6/2015 seek, voices from the episcopal diocese of missouri

SeekJune 2015

© The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, 1210 Locust St., St. Louis, Missouri 63103 ph: 314-231-1220 web: diocesemo.org

Episcopal Diocese of MissouriOffices of the Bishop1210 Locust St.St. Louis, Missouri 63103

ph: 314-231-1220www.DioceseMo.org

voices from the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri

Blood Cries Out from the Ground:Reflections on Ferguson

I know Ferguson, Missouri. St. Ste-phen’s Episcopal Church, a parish of the Diocese of Missouri, is there, and as Bish-op of Missouri, I have been in and out of Ferguson more times than I can count. Founded in 1888, the parish is mostly mid-dle-class and working people, not unlike the surrounding community. Settlement in Ferguson began in 1854, and the town incorporated in 1894. An inner-ring sub-urb, the city early on became one of the first bedroom communities around St. Louis, with easy rail access into the city. Major industry did not come to the town until the 1940s, when Emerson Electric, then the largest manufacturer of airplane armaments in the world, moved to Fer-guson from St. Louis. Emerson provided good work for the residents of Ferguson and helped the community thrive. Now, however, and despite being number 121 of the Fortune 500 Companies, it is as if Emerson were not there. Corporate head-quarters remain in the city, at 8000 West Florissant Avenue, the street made famous

by the Rt. Rev. Wayne SmithThis reflection was published in the Spring 2015 edition of The Anglican Theological Review and is reprinted with permission.

for protests and riots in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s shooting death on August 9, 2014. But manufacturing jobs have most-ly moved offshore, a common tale for any working-class community in the United States. Few people living in Ferguson work at the company, but Emerson has at least increased its involvement in the communi-ty in the months following August 9.

As recently as 1970, Ferguson’s popu-lation was almost entirely European-Amer-ican, and in 1990, that portion was still 74 percent. By 2010, however, the population had shifted to 67 percent African-Ameri-can, with 29 percent identifying as Euro-pean-Americans. Ferguson’s demographic began to change when more affluent res-idents, mostly Europe-an-Americans, began to move west in St. Louis County and then into St. Charles County. Again, here is a pattern common throughout the nation, and “white flight” does

characterize the changing demographics in many cities in the United States. A closer reading of the particular history and poli-tics of St. Louis, not drawing solely on gen-eral trends, will help make clear why the place where I live is one of the most racially divided in the country.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, in 1764, a group of French and Creole settlers came to a place some twenty-five miles south of the confluence of the two great American rivers, the Missouri and Missis-sippi. The iconic arch on the grounds of the Jefferson National Expansion Memori-al marks the site of the trading village that these settlers established. Pierre Laclède, his common-law wife Marie Thérèse Chou-teau, and stepson Auguste Chouteau led this endeavor. Thus began St. Louis. By the time of Auguste Chouteau’s death in 1829, the family had accumulated thirty-six slaves, all of African descent. So began the long disparity in power and privilege en-

joyed by European-Americans and African-Americans in St. Louis. The disparity dates from the time of the region’s beginnings, but it continues in later chapters of the region’s his-tory. Understanding the strength of slavery’s hold on the region’s econ-omy, politics, and identity is key to

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Understanding the strength of slavery’s hold on the region’s economy, politics, and identity is key to making sense of the present racial crisis.

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MAKING DISCIPLES BUILDING CONGREGATIONS FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

INSIDEBlood Cries Out from the Ground: Reflections on Ferguson by Bishop Wayne Smith

Ferguson: calling us deeper as followers of Jesus into the work of racial justice

Stability in the winds of change by Rebecca Ragland

AFFLICTED: the Daughters of Salem by Kyleigh Wacasey

What We Become! by Dietra Wise Baker

Christian Spirituality: an easy in-troduction to School for Ministry by Kevin Selle

Theology of Ministry: Discern-ment, Ministry of a Priest, Minis-try of a Deacon

How to care for, and get the most from your Deacon by Mark Sluss

Northwoods: Eating Smarter & Be-ing More Active by Deb Goldfeder

When Something is Right: Good Friday Blues by Eliza Lynn

Notable Episcopalians at Bellefon-taine Cemetery by Sue Rehkopf

Why Camp Phoenix?

The 7-11 Club

A Report from the Province V Meeting by Michael Booker

On to General Convention The Diocese, Women, and General Convention by Sue Rehkopf

A Holly Cross for Trinity via Holy Cross in Poplar Bluff

Women’s Work is Never Doneby Deb Goldfeder

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Web link to this issue’s online galleries.

or open your browser to:diocesemo.org/June2015Seek

NepalNepal Earthquake Response Fund

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on the morning of April 25, causing severe damage and loss of life across the small nation. At the time this paper went to print on May 4, the death toll was over 7,000. Episcopal Relief and Development will help meet urgent needs such as food, clean water and shelter, as well as support for assessment and search and rescue teams in the initial phase of the disaster, through the ACT Alliance in Nepal and with their partners in surrounding areas including northern India and southwest China. Following the initial relief phase, this fund will continue to support longer-term recovery efforts with local partners.

Support the people of Nepal

EpiscopalRelief.org/NepalRelief

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The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri DIOCESEMO.ORG

Blood Cries Out from the Ground (continued)

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making sense of the present racial crisis.Both leaders of the Corps of Discovery,

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, were slave owners. This expedition, leaving St. Louis in 1804 to find the headwaters of the Missouri and a path to the Pacific Ocean, in-cluded Clark’s slave named York, a bondser-vant since childhood. William Clark was ter-ritorial governor when Missouri became a state—a slave state—in 1821. Reaching state-hood became possible because of the Mis-souri Compromise of 1820, which defined how slavery might spread, or not, in the huge territories of the West. It is interesting to note that Clark, though not an Episcopalian, was a charter signatory for the founding of Christ Church, now our cathedral, in 1819. Slavery continued to define the places for blacks and whites in Missouri history, a fact deeply rooted in the region’s DNA.

Slave labor accounted for much of the region’s wealth gained during the heyday of the steamboat years, roughly 1820 to 1860. St. Louis became the nation’s second -larg-est port during this era. The narrower and shallower Mississippi River north of the city accommodated only small ships, whereas the deeper and wider channel to the south required large ships for the sake of econom-ic scale. The transfer of cargo from one size to the other happened at St. Louis, where the ships would line up for almost two miles at wharves along the riverfront. The back-breaking work of the transfers fell to slaves, and the weight of the cargo sent upriver as far as St. Paul, downriver to Memphis and New Orleans, on the Illinois River almost to Chicago, on the Ohio River all the way to Pittsburgh, and into the greater West via the Missouri River made the dominant culture a wealthy one.

One example of wealth built by slave-holding comes in the story of Henry Shaw. Born in Sheffield, England, in 1800, Shaw

came to St. Louis in 1819, nearly penniless. For twenty years he ran a hardware store and sold high-quality knives and other utensils sent by an uncle from his native Sheffield. He accumulated large real estate holdings along the way, allowing him to retire from active work at age forty. In 1859 Shaw opened what remains one of the jewels of St. Louis, the Missouri Botanical Garden. As it happens, Shaw was also a slave owner, though the de-tails are sketchy. We know this much clear-ly, that his slave Esther tried to escape into Illinois, only to be captured and returned to her owner. Shaw was also an Episcopalian, and he was instrumental in building a cathe-dral for the diocese, which was completed in 1867; the neo-Gothic structure remains in use today. At the time of his death in 1889, Henry Shaw was the cathedral’s warden.

In 1846 the slave Dred Scott filed suit for his freedom in St. Louis Cir-cuit Court, on his own be-half and that of his wife, Harriet. The Scotts had lived for some years in Wis-consin Territory, free soil according to the Missouri Compromise. Scott argued that he was a free man, and his wife a free woman, because they had lived in free territory. It took eleven years for the litigation to run its course, and in 1857, the Supreme Court of the United States decided, 7–2, against Scott. The Court ruled that not only was Scott not free, but because he was of African descent he could never be a citizen. Thus the Court overturned the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The body of Dred Scott lies buried in Calvary Cemetery, on West Florissant Ave-nue in St. Louis City, only three miles from

the burned-out QuikTrip in Ferguson, called “ground zero” during the protests and much photographed in recent months. That con-venience store is also on West Florissant Av-enue.

The constitutional end to slavery, the granting of voting rights to ex-slaves, and the clarification that they were in fact citi-zens brought a season of hope after the Civ-il War ended. The end of slavery, however, gave way to other ways of keeping people of African descent down. Various means of voter suppression; limited or no access to public education; extreme enforcement of segregation, including “sundown towns” in Missouri, places which blacks had to va-cate before nightfall, or else; discriminatory po-licing policies; and the numerous iterations of separate-but-equal prac-tices—all these took dignity and power away from people of African descent. The race riots in St. Louis in the 1960s and 70s, relatively small in number and intensity, left our region with a false sense of security. People, especially in the dominant culture, felt safe in assuming that race was not a problem here.

Racism exists in an endemic form in the region of Missouri where I live. From a Eu-ropean-American perspective, it may seem like a chronic disease for which coping is as good as a cure. That perspective, however, is one of privilege. African-Americans typical-ly live with the daily indignities of endemic racism that are mostly invisible to the dom-inant culture. Not long ago I heard an Afri-can-American pastor tell about a question he liked to ask other students, white stu-dents, during his seminary days: How often do you think about being white? The invari-able answer was, “I never think about being white.” The existence of privilege is almost imperceptible to people of privilege, and the basis of that privilege never needs bringing to awareness. My friend, however, emphat-ically says that, contrary to the typical and

One example of wealth built by slave-holding comes in the story of Henry Shaw.

Racism ex-ists in an en-demic form in the region of Missouri where I live.

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#Ferguson: calling us deeper as followers of Jesus into the work of racial justice

The hardest part is the silenceIt’s the middle of the first

morning for the Episcopal Dio-cese of Missouri’s Dismantling Racism training and for the first time, we get up and move. We arrange ourselves in two rows of chairs, facing each other, toe-to-toe. We’re paired up, gazing into each others’ eyes. Till now, we’ve held ourselves at arms’ length to the topic and each other. We’re known only by a name and church affiliation.

After this exercise, we will be a community of eager learn-ers.

Here’s how it works: The moderator asks a question. Those of us on one side have 90 seconds to share our answer with our partner, who must remain silent. Then, the tables turn. Our partners across from us answer while we listen. Just listen. Then, we all stand, slide one chair to the left, and sit again, paired with a different partner for another question.

The silence is where the community forms. How can I sit silently when my partner recounts a brutal indignity in re-sponse to this question: “What was the cruelest thing someone from a different race ever did to you; and how did you respond?” Then, what silent messages are we sharing when I cannot come up with a single such experience to share?

After nine rounds of ques-

tions, each a little more probing than the last, the group widens into a circle. Now we share more broadly how this exercise affect-ed us. Some confess guilt that we’d never had to confront these issues. Others are carried back to painful memories. We are all glad for the experience.

Because in those excruci-ating moments of silence, we all had a chance to see the world through a friend’s eyes.

—Kurt Greenbaum

Kurt is a member of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Ellisville, and on the Dismantling Racism Commission. He participated in the commission’s 14-hour training in dismantling institu-tional racism this April.

Conversations matterAs an Episcopal teenager in

the Diocese of Missouri, I like to hang out with my friends from Camp Phoenix, Episcopal youth events and Episcopal churches, where we all get together.

Earlier this year we had two talks about race. The first event was at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Ferguson.

My group arrived early for church, then went to break-fast in Ferguson and visited the apartment complex where Michael Brown was shot. We returned in time for the conver-sation led by two members of the “Millennial Activists United” group. They talked a little about

how the events that took place were not entirely represented accurately by the media. I had never heard anyone from the ‘front lines’ tell their side of the story, and they spoke with great feeling and honesty about the situations they had been through. Listening to them was powerful and changed my un-derstanding of the protests.

The second event, held at All Saints Episcopal Church in St. Louis, was called “Challeng-ing Colorblindness.” Some oth-er teenagers and I were invited to facilitate table conversations, each with a different focus. The focus I was assigned was “Eco-nomics” - and the lasting low-er-class status and stereotypes that people of color have been cursed with. I was surprised to hear how awful the race situa-tion still was, after all of these years of pressing for equality. The constitution may have been changed, but people are still treated just as unfairly as they were decades ago.

I think these conversations matter because people can be unaware of the situations, not unlike I was. It is not foolish or arrogant of them not to know, but they shouldn’t be blind to poverty and white privilege.

Sometimes it seems like all we do is have the big talks of what we should and shouldn’t do, but don’t really make plans or change anything. Watching

people struggle with the reality of racism—the information we shared at both events—is an im-portant step in changing hearts. Those changes will affect actual policy and societal change.

Having teenagers involved in leadership matters because teenagers are the present, and the future. What I believe and the way that I treat and talk to everyone, will touch the hearts of my children and my children’s children.

I’m glad to share these times with other Episcopal teens, and hope churches keep participating and sending youth to these community events.

—S. Becket Clark

Becket is a member of the Diocesan Youth Advisory Council.

Beginning the dialogIn the immediate aftermath

of the death of Mike Brown, I wanted to find some way of in-volving Advent in a conversation about race in St. Louis. I called Marc Smith, the Vicar at As-cension (I think within a day or two of the shooting), and asked if our two congregations might find a way of doing something together, "once the dust had settled." We agreed to a series of meetings together during Lent of 2015.

In the event, we met for four Tuesday evenings this past

Four vignettes of faithful Episcopal response to the racial divide

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For the Life of the World

March for a shared meal, and a conversation. We used the book Mapping Decline to frame the conversation. Crestwood is a near lily-white suburb (neither inner-ring, nor outer-ring), set-tled in the 50s and 60s as part of the flight from the city. I hoped that people in my congregation could learn to see the systemic advantages that had made it possible for them to settle here, and the costs to the city.

About twelve to fifteen people from Advent (ASA ~75) drove up for the four sessions, and about eight to twelve peo-ple from Ascension (ASA ~50) attended each session. The conversations were sometimes uncomfortable, but mostly very good and insightful. More importantly for me, some of the conversations we have had back at Advent have been very trans-formative. People are beginning to "get" white privilege. Part of our frustration has been that we want to "fix" the problem -- a very white response.

Our last session, we cel-ebrated Eucharist together, in which we offered our dis-comforts, our gifts, and our willingness to work together to God. Everyone, from both congregations, who attended the meetings wants to continue the relationship somehow. We are not yet sure what that will look like, but we will talk again after Easter to figure out what next.

This past Saturday, mem-bers of Advent and Ascension cooked and served the Peace Meal at St. John's, Tower Grove. Advent has been doing this five times a year for about five years,

and we decided it would be a good thing if Ascension joined us. We had too many people on our Saturday, but that's a good problem to have!

—Dan Handschy

Dan is the rector of the Episco-pal Church of the Advent, lo-cated in south St. Louis County (Crestwood) and Dean of the Episcopal School for Ministry.

Anger and Love in the streetsI have been in the streets

of Ferguson since September. I have seen how a group of pro-testers went from coming to-gether in mutual anger towards the justice system to coming to-gether because they’ve become family. It’s amazing to see and be a part of the changes that are happening in the St. Louis area. Each night on the front line means coming together with family in a fight for justice—it means protecting each other!

“We have to love and sup-port each other, all we have to lose are our chains”: this chant expresses the truth of Ferguson. People of all races, religions, economic classes, and ethnic backgrounds have come togeth-er and become a family.

And this is where love comes in: for even out of the anger at our justice system, love can be found.

I know this personally. I know this because I felt God’s love for the first time in the streets of Ferguson. I know this because, since August, clergy have had an amazing part in this revolution; a part in which

they put God on the front line to show that He can make a difference, especially through the works of the young people involved.

It’s especially amazing to come into an Episcopal Service Corps program that had already set an image of what our pro-gram year would look like in Fer-guson. I didn’t anticipate that I would be one of the millennials standing on the front line in a fight for justice with people who I now consider family. I am thankful for the role that our program has in Ferguson, not only because I am in a year of discernment, but also because having the experience of being on the front line has helped me

understand what it means to be a Christian.

To me, being a Christian is about spreading the word of love. It’s about being involved in a community. It’s about standing firm in your beliefs. I am trying to do all of these in the St. Louis area. I am praying with my feet firmly in the street each week.

—Rosemary Haynes

Rosemary is a member of Deaconess Anne House, in the Episcopal Service Corps. This is an extract of a reflection originally published in St. Hil-da’s House Winter Quarterly: Voices of Young Adults for the Church, March 2015. www.sthildashouse.org.

Annual Conference of the Verger’s Guild of the Episcopal Church is meeting in St. Louis

Thursday, October 1, through Sunday, October 4, 2015

It’s their 27th meeting and conference highlights include:

• James Armstrong , Chairman of the Church of England Guild of Vergers, “Who Do We Think We Are? Our Ancestry as Vergers”

• The Very Rev. Michael Kinman, “The Role of Cathedrals”• Brendan O’Connor, Digital Missioner, Christ Church Cathedral,

“Using Social Media to Spread the Word”• The Rev. Amy Chambers Cortright, Vicar at Christ Church Cathe-

dral, “The Partnership Between Clergy and the Verger Ministry”• Elle Dowd, Diocesan Youth Missioner, “Including Youth in Worship:

Moving From Tokenism to Partnership”• The Rev. Mike Angell, recently Missioner for Young Adults

(20s-30s) and Campus Ministries for the Episcopal Church, now rector of Holy Communion Episcopal Church in University City, “Young Adults in Liturgical Service and Beyond”

• Sylvester Johnson, Ph.D., Assoc. Professor of African American Studies & Religious Studies, Northwestern University, “Philip Quaque and the Early History of Black Anglicanism”

Conference information, resgistration, and blog online at:vergers.org.

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One of the realities of life in early adulthood is transitoriness. Relationships change, where one lives or works often changes too. This is partly why the Bene-dictine practice of stability is valuable for Deaconess Anne House Corps Members. As young adults, they’ve already navigated many changes. For them, stability is liv-ing together under a shared rule and faith practice.

So far, this year’s members have expe-rienced significant instability. They began their year in St Louis just days after the shooting death of Mike Brown. They were in Ferguson joining the protests soon after their arrival. The stability of their common life strengthened them during that time of crisis and transition. As fall turned to winter, the corps members worked at their nonprofit placements, connected with the neighborhood and continued to engage in protests. Then, more challenges arrived.

The Rev. Jon Stratton, founding di-

This past year in the Deaconess Anne House by director Rebecca Ragland

Stability in the winds of change

rector, took a new call at Trinity Episcopal Church, Central West End. After a few weeks, with the Rev. Mike Angell serving as interim, I became director. The commu-nity maintained stability by faithfulness to each other and to the practices of the Daily Office. Little more than a month later, one of the corps members, Alex Herbertson, decided it was time for her to leave the pro-gram. Again, the community experienced instability and change. It was hard to say goodbye to Alex, just as it was hard to say goodbye to Jon.

For the community, stability contin-ues to center around daily Morning Prayer, community meals, Monday night Eucharist, our love for each other, and our shared commitment to social justice. We have also found stability in our beautiful home, the generous care of our sponsor parishes, and the ongoing vision of the Diocese.

As we move into the final semester of our program, the Corps Members continue

to be invested in the Diocese, their place-ments, and the Old North neighborhood. Before next year’s Corps Members arrive, this year’s group is making a legacy in film and print for next year’s group to inherit. They hope that this legacy will provide yet one more facet to strengthen the communi-ty that is Deaconess Anne within our Dio-cese.

Upcoming events:July 11, 9-11 am. We welcome you to join us for the Feast Day of St Benedict. We will have a special morn-ing prayer at 9 am followed by an introduction to the way of St Benedict and conversation about its applica-tion in various community settings. Special Speaker: Mary Haggerty, Spiritual Director, and Exec. Director of Adult Jesuit Service Corps. (TBC)August 14, 8-9 pm at Trinity CWE Eucharist and Commissioning; 9-11 Going away party for DAH; Bring a munchie to share – DJ and dancing Sept. 13, Sunday Afternoon, House Warming Party --Tea and desserts and explore the house. By July, we’ll be registered online at Target and Home Depot for housewarming gifts for the House. Search Deacon-ess Anne in the Bridal registry.All events at DAH except the August 14 Goodbye Eu-charist and Party which will be held at Trinity Episco-pal Church in St. Louis.

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A couple of weeks ago I was invited to go see a play called Afflicted with my little brother at the History Museum. Seeing the words “History Museum” I figured it wasn’t going to be all that fun, but decided to go since I didn’t have anything else going on that Sunday after church.

My grandmother dropped me and my brother off and we waited with Pamela Dolan and her two daughters Annabel and Kate for the rest of the group.

By 1:30 we had about thirteen peo-ple join us. While waiting we were invited to make blankets for homeless kids. We discussed many topics including who influenced us, and how were friends from church, school, and the neighborhood different (or not). Around two o’clock we were led into the auditorium where we saw a stage with what looked like a forest. By now I was pretty curious and began to think maybe it wouldn't be so boring.

First seen in the woods is a woman named Tituba, a slave belonging to Rever-end Parris. She meets up with the other girls shortly after starting a fire and asking for good spirits. The girls include

• Mercy Lewis: a young girl who watched her family murdered by Wabanaki Indians and who was bound into slavery under the Put-nam family

• Ann Putnam: The oldest of the girls, who just wanted to marry a merchant so she could have riches

• Abigail Williams: a girl bound into slavery under her uncle Samuel Parris and her cousin Betty Parris

• Mary Walcott: the daughter of Cpt. Jonathan Wolcott & Mary Sibley.

They share secrets, dance, laugh, and have fun—they do things they normally aren't allowed to do.

One night Abigail’s cousin Betty Parris becomes aware of Abigail sneaking out of the house. She makes Abigail give her a red

bracelet of the sisterhood in exchange for her silence.

The next night Betty follows Abigail to the woods. Abigail and Ann decide to scare her. They hid and made noises, scaring the living daylights out of Betty, making her run to Tituba.

Betty then wants to join the sisterhood and shows the girls the red bracelet saying Abigail gave it to her. Abigail denies it and calls Betty a liar and makes Betty take the oath to become a sister. Mercy falls in love with a boy and is forced to tell the sisters.

Abigail and Ann meet up at the mar-ketplace where Ann tells Abigail of a way to foretell the future. Abigail steals two eggs and Ann brings a cup to the forest that night. They talk Mercy into seeing her future with her love, and sure enough she does. Abigail goes next and sees a bed but Betty sees a coffin. Tituba tells Abigail that she has brought death upon one of the girls. And the next morning, Betty is in a coma.

Abigail is going to be sent back into slavery by Reverend Parris for “bringing the Devil into his house.” She comes up with a plan to run away to Boston with Mercy where Mercy can live with her love.

That night in the forest Mercy tells Abigail she is not going. So Abigail draws blood to protect herself on her journey, but is accused by her friends of witch crafting. They hear Reverend Parris coming—he sus-pected that Abigail was going to run away. Abigail then accuses the others of witch-craft, as does Mercy and Mary.

The play paused as Tituba talks to the audience and asks if the girls should be for-given or not. The audience members got red yarn bracelets like the sisterhood had.

Our group then went upstairs to talk about the play. We were asked similar ques-tions as we were before the play.

We also made some more blankets and made encouraging cards for homeless kids, so they felt as if they had something

that belonged to them. We left the History Museum around four o’ clock.

I left know-ing and thinking a lot about the Salem Witch Tri-als and how the play was nothing of what I ex-pected. I would recommend this play to everyone because it’s so good!

Kyleigh is a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Carondelet and a member of the Diocesan Youth Advisory Council.

Arts & Faith St. Louis is an effort to establish an ongoing, intentional relationship between the arts and the faith communities to build a more harmonious St. Louis. They organized an outing for interfaith youth, grades 8 and up, around a new play about the Salem witch trials, Afflicted: Daughters of Salem by Laurie Brooks. The Metro Theater Company production took place at the Missouri History Museum in March. Diocesan liaison to Arts & Faith STL the Rev. Pamela Dolan wrote in her Post-Dispatch column, “The play claims to be ‘the untold story’ of this dark chapter in history, and clearly it aims at a fresh perspec-tive that will resonate with today’s young people and current events.”

Afflicted tells the story of the events that led up to the infamous Salem witch trials. This origin story examines how teenage girls became accus-ers and caused 20 people to be put to death for witching. An interactive forum that explores the accusers and their community is built into the play, encouraging reflection. Supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, it explores not only the history and causes of the trials but also how girls raised in oppression have negotiated alliances and power throughout history just as they do today.

AFFLICTED: the Daughters of Salem by Kyleigh Wacasey

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“I have become all things to all people that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.” —1 Corinthians 9:16-23

At one of my first chapels at Lakeside Residential Treatment Center, this kid, Charlie, didn’t like something I said. So, he got up, ripped my beautiful bulletin into pieces, threw it in the air, cursed me out, and left chapel. I was stunned, surprised, and speechless.

When I became a chaplain at Episcopal City Mission (ECM) almost 10 years ago, I had no designs on becoming. In our world of metrics, facts, results, competition, com-parison, and production, who is focused on becoming? I wasn’t. I wanted to make a difference in these kids’ lives. I wanted to get these kids saved and on track.

I didn’t realize I would have to BECOME!

You might be like me, as you hear about kids in detention in St. Louis. You have tried to boil down the solution: parents, family, school, choices, mental health, behavioral health, drugs, alcohol, abuse, neglect, and some of these solutions are on target, they are just incomplete. You might be like me on most days, still trying to do and say the right thing, worried more about what I produce than with whom I connect.

I didn’t realize I would have to BECOME!

I think it occurred to me when I met Jesup whose father had overdosed on heroin. After my talk with him, I just knew he was going to be alright. His red hair and green eyes were so bright, but a few weeks

later he was in rehab. Maybe it was Kelly who I talked to for two hours on Wednesday night, and by Monday, Kelly was gone. In these moments, I thought I was transform-ing them, but God was making it clear I needed the transformation.

Paul is suggesting a radical new way of life, a life of becoming. It’s a life the ministry of ECM and these children offer all of us. To not presume what they need, but to reflect more deeply on who they need us to become as chaplain, church, and community.

I had to BECOME, That is what I think is at the heart of Paul’s message in 1 Cor-inthians, what he and the church have to become bearers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our kids in detention and at home don’t need more things. They don’t need more assumptions about their needs. They don’t need more judgment. What they need is more of us.

Through the work of ECM, children know the church cares enough to get out-side of herself, to meet them where they are, to know their names, to enter their lives, to walk with them and be transformed by them, and be a transformation agent with God to them. With ECM, it is amazing what we can become together for youth in need of hope and healing in detention.

What we can become if we can let go of what we want in exchange to become who we are!

What we can become if we let go some of the production and be present!

What we can become if we can risk BECOMING!

The Rev. Dr. Dietra Wise Baker, Or-dained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), is an Episcopal City Mission chaplain at the St. Louis County Detention Center and Lakeside Residential Treatment Center. She has developed programs to engage youth

in spirituality around interests in media, theology, music, bereavement, and commu-nity service. In 2015, Dietra is assuming an additional role as the Program Development Manager for ECM. In this new role she will conduct research to identify evidence-based programs that work with incarcerated youth. Dietra has served ECM for ten years and has over a decade of youth service to communi-ty adolescents in churches and community organizations. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., her Master of Divinity Degree from Eden Theological Seminary, and her Doctorate of Ministry in Preaching at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. Chaplain Baker is married to Cor-nell Baker and they have one teen daughter, Alexis Baker.

What We Become! by Dietra Wise Baker

All of Episcopal City Mission’s programs sup-port their mission of providing support, hope and healing to children in detention, including: • A weekly non-denominational worship

service tailored for the children; for exam-ple, the service might include faith-based music by “rap” artists or live performances of liturgical dance

• Spiritual formation groups, such as study-ing sacred texts suited to the educational level of the youth

• Individual spiritual guidance, offering faith-based models for living

• General Guidance and Support Services• Self-esteem and healthy relationship

programs, looking at violence, substance abuse, and other issues affecting the teens

• Grief groups which address teen issues of grieving and loss

• Individual pastoral care with the on-site chaplain

• Monthly birthday parties, which serve as an affirming social time for the children

• “Reading is Fundamental” allows each child to choose a book of his or her very own each month

www.ecitymission.org

9


Episcopal City Mission’s Summer Celebration • Date: Friday, June 19, 2015• Time: 5:30 - 8:30 PM• Location: Grace Episcopal Church, 514 East Ar-

gonne, Kirkwood MO 63122 (view map)• Tickets: Adults: $15• Children Ages 5-12: $5• Children under 5: Free!• Maximum per Family: $50• Call the ECM office for tickets, and additional in-

formation 314.436.3545Please join Episcopal City Mission at our annual Summer

Celebration Family Fun Carnival! Gather inside for a delicious meal and participate in a silent auction or hang outside where there will be carnival game booths for all the kids, as well a bounce house and other fun activities!

Wildly popular last year and back by popular demand: youth groups from around the diocese along with Deaconess Anne House will have activity booths at the celebration.

Photo of Chaplain Dietra Baker (in the red shirt) and family at last year’s Summer Celebration goat petting station.

Find Pictures and Videos online

Around 10,000 images from the life of the diocese online atFlickr.com/DioceseMO

Our growing library of videos is atVimeo.com/DioceseMO

Diocesan news optionsOur weekly news roundup is callediSeek and is emailed each Thursday afternoon. Subscribe at:diocesemo.org/subscribe

Major dio news online atdiocesemo.org/news

The Episcopal Church in the Worldwide Anglican Communion: 80 million Christians around the world,

led by the Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Jus-tin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury

in The Episcopal Church: 2 million Episcopalians in 109 dioceses and three regional

areas in 17 nations, led by the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Pre-siding Bishop and Primate.

in the Diocese of Missouri: 12,000 members in 42 con-gregations, campus minis-

tries and an intentional community, led by the Rt. Rev. George Wayne Smith, 10th Bishop of Missouri.

SEEK, June 2015Episcopal Diocese of MissouriOffices of the Bishop1210 Locust St.St. Louis, Missouri 63103

Seek is a quarterly publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. Dioce-san members may request a compli-mentary subscription by mail: send address to the Offices of the Bishop attn: Seek Subscription. Seek is also distributed to each congregation in the diocese. Archived editions of Seek are online at diocesemo.org.

Editor: Ms. Beth Felice, Director of CommunicationsEditorial Board: the Rev. Dr. Dan-iel Handschy, Dean of the Episco-pal School for Ministry; the Rev. Jon Hall, Rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Ellisville; Mr. Ken Luebbering, Grace Church, Jefferson City; Ms. Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Peter’s Church, Ladue; the Rev. Dr. Marc Smith, Rector of Ascension Church, Northwoods; the Rev. Joe Chambers, Canon to the Ordinary, Diocese of Missouri.

Submissions by post attn: Beth Felice, or online via diocesemo.org/submit.Deadline: Aug 5, 2015 for the edition available September 2015.

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continued on next page

parallel white experience, he thinks about being black every day of his life.

The political organization of St. Louis City and County is peculiar, and it also contributes to the particular expression of racism in the area. In 1876 St. Louis City removed itself from St. Louis County, retaining for itself all the functions belong-ing to any Missouri county. For example, there is a St. Louis City sheriff and a City courts system. At the time the County was ru-ral and underdeveloped and a tax burden to the City. Over the succeeding century and more, population growth in the County exploded while the city began to contract, both in proportion to the County and in real numbers. The City’s population peaked at 897,000 in 1950 and had shrunk to 318,000 in 2013.

The salient feature of both City and County lies in a bal-kanization of political units. The City has twenty-eight wards, within the bounds of which each alderman or -woman wields enormous and largely indepen-dent local power over City ser-vices and building permits. The County in 1930 had thirty mu-nicipalities, which in the next twenty years grew to eighty-four in number. There are currently ninety. The political fragmenta-tion of St. Louis City and County effectively prevents the pursuit of a commonweal for the region. It also provides the structure to support one of the highest lev-els of racial segregation in the country. Moreover, this frag-mentation allows small cities,

like Ferguson, to maintain sep-arate police forces and courts, and to fund operations by ad-judicating excessive fines for minor offenses, especially traf-fic offenses. Some cities in the County fund 40 percent or more of their budget by these means, and the burden falls dispro-portionately on African-Amer-icans. Ferguson raised about $2.5 million in its last fiscal year through fines and court fees.

The history of St. Louis sets a necessary context for making any sense of the shooting death of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014 and the subsequent out-rage from the community in Ferguson and elsewhere. The name “Ferguson” has become shorthand for what is wrong with law e n f o r c e -ment and racial pol-itics in the Unit-ed States. Something about this inci-dent—probably some combina-tion of its violence, the fact that Brown’s body lay in the street for over four hours, and the clum-sy efforts of political leaders to control the message— caught the attention of the world. In the ten days after the shooting the hashtag #Ferguson tagged 7.8 million messages on Twitter. The recent deaths of other black males, including Eric Garner, John Crawford, Ezell Ford, Dan-te Parker, and Tamir Rice, all at the hands of police officers, have

extended the resonance for what happened in Ferguson. The vari-ous responses to the December 20, 2014 shooting deaths of two New York City police officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, further demonstrate a cultural polarization around issues of race and law enforcement.

The name of the North County town has taken on an almost mythic quality, and “Fer-guson could have happened any-where” has become a byline. In-deed, racism continues to have its caustic effect everywhere in the United States, and people identifying so closely with Fergu-son is an important acknowledg-ment of this reality. I recognize this fact. But for me, living as I do in St. Louis, Ferguson must first of all be local and not mere-ly general. I never met Michael Brown, but I know some people who knew him well, high-school classmates of his who worship at one of our North County parish-es. Ferguson was a familiar place to me before it became a ven-ue for CNN, and the heartache I feel when driving down the burned-out section along West Florissant is something person-al and visceral. Clergy and laity of this diocese have been reg-ulars among the protesters in Ferguson and elsewhere in the area. Some have been arrest-ed, and a few even ill-treated by police. I have protested on the streets of Ferguson myself. Fam-ily members have felt the effects of pepper spray and tear gas. Ferguson, like Nazareth of Gal-ilee, must begin as a real piece of geography, an incarnational reality with its maddening par-ticularities, and a back story.

In the ten days after the shoot-ing the hashtag #Ferguson tagged 7.8 mil-lion messages on Twitter.

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Acknowledging these aspects of Ferguson’s real life paradox-ically bolsters its more general power as a sign of things bro-ken and hope for life restored.

I begin a theological reflec-tion on Ferguson with what I hope is an obvious statement, al-though I have learned during the past months that it is not obvious to everyone. The end of racism matters to the church. It mat-ters because of the issue of justice, but it also matters because God’s intent, at the end of the age, is to build a new world from “ev-ery family, language, people, and nation” (Rev. 5:9). The church is to be a servant of that vision, de-spite its falling far short of it, and any church that does not inhabit the wild diversity of peoples that Revelation describes is incom-plete. We the church bear the wounds of racism, every bit as much as the places where we live.

We who are the church do

well to learn from the rage pres-ent in Ferguson and surrounding communities, a rage which has spread throughout the nation and around the world. That rage did not come from nowhere, and it has something important to tell us all, but especially to those of us living with privilege. We can commit ourselves to honest and difficult conversation, in the presence of the racial wound in

our community, made evident in the body of Michael Brown. The One wounded for our sake calls us to ac-countability and helps us make some sense of

a seemingly senseless death.There are two shrines on

Canfield Avenue in Ferguson where Michael Brown died, one in the middle of the street, where he fell from his gunshot wounds, and one on the roadside. The shrines are of the sort not un-common in American culture, built by the people with what is at hand, not commissioned by the church or the state. They

are made with flowers, placards, banners, letters, and balloons. (Another such shrine popped up at the site where Officers Liu and Ramos died in New York.) The compelling draw of the place where Brown died is palpable, and many of the marches in Ferguson have essentially been pilgrimages to Canfield. I must be careful here, because I am not claiming sainthood for this young man. Unlike Rosa Parks, Brown is an imperfect witness, or at least not a chosen witness. In 1955 black leadership in Mont-gomery, Alabama, rejected at least two other candidates to be-gin a bus boycott before settling on Parks. They chose her pre-cisely for her background and her character. No such vetting took place for Michael Brown, and no one even had a choice in the matter. Sometimes the core issues at stake, racism and law enforcement, get lost amid the polarities that people express around Brown’s character. Some point to the videotape of him and a friend robbing a nearby conve-nience store, a few minutes be-fore the shooting, and call him a “street tough” or “thug.” Or they rehearse the prosecuting attor-ney’s report of the grand jury’s decision, released November 24, naming him the aggressor in the encounter leading to his death. Others describe a differ-ent Michael Brown, calling him a “gentle giant” or a “sweet guy” who loved his family. I think that these characterizations, good and bad, are beside the point of an unarmed young black man dying from gunshots fired by a

police officer, and all the history and present racisms making that moment possible.

Michael Brown is an imperfect or unchosen wit-ness. For many people, how-ever, there still remains a strong compulsion around the site on Canfield Avenue,

and I think that shrine is the cor-rect word. This is a place reca-pitulating a trauma that ended in Michael Brown’s death, and a trauma endured by the commu-nity. People go to that place and weep, or they rage, or they sing, or they stand in slack-jawed si-lence. The place allows people to express deep emotion, and it lets them hope. Some even pray. The pavement is still visibly marked by Michael Brown’s blood. Pro-testers sometimes paraphrase Genesis 4 in saying that his blood cries out for justice. But the place is also saturated by the anger, the hopes, and the prayers of thou-sands. It is an important place. Dare I call it a holy place?

One act of protest for which I was present troubled me, and it happened on October 13, 2014 at the Ferguson Police Station. This action was specifically for people of faith and especially for faith leaders. There were probably twenty or so Episcopalians, lay and ordained, in the crowd gath-ered at a nearby church to learn the protocol before the protest began. I chose not to be among those taking action to be arrest-ed, so I stayed on the sidewalk, a safe zone; my role among Episco-palians was to be the purveyor of bail money! (There were arrests, but no bail required.) The train-ers, who are in fact professional

Michael Brown is an imperfect or unchosen witness.

I begin a theological reflection on Ferguson with what I hope is an obvious statement

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activists, then laid out the script for those confronting the police directly. The script troubled me, and here is what the protesters were told to say to the police: “You are part of a corrupt sys-tem. I have already repented of my own complicity in this sys-tem, and I now call upon you to repent also. I am willing here and now to hear your confession.”

I could not imagine hear-ing myself say those words. The script seems an unfortunate mash-up of the church’s pastoral and sacramental practices with its prophetic witness. It also ap-pears to come from someone who is unfamiliar with catholic practices, someone who does not hear confessions regularly, or make one. The demeanor which I associate with a good confes-sor is that of firm gentleness, not one of presumptive judg-ment. This script taught by the organizers could also have come from an unthinking biblicism, even if of a progressive sort. One of the trainers, in an aside after the training, cited the actions of John the Baptist in confronting those in authority as a model for the protesters in Ferguson, never admitting that the church does not usually take John as a role model for hearing confessions.

Finally, there is the matter of Officer Darren Wilson, who fired a total of twelve shots in his encounter with Michael Brown, fatally wounding him with his last shot, this one to the top of the head. In his controversial testimony before the St. Louis County grand jury, Wilson de-

scribed a physical confrontation with Brown on the day of the shooting, Brown being the ag-gressor. Wilson told about fear-ing for his life in the encounter. That being the case, he leaves un-answered why he did not retreat to the safety of his SUV and drive away from the zone of danger, or wait there for the police backup that was on the way. Some have said that it is part of an officer’s training that, once engaged in lethal response, he or she should aim for the abdominal core of the assailant, fire all the ammu-nition in the magazine, and nev-er break the engagement. If such is common po-lice training and practice, then this is one of the practices of law enforce-ment that bears reassessment.

This much is sure: the life that Darren Wilson knew be-fore August 9 and the life that he lives now are very different. He lives in hiding. Anecdotes tell of his appearing in public only in disguise. He resigned his po-sition on the Ferguson police force immediately following the grand jury decision, and it is likely that he will never work in law enforcement again. He re-mains liable for civil litigation for Michael Brown’s wrongful death, and there could still be a federal case brought against him on the basis of civil rights violations. Some in the local le-gal community have called for a special prosecutor to bring the

evidence before another grand jury. Anguish and uncertainty await Officer Wilson, and it re-quires no stretch of the imagi-nation to see that his is the mark of Cain. A reading of Genesis 4 in fact helps interpret what has happened in Ferguson. There is the haunting question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (The unspo-ken answer is Yes.) Blood from the ground cries out to God. And Cain is left to wander the face of the earth, never again to work as he has before. God then inexpli-cably puts on Cain a protective mark, lest anyone try to kill him out of vengeance. But people will always know that it is he. This tale from the first few pag-es of scripture bears revisiting.

I live every day of my life with the privilege that ac-crues to a sixty year-old straight man of European descent in a position of leader-ship. I have known

that reality for many years. In the days since August 9, I have learned from African-American friends and allies how important it is for me to talk about my priv-ilege, to acknowledge anew how I benefit from it, and to tell sto-ries arising from it. A corollary to this learning is a realization that conveying the concept of privilege to people of privilege is very hard. Privilege is mostly in-visible to those who live with it, and yet I cannot give up on priv-ileged people just because the task is hard. I have also learned that hearing from the Afri-can-American community is far more important than anything I might have to say to them. That


The Right Reverend George Wayne Smith is the tenth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. Read more of his writings collect-ed at diocesemo.org/bishop.

This article was published in The Anglican Theological Review, Spring 2015, and contrary to their usual policy of no reprints and not making articles available on-line for one year, they graciously allowed this for the people of the Diocese of Missouri. Please vis-it ATR’s website and consider a subscription to this foundational quarterly.

anglicantheologicalreview.org

Images: Dred Scott grave site (cc) 2007 Matt Dimmic, [email protected]; Bishop Wayne Smith marching in early August 2014.

community probably has heard enough from the likes of me. My discipline has been to show up for meetings, protests, whatev-er, only when that community invites me. The authority that is not my own matters most of all in these circumstances. Giving over to the authority belonging to the Other matters.

I live every day of my life with the privilege that accrues to a sixty-year-old straight man of European descent in a position of leadership.

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Christian formation is a life-long process. How we are formed as Christians is

a journey that for many starts when we are young. But for some of us, our first steps on the road to Emmaus start later in life. Wherever we are on our journey, our way is always made easier if we have a little companionship and guidance along the way. I have found companion-ship and guidance through the Episco-pal School for Ministry (ESM).

My friend and fellow traveler, Kathleen McDonald suggested last year that I might like to take classes at ESM. I started with the Christian Spirituality class taught by Dr. Donna Hawk-Rein-hard. This class was my tour guide to Christianity spirituality.

Donna covered a variety of topics in class. We read and discussed the ancient Celtic Church and Benedictine spirituality. We explored our own per-sonal spiritual byways using methods like journaling and praying the Daily Office.

Truth be told, I had never spent much time with the Daily Office in my personal prayer life. I had been ac-quainted with the Daily Office since I had become an Episcopalian several years ago but I had never given it a chance.

One of our on-going assignments was to pray the Daily Office using either Morning or Evening Prayer. We then wrote reflections of this experience. It was difficult for me to get started. Pray-ing morning prayer felt formal and stiff. This was a class assignment so I stuck

Summer course on Christian Spirituality was an easy introduction to School for Ministry

with it. Slowly over the summer I began to appreciate the gift Donna had given me. The Daily Office has become part of my prayer life since this class.

Throughout the summer we dis-cussed various rules of life. In particular we explored the rules followed by the Celts, the Desert Mothers and Fathers, and the Benedictine community.

The culmination of the class was an assignment to take what we had learned and create our own rule of life, one that not only reflected our own current spir-itual path but also one which would lead us into further exploration and growth.

I review it from time to time, to remind myself where I am and where I have been.

If you find yourself in need of guid-ance and companionship on your own spiritual journey but you are not sure the Episcopal School for Ministry is for you, I would suggest that you start your exploration with the Christian Spiritu-ality class.

Before you know it you may be tak-ing your fourth class through ESM too.

Blessings on your own journey and may the road rise up to meet you.

by Kevin Selle, member of St. Francis’ Episcopal Church in Eureka, and currently a student in ESM’s Theological Studies program.

Making Disciples of Jesus for the Ministry of the ChurchThe Episcopal School for Ministry con-venes as a community of formation in the Diocese of Missouri.

ESM enriches students' capacity for ministry. The School provides options for those called to ordination and also for those seeking to develop their skills as lay ministers. The Program for Theological Formation is a three year course of study, beginning a new term each August.

The life of the Episcopal School for Minis-try is filled with worship, fellowship, and study. We gather for prayer, learning, and mutual support. Each weekend that the School meets is structured by Morning and Evening Prayer, the Eucharist, and Compline. We share meals together, and we share our journeys of discipleship with each other. Many students cherish these weekends as a mini-retreat. The learning is challenging but accessible to all types of students. We have students with advanced academic backgrounds and others with very little educational experience after high school.

Program for Theological Formation• trains persons to think and live

theologically and ecclesially• forms persons to engage

intentionally the baptismal and Eucharistic life of their con-gregations, and to help their congregations embody our Christian story in the world.

By enriching an understanding of the ministry of the whole Church, graduates of the program take active roles in their congregations and in the diocese to help the Church discern and engage in the ministry of Christ in the world.

Dates, detailed course information, and registration online at diocesemo.org/ESM.

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The Holy Spirit calls the Church and its people into and empowers them for the ministry of the reconciliation of all.

Discernment is the process of work, thought, prayer, and listening which makes possible the recognition and understanding of the Spirit’s call to an individual or group.

A lifelong process, a role for everyone

Each of us has a duty to be in a lifelong process of dis-cerning the ministries through which we may use our gifts in the service of God’s purposes for the restoration of the world.

Each Christian and each Christian community has a role to play in God’s ministry of reconciliation. We carry out those roles both in our lives in the world and in our corporate life in the Church. We often need the help of the Spir-it and of others to discover how best to live into our share of God’s ministry. Like young Samuel, we may find ourselves confused about the nature and source of the call.

Where are you being called?The process of discernment involves

the individual, the community, and the Holy Spirit. The notion of a call may begin

with the individual’s sense of being drawn into a new ministry, or it may emerge from the community’s identification of a person’s gifts for a particular ministry.

Exploration of a call may lead to a deeper sense of vocation in secular employ-ment, to community service, to specific ministries within the Church, or to consid-eration of ordination.

Discernment is a prayerful attempt, within the scope of human weakness and limitation, to identify a pathway to meeting God’s will for the individual, the communi-ty, and the Church.

Which is the ‘better’ call?It is important to rec-

ognize and value the gifts of each person in the course of discernment.

All baptized persons are called to ministry in their whole life in the world. A call to ordained ministry

is not a “better call.” The ordained have

A Theology of Ministry: The Ministry of the Church

Q: What is the mission of the Church? A: The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.

Q: Through whom does the Church carry out its mission? A: The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its members.

All baptized persons are called to ministry in their whole life in the world. A call to ordained ministry is not a “better call.”

Q&A from the Book of Common Prayer: An Out-line of the Faith commonly called the Catechism


Discernmentunique ministries to help empower the baptized for their roles in God’s purposes of salvation.

Discernment is a matter of identifying the gifts of a faithful individual that are suit-ed to a particular form of ministry.

When one’s call seems to be toward Holy Orders, the Church has a great respon-sibility to participate in the discernment process. This includes prayerfully joining in seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, supporting the individual in further ex-ploration of the call, and considering the individual’s gifts in the context of the needs of the Church.

This work of discernment will first be carried out locally, but eventually, a call to ordained ministry involves a wider circle of concerned persons within the diocese continuing the work begun at the local level.

A congregation considering its minis-try is engaged in discernment. The work of discernment includes recognizing needs, resources, and gifts, and prayerfully seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The Ministry of a PriestThe whole Church shares in the

priesthood of Christ, reconciling the world to God. The Church offers to God the fruits of God’s creation and human labor for God’s purposes.

As the Church gathers for worship, it presents its corporate life under the signs of bread and wine to God, and receives that life back again from God, blessed as the Body and Blood of Christ. The Church itself becomes part of Christ’s sacrifice, the Body of Christ offered for the life of the world.

Modeling Christ's priestly ministryPriests are set aside by the call of the

Church and ordination by the Bishop to

model for the Church the priestly ministry of Christ. As pastors and teachers, priests gather and equip the people of God to take their share in the ministry of Christ and the Church. Through the sacramental life of the Church, a priest is the instrument of Christ nurturing the life of the congrega-tion.

As pastor to the people, a priest acts as steward of the congregation’s common life and fosters the relationships that constitute the Body of Christ. Priests invite congregations to discern the ways they may best engage in God’s ministry of reconciliation in their particular settings, then elicit the gifts of all for that ministry.

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Meeting this past year, the discernment process task force was appointed by Bishop Smith, and is comprised of leadership from the Commission on Ministry, the diocesan Board of Examining Chaplains, the Episcopal School for Ministry. The group was tasked with working with the bishop to update and coordinate the discernment process in this diocese, that is to say, how does one discern a call to deeper ministry and how does the diocese support that discernment.

They started with the more global task of defining our common language about discernment and the theology of ministry in all orders (bishop, priest, deacon, lay) and the ministry of the church in the life of the world. The task force is creating materials for the local parish dis-cernment committee, and will present the simplified process and initial materials at the June Discernment Conference. The myriad forms required by Canons are also being checked and streamlined where possible. There are plans to create an introductory video for general use, as well as printed pamphlets with this material, to be first presented at November’s diocesan con-vention 2015.. Watch the web news and iSeek for ongoing updates. diocesemo.org/subscribe

You can read all of the Theology of Ministry at diocesemo.org/theologyofministry .

Our story, as community together, and in the world

In proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed, a priest helps the congregation under-stand its own story in terms of God’s saving acts in history. A priest helps a congrega-tion see God’s saving grace active in its com-mon life: in joy, in suffering, in welcoming new members into the Body, in care given to one another, and at the last, in commit-ment of its members into God’s hands (BCP 569). The priest also helps the congregation see God’s saving grace in its ministries to the world outside its doors, and in so doing, connects the congregation’s mission to the story of God’s grace in God’s people and in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Holy CommunionPresiding at the Eucharist, a priest

speaks on behalf of the whole Church as the Body of Christ, presenting the congrega-tion’s common life to God. The priest gives thanks to God for God’s saving acts, partic-ularly in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and invokes the Holy Spirit over the gifts and the people.

Through the praise and thanks of priest and people, God transforms gifts and people into the Body and Blood of Christ, which strengthen the congregation to offer itself for the life of the world.

Ministry togetherIn all this, priests work with the di-

ocese, gathered with the bishop, to help guide the whole Church in the reconciling ministry of Christ to the world.

The Ministry of a DeaconA Deacon's call

First, they serve as icons of service, constant reminders of the call to serve the needy, the dispossessed and the margin-alized. Second, they are to seek out the needs of the community and bring those to the Church, offering a prophetic voice on behalf of those is need. Third, deacons are called to discern the God-given gifts in their fellow Christians and to call each Christian to live into the mission given them by God.

Distinctive clerical vestments signify a holy trust placed on deacons by the larger community of faith: A diagonal stole signals hands ready to do God’s work. In the litur-gies of the Book of Common Prayer, we see deacons serving at the table, proclaiming the Gospel, offering up the Prayers of the People and sending the Church out into the world at the end of the service.

Belonging to the whole dioceseDeacons live under the authority of

their bishop, and are placed in congre-gations at the discretion of the bishop. However, deacons do not belong to congre-gations, and they may be called to operate

as agents of their bishops in service to the whole diocese.

All deacons are expected to assume positions of leadership in the diocese. In the Diocese of Missouri, the provisions of some diocesan bodies specifically call for repre-sentatives from the diaconate. All deacons in the diocese are accorded voice and vote at the annual diocesan convention.

Between the Church and the worldAs icons of servant ministry, deacons

serve a distinctive role in relation to the larger world. Deacons are, to use a modern idiom, an interface between the Church and the world. They live in the border between the sacred and the profane. With one hand, they pull the world into the Church; with the other, they pull the Church into the world.

Q. What is the ministry of a priest? A. The ministry of a priest is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as pastor to the people; to share with the bishop in the overseeing of the Church; to proclaim the Gospel; to administer the sacraments; and to bless and pardon in the name of God.

Q: What is the ministry of a deacon? A: The ministry of a deacon is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as a servant of those in need; and to assist bishops and priests in the proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments.

A Theology of Ministry: The Ministry of the Church

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What is a Deacon? You’ll find an abun-dance of misconceptions in the general public. Deacons of the Episcopal Church often find themselves explaining exactly what a deacon is. In some church denomi-nations, a deacon is not an ordained order, but an honorific title for lay church elders.

Simply put: a deacon in an apostolic succession church (such as our Episcopal Church) is an ordained order, set apart for ministry in the diocese, not to a particular parish.

How the Deacon fits in the churchDeacons serve under the bishop with a

dotted line relationship to the parish rector or priest-in-charge.

Many deacons are bivocational, and we have seen an increase in bivocational priests in this diocese as well. Bivocational means that the ordained person often holds a full time job outside of the church. It is important to understand that deacons (and some bivocational priests) are non-stipen-diary, which means that they are not paid by their congregation for ministry, unlike full time priests.

Within the liturgy, the deacon stands as a symbol of the servant Christ. We pro-claim the Gospel, we bid the prayers, we stand as Christ to proclaim the confession for the community, we prepare the table in order to make a holy space for the Eucha-rist to occur, and finally, we send forth the congregation to continue their ministry to the world.

The deacon’s life is not a job or a vestment we put on, it is a way of life.

We are set apart to specifically care for the poor, the sick and the friendless (from our ordination vows). Deacons serve in that threshold area, interpreting the needs of

the community to the church, and inter-preting the church to world. That mission is what defines our way of living, it is what frames our ministry. Our eyes are always open to how the church can fulfill God’s mission to the poor in our world. The di-aconate is simply our way of living, it is who we are.

A Deacon’s dutiesWithin the diocese of Missouri, there

is a common misconception of what a dea-con’s duties should entail.

The deacon in our church and diocese is called to be a leader, along with the priest, to teach and guide a congregation to live out the full mission of their baptismal cove-nant. Realize that as a leader of the con-gregation, meetings should be scheduled to accommodate the deacon’s bivocational schedule (i.e. do not schedule staff meetings or worship committee meetings during reg-ular business hours when the deacon would be scheduled to work their regular secular job). If your gatherings and meetings re-quire a deacon to use their vacation time to attend meetings for the congregation, that is an abuse of a deacon.

Deacons are not a super servant, taking on the responsibilities that the parish priest or lay persons do not feel comfortable or like to do. The deacon is to lead and make possible for lay persons to fully live into their baptismal covenant, equip-ping them to minister alongside the priest, to the church and to the surrounding com-munity.

The deacon is NOT to DO out-

reach for the congregation. That is some-thing that most congregations believe. They use the deacon as cheap labor (because they are not paid) to be the parish outreach pro-gram. Doing so negates the call to ministry for the baptized. It gives them an excuse to sit back and not do ministry. A task should not be assigned to the deacon because the congregation or priests do not want to do it.

I was approached by a congregation who wanted a deacon assigned to them. Before proceeding, I met with their leaders to find out why they wanted a deacon. The members of this parish wanted a deacon to do all pastoral care visits, to teach Sunday school, to serve at the liturgy, to preach and to work at and coordinate their outreach programs. I shared that I did not think expecting a deacon to perform all of those functions was realistic. A deacon’s role is to lead; the laity could do those ministries themselves. The outreach endeavors of a parish should be led and carried out by

How to care for, and get the best from your Deacon by Archdeacon Mark Sluss

(c)the Rev.Jay Sidebotham cpg.org/cartoons

Archdeacon Mark Sluss (r) and Bishop Smith at November’s ordination of six deacons

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the laity. The deacon can help with any assistance in scheduling, facilities, and gathering any resources that the church community needs to do the ministry, but should not DO the outreach for the congregation.

Eucharistic visitors could be trained by the deacon. Sunday school can and should be taught by the laity. And lay persons can lead some worship services and serve as acolytes and serv-ers in the Eucharist in order to assist the priest in worship. The Diocese has a lay preaching license that can be obtained so that the lay persons who are gifted at preaching can provide the homily to the congregation. These are the types of work that the deacon does to empower the laity to do these types of ministries.

To ensure that the priest and the vestries understand what the duties and expectations of the deacon are, we encourage, and the bishop expects, for all new deacons to work with their priest to create a letter of agreement. This would identify some of the expectations resulting from a relationship with a dea-con and the congregation, for example how much time is the deacon expected to spend working for the congregation (10 hours per week?), expectations in attending vestry meetings, how continu-ing education funds are used, funding of a discretionary account for the deacon, vacation and time off, reimbursement of fees for memberships, books, and periodicals, mileage reimbursement and registrations for diocesan retreats and convention. This way everyone under-stands what the deacon will do, so that unrealized, undefined expectations will not cause misunderstanding and ani-mosity.

Remembering these points of care respects and strengthens, both the deacon’s and the laity’s ministries for the local congregation, for the diocese, and for the church worldwide.

On May 6, participants from Church of the Ascension as well as clients to Ascen-sion’s Food Pantry completed an eight-week course called Eating Smart—Being Active taught by the University of Missouri’s Exten-sion’s Show Me Nutrition program.

This program is grant-supported and free of cost to participants. Those who com-plete six of the eight classes receive a certifi-cate of completion but, more than that, they will have been introduced to ways to live healthier especially when on a limited food budget. They have learned label reading, been introduced to new fruits and grains, and learned how to limit high fat, sugar and salt in a fun and interactive program.

The facilitator of the class, Eliza-beth Warner, prepared tasting samples of healthy foods and then gave copies of the recipes to each participant. The first week we had Cheesy Tex-Mex Bean Dip that had only 30 Calories per serving. The problem was that it was so delicious that we wanted to eat more than one twelfth of the recipe!

If you are interested in this program, call the MU Extension’s Show Me Nutrition line at 1-314-652-9111. If you are interested

Northwoods is Eating Smarter and Being More Active by Deb Goldfeder

in starting a garden, they can help you with that, too! They will teach new gardeners the ins and outs of gardening as well as soil testing and other services. They also have supplemental nutrition lessons specifically for pregnancy and for feeding babies and young children.

Show Me Simple and Healthy Recipe:Cheesy Tex-Mex Bean Dip

15-ounce can black beans, drained¾ cup salsa¼ cup onion, chopped1/8 teaspoon garlic powder¼ cup low-fat cheese, gratedBaked taco chops (optional)

1. Wash hands and surfaces2. Blend all ingredients except cheese in a blend-er or food processor, or mash with a fork. Pour into microwave-safe serving dish.3. Heat in a microwave oven at medium power for 2 to 3 minutes. If not warm, heat 1 to 2 min-utes more. Sprinkle cheese over top and cover. Let stand until cheese melts.4. Serve with baked taco chips.5. Refrigerate leftovers immediately.

Notes suggest rinsing the beans to remove some sodium and suggest serving with fresh vegetables or over a baked potato.

Instructor Elizabeth Warner and class participants

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When something is right, there is an internal settling—a calmness that washes over me. It’s that moment when you realize that you are exactly where you need to be and there is nothing more to be done. On Good Friday, in Christ Church Cathedral, those first few notes of Marquise Knox’s blues band’s first song, ‘Tears feel like rain,’ I was drenched by one of these settling waves. The Gothic cross lit, the paintings of victims of gun violence all around us, the pinnacle of the Lenten season, the walking with Jesus to his execution, the palpable pain of our community—these notes her-alding deep blues let me sink into this new liturgy that I desperately craved.

What it was I needed was to feel the things I’d been talking about, intellectu-alizing about, worrying about. Just feel. And soak it up, bask in an idea so many people crafted and cared for, and here it was, brought to fruition by God’s grace. The word I’ve yet to say is this: relief. You know when you haven’t cried in far too long and somehow things start to open up and you can feel that internal tide return and the tears do feel like rain— welcome, clouds broken, a shift in the atmosphere. On Good Friday, in our divided yet trying to mend city, when Christians and non-Christians of different races and denominations came to sit and sing and pray and lament at the foot of the cross together— what can you say but, “Thank you, Jesus.”

This year we wanted to do things a little differently. We partnered with Wash-ington Tabernacle Baptist Church to create a more liturgical take on the Good Friday Blues of years past. By prioritizing the building of relationship between a primari-ly white congregation and a primarily black congregation, we set as our center the hope

for something greater to grow than just this one evening. While I was sitting on the side, head nodding in time with the music, watching and experiencing the evening play out, what I marveled at was how God is in the relationships. Honestly, that’s some-thing that my mom has always said, but in this setting, I felt the vulnerability, the will-ingness to risk, the trust, and the miracle that God lets us breathe in when we choose

When Something is Right: Good Friday Bluesby Eliza Lynn

to try something together.At the core of our liturgy was a time

to write prayers of lament— the cries of our hearts—for our city, community and world. Chris McNeal, the amazing minister of music at Washington Tabernacle had chosen “They will know we are Christians by our Love” as the song to be sung between the prayers. I thought we’d get maybe 10 prayers, but it took three rounds of the chorus before all the prayers were collect-ed. Poignantly written and beautifully read, as I helped lead the singing, my heart overwhelmed me that here we were—being honest, saying hard things, crying words, lamenting together.

I want to tell you about every single part of the evening, about how I heard the Gospel, really heard it, when Shug Goodlow read it. Or how Dr. Leah Gunning Francis made me rethink everything in the light of the evening being the anniversary of Dr. King’s last speech before he was murdered. Or how Leroy Pierson’s “You Gotta Move” made me shiver. Or what it was like to hear Marquise play a blues version of Psalm 22. Or how welcoming Dean Mike Kinman

made everyone feel, how this was his vision come into being. But what I most want to tell you is that when the 10 choir members from Washington Tabernacle came up to end the night with “This Little Light of Mine,” the whole congregation slowly, halt-ingly at first, but then steadily came to their feet, clapping.

We pushed our own boundaries, reframing Good Friday in the lens of our streets, our neighbors, our loved ones cruci-fied. We tried something different this year. But God made it into something far more beautiful than we had hoped. God gave us one another, to cry with, to sing with, to pray with, to love.

We pushed our own boundaries, reframing Good Friday in the lens of our streets, our neighbors, our loved ones crucified. We tried something different this year. But God made it into something far more beautiful than we had hoped.

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Reaching for the Stars ConcertSaturday, June 13, 2015

An outdoor evening of music, danc-ing, food, and socializing to raise funds for Magdalene House and St. Timothy's Outreach. The Welcome Party starts at 6:00 p.m. and the outdoor concert will begin at 7:15 p.m. and end about 9:30 p.m. Music from Big Band to Beatles featuring the Gateway City Big Band, a 17-piece dance band with two vocalists

St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church is located at 808 North Mason Rd. in Creve Coeur 63141.

More information at St. Tim’s web-site: http://www.saint-tims.org/

Block 21, Lot 1327 - The Hawks FamilyThe Rt. Rev. Cicero Stephens Hawks

was elected the first bishop of the new Diocese of Missouri in 1844. In addition to his Episcopal duties, for the first 10 years, he was also rector of Christ Church until the Diocese was finally able to provide a separate salary for its bishop. During his episcopate he oversaw the founding of more than 28 congregations across the State of Missouri and led us through the devastating time of cholera epidemics and the turbu-lent years of the Civil War.

Block 68, Lot 570 - The Robertson FamilyThe Rt. Rev. Charles Franklin Rob-

ertson was the second Bishop of Missouri. He spent much of his time on the road (or rather, on a boat or on the train) and by the time of his death, there were more than 80 congregations across the Diocese which covered the whole State of Missouri. He was responsible for the establishment of the Parochial Trust Fund (today’s COEDMO) to hold title to church property. He brought the Sisters of the Good Shepherd to St. Lou-is to take charge of St. Luke’s Hospital, and All Saints’ Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri was established during his episcopate. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd established a school for girls that lasted more than 40 years and provided young women with a classical education. Also buried in this lot is his wife, Rebecca Duane Robertson. She single-handedly raised $30,000 to help pay off the debts of Christ Church in 1872 to save the building we know as the Cathedral today from foreclosure. She survived the Bishop by many years, and died in St. Louis in 1917.

Notable Episcopaliansat Bellefontaine Cemetery

Summer is a perfect time for a Episcopal history-lesson stroll through this famous St. Louis cemetery. We’ve included a few excerpts, find the whole walking tour online at diocesemo.org/notableepiscopalians.

Block 30, Lot 1432 & 2198 - Sister Cather-ine Minard and the Sisterhood of the Good Shepherd

In 1872, the Sisterhood of the Good Shepherd, and Sister Catherine Minard, their superior, were asked by Bishop Rob-ertson to come to Missouri from Baltimore to take over management of St. Luke’s Hos-pital and the Orphans Home. In 1874-1875, they opened School of the Good Shepherd for young women. In 1886, following the death of Bishop Robertson, the name of the School was changed to Bishop Robertson Hall. Sister Catherine (born St. Louis, Mis-souri 1837—died Jefferson, Kentucky 1917) was the only surviving daughter of the Rev. Peter Minard, the priest who came to Mis-souri with Bishop Kemper when he became Missionary Bishop in 1835.

Block 44, Lot 821 - Episcopal Home for Chil-dren

"St. John's Church Association for the Relief of orphans and destitute persons" was established on January 30, 1843, by the women of the congregation. It quickly broadened its support to include board members from all St. Louis Episcopal churches in this new venture for the care of abandoned children. There are 29 children buried in this lot at Bellefontaine. Many of these children were less than 1 year old and, while we don’t know why they were wards of the Orphans Home, we might assume that many were left by parents who were unable to care for sick children.

by Sue Rehkopf

Sue Rehkopf is the Archivist of the Diocese

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When you hear someone say “Camp Phoenix”… First off when I hear Camp Phoenix I automatically think FUN.

One aspect I love about camp is that the activities are very diverse. That way anyone who comes to camp will find something they enjoy. I have attended Camp Phoenix for 5 years and I have met some of the coolest and funniest people ever! The fact that we get to do so many different things at camp like archery, water mat, dock swim, horse-back riding, etc. gets me so excited when camp gets closer and closer each year.

—Abby Robertson, 1 month shy of 13 years old Attended Camp Phoenix 5 summers (2010-2014)

Camp Phoenix to me always was one of the best highlights of my childhood summers. I always longed to see the friends I have made over the years and to have an all-around great time with the amaz-ing variety of activities offered. I also enjoyed the religious aspect of Camp Phoenix because I was able to gain more knowledge about the Episcopal faith and what it really means to me. I love Camp Phoenix and all the staff that helps coordinate it every year to make sure we have as much fun as possible!

—Jack Robertson, 15 ½ years old Attended Camp Phoenix 8 summers (2007-2014)

And, isn’t that what camp is about?! For parents and older siblings not able to attend Camp Phoenix, again this year Leslie Scoopmire, postulant for Holy Orders and camp guitar hero (among other titles), will offer daily prayers and updates from camp on social media. Follow along on the camp event page on Facebook (facebook.com/episocpaldioceseofmissouri) or on Twitter @MoCampPhoenix.

Why Camp Phoenix?

• Camp Phoenix 2015 will be held Sunday, July 26 through Saturday August 1.

• Camp Phoenix is an overnight camp – seven days and six nights of fun and adventure!

• Camp takes place at the DuBois Center (2651 Quarry Rd., DuBois, IL), and campers age 8 to 15 participate in camp programs.

• You will stay in a cabin-group with approximately 6 other kids your same age.

• Make new friends, see old friends again, and try new things together like canoeing, horseback riding, ar-chery, campfires and all-camp games.

• Camp Phoenix is also a place where you can get to know God better; through daily reflection, spending time in nature, and by “seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself…”

• The fee for Camp Phoenix 2015 is $325 per camper, with a $25 discount for returning campers, and a $25 discount for families sending more than one child to camp.

• No child should miss camp due to financial need. Assistance through the Daniels Scholarship Fund is available. The scholarship application is available here.

• Final full payment of registration fees is due by July 1, 2015, and can be made gradually online.

• Register at www.camp-phoenix.org

Abigail Robertson (l.) and Brenda Butler (r.) at camp.

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“Churches often don’t realize how many kids they have.” Chris Slane, associate rector at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Ellisville explained there are more kids that are associated with churches than go on a regular basis.

“In seminary we talk about Sunday school and youth groups, but the church doesn’t always do a good job of program-ming for kids that are in elementary school,” said Slane. St. Martin’s found it had a number of children in the 7 to 11 age group. Rector Jon Hall said St. Martin’s

wanted to create something as a comple-ment to what they do on Sunday mornings, in formation and participating in worship. “It’s a very impressionable age.”

“What Chris has done with the 7-11 club is brilliant,” said Hall. Slane talked with kids and parents to find a good time-

The ground nuts must be shelled and then are lightly roasted in a round-bot-tom pan that is suspended over a fire by three rocks. This requires a woman to stir them frequently so all are roasted equally. In the late afternoon when the heat relents a bit, she pours all the roasted nuts to a large, partially hollowed-out log with the sesame seeds. This is a huge wooden mor-tar. She then takes a wooden pestle and be-gins to pound the nuts and seeds until she

is satisfied with it. The pestle is also carved out of a log possibly four or five

feet long with a wide end that fit into the log and a smaller diameter handle that she lifts above her head and then pounds over and over until the paste is made. It is very hard work and takes a lot of time.

Fortunately, the Companion Diocese Committee (CDC) has learned of small grinding mills for peanuts and sesame seeds that can be purchased at a very rea-sonable cost and, thanks to gifts given by

people in the Diocese of Missouri, we will be purchasing several of these mills to assist the women of Lui Diocese in making kyi’di for their families in a fraction of the time and effort previously required. As opposed to other grinding mills such as those that grind grains into flour, these mills are hand-cranked and have few, if any, parts to break.

Thanks to all who continue to support this mission of our diocese.

Women’s Work continued from last page

frame and schedule for the initial interest-ed group. Social media and word-of-mouth have helped to get the word out. Hall added, “In that age group, friends are important.”

At five months in, the participation is good. The last club meeting had around 25 children. Of the participants from St. Martin’s, some are from families who attend regularly, and some who came to church and heard about it so started attending a bit more regularly. One active club participant came to church mostly on holidays with her grandmother. In the past 5 months they’ve

begun attending more regularly, so much so that the 10 year old asked to and became a member of St. Martin’s Altar Guild.

They meet once a month, consistently on last Fridays. It’s an intentional interval, so it won’t become an over-commitment. They bring a faith element into each meet-

ing but it’s not curriculum based. Hall sees it as “foundation forming for the children, but not a pipeline to church membership.”

“We are engaging some older parish-ioners, ‘grandparents age’, to chaperone, so that parents can have a night out,” said Slane. “One of our mission goals is inter-generational ministry.” It’s also helped the adults at St. Martin’s know the kids they see running around on Sunday morning.

Other-than-Sunday represents a shift “we’ve been paying attention to,” said Hall. With families coming and going, with vary-ing attendance each Sunday, it’s an effort not to “put all our attention and hopes into Sunday morning.”

“The point of program is to build an entry way for people who are here and aren’t here yet,” said Slane. “So much of our work in the church is for creating a place for the people who aren’t here, it’s our mission, for people who haven’t yet entered our doors.”

Perhaps a third of the kids coming to 7-11 club are not from St. Martin’s, but they’d likely identify St. Martin’s as ‘their church.’ “That age group,” said Hall, “the seven to eleven year olds are some of our best evan-gelists. They always have been. We’re just trying to celebrate them.”

Every month the club has new partici-pants. “They certainly have the most energy out of anybody in the church,” noted Slane. “Why wouldn’t we want to share in that, in all that joy?”

St. Martin’s 7-11 Club

Deborah Goldfeder is Deacon at Church of the Ascension and a faith community nurse. She’s a member of the dioce-san Companion Diocese Committee and has traveled to Lui several times.

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For a day and a half I met with about sixty Episcopalians from Province V at the O’Hare Airport Sheridan just outside of Chicago. Each diocese was asked to send four individuals; one bishop, two laypeople, and one clergy member. Overall, it was an interesting and affirmative experience, but let’s get into the details.

What’s a Province?For over a century, the Episcopal

Church has been divided into provinces. Provinces are collections of dioceses. The Diocese of Missouri belongs to Province V, the Province of the Midwest. We’re the only state that has one diocese in one province and one diocese in another.

What do Provinces do?“Ay, there’s the rub.” Despite their long

histories, Provinces do not have missions that are clearly described in the Constitu-tion and Canons. One of our main orders of business was to approve a resolution for General Convention that would amend the canons to try to define the purpose of the provinces. Here’s the text of the resolution: “The primary purposes of the Provincial systems are to provide a structure which facilitates inter-diocesan collaboration to achieve Diocesan and Episcopal Church goals, and to enable more effective commu-nications and regional advocacy of signifi-cant programmatic efforts.” This establish-es collaboration and communication as the chief tasks of the provinces.

As one example of what that might look like, consider that each diocese isn’t likely to have a large number of college ministries. Through the province, individ-uals who work with college ministry could (and actually already do) gather regionally to share ideas and to support each other in their mutual challenges.

The provinces also have budgets that come from their dioceses. Most of the mon-ey in the budget is used to offer grants to creative initiatives within the province.So, what happened?

Several things stand out.The afternoon of the first day was de-

voted to a discussion of race issues in gener-al and Ferguson in particular. Our bishop, Wayne Smith, gave a heartfelt presentation about what has happened in our diocese since the death of Michael Brown last year. We were asked to engage in a structured discussion of race and of the role of the church in a racially-divided society.

I’ll admit to ambivalence about those discussions. Many of the ideas that we discussed felt like we were simply doubling down on the same strategies that have been tried for half a century and which haven’t made substantial progress in resolving deep-seated divisions.

One presentation that I found surpris-ingly interesting was when two seminary presidents (from Nashota House and Bex-ley-Seabury) spoke about their attempts to adapt to current challenges in theological education. They were open about the fact that the classic model of theological for-mation (three year of residential graduate school) has become financial suicide for as-piring clergy. Higher education and main-stream religion are both trying to adapt to a rapidly-changing world, and seminaries have to cope with both sets of changes at the same time.

I’m not in a position to make any pre-dictions for the future for either institution, but the presidents seemed to be willing to risk new models for theological education. They were both passionate about helping to create a theologically literate laity.

The highlight of gathering was a pre-sentation by Katharine Jefferts Schori, Pre-

siding Bishop of the church. As most of you probably know, she has been Presid-ing Bishop for nine years and has chosen not to run for re-election this summer in Salt Lake City. She arrived fresh from ap-pearances at Provinces I and II. Her talk was about living in a spirit of abundance, and she used the Five Marks of Mission as the framework for her speech. She then took questions from the assembled deputies.

The thing that surprised me most about her was just how positive and en-ergetic she was. Bishop Schori has been through nine difficult years in the center of powerful cultural and legal battles, and I wouldn’t have faulted her if she’d just “phoned it in.” Instead, she was deeply optimistic about the future of the Episcopal Church.

She said a number of things that I found intriguing. She said that she thinks it’s time for a new Book of Com-mon Prayer. The current BCP, she said, was “no longer new” but now “middle aged.” She was especially interested in the use of inclusive language in the next edition of the BCP.

She said that she thinks that the storms in the church over human sexual-ity have passed, and we can now focus of the actual mission of Christ’s Church.

In response to a question about the tragedy in Maryland involving Bishop Cook, she said that we should, if asked, tell people that we are not perfect, and that there were mistakes make by the diocese as well as by the bishop. The church, she reminded us, is a “hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”

She was asked, if she knew then what she does now, if she would still have accepted the position of Presiding Bish-op. She said that she would.

There were other discussions as well around such mundane matters as budget and bylaws. I count it as privilege, though, to have been asked to represent the Diocese of Missouri.

A Report from the Province V MeetingIn the run up to General Convention, deputation members from around the province meet. Missouri deputy Michael Booker attended and offers this perspective.

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At Diocesan Convention in 1946, Elizabeth Dyer was elected as lay deputy to represent the Diocese of Missouri at Gener-al Convention that fall. She presented her credentials to the Secretary of the House of Deputies, but when the house was called to order, question was raised about the mean-ing and interpretation of the word “lay-man.” The interpretation was made that the term meant both men and women, and Mrs. Dyer was seated with voice and vote, and served as chief of Missouri’s lay deputies.

In 1949, Missouri elected and sent Alice Cowdry to General Convention. Two other dioceses and one missionary district also sent women. This time, Convention chose to pass a resolution 321 to 242, that women were not eligible to serve. Bishop Scarlett and many others were angered and disappointed at the vote and with the discussion leading up to the vote.

The Diocese of Missouri, Women, and General Convention

On the second day of Convention, as a courtesy, the House of Deputies by resolu-tion offered the women seat with no voice or vote.

Instead, the women chose to send the following communication to the deputies, asking the Very Rev. Sidney Sweet of the Missouri delegation to present it.

“We, the three women who were elected members of the House of Deputies and who were refused seats at the opening session, thank the House for its permission, accorded to us yesterday, to be seated without voice or vote. But we regretfully wish to inform the House that we believe such action is irrele-vant to the main issue.We were elected by our Dioceses, not as women, but as Lay Deputies. We feel the real issue has not been met by this Convention. The question is not one of courtesy to wom-en, but that of the right of women to repre-

sent, in its councils, the Church which they are proud to serve. We, therefore, decline the courtesy offered to us.”Alice H. Cowdry, Diocese of MissouriElizabeth Davis Pittman, Diocese of NebraskaRuth Jenkins, Diocese of Olympia”

Dean Sweet moved that this statement be published in full in the Journal of the General Convention. The resolution was ad-opted and the statement was printed.

It would be 20 years before the House of Deputies would include women. In October 1970, the Diocese of Missouri elected Jane Black as deputy. Later that month when General Convention met, the final barrier was removed with approval of Section 4 or Article I of the Constitution, substituting “lay person” for layman, with the House of Bishops concurring. Mrs. Black and 28 other women were welcomed and seated with voice and vote in the House of Deputies of General Convention.

Learning Our History. Archivist Sue Rehkopf documents the roll this diocese played in women’s participation in General Convention

General Convention meets June 24 through July 3 in Salt Lake CityIn her Introduction to the 78th General

Convention, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori writes to bishops and dep-uties, “As you prepare for the 78th General Convention, I commend the cultivation of a divine vision of peace in your hearts, minds, deliberations, and actions. We will gather in Salt Lake City in June to consider the future of this Church, and to make decisions about how best to steer her in waters that are both hopeful and challenging. Like Jesus asleep in the boat in the midst of storm, trust that ultimately the love of God will prevail, what-ever wind and hail beset us. We convene to assess the gifts we have been given for this voyage, and to consider how best to employ them so that more of this world might know the peace that passes understanding. In the

months ahead, reflect on that boat at sea. How will you answer when the wind starts to whistle? Whose voice will you listen for? How will you engage those next to you in the boat — and those who are floating, or sinking, outside?”

“The legislative process at General Convention allows us to hear about, learn from, and consider what God is doing in many contexts and communities,” wrote President of the House of Deputies, Gay Jennings. This convention will also elect the next presiding bishop.

The pace of convention is stressful, with early morning meetings and hearings, daylong sessions, evening working time, which will all be held at 4,000+ ft. elevation.

This diocese sends our bishop, Canon

to the Ordinary Joe Chambers, Deputies Doris Westfall, St. Luke’s-Manchester inter-im rector; Tamsen Whistler, rector of Trin-ity-St. Charles; Archdeacon Mark Sluss; Pat Glenn, rector of Calvary-Louisiana; Kathryn Dyer, St. Timothy’s; Lisa Fox, Grace-Jeff City; Joseph Kloecker, St. Peter’s-Ladu; Mi-chael Booker, St. Francis’-Eureka.

Alternates are Daniel Appleyard, rec-tor of Emmanuel; Johnnette Shane, rector of Trinity-Kirksville; Michael Clark, Christ Church Cathedral; Adrienne Lemmons Dil-lon, All Saints’-St. Louis; Elizabeth Yount, St. Peter’s Ladue

The main information gateway to Mis-souri’s participation in General Convention is through the blog at:

MissouriDeputation.blogspot.com

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Trinity Church had an issue. The holly bush that had become a tree was no longer healthy and needed to be cut down. Tall as it was, flanking the building, it was hard to part with. Trinity member Carolyn Munch had an idea.

Carolyn visits her sister and brother-in-law in Poplar Bluff, and when she’s there attends Holy Cross Episcopal Church. So she knew HC member James Pinkerton and the crosses he had carved for Holy Cross; they line the sanctuary and are used as Sta-

tions of the Cross. When the

holly bush was cut down, Caro-lyn kept two logs, and took them to Poplar Bluff.

“We had no idea what we were getting into,” said Carolyn. She asked Jim if he would carve

a cross and he was thinking, sure, a small cross. Then she

arrived with the two logs.

A Holly cross for Trinity via Holy Cross in Poplar Bluff

“The logs were green,” said Jim, “and I had to dry them for two years. before they could be cut into planks” He noted, holly wood is not the easiest to carve.

Not new to the art, Jim has been carv-ing most of his life. “I just finished a walking cane today, and started on a cutting board for a competition up in Iowa next month.”

Another project he’s about to begin is a full sized carousel horse. He’s made small-er ones before, but this is the first one to scale. It’s a commissioned piece, he’s put a pre-planning book of about 40 pages to-gether and is ready to begin drawing. “I had to decide if I was going to make a replica or create a more original piece, and I’m lean-ing towards the original.” So in addition to other projects, he’s cleaning out the studio to have room for all the wood.

Photography is another passion. When digital cameras came out Jim left his dark room behind. You can find more of his work online at his account at fineartamerica.com.

He’s also photographed his carved crosses that now hang in Holy Cross and you can find the along with brief descrip-tions of the type of cross and patterns carved in at the Fine Art America site.

Years ago, when Trinity had to cut down a beloved tree, parishioners lamented not saving wood from the tree for some-thing. But this time around, there is an amazing cross.

“The holly wood is light and the cross is stunning,” said Carolyn. Trinity member Jim Pfaff had often incorporated clippings from the holly in the altar flowers. Now a piece of the holly lives on in the church.

“You must feed the child! Feed your child! Give her ground nut paste with hon-ey! Your child must eat!” Dr. Martin rarely minced words when ordering the mothers in South Sudan to feed the children who were malnourished as evidenced by their dust-col-ored hair, big bellies and pale skin. Peanuts (what they called ground nuts) were fairly common in Moru gardens and could be made

into a paste called kyi’di—peanut but-ter! Sometimes women added sesame seeds to the peanuts. When mixed with

epe—wild honey—it made a delicious high protein, high calorie food that could sustain children (and more than a few missioners) through tough times. But, getting peanut but-ter requires more than a walk to the market to buy some Skippy. Silky smooth peanut/sesame butter required a lot of work by Moru women. Once I watched it made, I appreciat-ed it all the more.

Women’s Work is Never Done by Deb Goldfeder

continued on page 21Esther making paste in Lui. More photos online.

Jim Pinkerton

6/2015 seek, voices from the episcopal diocese of missouri

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