Blessed New Year to All!!

Wishing you all and blessed and happy New Year in 2013!

O IMMORTAL Lord God, who inhabits eternity, and has brought your servants to  the beginning of another year: Pardon, we humbly  ask, our transgressions in the past, bless  to us this New Year, and graciously abide with  us all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ  our Lord.  Amen. 

Rowan Williams Stepping Down

From the Huffington Post:

LONDON -- The head of the Church of England is leaving office after a decade as the spiritual leader of the world's 80 million-strong Anglican Communion.

Rowan Williams, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, will be replaced by 56-year-old former oil executive Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham...

References For Sermon for 1st Sunday in Christmas

Francis of Assisi is one of my heroes. There is so much to read about him, but more than reading is his spirit which is so infectious. He more than perhaps anyone in history tried to imitate Christ, to follow his teaching and example of love and radical discipleship.

My favourite current book about Francis is Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale.

Here is the Wikipedia Article on St Francis.

Here is also the Wikipedia on Innocent III.




The Biblical references I mentioned are
Romans 12:2 be transformed by the renewing of your mind
Ephesians 4:23 Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God's way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.
Revelations 21:5 I am making all things new
Isaiah 43:18 I am doing a new thing
2 Corinthians 5: 17 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and a new mind
Psalm 51 Create in me a clean heart O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Merry Christmas to All!

I hope you had a blessed celebration of our Lord's birth. I always savour the worship on Christmas Eve. There is just something magic about it. I love the phrase heaven joining earth. That seems to be the hope of every act of worship, but it seems to happen more dramatically on Christmas eve.

I am attaching the annual Christmas message of the Queen. I had really enjoyed last year's; I thought she had done a fine job and this year I think is just as good. If you haven't seen it here it is:

From the Venerable Bede (8th Century)

Christ is the Morning Star,
who, when the night of this world is past,
gives to his saints the promise of the light of life,
and opens everlasting day.

A Few More Connecticut Responses to the Shootings in Newtown

1) The first is an article at Huffington Post by the Bishop of Connecticut about his thoughts. It is worth reading and pondering.

One part I wrestle with:

My response to the young mother's question was that there was no way we could make sense of what had happened. No explanation or rationale could assuage our shock, pain and grief. As a religious leader, I knew that my job was not to try and make sense of what had happened. Rather my job was to be there, simply be there, with those who had lost loved ones in the terrible rampage.

I definitely appreciate what he is trying to do here. There is no answer that will satisfy the why question or that is healing in an easy sense. It is not a rational thing. And the point about being a loving presence to people is so crucial as well. But I also think that 'making sense' of it is a human need. I am guessing that the young mother needs meaning as well; for me I need to ask if good can come from evil even like this. I try putting it into perspective: the perspective of the cross, of the kingdom of God, of the new creation. I try to find where the redemption starts.

2) Another letter from the Bishops

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:   We write to update you briefly as to our common life in the wake of the shooting in Newtown last week and to share an idea/save the date with all of you.   Tomorrow, Thursday, December 20, at 11:00 a.m., young Ben Wheeler, a parishioner at Trinity, Newtown, who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School, will be buried from Trinity Church, Newtown. Your bishops will attend the service remembering Ben and commending him to God. Please take a moment tomorrow at 11:00 to say a prayer for Ben, his family, and all who loved Ben at Trinity, Newtown, especially the Rev. Kathie Adams-Shepherd, Rector.   Emails, letters, and calls continue to come in from around the United States and the world. Sisters and brothers in Christ in The Episcopal Church, across the Anglican Communion and ecumenically, are holding us in their prayers with special intention for the people and leaders of Trinity, Newtown, and St. John's, Sandy Hook. Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, has written a note expressing his care and empathy for all of us indicating that he and the community at Lambeth Palace are praying for our local clergy at this time. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori has also been in touch with your bishops expressing her prayers and concern as we begin to imagine how The Episcopal Church might respond in the wake of the tragedy.

We give thanks to all of you who have called and emailed us at Diocesan House offering to be of help in any way you can. At this point in time, we are still focusing on the immediate pastoral care of all those who were directly affected by the shooting. At the same time, we continue to collect resources that might be helpful at this time and post them on our diocesan website at: https://www.ctepiscopal.org/ . In the near future we will have additional information about how our diocese as a whole can best respond to the tragedy, including a possible endowment fund at Trinity, Newtown.   As the three of us prayed together today, we felt compelled to call the Diocese of Connecticut to a time of discernment and action on how all of us can best work to overcome the death-dealing culture of violence that seems to be so prevalent in our society at this time. We believe that this culture of violence has many different expressions including, but not limited to, legal access to assault weapons, lack of appropriate care for those who suffer from mental illness, and all too often under-recognized killing of young people in our cities streets.   At this point, your bishops are planning to dedicate the upcoming season of Lent as a time for all of us to study, pray about, and take action to overcome such a culture of violence. This Lenten program of study and action will commence with a morning gathering for clergy for reflection and prayer here in our diocese on Thursday, February 14th, the day after Ash Wednesday. Then on Holy Tuesday, March 26, 2013, your bishops will lead another outdoor, public Stations of the Cross (like we did last year in Hartford) to witness to the need to overcome the culture of violence in our country. This year we will take the Stations of the Cross to our nation's capital and make a witness with all who want to stand with us and say "the killing in our country must end." More details will follow in the new year about this witness in Washington and how we all can best participate. At this time we wanted you to save the date March 26, 2013.

This has been a very emotional week and we give thanks for all of you who have been so pastorally present to your flock, opened the doors of your churches for prayer, participated in ecumenical/interfaith vigils, and reached out to the people of Newtown/Sandy Hook. Staying connected to one another and reaching out to others with this love and care has been life-giving.   In closing, we wish you and yours all the blessings of this last week of Advent. We pray that the Christ Child who will be born and dwell among us this Christmas will be for us and for the whole world "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."   Yours faithfully, Ian, Laura and Jim The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens The Rt. Rev. James E. Curry

As requested at Vestry: the short, short version of my faith journey

I was asked last night at the Vestry meeting if I could say something about myself and realized that it had not occurred to me to introduce myself on this blog. So here is the short, short version:

 

I was adopted from birth. My parents were not able to have children, and a friend of the family who is an Episcopal priest was able to arrange the adoption. (It is actually just this summer that I found my birth mother and have had some contact with her.) My family on my adopted father’s side was from Texas and on my mother’s side from South Carolina. I was born in McKinney Texas and during my formative years I lived in both Texas and California depending on my father’s job. I had been baptized Episcopalian, but because of the nearness of the local Lutheran church I was brought up in the Lutheran church. I remember joking later that in Sunday School I think I learned more about the life of Martin Luther than about Jesus! But it was good; I really enjoyed church very much. I learned the bible well and the truths of the faith.

 

For high school I ended up going to a boarding school in Tennessee. I was one of the people who loved boarding school. I had all my friends in the same building, and was lucky to have a roommate who became one of the best friends I had ever had. I really thrived there, except that my faith did not. I think that I still had a Sunday School faith, and I started asking some hard questions. Unfortunately, my faith did not survive, and I went for years without going to church.

 

I didn’t come back to faith in God until late in university. I do have an academic frame of mind, and I was always a questioner and always interested in why questions. Why this and why that? I tried lots of different paths in school, but none of them quite fit. I ended up studying philosophy and German language and literature, neither of are practical of course, but I enjoyed what I was doing. The blessing of studying German is that I lived abroad for a year in Germany. I loved the year. It was such a blessing in so many different ways. I loved the atmosphere; I loved being on my own; I loved traveling and seeing new things. Oddly, as a nonbeliever, I started to love visiting the churches there. They were quiet and beautiful, and I enjoyed sitting in them. I think I was looking for something without knowing that I was looking for something. The other thing is that one of my best friends there was a strong Christian who was going into the ministry. What was important for me is that he had a strong faith, but was also cool and brilliant. I have to confess I didn’t think they could go together!

 

I did not become a Christian, but I was intrigued. The next step was when I came back from Germany, I was in a used book store when I found a book by a man named Thomas Merton. Now Merton has been on my friends bedside table, and he had mentioned that he enjoyed his works. So I picked up the book, and for me it was providential. I found a man who had wrestled with faith in the same way I did; his descriptions of the world were how I saw the world. He just spoke to me. But it was his descriptions of faith in Jesus that rattled me. They just spoke truth that I needed to hear and I didn’t know what to do with it. I started falling in love with his vision of faith, but finding that I couldn’t follow him. I found that I wanted to be a believer; I wanted to follow Jesus; I wanted what Merton had. But it was not for me…. and then, my doubts just started to be unimportant. I wanted to learn more. I started to read the Gospels; I started tentatively praying. I should have started going to church and seeking spiritual guidance. But I didn’t. It was a powerful time for me; the more I came to know God the more excited I became.

 

I didn’t go to church until that summer when I went home. My father had just started attending church again after a long absence of years. I had thought of going to the Lutheran church where I grew up, but he was going to a local Episcopal (Anglican) church, and so I went with him. What happened for me was the Eucharist. I had never really thought about it until this moment. When the priest started praying and then held up the bread and said, “this is my body.” Something powerful moved within me. I tell people I am high church because I was ultimately converted by the Eucharist. I knew that I was home, and I also started to think that I would like to do what that priest was doing: bringing Christ to people.

 

I went to graduate school in philosophy, but was thinking about the ministry. I knew it was too early as I was a new Christian, but after a two year Masters I thought I might know more. At the end I decided to explore more. I went to the Bishop in Ohio where I was living and found out that they had a moratorium on all candidates for the priesthood. I would have to wait three years to start the process. For long and complicated personal reasons I thought I wanted to study in New Haven, CT and so I thought I would move there and go through the process in Connecticut. There the process also took years so I got a job in the shipping department of a local warehouse. I was fortunate that I had worked in shipping ever summer to earn money so I had enough experience to be hired on and worked there for three years loading and unloading trucks. While I was there I attended a local church in New Haven which really became my liturgical and spiritual training ground. I learned so much and grew so much in my faith. I was blessed to have so many great teachers and a wonderful church to worship in.

 

Eventually I did go to seminary which is a whole other story. The short, short version is that I met a Canadian who was studying for the priesthood from Alberta. We fell in love, and I followed her, and that is why I find myself in Alberta and blessed to be here!

Pray for the families in Connecticut

As a church family we pray for the families and friends of the children and teachers who were senselessly killed in Connecticut today. As a father I can't begin to imagine the grief of losing my children. I pray that this tragedy will not overwhelm them; that they will know that God can give strength and grace in such a time. I also pray for the all the churches as they minister to the grieved.

Some Resources I found:
Prayer from Sarah Rudd:
A voice is heard in Ramah; Rachel is weeping for her children, for they are no more.
Lord God, Father of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, we pray to you for the Holy Innocents of Newtown, for their families, and for all of this broken world. Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us all.

Statement by the Episcopal Bishops of Connecticut:

A STATEMENT FROM THE BISHOPS - DEC. 14, 2012
Dear Friends in Christ:

We are shocked and overwhelmed by the horrendous tragedy of the school shooting in Sandy Hook. We hold the victims, their families, and all who are affected by the shooting in our thoughts and prayers for healing and strength. We pray that those who have died will be held in the arms of our loving God whose heart aches for those affected by this tragedy.

We bishops have been in touch with the Rev. Mark Moore, the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Sandy Hook which is adjacent to the school were the shooting took place. We have also communicated with the leadership of Trinity Church, Newtown, and we understand that the Rev. Kathie Adams-Shepherd, rector of Trinity Church is on the scene ministering to the bereaved.

We are departing immediately for Newtown/Sandy Hook to be of whatever assistance we can. We will be in contact when we have additional information.

We invite all clergy to open our churches for prayer.

Please keep all who have died, the one who has perpetrated the shooting, and all affected by this incident in your prayers. May the God who we await this Advent season bring us hope and new life in Jesus the Christ.

Faithfully, Ian, Laura and Jim

The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas
The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens
The Rt. Rev. James E. Curry

Update:

Dear Friends in Christ: 

 

All three of your bishops are immediately involved and present at Trinity Church, Newtown.  We are in close communication with the Rev. Kathie Adams-Shepherd, the rector of Trinity Church, who has been at Sandy Hook Fire House all day pastoring the families and loved ones directly involved in the school shooting tragedy.  There are families at Trinity that have been directly affected.

 

There will be a Taizé service of prayer and silence at Trinity Church, Newtown, tonight at 7:00 pm.  All are invited to come and pray for those we have lost and for those who are suffering.  Tomorrow at noon there will be a service at St. John's, Sandy Hook, with the Rev. Mark Moore presiding.  At this stage we do not know of anyone directly affected at St. John's.

 

Prayers are flowing in from across the country and around the world.  We have heard from sisters and brothers in Christ from as far away as New Zealand, England, and parts of Africa.  We thank God for the web of prayers from around The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion that buoy us up in this time of immense grief and loss.  Please continue to pray that in the midst of this despair and death that new life in and with God in Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit will shine through.

 

God bless all of us at this time.

 

 

Faithfully, Ian, Laura and Jim 

 

The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas

The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens

The Rt. Rev. James E. Curry 

Unique Advent Resource from the Archbishop of York

Here is a unique Advent resource from the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu:

Advent Calendar

Archbishop Sentamu is actually coming to the Diocese of Edmonton next year for our centennial. I actually had a private dinner with him once. I was at a church conference, and on the last day I was very tired and just wanted to eat and run. I grabbed a plate of food and sat down by myself to eat quickly when Archbishop Sentamu saw me and I think felt sorry for me eating by myself! So he sat down and we had a wonderful visit. I am looking forward to his visit.

Congratulations to Rob Hardwick! The New Bishop of Qu'Appelle

Rob Hardwick has been elected the new Bishop of Qu'Appelle. I have worked with Rob on a couple of occasions during ACPO weekends and appreciated both his sense of humour and his wisdom in tackling some difficult images. I am looking forward to seeing what he does in Qu'Appelle.

Read the article from the Anglican Journal here:


The Ven. Robert Hardwick is the new bishop of the Anglican diocese of Qu’Appelle, in Regina, Sask.
Currently serving as the diocese’s assistant to the bishop and executive archdeacon, Hardwick was elected on the first ballot of the electoral synod, held Dec. 8. He succeeds Bishop Greg Kerr-Wilson, who is now the bishop of the diocese of Calgary....

The Plan for This Space

Dear Friends, welcome to my new site! Thank you for visiting. The purpose of this blog is to open up another forum for communication and talking about our life in Christian community. I am hoping to do several things here:

1) I am hoping to think online about questions relating to our life together as a Christian community. These will be big questions like what does it mean to be a Christian? Why do we worship? What is the point of liturgy? Why is service essential to the faith? Who is Christ? and so on. The nice thing about a blog is that if you feel moved you can be a part of the conversation.

2) I will post news articles of interest that relate to the larger Anglican and Christian world. My desire here is to help facilitate our awareness of our larger community.

3) I will post quotes and other items that will inspire and encourage us.

4) I will be looking at items that specifically look at ways that other churches in similar contexts to ours are doing exciting and successful ministries. My goal is that these items can facilitate some conversation about what may or may not work for us.

5) I will post the notes of my sermons so that people can comment on them if they want.

Please feel free to be a part of the conversation and let your voice be heard. The only rules are the same ones in any meeting in our churches: respect other voices, speak to issues and not people, use good manners. I am excited about this endeavour. Feel free just to say hi in the comments!

Yours in Christ,

Steve London