Thursday, January 31, 2013

Follow the M...

This past Saturday, our treasurer Betsy Kirchoff, junior warden Tom Edelmann and I gathered at my house with a wonderful group of development professionals from around St. Louis -- Laura Kozak and Carol Walker (Grace Hill), Jeanette Huey (Washington University), John Rick (St. Louis University High School) and Nancy Kinney (UMSL).

We sat around our dining room table and I asked them what they thought we needed to be doing to build the long-term financial sustainability of Christ Church Cathedral -- both as a congregation and as a St. Louis institution.

There were some good technical ideas thrown around ... ones we need to be working on. We need to continue the great work of our three stewardship teams. We need to provide opportunities for and encourage planned giving (that Pope bequest didn't just happen!). But more than anything, everyone kept coming back to one theme:

Don't focus on the money. Focus on the mission. Focus on the ministry.

It resonated completely with our last Chapter meeting. I asked the same questions about money, but the answers they gave were about mission and ministry -- proving once again that this Cathedral community has an innate sense of the Gospel in our DNA!

Focus on the mission. Focus on the ministry.

That's what we're going to do.

Over the past year, a clear picture has come into focus about God's dream for Christ Church Cathedral. We start with the mission of the Church that is expressed in our prayer book:

The mission of the church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.

As a Cathedral congregation, we have heard God calling us to live that mission of reconciliation through a deepened spirituality and faith, diversity, communication, growth and service.

As the Cathedral of the diocese, we have heard our importance as a presence in the city, as a resource for the congregations of the diocese and as a central gathering place.

As the Cathedral of the city, we have heard our importance as a catalyst for community and convener of conversations, a place where the city – particularly downtown – comes together in all our diversity and across all our divides ... as well as being a uniquely beautiful space for performances, exhibitions and community gatherings.

At our annual meeting, we came together and talked about why this mission is important to us and began to dream of how we might better live into it. This Saturday, your Chapter will gather for our annual workday and we will dive further into this.

We'll be exploring Acts 8, which is about the persecuted church not curling up and dying but adapting and thriving in new ways by being open to the movements of the Holy Spirit.

We'll be gathering into three groups -- one focusing on the congregation, one on the diocese and one on the city/downtown. Each will look at where the Spirit is moving in those areas currently, how we can get behind it, and what specific action steps we can commit to. We will then decide on next steps, set priorities, assign tasks and set timelines.

This is what following the mission looks like. But it's not just about me ... or me and Amy ... or me and Amy and Chapter. It's about all of us.

If we are to thrive. If we are to become the Cathedral God dreams us to be, we ALL need to follow the mission together. We need to do what we do in the Eucharist ... lay our whole lives on the table with Christ and one another. As we do that ... as we give ourselves fully to the mission of Christ in this Cathedral ... amazing, surprising and glorious things will begin to happen.

As we focus on the mission, as we focus on the ministry, as we give our whole selves to it, to Christ and to one another ... there is no limit to what God will do.


Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The mayoral forum, a poverty of trust, and becoming a new creation.

Last night, I sat across the street in a packed auditorium at Central Library as three candidates for mayor of St. Louis lay out their cases to the voters. Far more revealing about our common life was watching and listening not to the candidates ... but to the audience.

From the first opening statement to the last closing remark, the crowd reactions reflected the deep race and class divides in our city and the passions behind them. That of all the poverties we face in St. Louis -- and there are many -- the deepest is a poverty of trust in one another.

Probably the most iconic instance of this last night was when Jimmie Matthews-- who played the court jester role last night, providing comic relief while at the same time revealing deep truth about our common life -- was talking about how he was opposed to gun control. His reason? Because if "the mayor and his police force" have guns, then we need guns to protect ourselves.

And African-American heads around the room nodded in assent.

It is a poverty of trust when a large part of a community looks at people sworn "to protect and to serve" as an enemy to be defended against.

When there is a poverty of trust, it usually is with reason, and those reasons often have deep roots. And that certainly is the case here. It almost doesn't matter whether today's police are trustworthy or not ... the perception is the reality. And it's not just limited to the police. It's about economic development and education and much, much more. When the motive behind every action is assumed to be nefarious, all the flowery langauge about having to "become one city" (and we heard a lot of that last night) means absolutely nothing.

I left last night with four thoughts about healing this poverty of trust:

1) It takes both sides listening deeply. Trust is rebuilt when both (or all) sides commit to setting aside their gut reactions and prejudices and listening deeply to the experience of the other. This is incredibly hard work, and there are no short cuts. It has taken us generations to get us to where we are in this city and nation, and we are not going to snap our fingers and turn into all the Whos down in Whoville joining hands on Christmas morning. We have to be willing to listen deeply to one another and truly hear very different and even contrary worldviews to our own. We have to allow for our own deeply held worldviews to be challenged. We have to be willing to lay our lives down and be vulnerable with one another.

2) It takes more than words - Words are important, but trust is rebuilt by word and action. There are serious inequalities in St. Louis ... and many if not most are along racial lines. It is up with those of us who have power and privilege to take the lead not only in word but in action in giving power away in partnering across race and class lines for the elimination of inequities of economic opportunity, education and public safety.

3) Mayors are not magicians. One thing I can tell you about this election, and that is if we think whom we vote for is going to radically change things, we are sadly mistaken. From what I know about Mayor Slay and President Reed, they are both fine men who care deeply about our city -- I'm not just saying that to be politic, I am genuinely impressed by both of them. But when you are trying to change a system, swapping out the leader is actually one of the least effective ways to do it. Unfortunately, the race question that was asked last night was the wrong question. The candidates were asked "What will YOU do to heal the racial divides in our city?" The better question would have been "What can WE as citizens do to heal those racial divides?" Our best leaders don't have magic policies that change everything. Our best leaders call us to look at ourselves and to realize we have the power to come together for the common good. Which leads us to...

4) It's up to us - If trust is to be rebuilt in St. Louis, it is up to us. But that's good news for us as Christians and particularly for us as a Cathedral, because we are uniquely equipped for the task. In  2 Corinthians 5, Paul writes:

"From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even tough we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation."

Right now, we have a poverty of trust. It is one that is well-earned over generations. We are not to be faulted for not trusting ... when you have been given reason over and over again not to trust, it is only human. But we are called beyond that. We are called not to look at each other from that human point of view, but to see one another as and to become a new creation in Christ ... because in Christ we have been given the ministry of reconciliation.

What it means to be given the ministry of reconciliation in Christ is that we do what Christ did ... lay our lives down for love of the world, even for love of those who would oppose and persecute us, even love of those whom we bear the weight of us having persecuted. Being "reconcilers in Christ" means we listen deeply to one another, we allow ourselves to be convicted by one another, we confess our sins and accept God's forgiveness and each others'. We do the hard work with no short cuts of learning to live together ... not expecting uniformity or even unity, but striving for mutual love and respect and trust. 

As a Cathedral community, we have named "diversity" as one of our core values, and we were right to do so ... but I'm not sure there is a more challenging value we could have named. Because diversity in Christ is not just tolerant coexistence, it is deep vulnerability. Diversity in Christ does not happen overnight but takes years ... and takes patience ... and takes trusting first in the deep grace of God.

This past Sunday, the Rev. Starsky Wilson passionately proclaimed to us that "it's about time" for God's reconciling love to happen. This weekend, Debbie Nelson Linck will unveil her amazing photo exhibition and we'll hear Wiley Price talk about his work chronicling the last 30 years of this divided city. We'll continue our work of sharing our stories and listening deeply to one another. We'll continue, in our incredibly imperfect ways, of trying to see one another from a different point of view. 

We'll continue, in our own way, to heal the poverty of trust in our own lives ... and be equipped for God to send us out into our city to do the same.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Just one question about guns: "What Honors God?"

At that time Jesus went through the cornfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.’ He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.’– Matthew 12:1-8

This afternoon, a student walked into the Stevens Institute of Business and Arts on Washington Avenue, shot the financial aid director in the chest with a handgun and then went to a stairwell and shot himself.

This happened three blocks from Christ Church Cathedral, where last month in the wake of the Newtown shootings, we gathered to pray for an end to gun violence in our own city and across the nation.

In the intervening time, we have heard rhetoric on all sides of the gun debate, most of which are competing arguments about efficacy and individual rights.

Will gun control make a difference?
Does owning a gun make one safer or less safe?
What about my right to own a gun?

These are all good and important questions. Questions an informed public should wrestle with. Questions leaders sworn to uphold the Constitution and those knowledgeable about crime and social science should respectfully debate.

But as Christians, these are not the most important questions for us. As Christians, we are bound to ask another question … the question Jesus asks:

What honors God?

When the Pharisees castigate Jesus for his disciples plucking grain on the Sabbath, he gives the example of David eating the bread of the Presence in 1 Samuel 21. Why? He knows the real issue isn’t obeying the law for the law’s sake. He knows the most important thing is the reason the law exists in the first place.

He knows the real question is … what honors God?

My friend the Rev. Kathleen Wilder gifted me with a phrase several years ago. She talks about together us building “a city that makes glad God’s heart.” Building that city is the task of the faithful of every stripe. But we build it not by asking the questions that legislators and social scientists ask. We build it by asking the question of Christ.

We build it by asking: “What honors God?”

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called not to look out for our own safety. We are called not to be concerned with our own rights being infringed upon. As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to be concerned with building cities that make glad God’s heart.

We are called to be concerned with what honors God.

And so faced with the questions about guns in our society, as Christians, we are invited to stake our claims based on a different criteria.

Regardless of whether trying to halt the proliferation of weapons on our streets will be effective or not, as a Christian I need to ask: “Will it honor God?”

Regardless of whether owning a gun for the purpose of shooting another human being even in self-defense is a practical way of keeping me and my family safer, as a Christian, I need to ask “Will it honor God?”

Regardless of whether owning a gun is my right under the Constitution, as a Christian, I need to ask “Will it honor God?”

It's a daunting question. It's one that we need to ask with great humility. But it's one we need to ask realizing that we have some pretty good and clear clues about its answer.

So what do we know from Jesus about what honors God?

What we know from Jesus about what honors God is love for God and one another.

What we know from Jesus about what honors God is receiving blows but not striking them.

What we know from Jesus about what honors God is being willing to risk everything – even our own lives – for the sake of the kind of love Jesus showed in going to the cross.

I am not arguing that the laws of our nation be subject to Holy Scripture. I am saying that if you, like me, call yourself a Christian, then for us as we form our opinions, all other questions must take a back seat to the question of “What honors God?”

I am saying that if you, like me, are trying to follow Jesus, we need to be more concerned with listening for Jesus’ voice than with whatever our preconceived agenda about guns is.

I am saying that if you, like me, are trying to love as Jesus loved and live as Jesus lived, our living witness … even if it is a lonely and despised one … is committing ourselves to living the answer to the question he asks.

What do I think needs to be done about guns in our society? I believe they need to go.

Not because I believe restricting access to weapons will decrease gun violence … though I believe it will.

Not because I believe owning a gun makes us less safe … though I believe it does.

Not because I believe the second amendment right to bear arms is grossly misapplied in ways that were never what the framers intended … though I believe it is.

I believe that we need to get the guns off the streets because from everything I can tell from studying the Bible and trying to follow Jesus, weapons whose sole purpose is to main or destroy human life do not honor God. I believe that the Jesus who commands us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” and “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also,” and who healed the slave’s ear after Peter cut it off with a sword and who went to the cross rather than stop loving even his persecutors does not dream for us to take one another’s lives even to save our own.

I believe that we need to get the guns off the streets because if we are a church whose mission truly is to “restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ,” that doesn’t happen at gunpoint.

I believe that we need to get the guns off the streets because what happened three blocks from us today is not part of a city that makes glad God’s heart. And together, that is what we are tasked and gifted with building.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Our Shared Values - Service

Last year, we spent time speaking clearly & listening deeply to one another about what the values are that bind our Cathedral community together. Who is it we believe God has made us to be? Who is it we believe Christ is loving us into becoming. From this came five core values, five things we believe Jesus dreams for us to love: 
Spirituality & Faith, Diversity, Communication, Growth, Service
This week, I'm looking at one of these each day through the lenses of 
scripture, tradition and reason/experience.

Service

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me good, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?" And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'" - Matthew 25:31-40

That we are supposed to serve is pretty much a given. Both our Christian scriptures and their Hebrew antecedents are packed with proscriptions to serve, to care for the poor and to work for a more just society.

But this passage in Matthew's Gospel gives us a window into what specifically Christian service means. The service Jesus talks about here is the service where the goal is not any secular agenda, no matter how laudable. The service Jesus talks about is service where we recognize that the vulnerable person we serve is none other than Christ. That means service is much more than just handing out a sandwich ... it is addressing the question "how best can I honor the presence of Christ in each member of humanity?"

As Episcopalians, two promises of our baptismal covenant address this. We promise to "seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves" and also to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being." Combined, these two promises commit us to deep personal relationships of honoring Christ in each individual and also working structurally to transform the systems of the world that impoverish and oppress.

Christ Church Cathedral has a long history of service. You probably know about Miss Carol's Breakfast and the women and children's shelter that used to be in the basement. But did you know that the choir room, Letmar Hall, was originally haven for young, unmarried, pregnant women when the BTM first opened in the early 20th century?

More recently, we have looked to build partnerships with downtown organizations like The Bridge and St. Patrick Center. We are looking forward to welcoming Lafayette Preparatory Academy into the BTM this year as they try to improve education for all St. Louis' children. We have gathered St. Louis under our roof to pray for an end to gun violence in our city. The tradition of service is alive and well ... but where do we go from here?

As we prepare for our annual meeting and conversations this Sunday, think about this:

Why is service important to you? To us?

What are the opportunities for us to embody service today and in the future?

See you Sunday!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Our Shared Values - Growth

Last year, we spent time speaking clearly & listening deeply to one another about what the values are that bind our Cathedral community together. Who is it we believe God has made us to be? Who is it we believe Christ is loving us into becoming. From this came five core values, five things we believe Jesus dreams for us to love: 
Spirituality & Faith, Diversity, Communication, Growth, Service

This week, I'm looking at one of these each day through the lenses of scripture, tradition and reason/experience.

Growth

"Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ -- Matthew 28:16-20

There are two pillars of Christian practice given to us by Jesus -- the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

The first is the Great Commandment: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Matthew 22:37-39).

The Great Commandment tells us how to live -- giving our lives away in love to God and our neighbor (with the story of the Good Samaritan reminding us that our neighbor is often the person most different from and challenging to us). The Great Commandment is an invitation to the inward journey of prayer, worship and study and to the outward journey of giving and service (more about service tomorrow).

The Great Commission is the passage quoted above ... the final words of the Gospel of Matthew. It's called the Great Commission because Jesus is telling us that this life of love is not just for us but for the world ... and we are commissioned not to keep this Christian life to ourselves but always to be inviting people into it.

In other words, the Church is supposed to grow ... certainly in depth of devotion to Christ, certainly in depth of service, but just as certainly in numbers of the faithful.

Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple (1881-1944) said famously, "The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members." It is a wonderful rephrasing of this Great Commission ... and expresses beautifully what we as Anglicans believe.

As much as we are tempted to think about shaping the Church based on our own desires, the Great Commission and Archbishop Temple's wisdom remind us different. We do not exist for ourselves. Every decision we make should not be based on our own comfort or desire but on answering the questions "how will this love the world outside this church better?" and "how will this bring the world that does not know Jesus closer to Jesus?"

When we claim growth as a value, we are committing ourselves to a life of change ... because every time the community expands, it will change. When we claim growth as a value, we are committing ourselves not to worshipping the liturgy or whatever "the way we've always done things" is, but instead we are committing ourselves to giving away power to the newcomer, and sharing our stories with the stranger.

This kind of change can be scary. After all, what attracts many of us to church is its familiarity. The very word we use to describe our worship space -- sanctuary -- speaks of a safe place where we cannot be touched. And yet, if we are to grow, by definition we must embrace this change ... even without knowing precisely what it will be or where it will lead.

But that's OK ... because what we do know is this. That Jesus didn't just give us the Great Commission and leave. He gave us the Great Commission and ended it with a promise: "Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Amidst all the change, that is one thing that will never change. And that has always and will always make all the difference.

As we prepare for our annual meeting and conversations next Sunday, think about this:

Why is growth important to you? To us?

What are the opportunities for us to embody growth today and in the future?

Tomorrow: Service.

See you Sunday!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Our Shared Values - Communication

Last year, we spent time speaking clearly & listening deeply to one another about what the values are that bind our Cathedral community together. Who is it we believe God has made us to be? Who is it we believe Christ is loving us into becoming. From this came five core values, five things we believe Jesus dreams for us to love: 
Spirituality & Faith, Diversity, Communication, Growth, Service

This week, I'm looking at one of these each day through the lenses of scripture, tradition and reason/experience.

Communication

"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness." -- Philippians 2:3-7

We talk about communication a lot here at Christ Church Cathedral. We have a strong sense that good communication is a marker of good health , and that communication is a tool that will help us in living our values. But we've struggled with it as a value per se.

One Sunday morning this past Advent, I heard our own Mark Jordan lead an excellent Adult Christian Formation conversation on the incarnation, and he quoted this from Thomas Aquinas:

"The very nature of God is goodness ... and it belongs to the essence of goodness to share (communicare) itself with others."

There was that word (albeit parenthetically and in Latin!) right there on the page ... communicare ... communication. OF COURSE it is one of our values, because it is part of the very essence of God.

The piece of scripture above is from the Christ Hymn in Philippians -- it is maybe the oldest piece of Christian poetry. It described what happened in Jesus as God "emptying" godself into human form. God sharing the divine self with us. God putting everything God was and expressing it in our language ... the language of being human.

In Jesus, God shared God's authentic, true self with us. In Jesus, God communicates with us.

Embracing communication as a value means we several things. It means we share our true and authentic selves with one another ... that this is a place where we are honest with each other and we live with integrity. It also means we value not just doing that for ourselves but sharing it with the world. We value not being turned inward but reaching outward ... proclaiming the Gospel, inviting people into it, sharing the essence of God's goodness with others.

The icon of this value at Christ Church Cathedral ... and cathedrals historically ... is our bells. For more than a century ... through every high and low point not just in our own community but in the life of this city ... the bells of Christ Church Cathedral have communicated, have proclaimed that God is here in the midst of us. That God is here rejoicing, weeping, working, wrestling. For more than a century, our bells have gathered God's people together and sent them out into the world.

But our committment to communication doesn't stop there. Because where we share our true selves as God's children most is when we are out ministering in the world in the course of our daily lives. We were communicators of God's love when Kathryn Nelson served on the Library Board and every time Fred Peterson saw a patient. Every time Huldah Blamoville lobbies for better health care or Helen Schleipman helps a nervous parent at Children's Hospital. We are communicators of God's love every time a member of the pastoral care team visits someone who is homebound, or when Becket Clark turns his band fundraiser into a foodraiser for Miss Carol's Breakfast.

We are communicators of God, sharers of God's essence every time we live in community with one another with integrity and every time we point outward to share God's love with the world.

As we prepare for our annual meeting and conversations next Sunday, think about this:

Why is communication important to you? To us?

What are the opportunities for us to embody communication today and in the future?

Tomorrow: Growth.

See you Sunday!

in Christ's love,

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Our Shared Values -- Diversity


Last year, we spent time speaking clearly & listening deeply to one another about what the values are that bind our Cathedral community together. Who is it we believe God has made us to be? Who is it we believe Christ is loving us into becoming. From this came five core values, five things we believe Jesus dreams for us to love: 
Spirituality & Faith, Diversity, Communication, Growth, Service
This week, I'm looking at one of these each day through the lenses of scripture, tradition and reason/experience.

Diversity
As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. - Mark 10:46-52

This might not be the scripture reading you were expecting for a reflection on diversity.

Maybe you were expecting Galatians 3:28 ("neither Jew nor Greek ...neither slave nor free... all are one in Christ Jesus.), or maybe Acts 10:1-48 (Peter's dream and his meeting with Cornelius ... "God shows no partiality") or even Revelation 7:9-10 ("a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.")

There are many pieces of scripture that tell us of Jesus' surpassing love for the diversity of God's people, and our call to do the same. The story of blind Bartimaeus tells us even more, though. This story tells us what loving like Christ loves looks like in the context of our community.

Bartimaeus was different, an outisder who lived on the margins. The disciples didn't think he was even worthy of their attention much less Jesus' attention. But look what Jesus does. Jesus takes this outsider and brings him into the center of the community. He makes Bartimaeus' concerns -- not the concerns of the disciples or the people who were majority of the band around Jesus, but the concerns of this outsider -- his focus. He brings Bartimaeus to wholeness and then Bartimaeus becomes part of the community.

The diversity of the Body of Christ is not about tolerance. It is not about "anyone can join as long as they act like us." It is not about "anyone can join and be who they are over there ... away from the community's center." The diversity of Christ is about every person who joins being able to be who they are and having that identity shape the entire community. The diversity of Christ is about not just letting the stranger in the door but putting them at the center and making their concerns the community concerns. And then being a part of Christ's healing and making whole.

It is about making insiders out of outsiders.

We have a proud history of this kind of diversity in many ways as Christ Church Cathedral. Certainly our being an Oasis congregation and embracing our identity as a GLBT congregation is a wonderful example of this ... and it hasn't been without struggle. The struggle exists in other areas, too. In embracing the racial diversity of our Cathedral. In embracing that we are a Cathedral of children and youth. In embracing that we are a Cathedral that has people who have no homes who are every bit as faithful to Christ and this Cathedral as people whose addresses fill up our directory.

In my nearly four years walking together with you, I have seen us deeply love the richness of our diversity and still struggle mightily with the conflict and challenge it brings. Diversity is hard ... perhaps the hardest one of these values for us to embody. It says something about us that, hard as it is, we are adamant that it is a piece of who we are and who God dreams for us to be.

As we prepare for our annual meeting and conversations next Sunday, think about this:

Why is diversity important to you? To us?

What are the opportunities for us to embody diversity today and in the future?

Tomorrow: Communication.

See you Sunday!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Our Shared Values -- Spirituality & Faith

Last year, we spent time speaking clearly & listening deeply to one another about what the values are that bind our Cathedral community together. Who is it we believe God has made us to be? Who is it we believe Christ is loving us into becoming. From this came five core values, five things we believe Jesus dreams for us to love: Spirituality & Faith, Diversity, Communication, Growth, Service
This week, I'm looking at one of these each day through the lenses of scripture, tradition and reason/experience.

Spirituality & Faith
"Early in the morning Jesus came walking towards them on the lake. But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’  Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’" - Matthew 14:23-33

Of all the values we discerned, none resonated more with the entire community than this one. In some ways that is a no-brainer. We're a church ... of course we are going to be about spirituality & faith! But truthfully, that's not a given. Many churches have established other central identities -- political advocacy groups, social service organizations, hubs for arts and culture, even historical preservation societies.

Together, we have said that before anything else we are about spirituality and faith -- that this is the core from which all else springs. So let's look at those two words. Spirituality has its root in spiritus, literally the wind or breath of God. Faith as expressed in scripture is not intellectual assent but the kind of deep trust that is about literally putting our lives in anothers' hands.

Those two words meet in the story of Peter walking on the water. Jesus calls Peter out of the boat, out of what not only feels safe but out of what pure logic tells him is possible. And Peter has faith ... Peter trusts in Jesus and as long as he keeps his eyes on him he is able to do that which seemed impossible -- walk on the water. But then he is distracted by a spirit ... not the Holy Spirit, not the breath of God, but one of the many winds of the world. And it causes him to break his gaze and he begins to sink ... only to have Jesus save him.

When we put "Spirit and Faith" at our center, we are saying that we are going to be shaped not by the winds of the world that swirl around us, but by the very breath of God that was breathed into us in creation. When we put "Spirit and Faith" at our center, we are saying that we are going to try to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and trust that when he calls us into even those things that seem impossible that nothing is impossible with God. We are going to trust that in that mutual gaze of us with Christ is life ... and that even should we break it that Christ will be there to catch us.

The Church has a long history of stepping out in faith, of following the Spirit and trusting that even that which seems impossible can happen if we keep our gaze fixed on Christ. In recent years, the Civil Rights movement in this country had to thank for its spine, brave souls who dared to step out of the boat in the form of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Cathedrals throughout history have stood tall as reminders of the central place of God in our common life ... and that there is no part of our common life that God in Christ doesn't visit us and invite us to be made extroardinary through our trust in him.

Since the early days of the City of St. Louis, our own Christ Church Cathedral for nearly 200 years has been a center of learning about God and, especially in our darkest hours, asking for Jesus to come for us on the waters and catch us as we fall.

As we prepare for our annual meeting and conversations next Sunday, think about this:

Why is spirituality & faith important to you? To us?

What are the opportunities for us to embody a living spirituality and a living faith today and in the future?

Tomorrow: Diversity.

See you Sunday!

in Christ's love,