MONEY MONEY MONEY (Do I have your attention?)

As I hope you've heard, we're doing stewardship differently this year. We've got three different teams each concentrating on one aspect of our stewardship. Stewardship of Money.  Stewardship of Time and Talent.  Stewardship of Spirit. The first two are fairly self-explanatory. The third is a group that recognizes we need to care for the gift God gives us in each other through opportunities to come together and celebrate and enjoy our community. I'm going to be using this blog to update you on the work of these groups ... starting today with the "Money Team."

Who is the "Money Team" -- Currently it is Mark Bethell, Joan D'Ambrose, Jennifer Feldhaus, Hopey Gardner, Laura Lambrix, John Long, Titus Olajide. I am convening this team and the current membership was drawn from me doing what has served me well for 15 years of ordained ministry -- praying with the directory and lists of newcomers and seeing what names emerge (I always have to give Heidi Clark credit for recommending this!). It has never failed to gather amazing groups -- and often of people I wouldn't have thought of myself. That said, ANYONE is welcome to join ... just contact me and come aboard!

We've met three times so far. We've told our "money stories" (the messages we got about money growing up). We've looked at three different pieces of scripture (Matthew 11:28-30, John 21: 15-19, Philippians 4:10-13). We talked openly about our struggles with wealth and our experience of stewardship and the life of this congregation.

After those three meetings here is where we are ... and we would love your thoughts and input and ideas. We'd also need you to consider how you might be a part of our Cathedral community coming together to make this happen:

We dream of a Cathedral community that:

*Honestly faces our financial realities
*Boldly trusts that God will provide for us and through us.
*Joyfully commits together to sustaining and growing Christ Church Cathedral.

We have identified five key messages we need to engage together as a Cathedral.

*Face Facts - Cathedrals can and have closed - even this year in the Episcopal Church two have (Wilmington, DE and Providence, RI). We are being kept afloat at current levels by the Pope Bequest. At current draw, that will run out in 3 years and then it is gone. The congregation can't do it all, but we need to take responsibility for paying for staff and program -- which is where the pledge target of $440K comes from.

*Trust God - We trust God will provide for Christ Church Cathedral, but we also trust that God provides through us. We trust that when we give generously, that God will provide for us ... not just in our physical needs but bring us incredible joy in giving and in seeing what this Cathedral can become as a beehive of mission and ministry and worship.

*Come Together - We are the Body of Christ. That means we follow Jesus as a community and represent Christ to each other. People give to people. Our stewardship must be deeply grounded in our relationship with each other on a one-on-one level. Inviting. Holding accountable. Praying for and with. Celebrating. Stewardship of Spirit is truly a major part of this, and that must include welcoming many new people into this community.

*Trust Each Other - The staff and chapter need to make sure all finances are transparent as possible/appropriate. People need to feel confident that their money is being handled professionally and their gifts are valued and respected. Information needs to be clear and consistent. The congregation needs to trust the staff and the chapter, assume the best about their professionalism and faithfulness. We need to all be in this together and assume the best of one another.

*Embrace a vision - We will give more enthusiastically and generously if we have a clear sense of mission ... a sense of what we are becoming as a Cathedral. That vision will come from the process we are going through right now with the diocese and the city of discerning our shared, core values ... but the Dean and Chapter need to communicate clearly about that process ... and the process for how leadership is chosen.

What do you think about this dream and these points? How can we work together? What role would you like to play? Leave a comment or talk to me or any member of the "Money Team."

Also, please join us in regularly praying the "Money Team's" guiding prayer. It's the "Prayer of Abandonment" by Charles de Foucauld.

God, I abandon myself to you. Do with me as you will.
Whatever you may do with me, I thank you.
I am prepared for anything, I accept everything.
Provided your will is fulfilled in me and in all creatures I ask for nothing more, my God.
I place my soul in your hands. I give it to you, my God,
With all the love of my heart Because I love you.
And for me it is a necessity of love, This gift of myself,
This placing of myself in your hands Without reserve
In boundless confidence Because you are my God

-Charles de Foucauld

Caring for the Poor is OUR Biblical Role -- You. Me. Everyone.

This morning, Jim Wallis published an article on his "God's Politics" blog with the title "Caring for the Poor is Government's Biblical Role."   Here's how it begins:

There is hardly a more controversial political battle in America today than that around the role of government. The ideological sides have lined up, and the arguments rage about the size of government: how big, how small should it be? Some famously have said government should be shrunk so small that it "could be drowned in a bathtub."

But I want to suggest that what size the government should be is the wrong question. A more useful discussion would be about the purposes of government and whether ours is fulfilling them. So let's look at what the Bible says.

It's a good read, and Jim definitely knows his Bible. But I've got two big problems with it. And just so I don't become just one more internet naysayer taking potshots at someone else's writing ... I think the problems also point us to definite positive courses of action.

In a country whose constitution says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," while my own opinions about governments role may be shaped by the Bible, those views should not carry any more or less weight than any others in our national discussions. I should not expect government at any level to automatically adapt to a Biblical definition of anything.

What the article doesn't say (but I know Jim Wallis knows and deeply believes) is that whether or not it is government's role to take care of the poor it is certainly not JUST government's role. The Bible ... particularly the Gospels ... are very clear about that.

In Matthew 25 when Jesus says that he is present in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner and that our very fate and salvation depends on whether we care for those people on an individual basis in that need. When Jesus tells the man who has fulfilled all the law the one thing he lacks is to "sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."  ... it is very clear that he is saying each one of us has individual responsibility to help the poor both as individuals and as a class of people.

Now, you might say, "well, of course, that's a given." Well ... no, it's not. Because if you are a liberal who has never had this conversation with conservatives, you might be surprised to find that an article like Jim Wallis' will likely evoke the reaction of "those liberals just want government to take care of everything."  Many conservatives I know see thinking like Jim's article not as a challenging of the government to strive for the common good but an abdication of our own responsibility and making the poor "someone else's problem."

A Sunday Morning Wedding -- Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together

Some of you are old enough to remember that old commercial for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The guy walking down the street eating the chocolate bar. The girl walking down the street eating from a jar of peanut butter (seriously, has anyone ever really done that??). They turn the corner and collide. Peanut butter hits chocolate.

At first they're upset. "You put your chocolate in my peanut butter!" "You got peanut butter in my chocolate!"

But then they take a bite and ... "Delicious!"

Two great tastes that taste great together.

One of the many things I love about our Cathedral congregation is how much we love our Sunday morning liturgy.  It is a huge team effort to create this offering for God, and so many people work to make it a truly beautiful gift. More than that, it's a chance for us to come together and lay our lives on the table with Christ. To offer ourselves to God. I know for me, there is nothing more meaningful. Sunday morning is the highlight of every week for me.

Just about all of us also love weddings. And anyone who has had any part of one knows that's also a team effort to create something beautiful. We love the fancy clothes, of course, but more than that we love the hope, we love the love. We love that two people would love each other so much that they are not just willing but completely on fire to pledge devotion to one another until they are parted by death. We love that we can find one person to try to love as deeply as Christ loves us. Weddings are some of the best celebrations of our lives.

So in February, when we first had a wedding on a Sunday morning at Christ Church Cathedral (and it was a wonderful event where Brittney Rickard and Chloe Hollett gave themselves to each other in vows and with rings in front of God and our community), it was really new and for some people kind of jarring. Like the peanut butter hitting the chocolate. 

And while a lot of people said, "MMMMM ... Delicious!" there were also those who said: "Hey, what's up? You got your wedding in my Eucharist." ... and that's OK. Some things take a while to get used to.

This Sunday, we're doing it again. Melanie Jianakoplos and Chris Slane will exchange vows and be married at our regular 10 am service. Bishop Smith will be the presider and Canon to the Ordinary Dan Smith (an old family friend of the Slane's) will preach.

The reason Melanie and Chris are doing this at the Cathedral is that both are postulants for holy orders (specifically, the priesthood. Melanie from Missouri and Chris from Nebraska). When you enter the process for holy orders you stop being a parishioner of a congregation. That means the diocese is their congregation and the Cathedral is their church.

But why Sunday morning?

Because marriage is not just a sacramental rite between two people. It is an act of the entire community. The Rev. Dr. Dan Handschy, rector of Church of the Advent in Crestwood and new dean of the Episcopal School for Ministry, gives the best description I know when he says, "At a wedding your relationship becomes community property."

Gnaw on This: The Gospel for This Sunday

The Gospel isn't meant to be gulped down on a Sunday morning, but gnawed on through the week so it really becomes a part of us.
You've got to work at it ... like a dog with a good bone!
Here's the Gospel for this Sunday ... with some notes and more "food for thought"

14th Sunday After Pentecost - Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

'This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.'

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

The Backstory - What's Going On Here?

We're back in the primary Gospel for this year -- Mark. We pick up in Chapter 7. Jesus has gathered his disciples and taught them in parables. He has calmed a storm, cast our demons and healed poeple. He was rejected by his own hometown in Nazareth and he sent out his disciples to spread the mission. This next section is highlighted by two feedings -- the feeding of the 4,000 (6:45-52) and the feeding of the 5,000 (8:1-10). In between the two, Jesus walks on water (freaking the disciples out!), he heals people ... and we have this passage where he tangles with the Pharisees about purity laws and ritual tradition.

What we see in the passages leading up to this point is Jesus gaining power. That is bound to make whomever has power nervous, and the Pharisees are the ones who have power. Jesus is showing he has power to feed, heal and even control the elements. But the Pharisees are the keeper of God's rulebook ... and so they use it to flex back.

A few things to chew on:

Welcoming fellow travelers to our urban adventure and pilgrimage.

At 10:30 last night, the Journey to Adulthood (J2A) group from Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington, KY, pulled into our parking lot. They're staying with us ... sleeping in sleeping bags in our second floor Christian Education area ... through Sunday afternoon.

J2A is a middle school/early high school youth curriculum we use (in an adapted form because of our smaller numbers) at Christ Church Cathedral. It generally involves two trips. At the end of the first year there is an "Urban Adventure" - a trip to an unfamiliar city to learn about and work with organizations that are healing urban poverty. At the end of the second year is a pilgrimage to a holy site. Some churches take their groups to the Holy Land or Canterbury, but most don't have those resources and find places that can be reached by car and van.

This group is on their Urban Adventure. They will be spending two days working at our partners The Bridge at Centenary United Methodist Church down the street.

Cathedrals are natural locations for both urban adventure and pilgrimage. In the nearly two millennia that cathedrals have existed, they have been centers for urban ministry and also places of pilgrimage. Hospitality has always been a hallmark of Cathedral ministry ... a place where travelers could not only find shelter but experience the transcendent love of God in Christ.

Christ Church Cathedral regularly hosts mission groups of young people (we've had a group from Gonzaga come here for the past three years on alternative spring break and many J2A groups come through). We do not charge for this, though we accept any donation the traveler wishes to give to support this way station we call home.

We do this not just because we are on a pilgrimage and an urban adventure, too. Every day at Christ Church Cathedral is an urban adventure! It is full of challenge and heartbreak and many, many instances of grace. It is full of feeling like a failure and falling short in the face of the enormous challenges of urban life. It is full of deep, deep joy at knowing that just by being here with open doors, praying hands and listening ears that we are reminding people that they are indeed made in God's image and deeply loved.

We are also on a pilgrimage. Each and all of us are on a journey deep into the heart of God. We are at different places on that journey, but we take it together. And so we welcome the good people from our sister Christ Church Cathedral not just as guests but as fellow adventurers and pilgrims.

Pray for them this week ... and I've asked them to pray for us. They'll be joining us for worship at 10 am on Sunday. When you see them, embrace them well.

What is *Christian* outreach at Christ Church Cathedral?

"Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?"

"Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, 

and respect the dignity of every human being?" 

(Baptismal Covenant, BCP p. 305)

We all have a sense that following Jesus and being the church involves service (particularly with the poor) and working for justice. Christ Church Cathedral has a long history of embracing this. Lately, many people have come to me saying it feels there is no coherent vision for outreach here, that we're sputtering without a clear sense of what we're supposed to be doing. 

As our congregation, the diocese and representatives from the neighborhood and region go through the process of discerning the shared, core values that will guide this Cathedral, much of that vision will emerge. But after hearing so many of these voices, Amy Cortright, Mark Sluss and I decided that even as that process was happening, it would be good for us to convene a diverse group of Cathedral parishioners to wrestle with some foundational and structural questions about outreach that will enable us to be ready to move once our values are discerned. Questions like:

*Why we as Christians are called to outreach with the poor and to work for justice (i.e. what makes us different from the United Way?)

*What are the opportunities and challenges for outreach and social justice based on location/population/etc.?

*What process can we propose for Chapter to consider that will help the Cathedral identify outreach ministries for the congregation to engage in and also for helping figure out whether a ministry proposed by a parishioner is something the Cathedral as a body should support or whether this is something the person should be encouraged to support individually as part of their baptized life in Christ?

Gnaw On This ... The Gospel for This Sunday

The Gospel isn't meant to be gulped down on a Sunday morning, but gnawed on through the week so it really becomes a part of us. 
You've got to work at it ... like a dog with a good bone! 

Here's the Gospel for this Sunday ... with some notes and more "food for thought"

13th Sunday After Pentecost - John 6:56-69

Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

The Backstory - What's Going On Here?

This is the end of the long discourse on bread in John's Gospel that has carried us for the past five weeks, starting with the feeding of the five thousand. If we were to go back and read all of chapter 6 as a piece, we would notice that the tension and conflict is continually growing in breadth and depth throughout.

After the feeding, the people are crying with one voice, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world," But as soon as Jesus starts revealing more and more not only what the feeding was about, but who he is ... there is more and more discontent and more and more people turn from praising Jesus to turning against him.

The lectionary unfortunately cuts us off just before the climax of this passage. Even some of Jesus' disciples have turned against him and we are left with two paragons -- one of ultimate virtue and one of ultimate vice. Just after Peter (representing ultimate faith and virtue) confesses that he is all in with Jesus, John completes the passage with verses 70-71:

"Jesus answered them 'Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?' He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was to betray him."

We see Jesus for who he really is ... and it's not easy. The lines are drawn. John asks us -- which side of that line will we be on?

A few things to chew on: