ABUNDANT Times, january 2018

WHERE CHURCH MEETS WORLD JANUARY 2018

Contents Abundant Times is the official quarterly news publication of The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts. The diocesan offices are located at: 37 Chestnut Street Springfield, MA, 01103-1787 Call us: (413) 737-4786 Visit us: www.diocesewma.org Follow us: @EpiscopalWMA We welcome the submission of articles via email to the editor, The Rev. Victoria Ix. Email: communications@diocesewma.org

At Diocesan House The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher, IX Bishop of Western Massachusetts The Rev. Pamela J. Mott, Canon to the Ordinary The Rev. Dr. Richard M. Simpson, Canon to the Ordinary Steven P. Abdow, Canon for Mission Resources

Missioners The Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Missioner for Creation Care The Rev. Hilary Bogert-Winkler, Youth Missioner The Rev. Christopher Carlisle Director, “Building Bridges” Veterans Initiative The Rev. John Edgar Freeman Missioner to the African Community of Worcester The Rev. Jennifer Gregg, Missioner for Servant leadership The Rev. José Reyes Missioner for Hispanic/Latino Ministries The Rev. Meredyth Ward, Urban Missioner for Worcester On the Cover: The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop & Primate of the Episcopal Church, processing with Bishop Doug Fisher on Chestnut Street, Springfield.

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WHERE CHURCH MEETS WORLD From Bishop Fisher

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Our Cathedral: Where Church Meets World

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250 for St. Luke’s, Lanesboro

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150 Years of Grace, Amherst

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WMA & Liberia: An Exchange of Gifts

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New Leadership for Mampong Babies Home

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Local Jonathan Daniels Pilgrimage travels the Underground Railroad

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Listening to Native Voices

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Lutheran tradition raises funds in Sheffield

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Province I Deacons School

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Opioid Series Part II: Engaging Opioid Crisis in Our Churches

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Archives: Mission Church Belchertown

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From Bishop Fisher

John 3:16

Faith, hope and love abide here Nelson Mandela, the legendary social activist who fought apartheid in South Africa, spent 27 years in prison for his prophetic stand. For the first 13 years, he was not allowed to see his family. When his family was finally allowed to visit him, his daughter - a child when he last saw her- was now an adult with a baby daughter of her own. It is a South African tradition for the maternal grandfather to name the child. Nelson was invited to fulfill this tradition. After much thought, he named her “Hope.”

Mandela spent another 14 years in prison. Whenever he became despondent, he thought of his granddaughter, Hope.

Hope was not an idea for him. Hope was not an abstraction. Hope was real. Hope was a person alive in this world.

Because Hope was alive, Mandela could keep on going, and eventually become the President of South Africa.

John 3:16 tells us “God so loved the WORLD that he gave his only Son.” That verse tells us that our faith is not an abstraction. It is not “out there” somewhere. It is not an idea. Faith, hope and love abide here.

Notice too, John 3:16 does not say ,“God so loved believers” or, “God so loved the faithful.” “God so loved the world.”

All of it. All the people. All creation. Our mission is clear - to reach out to all people, to choose community over chaos, to defend God’s creation.

The vastness of that mission can be overwhelming. And that leads me to end this reflection with a prayer written by Bishop Ken Untener in honor of the martyr Archbishop Oscar Romero: “It helps now and then, to step back and take a long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.”

Enjoy this ABUNDANT Times issue with the intriguing title of “Where Church Meets World.” The world God so loves and invites us to love as well, as God’s Dream unfolds. +Doug ABUNDANT TIMES

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Our Cathedral: Where Church Meets World By the Rev. Vicki Ix It was not a typical Sunday at Christ Church Cathedral. The 10 am service on October 18 included a sermon from the Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church. Two festive liturgies that day were the culminating events marking the bicentennial of our cathedral. Two hundred years of Episcopal faith in Springfield began with services held at the Springfield Armory in 1817. The selection of Christ Church to be our cathedral after the separation of the Commonwealth into two dioceses (1901) saw the beginning of a distinguished era of liturgical service and public witness.

But what makes a cathedral unique among churches? The word itself comes from the Latin, cathedra, meaning “chair.” Following consecration, each bishop is “seated” at the cathedral. The bishop presides at the cathedral at ordinations and other diocesan liturgies. The bishop entrusts the leadership of the cathedral to the dean selected by the cathedral’s Chapter. It is a congregation unto itself, yet the cathedral serves the entire diocese.

In addition to the Episcopal rites that take place in its sanctuary, the cathedral has a unique role in evangelization.

In an interview for the diocesan magazine in Episcopal Colorado, the Rev. Dr. Patrick Malloy, former professor of liturgics at The General Seminary, reflected on the unique role a cathedral plays in the Church. “Cathedrals have an obligation to people who are not members. It should be a model of what good church life can be.”

This daunting mandate suggests that every cathedral is a place where Church meets world. Every cathedral is a point of entry for the community in which it is located. It is a liminal place in which people from every walk of life are drawn across the threshold. “Their spaces, their programs, their function as community gathering places can draw a range of people (devotees of the arts, skeptics, the spiritual but not religious, those who doubt the credibility of the institutional church, to name a few) who would never consider going to a local parish. Cathedrals are uniquely positioned to engage the world in a way no other church community can,” writes the Very Rev. Gary Hall, former dean of Washington National Cathedral in the Anglican Theological Review (96.4).

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Hall suggests that the ministry of a cathedral should reflect the ministry of the bishop – not of the particular bishop him/herself, but the work entrusted to the bishop in the rite of “The Ordination of a Bishop” (BCP, 511.). He suggests the questions in The Examination (BCP, 518.) provide seven adjectives that might describe the mission of the cathedral: apostolic, prophetic, theological, prayerful, pastoral, just, empowering. These descriptors might also be used as metric for assessing the progress of cathedral ministry over time.

A cathedral may also be a place of experimentation. In her 2014 article, “What Cathedral?” for Episcopal Café, The Rev. Anne Largent Smith interviewed the Rt. Rev. David Rice, bishop of San Joaquin and a former cathedral dean. He suggests that the cathedral creates a “space and opportunity for the church to try things that we might be uncomfortable trying otherwise.” That jives nicely with the current emphasis in our diocese on “taking risks for the sake of the Gospel.” Freedom to fail, to test, to improvise, and to imagine – this is especially important for a cathedral.

The cathedral welcomes persons of all faiths and no faith at all. Medieval European cathedrals still receive thousands of tourists per year as do American cathedrals with distinctive historical preeminence or architectural beauty.

Balancing the needs of its members against the mandate of hospitality is not always easy. Nor is the role of dean without its challenges. Bishop Rice, in the Café interview, remembers wearing two hats as dean. Rice described the “constant struggle to be a parish church where it’s a nurtured community, but also to work as a cathedral dean with transient movable feast communities.” We in Western Massachusetts have been blessed with deans who have met the needs of the Church in their time and this place. One of the great moments in the year-long bicentennial celebration was the installation of the 8th dean in May. The Very Rev. Tom Callard has embraced the ministry with energy, creativity and compassion. Our cathedral is a vibrant growing community, attentive to the richness of its diversity, and engaging the city of Springfield on many levels.

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In his sermon at the 10 am Holy Communion, Presiding Bishop Curry said this. “Go forth into the world. Witness to the light. Witness to the dream. Witness to Jesus.” In our name the cathedral is reaching out to persons experiencing homelessness. Deacons and congregants go out in the “Big Blue” van to take blankets, coats and food to those who sleep near the river and under the overpass. “Church Without Walls” just marked 10 years of outdoor worship downtown. The cathedral hosts a weekly meal for the hungry while fostering conversations on systemic problems like food insecurity and addiction. Our cathedral has a “rabbi-in-residence” – perhaps, the first in the Episcopal Church.

Interfaith relationships have deepened through experiences of shared prayer and the public witness of solidarity.

This holy work is happening at our cathedral - by God’s grace, with God’s help. I can’t wait to see what the next two hundred look like.

Vicki is the editor of ABUNDANT Times magazine - a most enjoyable part of her ministry as Communications Director | Missioner.

Above: Roland Holstead, senior warden of our cathedral, presents the Presiding Bishop with a token of our affection and gratitude.

“Go forth into the world.

Witness to the light.

Witness to the dream.

Witness to Jesus.”

The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry Presiding Bishop & Primate 6

Above: Our Presiding Bishop loves to oblige.

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From the Dean I feel like I arrived at Christ Church Cathedral at a wonderful time, with a community that is stable and hoping to grow, and a Bishop that has given us a mandate to “cathedralize” ourselves - to position ourselves as a resource and center of support and connection for the Diocese and those around us. I’ve been to many cathedrals as a visitor and seen the great websites and programs that cathedrals have.

I think the most important thing we can do is not try and be like other cathedrals, but to try and be ourselves and who Jesus has called us to be.

We are multicultural and multilingual.

We have a breath of experience and a diversity of backgrounds. We minister in a community with struggles and, like all churches, exist in a context where Christianity is no longer the norm. We are missionaries, therefore - like all Christians these days. We must position ourselves to be more than a family and more than a social club, or a clique or a comfortable place to be. While we are those things, we are also more. I don’t know that that’s really any different than any other congregation.

Perhaps, where we are finding ourselves and what we are hoping to accomplish, doesn’t make us a cathedral, but it does make us a Christian Church, in good company with others from the Diocese. If we can be in good company, helping all accomplishing together the mission of Jesus, then we are working as a cathedral should. That would be my hope.

Tom+ The Very Rev. Tom Callard VIII Dean Christ Church Cathedral

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250 for St. Luke’s, Lanesboro

By The Reverend Noreen Suriner St. Luke’s Church, Lanesboro, MA, celebrating 250 years of continuous worship, is now the oldest congregation in the diocese of Western Massachusetts. After Lanesboro was established as a town, and before our country was born in 1776, St. Luke’s was founded in 1767 when six farmer families decided they needed a church.

They built their first wooden structure in 1785 and in 1831 the building was torn down and the current Old Stone Church was built.

It was used for many years with two wood stoves for heat.

In 1898 a parish hall given by the Eddy family was constructed in the town center, a mile south of the Old Stone Church. As it was easier to heat, the parish hall soon became the winter church.

The Old Stone Church, boasts of an original, and now restored, Johnson hand pump organ, and is still used each Sunday we worship there. The Church is on the National Registry and grants enabled a major renovation during the ‘70s. The Johnson Hand Pump organ has recently been restored to its new glory.

Top: Sunday celebration of the 250th with Bishop Fisher presiding. Above: the Old Stone Church. Below: The Parish Hall or Winter church. Photos: Bishop Fisher, The Rev. Noreen Suriner

Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ during these challenging times is an issue for most churches. St. Luke’s is no different. However, as we seek deeper faith in our Lord, we are using RenewalWorks to strengthen our focus on healing ministry, a ministry that reflects the work of our patron, St. Luke.

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150 Years of Grace in Amherst

Pentecost Sunday was filled with extra spirit this year as the people of Grace Church celebrated 150 years of Episcopal faith in Amherst. A public procession (above), from the site of the founders’ home to the great stone church on the Common, gave witness to the beauty of worship.

Photos: Episcopal WMA

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New banners (left) commissioned for the event were carried by acolytes. Children represented members of the congregation from its distant past (below, left) to celebrate the Communion of Saints.

The many moving parts were managed by the Rev. Tom Synan, rector since 2014. The church was packed (below) with congregants, local dignitaries and friends of Grace. This liturgy was the culmination of a year-long celebration of the rich history of Grace Church, Amherst.

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WMA and the Church in Liberia: An Exchange of Gifts

In November 2016, a shipment was sent from the Port of Providence RI to Episcopal Churches in Liberia from Episcopal churches that had closed in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. Over a period of nine months, the materials were picked up from the various churches, cataloged and packed by the Rev. John Edgar Freeman and Dr. Deborah Harmon Hines.

The shipment contained 40 boxes (18” x 10” x 12”), two 75 gallon barrels, and one custom made wooden box (6’ x 3’ x 3’). The shipment was received in March 2017, and distributed by Mrs. Joanna Hill, President of the Episcopal Church Women.

The contents of the shipment was: 1000+ hymnals, prayer books and personal Bibles; sanctuary Bibles; lectionary books; altar dressings, vestments, processional and altar crosses, torches and altar candle stands.

The shipment also contained six boxes of textbooks for College of Nursing at Cuttington University, the only Episcopal university.

Lunch with Archbishop Jonathan B. B. Hart and his two daughters.

He is Archbishop of the Province of West Africa and Diocesan Bishop of Liberia in August 2017. Debbie was the Cuttington University (Episcopal) Commencement Speaker and named Cuttington’s Emissary to the Americas.

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Above: Mr. Dwight Harvey, St. John’s, Robertsport, receiving altar cross, hymnals, prayer books and bibles from Mrs. Joanna Hill. Left top: Rev. David Hina, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Bushrod Island, taking delivery of items from the Diocese of Western Massachusetts.

Photos: Submitted

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Welcome, Hanna!

New Leadership for the Mampong Babies Home

Hanna, Welcome! You have a very important job. May Our Lord Jesus Christ give you every grace you need for this mission. I look forward to working with you.

In Christ, +Doug ABUNDANT TIMES

Dear bishop, Iwas recently appointed as the superintendent in charge of the Mampong Babies Home. I’m a priest in the Mampong Diocese and as your diocese is a partner of the home I have to introduce myself to you as the new incharge. I pray that the relationship between the home and your diocese be strengthened. My regards to [the Rev. Betsy]Fisher, the clegy, and the entire Diocese.

Much love, Hanna.

The Rev. Hanna Ennin 11

Local Daniels Pilgrimage

Travels the Underground Railroad

By The Rev. Dr. Harvey Hill

On Saturday, August 12 our Diocese commemorated civil rights martyr Jonathan Daniels with a local pilgrimage and public liturgy.

Originally from Keene, NH, Daniels was enrolled at the Episcopal Theology School in Cambridge, MA when he answered Dr. Martin Luther’s King’s call for volunteers to come to Selma, AL in 1965. Daniels planned to go for a weekend, but was so moved by his experience in Selma that he decided to stay.

Five months later, Daniels was jailed after a protest.

When he and his companions were released after six days, Daniels and three companions, including seventeen-yearold Ruby Sales, went to a store in Hayneville, AL to buy a drink. They were met at the door by Tom Coleman, who threatened them with a shotgun. As Coleman prepared to fire, Daniels pushed Sales out of the way and took the brunt of the shot. He was killed. As his companions fled, Coleman fired again, wounding Fr. Richard Morrisroe, a Catholic priest.

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Left: First Eucharist celebrated in The David Ruggles Center, Florence, MA. The Rev. Harvey Hill presiding, the Rev. Catherine Munz (right).

PHOTO: Leah Gregg

Our memorial pilgrimage began and ended at the David Ruggles Center in Florence, just north of Northampton.

Ruggles was a prominent African-American abolitionist, who moved to Florence to join an interracial utopian community. The community attracted the luminaries of the abolitionist movement, including Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Sojourner Truth, who was also a member. It also attracted escaped slaves, and so formed the nucleus of a small African-American neighborhood. We chose that site because we wanted to celebrate not just Daniels, but also the long, and continuing, history of activism on behalf of racial justice.

Our pilgrimage began with a Liturgy of the Word, using the collect and readings assigned for Daniels. The Rev. Pam Porter led us in singing spirituals, and I preached a brief homily about Daniels and his journey from privilege to selfsacrifice on behalf of justice for God’s people.

After the Peace, we went on a one-hour walking tour of African American sites nearby. Our guide, Steve Strimer of the Ruggles Center, is incredibly knowledgeable about the rich African American history in the area.

We returned to the Ruggles Center for Holy Communion, with more spirituals. We also had time to share, during which we learned that Ruby Sales will be speaking in Western Massachusetts later this year. It also turned out that one of our pilgrims is a friend of the Catholic priest who was shot at the same time Daniels was murdered.

In our prayers, we asked God to bless the people of Charlottesville, VA because we knew that a protest and counterprotest would begin at roughly the time we wrapped up. As we all know now, those protests ended in tragedy when a white nationalist drove his car into a crowd. But we can take some comfort that our Diocese was celebrating the Beloved Community on that day, doing our bit to share in God’s mission to change our world, from the nightmare it is for some, into the dream that God would have it become.

The Rev. Dr. Harvey Hill is rector of St. David’s, Agawam, Assistant at St. Andrew’s, Longmeadow and served as co-chair of the Social Justice Commission from 2013 - 2017.

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Listening to Native Voices: Beauty and justice entwined

By Shalom Kristanugraha

“What is the relationship between beauty and justice?”

Three years ago, on some slow cooling night deep in Capetown, South Africa, my professor posed this question to our jet lagged group of twelve—and it has not left me since. This question whispers to me as I ride the bus over the juxtaposed landscapes of Roxbury and Cambridge, peers over my shoulder as I read news articles about America’s present turmoil, and pinches me every time I pass a beggar on the street.

It also poked me last October, when I attended an event in Hardwick called “Listening to Native Voices: Standing Rock is Everywhere.” As I listened to our indigenous siblings tell of tragic histories (past and present), spiritual renewals, and almost forgotten kinships with ourselves-as-Earth, there the question was again, quietly hovering behind me: what is the relationship between beauty and justice?

For a time I had been picking at this question by attempts at definition, asking: “what is beauty?” and “what is justice?” Over time it became clear, however, that there was no sense in thinking of “beauty” and “justice” as definable entities. Through common sense (and anthropology, as well as psychology), we see how one’s distinct sense of beauty is largely cultivated via our interactions and experiences with and within our environment and culture.

Similarly, we are hard pressed to find a concrete definition of justice; noting it as “righting of wrongs” only goes so far. Like one’s sense of beauty, one’s sense of right and wrong are largely influenced by one’s cultural, environmental, and experiential background.

Enactments of justice differ from one space to another.

We only need to think about different manifestations of justice systems across history and present geography (retributive, restorative, etc.) to see that we have different ideas around what justice is and how best to exercise it.

At this point, it seemed to me that beauty and justice were only related in terms of their relative natures.

Theirs was a relationship in kind, nothing more.

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Something, however, felt missing. As I sat in my seat, listening to Chief Arvol Looking Horse describe his experiences as a young boy tracking in the footsteps of Sitting Bull, a sense of a deeper connection began to mysteriously emerge. The relativist conception I had (unsatisfyingly) been resigned to felt harshly inadequate. I left the event feeling both enervated and deeply unnerved.

It was weeks later when I came upon a further realization. In the middle of attempting to describe to a close friend just how unexpectedly powerful, beautiful, and bright “Listening to Native Voices” was, it occurred to me that I had taken for granted the only clear point about beauty and justice: the fact that these two are both common experiences. There is a reason as why we can talk of beauty and justice as relative, or even that we can recognize them across history, culture, and geographies. This reason is the fact that even if our senses of each are differently cultivated and differently mediated, the experiences of beauty and of justice comprise a common reality for us all. The key question then is not so much of what beauty and justice are, but what both are like. What does the experience of beauty or of justice feel like? What is evoked? How are we moved?

Speaking from my own reflection, beauty feels like a question—a good question, one that strikes you to the core and briefly suspends your ego (some call this transcendence). When I stand at the edge of a cool lagoon after a long day of hiking through jungle, I feel a great tug at my soul and am awash with a deep sense of wonder. My skin tingles, much in the same way it tingles when I encounter a brilliant question that defibrillates my neural networks. Justice, on the other hand, feels distinctly like a response. The moment of justice delivered bears resemblance to the satisfaction one feels when one finds at a particularly good answer, often after long periods of suffering frustration, setbacks, and dead ends. Justice comes with feet, ready to walk, plod, run, or stand firm to attend to something. It is no state of being but a motive force.

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But what might justice be responding to? In a sheepishly straight forward way, I believe what justice responds to is in fact beauty—or, perhaps more accurately, the lack of beauty. This was the insight that, subconsciously, bothered me at Hardwick. In contrast with the way our indigenous brothers and sisters related with the earth, the narrative of our dominant culture showed itself as undeniably ugly: there was no invitation, no pulling of the soul, no unspoken inquiry.

There was only noise.

Moreover, this noise was generated and upheld precisely by intentional attempts to erase indigenous cultures. As mentioned above, beauty, as an experience, is mediated by a variety of factors that uniquely shape our ability to see beauty in our particular worlds, contexts, relationships, and ecosystem(s). Our interconnection with our world(s), in human, and other than human forms, cultivates in us a unique sensitivity to beauty and facilitates experiences of beauty, as that moment where we are moved outside of ourselves into new relationship with our world.

When elements that cultivate our sensitivity to beauty are destroyed, our sense of beauty risks damage. If not quickly restored, over time our sense of beauty may become warped, corrupted, diminished. We will slowly become desensitized to the myriad of ways we can experience beauty, and perhaps begin to fixate; perhaps we will begin to idolize one particular manifestation of beauty and deem all others as sinful. Perhaps, under the illusion of scarcity, we will begin to hoard and conquest for the now few familiar ways we encounter beauty (material wealth, gold, exotic goods), destroying those whom we perceive to be in our way. Perhaps we shy away from discomfort because we are surrounded in a culture that cannot readily see the beauty in complexity and is therefore afraid of it.

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Top: The burning and burial of the Doctrine of Discovery, and the planting of a tree upon its ashes. Photo: Shalom Kristanugraha

When we marginalize otherwise harmonious cultures, be it implicitly or explicitly, we rob members of that culture of experiences of beauty—and if beauty is indeed evocative like a question, we rob them of ways to imagine and to continue thriving in the future. This is injustice. Similarly, when we destroy our collective home, this Earth, the basis of our embodiment and of all human cultures, we further desensitize ourselves from the truth that we are aesthetic beings, and prime ourselves to be bearers of foul weapons instead of beauty. This is injustice.

Justice is what keeps us from continuing down the ugly path towards destruction. The kicker, however, is that those who inflict injustice likely have, themselves, experienced trauma to their sense of beauty—if not recently, from ages ago, passed on from generation to generation. We ourselves probably have been born with an insecure sense of beauty, and have been raised in a global culture that, borne out of centuries of neglect, cultivates a rather frail sense of beauty. The historical element of beauty and justice, or respective lacks thereof, cannot be ignored. Insofar as our just imaginations can only be as wide as our aesthetic imaginations, the work of justice requires that we unearth a lot of deep and uncomfortable history, both as individuals and as societies.

Continued on page 23.

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Lutheran tradition raises funds for Berkshire Immigrant Center

By The Rev. Erik Karas Doing ministry these days often feels a lot like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle. To make that process even more interesting, it often seems like the pieces we have in front of us are from a dozen or so different puzzles, all poured and mixed together in one, giant bag. Then, as if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, it seems some maniac has thrown away all the box tops with the pictures of what these pieces are supposed to make!

Picking out a few puzzle pieces, turning them and trying them to see if they fit together is the work of the Church these days. Recently in Sheffield we were turning a few of the seemingly disconnected puzzle pieces we have in our community: a great relationship with the local UCC congregation, wonderful musicians, access to a barbecue smoker and a brewery. As those pieces were turned to see if they would fit together, an idea for a “Beer, Hymns and Barbecue” event began to emerge as a possibility. We selected the Berkshire Immigrant Center to be the recipient of a free-will offering with the idea that we might both help that organization and draw some people to the event who were connected to that non-profit but not connected to either parish.

Going into the evening, we really had no idea if those puzzle pieces would fit together, or if we would need to find a new home for about fifty pounds of pulled pork barbecue. That turned out to be an unnecessary worry. Over 80 people packed into Big Elm Brewing that evening. There were people from both churches and people from the larger community with no church affiliation. There were people there in their twenties and people in the nineties.

The picture that emerged from those puzzle pieces as they fit together was of the Church gathered for feasting and song. At the end of the evening there was only about a pound of barbecue left, a couple of buns, and we had raised $1159.00 for the Berkshire Immigrant Center’s work of helping our area’s newest neighbors navigate the complex immigration system. One person described the evening as “two hours of joy” and who can argue with that? What’s next? Well, when Charlotte, who is in her nineties, calls and says it was so much fun, we ought to do it again soon, the only thing to say at that point is, “yes ma’am”!

Above: The community enjoying Pastor Erik’s BBQ. Opposite: Hymnal and proprietors glass; smoked pork shoulder; Pastor Erik Karis.

Photos: submitted

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“A couple of hours of pure joy” is how one person described last night’s event and I don’t think I could come up with a better one!

Around eighty people packed into Big Elm Brewing last night and this morning we heard that we raised over $1100.00 for the Berkshire Immigrant Center!

Pastor Erik, Christ Trinity e-news

These pieces went together beautifully for us this time, but there are tons of other pieces in the bag that need to be turned and tried to see if they go together as well. It’s an absolute certainty that we will try to fit puzzle pieces together that just won’t go together at that place and in that time. That won’t be a failure by any means! Failure would only be giving up trying new pieces or pounding relentlessly on pieces that just don’t go together. Success is in trying piece after piece and rejoicing when they go together, and moving on when they don’t.

The Rev. Erik Karis is pastor & rector of Christ Trinity Church, Sheffield.

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Province I School for Deacons:

Where Church Meets World in the Witness of Prayer and Justice

By The Rev. Jane Griesbach The Province One School for Deacons is a collaborative effort by New England Episcopal dioceses for deacon formation. In June 2017, four of our diocesan folks graduated and were subsequently ordained.

This year we have four new postulants in the School. They join students from CT, RI, VT an NH. The School for Deacons is a twoyear deacon formation program with a pattern of two monthlong courses that include reading assignments, written papers, online lectures & conversations, followed by a quarterly weekend retreat.

The faculty consists of one priest and two deacons. A scholar in each specific topic leads the online courses (Hebrew and Christian Testament, History of the Church, History of Diaconate, Community Organizing, Prophetic Voice, Liturgics, Ethics). Occasionally, a guest speaker will be part of the weekend retreats. At times, the bishops of each diocese attend a portion of some weekends to lend support and to cast their vision of the diaconate. CPE or an alternative, preaching and field placement is mandatory as well.

Safe church, cultural competency, 18

Left-right: The Revs. Patricia O’Connell, Julie Butcher, Beth Washburn and Linda Taupier. Photo: Episcopal WMA

“Working with those from around the New England states toward a common goal was a wonderful opportunity. I feel blessed to have been part of the first class in this new way of working toward ordination.”

- The Rev. Deacon Linda Taupier

anti-racism, Title IV, mandated reporting training and learning portfolios are specific to each diocese. Our people must first complete “Loving the Questions” and other discernment before applying to the Commission On Ministry for consideration to become a postulant.

The online curriculum and quarterly weekend retreats make it accessible for working people and/ or college students.

“The heartbeat of the Province I School for Deacons are the enduring relationships that are formed within the group through the formation process. These relationships are lasting and priceless, as we move forward as deacons in the world.”

- The Rev. Deacon Patricia O’Connell

More information on the School, and access to a new Handbook for Deacons, may be obtained by contacting the current Director of Deacon Formation – The Rev. Deacon Jane Griesbach (jane. griesbach@gmail.com).

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Opioid Series Part II:

Engaging the Opioid Crisis in Our Churches

By Donna Barten, Ph.D. Opioid Overdose Death Rates, All Intents, by County Massachusetts: January 2011- December 2013 (reference time period) vs. January 2014 - December 2016 (current time period)

Graphic: Massachusetts Department of Public Health; used with permission.

We hear more and more about the opioid crisis. It’s often in the news. The death toll in this country continues to rise because high doses of opiates stop breathing. In 2016 in Massachusetts, the number of opiate-related overdoses rose 38% to 2,107 deaths. The number of people in America dying each year has surpassed the number of people who died from AIDS at the peak of that epidemic. Is there anything we, as Christians, can do to really help?

There is much that we can and are doing in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. Some things are big, like helping to start up Reconciliation House in the old rectory of Church of the Reconciliation, Webster. It’s a sober house, helping formerly incarcerated men with substance abuse problems transition to former or new lives. But other things can be small, like handing out bookmarks one Sunday that say “Pray for individuals and families struggling with addiction/ substance use disorders,” then adding a similar line to the Prayers of the People each week.

Something so simple helps reduce the unfair, associated stigma of addiction. In Jesus’ time, lepers were considered responsible for their affliction by sin. They were cast out by the inspecting priest, and became homeless without friend or family as they slowly died from disease. Addicts share many of the same moral and social stigmas, especially later when it becomes harder to manage normal lives. One of the most important things the Church can do is to help break this cultural stigma.

We have observed that the more we talk about addiction within our congregation, the more people open up about this issue in their lives or of loved ones. In fact, sometimes the term ‘Substance Use Disorders’ or “Alcohol and Drug Misuse’ is used instead of ‘Addiction’ to further reduce negative associations. But, as we learned in the first article, substance use disorders are a biological problem associated with significant changes to the brain in susceptible individuals. Christians are great at helping people in community, but we need to help be able to talk about it freely.

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The predominantly misused drug is perfectly legal. 5.9 % of the population aged 12 and older meet the criteria for a substance use disorder with alcohol (2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The number is 3% for illicit drugs, with 1% involving opiates. So as we begin to open discussion about opiate use disorders due to this deadly crisis, it makes sense to include alcoholism and other drugs as well.

Treatment for substance use disorders is possible, but it takes time and a great deal of support. Relapses are common. The best treatment for each individual will vary, but the most widely known are 12 step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Many of these groups meet in our basements, but we usually have little or no interaction with them. That is partly by design, because they want to remain anonymous and independent. But we share a little history, because AA was deeply influenced by the Anglican Oxford Group in the 1930s. God or a Higher Power is specifically mentioned in 6 of the 12 steps. I have attended several AA and NA meetings as a visitor and been deeply moved by the pain and humility of the participants and by God’s presence. I have learned from their faith and courage in every meeting. You might consider visiting an open meeting, which are listed for each region on the AA and NA websites. I was warmly welcomed each time.

Reconciliation House, Inc. is a ministry of Reconciliation, Webster. This sober house welcome recently incarcerated men whose struggles have root in addiction. Photo: Episcopal WMA

Programs offered at “Walking Together: A Ministry of Presence” in the South Main neighborhood of Worcester. Photo: Episcopal WMA

The Rev. Mary Rosendale places the #2069 sign on the lawn in front of Trinity, Ware.

The number represents the people who died of opioid overdose in the Commonwealth in 2016. Photo: submitted

But the dividing line between upstairs and downstairs does not have to be total. It is possible to interact with a designated liaison in each group and ask if we may mention the group in our weekly Prayers of the People. Many churches also host special worship services for those still using and in recovery. After consulting with the liaison of our building’s 12 step meeting, we began monthly worship services at Christ Church Cathedral timed just before their meeting. Our first service attracted 18 people, most of whom were not Cathedral members. Grape juice was used for communion and it was advertised as a “Judgment Free Zone” on the doors. Many stayed to chat while sharing in refreshments afterwards.

70% of individuals with substance use disorders are working and their struggles are not obvious. But a disproportionate number of homeless, or those in prison, suffer from addictions. Ministries that reach out to those populations will also reach many with substance use disorders. “Emmaus Companions” led by Steve Houghton from Sts. James and Andrew, and “Big Blue” at the Cathedral are examples of ministries going out into the streets to reach the homeless. “Church Without Walls” in Springfield and “Cathedral In The Night” in Northampton bring both Eucharist and sandwiches out into the street. There are numerous feeding programs and prison ministries we organize or support that also reach those with substance use disorders.

In some of our churches, there are book discussion groups, writing groups, or Bible studies where populations containing addicts are invited. Several churches have small groups timed adjacent to soup kitchen meals. Location can also make a difference to reaching people. The Church of the Reconciliation in Webster has recently started Bible studies in a storefront and the Walking Together Ministry in Worcester led by the Rev. Meredyth Ward is housed in a storefront (and on the streets!) as well. People struggling with addiction are being served in both places.

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Addressing our Addiction Crisis A Pilgrimage of Prayer God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them.

Hope & Healing

(Genesis 1:27)

DRAFT Addiction is an epidemic in our communities. All of us deserve dignity and respect, and all of us deserve to get the help we need.

in Lenox

An interfaith gathering to pray for those suffering from addiction, their families, and their loved ones.

Sunday October 22 12pm – Lilac Park in Lenox 2pm – St. Joseph’s Church in Pittsfield Communities of faith coming together for a simple service of prayer and witness for all who suffer from addiction in our community.

Poster for the 2nd annual “Hope and Healing” prayer witness - an ecumenical, interfaith prayer witness. Graphic: The Rev. Michael Tuck

Saints James and Andrew have made room for this Tapestry Health ministry. A whole host of services are available now in Greenfield. Franklin County has been hard hit by the epidemic. Graphic: screen shot

The first Narcan™ training at Christ Church Cathedral. Graphic: Donna L. Barten, Ph.D.

We can also support harm reduction activities to help keep opioid misusers alive until they are able to enter a more lasting recovery. Nalaxone, or Narcan™ reverses the effects of opiates and can save someone who has overdosed. In Springfield, police and firefighters do not carry Narcan™, although it is carried by ambulances. In some parts of the country, churches, libraries, fast food restaurants, and even boxes on street corners make it highly available so that it can save more lives. We could have Narcan™ available in all of our churches, because people in all demographics are affected. It is a simple nasal spray, and is legally available to anyone who requests it in Massachusetts. Already at least 11 churches have received Narcan™ training in our Diocese and 7 others expressed interest at Convention.

Let us know if you would like to join the list! Some clergy are also pressuring pharmacies to stock Narcan in areas where it is currently not available, and to make it simpler for users and family members to access if they are brave enough to request it.

Christians can also help in public education and awareness. The Rev. Michael Tuck helped organize a highly visible outdoor interfaith prayer vigil in the Berkshires. The Rev. Janice Ford is nationally known for her education about the Church and addiction, including clergy training within the Massachusetts Council of Churches. Educational events within a congregation are important as well.

Clergy and laity can also interact with local public health officials, opioid task forces, first responders and other agencies that are working to mitigate the opioid crisis. These groups are thrilled to interact with faith communities, and it can involve advertising relevant events, co-sponsoring educational events, ministering to first responders or something larger. The Recover Project, a rehabilitation center, is across the street from Sts. James and Andrew in Greenfield. The church provides kitchen space for multiple Recover Project events, they co-host a candlelight prayer vigil and now house a needle exchange run by Tapestry Health. In Worcester, when health officials heard about the popularity of the Thursday Café among the homeless, they asked permission to have social workers present to offer services for those ready to receive them. There are many opportunities for churches to add their leadership to the community.

When he [the leper] saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. Luke 5:12-13 NIV Jesus was willing. There is much more we can do. Are we willing?

Contact Donna Barten at dbarten@cccspfld.org for bookmark template, Narcan training, Recovery Service details.

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From the Archives Mission Church Belchertown

By Karen Warren

Working in the Archives one day I came across one remaining artifact of a mission congregation planted in Belchertown, MA in 1990: one green leather-bound Parish Register, listing communicants, baptisms, confirmations, marriages and burials between 1990 and 1997. It struck a sad note with me—this is all that remains of a wouldbe parish? I suspect that some of the folks listed in this register are still here in the diocese, worshipping at other parishes. I wonder, too, what happened that this mission did not grow into a parish? Why do some survive, thrive even, and some not? Is it location—timing—demographics—loss of leadership—issue of funding? A combination thereof? Sad that Belchertown closed, but from an alternate perspective—many people were willing to take a risk!

It appears that this 1990 planting was a second time around for Belchertown. Our archive is missing a great deal of diocesan history but fortunately Pastoral Staff, our news magazine begun in 1912 by our second Bishop, Thomas F. Davies, supplies some of that history. The December 1912 issue reports that ‘Trinity Mission’ in Belchertown celebrated its first anniversary in July with a meeting attended by 25 people including the Bishop. It also noted that several clergy visited the mission during the year, and mentions a Sunday School. In these early days of our diocese, a Board of Missions was appointed to seek to identify areas of religious need, oversee the effectiveness of mission work, and establish missionary stations throughout the diocese. The Diocesan Missionary’s Report at the 1912 Convention mentions that Trinity Mission, Belchertown showed “promise of being the best yet undertaken in a country district.”

The Michaelmas 1914 issue of Pastoral Staff also contains information on Trinity Mission, stressing that Belchertown was quite an attractive vacation spot (who knew?), with an elevation near to that of Mt. Tom. Reportedly there were many summer visitors to this countryside locale, and many of them attended Trinity Mission, including a group from a single parish in Hartford, CT. Lay Reader Charles Glenn Baird added, however, that the mission struggled over the winter months with only 12-15 communicants. I could not find any further evidence as to what happened to this early mission, or when it closed. Journals of Convention from 1915-1920 show no listing of Trinity Mission, Belchertown under the heading Organized Mission in Union with Convention or Parochial Mission Reported by the Supporting Parishes. Trinity Mission at Belchertown is listed one final time under “Other Places Where Services are Held.” The following Convention year Belchertown is no longer mentioned.

The second planting of a Belchertown mission, in 1990, is recorded in Amiable Dwellings Revisited. At the time of publication, it was listed only as ‘Mission Church’—yet too early to have a name. It was backed by the Church Planting Commission (previously the Board of Missions), with the Trustees for the Diocese providing a $150K start-up grant to aid the mission in its first five years. The Rev. Andrew Wetmore was appointed Vicar, and a house was rented at 39 South Main Street to serve as rectory. The Rev. Wetmore reportedly began this mission with a list of potential congregants and 16 folding chairs! To his surprise, upwards of 40 people attended the mission’s first service in September 1990 and the rectory’s living room space was quickly outgrown. Although this small space lent itself well to good fellowship, Sunday services were moved to the high school auditorium, where prayer groups and Bible studies were established. Food for thought: the rectory living room, a less formal environment, encouraged the focus to be on the essentials of worship. Always the question remains: Do we need buildings? On November 2, 1991 this Belchertown congregation was admitted to the Convention of our Diocese as The Episcopal Church in 22

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Belchertown (later it would be named Church of the Apostles). Amiable Dwellings Revisited notes that the congregation hoped to be self-supporting by 1993 but “developing the congregation’s pattern of worship, study, service and celebration” took precedence over the acquisition of a permanent building.

So, what happened to the Belchertown Mission?

I searched post ’91 Convention Journals for some indication. Journal Data Reports show 34 communicants for the year 1992; this went up to 84 in 1993; to 91 in 1994; a high of 100 in 1995, which leveled off at 95 in 1996 and 1997. That single green leather Parish Register, recording Belchertown’s numbers between 1990 and 1997, lists only 41 communicants. I can only conclude that the register was never kept up, as the latest communicant entry is dated 1993. Many of the people listed in that Register transferred from our parishes in Easthampton, Holyoke, Amherst, West Springfield, Chicopee, Northborough, Fitchburg, and Wilbraham, with a few transfers from Canada, one from PA, and a handful from the Roman Catholic Church.

Final Closure: The Report of the Committee on Admission of New Parishes and Missions from the November 7, 1998 Convention Journal states that both the Ludlow and Belchertown missions “made the decision to close over the summer, and the Bishop concurred with their respective choices.”

They had been struggling, as many small parishes do, had worked with consultants, and made their tough decision. In his Address to the 1998 Convention, Bishop Gordon P. Scruton acknowledged that the closing of a congregation is a loss to us all, a reminder that there is no guarantee of continuity. With great respect he acknowledged, too, the courage of those congregations who faced up to reality and made such difficult decisions.

Beauty & Justice

Continued from page 15.

But there is hope, and this hope lies precisely in understanding and living the relationship between beauty and justice as dialogical experiences. The event at Hardwick ended with two ceremonies: a native water ceremony, and a symbolic burning of the Doctrine of Discovery. In the coalescence of the two, the dialogue between a long suffering tradition stubbornly maintained and a vehement rejection of a tradition of conquest, beauty and justice cooccur. I more fully understood, in a holistic way, the significance of the burning of the doctrine as an act of justice given that I had witnessed the water ceremony just moments before. I could more readily see the suffering and the strength of indigenous peoples as I listened to their words and bear witness to their culture. And, after all this, I could sense better the laughter and weeping of the Earth as I stood, there under a dusky sky, held amidst the pulsing rhythm of beauty and justice entwined.

Trust that, in doing one we are paving way for the other. The more we recover our sense of beauty, the more we are able to sense the ugliness of injustice where it occurs—and as we respond in justice to these new found places, and as these slowly are rectified, the more we expand our sense beauty and the more beautiful our lives together will become.

Shalom is a 2017-2018 Lawrence House Service Corps intern supporting the ministry of Creation Care

Karen has served as diocesan archivist since 2010.

Left-right: Dr. Robert A. Jonas, Bishop Fisher, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas.

Photo: Shalom Kristanugraha ABUNDANT TIMES

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