Bishop Greg Rickel

Easter is Here!

2009-04-12T18:16:00.001-07:00

Dear Ones,

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! ( I will post this again but I am moving my blog to a new website www.bishoprickel.com, please join me there!)

I want to thank all of you who took the time to join in the reading of "The Great Emergence" throughout Lent. It added a rich dimension to the season for me. Thanks to Bishop Rivera taking St. Mark's Cathedral through this Triduum, I was able to travel to several different congregations for Holy Week.

St. Clement's, Seattle for Maundy Thursday

Grace, Bainbridge for Good Friday

"Dancing in the Darkness" Good Friday, Commission for Emerging Ministries

St. Micheal and All Angel's, Issaquah, The Great Vigil of Easter

St. Columba's, Kent, Easter Day.

In those travels, at Grace, Bainbridge, I was blessed to get this poem, by Mark Jarman entitled "If I Were Paul" It moved me greatly and I offer it to you as my Easter gift to all of you.

Blessings,

+Greg

Consider how you were made.

Consider the loving geometry that sketched your bones, the passionate symmetry that sewed

flesh to your skeleton, and the cloudy zenith whence your soul descended in shimmering rivulets

across pure granite to pour as a single braided stream into the skull's cup.

Consider the first time you conceived of justice, engendered mercy, brought parity into being,

coaxed liberty like a marten from its den to uncoil its limber spine in a sunny clearing, how you

understood the inheritance of first principles, the legacy of noble thought, and built a city like a

forest in the forest, and erected temples like thunderheads.

Consider, as if it were penicillin or the speed of light, the discovery of another's hands, his oval

field of vision, her muscular back and hips, his nerve-jarred neck and shoulders, her bleeding

gums and dry elbows and knees, his baldness and cauterized skin cancers, her lucid and

forgiving gaze, his healing touch, her mind like a prairie. Consider the first knowledge of

otherness. How it felt.

Consider what you were meant to be in the egg, in your parents' arms, under a sky full of stars.

Now imagine what I have to say when I learn of your enterprising viciousness, the discipline

with which one of you turns another into a robot or a parasite or a maniac or a body strapped to a

chair. Imagine what I have to say.

Do the impossible. Restore life to those you have killed, wholeness to those you have maimed,

goodness to what you have poisoned, trust to those you have betrayed.

Bless each other with the heart and soul, the hand and eye, the head and foot, the lips, tongue,

and teeth, the inner ear and the outer ear, the flesh and spirit, the brain and bowels, the blood and

lymph, the heel and toe, the muscle and bone, the waist and hips, the chest and shoulders, the

whole body, clothed and naked, young and old, aging and growing up.

I send you this not knowing if you will receive it, or if having received it, you will read it, or if

having read it, you will know that it contains my blessing.

HOLY WEEK 2009

2009-04-06T10:16:00.001-07:00

Dear Ones,

Yes, I did indeed "turn on the fire hose" on these last two weeks. And all of you handled it so very well! I am so sorry I have been a bit out of the discussion, but please know I have been watching and listening as they have come in. I cannot tell you how inspiring the posts have been. You have entered into this discussion with a depth I could not have imagined. What is probably most clear about this discussion is that a lot is not that clear. The Great Emergence, or whatever we might call it, something is happening, there is a change afoot. Perhaps more than anything this discussion with Tickle's offering as our catalyst has helped us learn a bit more about how to think, and not exactly what to think. I pray you have learned and grown and enjoyed our discussion. I hope we keep having it! I am already thinking of our next possible book. If you have ideas let me know.

For now, I hope you can let go of the intensive thinking on what is happening now and focus on the journey ahead of us on this week. In my sermon Palm Sunday I challenged those there to the following

"I would ask that in these first few days of Holy Week that you forget everything you think you know ABOUT these last days of Jesus life and instead of learning ABOUT Jesus this week, LISTEN TO Jesus and the events this week. Listen. "

I hope to also read in even more depth some of the fabulous posts here and to keep the conversation going .

Again, blessings in gratitude for your engagement in this little experiment,

Greg

Weeks 4 and 5!

2009-03-25T18:05:00.001-07:00

Dear Ones,

I am so sorry to be away from the discussion for so long. I continue to get great reports from all around the diocese. I have been reading the posts as they come in and I am so thankful for all of you, and your diligence in staying in the conversation. I want to still go through some, perhaps comment even more on some of the specifics, but for now I wanted to get out our final two weeks of readings as well as the study guide. Some of you may have found the guide at the "Great Emergence" website. If not, I am posting here the Guide for these last two chapters. For these two weeks the readings are as follows:

March 22-28- Part III intro and Chapter 6, pages 119-144

March 29-April 4- Chapter 7 and end discussion, pages 145-163

The Study Guide is just below, many blessings to all of you and don't blog so much that you miss out on Lent!

Blessings,

Greg

The Great Emergence Study Guide CC 6-7 The Great Emergence: Where is it going?

Where is the Great Emergence going? And, similarly, where is it taking us as it goes? Both questions intuit two seemingly opposite yet complementary issues. On the one hand, it is our responsibility to make educated guesses about what is happening in our religious landscape and instigate what we hope to be productive measures for the future of the church. Action is needed, and it is needed now. On the other hand, we must be honest with ourselves that, like in any previous time of "Great" change, we are not fully in control of what is going on here. We are located in a far larger environment than our own ecclesial (and even religious) walls.

Perhaps surfing is an apt metaphor for the kind of dual action required of us. Though we may choose our surfboard, our spot in the ocean, and the wave we take, we are not, in the end, able to control the movement of the ocean. We cannot determine the tide, or the length of the wave, or its intensity. It is our duty to ride it, and ride it well, in hopes that we arrive safely (and, with a little luck, gracefully) on the shore.

1. What do you find most difficult about facing the changes of the Great Emergence?

2. Taking risks through particular actions, or relinquishing control and accepting limits?

3. What spiritual practices can best inform us as we learn to ride the wave of the Great Emergence?

Chapter 6: The Gathering Center

As we consider the changing religious landscape during the Great Emergence, the diagrams of the quadrilateral, the cruciform, the gathering center and the new rose are helpful ways of mapping the responses and directions of particular religious traditions. Over and above and between all of these directional movements is centripetal force.

Centripetal force literally means "center seeking" in Latin. Centripetal force is absolutely necessary when matter begins moving in a circular direction. It is the only means by which movement toward the gathering center can be maintained. Each of us has experienced centripetal force when we have ridden in a car that suddenly turned while our bodies continued to go straight, shoving us into the passenger next to us or possibly the door or dashboard. It feels like we are being pushed outward, but this is not actually the case. We have been pulled inward toward the center of the turn. Our bodies sense a push outward despite the fact that we are not in any way moving outward, but what previously would have been straight. This is because during acceleration, Newton's first two laws of motion no longer apply (think the Heisenberg principle). It is no wonder that many of us have a difficult time finding our directional bearings during this time of acceleration around the gathering center of American religious life. We are currently in

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the middle of the turn, and we are unsure which direction we are actually going. We also happen to be picking up new ideas, new people, new traditions en route, changing the size and shape of the center itself. There is hope, however, in Tickle's assertion that we are perhaps being pulled inward by our common desire to become more incarnational.5 Before we are able to be pushed outward into "a new way of being Christian, into a new way of being Church,"6 perhaps we are gathered toward Jesus-the-Center through the guiding force of the Spirit.

1. How has the center-seeking centripetal force of the Great Emergence affected your faith? Your church? In what ways do you feel unsure of your direction? In what ways do you feel pulled toward Jesus-the-Center?

2. As you consider the final diagram in the chapter, where do you classify yourself? Did your classification change as the diagram shifted from the quadrilateral to its final surrounding currents? How can the diagram be used to help people describe their journeys of faith?

3. If you happen to be one of the "hyphenateds," how are you navigating the tensions between the pull to the center and the pull to the corners?

4. After the Great Reformation, the process of drawing up systematic doctrines provided both cohesiveness and clarity to new denominational bodies. While the confessional age was based upon distinction, the age of emergence will likely be based upon collaboration. Though this is not without its difficulties, Protestantism's "hallmark characteristic of divisiveness" is also being replaced by a significantly more harmonious one. Tickle uses the metaphor of a bursting geyser, gathering people from each corner and quadrant and spewing them upward into a new way of being Christian, to describe the gathering center phenomenon. What benefits and drawbacks do you see in the propelling force of the geyser? What are your greatest hopes for this "generous orthodoxy?" Your greatest fears?

5. Tickle writes, "In the Great Emergence, reacting Christians are the ballast." By reacting to the gathering center, they provide necessary stability as the center continues to take shape. If you happen to be someone nearer the center, how do you feel about those reacting most stringently against you as helpful, and even necessary? If you happen to be someone nearer the corners, how do you feel about stabilizing (if not strengthening) a movement with which you fervently disagree?

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6. There has been marked tension in the Great Emergence, specifically in the interactions of those in Emergent Village, between a desire to speak freely of what one currently does/believes/perceives and a desire to speak against what one used to do/believe/perceive. How, if at all, have you experienced this tension? How does it correlate to the changes happening in the Great Emergence? How does this experience coincide with our Christian understanding of the tensions between the now and the not yet?

7. This term has come into wide use through Brian McLaren's book of the same title, which aptly and beautifully describes the kind of ecclesial collaboration that will likely become a hallmark of Great Emergence Christianity.

8. Tickle claims the earliest assessment of the Great Emergence as simply a generational issue is an error that has since been recognized and understood. From your vantage point, do you and those you know agree, or do you continue to see the current religious changes as generational in nature? Why or why not?

9. If you agree the Great Emergence is not a generational issue, how can those in older generations seek to help rather than hinder the changes underfoot?

10. How can we focus on the emerging conversation not as one that rejects truth or tradition, but as a conversation seeking to create "new ways of being faithful in a new world?"

Chapter 7: The Way Ahead

The power of network theory can be summed up by the simple fact that interest in it has brought together physicists, sociologists, entrepreneurs, engineers, biologists, political campaign strategists and market analysts, just to name a few. The sheer volume of books written on the subject in the past number of years evidences a great desire to understand how the world is changing, and how network theory can enlighten people to effectively engage the new linked-in world.

Network theory quite simply refers to research being done to understand relationships, how they are formed, how they are strengthened or weakened, and what effects they have on individuals, groups and societies. At its most basic level, network theory can refer to two points, or nodes, connected by a line from one to the other. This line indicates the relationship between point A and point B. However, further inferences on what kind of relationship is happening between them can result in a variety of lines and arcs displaying mutuality, disagreement, commonality and proximity. Add a dozen or a hundred or

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thousands more nodes to these two at varying levels of complexity and you can see how quickly network theory books are needed if we are to make out the forest for the trees. And we must, for network theory is absolutely central in our quest to map the way ahead in the Great Emergence.

As we return to the question of authority, network theory gives us the Great Emergence's first answer. Where now is the authority? It is in the network, running in between all the nodes and connectors, this way and that, in no particular pattern, and asking nobody for permission. Authority exists for the church when the network, a collection of Jesus followers who are linked together, shares information back and forth about Scripture and faith. This is why Tickle suggests that an emergent would respond that authority now lies "in Scripture and in the community." This may be seen as a way emergents are reconciling the divorced parents of experience and Scripture. (Remember that experience was the foundational belief of modern liberal theology while a particular hermeneutic of Scripture was the foundational belief of modern conservative theology.) However, as Tickle describes, what we currently see in the Great Emergence is not a simple "patching together" of 1 + 1 but more specifically the emergence of something new, something greater than the sum of its parts. Emergence is not a bridge between the two warring houses of Scripture and experience. It is the demolition of both houses and the construction in its place of a highly networked web.

If we return to the concept of holism and the metaphor of a web of belief, which holds together what we deem true, then in the network theory world of the Great Emergence, there are multiple levels of webs, woven from the authors who wrote the Scriptures and people who experience the living God, the communities who preserved their writings and stories, a history of people who affirmed them, contemporary individuals, churches and denominational institutions that continue to believe them, and on and on. Therefore, authority that rests in both Scripture and the community suggests a network of two thousand years of relationships. Authority is held by each and every relationship strand, and yet is strong enough to withstand strands becoming broken by the sheer volume of the web. In this way, Scripture and community are not completely separate entities, but rather both are a means by which faith has been passed down to us and for us and with us.

As is always the case, parallels can be seen in the wider culture. Consider, as one quick example, Wikipedia. Previously, encyclopedias were painstakingly researched and written by experts, bound in leather and carted (quite weightily) around from door to door. In a world where even the morning newspaper could be hours late on reporting a breaking story that was sent all over the world in mere minutes over the Internet, the clumsy thick encyclopedia became the slowest turtle in the information race. It became impossible to keep encyclopedias up to date, for as soon as one was published the world had changed. Wikipedia not only provided much needed speed and editing capabilities to encyclopedic information. Perhaps more importantly, it proved that painstaking research by experts was no longer necessary. Regular, everyday people, using their own free time and without any payment, write, fill, edit and revise Wikipedia entries every single day. The network of relationships relaying information has become more impressive than the information itself.

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1. What is most exciting to you about the idea of authority resting in the network of Scripture and community? What is most worrisome?

2. Tickle describes authority being worked out in how the message runs back and forth over the network hubs and "is tried and amended and tempered into wisdom and right action for effecting the Father's will." Have you seen evidence of this kind of action working in your own congregation? How does this movement mimic the Book of Acts?

3. Tickle suggests that emergents would define the Church as "a self-organizing system of relations." How do you respond to this definition? How do you think previous eras would define the Church?

4. Tickle distinguishes between crowd sourcing and democracy, as crowd sourcing has flattened authority to a point democracy never dared. Crowd sourcing, she continues, rejects anything less than full egalitarianism, rejects capitalism, and rejects individualism. It should not surprise us that these traits were solidly implanted during the time of the Great Reformation, and are being rigorously dissolved in the century of Emergence. What does this do to the structure of the Church at ground level? At denominational level?

5. How does network theory inform Tickle's discussion of the concepts of orthonomy and theonomy? Can correct harmoniousness be evidenced by holistic, networked, sustaining relationships? What role, if any, does the concept of the Trinity play in such an idea?

6. Throughout the book, Tickle suggests that the role of the Holy Spirit, and our under standing of the movement of the Holy Spirit, will be essential in the unfurling of the Great Emergence. How do you see the Holy Spirit playing a role in the question of authority, the radicalization of the priesthood of the believers, and the future of the Church?

7. How does the shift from the bounded set of "believe-behave-belong" to the center set of "belong-behave-believe" affect the Church's understanding and practice of membership and evangelism? Of discipleship?

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8. Another marker along the way of Emergence so far is the shift toward narrative. This is not limited to theology, though narrative theology, preaching and the like is certainly evidence of it. It can also, and first, be seen in psychology in the works of Jerome S. Bruner and Donald J. Polkinghorne, who have discovered, much like Joseph Campbell, the significance of story on the human psyche. How can story serve as a helpful tool and guide for us in the Great Emergence? How can narrative theology disarm the difficulties and harmful carnage of the post-Constantinian Church?

9. As we move from an era of confessionalization to an era of collaboration, the concept of holism becomes central in describing how people and disciplines are shifting from the former to the latter. What once was held separate (whether one means the harmful distinctions between soul and body or the equally detrimental distinctions between humanity over and against the rest of creation, just to name two) is now moving toward one another, working to repair and re-network a relationship strand that had previously been severed. Holism is the natural paradigm of a world moving from one of competition and distinction to one of mutuality and collaboration. How does holism affect church practices? Doctrine? Structures? How does it connect us to a more Jewish worldview, over and against a Hellenistic one?

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Bibliography

For further study in the broader societal reaches of the Great Emergence:

Science/Physics:

Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe

Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything

Philosophy:

See writings by Jacques Derrida, John Caputo, Michel Foucault, Paul Ricoeur, Gilles Deleuze, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Richard Rorty, Martin Heidegger, Jurgen Habermas

Economics/Politics:

Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

Bill McKibben, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future

Jeffrey Sachs, The End of Poverty

Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor

Ecology:

William McDonough, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

Sociology:

Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

Theology:

Brian D. McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy

Nancey Murphy, Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism

Week 3

2009-03-16T23:47:00.001-07:00

Dear Ones,

Here we are at week 3. I hope, on top of the study, and other activities in your life you are also experiencing a good Lent. Book studies continue around the diocese and even beyond. For this week as a reminder, March 15-21- Chapters 4 and 5, pages 63-118. I am a bit late on my blog, my apologies as this week I am attending the House of Bishop's Meeting in North Carolina. I have, however, been keeping up with the response. I really enjoy the conversation. I think many others who are not posting, but reading nonetheless, are enjoying the conversation as well.

I think it is important to remember that Tickle is a journalist, editor, writer, and lay Eucharistic Minister in the Episcopal Church. She is a theologian, as I believe anyone who "studies" theology is, but she is mostly peering in, making observations, and of course, giving her assessment of this era we are living through. This week I am not going to try to focus you, but instead hope that you will attempt to focus us with questions from these two chapters. What did you find most interesting, troubling, compelling?

In this week's responses I certainly think Brian McLaren is under scrutiny. Knowing him personally, I have been surprised by some of that, but I appreciate the great care in which everyone is holding the various views on this. I may try to see if Brian wants to join in this discussion. I will most likely not have a lot of luck with that so we will simply have to make due with ourselves!

Blessings to you as we journey with Christ in this Lenten season,

Greg

Week Two: The Great Emergence

2009-03-09T21:24:00.001-07:00

Dear Ones,

I want to thank all of you who have so diligently entered into this conversation. There are many others out there in small study groups, around the diocese working alongside you even if they do not get to comment online. So, this week, although many of you have already, we enter into Part II intro and Chapter 3, pages 41-62. I wanted to comment on an overall view of last week's comments.

There were a few comments about the Creeds. Many seem to point to the need to change them in some way. I want to throw into this discussion the idea that we have just passed through an era where this was the "plan." If only we could get the right word usage, or drop a line here or there, or simply leave it out altogether, we would be better off. In some ways I wonder if this does not show some contempt for those who went before us, a somewhat arrogant belief that we are smarter than they are. I put this up against the reality I am seeing in the newer generations, who do not seem to have the need for the semantic changes to yet continue the conversation. With this, they hardly check their brains at the door either. They seem more willing to honor those that left the tradition and history as they knew it, and to instead look for the Truth our forbears were trying to tell us in the story. Even in these conversations there seem to be insinuations, or outright statements, that Tickle is not very smart, that those that came before us are not very smart, and that it is up to us to "make this all right." I am pushing a bit I realize, but so have some of you! I used to teach a class where I invited the class to rewrite the Creed to "make sense" to them. Of course, if there were 20 individuals in the class, there were 20 different versions of what is "right." Even after putting them together to come up with one, well you see where this is going. I am well aware that this is how we got the Creeds we have, but having some unaltered centering point to come back to, to honor, and to question seems to make sense as well.

On a totally different subject, a rather passing thought in this but brought up by Tickle nonetheless, is music, and the importance of it in sharing and passing along the story. I have to say I am quite attached to this feeling as well, and wonder what others think about it. I see many places where music seems to get in the way, rather than help, and other places where it carries the day in profound ways. What do you think about this?

Finally, in some defense of Tickle, this book is not there to answer all questions, but rather, as Anonymous in the 8:39 p.m., March 8^th post states,

"The "greatness" and 500 year intervals seem contrived but there is an underlying truth: every so often the institution that is the church becomes inadequate. Today's inadequacies, in my view, include being disconnected from both its foundation in Jesus and from the culture in which we live. In what little I know of emergent churches I see an attempt to pull Jesus into the context of life today-and it's not one size fits all."

Although I do not want to try to direct this away from the way you choose to take it, my hope in this was more of what is spelled out above, less a critique of the book, and more of a "push" on the larger questions and what we might do here and now to address those.

Again, I am most honored by your engagement in this study.

Blessings,

Greg

’The Great Emergence’ Schedule and first discussion

2009-02-28T23:57:00.001-08:00

Well, I may barely make it but I did promise you a schedule and the kick off of our discussion. Actually, the author Phyllis Tickle did that pretty darn good herself last night. I know many of you have embarked on a schedule of your own, one that fits your context and community. I urge you to stay right with that. I offer this for those who would like to join in the discussion on the blog and anyone who wishes to be essentially reading at the same pace I am. Those on Facebook may certainly meet me there as well, although the blog will be the primary discussion point and where I hope we can center the discussion so that all that want to be, can be part of it, and can benefit from the responses.

So, here is my proposed schedule:

March 1-7- Part I intro and Chapters 1 and 2, essentially pages 1-40.

March 8-14- Part II intro and Chapter 3, pages 41-62

March 15-21- Chapters 4 and 5, pages 63-118

March 22-28- Part III intro and Chapter 8, pages 119-144

March 29-April 4- Chapter 7 and end discussion, pages 145-163

April 5-11- Holy Week and April 12^th Easter!

For this week, Part I Intro and Chapters 1 and 2.

Of course Part 1 sets the case that Tickle wishes to make, that every 500 years the Church has a rummage sale, and we are living in the midst of such a time today. It would be interesting in our discussions to see where you are with that. Do you agree? Do you see it as she does? This quote from the bottom of page 26, and then top of 27 really intrigues me.

"When Christians despair of the upheavals and re-formations that have been the history of our faith-when the faithful resist, as so many do just now, the presence of another time of reconfiguration with its inevitable pain-we all would do well to remember that, not only are we in the hinge of a five-hundred year period, but we are also the direct product of one. We need, as well, to gauge our pain against the patterns and gains of each of the previous hinge times through which we have already passed. It is especially important to remember that no standing form of organized Christian faith has ever been destroyed by one of our semi-millennial eruptions. Instead, each simply has lost hegemony or pride of place to the new and not-yet-organized from that was birthing."

That one paragraph is packed with so much.

Finally, "The Cable of Meaning." What do you think?

I look forward to our discussions!

Blessings,

Greg

A Message to Olympia from Phyllis Tickle

2009-02-27T20:31:00.001-08:00

Dear Ones,

Well, Lent is upon us and so our study and discussion now begins. I have been so moved by the response. Churches, communities, across this diocese are taking up the challenge to read and discuss this book together. This will happen in many different ways. I have heard of groups meeting weekly in parishes across the diocese. Many are primed to follow along and comment on the blog. Tomorrow, I plan to put out my first musings and a question or two, but more than anything I simply hope you will engage one another in this journey. The discussion alone will be priceless.

I asked my friend Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence, if she herself might kick us off. She readily and joyfully agreed, and sent the following to all of you!! I am so very grateful to her for taking the time and she is very excited to see what might come from our discussion.

From Phyllis "Seen through the long lens of history, ours may be the most exhilarating century of the last twenty in which to be alive and Christian, in no small part because we live for the first time as thinking and believing people in an information age. For the first time in our two thousand years of existence, we can know—we do know—across all the barriers and borders of time and culture what is happening to us as Church in the aggregate and as individual believers in particular. But like a good knife, that blessing cuts two ways.

That is, we would indeed be foolish not to take great comfort from the exposure of patterns and currents that are not of our making. We would likewise be foolish to not take enormous hope from the demonstrable evidence that our forebears have always survived and grown as a result of similar periods of upheaval. We would be more than foolish, however, to not understand that such a perspective, since it has been given us now, carries with it the holy obligation to participate in this time of re-configuration and re-formation in a prayerful and humble way. We know, but we also will be asked some day how we have used our knowing. For that reason, my heart and my prayers join you and yours in Olympia this Lent as you assume the work of considering the Great Emergence we are living in and which we also are fashioning, even as it fashions us.

And there is one last thing, which I am sure you know, but which I can not leave you without saying: A diocese is most blessed when its bishop chooses to become its shepherd in so direct and open a way as the one that you and he are pursuing together this Lent. May what you discover together inform not only Olympia, but all of us who are Church in this time of monumental change.

Phyllis Tickle"

Thanks to Phyllis and to all of you, blessings, and may you experience a Holy Lent.

+Greg

2009-02-21T22:22:00.001-08:00

Lent is Just Around the Corner!

We will soon be in the midst of Lent. It is a season that invites us to "hold" Christianity a bit closer, to mine it for its depths, to move into realms of it that we have not visited before. Lent is often described as a time to give things up. In the past few years I have resisted focusing on that as much, while focusing more on taking on something you have neglected over the last year. Maybe better than that is the idea of "holy adjustment." Lent is a time to get the balance back, to assess with an open heart, mind, and soul the reality of what the living of our lives truly reveals to us, and to those around us. One idea is to essentially do both, to give up, not what most people do, something bad for you anyway, but perhaps something actually good! I'll give you an example. A few years ago I was inspired by a writer who loved reading books, spent lots of times doing it, who made the decision to give up reading books for Lent. Her journey and struggle was instructive. I had another couple in my former parish who decided to stop using a calendar or watches during Lent. They loved it, but many of their friends and co-workers did not! That reaction points out what we expect. About four years ago I decided to drive the speed limit, everywhere, for the whole of Lent. Just about drove me and those around me crazy. Many sentiments were shared with me by fellow drivers during that Lent, for following the law! I learned patience and forgiveness.

Lent is a time, like no other, where we are reminded that Christianity is not something that can be dabbled in. There seems to be more and more the quest for a spiritual smorgasbord. We want to look at spirituality like a buffet, taking what we want, leaving what we don't. I see some good in that, but also some that is not so good. I was struck by a friend of mine who was delving deeply into First Nations spirituality when one of the guides she had sought out became a bit frustrated and told her, "you have a spirituality, you should learn it, for all of the good and not so good you can find from it." Christianity, as quite frankly most faith traditions, especially the most adhered to, are not something to be dabbled in but something instead to give over your life too. It is a way of life, not a part of your life.

We will be soon sharing our book study together, studying The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle. I have heard from so many who will be joining us for this. I will be launching this the first week of Lent after Ash Wednesday, letting you "get into" Lent a bit first. The best way for us to stay in contact on this is to use this blog. Perhaps this can be a way for us to look more deeply at our faith, where we have come from, and where we might be going. I wish for you a holy, blessed Lent, and the giving up or something, or the taking up of something that is just "off balance" enough to help you see balance again. I pray for you a depth that takes you deeper, less dabbling, more living! I will be working on it, and praying for it too.

Blessings,

Greg Rickel

I Did It!

2009-02-09T22:33:00.001-08:00

I bought a snow shovel today. I guess I am home!

The Great Emergence: Let’s Talk

2009-02-06T09:13:00.001-08:00

Dear Ones,

If you read the Episcopal Voice produced by the Diocese of Olympia, this post will look remarkably similar to my column in the most recent February edition. I offer it here to invite into the proposed discussion anyone who might like to enjoy it here. I received a great idea from my colleague the Rev. Hollis Williams. He suggested that I select a book that we might all read and discuss together. He called it the "Bishop's Book for Lent." I actually used to report the books I was reading, when in the parish, and people seemed to like that. I have not done that here and suspect you may not be all that interested anyway, however, I like this idea from Hollis and would like to give it a try. I like this as it will provide a way for us to have some discussion around the book and perhaps the issue the book addresses. I am thinking we might use my blog as a way to hold the discussion. Some of you have also found me on Facebook and we might chat about it there too.

So, I am willing to give this a try, see how it goes, and maybe we will hit on something here, a way for us to center a discussion. The book I would propose it The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why by Phyllis Tickle. I had a chance to read a draft of this book and to discuss it in person with the author before it was published. It has been published and I found it to be very compelling and thought provoking. The basic premise she takes comes from Bishop Mark Dyer who said to understand Christian history you have to understand that about every 500 years or so, the Church has a rummage sale. Tickle's premise is that such a seminal time is being experienced right now.

This article will come out the first week in February. Ash Wednesday is February 25^th, so, should you decide to join this experiment you will have time to acquire the book and begin reading it before we enter Lent. What I will try to do is to provoke some discussion, perhaps even parcel out chapters over Lent so we might be able to "read it" together. This is a book you should be able to find at all the usual places. I hope to alert our Episcopal bookstores of this plan so they can stock up a bit as well. If you want to take a sneak preview there is one available at www.thegreatemergence.com On this website you can view a three minute video introduction hosted by Tickle as well as other information about the book. Tickle will be the Clergy Conference speaker in 2010 and hopefully be present in other venues with us then too.

Let's see how it goes!

Faithfully,

Greg Rickel

Justice before our eyes

2009-01-20T17:28:00.001-08:00

On this most important day in our common life together, when we have been called to a new era of personal responsibility by our new President, I offer this essay along the same lines, which was recently published. Here goes,

Perhaps my ponderings on this subject should be far more global and all encompassing. I suspect this is what is expected when one is asked to muse on what it means to be a Christian seeking justice. Actually, I am in total agreement that it is a big thing, crucial for the world, for all of us, even those who don't particularly feel that injustice is a regular part of their lives. In fact, it may be even more important for those of us in which this is true.

No, my thought on this is really a very small thing. Some will even dismiss it as too small and perhaps even irrelevant but I am going to persist nonetheless. I have three major ministry initiatives I have vowed to work on as I begin my new episcopate. The first of these three is work and focus on those 35 years of age and under. To this group, the church seems ever more irrelevant because the Church, to them, seems to be irrelevant to the world. This is not actually new. In some ways every new generation has had its "issues" with the Church. However, even when viewed historically, we seem to be witnessing as stark a denial as we have ever seen. The denial comes with a wish, at least from what I hear from these generations, that it might be different, which is hopeful.

When I meet with the mostly older generations that occupy the pews in our churches, I hear, eventually, some notion, and even accusation, that the younger generations seem to be uncommitted and self indulged. I listen for a while and then I have to ask, "Who raised them?" Somewhere, from someone, these young people learned to be uncommitted and self indulgent, if that be the truth. In reality, the entirety of the former generations raised them, corporately, as well as individually. I have to wonder if, in fact, they are not uncommitted and self indulgent at all. This is not what I sense when I engage them. Instead they are wise enough to sense, in the Church, an often inauthentic loyalty and some suspicion that our words and proclamations don't match our intentions or actions.

This is my small thing. Though I have not been one to jump on the family values bandwagon as the solution to all things, I am coming around to the notion that it makes a difference, perhaps a more profound one than many of us want to imagine. Instead of biting off the major social issues of our day, some of which are truly more than one has time to spend any time on, perhaps it would do well for us to calculate how we can make a difference within the moments in our lives which we cannot avoid, working in our jobs, making our way to those jobs, living with our families and others we live with each day. How can we live justice in those relationships so that justice becomes a way of life?

I think of my twelve year old son. Several years ago, I took him to Disney World. We lived in one of the perimeter hotels which require that you board buses, mostly packed unsafely to the gills with humans, so that you might make it to the various parks. I witnessed old women and men having to stand up, holding on for dear life, as we whipped through the park, while strapping young men sat inches away safely in a seat. It was clear that the thought had never crossed their mind to get up and offer their seat.

I became rather obsessed from then on to teach my son, making him get up, as I did on many occasions to allow others to sit. You will never know the great conversations that started as we offered this kindness. Sadly, it was so unusual as to be novel. My son began to actually look forward to doing it.

Lest you think I am taking it to the younger generation, you can witness the same from everyone. We are a pampered nation, a people blinded by our wealth, and so this type of entitlement living is all around us. I succumb to it too, I am not excluding myself. We, here, have to work hard to see beyond it. On a small ferry ride recently I watched an older woman plop herself down in a chair, prop her leg up on the one next to her, and proclaim loudly, "Just let someone try to take this seat away from me!"; all the while, all around her, the same scene; men and women bouncing around in the waves trying their best to stand.

I know, I told you these were small things, you might even be saying petty. But, like the ripples of waves that come from the stone thrown upon the water, or the old adage that the flap of butterflies' wings in Japan is connected to the tornado in Texas, I think this may actually be the world when we consider how a Christian seeks justice.

I think this same mentality keeps us from having real conversations, something also quite wanted by the younger generations and something they see quite missing from our midst. A friend of mine recently bore her soul regarding her experience with racism, only to have those very ones who should have praised her venture, eat her alive. It is so much easier to stay on the surface, to keep the veneer of care and concern alive rather than really delve into our demons; so much easier to look across an ocean than to see the injustice in our homes, schools, or churches. We have seen this played out on the national scene as well.

Thich Nhat Hahn once reminded us that peace is every step. I believe Jesus walked, with every step, purposeful and centered on justice and peace, for every person he encountered.

The call or need for justice is not far away, in some other place. The root of our response, the place we learn, is right before us every day. May we teach our children consideration, hospitality, and justice. Have them watch us do the same, and I think we will change the world. A Christian seeking justice, is a Christian doing justice with every step.

Resolutions

2009-01-05T01:01:00.001-08:00

Now is the time for resolutions. To some degree most people make them. I am no different. I make many, every year. I am going to lose those 10 or so pounds I need to lose. I will work out more, pray more, eat less, or at least better. The turn of a new year is like a car tune up in a way, a reboot of the computer. The reality of how few of these get actualized in a year, and are lost before January is even history, may have something to do with our feelings of immortality. Deep down we know, or hope with all our might, that we will be around next year, and we will just do it then. I have to wonder myself if I might let these go believing in some strange way, if I were to accomplish them all, well, then what would I do next year? Which of course, means, I truly believe next year is mine already.

I remember fondly doing a Vestry retreat many years ago with a fabulous vestry from my home parish. A member of that vestry was one of the old, and he was, patriarchs of the parish. I had them do an exercise where they imagine if they were to die five years from now, what would they want people to say about them? Of course, the whole point is to show that usually what is on these lists are not possessions or even accomplishments, but attributes and relationships deepened; the punch line being, well why don't you live the next five years so that people would say all of that. This wonderful man, when first asked the question, what would you want people to say about you in five years, said, with a big smile, "he's alive!: I just want to be here in five years!" He, of course, had a good and timeless point.

And so, on this New Year's Day, surrounded by my family, sisters, mothers, fathers, I was thinking this same thing. I was musing about my "resolutions" watching some bowl game when the call came in, a frantic one, from my sister, who had just left our gathering hours earlier with her husband. She was desperately doing CPR, the ambulance had finally arrived. She did all she could, we met the ambulance at the ER and shortly after got the news, that her husband, who had sat right beside me at dinner just hours earlier, had passed on to larger life at the age of 45 leaving my sister and 6 children. His name was Norm. He was a good man who loved them all very much. The next day we were graced with lunch with our good friend, mentor, priest, Dennis Campbell, who just two weeks ago said goodbye to his wife, mother of our god children, priest, mentor, friend, Peggy Bosmyer.

Two days into 2009 and I had been given some rather pointed perspective. In both cases, what I hoped for was just one more conversation, a little more time, perhaps a little less of that notion that next year is mine, and that I will be part of it, along with everyone I love and value in this world. Of course we all have these moments in our lives, and then for some reason, maybe it is survival itself, we fall back into the inevitable illusion that we direct our time.

Perhaps the most difficult thing, and in the strangest way, the place I learned the most, was watching my 6 year old niece and nephew try to reason with the fact that their Dad was not coming back. They are, of course, at different places with this and yet their questions are the ones we all have. Most of us have answered them in one way or the other, some are answers of faith, and others simply the answer we need in order to go on, and in some cases both. Combine all of that with the many problems throughout the world, not the least of which is the continuing death and struggle in the Middle East and certainly some of our resolutions would pale in comparison.

I still have some things I would like to do this year, to better myself, always with the hope of more balance in my life. But perhaps more than anything, I hope I can just be more aware, and believe what has always been a line in my rule of life, that every day should be lived like it's my last, because one day it will be. Jimmy Buffett has a great song where he says, "I'd rather die while I'm livin' than live while I'm dead." These two, Norm and Peggy were great examples of just that, and that seems like a good resolution for us all, to truly, deeply, fully…. live.

Blessings with the Snow

2008-12-22T23:05:00.001-08:00

I have always said I would never live where I had to own a snow shovel. Today, I finally wished I had one, and yet I still don't own one because there is not one available within 100 miles. I hope I can stick to my plan. To top it off, since moving to the great Pacific Northwest, in every season we have lived through, and this is our second winter, I have heard this line from just about everyone, "This is not normal for Seattle" I am beginning to wonder if there is a "normal" for Seattle. Right now I think 45 and rain sounds great! I have also said often that snow is highly overrated. I guess I do like heat, you don't have to shovel that!

Still, there are some great things about this. I have to wonder if this is God's way of making us slow down, even though some people don't, can't, or won't. I have also witnessed some people being not so kind, but far more being very kind and helpful as we all struggle together. Sunday, I could not get to where I was supposed to be, St. Columba's, Kent and then St. Mary's, Lakewood and that is just difficult for me. I hate not to be there. I get fidgety and kind of aimless when the plan is subverted. Getting past that, I decided I would take the opportunity to attend services at St. John the Baptist. This is the very good thing about living right next door to an Episcopal Church in this diocese. My wife was having a bit of back trouble after an ice spill the night before, so my son and I went together. This alone was such a gift, and to go without anything to really do, but be with him, even better. I was treated to a truly fine meditation by Rector Peter DeVeau, who had not intended to preach. He had a guest preacher who could not make it, yes, because of the snow. As is so often the case, these rather impromptu offerings are often some of the best. This one was. We even had an old fashioned hymn "call out" for Christmas carols. But perhaps the most meaningful part of this day was my son, sitting beside me and instructing me as we moved through the service. He was being very helpful, telling me "how it happens here", and guiding me through the service, leading me around. He wants to be a deacon, and he is serious about this. He would make a good one. But I found myself sitting next to him so thankful, for him, thankful that the moment had been created, thankful for the snow.

The Rev. Dr. Peggy Bosmyer Campbell

2008-12-15T22:39:00.001-08:00

She was a force to be reckoned with. And one of the most caring forces you would ever know. She was a friend, colleague, mentor, and perhaps her most important role in our lives, the mother of our two godchildren. Peggy was the first woman ordained an Episcopal priest south of the Mason Dixon line in 1978. The number of lives she touched, transformed, mentored, and nurtured is countless, and some even unknown. She and her husband, Dennis, another touchstone in our lives, and the priest that led me through the process toward ordination, helped a few others officially "introduce" me to the Diocese of Olympia at my consecration in September 2007. It was the greatest honor to have them there. Had Peggy and Dennis been given the opportunity, they would have surely been able to tell some stories! Shortly after that Peggy received her diagnosis. Not long after that, my wife and I talked to both of them, and we asked Peggy what she needed from us. She did not miss a beat and said, "Just love my babies."

Peggy died at the age of 60, this past Saturday, December 13^th. Ironically, that same day, just hours after she died, our son, Austin was confirmed in the Episcopal Church. A few weeks ago as we checked in with Dennis we had told him about Austin' s big day on the 13^th of December and he had assured us that we would be in their prayers. We remarked upon hearing the news, that Peggy had once again taken our request straight to the source, this time the source of all things. My son has vowed, along with the other vows he took on Saturday, to learn as much as he can about Peggy and to always remember her when he remembers this day. While I wish, as much as I could wish anything, that it were not so, since it is, I am thankful my son will have this day, and this great saint of the Episcopal Church, and of our faith, to carry with him on this journey. Her family reports that she was watching "It's a Wonderful Life" at the time of her death. She reminded so many through her life and ministry of that very truth, that it is a wonderful life. She certainly reminded the Rickels of that and for the moment, it is just very difficult to imagine this life without her in it. Your prayers for Dennis, the children, and all who grieve her loss would be a gift to me.

Messy

2008-12-10T21:56:00.001-08:00

There is a friend I have. I have known him since he was about the age my son is now. I even mentored him and tutored him in subjects he had problems with in school. I moved when he was a young teenager and then, through the wonder of our journey, I was back in his life and by then he was out of high school and living the rough and tumble life as a young adult. Today he is in prison. He and I have kept up through letters. I must admit I have learned more from him in these letters than I would ever surmise he has learned from me. He can put so eloquently the feeling of being left out of God's world, and at the same time feeling the closeness of God in what he goes through on a daily basis. He states in his latest letter, "It's hard trying to do what God intends us to do." He goes on to suggest that saying one is only human seems like a very shallow excuse. Indeed on many days I feel that same way. In this Advent season as we await again the coming of Christ into our lives, I am thankful for the human nature our God was willing to take on. Somehow it is comforting to know the Holy One knows those feelings.

There was at the end of this letter from my friend, a bit of an apology. I think he was referencing the letter but it reads, "Hope to hear from you soon and I am sorry it is so messy." Me too, I thought. It is often messy. I wrote him today to say his letter was not messy at all, that I got it, all of it, clear as a bell and the beauty and clearness in it will help me know Christmas in a way he would never imagine, and finally, thank you, once again, my friend.

Advent Conspiracy

2008-11-30T16:10:00.001-08:00

In the chaos of the horrible terrorist attacks in India in these past days, as that was just beginning, a sign for a life insurance company was hanging from a storefront which after the name of the company read, "peace of mind, guaranteed."

As I said, it was deeply ironic. This is the actual sea we swim in. One in which we have learned the illusion that we can actually buy things such as security, safety, relationships, peace of mind. We enter the season of Advent today; the beginning of the church year. And as we do I mourn, as I do each year, the fact that we, for the most part ignore it. Instead, we as Christians, have sold out to the season of the masses, the consumeristic Christmas. Advent is designed to be a season of waiting, of watching, of preparing, of slowing down. It is, as is often the point of our faith, the very opposite of what the world sees these days as. These are the days of the frenetic, of 4 a.m. sales, with people camping out in order to get that great deal on a gift that will be forgotten completely long before we repeat this season, it is the season of literal deadly stampedes in the stores which should make us wonder about our focus. It is so off balance, that as Christians, we are actually not supposed to party right now, or celebrate Christmas, because Christmas has not yet come. Christmas is a season too, but instead of celebrating it we often also follow the societal herd. Our Christmas trees our out on the curb before noon on the 26^th, a tribute to the selling out to the Hallmark Christmas season, our Advent, signifying the end or that celebration, when in fact, Christmas is just beginning. For me this is always, each year the iconic, incarnated picture which states clearly, we have forgotten Christ, just as he is arriving. On January 6^th, the Epiphany, the Magi will arrive at the side of the baby Jesus, and this, in fact, is one of the holiest of days, and yet it is virtually lost in the new years resolutions and the hangover of an overindulgent Christmas and New Year celebration. But I am not cynical.

As we enter this Advent, the lines are longer at the food lines, than in the lines at the mall. That is a switch this year indeed. It was a change foisted on us by the downturn in an economy that thrives on just this scenario, but if there is a silver lining perhaps that is it; perspective. And that is just what Advent is supposed to give us each year. In some of the monasteries, it is custom each year to count their shoes, to inventory what they had accumulated in the past year, and to rid themselves of the excess. In many ways, Advent is such an invitation and event for us. We might do well to take it; to actually step back and take stock.

In these times it would be so very natural to contract, to retreat into a scarcity that rather scoffs at the reality, that even in these times we are among the very wealthiest people on the face of this planet.

We should take this inventory individually but also collectively. Many, in these times, have suggested that the church will suffer greatly in our pledge drives due to this downturn, and that may be true. IF it is, it will break all of the records and statistics we have. In the course of every recession the church has at least held its own, and even in the depression, giving continued to far exceed the losses that were experienced.

Here is what is shown in the numbers. People continue to find the will and the means to give, when they believe in the purpose and mission of what it is they are giving too. I was sent a link to a great video that I would direct everyone to! It is entitled Advent Conspiracy, and it sums up what I am trying to say better than I could ever say it. I commend it to you, and I also commend to you a holy and observed Advent.

Blessings, now go see the video… www.adventconspiracy.org.

Thankful

2008-11-26T21:54:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. As it has approached I, like many I am sure, have thought about all that I am thankful for. This week started with a visitation to St. Alban's, Edmonds, where it was my great privilege to baptize a baby and a teenager. As we got to the baptism, it went about like these usually go. But the little baby was so very interested, and smiling, and she was simply enjoying this. I took her and did what I always did as a Rector; I paraded her around the church, up and down the side aisles, and the center aisle. Behind me walked the teenager, who had not really smiled during that morning, and I was bound and determined to get one out of her. I had her pick up the baptismal font bowl full of water and I told her, "You are going to follow me and you are going to get these people wet, and I mean wet!" An alert server ran outside, obviously being in the know, and brought in a cedar branch for her to use and away we went. I go on this parade to allow those present to meet the newest Christians, and to offer their blessings to them as well. The little baby was simply a charmer. There was not a soul along our path that could resist smiling and being just a bit happier about all of life. Half way through our journey I looked around at the teenager following me and there on her face was the biggest smile! She was having a ball, and she was living up to her task too! She was getting the people wet, reminding them of their baptism, and reminding them to be thankful. My day had been completely made. At the procession out of the church we marched straight out the back door to a gazebo which had just been completed as an Eagle Scout project. We gave thanks for the work that had gone into it, the bell tower that had once stood on the same spot, reportedly an Eagle Scout project of its time too, and we gave thanks for all the people that would seek out the shelter and solace of the space. After that, I was hosted at a parishioner's home, and we had a deep and wonderful conversation over a feast, about this journey we all share in bringing the Good News to the world.

Today, Thanksgiving Eve, I, along with the DHouse staff, volunteered at Northwest Harvest Food Bank where we always meet Jesus. Tonight, I was blessed to preside at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, and to once again share in the baptism of a wonderful child who could not wait to get wet, who practically climbed into the font. I sit here now, thankful for every one of these experiences, thankful for this vocation which brought me to the most beautiful place on earth, with some of the finest people who now grace our lives. And, as I look forward to the feast tomorrow, I know that the greatest blessings will be gathered around our table. I am most thankful for our God who is grace and love.

On this thanksgiving, may you know the fullness that comes from being loved, and giving it.

Broken Open

2008-11-19T21:16:00.001-08:00

Here, in the Diocese of Olympia, we just finished our annual convention. The theme was Radical Hospitality, as we learn more and more about being the people of radical hospitality. I had hoped to model this convention off of the very good fruits that I believed came from my experience at Lambeth Conference this summer. And so we had more Bible Study, and more discussion in Indaba groups. We took up three topics in three hours spread over our time, the environment, hospitality, and human sexuality. My hope was that we would focus more on our relationships and conversation, and less on legislation with the belief that we will never be able to legislate our relationships or our growth and learning as we continue to live in community. We so often do not talk to each other. "Early returns" reveal that many truly loved the new format, I believe that is true because we don't get the chance to talk to one another much in our society or our church.

What I heard, even in this much smaller and surely truncated version of Indaba, was much the same as I heard and experienced at Lambeth; people coming away from conversations with those with whom they did not agree, but still knew they were in relationship with, thus making the strident stance we often hold a bit less easy or firm. Mostly, too, some joy in the fact that this might still be possible in the church. It was surely not perfect, there were some little problems here and there, but all in all a really good thing.

We also experienced the worship provided by Church of the Apostles, (COTA) and the Church of the Beloved, both emerging churches. There is a haunting song they sing, "Broken" with lyrics that repeat, "I am broken, you are broken, everyone is broken." It ends with the line, "I never knew broken glass could shine so brightly." I can rarely get through this tune without tears and I saw some of the same reaction around the room. Jonathan Weldon, Interim Rector of St. Paul's, Bellingham came up after the worship to say that what he sensed is that this emerging worship has brought back lament. It gives us a real way of lamentation. I think that is so true. Just as we don't have time to talk to one another about the deep issues of the heart, and our lives, we also do not have time or space enough for lament. Lament in our world is often seen as a sign of weakness, instead of strength.

We were offered both this weekend and most importantly the gift of time spent together and the courageous hope that God's Kingdom remains within our grasp, open to all, that we can still be signs of it, as we travel toward it ourselves.

Salute to our Veterans

2008-11-10T21:43:00.001-08:00

I write this on the Eve of Veteran's Day. Two images stick with me from this past week. One, is a Viet Nam Vet who stated that they did not get respect when they returned home back then, but they were getting it now, and he said just how much he appreciated it. The other is the story I saw tonight on one of the national news programs. It comes from Canada, the Highway of Heroes. Along this 100 mile trek that every soldier lost in the war takes, people come out all along this path to show their respects. One fire department is there every time, on the overpass, saluting one and all. A mother of a fallen soldier told just how moving all of this is, and told a story of a father and son, who stood in the back of their rusty pickup truck and saluted together as the motorcade drove under the overpass.

I have to admit I have been a bit worried at how sterilized this war, or wars, is for us here. Of all days I intend to, tomorrow especially, give thanks for those who have given their lives for me. I am thankful that our citizenry has seemed to accept and live out of the reality that these men and women, no matter what your feelings about the war, the military, no matter, they do it for us. I will use the day, as on all days, to pray for peace as well. I will pray for an end to the 100 miles drives on the Highway of Heroes, and that no such tribute be necessary anywhere in this world. It is a lofty dream, but our God is an awesome God, and calls us to the miraculous and the lofty.

All Saint’s and This Election

2008-11-03T17:51:00.001-08:00

I write this on the eve of our national election. Regardless of the outcome, I must admit I am so ready for this to end. I had the great privilege to preach in three different settings this All Saint's weekend. In each I found myself drawn to, and using, the story and witness of Ruby Bridges, a 6 year old African-American who participated in the integration of the New Orleans Public Schools in November 1960, 48 years ago this month. I was born three years after this event. Ruby became the focus of one of Norman Rockwell's famous paintings, entitled, "The Problem we all live with." It is indeed a problem we live with, even today, and yet on the eve of this election, regardless of how it turns out, I hope we as a nation can step back, take a deep breath, and be thankful for just how far we have come. Even in my lifetime I have often been doubtful we would ever see a woman on a national ticket, much less a person of color. Don't get me wrong, I am as unhappy as most people at the negative tone these seem to always go too, although the irony of that is, all the studies show that the negative ads work, and that seems to say something about us.

Still, all the way around, I believe it has been a remarkable few months to watch and live through. It is still a "problem we live with" and we have quite a few more of those. However, perhaps we can move that "problem" and others to a new place of holy conversation and realistic vision. I hope so. I think of the witness of Ruby Bridges, and so many like her, a 6 year old black girl, who though the smallest figure in that famous painting, walked taller than them all. To survive the attacks which were made on her daily as she walked to school, a school where all the white teachers, save one, had refused to teach her, she said a prayer which her mother had taught her. Robert Coles, the child psychiatrist who volunteered to work with Ruby and her family through that time, asked her one day what she was mumbling as she walked through that crowd. She told him she was saying this prayer, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

I give thanks for Ruby Bridges, for the saints in this story, the teacher that kept teaching against all odds, the black and white people who helped move this along in the face of so much inertia. No matter what happens tomorrow, we have all, collectively, witnessed a victory, and I pray now, we know more, that our blind spots are less, and that the horizon which our savior Christ has envisioned, that Kingdom of love and grace is a bit closer.

Harambee and Kairos!

2008-10-19T23:41:00.001-07:00

Dear Ones,

This weekend I have been blessed by attending two events. The first was Saturday evening. I traveled to St. David's, Shelton to attend their special meal entitled Harambee! This is a Kenyan word, and a movement in Kenya, the word means basically "to pull together" Kenyans, Moses and Lois, and South African Jonathan cooked and taught us in what this means. Harambee events were designed to be the spark that would spread. The gift of meal and the spirit of sharing and pulling together toward a common goal was supposed to spread from town to town, county to county, country to country. The meal was made with great care, and shared with members of St. David's and with many from the community of Shelton. As the smoke from the grill filled the town, people came walking by, and walking in. The food is why they came, but the fellowship and the sharing is what filled them, and me, as I left.

This evening I had the great blessing of attending the Kairos Closing at the prison in Monroe. About 100 people, some from "inside", some from "outside" joined in the faithful band there to welcome the 38 candidates who have been in retreat since Thursday. I was blessed to be in that band. I am always amazed by the gratitude and the faith of those on the "inside." I have said before that often, in prison, when in the prayers of the people, we get to the place for thanksgivings and blessings, the audible prayers are endless. When the same place is encountered in our churches, there is often a deafening silence. And, it always makes me wonder who is in prison? Our prisons surely are not simply made of walls and bars, but also the barriers we put up in our hearts and minds. One thing the prisoners say draws them to Kairos weekends is the food but they say what I say above about Harambee as well, that although that drew them in, and they are thankful for it, they leave the weekend with a fullness made of something other than food, a fullness that is more enduring, for many even life changing. I am always so inspired by their boundless honesty in their witness, the "open mike" time they get to share. Here some said simply, I am not sure I believe in Christianity yet, but I sure do believe in all of you, and the love you have shared with me. I am moved by this because often I see the opposite in our churches, where we are sometimes more inclined to eat our young, or shoot our wounded when they suggest anything outside the approved response.

As one candidate said, as he looked at the other 37 who had been through this weekend with him, pointing out to the "yard", 'when you see me out there, be there for me, build me up, remind me of what it was like in here, and I will do the same for you.' It reminded me that we should all be about that, out in the "world" too.

This was a good, full, rich weekend. I am going on retreat this week, a much needed one, and I could not be more thankful for these two events as precursors to my time of prayer, reminding me that freedom and captivity are real, but they are also not as simple and clear as we might think; that the most isolated and restrained individual, can be as free as any freedom we know, and the most unrestricted individual, can live in total captivity. With God, we can defy the gravity of our minds , live beyond all barriers, and be "full."

Blessings,

+Greg

I'm Back!

2008-10-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

As I said in the October "Voice", I intend to blog a bit more, not nearly as much as I did from Lambeth, surely not every day, but hopefully enough for us to use this as a way to stay in contact, to communicate, and to be in conversation. For now, the financial meltdown may be a place to start.

You surely do not need me to tell you that our financial world has changed remarkably and indelibly in the past several weeks. Certainly, I am in no position to suggest where this is all going but I did want to state my firm belief that the unchanging reality of the love of our God, through Jesus Christ has not changed, and will not change, no matter what happens on Wall Street.

Still, the reality of these dramatic changes are affecting many in our fold, and surely those all around us. I will be speaking even more to this in my November Voice article, but before that I wanted to let you know of my concern, and my prayers, as we continue this uncertain ride. I also hope we can open up a conversation about resources and ideas as we move through this time. In the next few days we intend to put out resources we have and we would very much appreciate your adding to this or offering more such resources.

Today I was blessed to attend the ordination and consecration of the Rev. Brian Thom, as Bishop of Idaho. I arrived Friday to a snowstorm, the earliest measurable snowfall on record in Boise! It was gone pretty fast. The service was beautiful, our Presiding Bishop preaching and presiding. I have grown to know and respect very much Bishop Bainbridge and it was just as good to be there to honor him as well.

So, here is our start again! I look forward to being in touch. Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, Back Home!

2008-08-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Well, I am actually back on US soil and looking forward to a few weeks of vacation with my family, who is with me now. I missed them so. My last Lambeth post will be my pastoral letter to the diocese, just sent out tonight and posted now here. Blessings to you all! For those who commented, thanks for taking the time to peer in. I hope it was helpful!

A Pastoral Letter in response to Lambeth Conference from the Rt. Rev. Greg Rickel, Bishop of Olympia to the People of the Diocese.

Dear Ones,

A message from our Presiding Bishop

Lambeth 2008

Many bishops came to this gathering in fear and trembling, expecting either a distasteful encounter between those of vastly different opinions, or the cold shoulder from those who disagree. The overwhelming reality has been just the opposite. We have prayed, cried, learned, and laughed together, and discovered something deeper about the body of Christ. We know more of the deeply faithful ministry of those in vastly differing contexts, and we have heard repeatedly of the life and death matters confronting vast swaths of the Communion: hunger, disease, lack of education and employment, climate change, war and violence. We have remembered that together we may be the largest network on the planet – able to respond to those life and death issues if we tend to the links, connections, and bonds between us. We have not resolved the differences among us, but have seen the deep need to maintain relationships, even in the face of significant disagreement and discomfort. The Anglican Communion is suffering the birth pangs of something new, which none of us can yet fully appreciate or understand, yet we know that the Spirit continues to work in our midst. At the same time patience is being urged from many quarters, that all may more fully know the leading of the Spirit. God is faithful. May we be faithful as well.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

The statement is available on EpiScope http://episcopalchurch.typepad.com/episcope/

For complete coverage, be sure to check Episcopal Life Online
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife/

Dear Ones,

In the last day of our Lambeth Bible study, we studied John 20:1-19, “that through believing you may have life in his name.” In it we found that we, as Christians, most fully lead our lives as wounded and risen at the same time. The same might be said of this Lambeth Conference. Certainly, we entered this Lambeth with emotions, hopes and wishes that were all over the map. Regardless of just where you might be on that spectrum, I think it would be fair to say we entered Lambeth both wounded and risen. As we now see its end, I don’t see it much differently, but I would say that those who attended are different; we could not help but be so.

At the beginning of the conference a bishop gave us this quote from Mussolini: “It is not that governing Italy is impossible, just pointless.” I am not sure why that has stuck with me but I must say that this wonderful sacred mystery we call the Anglican Communion is a difficult thing to manage or govern. Perhaps God does not exactly want that. The great gift of the Anglican Communion has always been its very uniqueness in the face of many different styles of church throughout the world. All our ecumenical partners who were invited in as full participants said over and over that Anglicanism offers a unique witness in Christianity, and in the religious world, and they hoped we would stay together to be a witness to it.

The struggles we have had and continued to have in these almost three weeks can be summed up in the following manner: We are trying to solve our differences with a modern process imposed upon a postmodern problem. Another way to put it would be from Ron Heifetz’s work, Leadership without Easy Answers: we are trying a technical fix when we have an adaptive challenge on our hands. Our leading edge these past weeks was not to succumb to that temptation. More importantly, I think Jesus operated this way as well. He often led those around him to the most unlikely places, through the most unlikely people.

As the world has become more global so has the Church. It often does not do us well to try to have relationship in this instantaneous communicative world we live in. One can nary have a fleeting thought before it is posted on the World Wide Web, and this does not help our conversations. I am sure the web is humming already. What we had this last three weeks is real conversation, the face-to-face kind, where memos and e-mails cannot hide the incarnated being right before your eyes. There is no delete button or hiding behind the computer screen here. And there is nothing that can substitute for the experience of the primitive ancient church practice and reality of gathering around the Scripture in a small group, under a tree or around a table.

That is not to say that all the conversations during this time have been chummy, as they might say here in England. No; they were direct, even strident at times, but at least we were in the room together. We had to deal with each other. And on this last day, as we shared our hopes and dreams before we left, especially with those in our Indaba and Bible study groups, we realized we had put ourselves in the hand of God, and with Jesus as our guide, the vast majority had been solidified in one thing even if not changed as far as position or theological stripe: we value each other and we value this communion, even more deeply than when we arrived. Tears were shed, smiles were shared, vows were made to pray for one another and to share and talk, even when the rough times come, and we know they will.

I give great credit to the Archbishop of Canterbury in proposing and following through with an agenda and way of being at this conference that was centered on relationships, not legislation. As he said in one of his speeches, “For those of you who are unhappy or wish to criticize this approach, let me ask you: Have the old ways really been all that effective?” He has a very good point. I know many of you are divided as to trusting him or not. I can only tell you he is human, too; he has his strong desires and he is in a most difficult place. In all Christian charity, for now, I intend to trust the current process and work with our Presiding Bishop and our House of Bishops in working with the communion.

The senior bishop in my Indaba, from another province, offered this analysis before he left: a narrative is being proposed by some in the communion and by many in the press that the Anglican Communion is at war and is totally divided. The narrative says that everyone in the communion is in one or the other of these camps. Instead, there is a narrative, what he called the truer narrative, which suggests just what we have lived at Lambeth 2008—those two ends of the spectrum do in fact exist, but there is a huge center that simply wants to get along with mission and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. I would add to this the even more important narrative that we cannot lose: that everyone on that spectrum—everyone, the left, the right, the center—is living out of a deep commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as they have received it, in their context, and are trying to live that with the greatest integrity they can.

We did not resolve anything at Lambeth 2008; however, we did get closer to one another. We did have time to listen to one another. And, as we gather and discuss this in the months and years ahead, I would be glad to share some of the great misconceptions about us and some we had about others that were made clear by our sharing. These alone were worth the price of attending.

One bishop “listener,” the 16 tasked with collecting all of the inputs and putting them into some coherent statement, claimed her frustration by saying there was no way to be scribe and poet at the same time. And I would add even the poet could not completely articulate what has happened to those of us who have walked together during these last days.

I have begun new relationships that I hope will lead to work and relationship for all of us. One very promising connection is with the Rt. Rev. Michael Sande of the Diocese of Butere in Kenya. He and I met several times this week, along with Nedi, and I see the possibility of a growing connection. My Indaba group formed a statement on climate change and the environment which I will publish some time later. Nedi wrote a Rule of Life for us and it is being widely sought after now as a way for us to hold each other in prayer.

So I say to you we still have work to do, in our diocese, in the Episcopal Church and in our Anglican Communion. I am not sure where it will all lead. But the truth is we will always have work to do. It is who we choose to walk with while we do the work that deserves our attention. I do know friends from all over this communion now, who believe in Jesus Christ and his power, and who want to be in relationship with us, even if we don’t see eye to eye on everything. They know the truth of, and are willing to stay in, the wounded and risen nature of our life together.

At our last General Convention I heard a story; I believe it was a visiting Korean Anglican who said to one of our deputies, “We have a story in our country, that porcupines must hug one another to get through the winter. It is painful, but in order to survive they must hold each other tight. It seems your church is in the winter now.” Wounded and risen. Our Indaba, to my great joy, ended its last time together with my favorite prayer in the prayer book and I leave you with it now, too.

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." AMEN

Faithfully,

+Greg

Lambeth, August 3rd

2008-08-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

The last day. A bittersweet moment actually. The Bible Studies and the Indaba's have been a blessing in so many ways. I know you have heard, and will hear more about how these did not work, but just remember there were 670 bishops here and many spouses as well. The vast majority of them shared today in our last day how much these discussions have meant. It was expressed that one cannot go through such an intensive experience and not leave changed. I feel that is very true, and I feel it myself.

My Bible Study was made up of bishops from South Africa, UK, Canada, Malaysia, and Japan. We have vowed to stay in touch and to pray for one another. We are exploring a Rule of Life together. The relationships are profound and it was exactly what was hoped for in the Archbishop's and the Design Team's work. The idea is, we cannot work out the very delicate and intricate issues that arise in this communion, without relationship.

After lunch, we entered the Big Top for one final time. It was a very cool day in Canterbury, with some rain as well, a lot like home! But that was welcomed as we all came into the Big Top. Upon our entering we were presented with the "Lambeth Indaba: Capturing Conversations and Reflections from the Lambeth Conference 2008." This was put together by the 16 member "listening" group. One member from each Indaba, with careful consideration to make sure there was as wide of representation as possible. The two Americans were Bishop Neil Alexander of Atlanta and Bishop Gerylyn Wolf of Rhode Island. Bishop Wolf actually was the representative from my Indaba. This group has worked around the clock, literally, and they were tired. It was not never proposed to be a document to solve things, not a legislative document, but a "reflection" of what we were about, and where our minds are right now, to the best of their ability. Many of you have probably read it more closely than I have had a chance to yet. Afterwards the Archbishop of York played the drums! Picture above!

At the plenary, the Archbishop thanked a lot of people. I was even included in one thank you as a leader of one of the Bible Studies. After those, we heard from our ecumenical partners who have been full participants in this process. Kallistos Ware, who is Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia of the Eastern Orthodox Church said, "your joys and sorrows are our joys and sorrows, and your problems are our problems, and if they are not yet our problems, they will be!" He went on to be quite clear about what he saw, we did not clear up everything, but he was also clear in saying, "I need you to be who I am!"

Jane Williams, the Archbishop's wife, led some from the Spouse's Conference in sharing their experiences. Thier experiences were much the same and resulted in some deep and abiding connections. Both the Archbishop and Mrs. Williams were given warm, and long, ovations.

We then boarded buses in route to Canterbury Cathedral for our closing Eucharist. We once again paraded down that street, past the Starbuck's, and through Christ Gate to the cathedral grounds. Again, stewards lined the streets to make a path, and to make sure we saw smiling faces, of which there were many.

The service was absolutely beautiful. I have provided one picture above that does not do it justice. The boy's and men's choirs sang. The Archbishop of Melenesia presided, the Archbishop of Canterbury preached, telling us to share the story, a story that should make "something happen." One of the most moving moments was toward the end. The names of the Melenesia martyrs murdered in 2000 were recieved by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He prayed over them and then the Melenesia brothers and sisters present took the names, along with the Archbishop of Melenesia, singing their litany of the saints and martyrs, a beautiful, haunting tune, as they did. Their singing would echo as it got fainter and fainter as they took the names to the Chapel of Saints and Martyrs of Our Own Time.

We then were treated to a dinner on the grounds and then back to the University to pack, to get ready, in my case, for a 5 a.m. bus ride to Gatwick.

I will be posting one more time on this blog, my last reflection on this blog as Lambeth ends. I hope to post it tomorrow during my travels.

I hope this has been helpful to you. I have enjoyed doing it. I have very much enjoyed your comments. Some have commented with no way to respond, including one clergy from my diocese. Please know I would respond if I knew who you were!!

Until then, I leave you with a prayer used during the intercessions tonight at Canterbury Cathedral;

God our Shepherd, give to the Church a new vision and a new charity,

new wisdom and fresh understanding, the revival of her brightness and the renewal of her unity;that the eternal message of your Son may be hailed as the good news of the new age; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, August 2nd

2008-08-02T15:52:00.001-07:00

Dear Ones,

I am not really going to be able to explain the first picture above. It is a public registrar's office I have passed everyday on my walks. I see it every time and wonder how it sums up something about our walk through life and all we have been about here in Canterbury. I offer it to you. Another one I saw but could not get a good picture of said "Bishops: acquired for clients". It is one way to do it!

Today started as the rest, Eucharist at 7:15 provided by the Anglican Church of Kenya, breakfast, then Bible Study on John 18:1-18. I think our Bible Study participants are mourning a bit. It has been truly transforming to be in these small groups, studying Scripture, and simply sharing our stories, how they relate and intersect with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and even more putting names and faces to the Communion. Tomorrow will be our last meeting.

We then went to our Indaba group for a meeting entitled "Fostering Our Common Life: The Bishop, The Anglican Covenant, and the Windsor Process." There was no consensus and in fact, in my group, I would say there are feelings that range from no covenant at all no matter what, to those simply open to the idea and not committing (perhaps the largest group), to those convinced it is the only way forward. I am becoming less and less convinced that it is the answer. I intend to address that in my last post from the conference. Today was our last Self Select workshop and I attended "The Science of Climate Change" which was headed by Professor Ian James, University of Reading, UK. He is also ordained. He gave an excellent presentation, much of which I have seen before but also new information is always coming out.

I must say that I keep hearing occasionally from other bishops, from some of our US congressman, and others that there is a lot of "science" that debunks the current science that seems to overwhelmingly corroborate that we have a serious humanmade problem on our hands. I have asked these folks, sometimes in person, sometimes in writing to supply me with this science or at least links to it, and I still have yet to recieve it. In all seriousness I would like to see the other side. I asked Professor James to direct me to some. He was at a loss saying that there are many articles debunking it, but hard science he had not seen either. We have a problem and a short time in which to address it, but I keep saying I am willing to look at the side that says we have no problem, or at least it is not a human made one.

This afternoon a special hearing was called to listen one final time to the reflections group, putting together the final draft of our reflections of these past weeks. If you were expecting a definitive answer on matters, you will most likely be dissappointed, but what lies behind it and I believe a lot of what will be in the statement, will speak to what Anglicanism is all about, what Lambeth is supposed to be about, and will be an investment that is well worth if for our future. What can't be captured in a statement of any kind are the miraculous meetings that occur at lunch, and dinner, and in the wonderful ques, lines, we stand in for everything. It is difficult to engage here and not learn, no matter where you are from.

The Church of Ireland provided evening worship. After dinner a plenary was offered in which four of our stewards, the young people from all over the communion, offered their reflections of these past weeks. Just a reminder, the stewards are those folks who wear bright yellow jackets, with "Steward" written across the back and direct us. They are essentially crowd control, and yet so much more. Stewards from Southwest Florida, the Seychelles, South Africa, and the UK offered reflections and then opened the floor for questions. It was pointed out that when questions have been taken this week they have been written on cards and turned in, but not tonight, they were taken fresh, off the cuff, from the floor.

This was amazing just as I thought it would be. These are truly stunning young people, divinity school students and graduates, cardiovascular medical students, and the list goes on and on. Some of them are in youth ministry now, some wanting to be ordained. Solo from the Seychelles wanted us to know that mass is often boring, sermons boring, music too slow and old. He also wanted us to know that even when it does not seem like it they want to know, youth love for you to tell them your stories.

Penny from the UK said that all she knew of bishops was that you had to clean up the church before they came, and it usually just meant more work for her. But, she said, "after spending these three weeks with you I can say you all are pretty colorful characters. " Please, she asked, don't wait for us, let us use our skills and talents now. In one of the more poignant moments she said to us, that being with us these three weeks has given her great hope and has fed her desire to be ordained. She said, 30 years from now I hope I will be here, wearing a purple shirt! This was greeted with raucous applause (think about that, a bit of a informal vote!) She hesitated and said, "When I have recently told my friends this, they have said, don't be silly, the Anglican Communion won't be here in 30 years!" She said, these past three weeks have made her know it will be and she implored us to stick with it, and she promised if we did, her generation would care for it too.

When they were asked what we should do about this, and I believe our own Nedi Rivera asked them this question, they said we need better music and maybe some dancing! I am sure Nedi liked that answer! Maybe hip hop once in a while. The next questioner told them not to expect him to hip hop dance, it would not be pretty. He then asked what is there not enough of? To which the wise Penny replied, "Not enough hip hop dancing!" While it was funny, I think we need to hear it. What we may least like to do, or feel we are least equipped to do, may be exactly what is needed. And we may just need to get comfortable enough to do it!

They went on to say we should not wait for youth to respond to what we have created for them, but instead ask them to create it.

When they were asked what they most loved about Jesus, they responded with his coolness, his good attitude, one said that Jesus could cry and showed sorrow for his friends.

When they were asked what specifically brought them hope in watching us these past weeks they said, the relationships they saw building here, the diversity, and as one put it so well, seeing people talking to each other not because they had to, but because they wanted to. Amen to that!

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, August 1st

2008-08-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Today was "Ordinary Day 10" You may note as we did that ordinary day 9 was left out, it was left out in our agenda as well. Don't know where 9 was, we can only hope that was not the day everything would have been revealed! In all seriousness, our good work goes on. I have to tell you this day was a good one. It began once again with Eucharist at 7:15 a.m. provided by The Church of Pakistan, breakfast, and then Bible Study, today on John 15: 1-17. We then went to our Indaba group where we continued our discussion of scripture and also recieved the third draft of the listening group who is diligent working on a response from us. Amazingly, with only a few minor changes, the whole group really appreciated and liked it! While nothing we put out will solve many of our problems, our relationships continue to build and we do continue to find common ground among one another. We then had a break and then another Indaba meeting. At this meeting we discussed the proposed covenant and especially the St. Andrew's Draft. Regardless of what you might have heard about the inevitability of such a document, there is far from overall agreement on this. However, the document has provided an excellent way to discuss our life together.

In the midst of our discussion today on the covenant and a possibility of one, I was reminded, and shared with my Indaba group, that incursions into dioceses by non-jurisdictional bishops have been going on since before the last Lambeth Conference. In fact, I remember being on a conference call with my then bishop, Bishop Larry Maze of Arkansas as he discussed with then Archbishop Carey the fact that the Bishop of Rwanda was coming into Arkansas and functioning without permission. Nothing was done then, and the AMiA grew out of this. This was long before the ordination of Gene Robinson as bishop. While this has been going on for some time, it will most likely continue, but I do believe progress has been made. Will it be enough for all? I doubt it, but quite frankly there is not enough we could do for some who have made up their mind. One of our 38 primates told the press even before the retreat was over and this conference had officially begun that the communion "was over." While we disagree about much, this kind of leadership will not lead us forward toward the counter cultural response Jesus calls us to.

In my Bible Study today one of our members told us the story of Ghandi, once given a New Testament. He read it all in short order and then entered a Christian church some weeks later. He walked out and commented that he saw no resemblance whatsoever in what he experienced that day and what he had read of Jesus in that book. The vast majority here are trying to remember that.

Tonight, evening worship was provided by the Church of the Province of South East Asia. Lively and good! Tonight I attended the Affirming Catholicism presentation which was excellent and well attended.

The press remains frustrated, so much so that many of them are making up stories, and misquoting as well. Read it if you must, but please don't believe it without some true research and inspection.

Blessings as you greet August,

+Greg

Lambeth, July 31st

2008-07-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Today was Ordinary Day 8. Eucharist was offered by The Anglican Church of Burundi. The theme for the Day was "Listening to God and Each Other: The Bishop and Human Sexuality" My Indaba group, as I told you yesterday, did this yesterday. Today my Indaba group took up scripture and the interpretation of it. As most discussions we found differences, but some real genuine listening and those that prepared their interpretations as asked were just wonderful. In my Bible Study yesterday we did this and the presentations, interpretations we very inspiring. We joked that several sermons were offered for future use!

This afternoon Nedi and I had a delightful meeting with Bishop Michael Sande, Bishop of Butere, in the Anglican Church of Kenya. We had a good discussion over lunch about possible work together on mission in the future. I then went to a special meeting provided by Coventry Cathedral here in Britain on Reconciliation. Many of you will know of the Community of the Cross of Nails, based in reconciliation. In WWII Coventry Cathedral was bombed and virtually destroyed. The back wall near the altar survived and two charred pieces of wood fell in the shape of a cross. That cross still stands with words inscribed in the wall. "Father Forgive." As the story goes, people asked the then Provost, don't you mean "Father forgive them?" And the Provost wisely said, "no, we all need forgiveness, we have all fed into this." As they say he decided that the Christian way was one of counter culture. Would that we had more leaders live out of this model today! Amazing stories of reconcilation were told in their work around the world especially in Muslim/Christian conflict in Africa. You can find more about this at http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/

After this I attended my self select workshop of the day which was on the consequences of climate change, this day especially in Sub Saharan Africa, most particularly Sudan and Burundi. Excellent presentations by both bishops of these regions. They are seeing complete changes in seasons, farming, they are seeing nomadic people having to move farther and farther each year in order to live as they have in the past.

Tonight's evening worship was Night Prayer from the New Zealand Prayer Book, a beautiful book and provided by the Province of Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia.

Our relationships are continuing to build and deepen. I am not sure what all that will mean at the end of this time together but I do feel a spirit hoping for a way forward. I am still putting together my thoughts on this historical time and event and promise to provide it when the conference ends, but I do want to allow it to be lived in and to its fullest. Until then, I promise to keep you informed of my vision of things on the ground.

I end tonight with the Litany of Reconciliation from Coventry Cathedral.

Following the bombing of the Mediaeval Cathedral in 1940, Provost Dick Howard had the words 'Father Forgive' inscribed on the wall behind the Altar of the ruined building. These words are used as the response in the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation, which is prayed in the ruins every Friday at noon, and is used throughout the world by the Community of the Cross of Nails.

A Litany for Reconciliation

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class,

Father Forgive.

The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own,Father Forgive.

The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth, Father Forgive.

Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others,Father Forgive.

Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee,Father Forgive.

The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children,Father Forgive.

The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God,Father Forgive.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Indeed,

+Greg

Lambeth, July 30th

2008-07-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Today was "Ordinary Day 8". The proposed theme was "Living Under Scripture: The Bishop and the Bible in Mission." And so it was, for most of the day. My Indaba group however has had a quiet revolution of sorts, hoping to tackle more of the hard questions earlier, so we moved to human sexuality today. This discussion was one of the best we have had. It is clear that we come from many different places and have many different experiences and yet everyone in our group listened, and proclaimed in a very graceful way.

Still, the best part of this for me is the Bible Study group. After our usual Eucharist at 7:15 provided today by Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, we went into our Bible Studies to look at John 11: 1-44. The deepest conversations are happening here and I wish we had more time with this group. Although our Bible Study groups are folded into an Indaba group, with four other bible studies, you lose the intimacy and we are often not together much in that group. Still, as I said, the discussions were quite good!

There was a hearing today regarding the listening group and the final paper to be released upon our departure. It was filled with all sorts of ideas of course! I am hoping we can surprise the world but I am not sure there is time to do so. We need more than, as one eloquent Brit put it, "our holiday snaps!" to send back! I can tell you no matter what the whole leaves with, individuals, including me will have much to share, pray about, and many to be in communion with, not just ideas or abstract realities, but real people.

My self select session today was with NT Wright, Bishop of Durham and a great writer and bibilical scholar. His recent book Simply Christian has been very important to me. He spoke on The Bible and Tomorrow's World.

I then headed off to clean up a bit for my evening at the Old Palace, the Archbishop's residence in Canterbury, in the Cathedral precincts. It was a lovely evening. The Archbishop, his wife Jane, and son Pip, have been entertaining us here for night upon night. If you can imagine hosting over 1200 people but parceling them out in small enough batches to make it all workable. I am not sure how many they have done but it is amazing. One picture above of the people milling around a yard, if you look at the part of the palace in the background, one guide casually stated that this part had been there since the time of Anselm.

I am putting lots of pictures in tonight. Some I just got today from the London day at Buckingham and some from tonight at the Old Palace and one from NT Wright's presentation. At Buckingham Palace, I was amazed to see Marshall McReal, member of the Compass Rose Board!

After the Old Palace, I came back and made my way to two more events, both fringe events. First the Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals which promotes the care of all creation but with a special emphasis on bringing to attention and curbing the abuse of animals. I then left and went to the last of the conversations with Bishop Gene Robinson. What I witnessed there was amazing. This was the kind of discussion I wish we were seeing everywhere here. One bishop from a part of the world where this is a very difficult thing to abide, stood and said to Bishop Robinson, "I came here tonight to listen, to hear more, to know more. The reality is that this is just too difficult for our people to take right now, but in meeting you tonight, I wish to tell you that, my brother, I do love you. I will pray for you, and I hope you will pray for me." This was the kind of dialouge the group sponsoring was hoping for. There was a very good crowd present.

Of course, the very top picture is my tribute to Seattle. A Starbucks literally right at the doorway of the Cathedral.

Now, it is off to bed. Many blessings to you all.

+Greg

Lambeth, July 29th

2008-07-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

This was "Ordinary Day 7" however, it was not quite as ordinary as the others. Today the theme was Equal in God's Sight: When Power is abused. Seems we certainly need to listen to such a theme! We still had morning worship at 7:15 provided by the Anglican Church of Canada. If there are churches or provinces here that seem to be the brunt of the "problem" it would be us and the Anglican Church of Canada. Today Bishop Mark McDonald, our former bishop of Alaska and now the Bishop for Indiginous People gave the sermon. It was fantastic as it often is. His best line, which I think I will get right is this, "The only thing strange here is grace." It reminded me of one of my favorite lines, "Grace is hard to take." It is difficult, because we don't want to believe that grace is for everyone, unearned, free, plentiful. Instead we prefer to believe as we see the world live, that things have to be earned, even grace.

The agenda from the ordinary day changed today as we moved from breakfast, not to Bible Study, but to the Big Top, everybody, bishops and spouses. When we arrived at the Big Top the men were seperated from the women and we sat in the Big Top, segregated by gender. We began the topic of violence, especially against women, but also against all those who are not in power. We began with a play which was just superb. I have posted a picture from the play above. It was a montage of sorts of all of the miracles of grace performed by Jesus, the times he healed, women, who were seen as outcasts of their times. Jesus broke all the social codes in doing so. We then had a dramatic reading by the same actors of II Samuel 13, the rape of Tamar. We were put in groups of three to discuss this study and the issues. I was in a group with two from Africa, and our sharing and our cultural learning was amazing. They shared with me that in both their countries, men with AIDS believe they can be cured of AIDS by having sex with a virgin girl. So, they are having sex with even thier own daughters, often infecting them. In only one of the two countries is this a crime.

At one point we were told, and not very far into our study that the stewards, the wonderful young people who have come from all over the world to do just about everything from ushering, guiding, serving, had reported that since we had started the study (less than an hour) over 100 men had left the tent, and no women. Later it was reported that actually a few woman had left but the disparity is still worthy of notice. Some men stood and complained about our taking on this topic, only one woman did. One woman from the West stood to complain that we were segregated and did not understand why that was done. As she said, "If we cannot talk together about this in this safe place where will we be able too." I was so proud of the leader who said, "The answer is simple, many women in this room do not find this a safe place." In essence the questioners "culture was showing." She is not to be singled out. We are all learning such lessons, one of the great things about this bringing together of so many different cultures from so many different contexts. Chaplains were provided for those who needed to talk after this discussion and they were available all day. I found this to be one of the best pastoral moments of the conference and a much needed thing to do. It was a response to a large number of people who have no voice.

Our House of Bishops met in the afternoon for announcements. We then met with bishops from Africa. I set a meeting with two bishops from Kenya for Thursday. Nedi and I will be be speaking to them about mission possibilities between the two dioceses. We then had our usual Bible Study, today on John 10: 11-18, the Good Shepherd. We then went to Evening worship presided over by the Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma), the area still reeling from cyclones and flooding. At the end of that service, Archbishop Rowan Williams gave his second presidential address to the combined assembly. I found it to be a very courageous speech. He, at great risk by his own assessment, attempted to spell out in his own words the two very different perspectives present on the edges of this event and I must say I think he did a very good job with this. The feeling among many was that his address proved at least one point, he gets it. He does see the different perspectives and additionally, how the opposite edges view each other.

Where will all of that take us? We will see. Still, a general goodwill is still in the air, and hope as well. The only thing strange here is grace. Thank God for it!

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, July 28th

2008-07-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Well, Ordinary Day number 6. Glad to have the rest of yesterday as today was very full. Started with Eucharist provided by the Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean. These folks are so very beautiful, graceful, grace-filled. Breakfast, bible study, today on John 10:1-10. I have to say this has been the greatest blessing to me in this Lambeth, this Bible Study. Today I post a picture we took today of this fine group.

We then went to Indaba group. This is interesting and trying. The first draft came to us in this group today from the Reflections group, made up of one listener from each Indaba group, so 16 people in all. Let's just say that the draft incited quite a discussion, but all of this is good. People are talking. That is what we are here to do.

I had lunch with Bishop Ed Little, a great colleague in the House of Bishops and a wonderful exemplar of reconciliation and grace. After lunch, there was the second hearing from the Windsor Continuation Group. If you are paying attention at all you will know that this has made a splash around the communion now. Today, this group presented some new information, among that a request to have the moratoria on same-sex blessings, consecrations of practicing gay persons, and incursions to be in place indefinitely. There is also provision for a "holy office" as many are calling it, or a faith and order commission. The room in which the hearing was held was at least 120 degrees and I am only slightly exaggerating. It was not a good setting. About 20 people spoke in the one and half hour session. It was civil and everyone stated clearly their case. We are clearly not of one mind on many of these issues. The Archbishop has made it clear we will not be deciding these items at this conference and I trust him on that, but this is our time to share our concerns and our hopes.

Then, in the afternoon, self select workshops. I once again attended the Climate Change workshop. Today the bishops of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh spoke of the changes in their regions. I find these fascinating and I am getting to know bishops from around the world and to learn a bit more about the issues that face them and their people.

Evening worship was provided by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It was beautiful but the Big Top was hot! Today was to be the hottest day of our stay here. It lived up to its billing!

Very disconcerting during the day was an email I received from a youth contingent from our diocese traveling in the Holy Land. 4 of our youth were just inches away from a women who was murdered before their eyes. They are all unharmed physically, but emotionally are shaken. I spoke with the adult sponsor tonight. They were scheduled to come home anyway in a few hours and will be. Please pray for them, for those affected by this death, and for peace in the Middle East.

I am also mourning the passing of two saints of St. James', Austin, who died within 24 hours of each other. Ms. Hortense Lawson and Mr. James Means. I once said that if I had to put a voice on God, it would be Hortense's voice. I will hear it in my prayers forevermore. I give thanks this night for their lives. They both taught me so much. May they rest in peace.

And then tonight, in plenary, we had perhaps one of the best presentations of the conference and one of the best I have ever heard, from Rabbi Jonathan Sachs, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He spoke on what covenant means and he spoke of two different covenants, the covenant of fate, and the covenant of faith. He made a good case that the covenant of fate is what holds us together and is so important to hold us together. I hope this speech will somehow be available to the world, because it is worth hearing again and again. One of my favorite quotes he gave tonight was this. "If we were absolutely totally different, we would not talk to each other, and if we were absolutely totally alike, we would have nothing to talk about." He further said, "the very premise of covenant begins in difference."

He received a long standing ovation and another after answering several questions. It was an uplifting evening and a good end to this day.

A good rain and nice thunderstorm is rolling through, until tomorrow,

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, July 27th

2008-07-27T02:16:00.001-07:00

Dear Ones,

OK, I am going to admit, I took a day off! Sunday was a very light day, nothing required although several things offered and I just decided to not be "on the program" today. So, I slept in a little more than usual, cleaned up a few things around the little room I have, walked to the train station and went to the town of Whitstable, which is a beach town. They happened to be having their annual Oyster Festival this weekend. So, I took part in these festivities and, on beautiful day, hung out with normal, everyday people. I didn't have to have an ID badge and there was not "the next thing to get to." I went swimming and enjoyed the gorgeous day! Of the two pictures above, one did not turn out quite like I had hoped, the crates sitting there are all filled with old oyster shells. And the sign reads, "Oyster Shell Recycling" subtext: used to build new oyster breeding grounds.

Train back to town, dinner, and now I am writing you. I took some pictures of the beach and the town above. In many ways it reminds me of our part of the world but there are no snow topped mountains and I do miss those!

One of the pictures above is of Luke Fodor, Network Coordinator for ERD and me at the Episcopal Relief and Development booth here at the Marketplace at Lambeth. Luke's wife is from our neck of the woods and he secretly loves us very much! Of even more interest are the pictures you see in the booth behind the two of us. These are pictures taken by Laura Ellen Muglia on her mission to Tanzania. Olympia is incredibly represented here!

I also wanted to send along this link to the music that goes along with the words I put in the blog last night. This is Jack Barben singing. Jack is an extrordinary musician. Some of you will remember him from the convention last year, and he has led music in several other workshops and conferences. Jack is currently the Director of Music at St. Benedict's, Lacey. Here is the link to "Let the Broken ones be healed."

http://jackbarben.com/SBE.html

Blessings!

+Greg

Lambeth, July 26th

2008-07-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Today was Ordinary Day 5. We opened with Eucharist by the Province of Australia. The theme for the day was the Bishop and the Environment. I have really been excited about this day. The Rev. George Browning, Bishop of Canberra preached. He is also the Chair of the Anglican Global Environmental Network. Breakfast, Bible Study on John 9: 1-41. Tea, then Indaba group. Our group today took up the discussion of the proposed covenant. It is clear we do not all see eye to eye on it, but in my group I found much more concern about its introduction than a clamoring of support for it. We will be sorting out more about this as the next week goes on, but the Archbishop has made it clear repeatedly that this will not be decided at this event, but will come, if at all, some time later.

My afternoon was a busy one. I worked with two other bishops on a document that needed some work, and then collected my rochet and chimere for our group picture. You might imagine trying to get almost 700 bishops in one photo. It was an amazing sight. The spouses had their picture taken earlier, and at 2 p.m. was the bishop's slot. It took about 40 minutes to get us in place and about 10 to take pictures. The press was then allowed to take photos of us, and then we were carefully brought down from the risers built for this occassion. You can look at the Lambeth website to see all of this, but I have placed a picture above too. I have also put a picture of a breakout small group within an Indaba group, as well as a few other shots. The Lambeth site again is www.lambethconference.org.

Immediately following the picture I had to quickly move to the media center as I was one of the media responders today along with Bishop Thomas Ely of Vermont. If you have a desire to see that report you can go to Episcopal News Service and look under "multimedia."

Then I reported to the Big Top and to Dent Davidson, as it was the Episcopal Church's night to offer evening prayer. Our House of Bishops choir sang and for those who attended I think it was a hit. Nedi and I both sing in this choir, and if you look closely you will also note Jeff and Lisa Lee, so a big Olympia contingent in this!

Then, finally, a nice dinner and time to share with others. Tomorrow will be a slow day, which I desperately need. This is full, and long, and tiring. However, I feel so blessed to be here and I am learning so very much. I end tonight with the text of the last song we sang tonight. You will not hear the tune, which is beautiful, but the words are the prayer for this next week and for this conference. The hymn is by Michael Hudson and Marilyn Haskel and it is entitled "Let the Broken ones be healed."

Let the broken ones be healed, let the lost be found and fed.
Let the grace of God roll on, roll on.

Let the river rise and spread. Step into the stream with me.
Let God's gracious purpose be. Let God's gracious purpose be.

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, July 25th

2008-07-25T16:36:00.001-07:00

Dear Ones,

Back to Ordinary days, this being the Ordinary Day 5. Same schedule, 7:15 Eucharist, today by The Church of North India and the Church of Bangladesh, then breakfast. Bible Study today covered John 8: 31-59. While we discussed that my Bible Study is becoming closer and closer and wanted to process the day before, the ironies, the incredible sight and feel of marching with our brothers and sisters for a cause that deserves and needs our moral and spiritual voice, hunger and poverty. That day will not soon be lost on any of us. Thanks to Mary Allen, one picture was found with me, kind of in it. I put it in just above. Also, you can see the BBC news video at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7523539.stm

Today, we turned our focus to one of the issues that I have the most passion about and the one that I think is the most serious for us to have a voice; Climate Change and Global Warming. In my self select session I again attended the Climate Change workshop entitled today "The consequences of of climate change From South to North" The Chair was John Prichard, Bishop of Oxford, UK, and Tom Wilmot, Bishop of Perth, Australia and Bishop Mark McDonald, National Indigenous Bishop, Toronto, Canada and former bishop of Alaska. This was a fascinating discussion. I am very heartened by how many bishops see this as a major focus and how many want to know more.

In keeping with that theme today the spouses had a presentation from Professor Chris Rapley, Director of the Science Museum, a known expert in Climate Change. Until 2007 he was the Director of the British Antartic Survey. He then gave an excellent plenary to the entire conference tonight in the Big Top. We will continue our exploration of the Bishop and the Environment tomorrow.

Dent Davidson showed up tonight and our bishop's choir rehearsed, we will also rehearse tomorrow and then lead Evening Worship tomorrow evening. It was good to see him. He is a huge asset to our House of Bishops and to our Church.

Our Diocese of Olympia Cursillo community sent a package to both Nedi and I filled with "palanca" for us both. These letters and well wishes and assurances of prayer have been so very important to both of us. Thanks to all who took the time to do this. You are a blessing and we are so heartened by all who are praying for us. My picture tonight is of our presentation in the Big Top by Dr. Rapley. I hope it gives you some perspective on our meeting space.

I leave you with a quote from one of those letters from Cursillo. The person sent me a 1939 quote by King George VI, "Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than life and safer than a known way!" That is a keeper!

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, July 24th, London Day!

2008-07-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Today was London Day, which meant getting up even earlier, about 6 a.m. for breakfast, then on the bus at 7:15 a.m.. We drove to London to Whitehall, where we unloaded and began walking in the Walk of Witness which was purported to be the largest walk for hunger and poverty ever in London. I don't know about that but it was huge. We walked past 10 Downing Street, past the Houses of Parliament, over the Thames, and into Lambeth Palace. We were treated to a very nice meal (kind of a contradition in a walk to eliminate poverty) but there you have it. The Archbishop and his wife Jane were simply wonderful in their hospitality. Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined us for a while and spoke to us as well. He gave a superb and inspiring speech to us and that was echoed by all I spoke with today.

We were there about 3 hours, and then back aboard the buses to head to Buckingham Palace. Having stood outside these gates two years ago almost to the day, it was surreal to actually enter into them. For this entry we had to have our special invitation, our passport, another form of indentification. We were then taken into the inner courtyard, which is just a large gravel yard, much like what you see in front of Buckingham Palace. After a short wait, we were taken through the Palace and into the beautiful back yard, where huge tents with tea, sandwiches, deserts awaited us. There were two bands in two seperate parts of the garden. After a time, the Queen and Prince emerged and were ushered down a corridor of people which we formed on two sides. People were randomly, at least that is how they put it!, selected from the crowd to step out, where advance people took down the names in the party on cards, and prepared you for meeting either the Queen or the Prince. I was not selected. I am not nearly interesting enough. Nonetheless we were just feet away from them both and I must say they did take time and talk as they made their way down the line. Then they made their way to the Royal Tent, where a few more dignitaries, much farther up the food chain than me, were offered entry. After a while the corridor of humanity was formed again and the Queen and Prince walked up the aisle and back into their home. The weather was magnificent.

We then boarded our buses and took the road back to Canterbury. I think Nedi and I represented you well. I have no pictures as it is against policy to have cameras in either Lambeth or Buckingham and since were not allowed to bring bags or have anything we could not carry on our person, I could not have done it. I wish I could have! Also, we wore our cassocks all day long and those don't exactly have lots of storage space!

I have to say, I consider myself quite fortunate to experience such an event and yet the irony is keen. As I stated before, the march for poverty as we marched toward a fabulous meal that many never would get to enjoy, and then on to visit a monarch, who met many who eagerly lined up to meet her; who will not make in their lives, and perhaps even three or four of their lives, what we spent on those three hours in that garden. Perhaps this will all go toward, in some strange way to help that situation. One of the highlights of my day was sitting with John and Joseph, both from Tanzania. They are youth stewards, those who are helping make the conference flow, pages, guides, gophers. They are youth from all over the world. We shared tea and dessert at Buckingham Palace. Perhaps that is one small sign of the Kingdom, what it is supposed to be. That was the glimpse I will take from this day....

A day which started with a them, to eliminate poverty, and to promote the MDGs, the Millennium Development Goals. You can find out all about these at http://www.undp.org/mdg/ We have done much with promoting these in our diocese and we will be doing more. I have shared with you my personal committment of giving .7% of my income each year toward them, because it has been calculated if we did, all of us, we could see the goals achieved. My fervent hope, and there is certainly some momentum building here, is that these goals, and other important issues like protecting our planet, will be the real issues we galvanize around in these next days. Keep praying that we can see and hear God and follow in the path of grace and graciousness.

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, July 23rd

2008-07-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

"Ordinary Day" three. The Theme for today was "Transforming Society: The Bishop and Social Justice." We began with Eucharist at 7:15 a.m. done by the Episcopal Church in Cuba! That was fun. Breakfast, Bible Study, today on John 8:1-20 "I am the light of the world." My relationship with my brothers in Bible study continues to grow. We then had tea, and went to our Indaba session. Many good things happened here too.

This afternoon was the first of two hearings on the Windsor Report, by the Windsor Continuation Group. This group was put together to help assess the report and to work on how it might or might not be applied. They reported earlier that they were not completed, and it would take more time and conversation. They did present some findings. One finding suggested the "great turmoil" in the Episcopal Church in the US. Many in our House of Bishops spoke at this hearing, and many in Canada as well regarding the lack of "turmoil." As one bishop put it, "the world needs to know that only .7 of 1% of Episcopal parishes in the US have left the church." This is often percieved by many to be almost 50/50. It was a cordial but clear hearing which started and ended on time. There will be another one next week. No decisions will be made here but the Continuation Group wanted to capitalize on the time here to listen to others. It should be noted that many of our bishops spoke to the Windsor provision regarding jurisdiction and incursions into other dioceses. It was noted that Olympia is a diocese that suffers in this regard as do many others.

We had tea again! Then we had another set of self select programs. Today I chose the one entitled, "The Economics of Climate Change" and it was excellent. I will bring much back on this. Tonight was the first of two nights in which the a few of the American bishops offered "A Conversation with Bishop Gene Robinson." We are trying to hold back so that others from around the communion can come and meet Bishop Robinson but can also hear from bishops that voted for him, from some that did not vote for him, and how our polity works and how his election occurred. I did not attend this one tonight but heard it was well attended. I plan on attending the one upcoming.

Some of you will know Clark Berge, our very own, who calls the Diocese of Olympia home even though he now lives in Berkely. You may remember that Clark was last year named Minister General of the world wide Society of St. Francis. What a joy to find him heading up the chaplaincy service here and leading the daily office in the prayer place set up at Lambeth. I sat with him a while today and took his picture just above!

Also, thought I would add here what Brian Mclaren said about his time at Lambeth which more accurately describes the reality then one headline in papers here today which said, "WAR AT LAMBETH!" We all found that one interesting. Here is what Brian said:

"Joyful time at Lambeth

What a tremendous honor and pleasure it's been to speak on the subject of evangelism at the Lambeth Conference being held here in Canterbury, England.
I know that most people think the "news story" here is about divisive controversies over sexuality, but my sense is that the real news story is very different. There is a humble spirit here, a loving atmosphere, a deep spirituality centered in Bible study, worship, and prayer, and a strong desire to move beyond internal-institutional matters to substantive mission in our needy world.
In every conversation and gathering I've participated in, the spirit has been kind and holy and positive. That sort of good news doesn't attract the media the way a salacious or pugilistic story does ... It will be interesting to see whether the press reports what is actually happening here, or if they need to rewrite the narrative to fit the shape of war-tales they are more accustomed to telling.
My sense is that the quiet, prayerful, and humble patience of Archbishop Rowan Williams is leading the way to better days for the Anglican Communion. It feels like the bishops gathered here are turning a corner together. I feel that I'm witnessing the emergence of something good, beautiful, true, and blessed ... Hearts here are sincerely open to the Spirit of God.
Thanks for all who prayed for me regarding my plenary session here tonight. Everything went well, and I look forward to my next two days here."

Ok, back to my blog,

Tonight was a free night and I wandered alone into Canterbury, and walked back. It is good exercise which I am needing about now. Tomorrow morning, very early, we leave for London. I will participate by the Archbishop's invitation in the Walk of Witness for the MDGs. This will be a walk through London to Lambeth Palace where we will eat lunch and then move to Buckingham Palace to have tea with Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Royal Family. I will report tomorrow on how all of that went. Now, I need to get some rest!

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, July 22nd

2008-07-22T15:50:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

The second "Ordinary" Day and as suspected, they will not usually be very ordinary. The day started as always with 7:15 Eucharist, today offered by the Church of the Province of Central Africa. It was great as was the evening worship provided by Igeja episcopal Anglicana do Brasil. Colorful, exciting, fun!

Breakfast, Bible Study, today on John 6: 1-14 and 25-59. As I have said I am growing closer and closer to these group of fine men, they do all happen to be men, and I am learning much from them as well. Believe it or not I am not the "newest" bishop in the group. One of my Japanese brothers has been a bishop for three weeks. There is a bishop here that was a bishop for 5 days before coming here!

We then went into our third Indaba group meeting. I think these are very good Some in the groups are frustrated that we are not moving more quickly into the more difficult topics but I find their process well thought out and, at this point, I am trusting it and following it.

After lunch, we had a bit of free time. I used it getting my computer into better shape with the wonderful campus support they have here. I also secured my invitations for the visit to London on Thursday.

After that free time we had our first of many self-select programs. I decided today to go see Brian Mclaren one more time as he will be leaving here on Thursday. Brian spoke on "Evangelism by Example" and it was as good as the night before.

We then headed for dinner. Tonight the presenter to the entire conference was Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation to the Evangelization of Peoples at the Vatican, Mission, Social Justice, and Evangelization. He too joined Brian Mclaren's workshop today and he spoke to us about the same topic. It was good to have him here with us.

You will have read that the Archbishop of the Sudan and his bishops held a press conference today and asked Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire to resign. I did not see the press conference, it occurred during our self select programs and I have not read the transcript as of yet too. You can expect more of these I would suspect. As much as the Archbishop of Canterbury would like us to focus on a wide range of pressing issues for the church and the world, there does seem to remain a unitary focus. For now, I am trying to stay focused on dialogue and listening which is where I think the most good will come. For now, keep praying.

I need to say also that, now sitting in this conference, and being part of it, I am disheartened by all of the speculation, much of it misguided and false that comes from those from all quarters of our church. We all need some holy patience. The rapid communication and speculation and accusation that flies, often with little or no real information, is a recipe for problems always.

Now, for something a bit lighter. There is a cartoonist on the campus, making cartoons everyday. I will try to send some along so you can see them too! Not sure you can read it but it says, "The Secret Plan" And it has a long line of bishops standing in a line to the Dining Hall and then it reads, "Now the Lambeth Conference attendees are being encouraged to talk to each other!" We do need to do that. The big picture above is the view of Canterbury, the town, and the Cathedral out my window.

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, July 21st

2008-07-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Today was our first "Ordinary" day. We will have quite a few in the next few weeks that have this basic form. Eucharist at 7:15 a.m., breakfast, Bible Study, Indaba Group for an hour or so, on a topic, and then lunch, Indaba again, and an evening program after supper. On some days afternoons will have some self select programs of various varieties. Eucharist was offered by Korea with the Korea Mother's Union Choir performing as well.

Today was the first day to be in our Indaba Groups. "Indaba" is a Zulu word meaning conversation with a purpose, usually utilized with perplexing problems. Of course we know the obvious issues but we have many more relating to some issues that affect the world and in which we might affect the world to greater levels together, as a communion. Today's Bible Study was John 6: 14-21, and the Indaba theme for today was "The Bishop and Anglican Identity" The Indaba groups are made up of five Bible Studies, so they are 40 people or more. I am impressed so far and I found these groups much more interesting than I had thought.

We had a brief meeting of the House of Bishops today, although in this setting we are not the House in session. We simply gathered to share our impressions so far and to make announcements about upcoming events.

Tonight we had the great pleasure of seeing Brian McLaren who gave one of the best presentations so far. He answered questions at the end and when asked by one of the 1000 or so present "Where can we find models of what you are talking about?" McLaren specifically named one, Church of the Apostles in Seattle, and Karen Ward! I am adding two pictures that Dave Manes on our staff found somehow! I have not seen these as of yet myself. Both were taken after the Opening Eucharist at the Cathedral on Sunday.

Blessings to you until tomorrow!

+Greg

Lambeth, July 20th

2008-07-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Well, you can't get more Anglican then what I was able to experience today. The opening Eucharist in Canterbury Cathedral was just incredible. Although I have been in this sacred space before, two years ago, and then in the last few days on retreat, having it all to ourselves; such a place is not truly known until you worship, in community, in it. Today was such a day. You knew today that this is what this space was made for. It was a magnificent sight, with so many colors and cultures represented. The sermon by Bishop Duleep de Chickera, Bishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka was a true gift. There are a few pictures on the Lambeth website but they don't do it all justice, as you might suspect.

Several of us walked back to the University, and on our way made our way to see Bishop Gene Robinson, who, as you probably remember was uninvited to the event. Though the press finds him quite interesting and is probably spending more time on him then some of our events, he has stayed away from the main venue, at least as far as I know. He would be unable to get into any official sites, including Bible studies or worship services because he does not have security clearance. He is under heavy security as he goes about his life here. Today, many in our House of Bishops, and some bishops from around the globe, came to share Eucharist with him after the services in the Cathedral.

At 4 p.m. today we all gathered in the Big Top to begin the actual conference itself. We had reports from the Windsor Continuation Group, and the Lambeth Design Group. We had descriptions in far more detail about our Indaba groups which we will be meeting in after Bible studies beginning tomorrow. Indaba is a Zulu word which means conversation, especially around tension or disagreement. As it was explained to us by the Archbishop of South Africa, villages will often use this method when disagreements arise. It is designed to give everyone a voice in the process. After hearing the presentations we were asked to discuss with someone we had not met two questions: 1. What surprised you the most about these presentations today, and 2. What assurance do you have that you did not have when we began. I was fortunate to meet with a bishop from Kenya. We agreed that we were surprised by the work that has gone into this, and by the amount of input that will be offered and expected from everyone. That no matter what the press is saying, our design here is not there to keep us away from the important issues, but is designed to have us build relationships around these issues. We both felt assured that this press perception would not be the reality, even if we are not able to perfectly agree at the end of the day.

We begin tomorrow with that and I will be reporting on it. I have no pictures today as those were not allowed in most venues. I will resume that, hopefully, tomorrow.

I end this blog with the words from a hymn we sang today in the Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral. The hymn was written by a composer many of you know, a Lutheran I believe, Marty Haugen, "All are Welcome" While is was not lost on us that this may not be entirely so, and the truth of those missing, those that chose not to come, and those that were uninvited, all of whom we pray for everytime we gather, still the hymn was irony, with much hope.

Let us build a house where love can dwell

and all can safely live,

a place where saints and children

tell how hearts learn to forgive;

built of hopes and dreams and visions,

rock of faith and vault of grace;

here the love of Christ shall end divisions:

All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where prophets speak,

and words are strong and true,

where all God's children dare to seek

to dream God's reign anew.

Here the cross shall stand as witness

and as symbol of God's grace;

here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:

All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where love is found

in water, wine, and wheat:

a banquet hall on holy ground,

where peace and justice meet.

Here the love of God, through Jesus,

is revealed in time and space,

as we share in Christ the feast that frees us:

All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where hands will reach

beyond the wood and stone

to heal and strengthen, serve, and teach,

and live the Word they've known,

Here the outcast and the stranger

bear the image of God's face;

let us bring an end to fear and danger:

All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where all are named,

their songs and visions heard

and loved and treasured, taught, and claimed

as words within the Word.

Built of tears and cries of laughter,

prayers of faith and songs of grace,

let this house proclaim from floor to rafter;

All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

May it be so,

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, July 19th

2008-07-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Today we completed our retreat time. We began the day with Eucharist at 7:15 a.m., breakfast, and then Bible Study. Today we studied John 4:6-42. Incidently, if you wish to follow the bible study you can find a close approximation of what we are reading online at http://www.lambethconference.org/ along with photo galleries, program schedule,etc.

The Bible Study is really a very inspiring and fruitful time for us. It is laying a good foundation for our future days together. I am indeed fortunate to know the bishops I have met from all over the world. Although some groups have more than one bishop from the US, I am the only one in our group. This passage is about the "I am" proclamation by Jesus. The Archbishop shared with us in an earlier talk, that because Jesus said, "I am", for that reason, "we are." We cannot lose sight of our reason for being, who we are, and whose we are.

In the afternoon the sun came out and afternoon tea was served on the lawn. The University of Kent sits on a hill overlooking Canterbury with the Cathedral towering above all things. From the open grassy area we looked down upon the Cathedral and shared tea together. After tea we entered worship in the Big Top once again (picture just above! When 800 people pack into this and the sun beats down, it is hot!) this time welcoming a large delegation of ecumencial partners and those in communion with us from around the world. Although we have many ties the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America may be our closest tie and Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson was with us at this event. As he read the reading just before the Archbishop's homily I gave thanks for our deep and abiding communion with our Lutheran brothers and sisters in Western Washington.

We were given the evening free. I wandered into Canterbury with a few others and the sunset was magnificent. I post a picture above for you to see a glimpse of it.

Tomorrow morning we will have the opening Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral. I will have much to share about that then. I have not followed the press as of yet but I will say to you, from my standpoint, this conference if off to a very solid, gracious beginning.

Many blessings to each of you. As you celebrate Sunday services across the diocese know that you will be in my prayers.

+Greg

Lambeth, July 18th

2008-07-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Ones,

Our second full day was once again held in retreat. It began with Eucharist at 7:15 a.m. with breakfast following. After breakfast we held our daily Bible Study. Today we studied John 1: 19-34, "Make straight the way of the Lord." We had an excellent discussion. This room is filled with people from around the world with many different experiences and perspectives. One bishop reminded us of what Coleridge once said, "He who loves Christianity more than truth, goes on to love his Church more than Christianity, then goes on to love his own sect more than his own Church, then goes on to love himself most of all." It was a good and humble reminder.

We then once again traveled to the Cathedral where we heard two excellent meditations by the Archbishop with time for reflection. Bishop Councell of New Jersey said it best in his blog today,

"There is something awesome about being in that Cathedral space with 650 bishops, with the Archbishop of Canterbury teaching us, directing us through his meditation. They were wonderfully insightful, spiritually very deep and profound. He began his third address on the role of the bishop as both friend and stranger. A bishop is at home among the people and yet stands apart. A bishop speaks the language of the people, but speaks the word of God.

After each of his meditations there was time to visit the various chapels of the cathedral, or to walk around the precincts. It was an immense privilege to have that space for the benefit of the bishops alone for these two days.

The fourth address began by quoting an early Christian theologian who said, a single Christian is no Christian. Our need as bishops is to be in council with other bishops. We’re called to live in community and to live in communion.

The very challenging suggestion the Archbishop made was to identify one other bishop about whom one feels nervous, and ask that person to pray with you. It was a very powerful challenge to us to work to restore wounded communion.

He also said the Gospel is only truthfully spread by those who are in communion."

We ended the day with rest and relaxation. Tomorrow we begin again. You remain in my prayers.

Blessings,

+Greg

Lambeth, Thursday, July 17th

2008-07-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

Lambeth 2008 has begun. I, along with 600 plus bishops from around the Anglican Communion gathered together on Wednesday evening July 16th to officially open Lambeth Conference 2008. Many spouses and support staff are also present raising that number. The spirit here is warm and inviting. We began the evening with a welcome from Archbishop Rowan Williams and greetings from those supporting the conference through the great efforts of Design, Volunteers, Stewards, Hospitality, Chaplains, so many who have made this come together. We began learning and singing together.

We gathered in a large beautiful tent that rises above the University of Kent campus called the Big Top. It does indeed look a lot like a circus tent and I am sure some are already making some connections here, but those could not be farther from the truth. It is a most worthy shelter and serving its purpose quite well. After the introductions we were sent off to dinner and, for many, an early night of rest after long hours of travel.

Worship begins at 7:15 a.m. each day and this day was no different. We gathered for Eucharist in the Big Top. Worship today was provided by the Lambeth Chaplaincy team. Each morning the Eucharist will be offered by a different province of the communion. The most moving moment in this and also when we said our prayers in Canterbury Cathedral earlier in the day, was the Lord's Prayer, when we are always offered and asked to pray in our own language. The holy and rising murmur is really moving.

After breakfast, we moved into our first Bible Study. We are, as many of you know, focusing on the Gospel of John. There are some 81 small groups for Bible study, by my count, and these are made up of roughly 8 or so people. I am facilitating one of these groups. We began today studying the Prologue of John. We will hold Bible Study each morning of the conference save Sundays and the London day. We will also be meeting in larger Indaba groups. These are made up of a combination of five of the Bible Study groups. You can find more about Indaba groups on the Lambeth website.

After the Bible Study we left the University of Kent for Canterbury Cathedral. Although they offered buses I, along with a few others, decided to walk the short distance down to the Cathedral. I need the exercise! One of the light parts of the day were the 45 minutes we had just before going into the Cathedral to begin our retreat. Some of you who have been to Canterbury know there is a Starbucks literally attached to the gates to the Cathedral. There was quite a diverse and wonderful line of bishops present there! They were all offering a bit of aid to the economy of Seattle!

The Archbishop gave two very good meditations on the topic of "God's Mission and a bishop's discipleship." We were allowed some silent time after each meditation with prayers following. We will repeat this schedule tomorrow. The Cathedral precincts are closed to the public for these two days so we have it to ourselves which is quite a luxury and a great blessing. I have had two brief but quite nice discussions with the Archbishop. You can view photos of each day along with much other information at www.lambethconference.org.

I blessedly got to spend some time this evening with my Bishop's Colleague Group and now I am settling in for the evening. I want to commend the tremendous hospitality of so many volunteers from the Church of England and youth and young adult stewards who are everywhere on campus to help us, and who have been here a week already preparing for the event. They come from all over the Communion, and they are just superb.

On a personal note, I feel so blessed to be here, and honored to represent you, the people of the Diocese of Olympia. Nedi is here doing that as well and I know she shares this sentiment. I am humbled by that honor and will do all in my power to honor you in it. I miss my family already. My son was very sad when he hugged me goodbye at the airport. He said, "Dad, this is just too long!" It is, and yet I think about so many who have to go so much longer, and at such much greater cost. I think of our soldiers and their families, missionaries who give of their lives away, so very many.

I am not sure if I will blog each day but I will try to keep up with this as I can. Please keep us all in your prayers, those who chose not to be here, those told not to be here, those who simply could not be here, and those who did make it here, many at greater sacrifice than I will ever know in my life. I give thanks for you daily as you go about the mission of the Body of Christ each and every day. Pray for us, as I will pray for you.

Blessings,

+Greg