Tag Archives: anglican

“The Irish Poet” attends Synod

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Last night was the opening evening of this years synod for the Diocese of BC. I hadn’t intended to go to any of it except the registration time to staff a PWRDF information table, but I ended up going to the opening Eucharist. It was the usual collection of priests, deacons, bishops, and bunch of random lay-keeners… and the Irish Poet.

The Cathedral is a downtown church. We’re not as downtown as the churches that are right beside Our Place, but downtown we are. The south lawn of the Cathedral is a great place to hang out with shopping carts and buggies full of belongings and on cold days like the last few, people living on the street will come inside the church whenever it is open.

Last night was no exception. Mid-way through the service, a bent man in a long jacket carrying a bulky bag over his shoulder, long stringy hair falling in front of his face, walked in and sat down in one of the last pews in a side chapel. The words of the bishop chanting the liturgy were punctuated by loud words and curses from the man who had walked in. I sensed one of the priests sitting a the back head out to speak with a verger who came in to keep an eye on the situation and I hoped that would be all that was needed. I work with this population every day… can’t I have a church service to myself?

As he continued to speak, one of the deacons went over to sit and talk with him. I tried to focus on the words the bishop was saying… “You who sat with outcasts and sinners…” A chuckle escaped me. The irony. The timing. Am I supposed to have a different response than just sitting here and receiving from this service? I just want a break from working with folks like him. I don’t want to do this right now, God.  Can’t someone else just deal with this? But no one else really wants to “deal with this” – it is uncomfortable and a little scary. But there were the words of the liturgy… Do we actually get what we are supposed to be and do with the outcasts of our society?

Then it was time to go up for communion. I knelt, elbow to elbow with others – not outcasts – and received the bread and wine. As I walked back to my seat, the deacon who had been sitting with the man at the back of the church got up to take her turn for communion. So I walked over, “Can I sit here?” “Sure, I don’t care. You’re beautiful.” Yeah, how is that for an opener. I sat, we talked. He had an Irish accent and I think I recognized him as the one we call “The Irish Poet” at work. He ranted on about church and religion and how it is all full of bullshit. I agreed, after all, so much of the tradition and trappings associated with church really does seem like a load of bullshit. We talked some more. About smoking, the pope, Beethoven, and various other things.

Then he got agitated and got up, so I walked outside with him. Standing on the front steps, I was shivering in just my sweater, but he didn’t seem to notice the cold. We talked more. Then, just as quickly, the conversation was over. He said he had to pee and was going to pee on the church. I suggested he head around to the side of the building so he wouldn’t be in plain view and he said he didn’t care. “Well, it was nice to talk with you. Have a good evening.” No acknowledgement as he walked away.

Still shivering, I went back inside just as the recessional hymn was ending and all the priests in their fancy robes were congregating at the back of the church, oblivious to the conversations that had been going on out of their line of sight. Despite our best attempts at “reaching out” to the broader community we find ourselves in, I felt a strange disconnect in that 10 step walk from the front steps with the Poet to the back of the nave with the procession. How do we bridge that gap?

50 Leaders

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On the off chance that some young-ish Anglicans find themselves reading this occasionally, you should apply to 50 Leaders.

All of the people in this video are awesome and, as of about 5 weeks ago, are good friends.

Placemats and Genocide

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When I tell people that I am on PWRDF’s Youth Council, the first predictable response is “What is PW… something?”. After explaining it as the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, the relief, development, and social justice arm of the Anglican Church of Canada (pwrdf.org), the next question usually asks about monkeys.

All joking aside, I am delighted to be a part of the Youth Council because I believe strongly in the work that PWRDF does and want every Canadian Anglican (or really just every Canadian) to know about it and understand the importance of their and their church’s support.

My first awareness of PWRDF has a very specific start-date: I can still picture the placemat. I grew up in a parish in the Diocese of Ontario. Our parish had (still has?) a wonderful tradition of Wednesday morning Lenten services followed by breakfast together in the parish hall. In my memory, there were a good number of people who would attend before heading off to work – my parents faithfully went every week, bringing their two young children. At breakfast, each long table was set with PWRDF placemats. I remember sitting at the table, looking at the pictures and being captivated by the images portrayed. However, what stands out to me even more than the images on the placemats is the memory of a church lady standing before everyone with one of the placemats and exhorting us to Stop! and Pay Attention! to the images and messages contained on the placemats and then Do Something! about it.

You see, this was the season of Lent 1994, a time in which the tensions in Rwanda were at the boiling point. We, through PWRDF and other organizations, were being urged to take a stand and write letters to our government to urge them to support actions to help prevent a genocide. I didn’t fully understand the gravity of the situation being described until years later, upon reading accounts of the events and putting 2 + 2 together. However for me, PWRDF placemats will always be a reminder of a call to action, of a call to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God.

Furthermore…

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I’m in Vancouver for a series of meetings this weekend. I am the new BC/Yukon representative for the Primates World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) – the international development and social justice arm of the Anglican Church of Canada. I’m looking forward to finding out more about what that will entail and getting involved in some of these important issues!

Further to that, I have received an electronic reply to my letter to the Prime Minister. It just said my letter had been received. I have sent it off by post as well. The enthusiastic and encouraging response I received here and on Facebook was unexpected and really quite lovely! Thank you for your kind words.

Change

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After a day of listening and learning, sharing and discussing change and church and all the variations found therein, I came back to St David of Wales tonight to take part in the for the Eucharist for Haiti. In the minutes leading up to the service, I found some wifi and checked in on the happenings of school and facebook friends, and then began to read through some of the blogs on my rss feed. Mike, who I’ve now met in person at the Brian McLaren conference a of couple weeks ago though I’ve followed his blog for about a year, had posted this today. I was immediately struck by its application to our setting and the discussions that had been going on and are continuing to go on throughout the conference here.

“Incremental change is usually limited in scope and is often reversible. If the change does not work out, we can always return to the old way. Incremental change usually does not disrupt our past patterns–it is an extension of the past. Most important, during incremental change, we feel we are in control…

Deep change differs from incremental change in that it requires new ways of thinking and behaving. It is change that is major in scope, discontinuous with the past, and generally irreversible. The deep change effort distorts existing patterns of action and involves taking risks. Deep change means surrendering control.”

Robert E. Quinn, Deep Change (p. 3)

That being said, something one of the people who shared yesterday, Dwight Friesen (lectures at Mars Hill Divinity School in Seattle) also grabbed me: “People don’t fear change, we love change! People fear loss.”

Either way, the consensus seems to be that we need to take risks. Try something new – sometimes it will work, sometimes it won’t. Either way, you won’t know until you’ve tried.

Friday Photo

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Vespers

Yesterday was the opening afternoon/evening of Episcopal Village West in Portland. There are 5 of us from Canada down here, 4 from Victoria and 1 from Vancouver. It has been interesting to hear from our brothers and sisters in the US about what they are experiencing and to see the similarities and differences in our situations. We have a lot to learn from and share with each other.
Follow the conversation here.

Things that Make Me Happy

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  • New music from the public library
  • Being able to wake up without the alarm clock
  • Dinner with [new] friends
  • Productive meetings for exciting things
  • Taking a break and resting in God’s presence
  • Quiet reflection and peaceful moments
  • Wind and rain to remind me of God’s power in creation
  • New toys to play with
  • A clean bathroom
  • Life calming down (for now)
  • Finally getting permission to take 2 courses at once this summer meaning I’ll be done all my course work before I go to Myanmar in November
  • A fantastic new dress
  • Possible trip in June

Image Rehab

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We have two “Christian Book Stores” in Victoria. Or at least two that I am aware of. One is a small storefront downtown and largely serves the Catholic population and, to some extent, the Anglicans. The other is a large store out near the biggest mall in town and is one of those all-encompassing book, music, card, magazine, random Christian paraphernalia stores. One is used by just the Catholics and some Anglicans, the other is visited by nearly every other Christian in town.

Today, I was at the latter. In preparation for the previously mentioned very exciting upcoming conference, I’d ordered in a book that I’d like to do a study on at church. My reasoning is that it is a good idea for the congregation to have some exposure to an author/speaker before he does a conference we expect them to attend. I ended up (luck of the draw? or divine intervention?) being helped at the cash by the owner of the store. As he was ringing up my purchase I mentioned that Brian McLaren was coming to Victoria and would he be willing to put up a poster at the store for us when they are made and we begin promotions. The conversation that followed convinced me of one thing: Anglicans need to do some serious image-management.

“So, Brian McLaren’s going to be coming to town in the spring to do a conference. Once I’ve got a poster made up, would you be willing to put one up here at the store?” I asked.

He replied, “Brian McLaren’s coming? Who’s hosting it?”

“Christ Church Cathedral”

“Christ Chu… What?” Shock. Disbelief. Confusion. All were fairly evident in facial expression and tone of voice.

I tried to clarify, but how much clearer could I be? There is only one Christ Church Cathedral in town. “Christ Church Cathedral. Downtown. The Anglican Cathedral…”

“But, who’s hosting it? I mean, who’s putting the event on? Who’s bringing him in?” He still doesn’t understand.

“The adult education committee at the Cathedral is hosting and has invited him.” That’s right – still Christ Church Cathedral… I’m not changing my answer any time soon here.

“Is anyone coming with him?” Yes, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Would that make it easier to understand that Brian is coming to an Anglican church?

“Yes, Steve Bell will be doing the music for the conference and a concert at the Cathedral on the Saturday night.”

Now we’re on more familiar ground: “Oh, Steve Bell! He didn’t come this year – he normally comes every year. Good. Sure, you can hang a poster. Do you need a book table at the conference? Because we can provide that. And help with promotions.”

Phewf.

Why is it so hard to imagine an Anglican church bringing in an emergent church thinker/speaker/writer? Can we not be on the forefront of re-imagining how we do church? Is that sort of thing limited to a specific denomination or group of the Christian church? I don’t think so. It is unfortunate that certain parts of it have the reputation of being traditional or unchanging. Certainly aspects are. But aspects of all institutions are fairly unchanging – the Anglican church is not alone amongst churches in that regard. There are exciting things happening in the global Anglican church as well as locally in our diocese. I was at a meeting this evening discussing the starting of some of these things. Perhaps an inter-denominational, ecumenical conference hosted at the Cathedral will be a way of opening ourselves up to the wider community and shattering some of those images.