My Main Blog

Getting there….

with the kids and their "significant others"

First I must thank those who supported me to return as a Deputy to General Convention 2012. I am delighted to be there and to represent our wonderful Diocese.

Along with Fr. Scott Lenoir and Fr. Jeff Reich, I helped lead a workshop on Communications at our Diocesan Council. It was a blast! We had a standing room only crowd, and the three of us worked well in discussing and showing both print and electronic communications tools. I think it was well received – will see once the evaluations are in!

Council was fun as usual, and the focus on Mission, coupled with the Mission Marketplace and the excellent workshop offerings enhanced what is always a joyful event. And with my election as Deputy, and Danny Meadors as 1st alternate in the Lay order, St. Patrick’s is once again the most represented of Parishes per capita at General Convention!

This weekend the Diocese is sponsoring a conference on the Anglican Covenant. I will not be able to attend due to the ongoing medical issues I am dealing with. 6 hours a day of IV antibiotics do not lend themselves to travel (I skipped a dose to make it to Council last weekend and got in big trouble!). I will be with them in spirit and continue to study the Covenant and to read all I can the various opinions on it. It will be a very important part of our work at GC2012 I am sure.

Health wise things are improving. The cast was removed Monday and the wound looks really, really good. My LW was a bit concerned at first, but so far the healing appears to be on track. I am supposed to miss 2 more weeks of work, and I am mostly non-weight bearing for a week, although I have started rehab and am walking a little around the house. How GREAT it feels to be without crutches! This nightmare began October 6th and I am really excited to make positive progress after a difficult time. What a blessing in my life to have a wife not only skilled and knowledgable in all things medical, but who takes such good and loving care of me. Believe me, this is not a blessing I take for granted.

I miss St Patrick’s folks very much and hope I can see them all this Sunday in some capacity. Praying today for all those facing difficulties from this wintry weather, especially the homeless, first responders, and those who travel. Stay safe folks!

My Main Blog

Thinking about General Convention

First of all, thanks for following me to my new home in the blog world – Word Press. Should be fun!

Woke up way too early today with General Convention 2012 on my mind. Probably because this weekend at the Diocese of Mississippi’s Annual Council I am again running for GC Deputy. I’d like to return, and mostly because I think we need to drastically change how GC operates. We start by refocusing what GC should be about. I truly believe that participants at GC have become entrenched and buried so deeply into the legislative mire that it has become, that they can’t see we’ve moved away from the mission and ministry of the church and allowed our time and energy to be diverted. The Presiding Bishop warns us of “suicide by governance”, and that comes from worshipping process and canons more than we worship Jesus. GC is full of people authoring resolutions that really have no bearing at all on the mission of the church, especially our church, with often a false sense of power and importance that our gravely worded resolutions have to speak to the world.

As example I give you the “Committee of the Whole” fail from GC 2009. Our President of the House of Deputies (PHOD), honorary doctor Bonnie Anderson, decides to use a rare parliamentary procedure called the Committee of the Whole, so the entire House of Deputies can act as one committee to discuss, of course, issues around sexuality, while we spent the entire time at GC completely ignoring the report from the State of the Church committee which lays out in alarming, truth speaking words how as a denomination we are shrinking and how if we do not address this we will soon disappear, how we must get excited and put time, resources, energy, and education into mission and evangelism, how our national church offices distract from mission, etc., etc. The report was eye opening and vital, yet NEVER discussed on the floor of the House of  Deputies. THAT’S what we need a Committee of the Whole to talk about.

At our Annual Council we have a resolution to support our Bishop in his efforts to reform GC. I am totally on board with that, and would love to see some meat added to it, with specific proposals, suggestions, and ideas. We need new thinking, new passion for mission, and a new awareness that making ourselves seem important by authoring and debating resolutions that mean nothing to most of the people in the pews and do nothing to promote the Good News of Jesus is a dead end.

It’s time to turn this battleship. I hope I get a chance to be a part of that.

My Main Blog

Are we the best of choices?

Reflecting on church attendance while I lay on my couch getting IV antibiotics, and of course, ironically, missing church….

Maybe I was spoiled. I was raised in a Southern Baptist family that made Sunday morning church attendance mandatory. We had a fun youth group at University Baptist, and SS was usually tolerable, church maybe not so much but we knew we had to go, so we did. Like many, I used college to escape from such obligations, but getting married and having children brought me back.
Thank goodness my wife is an Episcopalian, and while the story of how we made it back to the Episcopal church is one for another time, I can say that we were spoiled. Why? Because at St. Peter’s by the Lake we found a church that was just, well, awesome. As I learned what it meant to be an Episcopalian, I was fortunate to be formed by the founding Rector of that church, Arnold Bush, who showed me and my Baptist heart that Episcopal Priests (and people!) could be evangelists! And I was shown by his successor, Barry Cotter, that Episcopal Priests could be excellent preachers. But more than that, I was shown by a community of faith what it meant to be the body of Christ, people who cared and prayed and worshipped and partied and laughed and grieved and fed and showed up for each other.
I am not sure I can say when the change happened for us, but eventually Jennifer and I became those people who showed up every time the doors opened – but not ever out of some sense of obligation, or feeling that if we didn’t “do this” no one else would, but rather simply because it was the best of choices for us and our kids. We chose church on Sunday mornings over soccer or tennis, we chose special services over the myriad of other options, we chose work days over sleeping in and we chose renewal weekends over parties and we chose great times on the reservoir party boat with other church folks over, well, over anything else. It wasn’t just about God and the Spirit, it was about community. And it was about living into the idea that doing for others is actually not just rewarding but fun, and working “inside” the church was not just important but life-giving. Cursillo renewal helped me in that, I think, teaching me so much about joy and service and the Spirit, perhaps we need more of that. But all that just kind of evolved over time, looking back I can see it, but in the midst of it, it really felt like the best choice was not a choice at all, but something we were joyously led to by the Holy Spirit.

I want that for our folks. I want us to be the “best choice”. Because the truth is, it is all about choices. Sometimes we are overwhelmed, bombarded by options, or fall into the trap of the “obvious because this is what everyone does” kind of choice. But in the end, a worshipping community of caring people, dedicated to serving Christ in others, I believe, is the “best choice”.
It’s not perfect every Sunday. We don’t always hit it out of the park. That’s because we are human. But in the end, the first step is choosing to show up and see where the Spirit leads – new ideas of ministry, ways to form our children in the faith (is there anything more important?), ancient prayers and wonderful sacraments and great music. Saying by our presence – this really IS the best choice, and I too will commit time and talent and treasure to make it so for all of us.
Are you looking for a place like that? If so, I hope we can grow into just that, together. For those already along for the ride – God bless you for helping us live into being the best choice.
My Main Blog

Slow Recovery

It seems like the only blog posts I make, and even those rarely, regard health issues for me or my family. But once again I am writing about such, but with a promise of more posts to come that won’t be simply updates on our struggles.

Last week I had surgery again on my achilles tendon. I had developed an infection that did not respond to oral antibiotics, so had no choice but to go in, de-bride the wound, and start IV antibiotic treatments. Ended up spending 6 days in the hospital following some complications and waiting for cultures to grow so could determine the exact mix of treatments. We got home lat Sunday night and started the at home IV antibiotics Monday evening. Thanks be to God my LW is such a wonderful caretaker, and an RN, and I am in great hands. Pray for my recovery to be complete and soon, and please pray for Jennifer, who has suffered from her own nightmare of illness this past year and who also had double-knee scopes done right after Christmas, she is hobbling around here taking care of both of us and I am so grateful for her.
I am sentenced to home for at least another week, when I will get the cast off of my leg and find out what is next. I am bound and determined to just accept and obey whatever courses of action the docs decide for me, pushing this recovery did nothing but make things worse before this last operation. The church is rising up to take care of “bidness” in my physical absence and I have complete trust in our leadership to handle things well.
Meanwhile, with my sabbatical looming, 2011 is our year to get healthy! It is meet and right so to do. And now with time on my hands while recovering, look for much more frequent blog posts, about things more interesting than infections and surgeries.
Just keep praying – it does make a difference.
My Main Blog

Great Job St. Pat’s!

Yesterday (Nov 14) we held our annual Time, Talent, and Treasure auction/fundraiser for our building fund. This was a traditional event at St Patrick’s prior to Katrina, and we brought it back last year in our new building.

The proceeds go towards payments on our building debt, which is quite burdensome on our budget. We had a lovely evening, the auction committee was AMAZING, worked so hard and so well together. Local vendors donated dinner, appetizers, desserts, and beverages and we had over 100 auction items. I don’t have an official tally yet but looks like we will make even more than we did last year, considering these economic times that is fantastic news. I am so proud of our hard working and dedicated folks, and so thankful for everyone who contributed and bought items. Great fun, great food, great spirit, great entertainment!
On another note, went to see my surgeon today for an infection check – the incision has had some infection which we’ve been watching closely and treating with antibiotics. He was very pleased with how it looks and even gave us the green light to actually wash my leg with soap and water! OK, maybe that’s TMI, but a shower without wearing a garbage bag over my boot will be so sweet. It does remind me of how blessed my life is and all the advantages I have compared to so many people throughout the world and in our own community. I give thanks to God, to my LW who is the most patient and skilled nurse on earth, and for all those who continue to pray for me and my family (and I ask you continue to pray for my wife, whose health has been better of late but still struggles on some days).

Itinerant: noun. a person who alternates between working and wandering.