Diocese to Honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – January 13

St. Stephen’s Cathedral will host a Choral Evensong for the Harrisburg community to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 4pm. (This is a change in date from that previously announced.) Bishop Baxter and Dean Churchill Pinder will officiate. Everyone is invited to attend, particularly clergy, choirs, and congregations in the Harrisburg Convocation.

The preacher for the event will be the Rev. Michael Thurman, pastor of the Dexter Ave Baptist Church, in Montgomery, Alabama, where Dr. King was pastor during the early years of the civil rights movement. Rev. Thurman has written extensively about the history of the church and the pastors who guided the congregation and Dr. King’s movement.

More details will be available shortly. If you have questions, please contact either Deacon Patrick Strohl, (pstrohl@diocesecpa.org) or the Rev. Michael Collins (patrick@ststep.org).

Something Else to Pray About

In what may have been a prescient prelude to today’s assassination of Pakistani politician Benizir Bhutto, this week’s Economist carries an interesting article on international efforts to distribute Bibles and Korans. The article concludes by saying:

“…two things are certain in the battle of the books. The first is that the urge to spread the Word will spark some of the fiercest conflicts of the 21st century. The area that is being most heavily fought over—sub-Saharan Africa—is a tinder box of failed states and ethnic animosities. The second is that the Bible and the Koran will continue to exercise a dramatic influence over human events, for both good and ill. The twigs of the burning bush are still aflame with the fire of God.” You can read the entire story here.

Let us pray that we will use this fire to illuminate, not to consume, one another.

Bishop Baxter Participates in Dialogues in Democracy – January 4 on PBS

Last fall, McNeil/Lehrer Productions, which produces The News Hour with Jim Lehrer for PBS, invited Bishop Baxter to participate in their latest project, Dialogues in Democracy. The program is part of McNeil/Lehrer’s series By the People—a special project to bring the views of informed, "ordinary" citizens to a national discussion on the important issues of the day.

Bishop Baxter spent November 8-11 in Williamsburg, VA, with approximately 50 other citizens who have made unique contributions to American life and society. The final convocation, at which thoughts on the drafting of a "Declaration of Citizenship for the 21st Century" were debated, took place in Colonial Williamsburg's Capitol in the Hall of the House of Burgesses, where the founding generation produced the first comprehensive Declaration of Rights.

The one-hour broadcast program created from this event will air on Public Television’s HDTV digital stations on Friday, January 4, 2008 at 10pm. Stations carrying the program in Pennsylvania include WITF/Harrisburg, WQED/Pittsburgh, and WPSU/State College. The program will also be broadcast on Maryland Public Television.

More information on the By the People project is available here.

Blessed Christmas

Bishop Baxter's Christmas message - preached at St. Stephen's Cathedral on Christmas Eve - is available here. A blessed and merry Christmas to all.

Thinking Outside the Steeple

Most Clergy like to believe that, “Our parish is a little different.” But while the style of the building or the local history may vary, for most Episcopal parishes, the basic dynamics are strikingly similar: an established presence with a shifting financial base, and the internal perception that, “we can’t do anything new, because we don’t even have the money to take care of the essentials.”

That’s what makes the recent story in the New York Times about “St. Bart’s” and its rector, the Rev. William Tully, a must read.

To be sure, the scale of the challenge facing St. Bart’s new rector 14 years ago was larger than most clergy dream of. This is a place that requires an $8 million annual budget just to keep the doors open and the lights on. The essential challenges were the same, though: how to rebuild a loyal flock, reduce the reliance on a handful of well-to-do donors, and make what could easily have become an urban museum a relevant contributor to the community. Rev. Tully’s solution was a “radical welcoming” and a reliance on outstanding communication strategies. You can read the entire story here.

The same opportunities exist here in central Pennsylvania, albeit on a smaller scale. Some of our smallest parishes have already proven that a willingness to “think outside the steeple” is a lot more important than a hefty bank account. We need more of that, because the need for God’s light in Christ is just as real and present in the small town as the large city. We have many congregations that are spiritually rich, while having very limited financial means.

As you begin your new year, resolve to help your congregation find something new, however off-the-wall it sounds, and explore its potential to grow into something meaningful. It’s important.

Playing by the Rules

It has taken more than a month for an articulate op-ed from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette to reach this editor. It was worth the wait. Author Jerry Bowyer, “an Episcopal vestryman, a financial journalist and the chairman of Bowyer Media,” offers a conservative’s well-reasoned argument for why you don’t walk off the field when you don’t get to play quarterback. You can read the entire piece here.

Writing about the decision of the Bishop of Pittsburgh to pull his diocese out of the Episcopal Church, we wrote, “On Oct. 31., the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA sent a letter to the bishop of Pittsburgh, directing him not to split the diocese from the denomination. Bishop Duncan replied by quoting Martin Luther, ‘Here I stand. I can do no other.’

It's a powerful quote, but a misuse of history. Martin Luther didn't leave the Roman Catholic Church; he was kicked out. He decided to ‘stand’ and fight. It's ironic that Bishop Duncan quoted Luther's pledge to ‘stand’ in order to justify his intention to ‘walk.’"

Mr. Bowyer notes that all ordained Episcopal clergy take the same oath to uphold the authority of the church. You can’t pick and choose among authorities, and if you don’t like a decision, your obligation under your oath is to work within the church for change.

If the good bishop is really sincere about his convictions, he has an obvious choice; he can renounce his vows and become part of a church in which he feels more comfortable… assuming he can find one. But he cannot take his diocese with him. That diocese belongs to the Episcopal Church, and to the thousands of Episcopalians in western Pennsylvania whom he has tried to lead astray.

Light in the Darkness

A few weeks ago, there was a break-in at All Saint’s, Williamsport. Among the items stolen was a jar of pennies that the children in the church school had been collecting to use for Christmas presents for those in need in the Williamsport area.

When word of the theft got out, a local TV station was among the first to call for more information, then send a videographer to shoot a segment for the evening news. That report led to a small flood of donations – in all amounts – from people who wanted to help. The response was so positive that donation total is more than fivefold what the children had originally collected.

To their credit, the children themselves also redoubled their efforts, and have collected an additional $81.

Commenting on the entire experience, the Rev. Christine Purcell, missioner for the parish, said, “We live in a world with all kinds of bad things that happen and there’s all kinds of darkness. And these kids were trying to do something, and people responded to the idea of kids trying to make a difference.”

You can read the entire story here.

How’s that for a “Light in the Darkness” story?

Upcoming Ordinations

Bishop Baxter has announced that the ordinations to the priesthood for Will Lawbaugh, Cliff Johnston and Jim Zmyslo will be held on Saturday, December 22, 2007, 10:00 a.m. at Trinity Church, Williamsport. Your prayers and presence are requested.

Emanuel – God with us

With the children who are anticipating their first Christmas
And the families who will share their joy
And the families who will be apart
And those which are torn apart.
With those who are with friends
And those who are alone
And those who are alone, even with friends
With the parents who are too busy to see the wonder
And the parents who care for children
And the parents who fail to care for children
And the parents who care for parents.
With those whose joys are memories, and whose futures are uncertain
And those who love them and watch them decline
And with those who grieve over their losses
And – especially – with those who do not know that God is with them…
Blessed Advent

Wish I could be there…

I had a note from the Rev. Michael Moran at the cathedral in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last week, along with highlights of their Advent schedule. The choir of King’s College, Cambridge, will sing at the cathedral on Sunday, December 15. Anyone up for a quick “companionship trip?”

Some people have all the fun…

If the Shoe Fits...

Episcopalians and Southern Baptists usually find themselves at some distance from one another on the theological/political compass. Pronouncements from clergy in one group carry little weight, if any, among the other.

Which is not to say that they ought not learn from one another… Read on.

In the midst of the “YouTube Debate” among the Republican presidential candidates Wednesday night, one questioner asked the question that won the evening’s Do-You-Still-Beat-Your-Wife? award: “Do you believe every word of the Bible?”

Several candidates slipped and slid on this one, muttering affirmative answers while interspersing adjectives like ‘interpretive’ and ‘allegorical.’

It fell to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who is also an ordained Baptist minister, to land the “money punch.” Said he, “I believe in the Bible, and I recognize that in today’s world, parts of it are allegory. But until we get the major parts right: ‘Love your neighbor,’ ‘Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me.’ right, there’s not much point in worrying about the rest of the details.”

He might also have added, “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” but two out of three isn’t bad. We wish that all the Episcopalians/Anglicans who continue to insist that they know God’s will and the other guys are hopeless heathens had been listening.

Probably not…