PelicaNews, 2009, March

That is a simple enough statement, yet in many ways it says a great deal about where we are and how far we must go as a parish and as individuals to live into faith with more than a modicum of integrity. At one and the same time Christian faith and action demands adult decisions, a critical mind and heart, and a will to follow Christ with the full knowledge that our cross, our lives, are at risk in a world that is, at best indifferent, and at worst, hostile to Christianity .

Several years ago, while on sabbatical I stumbled upon a book that caused me to be both excited and dejected about the prospects of living out my life as a Christian in today's world. Excited because the author gave me a theological framework for the purpose and conditions of "real" Christianity and dejected because Christian thought and action are dangerous and life threatening. The book is entitled, “The Church Faces Death: Ecclesiology in a Post Modern Context”, by Michael Jinkins, Oxford Press; a horrible title with not much shelf appeal I thought, before I delved into the theology behind the odd and forbidding title.

Actually, it was rather Good Friday and Easter oriented, positive and affirming of what it is we mean when we live out our lives as Christians and as a parish strives to be, in the best sense of the word, a Christian community. What the title suggests is that the church is most alive, most engaged in being the CHURCH when it is hanging on the edge of existence. It is when the CHURCH plays it safe, when we have nothing to say to the world beyond platitudes, when security is the byword for how we live as individuals and as a parish, at the expense of the "Good News," we have the possibility of a full and at worse a dead CHURCH, only appearing to be 'alive.' When we stretch the meaning of the cross and our own version of Golgotha, when we take Christ to the limit of our own faith, that we may face certain death, that is when we are and the CHURCH are most alive. Sounds counterintuitive, wacky perhaps, even irresponsible, self-destructive; yet that is precisely the Christian message for adults. The church is most alive when it positions itself near death for the sake of Christ, and the path we must follow.

This is my thirty fourth year as a priest, all of them, minus four, as a rector. Some rectors count the number of vestry meetings till retirement; I count the number of Every Member Canvases till retirement. It is beyond a doubt a time that twists together many different and conflicting feelings, all of which leaves many in leadership positions twisting, as it were, in the wind. In the past I have taken personal responsibility for the "success" or "failure" for a given canvas. In the context of Michael Jinkin's book, the church does face death, as we engage in the Every Member Canvas; but that "death" is faced by all of us, not just the leadership.

I recall a moment in the life of St. John's Episcopal Church, Worthington Valley, Maryland when the parish was asked to host fifty inner city children for a week at St. John's. Permission was given by the City of Baltimore for school buses to be used for transportation; volunteers were willing to help with outside activities associated with nature and its entire splendor. In fact many of the children had never seen a cow up close! The young assistant went to the vestry with all his ducks in a row. This was going to be a slam-dunk, theologically and practically. At the vestry meeting a member of the vestry asked the young assistant this leading question," Are you going to be responsible if the children break the stained glass windows?" The young assistant, barely out of seminary, wasn't prepared for that question. But the Senior Warden was prepared. In a quiet yet assured way, Humpy Stump, yes that is his name, said, "St. John's needs those children here for that week, and I believe we can sacrifice stain glass windows to have them here." The young assistant said nothing further, the children came, no stained glass windows were broken and the camp has been held every year since. And still, no broken windows.

In the height of awareness of apartheid in South Africa, a member of the parish asked me to go with her to Washington, DC (our parish in Southern Maryland was only thirty five minutes away) to protest at the South African Embassy, and she was sure we would be arrested for civil disobedience. In fact she wanted to be arrested and hoped I would join her in this protest against discrimination. Although my decision troubled me considerably, I knew my response. No. I couldn't do it for many reasons, most of all, it didn't feel appropriate or the right thing for me. Did I duck my responsibility to protest something I abhor, against everything Christ stood for? I choose not to be arrested along with my parishioner; was I copping out?

Each day of our lives we come face to face with the cross that looms within us. What we may forget from time to time is that the resurrection is always linked with any kind of death for a Christian. Maybe it is not so much the death we are concerned with, rather the pain or anguish or rejection or the isolation that may occur because our faith has spoken, and the world is uncomfortable with our decision or the person, Jesus the Christ, whom we represent.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES

Worship Services Holy Eucharist--Sunday, 8 & 10:15 am,

Thursday, 10 am followed by A Service of Healing

Christian Education Sundays @ 9 am for Adults; 10 am for Children;

Mondays @ 1:00 pm Education for Ministry Bluffton area

Wednesdays @ 6:00 pm Education for Ministry, All Saints

Bible Studies Tuesday, Men @ 7:30 am, Women @ 10:30 am,

Thursday, Adults @ 11 am

Centering Prayer Monday, All Saints @ 9 am

Wednesday, Sun City @ 9:15 am

Altar Flowers for Lent Chamber Music Hilton Head Christian Education Opportunities Conversations With Those Closest to Jesus Dinner and a Movie Episcopal Church Women Family Promise Feed My Sheep Friends with Wheels International Piano Competition 2009	March, 2009	Juliets Lay Care Givers Lay Readers and Eucharist Ministers Lenten Lessons and Carols Looking Ahead to April The Rector's Reflections Saintly Singles Stations of The Cross Service Wednesday Evenings in Lent World Day of Prayer
Feb	Index	Apr

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