Seek: Voices from the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri 2-2017

Seek

February 2017

voices from the

One Life at a Time

Preventing Gun Violence and Caring for its Survivors By the Rev. Marc D. Smith, Ph.D., Bishop’s Deputy for Gun Violence Prevention and Priest Associate, Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, University City Despite innovative policing strategies and the increasing engagement of the community in violence prevention, the number of homicides in St. Louis City (overwhelmingly from guns) increased from 120 in 2013 to 188 in 2015 (+63.8%).

The homicide rate per 100,000 population is more than eight times the national average (37.7 compared to 4.5). And, the majority were the result of young black male-on-youngblack-male shootings. Tragically, a notable number of victims were innocent bystanders or mistaken targets—the “collateral damage” of a community in which lethal aggression has become an acceptable instrument for conflict resolution.

Nationally, as well as locally, the response to the grow-

ing epidemic of gun violence has varied. Some efforts have focused on legislative changes to restrict access to guns. Others have attempted to address underlying structural causes, including poverty, family disintegration and institutional racism.

Although these initiatives likely will be part of a comprehensive solution, their ability to effect immediate relief is limited.

Recently, however, the academic, activist, and faith communities also have begun to examine the gun violence that pervades our urban centers as a public health crisis and have noted that there are strategies that can be deployed immediately to combat it.

In St. Louis, for example, collaboration between the Department of Psychiatry at

Episcopal Diocese of Missouri

Washington University School of Medicine (WUMS) and the Pastoral Care Department of Barnes-Jewish Hospital in structured interventions with the hospitalized victims of violence demonstrated significant opportunities to assist them in redirecting their lives.

Currently, at least 36 public and private organizations, including the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, are engaged in gun violence prevention in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

In 2016, the United Way of Greater St. Louis and Washington University’s Institute for Public Health convened regular meetings of these entities—together known as the St. Louis Gun Violence Prevention Collaborative (STLGVPC)—to begin to develop a more coordinated response to the gun violence crisis.

Following a year of information sharing, planning and initial program

coordination, STLGVPC requested the diocese’s assistance in securing funding through the Episcopal Presbyterian Health Trust (EPHT). Specifically, to retain a consultant to facilitate the development and implementation of a governance model for the Collaborative. The goal is to enhance accountability of the individual organizations to each other and, collectively, to the community.

The grant was awarded by EPHT in December 2016, and Requests for Proposals were circulated nationally in early January 2017. The Collaborative anticipates hiring the consultant by the end of February and receiving final recommendations for the governance model

continued page 10 ph: 314-231-1220 www.DioceseMo.org Episcopal Diocese of Missouri Offices of the Bishop 1210 Locust St. St. Louis, Missouri 63103

© The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, 1210 Locust St., St. Louis, Missouri 63103 ph: 314-231-1220 web: diocesemo.org

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INSIDE

Life at a Time: Preventing 1 One Gun Violence and Caring for its Survivors by Marc Smith+

Listen to the weekly podcast JesusHacked, Storytelling Faith.

New episodes drop each Tuesday.

First episodes: • • • • •

Rebuilding Trust Seeking Christ A Life of Gratitude The Gathering As If We Weren't There

diocesemo.org/podcast

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Christ in All Persons 11 Seeking Through the Arts: Absalom Jones celebration 2017

Successful 177th meeting of 12 Aconvention in the Diocese of Missouri

Bishop to 15 Presiding speak in St. Louis: Healing a

House Divided, lecture at the Danforth Center for Religion and Politics

The Church of St. Michael and St. George, in the Great Hall with the Rev. Quinn Fox

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for an afternoon/evening of reminiscence, reflection and analysis as we revisit scenes and themes of religion and the church that are present, implicit and conspicuously absent from life in the House of Grantham at Downton Abbey.

The Rev. I. Quinn Fox has served since July 2011 as associate pastor at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington DC, where he is responsible for discipleship and educational ministries.

BUILDING CONGREGATIONS

The Dying and Rising Church: Bishop Wayne's address to the diocese

Today's Grace Hill 9 Meet

by Delores Hardwick

Saturday, February 18, 4 PM

MAKING DISCIPLES

A Glimpse into our future Church? by the Rev. Canon Joe Chambers

A Stations of the Cross pilgrimage this April

by Rebecca Ragland+

Director of Deaconess 18 Next Anne House named to be a Lutherpalian!

19 Grateful

by Cathy Rosenholtz+ Call to Ordination: Four 20 The Journeys Ian Lasch Leslie Scoopmire Maria Evans Andrew Suitter

FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

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A Glimpse into our Future Church?

By the Rev. Canon Joe Chambers On May 14, 1804 about 35 miles downwhat this room will look like in 50 years… stream at the mouth of the Missouri River Where should we put our mission efforts? a group of 33 men commissioned by PresWhere does God want us to go? ident Thomas Jefferson began a journey Like the “Permanent Party” of the exto find a water passageway to the Pacific pedition paddling on the keel boat, bravery Ocean and to explore the uncharted west. is our friend. But if we explore the scary Often referred to as the Lewis and Clark and intimidating unknown the result will expedition, the Corps of Discovery was an be a beautiful and majestic epic. amazing chance to explore the unknown American history often comes from and to possibly find, as Jefferson thought, a a perspective of pride. After all, most of living woolly mammoth and maybe large ac- the history that we have been taught was tive volcanoes. Thirty-five miles away from written by the victor. I’m sure as a child where we stand today, thirty-three humans you learned the same glorifying stories told stood on the shores at Camp Wood taking about this journey. And as I’m sure you have that leap of faith to paddle up the river into also experienced in your life, you know that the unknown. These our Church history also big rivers are scary, comes from a perspective I’m sure as a child you learned violent, and intimiof pride. We love who the same glorifying stories told we are and who we have dating. Yet with the about this journey. And as I’m curiosity of a young become. The beautiful sure you have also experienced liturgy steeped in a rich nation waiting with baited breath to learn tradition. The middle way, in your life, you know that our of their findings, the baptismal theology, the Church history also comes they paddled firmly history. It’s all wonderful. from a perspective of pride. into the gentle spring It can never be lost breeze. on us that the work of the The Corps of Discovery is like the Corps of Discovery was built on the sinful unknown of our rising church today, espearrogance of discovering a land that was cially in this diocese, whose landscape is “purchased,” while it had already been disshaped by the big rivers that dominate its covered, claimed, and lived on by natives for personality. We’re also about exploring new centuries. lands with curiosity and wonder. I wonder The church, too, has it’s checkered

past. Our intentions have mostly been good over time, but this wonderful and sacred mystery that we call Church has had and continues to have moments in time that are darker than others. Sunday mornings are still the most segregated hours of the week.

That pride we have…it’s led us to an insular focus that can be devastating. We’ve become so impressed with ourselves that for most of my life our signs read, “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You.” It’s not bad to welcome someone, but it’s not exactly an invitation either. Why yes, we’re so glad you found us!

For decades we’ve all been guilty at one point or another of trying to Make Church Great Again…but that great church in which we speak, really isn’t.

Just like the Corps of Discovery, we set out to claim and to discover something that has already been claimed and discovered.

It’s arrogant to think that we own what is next. It’s ours.

It’s not. It’s God’s. And just like the Gospel says today, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. To fully live into it what is next, to bear the fruit of Jesus, we must die. We must let go of all that once made us great, and explore with open eyes and open hearts a new church with the newness of life that continued on next page

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4 passes all understanding. end this building’s mission in the life of the It’s scary and sad and can be depressEpiscopal Church. ing, but it’s real. And it’s hopeful and it’s exA glimpse into the future church? Not citing and it’s so much fun to think what the really, as the bishop reminded us in his people in this room representing the people address, this has happened numerous time, from all of our churches in eastern Missouri even before the 1950’s. And it will certainly can discover where God is calling them to happen again. go. What do I need to let die inside of me so This is a badge of honor. Closing a that I might thrive? What do we need to let church is proof that we took the risk and go of? What needs to die inside of you so built the kingdom as we knew how to. We that we can be born anew? lived into our covenant to teach and preach In the summer of 2006 I received a and pass along the love that God has prephone call from Canon Ralph McMichael, scribed. who was then working in the Offices of the If we are afraid to fail, then we should Bishop. We spoke briefly about my upcom- just pack it up and we’ll just fade away. ing first semester as campus missioner in St. Francis’ Episcopal Church in EureColumbia. It was an exciting time in my life, ka, day by day gets closer to having a physiand I was thrilled to talk with him about it. cal church building of their own, but what if However, he wasn’t calling me to chat up I told you that someday that building might the renewed Episcopal campus mission at be deconsecrated? Would we still build it?

Mizzou, he was calling to ask if I would go Are we willing to take that risk? up to Moberly and read a letter on behalf Of course we are. We are people of of the bishop, deconsecrating the building faith and we follow God’s call in the mothat would soon be the church formerly ment like the spirit of that community has known as St. Barnabas’ Episcopal Church. been shaping their identity as a Christian I agreed to the task and Amy and I took community for decades. Their building will a little trip up north. We met the local real- help them grow and give them a home to tor and did a quick walk through the build- anchor their mission…growing in service, ing that had been frozen in time. Plates and growing in faith, growing in Christ. Come dishes still left out from their last supper— grow with us! presumably a potluck of some kind. Old pot “We do not live to ourselves, and we do holders, magnets not die to ourselves. If we from decades ago, live, we live to the Lord, and I’m not sure what your rising and a lot of dust. You if we die, we die to the Lord; could feel the weight church looks like. And maybe so then, whether we live or you don’t know either. But if of a million sacred whether we die, we are the moments in that Lord’s.” it looks anything like this, I’m space. Life cycles This lets us live withexcited to see it. And I can’t wait lived, lots of love. out fear.

We are the Lord’s, to read the history. Because I We wanted so our movement up the know God is alive in this Church to see if there was stream of history is guarded and doing things well beyond our and clothed in the armor of anything left we imagination. might want to keep, grace and peace… but really, there was And it also reminds us nothing left but the memories of those sathat we do not live for ourselves, but we will cred moments that will live on forever in the thrive when offering a place for the stranghearts those who worshiped there. And so I er, the marginalized, and the oppressed. If stood there in a hot, empty church and read we take the Jesus movement into the neigha letter penned by the bishop that would borhood we will be noticed.

MAKING DISCIPLES

BUILDING CONGREGATIONS

We are only as strong as our willingness to go on this expedition. To venture out into the neighborhood, traveling lightly, exploring with curiosity, motivated not by fear, but by the faith that Jesus has called us to share the good news with the very poor and oppressed, when we in this room have historically been the rich oppressors. It’s time for that part of us to die.

I recently received a copy of a letter sent to one of the churches in this diocese.

It’s an anonymous letter that was left in the church a week ago Wednesday.

It read, “I am not a religious person, but I have always felt when passing by this church that it’s truly a place of love and acceptance. It gives me hope to see it. Like half this country and many of our neighbors, I’m horrified by last night’s election results. I was walking past and saw your church was open to people like me, reeling from what happened. I came in and had a good cry, grateful that this place exists. I don’t believe, and I never will, but I support your mission here and I will do what I can to support it in a more material way with donations. Thank you for being here for the community and marginalized people. “ I’m not sure what your rising church looks like. And maybe you don’t know either. But if it looks anything like this, I’m excited to see it. And I can’t wait to read the history. Because I know God is alive in this Church and doing things well beyond our imagination. God is the victor in our history.

And know this, on the first day of the Corps of Discovery, the expedition only made it 4 miles up the river Missouri, so it might take us a while to get there.

Grant, O Lord, that all who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ your Son may live in the power of his resurrection and look for him to come again in glory; who lives and reigns now and forever. AMEN The Rev. Canon Joe Chambers preached this sermon at diocesan convention eucharist on Fri., Nov. 19, 2016. Joe is the Canon to the Ordinary in the Offices of the Bishop.

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Dying and rising: Bishop Wayne's address to the diocese [November 18, 2016, Convention of the Diocese of Missouri, St. Louis]

"The Christian Church is the congregation of the brethren in which Jesus Christ acts presently as the Lord in Word and sacrament through the Holy Spirit. As the Church of pardoned sinners, it has to testify in the midst of a sinful world, with its faith as with its obedience, with its message as with its order, that it is solely his property, and that it lives and wants to live solely from his comfort and from his direction in the expectation of his appearance.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church were permitted to abandon the form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to changes in prevailing ideological and political convictions."(German Evangelical Church, in its Barmen Declaration, 1934) I put before you this statement from a distinct minority of German Christians in 1934, a statement from a longer Declaration which they made at Barmen, an industrial city in west central Germany. Theirs was a response to the German President elected in 1933, and subsequent, tragic events. Never once does the Barmen Declaration mention the German President by name; these

The voting booth does not concern me so much now, and it does not have to concern the Church. Whatever happens next does concern the Church, very much.

Christians concerned themselves with the not available state’s actions, not personalities. But most to us who of all their purpose was to chart a way forfollow Jesus. ward for the Church’s faithful witness.

More than I am not asserting a moral equivalence that: ours is between 1930s Germany and our current proclaim the political situation. I also am not meddling good news, with anyone’s vote in the recent election. My yes, the presumption is that the voting population gospel, that such language and action are in our diocese more or less mirrors that in unacceptable. If we see something, we must the surrounding demographic. The Epissay something—and not take silent refuge copal Church has a mixed ecology when it in privilege, which is all too easy for most comes to politics. It always has had, and it of us. If the state under the leadership of always will. The voting booth does not con- the president-elect uses such language and cern me so much now, and it does not have continued on next page to concern the Church.

Whatever happens next does concern the Church, very much.

Anglicanism has been hands-off when it comes to electoral politics, this candidate against that one, a posture explicit since the twentieth century and made clear in the writings of Archbishop William Temple. But Anglicanism has been unambiguously hands-on about public policy. This election, for example, has let some people speak and act as if hatred, bigotry, and intolerance were now allowed. The public policy of allowing this to stand, or not, matters to the Church.

Memorial commemorating the Barmen Declaration of May 1934, sculpture in Wuppertal by Ulle Hees. The front half (not shown) is a crowd at a political rally, confessing Of course such language and action are Church members to the rear (pictured). Photo by Velopilger - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14891951

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6 takes such action, we must also say something and do something.

In baptism we renounce the evil powers which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God. The Church must also renounce them in real life. For the sake of Jesus, crucified and risen, we must reject false doctrine, because the Church is not permitted to abandon the message and order given to us, for the sake of our own ease or changes in prevailing political convictions.

That’s what Barmen says. We must prepare ourselves spiritually for such a response, if, or more to the point, when a response proves necessary.

The draft of this address which I completed ten days before the election included reference to these same German Christians in the 1930s. I did not understand then how pertinent their witness would be to the current circumstances, as we try to make sense out of Church and social order.

I did understand this tiny Church’s clarity about who they were, and whose they were, and how then they should then live during a very difficult season. I think that their understanding is pure gold for the internal life of Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Missouri, in our present situation.

I am going to describe where we are

MAKING DISCIPLES

now, not at first head-on, but diagonally, the annals of the Diocese show no evidence on the slant, which is how a bishop moves, of shame when it came time to close some after all. of them. Sadness, yes; shame, no. Mission Look first at a Missouri roadmap: look throughout Missouri’s history has been an for Bloomfield, Canton, Fredericktown, experiment, like the sower’s extravagant Salem, Affton, Macon, Crystal City, Jackplanting of seeds in Jesus’ parable. Some son, Shelbina, Cuba, Herculaneum, Illmo. take root. Others do not.

These are more than obscure place names Mission was, and remains, an experin Missouri; they are towns from which an iment. The annals of the diocese mostly Episcopal Church disframe the closing of parishes as a appeared between 1900 refocus of mission, not so much for many people, inand 1950. This list is just as a failure. More like the Church cluding people of color a sampling and includes of AD 150 than the Church of and women, the 1950s 1950: That Church in antiquity none of the twenty or so parishes in St. Louis City was not golden after all was tiny—committed to followwho came and went. ing Jesus —with a clear sense of I give you this list to dispel a false purpose and counter-cultural. myth about the Episcopal Church, both in Discipleship and clarity are nothing this Diocese and Church-wide—the false new, but they will prove non-negotiable in myth of some golden age of the Episcopal the years ahead.

Church, which has always been a minority Statistics do not tell the whole story, Church. The name of that golden age is but they at least do tell a story. Average Sunusually called the 1950s, and sometimes we day Attendance, from 2005-2015 churchwant to party like it was then and not now. wide and in this diocese, tells a story. In Let us remember, however, that for both, attendance over those ten years fell many people, including people of color and by the same number—26 percent. I give you women, the 1950s was not golden after all. this information not to shock, not to frightThe decade is the wrong point of referen, but to inform. With this data how then ence, because the Church in the fifties shall we live? was an aberration in the longer story of Back to the German Church in the the Episcopal Church and, frankly, all the 1930s. In the face of a political menace, the Churches. See the list of Churches above, Church’s overwhelming response, from the the ones who came and went away before vast majority of believers, was not a pretty 1950. Mike Sinclair, a cathedral dean in one. Christians were not silent about this Regina, Saskatchewan, tweeted out earlier movement; that they were silent and acin September: We're more like the church quiescent is a wrong-minded assumption. of AD 150 than the church of 1950. A true The Christians instead ran toward the new saying in fewer than 140 characters. political reality in droves, and were outFifties Church had everything to do spoken in supporting it. Church leaders with the post-war culture marked by a actively reinforced it. Theology professors nervous can-do spirit, built especially for joined the new political party called Nationpeople who look like me. I have nothing al Socialist. They built a new Church called against Fifties Church, which was the first the Reichskirche. It did not take long for Church I knew. But if we measure now people to realize in retrospect the horror of against then, we will always come up lackthese choices. ing, maybe with a dose of guilt and shame A tiny minority dissented, some more for good measure. This diocese, over its actively than others. These are the ones one hundred seventy-five-year history, has about whom I spoke earlier. A young pastor started congregations by the scores. And and scholar named Dietrich Bonhoeffer led

BUILDING CONGREGATIONS

FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

7 the movement, usually called the Confessing Church.

They called themselves simply The Church. The great theologian Karl Barth was part of the movement also, mostly in the background.

It is terribly important, however, not to romanticize the Confessing Church in 1930s Germany. They were poorly organized. They often lost their nerve. They exerted almost zero political influence.

Bonhoeffer himself was seduced into a failed assassination plot against the German president and leader. He was executed for it, just days before the war’s end.

The movement was kind of a mess, and it seemed a failure to almost everyone directly involved at the time.

Two points about this movement: First, the Confessing Church had a mere 6,000 participants at its highest. That’s minuscule in size. A cadre of this number, however, committed to discipleship and with a sense of purpose, can leverage great change. It did not feel to them as if they leveraged anything. But to my second point: we, looking back on these few, can see a Church who gives us hope. It teaches me to pray for courage like theirs, to act faithfully when doing so feels like failure and without consequence.

Most of us want to be like them, to remain faithful to Jesus Christ, and to reject the likes of the man elected president in 1933. It is very difficult to do such a thing.

It's difficult to have that kind of clarity. It was radically counter-cultural in 1930s Germany to do such a thing. Pray God to give us

the grace so to live in our own day.

The landscape of the Church has been changing my entire ordained ministry, beginning in 1981. The pace of that change is accelerating, beyond anything that I have seen before. Our parishes are feeling that 26 percent drop in attendance, and they worry.

We worry.

Most of that drop, by the way, has come in the last three or four years. If it feels like things are changing all-the-sudden, it’s because they are. Growth for most of my episcopate, beginning in 2002, has been flat. Not anymore. Finances become a worry. Human resources become a worry. Simple things like finding a lector and having an altar guild on any given Sunday become worries.

Often we don’t want to talk about worries like these. There is a polarized caricature associated with many Church meetings these days. I have to call it a caricature because it is not exactly accurate. But I also have to call it a caricature because in overdrawing the situation, it may get close to a painful truth. So one extreme that we hear in Church meetings is outrageous, usually unwarranted bragging, befitting a world-class narcissist, where everything is wonderful and exciting, and there are no problems in my parish or diocese. The other extreme assumes the sad affect of Eeyore,

A. A. Milne’s pessimistic, gloomy donkey, and it’s really, really bad. Neither is very truthful, and I would like to banish both the braggart and that annoying donkey.

My purpose during this convention is to normalize honest talk about the hard times which we are facing Church-wide, and in this Diocese, and in most of our congregations. Let me describe just one strand of the challenge facing us: Everyone who has any acquaintance with parish finances will know that priests are costly. They are worth every penny, but a full-time priest in this Diocese will cost upwards of $100,000 per year. Most clergy also have over-large educational debt. Hardly any professional education is more costly than a theological one. Theological education itself is in crisis, with no more than three Episcopal seminaries likely to survive the next two decades.

In the longer arc of history, seminaries are in fact a new-fangled idea. General Seminary, our oldest, was founded in 1822. And the professional model for ministry in fact may have run its course. Before seminaries, and even for decades afterward, a lengthy apprenticeship in tandem with a substantial and standardized curriculum formed the usual pathway toward ordination. That continued on next page

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8 model has a new appeal, a current appeal.

And still, to make matters more annoying, we are not ordaining enough priests to fill positions left by the deaths and retirements of clergy in my generation. Most of those positions exist in the difficult circumstances I just described. There are no easy jobs left. See how everything is connected to everything else?

In this Diocese, we have already made some course corrections in formation for ministry. Currently there are nine people in our Diocese on the way toward priesthood.

Exactly one of the nine is in a customary, three-year course of study in an Episcopal seminary. We already have a very good School for Ministry in place, which provides so many of our needs for ministry of all kinds, lay and ordained. I have already said something about discipleship and clarity of purpose for what lies ahead. What if we enhanced our School specifically with these needs in mind? A place, for example, where for a weekend here, a week there, candidates could live in community, a place not unlike Deaconess Anne House, a place for work, study, and prayer. What if the bishop spent some time in residence there, a catalyst for work, study and prayer? Which is more or less the model from AD 150. This is what a bishop did. I don’t mean to suggest this model as the exact way forward in developing ministries. I suggest the model as a way of breaking open our thinking about something entirely different from what we do now.

I have to come back round to financial stressors affecting everyone. I want to name them, and state some ways to face them responsibly.

First, there is no program, no onesize-fits-all solution to this stress. Most of the problems are local, and that’s where the solutions will come. Think big, and think differently. Think locally. Finances are local to Christ Church Cathedral, and to All Saints in Saint Louis, and Ascension in Northwoods. All three places have had to make gut-wrenching decisions around MAKING DISCIPLES

finances, and how they will live. The Cathedral has made changes in staffing. All Saints and Ascension are merging. I could list a dozen, two dozen, other places making these kinds of decisions, or know that they will have to make them very soon.

In the face of these challenges, I want us to have access to all the resources that we have together in Diocesan funds. For example, the Kelton E. and Alma Mayland White Memorial Trust came as a generous bequest in 1994 and provided a lending resource for parishes making capital improvements. It has been a blessing. The Bishop and Standing Committee have responsibility for this fund, under the terms of the trust. It has come to the point, however, that in 2016 we can make fewer and fewer loans that are large enough to do any good, without overburdening a parish who then find that they cannot pay the money back. The Standing Committee, Diocesan Council, and I want to use the fund in ways besides just making sub-prime loans to our own people. The principal of the fund is about $16 million dollars. Standing Committee, Council, and I will probably take action to make this pot of money more available to parishes and missions in need. And that's just one example.

This Diocese also needs better means for parishes and missions to shout out for help when they need it, and to do so without any implication of shame. This is a big reason to try normalizing these conversations about hard times in Church life. I and others in leadership need to be attentive to warning signs, and learn to respond gently and without blaming.

Parishes need to raise their hand. It may be that a canonical change will come before Convention next year, to make it easier to ask for help, and to offer it. Canon Liz Easton from Nebraska is here with us, to share stories from places that she knows, and to help us talk with one another about what we are facing these days.

Before I close, I want to list by title some of the very good things going on: • A new Church building for St. Francis’

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in Eureka; Deaconess Anne House, where young adults living in community continue to bless our Diocese; • Loren Lasch, our Diocesan missioner who oversees a growing ministry with youth; • food ministries galore; • a purposeful partnership with the Diocese of Lui in South Sudan, a diocese in crisis because the nation is in free-fall; • 12,000 Episcopalians who make a difference in the communities where they live in Eastern Missouri.

We are double the number of Confessing Christians in all Germany during the 1930s, who despite it all left us with great hope, a great witness, and a sense of purpose.

This is a story that Tex Sample once told: There was a young seminarian from Mississippi who had to return home because his old uncle lay dying. When he showed up at the home place, all his kin were there, but they were avoiding the dying man. And they certainly were not going to talk about his death. Not with him.

Until an old aunt showed up, the one who everybody said had drunk a rail car full of whiskey in her lifetime. She went straight to her brother’s room, and said, “Buford, no one else is going to tell you, but I will. You’re going to die. But it’s OK. Because whether you live or you die, you are the Lord’s possession.”

Whether you live or you die, you are the Lord’s possession (Romans Chapter 14).

I want us to have that same loving directness and honesty, one that oddly fills a difficult moment with hope beyond measure.

Dying and rising. To allow honesty and hope, the cross and the resurrection of Christ Jesus, to fill our lives. And our Church. This is available to us.

Let’s claim it.

•

FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

The Rt. Rev. George Wayne Smith is the tenth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri.

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Meet today's Grace Hill An Introduction to Grace Hill Settlement House

by Delores Hardwick, Community Relations & Volunteer Program Manager at Grace Hill You can find Rhonda Holmes at the front desk of Grace Hill’s Water Tower Hub every day, warmly greeting each visitor who walks in the door. She directs them upstairs to Head Start, down the hall to St. Louis Community Credit Union and Connections to Success, or across the street to Affinia Healthcare. Rhonda is the perfect person to help guests find their way; she’s engaged all of these services herself on the path to a better life.

“My involvement with Grace Hill has been an upward journey,” said Rhonda. “I took advantage of the resources they offered to get back on my feet.”

Five years ago, a successful business owner and home owner, Rhonda found herself at her lowest point. She discovered she was pregnant and faced many challenges including medical barriers and bills, which caused her to lose her home and her business. Savings disappeared. Feeling hopeless and desolate, Rhonda was on the edge of homelessness.

After her daughter Peyton was born, Rhonda enrolled her in Grace Hill’s Head Start program. She became an active volunteer, even becoming Vice President of the parent Policy Council. She found an apartment in Grace Hill’s housing and participated in financial empowerment classes and job training at Connections to Success.

Rhonda was back on the road to being successful and empowered for not only herself but also her family.

“I see myself furthering my quest to help others and possibly becoming a business owner again,” Rhonda says. “I’m passionate about working with children and

reaching out to those that may have been in a similar situation as I was.”

Grace Hill Settlement House was established by the Episcopal Diocese (Grace Church and Holy Cross Church) in 1903 to provide a comprehensive services to immigrant families newly arrived in St. Louis. The Settlement House tradition seeks to provide an equitable opportunity for all members of the community to participate in academic, economic, civic, and other neighborhood activities—enabling them to support one other and to make their communities better places to live. Since 1903, Grace Hill has provided holistic support to communities in need through healthcare, a food pantry, English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, aging services, a Women’s Business Center, banking, job training, housing, and early childhood education services.

Today, that spirit of support—of neighbors helping neighbors—is working to improve the lives of more than 1,800 families and 21,000 people in St. Louis each year.

Services currently provided at the Water Tower Hub (College Hill neighborhood), the Patch Neighborhood Center, and the Carondelet Early Childhood Center include: Head Start and Early Head Start, youth and family support at two local elementary schools, aging services, housing, a Women’s Business Center, and other community development resources.

Grace Hill leverages the support of best-in-class partners like Connections to

Success for job training and St. Louis Community Credit Union for banking services.

Both are co-located at the Grace Hill Water Tower Hub. Healthcare services, including dental care and mental health services, are available through a separate sister agency, Affinia Healthcare (formerly known as Grace Hill Health Centers). Together, these two agencies represent a strong network of support, providing opportunities for individuals, families, and communities to become stronger, healthier, and more self-reliant.

Planned for May: A Community Listening Session.

A great opportunity for members of the diocese to meet and talk with the Grace Hill community. Let's explore putting our words into action to create the change that people want to see in the lives of their children, families, and community Goals for the event: to bridge cultural gaps and breakdown barriers and stereotypes; a time for sharing vision, hopes, and dreams for the community. Details will be in iSeek (diocesan weekly email). Subscribe at diocesemo.org/subscribe.

The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri

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10 The Episcopal Church The worldwide Anglican Episcopal church consists of an estimated 85 million Christians, members of 44 different Churches, led by the Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury

The Episcopal Church: 1.8 million follower of Jesus in 109 dioceses and three regional areas in 17 nations, led by the Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate.

The Diocese of Missouri: 11,000 members in 42 churches, and campus ministry and Deaconess Anne House (Episcopal Service Corps), led by the Rt. Rev. George Wayne Smith, 10th Bishop of Missouri.

SEEK, February 2017

Episcopal Diocese of Missouri Offices of the Bishop 1210 Locust St. St. Louis, Missouri 63103 Seek is a quarterly publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. Diocesan members may request a complimentary subscription by mail: send address to the Offices of the Bishop attn: Seek Subscription. Seek is also distributed to each congregation in the diocese. Archived editions of Seek are online at diocesemo.org/seek.

Editor: Ms. Beth Felice, Director of Communications Editorial Board: the Rev. Dr. Daniel Handschy, Dean of the Episcopal School for Ministry; the Rev. Edie Bird, rector Christ Church, Cape Girardeau; Mr. Kurt Greenbaum, St. Martin’s Church, Ellisville; Mr. Paul Jokerst, Transfiguration Church, Lake St. Louis; Dr. Carter Whitson, All Saints’ Church, St. Louis; the Rev. Joe Chambers, Canon to the Ordinary, Diocese of Missouri.

Submissions by post attn: Beth Felice, or online via diocesemo.org/submit.

Deadline: May 15, 2017 for the edition available June 2017.

MAKING DISCIPLES

One Life at a Time by mid-year.

In a metropolitan area long-plagued by multi-jurisdictional division, the importance of the diocese’s role in bringing these organizations together for the common good cannot be underestimated.

Homicide ministers

• •

continued from page one

Structuring a program of active mentoring and support for “Homicide Ministers” Organizing and staffing monthly educational and case review meetings for “Homicide Ministers”

Lock It for Love

The diocese and WUMS The diocese and WUMS’ are joining with Women’s Voices Department of Psychiatry have Raised for Social Justice in rebegun to develop a proposal cruiting parishes and individual to enhance the engagement of members throughout the diolocal faith communities in the cese to participate in its “Lock It care of survivors for Love” proof gun violence. gram.

In a metropolitan This is supported Although area long-plagued by by a separate grant too often overmulti-jurisdictional difrom EPHT. looked in stratvision, the importance Central to egies to address this initiative is an of the diocese’s role in gun violence, active partnership bringing these organithe number of with St. Louis’ zations together for the deaths from acci“Homicide Mindental shootings common good cannot isters”—a loosely and suicide is be underestimated. knit, small group staggering. of black clergy In the periwho work with the St. Louis City od from 2005 – 2014, for examand County Police Departments ple, nearly 20,000 minors across in the care of survivors and the the United States were accidende-escalation of the momentum tally killed or seriously woundfor retaliation. ed in accidental shootings, the The project’s objectives majority of whom were under 12 include: years of age. During this same • Recruiting a diverse cohort decade, 5,530 minors intentionof additional “Homicide ally shot themselves.

Ministers” from throughout The evidence is clear that the community accidental shootings could be • In collaboration with the virtually eliminated with the Walker Institute for Leaduse of gun locks, and suicides ership at Eden Seminary, markedly reduced. developing a 10-hour curric“Lock It for Love” raises ulum for the initial training funds to purchase gun locks of clergy (and potentially) lay ($5.65/lock) and distribute them “Homicide Ministers” throughout the community. To

BUILDING CONGREGATIONS

FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

date, more than 1,300 have been given to local families.

We anticipate this partnership will provide a specific opportunity for individuals and faith communities to engage in gun violence prevention through fundraising for gun locks and volunteering for distribution events.

Tracking our efforts

Finally, this project also includes an active evaluation component. A comprehensive data base is being developed to facilitate research and the publication of findings in scientific journals, as well as in the professional and popular press.

The recent rise in gun violence in many communities in the United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, is a national tragedy.

Although the causes are many and complex, they are not insurmountable.

The diocese, both independently and in collaboration with many community partners, is committed to this cause. And while we pray for this violence to end completely, we know it begins with saving one life at a time.

More links and information about this program, and about other articles in this edition online at: diocesemo.org/feb2017seek

11

Seeking Christ in All Persons Through the Arts The 2017 Absalom Jones Celebration, hosted by Dismantling Racism Commission and the Diocesan Youth Advisory Council will be held 9 am to 1 pm on February 25 at Emmanuel Church in Webster Groves How do you picture God? How is your prayer informed by pictures of Jesus in the Bible that you used when you were a child, or of saints you saw in stained glass and sculpture?

Do music and liturgical language bring you closer to God or keep you at a distance? Can we worship with dance or with music from other cultures?

Do these artistic representations make God seem like someone who knows you and understands you and welcomes you into God’s company? Or does God seem to be different from someone like yourself?

Jesus lived in Palestine—what if he looked like a Palestinian? How can all of us make pictures of a God in whose image we are created?

On Saturday, February 25 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm we will discuss these questions as we experience art, music and dance used in worship from diverse Christian cultures.

The Commission on Dismantling Racism and Diocesan Youth Advisory Council invite you to join us at Emmanuel Church for the 2017 Absalom Jones Celebration.

Lunch is included. There is no cost and the event is open to the public. RSVP appreciated.

You will have an opportunity to: • Listen to personal testimonies and reflections • Engage in a facilitated interactive exercise • Create artwork, engage in singing and drumming, and begin to learn liturgical dance “When we look at the representations of God in our churches, we have to ask if we are looking at a mirror or a kaleidoscope,” observed Christian Davis, a member of the Commission on Dismantling Racism and a Deaconess Anne House corps member this year. “If our artistic expression only reflects the dominant culture, it undermines our ability to see Christ in all people.”

To register please use the following link: http://bit.do/absalom-jones-2017

Absalom Jones 2017: “Seeking Christ in All Persons Through the Arts”

Saturday, February 25 9 AM to 1 PM (lunch included) Emmanuel Episcopal Church 9 S Bompart Ave Webster Groves, MO 63119 More information on all Dismantling Racism events and workshops online at diocesemo.org/DR. Listen to JesusHacked, the new diocesan podcast for an episode with Adrienne Dillon and Christian Davis with host Harry Leip.

Details at diocesemo.org/podcast Planning Committee: Rob Good; Courtney Schaefer; Alexia Dukes; Adrienne Dillon; Christian Davis; Loren Lasch; Tony Corey

The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri

DIOCESEMO.ORG

12

A Successful 177th meeting of convention in the Diocese of Missouri The 177th meeting of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri was held Nov. 17-18, 2016.

The convention voted on legislation, elected diocesan members and clergy to governance positions, received reports on the varied organizations, committees and task forces in the diocese, heard the bishop's address to the diocese, celebrated eucharist together, and considered the topic of the dying and the rising Church with three presentations and conversations facilitated by guest the Rev. Liz Easton, Canon to the Ordinary from the Diocese of Nebraska. It was a very full two days.

This was the year we elected deputies and alternate deputies to General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which will be held in Austin, TX in summer of 2018.

Which meant a good deal of work for the nominations committee led by Betty Bowersox.

Elected To Cathedral Chapter: •

Allyce Bullock, St. John's Church, Tower Grove

Elected To Diocesan Council: • •

Barbara (Babs) Kehl-Fairchild, Trinity Church, St. Charles Margaret Rowe, Emmanuel, Webster Groves

Elected To Disciplinary Board: • • •

The Rev. Kelly Carlson, St. Peter's Church, Ladue The Rev. Chester Hines, Christ Church Cathedral Adrienne Anderson Fly, Trinity Church, CWE

Elected To General Convention Deputation: Clergy Deputies • •

C1 The Rev. Pamela Dolan, Rector, Church of the Good Shepherd, Town and Country C2 The Rev. Tamsen Whistler, Rector, Trinity Church, St. Charles

MAKING DISCIPLES

•

C3 The Rev. Mark Sluss, Archdeacon, Diocese of Missouri • C4 The Rev. Patricia (Pat) Glenn, Rector, Calvary Church, Louisiana, and St. John’s Church, Eolia Clergy Alternates • C5 The Rev. Doris Westfall, Interim Rector, Emmanuel Church, Webster Groves • C6 The Rev. Luke Jernagan, Rector, St. Peter’s Church, Ladue • C7 The Rev. Beth Scriven, Chaplain, Rockwell House • C8 The Rev. Todd McDowell, Rector, Grace Church, Kirkwood

Lay Deputies •

L1 Barbara (Barbi) Click, St. Paul’s Church, Carondelet • L2 Betty L. Bowersox, Grace Church, Kirkwood • L3 Kathryn (Kathy) Dyer, St. Timothy’s Church, Creve Coeur • L4 Michael J. Booker, Ph.D. St. Francis’ Church, Eureka Lay Alternates • L5 Lisa Fox, Grace Church, Jefferson City • L6 Adrienne L. Dillon, All Saints’ Church, St. Louis • L7 Elizabeth (Liz) Yount, St. Peter’s Church, Ladue • L8 Robert (Robby) Dunlap, All Saints’ Church, Farmington

Elected To Standing Committee: • • •

The Rev. Dawn Victoria Mitchell, Trinity Church, Hannibal The Rev. Rebecca Ragland, Deaconess Anne House Brooke Forsyth, St. Timothy's Church, Creve Coeur

Appointments

• •

DISPATCH OF BUSINESS • • •

Harold R. Burroughs, Chair The Rev. Marc D. Smith The Rev. Canon Joe Chambers, ex officio

CONSTITUTION & CANONS • • • • • • • • •

The Hon. Jean C. Hamilton, Chair Harold R. Burroughs Ronald Jones Jay Kloecker The Honorable Mary Russell The Rev. Susan Skinner Jamieson Spencer The Rev. Peter Van Horne The Rev. Canon Joe Chambers, ex officio

RESOLUTIONS • • • • • •

Kathryn Dyer, Chair Ann Hogan The Rev. Kelly Carlson The Rev. Dawn-Victoria Mitchell Michael Booker Lisa Fox

Diocesan Commission on Church Architecture and Allied Arts • • • • •

Richard Entenman Grace, Kirkwood Clark Davis Grace, Kirkwood Rick Kuhn Emmanuel, Webster Groves The Rev. Pamela Dolan Church of the Good Shepherd, Town & Country The Rev. Ian Lasch, St. Peter’s, Ladue

Diocesan Commission on Ministry For a one year term: •

The Hon. Joseph Adams (Holy Communion, University City)

For two year terms:

The bishop's appointments to commit- • tees were affirmed as follows: •

LAY CREDENTIALS AND ADMISSION OF NEW PARISHES

BUILDING CONGREGATIONS

The Rev. Dr. Marc D. Smith, Chair Mr. Harold R. Burroughs

Elizabeth Hines (Holy Communion, University City) The Rev. Edie Bird (Christ Church, Cape Girardeau)

For four year terms: • •

FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

Lynnette Ballard (Grace, Kirkwood) The Rev. Martie Metzler (Emmanuel, Web-

13

title change to "Recommended Standard Compensation For Stipendiary Clergy ComContinuing members are: pensation." After discussion, this motion • Lisann Backsmayer (Calvary, Louisiana) was carried but not unanimously. (term expires 2017) There was a good debate on B-177 • The Rev. Mark Kozielec (Rector, St. Mark’s, which carried but not unanimously.

St. Louis) (term expires 2017) A third resolution was a second read • The Rev. Harry Leip (Deacon, Trinity, St. of H-176 (changes to the Constitution and Louis) (term expires 2018) Canons of the diocese, of which this was, • The Rev. Dr. Paula Hartsfield (Deacon, Grace require approval by two consecutive conChurch, Jefferson City) (term expires 2018) • The Rev. Michael Angell (Rector, Holy Com- ventions). This motion carried.

A motion from the floor was offered munion, University City) (term expires 2019) • Carter Whitson (All Saints’, St. Louis) (term by the Committee on Lay Credentials and Admission of New Parishes, regarding the expires 2019) merger of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Committee on Nominations and Election St. Louis, and the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Northwoods. The motion, C-177, Procedure • Al Ludwig (Emmanuel, Webster Groves) carried, but not unanimously.

•

• •

ster Groves) Jeanie Bryant (Grace, Jefferson City)

The Rev. Todd McDowell (Grace, Kirkwood) The Rev. Bob Taliaferro (St. Paul’s, Sikeston)

The operating budget for 2017 carried without dissent. Courtesy resolutions were Rich Luebcke (All Saints’, Farmington) (2018) affirmed with applause.

Continuing members are: • • • •

Margaret Rowe (Emanuel, Webster Groves) (2018) Simone Camp (St. Alban’s, Fulton) (2018) The Rev. Annette Joseph (Rector, Holy Cross, Poplar Bluff) (2018)

A motion was made, seconded and carried unanimously to nominate Jack Lauless as a Trustee of the University of the South, the term of which expires with the 180th Convention.

Other Trustees • • •

Chris Sturgeon (term expires with 178th Convention) The Rev. Doris Westfall (term expires with 179th Convention) The Rt. Rev. George Wayne Smith, ex officio

Four resolutions approved by convention

Two resolutions were brought before convention A-177 originally titled Minimum Clergy Compensation, and B-177, $15 Minimum Wage.

After discussion in open hearing sessions, the Resolutions Committee brought forward revised text to A-177 including the

All resolution texts and rationales, the budget passed, all courtesy resolutions may be read in full online on the diocesan website: diocesemo.org/convention2016 The site and date were selected for the 179th convention: in St. Louis on November 16 and 17, 2018.

The 178th Convention will be held on November 17-18, 2017, in Hannibal, Missouri, where we will be the guests of Trinity Episcopal Church, Hannibal.

Clergy transitions

The Rev. Elizabeth Simpson: Ordained to the diaconate (November 20, 2015), serving St. Matthew’s Church, Mexico

New to the Diocese

• • •

The Rev. Lu-Anne Conner: Rector, Transfiguration, Lake St. Louis The Rev. Robert Taliaferro: Rector, St. Paul’s, Sikeston The Rev. Ian Lasch: Associate Rector, St.

Peter’s, Ladue The Rev. Loren Lasch: Youth Missioner, Offices of the Bishop

New Cures (in the Diocese of Missouri) • •

The Rev. Amy Chambers Cortright: Priestin-Charge, St. John’s, Tower Grove The Rev. Marc Smith: Priest Associate, Holy Communion, University City

New Cures (out of the Diocese of Missouri) • • • •

The Rev. Johnette Shane: Rector, Episcopal Church of the Holy Family, Park Forest, IL The Rev. Robert Ard: Rector, Church of the Holy Cross, Tryon, NC The Rev. Michael Kinman: Rector, All Saints’, Pasadena, CA The Rev. Shariya Molegoda: Rector, St. Andrew’s, Madison, CT

Other Transitions • • • •

The Rev. Teresa Danieley: End of Service, St. John’s, Tower Grove The Rev. Carol Davenport: Transition Pastor, Trinity, Kirksville The Rev. Al Jewson: Interim Pastor, St. Paul’s, St. Louis The Rev. Doris Westfall: Interim Pastor, Emmanuel, Webster Groves

Retirements • •

The Rev. Daniel Appleyard: Retired June 26, 2016 The Rev. Catherine Hillquist: Retired August 27, 2016

And we prayed for the clergy who had died since the last meeting of convention: •

Newly Ordained Clergy •

•

• • •

The Rev. Roy Moore, II: Died February 19, 2016 The Rev. J. Stephen Barber: Died April 19, 2016 The Rt. Rev. Edward Salmon, Jr.: Died June 29, 2016 The Rev. Gary Goldacker: Died October 24, 2016

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14

The Call to Ordination: Leslie Scoopmire, Maria Evans, Andrew Suitter continued from last page

The first time Leslie had a thought about an ordained ministry call, she was a new Episcopalian and college intern, living in a diocese that didn't ordain women. She was on the career path to becoming a teacher, and saw that as very much part of her ministry. And, her call to the priesthood is very much about being a teacher and relater of the story of Jesus and the Church.

A career, raising kids, and a move to St. Louis where she eventually landed at Holy Communion Church filled her time. Then Rector Brooke Myers tapped her on the shoulder and said, had she thought about a call to ordination. Study at Episcopal School for Ministry to begin to discern her call to ministry was an important part of her journey.

She kept praying and praying. She was thinking about the diaconate. Brooke gave her more things to do at Holy Communion. And in the middle, her discernment committee at Holy Communion suggested they felt her being called to the priesthood.

She laughed, "in a Sarah kind of way," and thought, yes, that's right. The bishop concurred and said, now, you go to seminary.

Leslie has one semester left and is just one class away from an M.Div. degree from Eden Seminary.

"It's a brave thing," said Leslie, "for someone to say to someone, I think you are called to this life. We don't talk about things like this very often." And true for her discernment committee at Holy Communion and community at ESM. "The idea of ordination is so huge—spiritually, emotionally" it takes the support of family and community.

"Especially if you're not doing this as a 25-year-old," said Maria, "discernment involves the ability to sit and be at peace with the patterns of one's life." Maria notes her own pattern is one of being a quick study in some things and a late bloomer in others.

Maria received the M.D. degree from MAKING DISCIPLES

the University of Missouri in 1991, has been a hospital surgical pathologist and medical laboratory director for 21 years, and taught medical students for 25 years, first at the University of Missouri Columbia, and later for the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine /A.T. Still University.

She, too, experienced those shoulder taps and encouragement of clergy and lay leaders asking if she felt called to ordained ministry. "You've got to be kidding* me," was her response. [We'll use 'kidding' for the word which would not make it past our safety filters.] But when she sat with that, she realized this was not the first time she'd heard these words.

Early in her discernment process Maria had a dream. She was serving at the altar with the bishop. And as she stood there, her alb changed into a clown suit. "When I looked out to the people in the sanctuary, I thought, they're going to see the truth. But when they looked at me, it was their looks that turned the clown suit back into the alb."

A big piece of the process for Maria has been listening to what friends and colleagues were suggesting, that she couldn't— or wouldn't—see. She heard the scripture that closes Morning Prayer deeply, "Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine."

(Ephesians 3:20) In this journey, as things have started to change, Maria has learned to be open to things, without needing to sculpt the experience. "As the church moves into this century and we become less about empire and more about Jesus, the Church is going to need people in ordained ministry that don't always look like what we're used to seeing. When you're the one that gets tapped on the shoulder, a big piece is letting go of what you believe that ordained person is supposed to look like."

BUILDING CONGREGATIONS

The weather was getting worse. A post from Maria advised they were stuck on the highway in Kingdom City, and they knew they'd likely miss the rehearsal. Leslie and Andrew and the bishop had made it to the cathedral. As had some friends and family.

Might the ordination be delayed until the Kirksville party arrived?

Andrew, native of Maine grew up in the Free Methodist and Nazarene Church.

He remembers life in a small town and being struck by the ecumenical gatherings of Christians at shared worship at Thanksgiving. "At the end of the day, we were all Christians—the community takes care of one another."

After his Bachelor's Degree in both Religion & Philosophy and sociology from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY, he moved to social service jobs in central Tennessee. He began working at Korean Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit as a youth minister, primarily with immigrant and first-generation American young people and their families.

In 2010 the Rev. Becca Stevens invited him to work part-time at St. Augustine's Episcopal Chapel on the Campus of Vanderbilt University where he became involved in the writing and leading of Sunday and Wednesday evening liturgy, teaching youth and adult formation and Confirmation classes, preaching, tending to pastoral care visits, serving on the altar, producing podcasts, and developing the community's first Recovery Eucharist. That rich association "called out a lot of different gifts from me," said Andrew. "When the community calls on you to help, it plants the seed of discernment."

Andrew became a member of the Diocese of Missouri in 2013, and completed his M.Div. from Vanderbilt University in May 2015.

FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

P U B L I C L E CT U R E BY T H E M O ST R E V.

M I C H A E L B. C U R R Y

P R E S I D I N G B I S H O P O F T H E E P I S C O PA L C H U R C H

15

Presiding Bishop to speak in St. Louis Michael Curry will present a public lecture titled Healing a House Divided hosted by the Danforth Center for Religion and Politics on the Washington University Campus. April 4, 2017, 5:30 PM. Reception to follow, shuttle buses will be available.

After this rancorous election season and administration change, could a topic be more timely?

The Danforth Center's mission is "fostering rigorous scholarship and informing broad academic and public communities about the intersections of religion and U.S. politics." And one of their great gifts to the community is a lecture series.

This lecture will be held in the Emerson Auditorium in Knight Hall on the Wash U. campus. After the lecture there will be time for questions, and after that hour, there will be a reception for everyone who attends.

We're looking forward to many Episcopalians supporting this event and to that end, the Center is arranging shuttle buses to help folks less familiar with the campus or less than excited about navigating weekday parking near Knight Hall.

Here's how it will work. Step one, RSVP

HEALING

a House Divided

at the Center's website, rap.wustl.edu.

Navigate to the April event and click on the blue "RSVP Here" button.

For those interested in parking on a church lot and riding a aol.com or phone, 636-236-7705. shuttle to the lecture, M contact E R S Oat N the A U D• I T St. OR I U M IChurch N K NinI G H TCoeur: HALL Timothy's Creve you'll need to RSVP withEthe parish Tess Barcey, office 0 - 6 is :3 0 P admin M church. Shuttles will be available at Grace 5 : 3contact R E C E P T I O N I phone, M M E D I314-434-5906.

AT E LY F O L L O W I N G Church in Kirkwood, St. Martin's Church • St. Barnabas' Church in Florissant, contact in Ellisville, St. Timothy's Church in Creve is parish admin Marlene Martens. Register Coeur, St. Barnabas' Church in Florissant, after March 31 via email, sbarnabas@sbcand Trinity Church in St. Charles. global.net or office phone, 314-837-7113.

4|4|17

•

•

RSVPS ENCOURAGED TO

Grace Church314.935.9345 in Kirkwood: contact is Janis • OR RAP@WUSTL.EDU Greenbaum viaMORE email, Janis.Greenbaum@ INFORMATION AT RAP.WUSTL.EDU gracekirkwood.org or phone, 314-821-1806 ext. 19.

St. Martin's Church in Ellisville: contact is • Loretto Go via email (preferred) LGo1957@

Trinity Church in St. Charles: contact in parish admin Michelle Heitman. RSVP via email (preferred) trinityepiscopal318@ yahoo.com or office phone, 636-949-0160.

Flyers and additional information available from bfelice@diocesemo.org

The Call to Ordination: Leslie Scoopmire, Maria Evans, Andrew Suitter Members of his community from home commissioned a stole for him, designed by Jeff Wunrow. The launching church of Magdalene and Thistle Farms played a large role in his own path to ordination and you will find on his stole two thistles underneath the cranes.

The ordination service planned to end with Hymn #412. Maria said, "This is who we are, we're people of the loud humming

continued

cellos and boiling test tubes on a thistle was held for Maria, which both Leslie and path. And we're constantly singing a new Andrew were able to attend.

The Rev. Maria Louise Evans was raised up song." for ordination by Trinity Episcopal Church, But as 6 PM neared, they were still Kirksville. The Rev. Leslie Irene-Katherine hours away. Normally a four hour trip, they Scoopmire was raised up for ordination had left early in the morning. The ordiby the Episcopal Church of the Holy Comnation of Andrew and Leslie went on as munion, University City. The Rev. Andrew planned at 6 and the Kirksville folks kept Michael Suitter was raised up for ordination making their way east, arriving after 10 PM. in this diocese by Christ Church Cathedral, The next morning, a second ordination St. Louis.

The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri

DIOCESEMO.ORG

16

The Call to Ordination: Ian Lasch continued from last page

he seemed to be supported by members of Christian communities. “I seemed to fall into the right spot, and around people dedicated to God and pursuing a holy life.”

And many would ask him, have you ever considered ordination, and he’d reply, no, I’m really not ready for that.

His best friend asked him that, and then introduced him to Loren, an Episcopal priest and his future wife. That may have been the last in a “long line of holy coincidences when the topic of ministry kept coming up again and again.”

Ian began his discernment process in the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina. Partway through, the diocese revamped the process, and he learned he’d need to begin anew. Loren was in the Diocese of Georgia, and he decided if he had to start again, he’d start at St. Augustine’s Church in Augusta, Georgia. He worked through the process in that community for about a year and a half before going on to seminary. “They were so caring, they practically treated me like a seminarian.”

Three years at Virginia Theological Seminary followed, and his graduation, then ordination to the transitional diaconate took place in May in Georgia.

Two-priest couples can offer some employment opportunity challenges, but Ian and Loren (and their son Elias) arrived in the diocese to begin work in June--Loren as the diocesan youth missioner and Ian as associate rector at St. Peter’s Church in Ladue.

St. Peter’s “has been so welcoming and so supportive in every possible way,” he said.

He had wondered how he fit, and is buoyed by that support. Many of his friends from seminary are the only cleric in a small parish, and he shares with them the experience of being at a place like St. Peter’s where there are so many people excited about their faith and there is so much going on. “You know, you can tell the people here are eager to delve deeper in faith to get more involved in community…it’s what you dream of in a parish.”

Ian’s ordination to the priesthood was on January 6, 2017 at Christ Church Cathedral. Twice as many people as he expected attended, so many from St. Peter’s were there, excited for him and for what it means for the church. It was “awesome” that so many diocesan clergy came to the ordination. His experience had been very different in the Diocese of Virginia, which is larger and can feel isolated. Missouri feels engaged, with “a bishop that lives out that idea of Christian community. It speaks volumes

Join the conversation on social media Diocesan Facebook page Facebook.com/ EpiscopalDioceseOfMissouri Cycle of Prayers is on Twitter.com/DioceseMO News from bishop and parishes Twitter.com/DioMoNews MAKING DISCIPLES

about this bishop and clergy.”

Ian is intrigued by the cultures of St. Louis, with influences from South, Northeast, and the frontier West. “It’s a fascinating place for those of us who have never lived here, with familiar aspects, but all blended.” He won’t miss the six months of unbroken heat in Georgia summers. He’s settling into the rhythms of the community, at St. Peter’s, in this diocese.

Ian's ordination photographs taken

by Janet Rouse, Director of Stewardship at St. Peter's Church

Follow this code with your smart phone to more links and images from these articles at: diocesemo.org/feb2017seek Re-gramming parish and diocesan selfies and photos of your church following Jesus Instagram.com/MissouriEpiscopal

BUILDING CONGREGATIONS

FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

17

A Stations of the Cross pilgrimage this April Deaconess Anne House Director Rebecca Ragland with a bit of history and an invitation I’d like to invite you to a very special opportunity we’re hosting at Deaconess Anne House. It’s a very special devotional opportunity using the Stations of the Cross, but first let me refresh your memory on this ancient tradition.

The Stations of the Cross evolved over millennia. Those first years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, believers retraced the path Jesus walked from his condemnation to his crucifixion. In the mid-300s, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Emperor provided money and resources to honor many points along that route. During the Crusades (1400s, as a way of recruiting Christian crusaders (aka soldiers) to recapture Palestine from Muslim rule, the church gave an indulgence to each “soldier-pilgrim” who completed this arduous trip and walked the stations of the cross.* Over the following centuries, all types of Christians made pilgrimage.

The Stations of the Cross evolved under the leadership of the Franciscans (1500s) to include niches on church grounds or in the woods. Devotion happened by prayerfully moving through these 14 stations. While the sites differed, requirements remained the same: the stations had to number 14, they needed to include an image from the story and a cross, and walking from one to the next was encouraged. Reading of the Gospel account and prayer was also recommended but not required.

After the Reformation, the few protestants who still practiced this devotion, removed those stations that were not de-

scribed in the Bible.

Pope John Paul II followed suit by creating the Scriptural Stations of the Cross, still numbering 14. For example, there is no wiping of Jesus’ face

by St. Veronica. Pope Benedict approved these scriptural stations in 2007. In the Episcopal tradition, we honor the original 14 stations including the extra-Biblical accounts inherited from lore. Suggested readings and prayers are offered in our Book of Occasional Services.

Perhaps your church has images of the Stations of the Cross in your worship space.

If so, please consider spending time with them. But if you are able, please journey to Old North St Louis to join us! On April 8 at 10 AM, we will walk the stations in a very special way. If it’s your first or fifteenth time, this will be an opportunity to unite the past with the present.

We’ll be walking to fourteen places in our neighborhood. These are locations that map onto Jesus’ way of suffering. At each station, we’ll have a reflection by a Deaconess Anne Intern about how Jesus meets us in modern places of suffering. We’ll read

a scripture and pray. We will walk, pray, and encounter our suffering savior in the streets.

Stations of the Cross at Deaconess Anne House, 1416 Sullivan, St Louis, will begin at 10 AM on Saturday, April 8th. We’ll walk the neighborhood even in light rain, so wear comfy shoes and dress appropriately.

A soup and salad lunch will be provided, as desired.

For more information: call the Rev. Rebecca Ragland. DAH Director, 314-556-2585.

NO RSVP NECESSARY. • Indulgences were a reward the church gave for acts of righteousness. They were believed to cut time off from the soul’s sojourn in purgatory after death.

Deaconess Anne House online: esc-stl.org Subscribe to their newsletter

The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri

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Next Director of Deaconess Anne House named Jillian Smith will leave her position as Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry at St. Peter’s Church in August to become the next Director of the Deaconess Anne House, the intentional community in Old North St. Louis that is part of the Episcopal Service Corps.

Current director the Rev. Rebecca Ragland is stepping down and looking to return to parish ministry. “We’ve worked hard to ensure a smooth transition,” she said, “so that there would be no interruption to the momentum of the house.”

And the core of clergy supporting the house pastorally continues.

Rebecca will continue to support the program, and has just been named to the national board of Episcopal Service Corps.

“The level of alumni commitment to this program across the church is phenomenal,” she said. Most participate in the ongoing life

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of this community through work on boards of directors, recruiting future members, and staying in touch in person and on social media.

Jillian hails from Smyrna TN. The 2013 University of Evansville graduate in history and sociology had spent several summers as a youth counselor at the Episcopal Church camp in TN. Unsure about her future direction, she signed up to be a corps member in Deaconess Anne House’s first year.

And that year was really something. The class remained quite close, three are still in the metro area. “We’re all friends,” said Jillian, “but our connection is on a much deeper level.” That deep relationship with the house and the community of St. Louis was a surprise. “We learned to put community first, to prioritize our life together in community.”

Two of Jillian’s placements as a DAH intern were working with youth, at Episcopal City Mission and the All Saints Music and Arts Village. The youth ministry position at St. Peter’s opened up in March and

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she was appointed before her DAH year had ended.

Initially the position was youth minister at St. Peter’s, but that role grew to include young adults and developing the program for 20 and 30 year olds.

Jillian is enthusiastic about working with Deaconess Anne House, confident in the ability of the house to attract future classes. Her passion for working with young people in the church alongside her firsthand experience of what the year was like here in St. Louis give her a unique vision.

“It’s all about striking a balance,” she said.

“We’ve been through four classes, so we’re beginning to see what works, and what doesn’t.” She wants to make the experience the best it can be for the participants, and to see a continued healthy house for the next decade. “High class numbers every year would be great, but more important is that the house members thrive, in whichever way God leads us.”

She hopes to help the diocese continue to see the importance of this program, and identifies one of her goals is to spread the word and the joy of Deaconess Anne House.

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Grateful to be a Lutherpalian!

As she was packing up, preparing for her last Sunday assisting at Calvary Church and on her way to a new call, Pastor Cathy Rosenholtz wrote about life as a Lutheran amongst Episcopalians I write this article as a heartfelt thank you and farewell from a grateful Lutherpalian. I am deeply thankful that my journey home to Columbia in 2008 led me, an ELCA Lutheran pastor, first to worship at Calvary and then, through the generous welcome of Father Knute Jacobson and the congregation, to a called ministerial position in a truly beloved parish. I am also grateful for the way serving at Calvary has connected me to the Diocese of Missouri, its mission, ministry, and people.

As I prepare to move to my new call as Pastor of Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington, DC in February, I have been reflecting on our “almost the same, but not quite” traditions, and the rich blessing I will be taking with me as I go, having served with all you wonderful Episcopalians for these years at home.

Walking through the door of Calvary in the fall of 2008, not long after I came home to journey with my parents through their final years, I encountered a warm welcome from the Rev. Amy Chambers Cortright and the congregation. I also discovered that I already knew many people there, some since early childhood! It was easy to feel at home, despite the slight differences in our liturgical traditions. And it was not the first time I had worshiped in an Episcopal setting, having served as coordinator of the Lutheran-Episcopal Ministry at MIT in the summer of 1989, and having often chosen to worship at Episcopal churches when I was traveling, as is the custom of many of

us highchurch Lutherans. After eleven years serving in the richly liturgical world of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the ELCA, Calvary was a good fit and I settled in to the pew gratefully.

Over these ensuing years, as Father Knute brought me on staff, first part-time, and then as the called Associate, I have grown to be ever more deeply shaped by Episcopal liturgy and traditions, so much so that I catch myself automatically giving the Episcopal version of liturgical responses, even when I’m in a Lutheran worship service!

The parish to which I am going welcomes this background, as they have a rich tradition of high liturgy. They are very glad I have been serving among the Episcopalians, and so am I! When you serve in a church body not your own, you take particular notice of things that communicate the gifts and strengths of that tradition. Here is what I have noticed, with deep gratitude: the sacred sense of care taken by the altar guild in handling the holy things, the rhythm of rising from the confession and absolution to share the peace, the boldness of the corporate voice of the church embodied in a Presiding Bishop who speaks with such clarity and power, the beauty of the flowering of the cross on Easter Sunday, and

the richness of the language in the Book of Common Prayer. I also will bring with me to my new Lutheran parish a profound respect for the three-fold order of ministry, and the way that deacons are called to bring to the attention of the rector the needs of the community. Calvary and the diocese as a whole live out that calling with a dedication that bears witness to the transformative power of the Gospel.

Lastly, I will leave my hometown for DC with such a depth of gratitude for the beloved people of Calvary parish and of the whole diocese! Bishop Smith has been a deeply thoughtful and gracious mentor, more than willing to welcome this theologically-Lutheran-but-liturgically-Episcopal pastor. And through the years of Fresh Start and diocesan conventions, I have grown to find true community and friendship in the diocese. Thank you for welcoming me, for making me feel so at home in your midst, and for being such faithful companions along the way. I pray God’s richest blessings upon your continued ministry.

Yours in Christ, Pastor Cathy Ellen Rosenholtz

The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri

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The Call to Ordination: Four Journeys Three newly ordained transitional deacons and a priest share their discernment trajectory, God's gentle tap on the shoulder, and hearing the call to ordained ministry

Ian Lasch’s ordination story probably began way back growing up in North Carolina, when spending time around his uncle who was a Methodist minister and Air Force Chaplain. His childhood memories were of being impressed that there was something different about this man, that he knew something special, that he was somehow different for it.

Those packed away memories flooded back before Ian’s graduation from high school, when he began imagining his future. Would he choose a college, a non-traditional education opportunity? Ian had a deep conversation with his step-dad about the Roman Catholic faith and the possibility of joining a religious order. That felt too serious, as though he wasn’t yet ready for it.

Ian joined the military and became a translator. As an Arabic (and at one point Kurdish) translator, he served five years in the US Army, then worked seven more as a civilian contractor, all in Augusta, Georgia.

But those memories remained, and sometimes made him ask, was he running away from a call to religious life?

Through his young adult life, Ian noticed that at key moments, times of being in a good place, or a challenging place, continued on page 16 MAKING DISCIPLES

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Leslie Scoopmire, Maria Evans, and Andrew Suitter The ordination was scheduled for Friday, Dec. 16 at Christ Church Cathedral. It was a day raining ice and sleet across Missouri, and one of the ordinands, Maria Evans from Kirksville, was posting updates on Facebook of her party's progress across the slick and stopped-to-a-crawl highways. Would they make it by rehearsal at 4 PM? Would people from St. Louis be able to skate downtown?

Known to their friends as the three amigos, all three had discerned and been supported in their discernment of a call to the priesthood. The first step is ordination as a deacon, a transitional destination. Then in some six months time, ordination to the priesthood. continued on page 14

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