NOVEMBER 2018 • Volume 20, Number 6
Integrity: 2 Of Family and Thanks: 8 A Delicious La Posada: 11 The Advent of Outreach: 12
FROM
In this issue: Music Ministry ...................... 8 Youth Ministry....................... 9 Family Ministry ..................10 Our Church Life .................12 Great Commission..............15 Page Turners.......................16 From the Kitchen................17 Calendar of Events.............18 Photo Album........................19
Sunday Services: 7:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite 1 9:00 a.m. Family-friendly Communion Service with Music 10:00 a.m. Christian Education for Children, Youth, and Adults 11:00 a.m. Choral Eucharist, Rite 2 6:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite 2 Visit us on-line at www.cecsa.org
Cover photos by Susanna Kitayama Editor Gretchen Duggan
Integrity This is Patrick’s ninth epistolary essay in this series about the Christian ministry.
D
ear Alex,
After our sobering exchange a few weeks ago about the necessity of forgiving your PATRICK GAHAN Rector older brother patrickg@cecsa.org in order to break down that onerous barrier to your spiritual growth, you now wonder if you can maintain the dayto-day demands of a parish priest. No one can accuse you of not covering the waterfront. You go from the challenges of a pastor’s interior spiritual life to those of our very public life leading a congregation. In truth, the two are fundamentally connected. Our pastoral leadership must be fueled by our personal faith. To lose that connection is to forfeit our integrity. When that disconnect occurs, our witness falters and the parish declines. You mention “burn out,” which is a very real possibility when a pastor loses his or her integrity. Most often, we deduce that overwork predicts a pastor’s burnout. A surprise encounter I experienced some years ago revealed the fallacy of that deduction. On a summer afternoon, I visited an octogenarian woman who was largely relegated to the confines of her home. Sitting on her neatly appointed screened-in porch, she asked, “Pat, how have things been going?” I took her words as an invitation to bemoan the list of challenges that beset me and the struggle to accomplish them all. She listened attentively to my catalogue of complaints, and then sat for a time in silence. I confidently awaited her grandmotherly words of understanding and support, when all at once she queried soberly, “Well, son, do you want to burn out or rust out?” Rattled, I could only muster, “B…b… burn out, of c..c..course.” A lifetime had taught my senior friend
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that working hard is not the nemesis of ministry we should fear. Instead we should fear rusting from the inside out through the loss of our integrity. Individual pastors, on the whole, begin their ordained ministry afire with the assurance of God’s call and a Biblical vision of how that call should be daily lived out. Remember St. Paul’s urgent plea with the neophyte Ephesian presbyters before he left them for his fateful return to Jerusalem: ‘Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them’ (Acts 20:28-30) “Keep watch over yourselves,” says Paul, so that you may lead and protect God’s people entrusted to you. In this day, as much as in the 1st Century, if we forfeit our integrity, we are no better than a rusted pot, unable to protect the people we’ve been called to serve from the wolves besieging them from without and within. The strength of our inner life with Christ must inform and fortify our work as a pastor or we will not be able to battle the dark, dehumanizing forces aligned against the Church. Using the word “battle” here reminds me of my time at the United States Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Georgia. First training as an enlisted man and later as an officer, the symbol for the Infantry was inescapable, as it was emblazoned on our uniforms, stationery, signs, and buildings. The symbol, taken from a bronze sculpture set in the middle of that historic fort, shows a soldier, weary from battle, but still standing with his rifle in his left hand. Waving his right hand over his head, he signals to those behind him, “Follow me!” The statue, the symbol, and the words fastened themselves onto my psyche so that I knew beyond the shadow of
From Our Rector... any doubt that we could only lead our men into battle – or anywhere else for that matter – if we were prepared to go ourselves and go first. Already a Christian when I arrived at Ft. Benning, it took me years to realize that the Infantry School’s motto was the same as Jesus’. Our Lord, too, was leading his disciples into battle, although one with much more cosmic significance. Most often, we recall Jesus calling his first disciples, Andrew, Peter, James, and John from their fishing boats with those two words – ‘Follow me’ (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17). Jesus uses the same words to call the despicable tax collector Levi from his table laden with money (Luke 5:27). When Jesus approaches Philip, he again issues the invitation, ‘Follow me’ (John 1:43). More arrestingly, Jesus tersely issues it to the rich young man who desires to join the disciples:
extends well beyond the ordained ranks. Nevertheless, to hear my sister and brother clergy make bold declarations such as, “My work is my tithe,” or “If I were paid more, I’d give more,” or “It’s the laity’s job to keep this parish going, not mine” – lets me know we have a serious integrity problem in this area. According to Luke, Jesus’ injunction that ‘one cannot serve God and money’ was directed to the disciples, those who would become the super clergy of the 1st Century (Luke 16:13). What makes this passage particularly daunting is that Jesus frames his contention about
money in the context of responsibility. The Lord avers, ‘If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches’ (Luke 16:11). If the pastor cannot untangle himself from his subservience to money, how can she or he ever receive the Lord’s trust and blessing to lead a congregation full of God’s people? Thus, it should go without saying that Christ must become the pastor’s only Lord, above money and everything else.
While this walk down Old Testament lane may be beneficial, it’s in the New Testament where the principle of “first fruits” becomes really interesting. As we’ve come to expect, God turns the table on us in Jesus. Not surprisingly, St. Paul deciphers this switcheroo first. To the Corinthians the apostle writes, ‘In fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep’ (1 Corinthians 15:20; see also 15:23 & Romans 8:29). Paul is stating that in the resurrection, God does, indeed, turn the table on us and gives us His first fruits, Jesus, who leads us into eternal life. In our giving, we are not currying favor with the Lord but responding to the love he has already bestowed on us. As John curtly states, ‘We love because he first loved us’ (1 John 4:19). When we begin to truly believe in Christ and step out in love as he loved us, we actually become first fruits ourselves. Again, Paul states, ‘We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13). With that, the gift of first fruits comes full circle, where we are primarily situated on the receiving end.
Submitting to Christ as Lord of our lives, to include our wealth, can be Biblically substantiated along two lines. First, the Lord asks for the “first fruits” of our labor. As early as Genesis 4, we find Cain sacrificing his first harvest to Yahweh and his brother Abel the first
The second line of substantiation the Bible offers regarding our financial stewardship is the tithe, which challenges us with a quantifiable standard. We are asked to give at least ten percent of our first fruits. Some of the last urgent words in the Old
‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me’ (Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22). Rather than being harsh or dismissive with the young man, Jesus is actually showering him with substantive, unsentimental love (Mark 10:21). The Lord knows that until the man’s inner self exchanges its primary attachment to material things for the love of God, his work as a disciple will be crippled. He will not be able to lead anyone to faith in Christ, nor be equipped to muster them against ‘the principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places’ (Ephesians 6:12). Jesus knows that young man is a compromised man, who has not yet garnered his integrity, for his inner and outer lives are disconnected. Money The material world of that rich young man is the best place for us to begin as we take an account of our own integrity and fitness for the ordained ministry. Of all the places where I observe that we clergy talk a better game than we live, it is in the area of money. Based on the Bible’s overarching concern with this subject, I’m certain the disconnect
born of his flock (Genesis 4:3-4). Moses becomes explicit with this demand when he prescribes, ‘The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God’ (Exodus 34:26). Furthermore, as Israel was desperately trying to reclaim the Holy Land, from which she had been earlier exiled for her unfaithfulness, the Book of Nehemiah records, ‘We obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord’ (Nehemiah 10:35). And in the timeless wisdom literature of Israel, the teacher of Proverbs succinctly states, ‘Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce’ (Proverbs 3:9).
Follow Me! - Iron Mike, Fort Benning Georgia Photo by John D. Helms - john.d.helms@us.army.mil
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From Our Rector... Testament urge us to give the first and Stephen’s in the face.” paths with her in the hallway that best tenth of our earnings to the Lord so connected Kay’s and my bedroom that we may revel in His love: ‘Bring the Kay, always far more faithful that I am, with hers, I fired off a critical remark full tithe into the storehouse, that there agreed. We sent surprise gifts to our about some insignificant chore undone, may be food in my house. And thereby two sisters and began tithing that week. door left open, or car badly parked. put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, I don’t know if I would say that the Lord Catherine Grace quickly ducked passed if I will not open the windows of heaven “opened the windows of heaven” for me, but then she halted, turned around, for you and pour down for you a blessing us, but we had enough to eat regularly, and firmly asked, “Dad, are you ever in until there is no more need’ (Malachi pay our bills, keep Clay in school, and a good mood?” Frozen and speechless, 3:10). Pastors should hold this passage send Catherine Grace off to college I knew the answer. No, I was never close to their hearts, for the promise soon thereafter. More telling is that the in a good mood when I crossed the of God here is not to individuals, as it struggling parish we first encountered threshold of our home. Every bit of has often been misconstrued, but to the increased its stewardship by over 400% goodwill within me was poured out body of believers. God will bless our in just five years. Not for a minute do on the people in that wounded parish congregations if we are faithful to Him I think that would have happened if and the community. I opened the door in concrete ways. I should add here that we had disobeyed God and feigned the of our house each evening looking for the tithe is like the “Follow Me” bronze tithe. I would not have been able to talk a fight because I was an empty vessel. sculpture standing at the center of Ft. to the people of St. Stephen’s about What’s more, I was a hypocrite. What Benning, a symbol meant to inspire the sacrificial stewardship if I had forfeited kind of Christian man lavishes hope and inner-life of the soldier. In that same my integrity in that way. I would have kindness at the hospitals, parishioner’s way, the tithe is more a stirring symbol been like Esau glibly selling his noble homes, parish meetings, worship itself than a numerical percentage. The birthright for a bowl of chili (Genesis gatherings, and counseling sessions, tithe is a concrete symbol directing 25: 29-34). but metes out anger and judgment to us to “follow” Jesus and dare his wife and children? The words to entrust everything we have “We cannot demand our people to do of Isaiah, on which I had often to him. The pastor must lead preached, now haunted me: ‘Is this something that we are obviously not not the real fast I choose, says the his or her fellowship by being doggedly faithful in giving share your bread with doing ourselves. Our children, spouses, Lord…to as a living example of this the hungry and bring the homeless and even our aging parents will smell poor into your house; when you see considerable trust. the naked, to cover him, and not to out a fraud every time.” Twenty-two years ago, the hide yourself from your own flesh? importance of Kay’s and my (Isaiah 58:6-7). example in this area hit us like a typhoon. Before that day, we were battened down Today, over two decades later, Kay and In later years, I was to learn that Paul is in fear, not trust. Driving down Phelan I act on our commitment week after far more brutal in his assessment than Avenue in Beaumont, TX, I recall the week. Every Saturday night, she writes the prophet Isaiah. Instructing Timothy exact traffic light where the Holy Spirit our weekly tithe check. At the early on the qualifications of a faithful hit me with gale force winds, and I service, I drop the check into the alms pastor, he adds, ‘If anyone does not made this outlandish pronouncement: basin. Whereas I know it is easier to provide for his relatives, and especially write a monthly check, utilize payroll for members of his household, he has “Kay, I think we need to take $2,000 deduction, pay by credit card to earn denied the faith and is worse than an from our savings account in order to travel miles, or settle up in December unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8). While Paul give half of it to your sister and the so that Kay and I can earn the most is tutoring Timothy on how to adjure other half to mine.” interest on our savings, I find offering members of his congregation to live our tithe every week indispensable. righteously, the implication here is the Kay looked back at me in disbelief and I do not imagine many people in the same as tithing: We cannot demand countered, “That will leave us only congregation see or care that we make our people to do something that we $500 in savings.” our gift each Sunday, yet I know that we are obviously not doing ourselves. Our do, and it reminds me that I must daily children, spouses, and even our aging “I know, but I think the fear of money act on my inner convictions to remain parents will smell out a fraud every has too much of a grip on us.” And it true to Christ and faithful to the people time. did. We had come to Beaumont, where I’ve been called to serve. I would serve my first parish as rector. The core of my problem at home was However, we could not sell the home we Family not poor time management, fluid left in Tennessee. Add to that, Clay, our personal boundaries, or compassion oldest, had just entered his freshmen I recall with dread my daughter’s fatigue. My problem was that I was year at a private college. Even knowing singular question to me in the spring trying to live at two different addresses, that, I was not finished. “We must start of her sixteenth year. It was after 5 p.m. and I do not mean the church house tithing every dollar we earn, or I will when I raced in the door to prepare for and our family residence. No, the heart not be able to look the people of St. yet another evening meeting. Crossing of my problem was that I was trying
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From our Rector... to live simultaneously in the kingdom priest. On one particularly snowy, icy, to come by in those early months. of this world and in the kingdom of arctic cold day, I arrived at class to find God. When we live that way our inner Hosanna sitting there alone. Surprised, Into this smog of sorrow stepped a most life is at war with our actions and I ventured to ask, “Hosanna, do your unlikely hero – Dan Bailey. A classicist speech, which destroys our integrity. parents make you come to Sunday by training, Dan exercised great acuity My teenage daughter bravely called me School?” “Oh no,” she retorted, “my with Greek and Hebrew. Along the way, on my hypocrisy. In his two shortest parents just say, ‘the Banks do church.’” he had mastered Mandarin as well. His parables, Jesus explains the only way At first sight, that story may not appear latest challenge was Russian, for which for a Christian to escape this divided, particularly earth-shaking. As I have he had plenty of time to pursue, for destructive existence. Speaking once ruminated on Hosanna’s assertion, I’ve Dan did not work. True, he kept a small again to his hard-headed disciples, Jesus come to realize that her parents were herd of cattle, which he hovered over tells them that the kingdom of God like they were his children. Other is like a man who found a treasure “Jesus’ knows that upon discovery than that, Dan lived very simply off in a field. He was filled with joy the proceeds of his insubstantial of the abundantly-meaningful, and sold all that he had to buy the trust fund. Among other things, entire field. Furthermore, another love-infused, mercy-driven, grace- Dan’s freedom from the tyranny man found a pearl of great price, of the clock allowed him to show fulfilled life with Christ in God’s and he, too, sold all that he had in up at the church by mid-morning, order to buy the pearl (Matthew mark time as he poured over kingdom, we will leave our old 13:44-46). Jesus’ knows that upon obscure Greek texts, or just irritate vacuously-empty, regret-bound, the secretaries until I was able to discovery of the abundantlymeaningful, love-infused, mercyaccount-driven, shame-anchored escape with him to lunch. driven, grace-fulfilled life with him worldly life behind.” in God’s kingdom, we will leave our On each occasion, we took our repast old vacuously-empty, regret-bound, at the same place – El Charro, home account-driven, shame-anchored of the $2.59 Chalupa Compuesta. worldly life behind. We sell out to live determined to share their deepest joy If we arrived before noon, we received in the new reality, and the change of and the inner-purpose of their lives two chalupas in an order and free iced address is written all over our faces. with their daughter. They had crossed tea, which made the meal well within Our integrity is restored, such that the over from the old, tired kingdom of this the bounds of Dan’s diminutive trust woman or man who leaves for work world and into the kingdom of God. fund. We would haunt one of the corner in the morning is the same one who They certainly did not want to leave tables, feast on our lard laden chalupas, arrives home at night. behind the one they loved the most. St. and talk about prayer, mysticism, and Paul declares that ‘God has delivered Bible translations. Putting aside the What’s more, we will want to share us from the dominion of darkness pain in my young family for an hour, this new life with our families. This is and transferred us to the kingdom of Dan took me to higher ground. Friends important, for there is more than a little His beloved Son’ (Colossians 1:13). do that, and clergy need friends. truth behind the jokes and jibes about Pastors, of all Christians, must invite “preacher’s kids” and spouses who want their families on this most magnificent Jesus models that for his own friends in little or nothing to do with parish life. journey. the middle of his last meal with them. We pastors, who share the gospel so On that night Jesus will be arrested, ably and copiously with others, neglect Friends and sorrow will overtake each one of those closest to us under the guise of them. Among those final things that “let them find their own way” or “it’s Dan Bailey was the first friend I made Jesus shares with the twelve, he insists suffocating being a minister’s child.” after I was ordained in 1988. Moving they, too, become real friends to one This is a smokescreen, for why would from Sewanee to Tyler, TX, my family another: we not share the deepest truth and joy resembled the Clampetts moving within us? Something has gone terribly into Beverly Hills. We had become My command is this: Love each other awry when “the cobbler’s children have accustomed to the slow pace of rural life as I have loved you. Greater love has no shoes.” Hosanna Banks, a child I and a sense of equanimity and equality no one than this: to lay down one’s taught in Sunday School many years that prevailed upon that mountain life for one’s friends. You are my ago, showed me how a family operates refuge. Tyler was “Dallas-concentrate,” friends if you do what I command. I when the parents are sold out to the replete with Chevy Suburbans in every no longer call you servants, because kingdom of God. I was teaching the driveway and gold jewelry hanging a servant does not know his master’s high school class at a church close from every wrist, neck, and ear lobe business. Instead, I have called you to the seminary in Sewanee, TN. The of the city’s womenfolk. Encountering friends, for everything that I learned class was small to begin with, but the this foreign land with its glittering from my Father I have made known weather could be so contrary that illuminati, Kay was heartsick. I took to you. (John 15:12-15) students missed class frequently – that her despondency with me to work each is with the exception of Hosanna, whose day, while I was desperately trying to When I consider Dan’s companionship mother was studying to be an Episcopal learn how to be a pastor. Joy was hard through the lens of Jesus’ words, I
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From our Rector... upon him, each of them set out from we had settled in, bought a his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, house, Kay found a job, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the I had knelt with the bishop Naamathite. They met together to before the congregation go and console and comfort him. beseeching God to, “Make When they saw him from a distance, me an instrument of your they did not recognize him, and they salvation for the people raised their voices and wept aloud; entrusted to my care” they tore their robes and threw dust (BCP, 563). Each evening in the air upon their heads. They sat I returned home either with him on the ground for seven terribly angry or bitterly days and seven nights, and no one sad. Time off was the spoke a word to him, for they saw worst. For years, Kay that his suffering was very great. and I have taken our off(Job 2:11-13) day together in order to attend to our romance, rest, recreate, and step Of course, friendship is a two-way away from medicine and street. We clergy cannot consistently ministry for twenty-four consume affection without responding hours. However, it was in like manner. That means we make on those most coveted phone calls, attend birthday parties, days that my anger go to burials, keep lunch dates, write erupted into rage and my letters, and just show up – not as sorrow descended into professionals, but as a friend. There is retching sobs. I filled the a world of difference between doling airways between us with out ministerial services and extending complaint. Finally, Kay ourselves in love. The first is Pharisaic Patrick and his childhood friends had enough and in her wise and the other is Christ-like. The first begin to understand the breadth of brevity demanded, “Pat, you’ve got to proceeds from a fractured interior life Christian friendship. While we may not find a friend.” I did. His name was Jay, and the other from a life where our step in front of a city bus for another, a and like Dan, he was a member of the inner and outer selves are indelibly Christian friend will put his or her life parish. Patiently, he led me through the knit together. While I’m not batting on hold for a while in order to attend labyrinth of my incendiary distress. I anywhere close to a 1,000 in this area, to brother or sister submerged in a recovered, our marriage rebounded, I do remember a call I received some season of sorrow or, for that matter, and the parish prospered. Jay, 6’5” of years ago regarding my old friend Dan. to join them in a stretch of great joy. displaced California surfer, did not I had moved on to another ministry in Dan perceived my darkness those thirty convey to me any unique wisdom or another city, and we had lost touch. years ago and availed himself, often cunning strategies to overcome my It was his brother who phoned me to sitting for hours in our offices before he situation. I simply invited Jay to enter report that Dan was in Brackenridge could attend to his new friend. Second, my life, and like a good friend, he did Hospital in Austin dying from a fastChristian friends do not operate as free moving cancer, and he was insistent so. agents. Our relationships are informed I come to his bedside. I drove to the by the Gospel and mediated by the When I think about Jay, Dan, and the hospital without delay, only to find Dan Holy Spirit. When a Christian friend generous friends who have extended unresponsive and breathing raggedly. shows up, he or she never comes alone themselves to me over these many The nurse and his brother left the room but brings along the Trinity. Dan never as soon as I years and venues of failed to tell me that the Spirit directed arrived. I put my ordained ministry, I “There is a world of him to my office on those particular hand on Dan’s recollect Job’s three days. Finally, Christian friends share swollen face, friends. When they difference between doling the Good News we have received from said the Lord’s hear Job is in great our encounter with Christ. A real friend distress, they come to out ministerial services and Prayer, and told merits more than a pat on the back and him. True, the three extending ourselves in love. him not to worry lighthearted review of the Cowboys that his old later come off the rails game or that latest episode of CSI friend had come. a bit; nevertheless, Miami. Dan challenged me with Biblical they come to Job without invitation and As if on cue, Dan’s breathing markedly truths I had deftly discounted. without some clever remedy at hand. sped up, and he died within fifteen They come to him because that is what minutes. When his brother returned, Seventeen years later, it was my turn he was not in the least surprised. “Dan friends do. to wrestle with sadness. We had moved told me that is how it would happen. He again, the perpetual theme of clergy Now when Job’s three friends heard was waiting for you.” life. I felt completely ill-suited for the of all these troubles that had come ministry in which I found myself. Yet
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From our Rector... We need our friends, and we clergy need to learn how to be a friend. To serve as a pastor is a glorious calling. For our people, we are expected to dig deeply into the riches of the Scripture so that we can direct them to higher ground. We enter their lives at times of immeasurable joy and those other times of unimaginable pain. We speak to them of deliverance and hope when we accompany them through the harsh passages of life that invariably come. But we cannot do any of those things if we are not a friend. Like Dan, our parishioners wait for us to be a friend to them. They do not insist that we be witty, brilliant, entrepreneurial, formidable strategists, or great fundraisers. No, they yearn for us to be their friends, to love them and accept their love. That being said, we, again, come full circle. Our Lord asks the same of us. Christ invites us to daily fall more deeply in love with
him so that our outward expressions of ministry will flow from that interior romance. No one has ever stated that more clearly than the Scottish Baptist Oswald Chambers. After his death in 1917, his widow self-published what has become the greatest Christian devotional of all time, My Utmost for His Highest, in which he wrote: The most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain with God and the surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship. That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack. My Utmost for His Highest, Devotional for August 4
love for Christ and those whom he entrusts to us, and we will have no fear of rusting out due to a life wasted in inauthenticity. We, like David before us, will be men and women ‘after God’s own heart’ (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). We will be people of integrity. Your brother,
Patrick U
All God asks is that our inner and outer lives coalesce in order that our ardor become a torch of hope for those we serve. Then our lives will burn out of
Annual Parish Christmas Dinner Wednesday, December 5 5 - 8 p.m. in the Parish Hall RSVP to
www.cecsa.org/parish-christmas-dinner
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MINISTRY Thank You
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ear Christ Episcopal Church, F e e l i n g squeezed in and uncomfortable, JOSH BENNINGER my view on Director of Music the morning and Worship of September joshb@cecsa.org 18 consisted of airplane wings. After landing in New Bern, North Carolina, the next four days saw witness to some of the hardest work I’ve performed since leaving military service. After the job was complete, I headed back home tired and sore, but also filled with gratitude. I was grateful for Patrick Gahan, the vestry, and the congregation of Christ Episcopal Church for allowing me to put my church duties on hold to help my parents recover from Hurricane Florence. This is a thank you letter to all of you. Not every workplace shows this level of compassion to their staff. I know this from personal experience. In fact, it was Patrick that approached me first about allowing me to leave and assist my parents. And whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. – 1 Timothy 5:8 (NRSV) Florence flooded many regions of North Carolina. The city where my parents
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live, Oriental, sits adjacent to the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound. It is located about an hour north of Wilmington. This meant that Oriental was exposed to the northeast quadrant of the storm. This is the worst position to be in for high winds, rain, and storm surge since hurricanes spin counterclockwise.
either! My absence from church was made easier knowing I had no reservations leaving the music ministry in the capable hands of Jennifer Holloway and Bob Shoaf. With Jennifer’s leadership and Bob’s skillful playing, I knew that worship would run joyfully and smoothly. The confidence and trust I had in them gave me freedom to not worry and to focus on my mission.
My parents’ house did not suffer catastrophic damage but didn’t escape unharmed. The garage flooded to 3 ½ feet. No power for eight days. In addition to losing I am so thankful the washer and for the choir. dryer, the entire Sunday, September air conditioning 23 was a long day system had to be for them. Because, replaced. The yard in addition to the was blanketed regular Sunday with branches services, the of all sizes and majority of the Fairfield Harbor hundreds of cubic feet of pine choir returned that same straw that took two entire days to clean afternoon to sing at Larkin Crow’s burial up. service. Their level of commitment should be celebrated. The importance of this trip was magnified by my parents’ inability to Finally, to the men and women of perform tasks that needed to be done. Christ Church, I say thank you. Thank My mom recently had knee replacement you for understanding my desire to surgery. My dad has diabetes, help my parents and for allowing me neuropathy, and has had surgery for the opportunity to do so. Your support heart disease. He is unable to lift heavy of the music ministry never goes objects. His neuropathy prevented unnoticed! him from walking outside in areas flooded by river water, especially water Your brother in Christ, possibly contaminated with sewage Josh Benninger and chemicals. Maybe I shouldn’t have
MINISTRY Advent
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n October our youth took part in a Sunday a f t e r n o o n activity called The Amazing Race. If you have seen this show on TV, you AMY CASE know that teams Youth Minister use clues to amycase@gmail.com travel to various destinations around the world (ours were limited to San Antonio!) with the ultimate goal of arriving at the finish line first. I couldn’t help but see the parallels between our Christ Church Amazing Race and the season of Advent before us. The most obvious reason being that Advent seems every bit a race – a race to Christmas, a race to buy gifts, a race to partake in meaningful activities with family and friends… we race through this season in almost every way.
and the
Amazing Race
But I noticed other things about our Amazing Race that reminded me of what Advent is meant to be, and what it can be, for our youth. Advent means “to come.” It is a season of anticipation as we prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. As I watched anticipation and excitement in the kids as they opened each clue and cheered the driver on to the next destination, I was reminded of the anticipation and excitement God wants all of us to feel in the period leading up to Christ’s birth. I also watched the love and teamwork between the youth as they worked through the clues in the race and was reminded of the immeasurable love God has for all of us - by giving us Jesus Christ to live as one of us and then, ultimately, to die for our sins. The love and fellowship our youth have for each other is a reminder of how God wants us to feel about all of His children during Advent and beyond.
Finally, I saw our youth experience victory when they arrived at their final destination, whether they arrived first or last, and it reminded me that when we have finished our Advent journey – whether our journey was exactly as we hoped it would be, or perhaps slightly bumpy and stressful – the ultimate joy is felt on Christmas Day when our hope is renewed in a Savior who brings light and love to our world. Advent is about preparing our hearts for Christ – and about excitement, fellowship, hope and joy. This is the perfect time to renew our Advent traditions with our youth, whatever they may be – Advent wreaths and calendars, family devotionals, caroling, baking, serving others, and more. Our youth need these traditions of love and can bring Advent to life in our hearts. Let’s make this Advent an Amazing Race like none other.
Amy
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MINISTRY
Gathering
I
t is a beautiful thing to see our Church Family gather together on the first Sunday of Advent to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas. HALLETA As I reflect on HEINRICH these events Director of from the past, I Family Ministries see families of halletah@cecsa.org all ages and sizes intermingling at tables in the Parish Hall. I see long time members and surprise visitors with faces glowing as they participate in the beloved ritual of forming an Advent Wreath to take home. At a recent staff meeting, I did a check in with fellow staff members to see if maybe we should do something different to bring in Advent. They replied “No, they love making their Advent Wreaths together! “ I said “OK, just checking!” I love this event!
with the
Family
of
I am naturally a traditionalist who loves ritual and grows from the repetition as I learn new things each time I repeat the familiar. I guess that’s why God called me to be an Episcopalian thirty-four years ago during the darkest moment of my life. I needed that very concrete and consistent reminder of faith based in our great and sure Hope of the presence of Christ – here, now, and forever – that is in our liturgy. I needed to make the journey to the altar each Sunday to receive the Body and Blood, the very Risen Life of Christ, with others, here and in Heaven. Heaven became real to me along with all the Saints. I needed that! I thank God for this church. My favorite moment of our Family Advent Event is when we all light the
Advent - A Season
of
first candle of our Advent Wreaths together, with one family passing on the Light of Christ to another. We are bonded in that Light as the Family of God within the Family of Christ Church and the Body of Christ. I hope you will make it your family tradition to be part of our Advent Wreath making this year on the first Sunday of Advent, December 2, at 10 a.m. in the Parish Hall. This will be an intergenerational Sunday School event. All are invited. Supplies will be provided consisting of fresh greenery, a wreath form, wire, candles, and ribbon. A donation of $10 per wreath is requested and $5 if you bring your wreath form. Christmas cookies, punch, and coffee will be served in order to help get us in the Christmas spirit!
Gifts
C
armen Lewenthal and Carol Locke, two of our trained Catechists and lead teachers in our Level II Good Shepherd Atrium, recently shared a remarkable statement made during a presentation of “The Gifts.” A second-grade boy spontaneously blurted out, “This is overwhelming!” as examples of all the gifts God has given to us in creation were being laid down along a giant creation timeline. It truly is overwhelming what God has given to us – the earth, the sea, the plants and trees, the flowers, animals, each other, and work to do as stewards of His creation. But the crescendo of this presentation comes toward the end of the timeline when a cross, a chalice, a paten and candles are placed on the timeline. The candles are lit, and the lights in the room are dimmed. The children are asked to come to the beginning of the timeline and peer all the way toward
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God
the end. They see the gift of the very Life of Jesus at the end as represented in the Eucharist – the Gift of Holy Communion. This Risen Life of Christ we receive each Sunday is truly the Greatest Gift! Through His Life in us, we receive Life forever! Alleluia! As we enter Advent, let us be reminded of this greatest gift we have in Christ His birth, sacrificial death, Resurrection, Ascension, and the gift of the Holy Spirit he sends to us. I thank God for the gift of being with His children and the gift of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd which have taught me more, and given me more spiritual insight than I could have imagined, about the love of God. The children and the method have both been my teachers! I have learned a lot! With Love and Gratitude,
Halleta
Family Ministry..
La Posada &
the
Legend
of the
Poinsettia
L
a Posada, a celebration of Advent Mexican Style, will be presented as this year’s Christmas Pageant by the children of Christ Church on Sunday, December 9, during the 11 a.m. service. Something new will be added to La Posada this year as the Nativity story is set in “The Legend of the Poinsettia” by Tomie de Paola, a retelling of the Mexican folktale which explains the origin of the poinsettia. The story tells the tale of Lucida, a girl who lives in a small village in the mountains of Mexico. Lucida longs to bring a gift to the Christ Child on Christmas Eve as part of the Procession of Gifts at her church along with the other villagers. Lucida’s plan to create a special gift fails, but another miraculous gift is offered by her when weeds are miraculously transformed into beautiful poinsettias at the very moment she lays them at the foot of the altar in front of the nativity holding the Christ Child. It’s been just a few years since we last did La Posada...
Feliz
“W
hat are you celebrating this Christmas?” For my family, it is celebrating Christmas together. We celebrate Jesus! We give thanks for one another, and of course we celebrate with food! In our house, it’s tamales, champurrado (Mexican hot chocolate), and bunuelos. This year, the kitchen ministry is celebrating Las Posadas for the Annual Parish Christmas Dinner on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at 6 p.m. The ladies from the kitchen ministry are working on a delicious Latin menu that will leave your taste buds longing for more! Kitchen ministers (volunteers)
y
Our La Posada Christmas Pageant is very special to me. It was our first and only one for my first ten plus years at Christ Church. A group of strong women, who were part of the Children’s Ministry Committee that I inherited, insisted that Christ Church have a Children’s Christmas Pageant. Word is that before that time, adults had performed a simple pageant but enthusiasm for this effort had diminished. Rector Ted Schroeder had challenged these ladies to promise a “packed house” in the church if he allowed the children to present the pageant under their direction. These energetic women delivered! The first La Posada Pageant was a tremendous success, as were those that followed. Our much beloved La Posada is still part of our now six pageant rotation. I thank God for the stubborn tenacity and creativity of those powerful and committed women leaders who really taught me how to put on a Christmas Pageant. They laid the groundwork for the twenty-nine pageants which have followed.
Delicioso Navidad!
are needed to help prepare or to serve dinner. Please contact Mary Reynolds at mereynolds200@yahoo.com or Elizabeth Martinez at elizabethm@ cecsa.org. The kitchen will be closed for the holidays from Monday, December 24 – Tuesday, January 1. May your Christmas celebration be a happy one. On behalf of the Kitchen Ministry Cabinet, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Elizabeth Martinez 11
The Advent
of
Outreach
J
esus encouraged the disciples and his followers during his ministry to reach out to the poor and marginalized, to care for the sick, the needy and the desolate. Outreach is nothing new but what it looks like today is much different than in Jesus day. But, nonetheless, it is outreach and the basis for it began with our Lord and his command to love all and care for all. During Advent we tend to think more about those who are less fortunate than us. As we prepare for the Incarnation of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, as we go from holiday party to holiday party, as we finalize our own plans for a Merry Christmas we are reminded to do for others as well. We give of our time and resources so that the holy days of the season are just that, holy and merry not just for us, but others as well. To truly live into being a disciple of Jesus Christ, the depth and breadth of our outreach must take on not just a holiday spirit but an everyday commitment. We are called to minister to people with the grace and love, forgiveness and joy, of Jesus. This is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year proposition. Jesus calls us to not only provide immediate shortterm relief to those who are hurting, but also long-term transformation that a deep relationship with God in Christ and with one another can provide. Both are important, and you cannot have one without the other. Short-term relief takes care of the immediate needs that individuals and families might have. Feeding people and providing folks with assistance to help them live day in and day out. Many ministries and many churches do this kind of outreach well. Often, that is where we end. We pat ourselves on the back and feel good that we have helped someone. Short-term relief though, I believe, is just the beginning. It is the Advent, the preparation, for deeper, more meaningful relationships and transformation that could be lifelong and lasting. At Christ Church, this is what we are trying to do with
12
our outreach initiatives. Building relationships, through trust and prayers, story-telling and listening, will allow us to connect with the people that we are called to serve in new and deeper ways. It is in these connections that we can move from taking care of immediate needs to long lasting life changes. We can assist in ways that people share with us that they want and need to get ahead, move forward, and ultimately move out of the relief line and into self-subsistence. This is long and difficult work, but much needed. In the same way that we enjoy family and friends surrounding us in times of holiday joy and in the midst of dark days of grief and despair, we are called to surround others in the same way. When we do, we will learn how we can partner with people in interdependent relationships that will bring the transforming love of God manifest in their lives and ours. Together, as we prepare during the season of Advent, may we make Christ known. May God be incarnate and manifest in our service, giving glory to our Lord, and bringing hope to others. A few weeks back a woman came up to me during Sidewalk Saturday, with her Food Pantry groceries. She said, “I love coming here. There is something different about you all. What is it?” I replied, “It is the Holy Spirit that flows out of us sharing the love of God in Christ with you. We love you.” Tears flowed down her face as she said, “I have never felt this kind of love until I came here.” We prayed together, and a new bond was created with opportunity for God to transform us both some more in the future. Join us in this transforming ministry! In God’s Peace,
Justin And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ - Matthew 25:40
Our Church Life...
The Hunger Banquet was served family style while canned goods and food boxes comprised the centerpieces. And what about the poor people? They lined up to fill their flimsy paper plates from the big pots of beans and corn and tortillas, and they sat on the floor. No embellishments, nothing extra, and nothing special.
Y
es, the title was a bit of an oxymoron, but we came, and we learned. On Sunday, September 16, the Christ Church Ministry Committees and the Youth, funded by the World Mission Committee, hosted a Hunger Banquet staged to open our eyes to the realities of the world around us. Parishioners came and were randomly assigned to the roles of poor, middle class, and rich. And, without exception, no one wanted to be designated “rich.” Even so, the rich were escorted to their table by Scott Kitayama and Justin Lindstrom, who served them for the remainder of the event as Bob Shoaf quietly serenaded them. The linencovered table was set with heirloom china, candles, crystal, and silver surrounding a beautiful centerpiece. Individual menus completed the arrangement. Middle class folks were led to bare picnic tables with sturdy floral paper plates and plastic tableware. Food
Scott welcomed us, and then there was an introduction to the disparities that are prevalent around the world and in our own neighborhoods. Charissa Fenton’s excellent video, depicting food realities around the world, played in the background. And then people began to eat. The rich had a gourmet meal with steak and all the trimmings. Those people assigned to the middle class had lots of starchy foods with water and sweet, canned drinks. And the poor? No embellishments, nothing extra, and nothing special. Barbara Black, retired principal of Madison Elementary and advocate for the marginalized, described what it was like to walk among and identify those we call “poor.” She spoke of the many hard-working, loving families who cared for their children and who did extra duty to make their children’s lives better than their own. Barbara told us about having dinner with a single parent and her children living in a tworoom outbuilding. In our imaginations we could see them as she pictured a
mother who daily walked her children to school with two sets of clothing so they could change into something appropriate after the long walk. She spoke of the mother who went on to work long hours to provide a meager living, and of her children who excelled in their class work and who had exemplary attendance records. And then Tatenda Ndambakuwa--who made her first-ever plane ride from Zimbabwe to come to school in the US-talked with us about what it was like living with famine in her country. “We each were given two spoons of rice to eat at each meal,” she said. Some of us were frustrated when she added, “It wasn’t so bad,” and flashed a huge smile. What wasn’t so bad about having two spoons--read it again--two spoons of rice for meals throughout the months of famine? Everybody else had only two spoons of rice. In her country that was once the Bread Basket of Africa, the students in her school were getting two spoons of rice for each meal. Justin challenged us. What were we going to do with what we had heard? For some of us, this day had been eyeopening. Each of us was given a choice: Were we to ignore what we heard or were we going to become part of the solution? Sign-up sheets were posted on tables as we left to remind us that Christ Church has been established as a light for the community, to draw, to change, to send, and to love people through the power of Christ.
Marthe Curry
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Our Church Life...
“To Dream
the Impossible
Dream....”
Son, and Holy Spirit.” That’s a formula I picked up at the local Orthodox church in Jordan a long time ago. But all along I was troubled that there was not a single Arabic-language Christian fellowship in all Madrid. Consider the numbers: Madrid is both a state and a city. The Comunidad de Madrid has a population of 6.4 million, and the city of Madrid has a population of 3.1 million. Then something happened.
W
e arrived in Madrid 14 months ago. We spent most of the first six months settling in. This meant finding a flat in August — a month when half the city is on vacation and many shops are “closed for vacation until September.” It meant registering our children at the charter school we really had our hearts set on. I had called from Texas to see about this, but the secretary said, “We’re closed until September. Come see us in person when you arrive here and we’ll see if there is space for them.” There was space, thanks be to God. And most purgatorial of all were the government issues: getting ID cards, registering for the census (so biblical), applying for the “numerous family” card, family metro cards, and much more. I also went to work right away at the Cathedral of the Redeemer where I serve as priest but not dean — there is no dean. During this time we’ve been intentional about forming relationships with the significant Muslim population. I can walk to the city’s historical mosque in less than half an hour and have numerous contacts throughout the area. Some North African people from Muslim families attend Redeemer from time to time, and I was able to procure New Testaments for them in their Arabic dialect and pray in Arabic sometimes during the service — always in the name of “the one true God, eternal, consubstantial, and indivisible: Father,
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A dear friend and colleague who is a minister with the Assemblies of God was returning to Spain after an extended stay back in the States — fundraising, you know. He got a flat in the neighborhood next to ours, which is, again, one of the main centers of Islamic presence in the city. We started weekly prayer walks. He joined a church in that neighborhood, and the pastor was excited about the idea of reaching Muslims with the gospel. Redeemer is in a great neighborhood for reaching young secular Spaniards, but not Muslims. Sharon and I are both proficient in Arabic. I can teach and play guitar, she sings well. Why not give this a try? I asked. Dan had connections with local leaders as well as a ministry in the city center reaching Muslims, and my wife and I had the language skills. We prayed. Doors opened. A local pastor invited us to present a day-long workshop for his congregation on reaching Muslims with the gospel. The Baptist seminary invited me to give three days of intensive summer teaching on the topic of understanding and reaching Muslims — they’re all available via my page at YouTube. An Evangelical Free church in the United States granted some funds for essential start-up expenses. I started a very humble Arabic website for the fellowship (kanisatmadrid.wixsite.com/ iglesia), but we needed some high-quality local photographs to produce something authentic.
A minister who is also a professional photographer volunteered to do this for free — this was part of his ministry, he explained. I went out with him recently to walk through the neighborhood, and we’re hoping to update the website with local photographs soon. And a brother from an Orthodox hermitage in Spain tells me he prays for us every day. The only thing in front of you is the next step. We launched in early October. So far, so good. If you dream small, then even your greatest accomplishments will be small. Dan, Sharon, and I know this. But what if it works? What if this leads to a fellowship of believers and inquirers from all around the Arabic-speaking world? What could God do through a community that brings in both exiled Christians and persecuted converts from Islam? What would it be like for international students and refugees to have a community they could contact in Arabic with questions about Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity? We’re building on this vision. So pray for us, please. Pray for dynamic ideas in launching this fellowship. Pray for additional contacts — especially those who speak Arabic — who can partner with us. Pray for a place to meet that is affordable but also strategic and accessible. Give thanks to God for an ecumenical endeavor like this — otherwise it would be impossible.
Duane Miller
Our Church Life...
The Well
is
Deep
T
he Well is a ministry of, for and by adults, and their children, who are in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. We are people who are single and married, with no kids and with kids, kids too young to be in school, kids who are in school, kids in college, and kids too old to be in school. We gather to support
each other in our Christian journeys because we are of similar age and life circumstance. We have Bible studies, fellowship events, service projects, and much more. We also work to support the ministry of Christ Church, the greater church and community. All are welcome. All are loved! Come and be a part of this ministry…The Well is deep, there is room for you!!
SOCIETY
Cool Guy!
T
he following is a 2018 interview by the Great Commission Society with George Luhn, longtime, faithful member of Christ Church. If you come to the 9 AM celebration, you will undoubtedly spy George, appareled in an immaculate suit and tie, and sitting on the right aisle seat in the fifth row. All of us owe George’s family an immense debt of gratitude, for it was during his father’s second term as Senior Warden in 1951 that the air conditioning was installed. For the thirty-seven years prior, every worshipper was handed a hand fan along with their bulletin!
Christ Church has been with me for the entirety of my life. GCS: What are some of your most vivid memories of the church? George: For one, my father and mother were dear friends of Sam and Eleanor Capers. I cannot count the times we spent at their home or they at ours. My love for Sam Capers increased immeasurably when he drove all the way to Peterson Field in Colorado Springs to visit my family just before my father was shipped overseas to fight in WWII. That’s the kind of pastor he was. However, I should add that at one point the Capers’s dog bit me, which meant I had to endure rounds of rabies shots in my stomach for weeks! GCS: You are very faithful in your worship attendance. Why? George: Christ Church has been there for me in happy times and tough ones. I served as an acolyte from age eleven into my college years. In those days, when you came home from college on semester break, you were expected to serve at the altar, and I did so with fine men like Austin Moore and Joe Glover.
GCS: George, when did you first come to Christ Church?
GCS: You speak of tough times. Which struggle stands out in your mind?
George: My family started attending here in 1934. My father took a job in San Antonio when I was six weeks old.
George: When Hope and I buried our son George in 2010, I was beyond heartsick. George suffered with a disability and
died at 52. I also had a very hard time after Bobby Kennedy was murdered in June of 1968. Our rector at that time was Ben Benitez, and he accompanied me to St. Mark’s Church for a memorial service. I guess his death hit me so hard because I saw his brother, Jack (John F.) the day before he was assassinated in 1963. I was eating lunch downtown when I heard the news that the President had been killed. I got up from my lunch and drove straight to Christ Church to kneel and pray. GCS: What are some joyful memories of your many years at Christ Church? George: Without a doubt, I cherish the lifelong friendships that I have made here. Many of my friends have passed on now, but the memories of relationships are still strong. Speaking of friends, I am so very grateful to be able to see John and Shirley MacNaughton most every day at Franklin Park where I now live. GCS: What motivated you to remember Christ Church in your will? George: That did not take much motivation. The Church has been such a big part of my life. Actually, I first added Christ Church to my will in the 1970’s. Since then I have changed my will several times, but Christ Church has been and will remain the largest recipient of my estate.
15
Our Church Life..
PAGE TURNERS – From
F
leming Rutledge, an Episcopal priest, has written the most important book I’ve read in a decade. The Crucifixion, which was named Christianity Today’s Best Book of 2016, certainly deserves any accolades it receives. I, for one, am so grateful that Lee and Mariel Rodgers graced me with this volume. Not one page of Rutledge’s text has escaped my highlighting, underlines, and notations. I no sooner closed the book, that I sat down and wrote this letter to the author: August 18, 2018 Dear Fleming, Mere moments ago, I finished your book, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ. I put off reaching page 612 because the study and the convictions of your words fell on me like a cataract of grace. Like John Keats “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer,” I, too, would like to break out in a sonnet of illumination, exaltation, and gratitude over the gift you have given me and others. Yours is the most important work of theology I have read in a decade, and I have been ordained thirty years. The last time I was so taken with the lucidity, profundity, and beauty of a theological text was while reading Paul Achtemeier’s commentary on Romans. From page 1, I harvested truths about the power and promise of our Lord Jesus Christ’s crucifixion that I never truly understood or had badly obscured. The people with whom I serve here at Christ Church in San Antonio are the beneficiaries of your hard work and the obvious ardor you have for this subject. Excuse my presumption, but while reading the final pages, it seemed to me that you actually resisted ending the book.
16
the
Rector’s Book Stack
I can only imagine the volumes of thanksgivings that you have received for this book. However, as an Episcopal priest myself, you make me proud of our vocation and the church we serve together. Your most grateful brother in Christ, Patrick+ I think it best that Fleming Rutledge speak for herself: “All the manifold biblical images with their richness, complexity, and depth come together as one to say this: the righteousness of God is revealed in the cross of Christ. The precious blood of the Son of God is the perfect sacrifice for sin, the ransom paid to deliver the captives; the gates of hell are stormed; the Red Sea crossed and the enemy drowned; the disobedience of Adam is recapitulated in the obedience of Christ; a new creation is coming into being; those who put their trust in Christ are incorporated into his life; the kingdoms of the ‘present evil age’ are passing away and the promised kingdom of god is manifest not in triumphalist crusades but in the cruciform witness of the church.” P.S. Fleming wrote back and invited me to hear her speak north of Houston. I’m going! Hercule Poirot goes to Canada. That was my first assessment of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreteé du Quebec in his first appearance in Still Life, by Louise Penny. Penny’s debut novel takes place in the picturesque, predictable hamlet of Three Pines, just outside of Montreal. But the picture can be deceiving, and the village turns out to be anything but staid. While Gamache relishes the rich French food in the bistro and savors the warm hospitality of the residents in this artists’ retreat, he senses evil beneath the surface. Jane Neal, one of the quirky, yet esteemed, matriarchs of the
village has been killed in what appears to be a hunting mishap, the victim of an errant arrow. Gamache knows full well that appearances can be deceiving, and Miss Neal was murdered…but why? Because French-speaking Gamache is Cambridge educated, he will occasionally quote a line of W.H. Auden or that of a local French poet. He is not hard-edged, but he is doggedly resolute. In that way, he does mirror one of Agatha Christie’s articulate, yet reticent, sleuths. Gretchen began reading the Inspector Gamache series after her son Donny’s English teacher recommended them as mysteries with a greater intellectual quotient. Still Life is the first of thirteen Inspector Gamache novels, with most every one of them taking place in Three Pines. And we thought Canadians were dull? Praise, intercession, repentance, confession – are all postures of prayer and petition that I glean from the Bible and use on a daily basis, but I have rarely broken out in lament. Soong-Chan Rah, the Korean-born evangelical professor, pastor, and author of Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times, convicts me that the absence of lament in our prayer life and corporate worship seriously limits our personal witness and the church’s ministry to those in need. “We will pray for bigger churches, larger budgets, slimmer waistlines, more purpose in our lives, but we do not pray in recognition of the deepest suffering in our lives or in the lives of others. Our prayers border on idolatry when we expect vendingmachine type results.” When the church or individuals within the church no longer acknowledge and enter the pain of others, but instead storm out to fix their own injuries, we have patently objectified the people for whom Christ died. Rah’s work is a commentary on the Old Testament book of Lamentations, a book which most Christians avoid,
Our Church Life...
From
the
if for no other reason than the title. “Lamenting” comes off as sacrilege in our Western triumphalist world. Yet Lamentations raises no flags of triumph and offers few signs of hope in its five carefully scripted chapters of verse. The occasion for the book is the fall and destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BC. The author is one who has been left in the middle of the rubble and in the heart of his traumatized people. Rather than sing out like Annie that “betcha your bottom dollar” that tomorrow will be better, the writer sits with the pain without immediately trying to solve it. In that, he gives a voice to the people he loves and thereby honors their authentic humanity. Walter Brueggemann, the esteemed Old Testament scholar seconds Rah’s contentions: Where the capacity to initiate lament is absent, one is left with only praise and doxology. God then is omnipotent, always to be praised. The believer is nothing, and can praise or accept guilt uncritically where life with God does not function properly… The absence of lament makes a religion of coercive obedience the only possibility. As I have admitted in these pages previously, I am a Bible commentary
Rector’s Book Stack...
junkie. Most of the year, I study one after another alongside the Holy Scripture as part of my morning devotions. Rah’s work has done more than inspire my prayers, for he has opened my eyes to realize that Christ Church’s work with those in need is not primarily to remedy their problems but hear their stories and come to know the sources of their pain. In that, we will give them more than charity; we give them back their humanity. For Isaac Newton, the world really did “add up.” With the publication of Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy or the Principia, as it is often called, Newton established himself as one of the greatest minds in history. However, Newton was also one of history’s most eccentric personalities. The life of this complex savant is captured comprehensively and succinctly in Peter Ackroyd’s Newton. Using the principles of calculus before the intricate computations were even invented, Newton formulated the Three Laws of Motion, which provide the cornerstone for understanding the universe. That being said, it borders
A Recipe
from the
cont’d on the miraculous that the Principia was ever published, for Newton was obsessed with the perfection of his deductions as well as the resilience of reputation. Spending almost the entirety of his adult life at Cambridge University, Newton was not a public figure – far from it. Hermit like when working, he would go days on end neither sleeping nor eating. Among other endeavors, he became obsessed with alchemy, on which he labored for over two years straight in his sequestered laboratory at the college. For Newton, the now discredited magical pursuit was wedded to his heterodox religious pursuits, which he kept shrouded from his public until after his death. Among other heretical beliefs, Newton was an Arian, who disdained the doctrine of the Trinity. Regardless, John Locke, one of the most celebrated thinkers of the 17th Century Enlightenment, touted Newton as the “intellectual master of this generation,” a generation which boasted many. Newton’s own confidence in his acumen resound in the quote which he added to the second edition of the Principia: Hypotheses non fingo, meaning, “I do not construct or feign hypotheses!”
Christ Church Kitchen
Beef a la Deutsch 6 Servings 1 lb. ground beef 1 8-oz. can tomato sauce 1 clove garlic, crushed 2 teaspoon salt pepper to taste 2 teaspoon sugar
1 1 1 1 6 1
16-oz. can tomatoes, undrained 5-oz. egg noodles, cooked & drained cup sour cream 3-oz. cream cheese (room temp) green onions, chopped ½ cups grated cheddar cheese
Directions: Brown meat; drain excess drippings. Add tomato sauce, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar and tomatoes. Simmer, covered, over low heat for 45 minutes. Combine hot noodles with cubed cream cheese and stir to melt cheese; add sour cream and green onions. Layer meat, noodle mixture, and cheddar cheese alternately in an oiled casserole dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35 minutes. Flavor improves when reheated. 17
OF EVENTS November 3:
Sidewalk Saturday, 9:30 AM outside the Carriage House
November 4:
All Saints Sunday Daylight Saving Time ends
November 10:
Connections! Thankful Gathering, 6 p.m. off-campus
November 11:
Veteran’s Day Archives Veterans Exhibit opens in the Heritage Room Youth Confirmation Parent Meeting, 12:30 p.m., Parish Hall
November 13:
Coping with Grief During the Holidays, 12:30 p.m., Conference Room
Christ Church Staff: The Rev. Patrick Gahan, Rector patrickg@cecsa.org The Rev. Scott Kitayama, Associate Rector, scottk@cecsa.org The Rev. Brien Koehler, Associate Rector for Mission and Formation, brienk@cecsa.org
November 16–18: Happening #141 at St. David’s
The Rev. Justin Lindstrom, Associate Rector for Community Formation, justinl@cecsa.org
November 18:
Adult Confirmation with Bishop Lillibridge, 11 a.m.
Carol Miller, Pastoral Care Administrator, carolm@cecsa.org
November 22:
Thanksgiving, church offices are closed
November 23:
Church offices are closed
November 25:
Christ the King Sunday
December 2:
Advent 1 Family Advent Wreath Making, 10 a.m., Parish Hall Youth Confirmation Classes begin, 11 a.m.
Halleta Heinrich, Director of Family Ministry, halletah@cecsa.org Lily Fenton, Nursery Director lilyf@cecsa.org Amy Case, Youth Minister amycase@gmail.com Susan Lindstrom, Assistant Youth Minister, susanl@cecsa.org
December 5:
Parish Christmas Dinner, 6 p.m., Parish Hall
December 8:
Food Pantry Christmas Lunch, 11 a.m., Parish Hall
December 9:
Advent 2 Children’s Christmas Pageant - La Posada, 11 a.m. Youth Christmas Party
December 15:
Wreath laying at Ft. Sam Houston Cemetery, 11 a.m.
Robert Hanley, Parish Administrator parishadmin@cecsa.org
December 16:
Advent 3 Lessons & Carols, 9 & 11 a.m.
Darla Nelson, Office Manager darlan@cecsa.org
December23:
Advent 4 Christmas Photo Booth and Coffee Hour, 10 a.m., Parish Hall
December 24:
Christmas Eve, church offices close at noon Services at 3, 5, 8 & 10 p.m.
Gretchen Comuzzi Duggan, Director of Communications, gretchend@cecsa.org
December 25:
Christmas Day Blessing of the Toys Service at 10 a.m.
Monica Elliott, Executive Assistant to the Rector, monicae@cecsa.org
December 26:
Church offices are closed
Elizabeth Martinez, Kitchen Manager elizabethm@cecsa.org
January 1:
New Year’s Day Church offices are closed
Robert Vallejo, Facilities Manager robertv@cecsa.org
Joshua Benninger, Music Minister & Organist, joshb@cecsa.org Charissa Fenton, Director of Children’s Music & Receptionist charissaf@cecsa.org
Donna Franco, Financial Manager donnaf@cecsa.org
Rudy Segovia, Hospitality Manager rudys@cecsa.org Joe Garcia, Sexton joeg@cecsa.org
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ALBUM
Rain didn’t stop the Trunk or Treat fun! The Christ Church Women know how to have fun, too!
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Christ Episcopal Church 510 Belknap Place San Antonio, TX 78212 www.cecsa.org
The Message (USPS 471-710) is published bi-monthly by Christ Episcopal Church, 510 Belknap Place, San Antonio, TX 78212. Periodical postage paid in San Antonio, TX. Postmaster: Please send address changes to Christ Episcopal Church, 510 Belknap Place, San Antonio, TX 78212. Volume 20, Number 6.
Leading the way to the Outreach Campus Dedication