Time for a shout-out to some blogging friends ...

It is time for me to give a shout-out to some of my blogging friends. I read all their posts and think you should check them out!

It's Better Left Said
Written by one of the brightest guys from my hometown, he's bright, funny, insightful, and fun to read - whether you agree or not. Check it out HERE


yearns&groans
Will writes from the Bay Area, where he is a priest at Grace Cathedral, and has recently taken on some other roles in the dynamic diocese of California. He is courageous, joyful, and dedicated to peace with justice. Check out yearns&groans HERE.


Scribere Orare Est
Jared writes from the perspective as an Episcopal priest working at Christ Church in Alexandria, VA. He is a great writer, and has a keen theological mind. He is a great fan of Archbishop Michael Ramsey (who I also love) and he has a book upcoming about Archbishop Ramsey's Ecclesiology. Check out his posts HERE, and also consider ordering his book when it comes out.


PoetProph
Kathy writes this blog along with writing and teaching poetry as well as ascetical theology. She is a great writer and a great soul. I have learned much from her and am so glad that she blogs HERE at PoetProph, and also occasionally at the Daily Episcopalian. She also has a new book coming out which I have already pre-ordered: Waving Back: Poems of Mothering Life, is available now for pre-order at the website of Finishing Line Press.


Creedal Christian
Bryan blogs over at Creedal Christian and he has some keen reflections on the goings on of the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church. I learn much from him and appreciate his criticism of some of the "sacred cows" of our current Episcopal Church. While readers may not agree with everything he writes, they will go away knowing more than when they sat down to surf blogland. Check it out HERE.


Where the Wind
Adam is blogging at Where the Wind. He is a bright young man who is serving as an Episcopal priest in West Virginia. He's a good writer and I have appreciated his thoughts. He has recently joined the team of writers at the Episcopal Cafe. I also noticed tonight that he is making a foray into video blogging which should be good! Check out his blog HERE.

A disciple-making Church, by Kathleen Henderson Staudt

Kathleen Henderson Staudt on discipleship over at the Episcopal Cafe...this is a MUST READ ESSAY!!

I've posted just a bit of her essay below, but I highly recommend it. She is an apt observer of our church, and is a deep thinking who is passionate about the future (and present) of our church.

~Rev. Peter M. Carey

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A disciple-making Church?

By Kathleen Henderson Staudt

Over the altar at Virginia Seminary, where I teach, are the words from Mark 16:15. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” (“proclaim the good news to the whole creation” is how the New Revised Standard Version has it.) These words have inspired generations of people called to the ordained ministry of word and sacrament. But as one of the people called to the ministry of teaching in and beyond the church, I find myself drawn, this ascensiontide, to Matthew’s version of the Great Commission, and I wonder what the church would look like if we spent more time reflecting on what Jesus might have meant here. In Matthew 28: 19-20, he says “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

. . . . and . . . .


. . . the idea of discipleship gets to the heart of who Jesus is or wants to be for us. It moves us beyond worrying about the shape of institutions and back to a focus on the mission that Jesus has promised to support, if we try to follow him: “I am with you always, to the close of the age.” What would the Church look like if we thought of “disciple-making” as our core purpose, in adult formation programs, in seminary education, in worship?


. . . read the rest HERE



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The Call to Discipleship, Dr. Kathy Staudt

One of my mentors, Dr. Kathleen Henderson Staudt, has a wonderful piece posted a few days ago over at the Episcopal Cafe about the Call to Discipleship and discernment and trying to figure out what we're supposed to be and do in our lives. I think the questions she poses about vocation and its relation to "making a living" and "ordained ministry" are very helpful, and the route she takes through some possible approaches is really helpful and leaves me wanting more (she does say she will be posting more on these subjects - which is great!)

If you've ever wondered "what you should do when you grow up," you should check out her post (excerpt below, the rest HERE at the Episcopal Cafe)....

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The Call to Discipleship

By Kathleen Henderson Staudt

I have been trying to create ways to talk about vocation WITHOUT moving immediately to questions about “how am I supposed to make my living,” and especially without moving immediately to the question: “Is God calling me to the ordained ministry?”

It is almost impossible to disentangle these questions these days in our culture, where identity and worth are so tied to our role in the consumer economy, let alone in the Church, where vocation and discernment so strongly tied in people’s minds to questions about ordained ministry. But I insist on disentangling them. I believe it is essential for us as a church to be focusing, not so much on roles and résumés as on the original call of each of us to “follow” Jesus , to practice ever more faithful and intentional discipleship....

Read the rest HERE.

Conversation in Christian Community

A friend and mentor of mine, Kathleen Henderson Staudt, has written a fine entry on the Episcopal Cafe blog about conversation in a Christian Community, based on Guidelines that Bishop Mark Dyer laid out at VTS back in December. The guidelines are helpful and offer some good reminders for those of us who work to live in community and conversation, though not always in agreement.

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By Kathleen Henderson Staudt

Shortly before Christmas I attended a forum at Virginia Theological Seminary led by Bishop Mark Dyer. His purpose was to lay out some groundwork for truly faithful and Christ-centered conversations in a community where we do not all agree on matters of theology and Biblical interpretation. Bishop Mark speaks with deep spiritual and theological authority, as an author of the Windsor report, a veteran of ecumenical dialogue with the Orthodox churches, dialogue that is bearing new fruit. He also speaks out of his experience of 15 years as a Benedictine monk, living in community with people who, as he says “may not agree with each other but have to live together.”

In his introductory remarks, Bishop Mark spoke of the problem of “issue possession” in the Church: our tendency to let one issue take hold of us and shut everything else out, as if we were possessed by a demon. Do not be driven by “issue possession,” he urged, but be “possessed by Christ.”

...Here is a distillation of the “basic assumptions for conversation in Christian community” that Bishop Mark laid out for us:

1. Assume that “My partner takes the Bible as seriously as I do.” That is part of who we are as Christians: we are grounded in Scripture. Do not mistake differences in interpretation for differences in desire to be faithful to Scripture.

2. Listen with a Christlike heart. Be guided by 1 Corinthians1, where Paul urges Christlike conversations between schismatic bodies.

3. Be radically honest on what you believe and why you believe it, and let the other do the same. Bishop Mark pointed out that in Ecumenical conversations the point is not to be “nice” but to be truthful. That is the best way to acknowledge our ultimate common ground in Christ. He quoted Orthodox theologian John Zizoulas, a longtime friend partner in ecumenical conversation, who insists that our unity is grounded in our love for one another, in the church of the Triune God.

4. While you are listening, also pray for the person who is speaking: pray for discernment. Be open to the possibility that maybe they are correct.

5. Practice forgiveness and reconciliation as a habit. Think about and discuss how we forgive and find reconciliation with one another.

6. Should the other attribute to you evil intentions, take a deep breath and pray. Who is setting the agenda? Do not let them be your environment. Reach down, find the Christ within you, and only then, speak.

7. Practice daily intercession, as part of a group that meets regularly for conversation and prayer. Covenant to pray for one another daily.

8. Be guided by the Benedictines, who know that they do not agree with each other AND that they have to live together.

Frame the issue you are discussing as clearly as you can, and let everyone say where their heart is on the question, BEFORE any discussion begins. The Benedictine practice is to begin with the youngest and go to the oldest monk. Every monk must say something, even if it is “I have no opinion.” (It seemed to me, listening to Bishop Mark describe this process, that this is similar to a process some know as “appreciative inquiry” or the practice of “clearness committees” in Quaker discernment practice). The key is that there is no dialogue until everyone has spoken.

This kind of approach to conversation feels threatening to those of us who like to “manage” conflict and keep things under control, but it also reflects what is most deeply counter-cultural about the Gospel: that our ultimate identity is baptismal, rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, and that we’re called to live this out, in a way that will witness to our call to radical reconciliation and wholeness. It is counter-cultural but it is real. I am grateful to Bishop Mark for challenging the seminary community to live in this way, and hope what he said may also be a witness and a challenge for the rest of us in the Church.

Dr. Kathleen Henderson Staudt works as a teacher, poet, spiritual director and retreat leader, and teaches courses in literature and theology at Virginia Theological Seminary and the University of Maryland, College Park. She is the author of two books: At the Turn of a Civilisation: David Jones and Modern Poetics and Annunciations: Poems out of Scripture. Her blog is at poetproph.blogspot.com.