Rector's Annual Address and Report January 24, 2021

20+C+M+B+21

The Lord be praised.    Last year I began this report with the sentiment that we had endured several struggles in the latter part of 2019 specifically, staffing changes and the beginning of our remediation work.  Having solid plans on how to address those issues as well as new relationships in the community and early stewardship preparation, it appeared that 2020 was only going to get better...

Well...the Lord thinks very highly of our parish's ability to endure.  2020 has been a year of memories that we will never forget, no matter how badly we want to, or how hard we try.  But 2020 is now hindsight.

I will not try to prophecy that 2021 will be better.  But by the grace of God and the love of Jesus Christ, and the faith of St. Peter we have come through this unprecedented year with flying colors.  Once again I praise God to be your rector and priest.  

We have accomplished so much together.  Unfortunately, our proximity due to COVID has not allowed us to see much of it.  But let's touch on these things.

In 2019 we established a Music Director Search Committee which found and promoted Gavin Craig to me in order to appoint him as our Interim Music Director.  Gavin was a great person with flexibility to help us make transitions during the onset of COVID from in-person worship to online.  We pivoted from pipe organ and nave to piano and parish hall. He was professional, faithful, and a pleasure to work with.  And he was very knowledgeable about the Anglican musical tradition.  Gavin let us know early that he would not be able to make this position his permanent calling.  And so the committee reconvened as much as possible during the COVID pandemic to renew the search for the permanent position.  Having looked at several quality applications, God dropped a pearl into our email inbox.  Jo Clark applied for our permanent position in the middle of the year.  With her experience and qualities of musicianship our search committee found in her an incredible fit to the variety of choral and instrumental musicianship that will continue in the tradition that St. Peter's is accustomed.  She jumped to the top of the list and never left.  With their recommendation I appointed Jo as Music Director of St. Peter's and we work very well together.  I express my sincere appreciation to the committee:  Dr. Wendy Bergin, chair, the late Lloyd Behm, Beth Appel, Roger Ross, Amy Schramm, and Chris Hilton.

Also carrying over from 2019 was the beginning of this epic remediation and renovation journey.  We held off starting that work until after January of 2020.  Preparations were made and begun to clean the church facilities.  As we entered the project we started to see glimpses of the pending COVID pandemic with its restrictions and limitations.  After three Sundays in Lent (two of which were online Morning Prayer) St. Peter's closed the nave and shifted worship to the new parish hall. With this came the necessary and rapid familiarization with Audio/Video Equipment, Facebook and YouTube platforms and streaming software.  Without the wisdom and knowledge of Chris Hilton we would have floundered.  I've reviewed our Service Book and found that we completed a great number of Morning Prayer and Liturgy of the Word services as we worked to prepare a COVID protocol of safe health practices.  Dcn Carol was instrumental in helping provide that document and I value her wisdom and experience.  We submitted that document to the bishop's office for approval.  It was very difficult to not have Holy Week and Easter Services.  We suspended many of our beloved traditions in light of concerns of reducing spread of the virus.

The vestry determined at that time to unfetter our contractors to work throughout the church in order to more thoroughly clean our building.  As they did so we unfortunately discovered a deeper need for cleaning that necessarily expanded the scope of our remediation project.  What we thought would be a remediation and restoration project unexpectedly became a major renovation project.  There are many people to give thanks for.  For their hands on work: I express my appreciation to Charles  L. Schubert as senior warden who has steadily guided this process with a strategic governance keeping the project moving and protecting the resources of our parish.  He has often talk me down from anxiety.  I thank Pam Schubert for lending Charles to us when he could have been home more.  I thank Brenda Squyres as Treasurer of St. Peter's who has guarded our financial bookkeeping between our operations budget, renovation budget, diocesan and federal grants to bring us to the end of a very difficult year with a budget that is very close to balanced.  To Jeff and Beth Appel who have poured more sweat equity into the renovation work than any other, my eyes swell.  When we discovered the dangerous electrical situation with our church lighting Chris Hilton dedicated his time to build a lighting plan that would be efficient and flexible. He spent many hours forty feet in the air giving his time to our church.  Thank you Molly and John Henry for lending him to us. For the thousands of little things that have been done and that are still needed to be completed I am thankful for those who volunteer their time to make St. Peter's a beautiful church inside and out.

There are still some things that need to be accomplished.  As I write we are resetting the nave for worship.  I express my deep appreciation to Mary Mabry and the altar guild.  They have kept us in order with the most basic things needs for our worship.  God has been praised because of their service.  I thank Cornelia Estey for her faithfulness and patience in assigning lectors and LEMs even when there were moments when we have had to change our worship plans she has been faithful.

We are resetting the parish hall for groups that meet such as AA and Exercise Group.  The beautiful and clean classrooms are being set up.  The Activity Hall (Old Parish Hall) has been used as a clean storage room.  That area will receive a new ceiling.  Some areas will need to be refloored just as general maintenance demands.  We have made great strides in improving our campus.  But there are still many smaller things to do.  COVID restrictions make these tasks more difficult to accomplish as we are not able to have general invitations to help with these things.  So the weight of it falls on a few individuals.  I would like to thank Amy Schramm and my wife Kate for taking on many of these items.  Like others, both are doing this in addition to their daytime ministries and out of love for our parish.  

Pastor's wives rarely get the recognition that they deserve.  Out of a sense of humility we do not wish to bring inordinate attention nor to unseemly inflate a sense of importance.  But I will take this paragraph to tell you what a servant of God Kate Whaley is. Not only does she sing in the choir and help in these efforts of building restoration, she prays daily, reads scriptures daily.  She is mindful of the concerns of parishioners and lifts them up.  And most especially she prays for and tolerates me when I am frustrated at how long these things take.  She listens to my concern over the processes of capital campaigns and stewardship campaigns and operations budgets...

And so to budgets...In 2019 I asked you to put St. Peter's first in terms of Stewardship.  In January 2020 we saw strong pledge numbers and commitments that reflected positively on that message.  By April and May with the anxiety presented by COVID I honestly did not know what to expect for the remainder of this year.  We anticipated and realized a shortfall in unpledged income that was offset by a diocesan required PPP Loan application and two diocesan assessment relief grants.  But your pledges remained very strong and very faithful through the end of the year.  At the time of this writing we are within two percentage points of our committed revenue.  In a year like this it is a testimony to your faith and obedience.  Thank you for those attributes; I hope that they are seeds that grow your faith.  At the same time we have managed to mark over a $160,000 toward our capital campaign for the renovation work.  All of this has been under the isolation of COVID.  I see God's hands have moved around us.

Building on the financial procedures put in place by Martin Coles we had hoped to get a jump start on our stewardship work for 2021.  We wanted a budget to present by August/September with the stewardship drive in October.  With all the additional financial balancing we were not able to match that schedule.  Subsequently materials went out in November and follow up materials went out in January for stewardship.  That delay was also due to me acquiring COVID in late December.  We are entering 2021 with some uncertainty as to committed income.  The vestry is monitoring this closely and will make budgetary adjustments at the first quarter as needed.  It is the desire of the vestry to balance the budget and honor the contributions that are made both toward the operations of the church as well as our renovation expenses.

 

There is so much to be thankful for at St. Peter's.  I continue to feel the prayers of the Daughters of the King and others who pray for me and our church.  Thank you to our vestry for their prayers and hard work in all of this upheaval.  For the few special events we were able to have such as the Pet Blessing, I'm thankful to Cathy Dawson for organizing that effort.  I wish to thank the staff in other ways.  Carol Muegge continues to send out information about the parish to stay in the consciousness of our town.  Pam Knebel has tried to stay connected with our youth which has been very difficult, even our Baptist friends have struggled at this.  She managed to coordinate a socially distanced gathering.  And Suzzanne who continues to keep our financial numbers in order and reported has stayed faithful to that task.  And I'm sure that as I write this, I am forgetting something or someone that has helped in some way.  I wish to say thank you.

As we move into 2021 I hope that we stay connected with one another.  I look forward to seeing your faces each Sunday especially as vaccines are more widely available.  

Iwant to close with a growing point for St. Peter's.  My biggest area of concern for our church as we move forward is a transformative need to become a church not simply of welcome, but more of a church of invitation.  As people emerge from their COVID foxholes, shell-shocked from isolation and perhaps fear, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the balm that brings peace and restoration. I hope that as we rise from this period we become more than a friendly or welcoming church.

I hope God makes us a "Come with me to my church" type of church.  People will meet Jesus here when we bring them.  And that is the greatest gift we have for the world.

 

The Lord bless you all.

Faithfully in Christ,

Fr. Stephen+

Necrology

It is with faith in Jesus Christ and his resurrection we say farewell to those who have died in 2020

Gordon Moore

Marilyn Sanders

Bess Burch

Billye Faust

Quin Kroll

What is Anglicanism: The Bible article 3 of 12

 

When approaching biblical interpretation Anglicans (as well as others) have incorporated literary techniques that aid in the study of the bible.  Historical criticism is a structure that attempts to explore the variety of experiences within the writing, recording, and editing of the Old and New Testament.  Exploration of the history of a geographic region is likely to have an impact on how a biblical writer tells the story.

These same techniques of study help to makes sense of biblical texts when the quality of writing changes from very formal language to more colloquial language in the same manuscript.  This form of critiquing the text allows us to see that some texts were spliced together over time to become one larger text such as the Prophet Isaiah.

The ability to study scripture in this way gives us insight to who is writing the text and to what type of people the texts are written.

Historical criticisms allow us to hold in tension those aspects of the bible that seem to conflict internally.  For example, in creation we are told that Adam and Eve have three sons.  And later they are expected to be fruitful and multiple.  Where do their wives come from? We are left without a clear answer if we are only allowed to believe that this text is a history of human reproduction.  (We may find that the bible is not trying to answer questions that we have for it.)

The bible also records the culture around the time that it is written to persuade and convey the listener.  The use of the word, “Logos” in John’s gospel is thought to appeal to the Greek philosophical tradition that put high importance on the reason and logic of the gods.

Taken in this perspective the bible is not merely a rubric of to-dos that faithful people must follow to gain relationship with their Creator.  It is more akin to a tapestry of experiences of the God of creation that express a broad picture of the diversity of humanity across an expansive geography and centuries of time.  The tapestry presents a uniform revelation of God and humanity’s place next to that God.

Anglicanism takes in all of these different perspectives that at times reveals logical conflicts or presents paradoxes.  At the same time Anglicanism doesn’t surrender to the extremes of throwing out the texts as archaic or superstitious nor embracing such a literal application of every text that we amputate our hands or pluck out our eyes when these things cause us to sin as recorded in the gospel.

It is because the Scripture contains such breadth about God and humanity the Anglican custom is to be familiar with the entirety of the bible.  Where as some theological traditions may focus on doctrines supported within Paul’s letters or to study holy living in accordance with the Mosaic Law. Anglicanism is inclined to read routinely the whole of Scripture in course through the Sunday and Daily readings of the church calendar.  In the wholeness Anglicans are then shaped as an orphaned, adopted, fallen, redeemed people and person of God.

At the heart of an Anglican’s approach to the bible is that the story of God and his people has the ability to change the lives of the people who read it.

What is Anglicanism: Authority in the Church Article 2 of 12

“Authority” in the Church is the system we use to make decisions when confused about God’s work in the world and how we fit into that work.  Differing Christian traditions use different systems and they vary. 

In the Roman church with its “magisterium,” the Pope and bishops are empowered within the bounds of Scripture and tradition to declare new teaching.  In some Protestant traditions, the individual Scripture reader guided by the Holy Spirit is given a form of authority. In more charismatic Protestantism the individual guided by the Holy Spirit alone is given a direct authority. 

Anglicanism is distinct from these examples though each of these expressions can be found within modern Anglicanism.  Classical Anglicanism articulated by Richard Hooker in the sixteenth century upholds an inherited structure whose authority balanced the voices of Scripture, Traditional interpretation, and contemporary reason.  If we think of this union as a musical chord: Scripture is the melody, while tradition is the dominant, and reason is the subdominant harmonies.  They work together making music; at the same time there is hierarchy in the authority.

Holy Scripture is accepted to be the received self-revelation of God testified through God’s relationship with his people.  It is authoritative in conveying God’s intentions for creation and it describes the fallen nature and subsequent restorative plan of creation.  This self-testimony from God is given with the purpose of teaching God’s people how to relate to God. Classical Anglicanism therefore would not teach anything contrary to Scripture.  However, this does not mean that Anglicans reject things that exist outside the influence of the biblical record. For example, the Amish do not drive automobiles.  Anglicans are not likely to reject driving an automobile simply because Jesus walked everywhere.

Tradition in its place of authority is intentionally secondary to Scripture.  Tradition is something that emerges from the experiences of God’s people and is then captured in the practices and understanding of the church.  Tradition is time dependent. It walks for decades and centuries within and alongside Scripture but might not be specifically articulated in Scripture.  For example, the dogma of the Holy Trinity is alluded to in Scripture.  It is present in words like Father, Son, Holy Spirit, One God.   It is the center of our understanding of the nature of God, but it was not articulated and received universally until the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople.

Reason is critical to articulate in this chord of authority because reason or logic is very much a part of God’s stamped image in us.  To be reasonable beings is to make use of that seed of self-awareness that God implants in every human.  It is from God that proceeds our creativity, consciousness, and cognition…our ability to rationalize.  Reason allow us to look at nature and see God's handiwork and contemplate our role in that handiwork.  With reason comes caution.  Reason can often be corrupted by opinion, bias, emotion, the fallenness of humanity.  Therefore, it finds its proper place relative to Scripture and Tradition.

It is through these attributes of authority that Anglicans seek to work alongside God in his creation.  It means subordinating ourselves to a shared system that helps move us all walking in the footsteps of God.

What is Anglicanism: Anglican Consciousness (Identity) article 1 of 12

I recently rediscovered a text written by Urban T. Holmes  III Dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee.  I was captured by the title many years ago for its simplicity, What is Anglicanism? In this series of articles I’m attempting to give a synopsis of each chapter that conveys the most important parts of our heritage as Episcopalians and Anglicans.

Anglican Consciousness(Identity) is what sets us apart.  Anglicanism is a method/expression of Christianity that attempts to describe us in the experiences between God and humanity in light of a biblical, historical, and modern perspective. 

This synthesis of Anglicanism takes these experiences of God and integrates them in such a way that produces a spiritual life that enables us, a people of the current age, to remain connected to the past while at the same time engage the modern struggles of the age in which we live.

This way of being Christian evens out the ups and downs of history, leveling the triumphs and more importantly raising the valleys of the human experience. It keeps us even keeled.

Within this religious construct Anglicanism strategically sees God’s work of creation and preservation in all its diversity despite the destructive characteristics of that same created and preserved universe.  We acknowledge God’s sovereignty in this chaotic world, even though the chaos appears to be out of anyone’s control.

To help understand Anglican Consciousness  we know that in the world there are modes of describing thinking processes.  We have heard of left and right brain thinking.  We have heard about the two hemispheres of the brain, one is more skilled in logistical processes while the other is adept in creative processes.  Anglican consciousness tends to align more with the right brain of creativity while leaving the left brain to more systematic endeavors.  This is not a slight to the left brain; both are required. 

This helps us to understand why Anglicans appear to be capable of absorbing the conflicting natures of life while remaining steady through those conflicts.  For example, we understand that good and evil exists at the same time in this world.  Anglican consciousness acknowledges that reality but does not spend a lot of effort attempting to explain the paradox.  Instead it puts its efforts into restorative work establishing God’s Kingdom on earth trying to support and build up the good.

Holmes writes more about Anglican consciousness in his book related to miracles great and small.  You might take a look.

Blessings,

Fr. Stephen+

Be one in Christ." October 2020

The Whig and the Bull Moose parties are tearing us apart!  Whew! I finally said it.  I don't know about you but I will be glad when November 3 has come and gone and 2020 for that matter.   As you all know the rhetoric has been ugly, and from my perspective it is exponentially fueled by the the media's need for ratings.  Despite what I am about to write, I still chime in to the news to see where the world has gone.

Years ago in the late 90s, I used to listen to talk-show radio and news throughout the day.  I thought it would inform me about current events and keep me educated on our culture and the direction we were going. And I listened and listened.  

And after a few years of listening I noticed how negative I felt about our country and other people.  It always seemed that "they" were the problem.  If you had asked me directly who the problem was I would have answered the particular party leader.  But I might add that the leadership is simply a reflection of the people who elect that person.  The end result for me was simply frustration about American politics.

So, I intentionally started listening to talk show programs with which I disagreed.  I hoped  that by listening to the opposition's ideas my state-of-mind might be opened to understand their perspective.  It didn't. 

They equally condescended their opposition.  I believe now, that in both contexts of left and right the radio medium was used to propagate discontent, frequently to vilify our neighbors as the catalyst for real and imagined restlessness.

After listening to the alternative political positions I still thought the same way I had before.  And I had a wealth of life sufferings to justify my political bent.  

Don't misunderstand me.  Listening to the opposition is very important.  If you actually want to work for the betterment of a society you have to listen to the perspectives of others, and as far as possible, integrate the best ideas of all.

Looking back, I don't believe that compromise was the intention of the media.  Their desire was to pit one side against another and to shore up their listeners.  It was good for ratings, and what-is-good-for-ratings, is good for sponsorships.

Here is where it matters to me.  

1) I have Biden and Trump supporters in my flock.  And I get to listen to all of you.  I get to love all of you. I get to hear your frustrations, joys, fears, and disdain.  In our modern political climate feelings and thoughts are not simply directed at disembodied political ideologies or their far-off leaders in Washington.  But rather these negative thoughts and emotions are often directed at our neighbors in our community.

2) When it comes to what we call "political" issues that we disagree upon (immigration, abortion, and the like) you would find that many Christians base their positions not in a biblical hermeneutic (interpretation).  Scripture and Tradition has a great deal to say about how we treat the "sojourner-in-your-land" and the fashioning of children in the mother's womb.

I think many people would be surprised that the faith to which we ascribe (outlined by God's revelation in Holy Scripture) does not uphold many of your opinions and feelings about things.  This is true for both parties.  

However, unequivocally Jesus teaches to love your enemy.  To bless those who curse you.  Bless. Do not curse.  Both Ss. Peter and Paul admonish us to "pray for the emperor," and that, in a time when the emperor was rounding up Christians and executing them.  

In times like this when opposing sides are talking over each other, I find that devotional reading of Scripture brings me peace.  In fact the broad biblical sense of the word "salvation" contains in its fullest meaning the sense of universal health.  Salvation is equated with Health in Body, Mind, & Spirit.  And so we find that no matter what worldly words are thrown across the airwaves, the Word of God revealed through the scriptures "contains all things necessary to salvation," as the ordination vows say. 

The only way forward for the Church is for us to love one another as Christ loved us.  He looks past our sin to see the image of God written on each of you.  And so, I encourage you to look past the yard signs, bumper stickers, and all.  If you truly seek peace, ask your neighbor why s/he thinks in a particular way and be reconciled.  Be One in Christ so that the world may know that Jesus has sent us.

The Keys that Loose and Bind September 2020

Boy! I stepped in it.  After services a few weeks ago two parishioners asked me about this particular phrase taken from the gospel that day, "...whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Matthew 16.19.  This phrase manifests later in the gospel in vs. 18.18 and a similar rendering in John 20.23 referring to remitting sins.  

I faithfully replied to the two parishioners, "Oh, I'll write an article about it."  That promise has lead me down a rabbit hole.

This verse is charged with a lot of ecclesiastical baggage. The passage follows St. Peter's Confession (profession) of Jesus, "You are the Christ."  In the history of the church the verse has been used to support the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome (the papacy) as the successor to Peter. In addition, other catholic churches such as Anglican (us) and Eastern Orthodox view the passage as establishing the authority of the Church in regards to order and discipline within the Church.

The term "keys" that Jesus uses has to do with authority.  In the Old Testament Joseph is given keys to manage Pharaoh's Egypt.  The key still belongs to Pharaoh but Joseph received the authority to open and close (loose and bind) the storehouse based on the authority given to him by Pharaoh and in accordance with Pharaoh's character.  The important thing to recognize here is that Joseph is still a servant of Pharaoh and is bound by Pharaoh's will.  Within that will Joseph is given power to act.

Analogous to that, St. Peter (in this gospel) will be given the keys to loose and bind in heaven and earth.  Later in 18.18 the other apostles will be given that same authority as it pertains to church discipline.  In that setting, and in the aforementioned passage in John, the verse establishes the responsibility of pastoral leaders to bring order to the Body when sin causes fractures within the church.  This gets to the heart of binding and loosing.  Appointed church leadership has a spiritual authority to discipline members when their conduct is sinful or detrimental to themselves or others.

That's why I began with, "I stepped in it."  My critique of our denomination is that Anglicans/Episcopalians struggle with authority and obedience.  400 years after the Anglican theologian Richard Hooker gave us the infamous "three-legged stool" of authority (Scripture, Tradition, Reason) in which he clearly establishes that Scripture is primary, Tradition is secondary, and Reason is tertiary...we push back against authority.  Many clergy and laity are quick to suggest that the stool metaphor expresses co-equal and interchangeable legs of authority.  The order (1)Reason, (2)Tradition, (3)Scripture or any other variation was not Richard's intent.  Authority comes from God and within our peculiar Anglican structure we prayerfully call leaders to ad-minister God's will on behalf of the church as a whole.

What does it mean to loose and bind?  It means that God has given authority to his appointed ministers to restore and reconcile fractures within the Church in accordance with God's character. 

 Matthew 16 

Bound in Heaven and Loosed in Heaven