30 August 1992 ~ Sermon by the Rev. Canon Bruce Jenneker at Washington National Cathedral ~ Commissioning of the CVSC

Have you heard about the Episcopal Service Corps?

You should check out these programs for young adults, in their 20s (and sometimes 30s)...the website: http://www.episcopalservicecorps.org/ and here is the Facebook page for the Episcopal Service Corps: https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44485742871&ref=ts

In my opinion, there should be several in every diocese of the Episcopal Church!

Below are images from and old school brochure of the program that I was a part of back in the early 90s.  And below them is an article I wrote about my experience in the Cathedral Volunteer Service Community,  founded back in 1984.

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Hope amidst the mess

By Peter Carey

In the midst of Episcopal Church news that includes court decisions in Virginia, inhibition of bishops, and disagreements in many congregations one might be forgiven for thinking that our church is rapidly swirling down the toilet bowl.
News Flash: It ain’t!

We don’t have too look far to see the bright spots in our church. Check out the growing network of Episcopal Internship Communities across the United States. For several decades, churches and dioceses have sponsored small groups (4-8) of young adults (18-30 years old or so) who live in community and each member works at a social service agency. There are slightly different guidelines and practices between these groups, but together they are sending thoughtful, prayerful, and dedicated young people into the Church and the world.

In 1992-1993, I had the good luck to join a community that was administered by the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. At the time, the “Cathedral Volunteer Service Community” was made up of six young adults from around the country. We hailed from Texas, North Carolina, Connecticut, Ohio and Vermont and came to the community from a variety of religious and political perspectives. We were lucky enough to have as our leader and mentor the Rev. Carole Crumley, who was then a canon of the National Cathedral (and is now a leader at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation). The CVSC was grounded in a Rule of Life that had echoes of Benedictine Spirituality. We pledged to live in intentional Christian Community, praying together daily, sharing in the work of the household, meeting once a week for theological reflection with Canon Crumley, and also pledged to live a life of simplicity. In this case, simplicity meant (in part) that we each only received $100 a month for food (which we pooled to shop for the six of us) and $100 for other expenses. That was simple living!

We were challenged to feed and entertain six people on $600 a month. We were also challenged find ways to build community across our various theological and political differences, and it was not always easy. To top it off, five of us were first-born children in our family of origin! (We had some strong personalities to manage.) Outside of our house, I had the great fortune of spending a year working at the Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington (SMGW) where I offered employment counseling to those who were homeless or at risk of being homeless. Really, I didn’t know anything about finding work (as I never really had a job before!), but I encountered people who were decidedly different than me, and while I don’t know how much help I gave, I certainly learned a great deal.
The six people in my community followed a variety of paths after leaving the community. One became a priest within a few years after our program, two others became teachers, another worked in business and then decided to follow his heart and now does work with cancer patients, another does peace and justice advocacy with another denomination.

While the Cathedral Volunteer Service Community is no longer in existence, there are several other Episcopal Internship Communities that are thriving and growing. Trinity Episcopal Church in DC now offers a program in our nation’s capital. The Rev. Jason Cox, who is a friend of mine from seminary, administers the program in the Diocese of Los Angeles (Episcopal Urban Internship Program). There are several other communities which are offering young people a way to practice their faith by working for those in need, living in intentional community, and integrating this work and community-living into their theological views and spiritual practices. This is good news indeed! It also counters the long-standing assumption that people in their twenties and thirties will leave the church and will return only when they decide to have a family.

Some Episcopal Internship Communities are sponsored by parishes, others by groups of parishes, and others by dioceses. Not only are these wonderful opportunities for young people, they are also tangible signs that our church is doing good things in the world, and that the work is connected to our belief in Jesus Christ, our hope in the Resurrection and our call to live lives of hope and compassion.

As a new priest, I am often asked: “Does the church have anything to say to the world?” It certainly does! One of the best ways to “say something to the world” is to show the world what we’re doing. These programs say that our church is engaged with the world and is developing dedicated disciples.

Can we do more? Certainly.

Can we encourage even more of these programs to develop? Absolutely.
Is our church about more than legal battles, inhibitions, schism, and disagreements? You bet!

Check out the Episcopal Internship Communities at The Episcopal Church’s website in the section on “Domestic Internships.” There is also Facebook group “I was a member of an Episcopal Internship Community,” as well – check them out!

VTS Welcomes Rev. Two Bulls as Leader in Residence

Rev. Robert Two Bulls is a "leader in residence" at VTS for the next two weeks. I have met him a couple of times and he is a wonderful priest and leader in our church. In addition, he and his wife were members of the Cathedral Volunteer Service Community a few years before I was. The CVSC was the Internship Community about which I wrote an article for The Episcopal Cafe recently. I am glad that VTS has asked Rev. Two Bulls to campus, and I am sure that those who take the time to meet him will learn from him.

VTS Welcomes Rev. Two Bulls as Leader in Residence

4.18.08

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Susan Shillinglaw
Tel: 703-461-1764
Email: sshillinglaw@vts.edu

ALEXANDRIA, VA - Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) welcomes to campus today the Rev. Robert W. Two Bulls as a 2008 Leader in Residence fellow. Two Bulls, an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Oyate and resident of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, currently serves as Vicar of All Saints Indian Mission and Director of Indian Work for the Diocese of Minnesota.

After receiving his M.Div. in 2000 from General Theological Seminary, Two Bulls served as the curate—then Assistant Rector following ordination in 2001—at The Episcopal Church of St. George in Los Angeles, California. In addition to his work at St. George’s, Two Bulls was named the Missioner for Native Americans in the Diocese of Los Angeles, home to the largest urban Native American Indian population in the United States. In 2003, Two Bulls accepted a call to join the staff of the Rt. Rev. Jon Bruno, bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles, to begin a full-time ministry as the Program Officer for Native American Ministries.

Two Bulls has served on numerous local, diocesan and national committees within the Episcopal Church and currently sits on the boards of the Executive Council Committee for Indigenous Ministries, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, the Episcopal Evangelical Society and The Phelps Stokes Foundation. He is also the founder of The Red Shirt Project which promotes cross cultural relationships and understanding between different communities in the Christian context. For the past seven summers, Two Bulls has led journeys with young adults to the Pine Ridge Reservation and is planning an eighth visit this summer.

In addition to being an artist, avid reader and music lover, Two Bulls is married to Ritchie Robertson and has two children, a son (11) and a daughter (8). He will be on campus for the next two weeks.

The Leader in Residence Program is a two-week fellowship offered to clergy and lay leaders of color who reside in the United States and are involved in active ministry. The purpose of the fellowship is to provide a leader, who may not otherwise have an opportunity for a sabbatical or time away from his or her ministries, with a time for rest and reflection.

The Leader in Residence program is made possible through the Racial and Ethnic Diversity Initiative and a grant from the Carpenter Foundation. Virginia Theological Seminary will offer two, two-week fellowships in 2008. For more information, contact the Rev. Joseph M. Constant, director of Ethnic Ministries and Community Life, at (703) 461-1765 or by email at jconstant@vts.edu.

Virginia Theological Seminary, founded in 1823, is the largest of the 11 accredited seminaries of the Episcopal Church. The school prepares men and women, representing all eight of the domestic provinces of the Episcopal Church, as well as students from several different provinces and countries within the Anglican Communion, for service in the Church, both as ordained and lay ministers, and offers a number of professional degree programs and diplomas.

Hope amidst the mess - Episcopal Cafe Article

The Daily Episcopalian, at The Episcopal Cafe,has posted my most recent article today, check out the entire article HERE.

By Peter Carey

In the midst of Episcopal Church news that includes court decisions in Virginia, inhibition of bishops, and disagreements in many congregations one might be forgiven for thinking that our church is rapidly swirling down the toilet bowl.

News Flash: It ain’t!

We don’t have too look far to see the bright spots in our church. Check out the growing network of Episcopal Internship Communities across the United States. For several decades, churches and dioceses have sponsored small groups (4-8) of young adults (18-30 years old or so) who live in community and each member works at a social service agency. There are slightly different guidelines and practices between these groups, but together they are sending thoughtful, prayerful, and dedicated young people into the Church and the world.

In 1992-1993, I had the good luck to join a community that was administered by the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. At the time, the “Cathedral Volunteer Service Community” was made up of six young adults from around the country. We hailed from Texas, North Carolina, Connecticut, Ohio and Vermont and came to the community from a variety of religious and political perspectives. We were lucky enough to have as our leader and mentor the Rev. Carole Crumley, who was then a canon of the National Cathedral (and is now a leader at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation). The CVSC was grounded in a Rule of Life that had echoes of Benedictine Spirituality. We pledged to live in intentional Christian Community, praying together daily, sharing in the work of the household, meeting once a week for theological reflection with Canon Crumley, and also pledged to live a life of simplicity. In this case, simplicity meant (in part) that we each only received $100 a month for food (which we pooled
to shop for the six of us) and $100 for other expenses. That was simple living!

We were challenged to feed and entertain six people on $600 a month. We were also challenged find ways to build community across our various theological and political differences, and it was not always easy...


Read the rest HERE.

Cathedral Volunteer Service Community Rule of Life - 1992-1993

Washington National Cathedral
Cathedral Volunteer Service Community (CVSC)
Rule of Life
1992-1993

Christian experience confirms these areas as helpful guideposts to those living in community and on a spiritual journey: intimacy, equality, authority, prayer, solitude, play, study, stability, and hospitality.

1. INTIMACY
Because this household is a primary source of friendship and nurturing for each member, time must be given so that quality sharing may take place.

Rule: Morning or Evening meals eaten together daily at regular and mutually agreed upon times.

2. EQUALITY
Within community life there is work of all times: the work of worship, the manual labor of the household, the work of study, and the work in the world. Before God, all persons are of equal status. At the same time, each person has different gifts.

Rule: Full sharing of responsibilities in:

1. leadership of corporate prayer times and worship
2. household chores and yard maintenance
3. planning and preparing meals
4. managing the household budget

We encourage discerning and honoring the special gifts that each person may bring to a particular area of work.

3. AUTHORITY

There is a healthy tension in being a person of authority and a person under authority. Community living involves both. Scripture puts the use of authority within the realm of service and humility (Luke 22: 25-27).

Rule:

1. corporate community meetings once a week for decisions about household standards, responsibilities and needs
2. a calling on and yielding to the authority of the Program director in situations as appropriate
3. Individual decisions that effect the life of the community be brought to the community for discussion

4. PRAYER
In order not to be torn to bits and pieces by the demands of daily life and work, some kind of reliable daily ritual is necessary if one is to grow in prayer and live in peace.

Rule:

1. honoring the natural daily rhythms of morning, noon, evening and night as occasions for corporate and private prayer
2. participating in the worship life of a church congregation.
3. lifting up special events for ritual and prayer, these may be times of celebration or sorrow, personal or communal

5. SOLITUDE
Times to pray, to be by oneself, to rest from the continual expectations and demands of work and community are a necessary balance in a busy life.

Rule: Regular periods of solitude interspersed in the daily and weekly activities of life, sought out and honored by all members of the community

6. PLAY
Integral to a balanced life is play and recreation.

Rule: the community and its individual members intend to find resources for play, time to play and ways to play

7. STUDY
Both the community household and the workplace are arenas for searching for God. Both are vehicles for expanding human awareness and knowledge and therefore schools of study and of learning this year.

Rule: A weekly reflection seminar under the guidance of the Program Director, will take place. Suggested foci:

1. sessions led by volunteers presenting a critical incident from their work experience
2. sessions led by outside resource persons on concerns related to our common humanity
3. sessions offering guided spiritual practices
4. sessions decided by consensus of household members on books, movies, events, etc. of common interest

8. STABILITY
Community life offers a particular place as well as a particular set of relationships within that place in which salvation (wholeness) is to be found and worked out. The particular place, and the relationships among the particular members of the household are the stable elements of the community. For these reasons, we expect all members of the household to enter into the life of the community as fully and honestly as possible, to respect the neighborhood standards in which they live.

9. HOSPITALITY
There is a delicate balance between the ongoing rhythms, routines and rituals of a household and the change that occurs when guests are received – be that guests for dinner or guests who stay overnight. Courtesy to other members of the household suggests that invitations to others be discussed and planned for as much as possible in advance.

CVSC ~ Washington National Cathedral ~ August 1992-August 1993