The Episcopal Church finds what really matters in hard times

h/t Jackie Bruchi of Stand Firm...

The Episcopal Church (TEC) just released a draft budget.

Episcopal Church Treasurer Kurt Barnes told the council January 30 that the world economy has not been in this sort of financial crisis "since the time of the Depression," and thus the council "must take very, very serious action."

So guess what? The budget saves money via "the elimination of the budget's line item of 0.7 percent spending for specific Millennium Development Goals spending," You remember those United Nations MDGs, right? The stated primary mission of TEC? Even the Diocese of South Dakota passed a resolution affirming this as the primary work of the church. But it's out of the budget.

And you probably know what stayed in the budget - money for lawsuits against Christians! Not only that, but now TEC is raising capital funds to sue people:

"Establish Trust Fund # 1033 The St. Ives Fund to support non-budgetary legal expenses, income, accumulated appreciation and principal may be used by the DMFS for such legal expenses as determined by the Presiding Bishop, after consultation with the Treasurer, the Vice Presidents of DFMS, and the Chair of Executive Council Standing Committee on Administration and Finance (A&F090)."

Even better, this new fund is a discretionary fund so it allows the Presiding Bishop to sue people without being accountable to the church.

I seldom use this kind of language, but those of you who are endorsing this (or covering for it) are headed for hell. You need to repent of this anti-Biblical and hypocritical behavior. You claim to be about "peace and justice", but you create strife and selfishness. You call on people to make sacrifices to support you, but you squander their offerings. You are against the work of Christ and you are harming His people - and claiming to do so in God's Name. The harm you are doing to yourselves is much, much worse than anything you are inflicting on Christ's people.

Some good news from Southern Sudan

Rhonda Morse, a member of Holy Apotles', Sioux Falls, just returned from The Sudan. She's part of the South Dakota team that is helping build a water well and school there. This is from her email:

The trip was fantastic and the efforts for Moses's village so worthwhile. It is a wonderful community with good people but so little contact with the outside world and means to improve. Clean water and an education will help this process. We were very happy to find three churches in his village - Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Catholic. Presently, we have 3 trucks en route from Uganda to his village, carrying 45 tons of materials for constructing the school. The water well should be drilled this week. Progress is being made because of the contributions made by many of you. Thank you!!

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, South Dakota Legislators Pass Resolution Supporting Israel's Right to Resist Terrorism

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Eighty- fourth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the Legislature:
(1) Stands in solidarity with Israel as it takes necessary steps to provide security to its people...

The news and full text of the resolution are at Dakota Voice.

For those who missed it, today (Jan. 27th) was International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Northern Michigan Episcopalians get only one choice for Bishop... and he's a Buddhist!

This is not made up. You can read all about it here, along with a summary of other religious mixing and matching around The Episcopal Church.

This is bad on so many levels. Spiritually, of course. And what about the vaunted "democracy" of TEC - only one candidate?

As South Dakota continues a behind-the-scenes process to nominate a new Bishop, news like this is not welcome.

What's a real Christian Bishop like? Well, today is the Feast of John Chrysostom (died January 27, 407). Here's James Kiefer's short bio of the Saint:

John was called "Chrysostom" ("Golden Mouth") because of his eloquence. He was a priest of Antioch, and an outstanding preacher. (Audiences were warned not to carry large sums of money when they went to hear him speak, since pickpockets found it very easy to rob his hearers -- they were too intent on his words to notice what was happening.)

His sermons are mostly straightforward expositions of Holy Scripture (he has extensive commentaries on both Testaments, with special attention to the Epistles of Paul), and he emphasizes the literal meaning, whereas the style popular at Alexandria tended to read allegorical meanings into the text.

He loved the city and people of Antioch, and they loved him. However, he became so famous that the Empress Eudoxia decided that she must have him for her court preacher, and she had him kidnapped and brought to Constantinople and there made bishop.

This was a failure all around. His sermons against corruption in high places earned him powerful enemies (including the Empress), and he was sent into exile, where he died.

Along with Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil the Great, and Gregory of Nazianzus, he is counted as one of the Four Great Eastern (or Greek) Doctors of the Ancient Church. The Four Great Western (or Latin) Doctors are Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great.

Hey, Episcopalians...Where did daily prayer for public leaders go?

Why did the 1979 Book of Common Prayer take prayers for the President and those is public authority out of their prominent place in Morning & Evening Prayer and bury them in a catch-all section in the back?

For a number of reasons, I used the 1928 BCP for my daily prayers all through the last liturgical year, and went back to '79 in Advent. The '28 Book has the prayers for public officials in a very prominent place. In fact, they come before the intercession for the church. You have to go hunting for them in the '79 Book.

Perhaps this is part of the "centrality of the Eucharist" emphasis. Eucharistic Prayers of the People do include prayers for public officials.

Or maybe the '79 Book reflects post-Viet Nam angst about all things national. Dunno.

But right now, President Obama faces our economic woes and global instability in various forms. Governor Mike Rounds here in SD is proposing some very painful budget cuts. Our chief executives, the legislatures that will have to grapple with budgets, and the courts upon which we dump all our problems are in need of prayer. Clergy, who should be attentive to daily prayer and Bible reading, ought to have prayer for public officials staring at us each day.

I am tempted to find a causal link between this flaw in the '79 Book and our national descent into political polarization. Our great old church of "national consensus" stopped emphasizing daily intercession for public officials, and our nation slid into petty factionalism. We have no clear political momentum beyond endlessly destabilizing our own leaders by "gotcha" (Watergate, a silly little event if you look into it, is intoned as if it were the Holocaust; Monica Lewinsky and the President's understandably human dissembling turned into a national distraction right when 9/11 was being planned against us; Dan Rather's attempt to create "evidence" against Pres. Bush was a manifestly political act; insane emails about Pres. Obama's "Islamic connections" were all over the net; and now Frost-Nixon is out to embellish the "gotcha is glory" myth.) The booing of former Pres. Bush at Pres. Obama's Inauguration was disgusting.

A healthy Anglican model was on display at my last cure in California. The mission included a PreK - 8th grade school. Along with the daily chapels, there was a weekly flag-raising during which the teachers and students shared a litany of prayer for public officials. It was illuminating to hear the leaders' names change after each election (I was there for about 10 years). The party and ideology didn't matter - we just prayed for those in office because that is our Biblical mandate.

The Episcopal Church has always been a small denomination. But its influence and voice used to have national reach and value. Perhaps it is God's judgement that we've gone from small to minuscule and from influential to irrelevant in the decades since we stopped praying for national leaders.

A South Dakota connection to The Sudan: please pray

Moses Joknhial II is one of The Sudan's "Lost Boys." He's become an American citizen, excelled in school (he is into aeronautics and dreams of launching "Air Moses" one day) and, with help from Church of the Holy Apostles', Sioux Falls, he's raised over $50,000 and is now back in The Sudan building a school and water well.

Pray for Moses and his team, and give thanks for the way support came together from all around the Diocese of South Dakota to make this possible.

Meanwhile, The Sudan continues to suffer violence. The bizarre, blasphemously named "Lord's Resistance Army" (LRA) is spreading its terror from Uganda into The Sudan.

Jill Woodliff has been posting prayers for the defeat of LRA at Lent & Beyond. Please join in this spiritual battle.

Prayer Requests: Important Weekend for the Diocese and the Parish

Prayers are appreciated as the Coadjutor nominating committee meets this weekend:

"...the full nominating committee will convene again on January 24th and 25th to cut the slate to 3-5 candidates. Once the final slate is announced, there will be opportunity for the petition process." (from the Diocesan website)

This Sunday is the Annual Parish Meeting for the Church of the Good Shepherd, Sioux Falls. Pray for us as we move toward our vision, Helping One Another Put Jesus First.

More differences between my birth state and my adopted home

Here's a picture of "sundogs." In certain conditions here, the sun is bracketed by rainbows. We had sundogs over Sioux Falls on Christmas Eve. I'd never heard of this growing up in California, and hadn't seen 'em in my first four years here in South Dakota.

Then there's the matter of clouds.

In CA, clouds = cool, sun = warm.

Here in SD (and in similar climes), Winter clouds = insulation = warmth; Winter sun = cold! Yep, these recent Arctic deep freeze days have sported blue, sunny skies. The clouds hold what heat we have closer to the Earth; when they are gone, the heat floats off like a lost helium balloon.

Hope I get continuing ed. credits for this steep learning curve.

Sanctuary Cities! (for smokers? gun owners? pro-life institutions?)

The leader of Iowa's Democrats is outraged because local authorities are refusing to enforce a statewide smoking ban.

Won't it be interesting if the "Sanctuary City" idea employed by liberals to shield illegal immigrants from Federal law becomes a tool of conservatives, for example...

• + Local authorities refusing to cooperate with any expansive Federal "gun control" (such as an "assault weapons ban")?
• + Local authorities refusing to enforce Federal power against Catholic hospitals for refusing to provide abortions, or Catholic adoption agencies for upholding the Biblical family model?
• + State Governors interfering with Federal efforts to impose the gay agenda on National Guard units?

More from the Bishop search here...

Here's more from the profile material:

It is perceived that the Church, and this Diocese, is (sic) in decline. There is a declining and aging population. This is coupled with the loss of our youth who leave the diocese. There is a lack of evangelism.

I chuckled about the word "perceived." "Recognized" would be more honest.

Still, I am glad that this is on the table, and the questions asked of the eventual candidates need to hit this hard.

• + It is not enough for candidates to just restate the problem - "We need to find a way to tell our story" is an example of the useless bromides we don't need.
• + We need to hear real evidence that the next bishop has a gift for evangelism. We need to know Average Sunday Attendance trends from the churches the candidates served, or the measured impact of any diocesan office they've held.
• + I hope that those who vote will watch out for the anecdote trick. A candidate will tell a story of one or two families that joined the candidate's congregation "because we're so inclusive" and then posit that as proof of evangelistic zeal. (I remember one of the candidates for Presiding Bishop, I think the guy from Kentucky, using this gimmick in the video interviews when asked about "youth." He told some story about a conversation with a young guy and tried to magnify it into an epic achievement.) An anecdote isn't worth much if we don't see congregational or programmatic numbers that demonstrate something more.

Keep praying. Ask God to pour the Holy Spirit on the electors. May the Lord help us all to ask the right questions and discern well what the candidates say in their answers.

Reminder: the profile for South Dakota's Bishop Coadjutor

The slate of 3 to 5 will be announced in March, followed by April "walkabout" with various stops around the diocese. Election will be in May.

Our parish intercedes for the diocese and this election at all of our services. There is great potential here in South Dakota but also the strong possibility of an eventual facade church, with paper congregations, empty buildings, subsidized clergy and no flesh, blood and Spirit. In short, the choice is between the diocese's missionary heritage and an eccentric club.

Here's the relevant language from the profile, with my comments in italics...

WHAT WE SEEK IN A BISHOP

We believe the following to be what we seek in our next Bishop as a person of God, of faith, and of spirituality (this is an important word among Native Americans, contrasting a transcendent message with "programs"), bringing the love of Christ to this Diocese:

1. Supportive of work with youth and young adults, all of whom are the future of this Diocese. This is an honest admission that the diocese, like many other mainline bodies, is aging and dying by attrition. The key here is to have pointed questions and evidence to establish which candidates have actual experience in fostering youth ministry. Nobody is going to say, "I am opposed to youth ministry." The issue is whether or not a candidate brings any valid experience to the work beyond opinions and platitudes.
2. Knowledgeable and appreciative of our bi cultural identity. There is agreement across any ideological divides that this is important. Again, the important questions are about experience. All of the candidates will "affirm" multicultural ministry - have any actually shown ability to minister in a multicultural setting?
3. An advocate for social justice and reconciliation. TEC boilerplate. Let's hope this search does not veer off into, "Who's the biggest gay advocate?" That is about the least pressing social issue in South Dakota.
4. A pastor, mentor and leader. Amen - but so many of our people have been without positive, effective pastors, mentors and especially leaders that they will be hard put to discern these qualities in the candidates.
5. An effective communicator. It will be interesting to hear how folks respond to this challenge. It is a very real issue here, given the distances and mix of communication media and styles (no one kind of communication will reach enough people to make an impact here.) Let's hope some of the candidates have worked in a similarly challenging setting.
6. Is supportive of our programs, including Mutual Ministry and Partners with God, and brings vision and vigor to these and other programs. Again, we need to find out about real, measurable experiences. All of the candidates can give verbal assent to anything. What have they done that indicates what they will do?
7. A sense of humor to help with one's own emotional and physical health, as well as the health of the Diocese. Certainly something for which we can get a feel during the "walkabouts."

The heartbreaking truth is that TEC has run/is running off exactly the kind of people who meet this profile. The wonky, "Politically Correct", bureaucratic clergy caste of TEC is the worst possible match with what is needed here. Pray for us.

Faith in Action: 2008 Stats from Parish Outreach Initiative

Parishioner Craig Friedel emailed the 2008 stats for the Moving Assistance Program, founded and headquartered here at Good
Shepherd, Sioux Falls:

+ 35 completed moves

+ helped to move a total of 65 people

+ recruited 198 new volunteers

used 352 volunteers meaning each volunteer averaged 1.78 moves

• + 80% of the moves helped the disabled
• + 28% helped the elderly
• + 23% helped the victims of domestic violence
• + 40% help families
• + 6% helped the homeless

+ Total volunteer hours 801.5

The program launched in the second quarter of the year, and there were moves (sometimes more than one) almost every week.

Also, parishioner Gene Makinson stood up in church on Sunday to
thank the folks for supporting his team at the Salvation Army Sunday Dinner -
the number of dinner guests continues to climb and the team served a record 175
on the Sunday after Christmas.

A Christmas Blessing - May Christ Come to Your Home

Bishop Hare, missionary to the Dakotas, used the traditional teepee of the Plains Tribes in the Niobrara Cross presented to those he Confirmed.

There are four teepees topped by crosses, meaning "Christ has come to your homes."

May Christ, who humbled himself to dwell among us in frail flesh and blood, and left the perfect bliss of heaven to save a sin-sick world, come to your home now and always.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends."

(Revelation 3:20, NLT)

Anti-religious book stirs up my church members

A large percentage of my adult church members are meeting to read and discuss a challenging book, which relies on eye-witness testimony from the New Testament period to

• + portray the followers of Jesus as objects of sarcasm and ridicule;
• + suggest that clergy are a largely self-serving interest group who keep people busy with anything but God;
• + assert that Jesus himself did not consider his message a coherent, rational philosophy but instead sought to demonstrate its validity with healings, exorcisms and other appeals to the supernatural;
• + present the first Easter as a scene of confusion.

OK, some of you already rolled your eyes and said, "He's talking about the Gospel of Mark." You got it.

For reasons known but to God, Mark has emerged as my go-to Gospel at turning points in congregational life. A home study of Mark at my last church (along with a goofy softball team) opened up men's ministry and fueled growth. Here at Good Shepherd, Sioux Falls, an eight month study of Mark has generated our first widespread home Bible studies as we seek God's vision for our parish.

My gratitude for Mark was nudged again by one of today's Morning Prayer lessons, II Peter 1:12-21, which includes

I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory, since I know that my death will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Church history and tradition say that Peter's "effort" to provide "recall" was to share his testimony with Mark, who relied on Peter in composing the Gospel. After reading those verses from II Peter, I immediately emailed them to all of the Bible study group leaders, rejoicing in the work they do to continue this eyewitness testimony to Christ until he comes again.

Back to my teaser points about Mark as an "anti-religious book":

• + The Apostles are treated with sarcasm and ridicule - by Jesus himself! In one of my favorite examples, Jesus heals various physical impairments, then asks his followers if they "can't see and can't hear" what he is teaching them.
• + After an array of demons, the next group to attack Jesus are clergy - religious leaders from the capital city start shadowing Jesus to investigate and discredit him. He lambastes them for creating self-serving, hard-hearted rules that distance people from God. (Yes, theological "conservatives" can come up with cold doctrinal slogans and legalisms, but then theological "liberals" are prone to clerical titles, entitlements and elitism. Any ordained person who reads Mark without getting his/her sacred cows killed has a real problem spiritually, IMO).
• + Mark begins abruptly, with the launch of Jesus' adult ministry (Mark is useless for Christmas pageants). And this ministry consists of preaching, then validating the word with demonstrations of divine power. While John is a more engaging Gospel for the philosophically minded (one of my parishioners has made good use of John for college campus ministry), Mark's presentations of Jesus and faith in him are unapologetic about direct connection to supernatural power.
• + There is very little disagreement across theological lines that the earliest manuscripts of Mark have a very edgy ending. The tomb is empty, and those who discover it run off in fear and confusion.

There is a strange comfort to be found in these aspects of Mark. Jesus calls people who frequently misunderstand or just plain miss what he's about. Written for persecuted Christians in Rome, for whom the attempt to follow Jesus was anything but tidy piety, Mark must have provided some reassurance that one can be following Jesus while stumbling, bumbling and wondering. Perhaps this gives Mark the potential to provide even greater comfort to disciples in our confusing day.

+++

One discovery in our home groups has been that a monthly gathering (two chapters per month for eight months) has worked waaaaaaay better than the usual weekly model. I know that's heresy, apostasy and who knows what other evil... but there it is.

For some of those who are taking part, once-a-month is making the groups something they look forward to, rather than "one more thing" on already loaded calendars.

There's been zero attrition from the once-a-month groups.

Folks are building relationships and of course they are talking about things more than once a month. They continue to discuss the Gospel at coffee hour and in other meetings.

I think that once-a-month gives God some extra time and space to surprise people with applications of what they've read.

The group leaders meet with me in the first week of each month to study and prepare. We check in as to what's going on in their groups, and then I do a line-by-line exposition of the Gospel chapters. I am often blessed by the leaders' insights. It is a great joy to hear questions and comments that indicate how faithfully they've been reading and grappling with the Gospel.

Finally, the blessing that comes back to me every time I lead a study of Mark is that its brevity allows many people to read an entire Gospel for the very first time. So many people, even in the church, have never read an entire account of Jesus' words and deeds. How blessed am I to help that happen.

%@*#ing BRRRRRR!!!!!

from keloland.com

Title's something we used to say in the Army, although Germany had nothin' on South Dakota.

The wind chill in Sioux Falls was actually down to -35F earlier today.

South Dakota had 15 nominees for Coadjutor

The diocesan bishop election site reports that they have cut that list down to 8.

The goal is a slate of 3 to 5, to be announced in March.

Hope the 8 are watching the Weather Channel this week... weather here has eliminated dabblers in the past.

Teen girls abuse residents at two separate Minnesota nursing homes

The details are graphic and disturbing, so be warned before visiting this round-up of news links.

Really awful news and evidence again of our sin and distance from God.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

And Sioux Falls is getting the least of it...

From keloland.com

And I get to work my second job running outdoors to park cars Mon. - Wed.!

At least I'll start in the heat of the day on Monday.

Citigroup Layoffs in Sioux Falls; 3M's Brookings operation will gain jobs

Citigroup's Sioux Falls operations are laying off a number of people. Hard hit were "trainers" in areas where the lending business is tapering back and new trainees are not being added.

Some folks I know said that meetings between management and employees were tense. One of the most emphatic questions was, "How can you take tax-payer bail out money, and then lay off a bunch of tax-payers?"

Meanwhile, 3M is laying off 1,800 people in various locations - but the Brookings, SD plant (mainly makes medical supplies) will probably add a few jobs as the company restructures.

Email from a Parishioner

The message in bold below came from a member of Good Shepherd, Sioux Falls, in response to my announcement that we had just paid off the church's line of credit and are back to "debt free."

A couple of things strike me:

• + We all need encouragement. Consider sending an encouraging word to people in your church, especially leaders. Let them know that their work matters to you.
• - What's sad is that The Episcopal Church and Diocese of South Dakota consider the people and ministry of this parish expendable.

+++

I'll never forget the look on the face of the banker on the day that XXXX & I worked with him on setting up the initial line of credit 3 years ago. He was a nice gentleman and was very polite. However, I think in the background he was thinking, "here we go, another neighborhood church bites the dust!".

I can't fault him for his rational viewpoint.

I contrast his face to yours. When you stood in front of the parish 3 years ago, you were confident that God blesses his sheep when they try to follow Jesus. You've repeated this similar belief many times.

And here we are....3 years later, DEBT FREE, about double the number of sheep and a very solid building (a roof to keep us dry, windows to keep out the cold, an air conditioner to keep us cool, elevators to transport our seniors and handicapped bathrooms.

3 years ago it did look like we'd be having church in rec room of a retirement community within a few months.

On top of these physical improvements, we are going to need a very big book to list all of the GREAT programs you have brought to us.

The Augie (Augustana College) professor who spoke on the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel...the good news that gives her HOPE as she lost her husband to tragedy.

The amazing Come Grow Celebrate lunch at Skelly's. The sea of Yellow T-shirts proclaiming support of one another! (this was a rally during our capital campaign)

The huge picnic in the backyard this fall. Blow up jumpie toys in the backyard of our church!!! Wow - to see kids playing.

A successful Sunday school.

Heavenly Comforters. Beautiful work!! (this is a quilting group that prays and gives what they make to shelters, Red Cross, baptismal candidates and others)

MAP - 250 volunteers and 32 families served in 9 Months!!!! (this is the Moving Assistance Program)

Salvation Army

Bible Studies

Lay ministers

Women's Group! Awesome work!

Fellowship of Christian Athletes

Moses - school building (supporting a project in South Sudan)

The sign group - youth group from Madison

XXXX and XXXX's website work!

The Christmas Tree lights!

XXXX & XXXX painted the old Sign!!!!

XXXX & XXXX painted the "Church to the left sign', yes we are here!

Parishioners drive from Orange City, Iowa (90 miles), south of Sioux City (100 miles), Alexandria SD (45 miles), Vermillion (55 miles), Garretson (25 miles), and fly in from New York State, to attend your Sunday services!!!

Kayak trips for youth

Horse Trips for Youth

Father's son won the State Championship!!!

Every Sunday the church looks like Easter!!! 100 souls every week getting fed the word.

Laughter every Sunday. Our Father Tim has a great sense of humor.

Laughter at coffee hour every Sunday.

A banner saying "Come Grow Celebrate" strapped to the church. Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

A welcoming sign on a very busy street encouraging commuters to talk to Jesus.

Parishioners who would do anything to support one another. 100 people who treat each other like uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents. Surrogate family relationships for all us urban folks who live far from family.

Beautiful music at church.

Please take time to celebrate your accomplishments. Thank you for being our shepherd.