New clergy dean in Blackstone Deanery

Congrats are in order to the Rev'd Bill Locke, rector of St. Paul's Pawtucket, who this evening (Feb. 6, 2007) was voted as the new clergy dean of the Blackstone Valley Deanery. I along with the other deanery delegates look forward to serving with you in your new leadership position.

‘Listen to the majority African voice of grace’

In today's Church Times (from England) we read news of an African view of church matters that differs from the one we get in mainstream media and church gossip. Here's a snippet:

Loud voices from Africa, aided by the "almighty dollar" and internet lobbyists, are distorting the true picture of what Africa's 37 million Anglicans really think about sexuality and the future of the Anglican Communion, says the Bishop of Botswana, the Rt Revd Musonda Mwamba.

The Bishop, by background a lawyer and social anthropologist, was giving the keynote address to senior judges, lawyers, bishops, and clergy at the Ecclesiastical Law Society conference "The Anglican Communion: Crisis and Opportunity", in Liverpool at the weekend. The minds of most African Anglicans were concentrated on life-and-death issues, and they were "frankly not bothered about the whole debate on sexuality", he said.In an incisive address, the Bishop concluded that the minority of Africans who had "the luxury to think about the issue" did not want to see the Communion disintegrate. They valued the bonds of affection, and would prefer to follow the process recommended by the Windsor report. He rebutted as "simplistic and a distortion of the truth" the belief that the African provinces were a monochrome body.

A hat tip to Thinking Anglicans for this link.

RISEN ... eRISEN

I want to thank everyone for their feedback on the new version of RISEN (it is now a magazine that will go out 4 times a year). This last issue was produced under the guidance of Scott Gunn and he deserves immense credit for making it happen.

The next issue of RISEN should be out "on stands" in early March.

To clear up some confusion I have heard recently...

1. There is no email version of RISEN. It is a print magazine.
2. eRISEN is an email newsletter that is sent out 2x per month to subscribers. It is the calendar of events, programs, workshops and up-to-date announcements for both the diocese and parishes. Everyone is welcome to join the mailing list (all clergy and administrators should already be receiving the email) and we are currently campaigning to make more congregations aware of this service.

Should we consider renaming eRISEN to avoid confusion with RISEN? This question was initally posed over six months ago without much response. I am interested to hear feedback on this.

Jesus Rocks in East Greenwich

Holy Communion and the music of U2

U2CHARIST

Ancient Rituals and Rock-N-Roll
Choir, Prayers, Worshippers:
YOU!

Offering to Benefit:
Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation

The Rev'd Craig Burlington and The Rev'd Alan Gates co-celebrating
Dee Tavolaro, Diocese of Rhode Island contact to Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, preaching. (P.S. that's me!)

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 9th 7:00pm

St. Luke's Episcopal Church East Greenwich
Pierce and Church Streets
401.884.4116

Hospice care -- a blessing when it's needed most

Lots of people near life's end could benefit from hospice care. Lots of families could benefit from this care. There are a whole host of reasons why people do not seek hospice care, as revealed in a piece in today's NY Times. Read this article, and perhaps print out a copy. When someone you love is caring for a dying friend, pull this out -- and encourage them to call hospice care.

Hospice services, in institutional settings or at home, benefit only about one person in three who dies in this country. “There are still over one million Americans who die each year without receiving hospice or hospice-type services that would have benefited them and their families,” according to a report, “Access to Hospice Care,” produced in 2003 by the Hastings Center.

The most common report from families after a loved one’s death is regret that hospice had not been called in sooner. In a study of 275 patients, families that benefited from hospice thought three months would have been optimal and that less than three weeks was too short.

Here's the whole article. This is surely an area where the church could service a more vital witness: caring for people before, during, and after death.

Exemplary forgiveness

We Christians talk about forgiving people all the time. In my experience, we all like it in the abstract. Most of us think it's a good idea for other people to practice. But when the rubber meets the road, it is a challenge for just about everyone. For us to forgive those who have wronged us is hard. The greater the harm, the more challenging (and costly) it is for us to forgive.

So sometimes it's inspiring to hear the example of others. In this case, consider Holy Trinity Church in Juneau, Alaska. Their perfectly beautiful church was destroyed by arson. And now they've forgiven the arsonist.

Telling the arsonist who started a fire that destroyed historic Church of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Juneau that "none of us wants to be known by the worse thing we've ever done, and we do not want that for you," the Rev'd George Silides told Robert Huber that the parish forgives him.

"This gift from our congregation to you is not automatic or cheap, it costs many people a very great deal to make this effort," Silides said during Huber's sentencing hearing January 18.

"But even those who do not feel this forgiveness want you to have it, for their sake and for yours. They want to move on, to let go, to be reconciled, to heal, even if that is not yet where they are today. Our church members want to keep the promises they have made to God. They want to make flesh and blood the prayer they offer every week; ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.' And they do this so that day will be nearer. You can't make it O.K. But we don't want to make it worse."

Read the whole story on ENS. Here's the parish website.

If the Pope can go to Turkey, Can the ABC go to Texas?

The Bishop of Bethlehem (Pennsylvania), Paul Marshall, has written a candid letter about the Archbishop of Canterbury and his relationship with the US church. I encourage everyone who cares about the Anglican Communion and our situation to read +Paul's letter in its entirety. Here's a snippet.

The most un-biblical part of traditional Anglicanism is its politeness, its charm, its unwillingness to confront and hold accountable those who have sought and accepted positions of supreme leadership. We in the Episcopal Church often brag about our Church's failure to address slavery as though that were a virtue and not a disgrace. The Church held together while humans died in chains and even bishops (both north and south in the beginning) traded in human flesh. We now have put the british emancipator William Wilberforce in our calendar but do not make his commemoration one of fasting and lament for our heritage of cowardice in the name of togetherness. The words and deeds of Paul and even more certainly of our utterly tactless Lord Jesus suggest that charm is less important than candor or provocative questioning, that real love in times of disagreement is often something quite uncomfortable. It seems no accident that historically we are enthralled by John, whom we cannot understand, rather than Paul, whom we can but would prefer not to.

The letter was written to the HOBD email list, but it's been posted widely on the Internet. Jim Naughton has posted it on his blog.


UPDATE: Maybe if the Archbishop of Canterbury came over the US more often, things would be different. Maybe if people from the US went to Africa more often, things would be different. I theorize this because of "the power of the incarnational experience", as Katie Sherrod writes.

News sundries

I've had a whole list of updates sitting in my proverbial inbox for several weeks. Frankly, I have trouble motivating myself to post about the (alternately tedious and frustrating) developments in the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church. You, dear reader, might like to know this stuff if you haven't followed it, so here goes...

• Ruth Gledhill, of the Times of London, has written An innocent's guide to things Anglican in the US, in which she describes the many and varied conservative groups at work in the US.
• There is progress in the development of a Covenant for the Anglican Communion. Lots of divergent view on this. Many people say that a Covenant is antithetical to Anglicanism, and others wish we had one now. Archbishop Rowan Williams says the Covenant, if one is developed, will take 5-10 years. +Rowan has announced the design group that will work on this Covenant. In England, an Evangelical group issued a proposed Covenant, and Inclusive Church issued a harsh response.
• David Roseberry, rector of Christ Church, Plano, which was one of the largest congregations in the Episcopal Church before it left the church, has written a letter about his experience at Lambeth Palace and cultural differences between the Church of England and the Episcopal Church. It's a helpful perspective, especially as some push for things to be done quickly and others say things are already going too fast.
• Our Presiding Bishop continues to gladden my heart. Here's the latest -- she prefers to be called Katharine, rather than a title laden with honorifics. Here's why.
• This is getting pretty old, but the BBC Thought for the Day on 21 November was by the Bishop of Southwark. He writes that we need to view gay people "as a blessing, not a problem." Amen.
• Meanwhile, Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria won't even shake the hands of gay people.
• Speaking of less-than-ideal behavior, the churches in Virginia which are leaving have been trumpeting their ancient roots. Nearly every press release points out that George Washington was a member, etc. Turns it it might not be that simple -- they are old parishes, but not that old.
• Tired of "bad news" about our church? Here's a video of some good news.
  

Crunching the numbers

Sometimes it's interesting to look at how our church is doing. Spiritual condition is impossible to measure with spreadsheets and calculators, but we can learn quite a bit about our health by looking at some data. Here is some info.

Here is a PDF with average pledge per diocese. This one shows average Sunday attendance by diocese for the last 10 years. Want to see how your parish (or a particular diocese) is doing? Look it up here. Thanks to Ty Creason for sending out these links.

Congratulations Bishop Wolf

The news has spread like wildfire throughout the diocese - Bishop Wolf is getting married! Letters were mailed to clergy on Friday and an article was featured in the Providence Journal on Sunday.

Bishop Wolf and Thomas Charles Bair, Jr. are planning to be wed at the Cathedral of St. John on April 21st. Former presiding bishop, Frank Griswold, is slated to officiate.

To read the article from last Sunday's PROJO, click here.