’ concerns seriously, describing their narrow focus on legal questions as “likely to lead to stubbornness, partiality and bias.”

When protests turned violent in August 2019, the bishops issued a pastoral letter that called for peace, stating, “In these times, we all need to pray to God for mercy and forgive one another. When conflicts arise between us, people from both sides need to respect the other party, listen, communicate, and build mutual trust.”

A final letter on the subject, issued on November 24, 2019 after months of violent suppression, criticized the protesters as impatient and short-sighted. “When we cannot see a way forward, and when the situation deteriorates, we tend to seek shortcuts to reach our goals. And so, we make use of force, vigilante justice, threats, violence, and domination to resolve problems, resulting in more chaos and conflict. But the above-mentioned methods cannot recover kindness, because they trap us in a vicious cycle of sin, turning Hong Kong into a land of hatred, bitterness and piteous cries.”

“Although we will remain in a difficult situation in the immediate future, we should remember that besides being citizens of earth, we are also citizens of heaven. As citizens of heaven, our ultimate calling is to bring heaven to earth. Only in this way may we attain true prosperity, peace, democracy, and freedom for Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong’s current archbishop, Paul Kwong, wrote a sharply-worded defense of the Security Law to the Church Times shortly after it took effect in late June. He criticized British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of “anti-China bias” and said that the law, which allows those accused of breaking Hong Kong laws to be extradited to the mainland for trial, “is necessary for our well-being”

“Many critics do not accept the fact that we are part of China,” Archbishop Kwong wrote. “They only emphasize two systems, not one country. I cherish our Hong Kong freedoms — in particular, the freedom of religion and way of life — as much as anyone, and I don’t think this law will change any of that. I am also proud to be living in China.”

Archbishop-elect Chan, a Hong Kong native, earned a degree in education in Newcastle before beginning his studies for the ministry at Salisbury and Wells Theological College. After his ordination, he served several parishes in Hong Kong, returning to the UK to earn a masters’ degree in pastoral theology from Heythrop College, near London.

He worked closely with former Hong Kong Archbishop Peter Kwong to establish the province’s administrative structure in the late 1990’s, and was both diocesan and provincial secretary, as well as a liaison for the church to the wider Anglican Communion. He was the first Chinese dean of historic St. John’s Cathedral in central Hong Kong and has served as Bishop of Western Kowloon since 2011. He was made an honorary canon of Salisbury Cathedral in 2012 in recognition for his work in strengthening the relationship between the two dioceses.

The Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (also known as the Anglican Church of Hong Kong) was established as an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion in 1998, a year after the former colony was handed over to the People’s Republic of China by the British government. The thirty-odd parishes of the former Diocese of Hong Kong were then divided into three dioceses, the requisite number for obtaining provincial status. One diocese is on Hong Kong Island and two others, Eastern and Western Kowloon divide the former colony’s mainland territory. The province also has a mission presence in Macau, a neighboring autonomous area that was a Portuguese colony until 1999, when it was transferred to China. The province has approximately 30,000 communicants.

Archbishops Condemn Brexit Trade Bill

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 17:54:15 GMT

By Mark Michael

In a rare show of inter-provincial solidarity, the United Kingdom’s five Anglican archbishops condemned the Brexit-enabling Internal Market Bill before the House of Lords this week. In an October 19 letter to the Financial Times, the archbishops said the bill poses a threat to Britain’s model of devolved policymaking and undermines peace in Northern Ireland. They harshly criticized a provision that empowers a government minister to break international law for the national self-interest as a move that “has enormous moral, as well as political consequences.”

“If carefully negotiated terms are not honored, and laws can be ‘legally’ broken,” the archbishops asked, “on what foundations does our democracy stand?”

The bill, which was approved by the House of Commons on September 29, sets out the terms for trade between England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland after the United Kingdom fully severs its ties with the European Union on January 1, 2021. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government describes it as a “safety net” to protect the UK’s internal market if legal disputes arise between the UK and the European Union over the provisions of the Northern Irish Protocol that the government negotiated with the EU last October.

The Northern Irish Protocol attempts to avoid a “hard border” marked by customs and passports checkpoints along the many highways that link Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland, which remains part of the EU. Such checkpoints are a volatile reminder of British “occupation” of the island’s northern third for Northern Ireland’s largely Catholic Republican movement, who support Northern Ireland breaking away from the UK and becoming part of the Republic of Ireland. The dismantlement of checkpoints was an important part of the Good Friday Agreement that secured peace between Northern Ireland’s Republican and Unionist movements in 1998.

The Northern Irish Protocol requires Northern Ireland to continue to enforce EU customs rules and to follow EU rules on product standards, participating in the EU’s “single market on goods.” This makes the customs checks along the border with the Irish Republic unnecessary. The rest of the UK, however, will cease participating in the single market on goods after December 31, which means that a regulatory and customs border will need to be set up between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

The UK and the European Union continue to engage in trade talks, with the goal of eliminating customs tariffs altogether. The Internal Market Bill enables the UK to act in its own self-interest in case these talks fail, giving UK officials the power to “disapply” portions of the Northern Irish Protocol on the movement of goods between Northern Ireland and the UK and to boost Northern Irish businesses with previously tabled state subsidies that would make them more competitive in the EU market. The EU has promised lawsuits if the UK acts on these provisions.

The Johnson government’s Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, admitted to parliament on September 8 that the Internal Markets Bill “does break international law in a very specific and limited way. We’re taking the powers to disapply the EU law concept of direct effect … in a certain very tightly defined circumstance.” The concept of direct effect allows an individual to invoke a provision of certain European Union laws – in this case, Northern Irish Protocol – before a national court.

The Internal Market Bill is also opposed in its current form by the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd, the parliamentary bodies that represent two “nations” under UK’s system of devolved governance. The Northern Irish Assembly passed a resolution opposing the Internal Market Bill’s principles before it was passed in its final form. While the consent of the regional parliamentary bodies is not technically necessary, the Johnson government’s expressed desire to push the legislation through without attending to their expressed concerns is unusual.

The archbishops warned of the potential long-term consequences of such an action, which disproportionately effects trade between Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, writing “If the Bill is made law without consent from devolved legislatures (as will happen if it is not amended to address their concerns), this will further undermine trust and goodwill among those who govern the different parts of the United Kingdom.”

The Internal Markets Bill is due to be taken up in the House of Lords this week, where Johnson’s government lacks a majority. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell, are members of the House. Though a proposed “motion of regret” about the bill has been tabled by the Lord Judge, more than 110 peers have signed up to speak against the bill. The Lords will not be able to veto the bill, but they can delay its adoption, and strong opposition will weaken the Johnson government’s hand in continued negotiations with the EU.

Former government minister David Jones lashed out at the archbishops’ statement in an interview with The Daily Mail, saying their remarks “betray a lack of understanding of the issues involved.” He added: “This is way beyond the remit of the Church. It is a straightforward question of constitutional propriety. Once again, the archbishops seem to have swallowed every scrap of Remain propaganda unquestioningly and are now regurgitating it. It makes my blood boil.”

The Irish primate, Archbishop John McDowell, who served the Church of Ireland’s border Diocese of Clogher before being chosen as Archbishop of Dublin, defended the archbishops’ decision to speak out against the bill in an interview with BBC’s Radio 4 Today. He described the letter as part of “civic dialogue” at the heart of the democratic process. “Pretty much every political act, and every piece of legislation or social policy, has an ethical element to it,” McDowell added.

The other archbishops who signed the letter are John Davies, Archbishop of Wales; and Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

10/26 Readings: Vocation and Death

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 16:19:34 GMT

21 Pentecost

Deut. 34:1-12 [Lev. 19:1-2, 15-18]
Ps. 90:1-6, 13-17 [Ps. 1]
I Thess. 2:1-8
Matt. 22:34-46

“Never since has there been a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” Loved by God in this unusual way, Moses lived a long life of 120 years, and, until the moment of his death, his sight remained clear and his vigor unabated.

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Still, a sadness pervades the report of his departure from this life. Moses looked over the land of promise. “Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh. All the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain — that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees — as far Zoar” (Deut. 34:1-3). Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there” (Deut. 34:4). “Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command” (Deut. 34:5). Finally, his life was given to the silence of death.

Moses did not enter the promised land. He did not realize the fruit of his labor, though he did not labor in vain. Strangely, Moses’s death is a promise about the future, a hope that a good work begun may be entrusted to others. Even the friend of God must die as the Lord commands. “You turn us back to the dust and say, ‘Go back, O child of earth.’ For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past and like a watch in the night. You sweep us away like a dream; we fade away suddenly like the grass. In the morning it is green and flourishes; in the evening it is dried up and withered” (Ps. 90:3-6). Moses lived his vocation until his appointed death, leaving the hope of the future to Joshua upon whom Moses had laid his hands.

Vocation and death belong together. We must do something as called by God and pursue it with the awareness that we do not have forever. And we ought to make provision for the future and trust in those to follow. What are we to do? We discern a specific vocation primarily by assessing our strengths and skills in relation to the common good. More broadly, however, there is a vocation we all share, and we hear it from the mouth of Jesus.

“One of the [Pharisees], a lawyer, asked [Jesus] a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’” (Matt 22:35-40)

Every day and every year, until the hour of death, is given to this vocation. We are called to love God wholly and to serve and love our neighbors. The second of the two great commandments is a test of the first. “The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brother and sisters also” (I John 4:21). The love of one’s neighbor, although a common vocation, will differ according to circumstances: the scope of one’s responsibilities, the people with whom a common life is shared, one’s employment in the world.

The two great commandments are a life’s work and one which is passed from one generation to the next.

Look It Up: I John 4:19

Think About It: There is a landscape of promise you will not enter. Labor in love all the same and trust in the future.

An Army of One

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 07:00:02 GMT

By Chuck Alley

Reading from Revelation, 7:1-8

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage earth and sea, 3saying, “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.”

4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel:

5 From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,

6 from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,

7 from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,

8 from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand sealed.

Meditation

As the end approaches, the great army of God will be composed of all believers as symbolized by the 144,000 in God’s census. This does not represent only Christians who are Jewish or Jews who recognize Jesus as their Messiah. Nor does it mean that the believers who come from an ethnic Gentile background will replace the Jews as God’s people. Rather, all believers in Jesus Christ, regardless of ethnicity or religious label, will be included in God’s army for the final battle. The completed Jews and the engrafted Gentiles will be united as one people in Christ through a sovereign act of God (Rom. 11). Once again, the army’s identity will be not based on ethnicity, race, or nationality, but exclusively on being Christ’s own through faith.

As believers in Jesus living in the last days, we need to look for what unites us, rather than seeking to find ways of differentiating ourselves from one another. Our ultimate unity is to be the result of a sovereign act of God and not something of our own doing. It is God who does the calling and the sealing. He is the one who will separate to himself an army — we are only his recruits. We have no right to form a different line because we do not agree with the person next to us. Our role is to remain in line as we await our final call, and share with the others in line what God has revealed to us.

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