Aiya Iluvatar

On being a minister of Democracy....

So I volunteered this Election to be a poll worker at our 27, 28 and 29th wards here in Waukesha, WI. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but had never gotten around to it. We had a good number of workers and were not understaffed as is common in elections. I was given the task of dealing with absentee ballots. Waukesha is one of only a few municipalities in Wisconsin that does not centralize the tallying of absentees. They are instead sent out to the wards to be verified, logged, and placed into the optical scanner. We had a folding table full of Absentee Ballots - probably about 400 or so that had to be taken to the poll books and logged in in the lulls between in-person voters. I was placing a batch into the scanner and had a feeling it took me a while to identify. Finally, I figured out that it felt similar to distributing Eucharist. (OK, back off orthodoxy police. This is a comparison of FEELING, not a theological statement.) Processing someone's absentee ballot is a sacred trust. The right to vote is our most basic right. You hold in your hands the hopes of a person for the future of their government and their trust is that you will handle it with the reverence and care. It also means that I put at least 200 ballots in the ballot box - a legal ballot stuffer! It was not what I would call "fun," but it was very satisfying.

David+

anglican, christianity, politics, religion, election

On Pilgrimage

I will be on Pilgrimage in Ireland for the next week or so, and will not have Internet access. I'll post when I return.

David+

New Call

A letter sent out to my parish a couple of weeks ago....

Dear Beloved People of God,

For nearly five years, I have started every letter and newsletter article with this salutation. It reflects two truths. First, that you are truly beloved by God, who desires each one of us more than we can ask or imagine. Secondly, that I have loved you as a priest and pastor - sometimes imperfectly, but always joyfully. I have felt that love returned many times over in word and action. The members of St. Johns have opened their hearts to Micky, Brendan, Brigid and I, and we are aware of how richly God has blessed us here. It is our mindfulness of this community of love and support that makes writing this letter so difficult.

The vestry of St. Matthias church in Waukesha, Wisconsin has extended a call to me to be their next rector and after much thought and prayer, I have decided to accept. My acceptance has nothing to do with deficiency on the part of St. John’s. Indeed, I was not actively looking for a position, but my name was submitted simultaneously by both a member of the congregation and by the Bishop of Milwaukee to their search committee. Since then, it has become apparent that my skill set and inclinations are a very close match to their needs as they face a very challenging time in the life of their parish. After discernment involving prayer and discussions with family and trusted mentors, I believe that I am being called by the Holy Spirit to this challenge.

My last Sunday at St. Johns will be December 30^th. We plan to move in early January and I will assume my new position in the middle of that month. In the meantime, your vestry will begin to form a search committee to find and call your next rector.

I can say without reservation that St. Johns has been the most unique and alive congregation I have ever been associated with. The solid liturgy, amazing outreach, and commitment to the stewardship of God’s creation (symbolized by the Memorial Garden) are all reflections of an outstanding family of Christians who take their baptismal covenant seriously and do not rely on a person in a collar to drive them forward. I am very aware of the fact that no other congregation I serve during my career may be so active. It has been my extraordinary pleasure to serve you, and I assure you that St. Johns will always serve me as a template for what a church with an empowered laity really can do.

Thank you for loving us. I will always keep St. Johns and her people in my prayers.

Yours in Christ,

David

Going on Retreat

I will be on retreat for the next week at the monasteries of the Order of Julian of Norwich in Wisconsin. Whether or not I have any spiritual insights, I should at least escape the heat!

David+

Towel Day Tomorrow

Technorati Tags: douglas adams, sci fi

Llewelyn House in Fall

Homely House of the West,

Securely nestled between the riven hills,
Your deep, rich silence enfolds me like the waves of Ulmo's waters.
It feels as if from an elder time, although newly-wrought.

The echoes of ancient rite are novel in sound to these elderly hills of Arda,
The Angelus bell curious in it's rounded, measured tones, but yet intimately familiar -
the veil already thinned by offerings of bread, wine and incense.
What echoes of Eru's theme do they hear?

The leaves of Fangorn turn golden,
Crisping the breeze with a gentle rustle,
They trust in the three interlocked rings and do not fear the yearly dying.
Their whisper carries amusement at hasty folk.

Soon I will leave, taking up again my own ancient-forged burden,
And turn not to The West but east.
But I must return some day,
For Elvish singing is not a thing to be missed in October under the stars.

David+

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Llewelyn house is a branch house of the Order of Julian of Norwich, a contemplative monastic order of the Episcopal Church of which I am an affiliate.

Technorati Tags: Angelus, anglican, Anglo-Catholic, christianity, episcopal, Julian of Norwich, monasticism, Order of Julian of Norwich, Poetry, religion, tolkien, Ulmo

Becoming a Cheese Head Monastic...

This next week I am heading up to the Order of Julian of Norwich in Wisconsin on retreat. Such retreats are important for clergy, as they feed us so that we may in turn feed the people of God. Many people are surprised to learn that the Episcopal Church has monastic orders. Indeed, Henry VIII abolished the monasteries and convents after nationalizing the Church of England. It was only with the renewal of interest in the catholicity of the church in the mid-1800s that monastic orders within the Anglican tradition began to be re-formed.

There are approximately 168 Anglican religious orders throughout the world, of which 38 have a presence in the United States. All of them share forms of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The Order of Julian of Norwich is unusual in that it is a “double order” containing both monks and nuns living in the same monasteries. The “Members Regular” (monks and nuns) take vows of complete poverty, celibacy, and obedience to the order. They wear traditional monastic vestments including a habit and wimples for the nuns. Their worship is from the 1979 BCP with particular additions and changes. All liturgy is in contemporary language.

OJN is a contemplative order, meaning that they consider their major work to be prayer for the world. A typical day includes at least four offices (Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline), the Holy Eucharist and additional seasonal services. The rest of their time is spent in silence excepting necessary communication. Much of their teaching and liturgy centers on the writings of Lady Julian of Norwich, a medieval mystic. She was one of Thomas Merton’s favorite writers, and much of my theology is based in her writings.

In addition to the “Members Regular” there are “Oblates” who take modified versions of the vows (A tithe rather than total poverty and chastity rather than celibacy) but live in the world. “Associates” round out the membership, made up of people who wish to be affiliates with the order but need more flexibility. I will be “installed” as an associate on the 5th. This three-fold system of membership is pretty typical for religious orders and makes for a diverse community of prayer and service centered in a cloistered, monastic heart. The advantage of a monastic community is that you know however un-prayerful your day may end up being, there is a community holding you up in prayer.

David+

Technorati Tags: anglican, Anglican religious orders, Anglo-Catholic, christianity, Church of England, episcopal, Henry VIII, Julian of Norwich, Lady Julian of Norwich, monasticism, religion, Thomas Merton

R.I.P. Yogi

We had to put our dog Yogi to sleep today. Yogi was a special guy - we got him from DARE (Dachshund Adoption, Rescue & Education). He was completely blind in one eye and had a detached retina in the other. His right front leg's bone density was shot from an earlier injury sometime in his life and he had some digestive problems. Every time we took him to the vet, we wondered if we would be bringing him back out. This time, we took him in because his back legs weren't working and he was dragging them around. The vet diagnosed it as a ruptured disk, meaning that his spinal cord was being pinched. He was not in pain, because the pain nerves were not carrying signals, but neither were the motor control nerves. He was trying to walk, but the signals weren't making it to the legs. In effect, total paralysis from the mid-back down. The only solution would be very risky surgery with an uncertain outcome. Considering how many other things were wrong with him, it just didn't make sense.

We only had him for about two years, but it was worth it. He was the sweetest dog - he always had a cheerful disposition and was extremely tolerant of the unintentional ill-treatment our toddler could dish out. He had been abandoned at the vet before DARE picked him up and was scheduled for euthanasia at the time. We gave him two years of comfortable living with a lot of love. I hope we made up for the neglect and abuse he suffered before we adopted him.

I consider dog rescue a ministry. Dogs are bred for traits that sometimes makes their long-term health chancy. (The vet once speculated that Yogi might have been a failed attempt at a double dapple due to some spots on his coat.) They are then sometimes discarded when the genetic wheel dosen't spin perfectly. I feel that organizations like DARE are making atonement for human abuse of God's creation, and I am proud to be part of it.

We will never be able to replace Yogi, but we will probably take on another adoption some time next year.

David+
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I Love Getting Things Done

I've been hunting for years for the right productivity method to work with my largely right-brained way of doing things. The one I spent the most time with was the Franklin-Covey method. Before I went to seminary, I had a ton of their stuff and had attended both their basic and their project planning training. I know Franklin Covey works well for a lot of people, but my experience is that it works best with those who already think in terms of rigid schedules and plans. I'm not one of those. FC only works if you follow their method exactly, and I simply lose interest after time.

I came across Getting Things Done on Nick Knisely's blog. What caught my eye first was that the method is very popular in the geek community, of which I am a proud member. If geeks like it, it must be adaptable. I ordered the book and flew through it in one night. The things that caught my eye:

1. Flexible - David Allen describes general practices and then gives examples of how people with different styles adopt these practices. It allows for the human differences we all have.
2. Platform agnostic - It does not require special "GTD branded" stuff. It can be used by a technophile or a luddite. You can use paper or electronic means or both. PDA or binder. There is software out there for every platform and some of it is open source. Other methods are web based. Some are based around e-mail clients. It's up to you.
3. It removes stress - the whole point is to set up a system that you can trust so that all information is captured, processed, and comes back when you need to know it, freeing your brain to work on the task at hand instead of worrying that you have forgotten something.
4. Fun - No "nose to the grindstone" philosophy here. If it's boring, you won't use it and it won't help you. He suggests buying an electronic labeler for your file folders not because you can't do it with a pen, but because it adds an element of fun.

The single best suggestion is the "tickler" file, which sounds a whole lot more kinky than it is. It's simply a series of 43 folders labeled for each month and 31 day folders in which you file things you want to look at later. Each day you open the days folder and put the contents in your "in" box. Ingenious and simple.

I have spent the last couple of weeks getting my workflow down. Here's what my setup looks like:

Capture devices:

Palm Tungsten T5 PDA - I use the Notepad function to scribble quick notes that I later process as part of my inbox. Maintains calendar, contact and to-do lists.
Notepad - I take a letter-sized notepad to meetings. Afterwards, the notes are torn off and put into my inbox for processing.
Inbox - Just a standard office box that all paper and snail mail goes into for processing.
Mail - Apple's mail.app customized with Mail Tags and Mail Act-On as described by Hawk Wing. I also use an Applescript to run an e-mail tickler file.

Processing:

Standard multi-color file folders - for my physical "tickler" file, project files, reference files and portable files. Multiple colors are more fun.
Brother PT-80 Personal Labeler - Keeps my files organized.
Omnigroup's Omnioutliner Pro with KGTD template - organizes my projects and to-do lists, integrates them with iCal and my Palm PDA.
Wenger briefcase - Keeps my traveling files organized and my laptop safe.

I will be perfecting this system for years, I would guess. But after two weeks, I find my stress level is down and my confidence that I am not "missing anything" has gone up. Everything is being captured and classified. I highly reccomend this system. If you don't like it all, there are probably elements that everyone can benefit from.

David+

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Further information:

"Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" (David Allen)

Blogs: 43 Folders, Lifehacker, Hawkwings

Technorati Tags: GTD, Productivity

I am an Anglican Moderate....

Nick Knisely over at Entangled States asked me to write something on the idea of the “Anglican Middle.”  I'd been thinking about this for a while - so here's my stab:

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I am an Anglican Moderate.

So what is an Anglican Moderate?  People from the “Edges” tend to use terms such as “Neither Hot nor Cold” or “Wish-Washy,” implying that a moderate is nothing more than a fence sitter, doing whatever is expedient at the time - taking the easy way.  I certainly don’t see myself that way and I certainly have a hard time understanding the conflict I find myself in as an easy way.

So what do I believe as an Anglican Moderate?

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. Etc. (See the Nicene Creed for the rest.)  I believe in the Creeds, I believe in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament as containing all things necessary to salvation.  I believe in the two great sacraments and the five sacramental rites.  I believe in the sign of the Historic Episcopate as locally adapted.  In short, I am orthodox in the traditional Anglican sense as suggested by the Lambeth Conference over a century ago.  I become angered when someone tries to add additional requirements and to hijack the term.

I believe in my own sinfulness – that I share in a state with all other human beings that is derived from our free will to choose to turn away from God.  I believe that I have sinned against God and my neighbor, that I am sinning, and that I will sin again.  I believe I must maintain a hermeneutic of humility since God is God and I am not.

I believe that our sins become enculturated in both society and in the institutional church.  I believe that I am a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, etc. because of the culture I was raised in.  I believe that I am blind to my privilege as a white, heterosexual male most of the time.  I am aware of the multitude of examples throughout Church History where the church has tacitly allowed, initiated, encouraged and sometimes institutionalized bigotry, prejudice and violence.

I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and saves us from our sin.  I believe, along with Julian or Norwich, that our forgiven sins become scars of honor to our Lord.  I believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is more powerful that our most treasured prejudice and has the power to reconcile the entire world.  I believe that neither the Gospel nor the church it nourishes are fragile constructions – they exist by divine fiat and can be hampered but not ultimately foiled by human choices.  All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

I believe in the holy catholic and apostolic church throughout the world.  I believe that she is both a human and a divine institution.  She has warts, but she is still the Bride of Christ.  After two thousand years, she survives still despite her prejudices and sometimes-horrific choices.  Jesus loves her still.

I believe in the Anglican Tradition – a tradition that holds worship to be our primary theology and other aspects to be secondary - a tradition formed more in the poetry of Herbert and Donne than in the theology of Aquinas or Luther.  I believe in a tradition that actively tries to encompass the greatest diversity possible within a single expansive tent - a tradition that honors reasoned discussion and consultation rather than heated rhetoric and political process.

I believe in the Episcopal Church, formed in the crucible of the American Revolution to become the most democratic province in worldwide Anglicanism.  I believe in our interdependence and our autonomy.  I believe we are called to proclaim both our vision of the church and to listen to the vision of others.  I believe we must repent of our American colonialist past and remember that this past colors all dialogue with post-colonial societies.

I believe I am terribly conflicted in this time in our church.  I believe the Internet’s hyperfast speed of communications which I both love and loathe, has a lot to do with the sense of urgency that people from both edges seem to feel about this issue.  I believe this sense of urgency is overstated in both cases and being used for political gain.  I believe that in 100 years, the current conflict will look as strange to Anglicans as the high church/low church fistfights on the floor of General Convention of the 1800s look to us. 

I believe the important question is not actually the end, but the means.  God can work with any end – that has been proven time and time again.  We are not in control of the ultimate end.  What we are in control of is the means.  When we disagree, do we honestly love one another, or do we demonize them?  When people look at us, do they know we are Christians by our love, or do they simply see us as another junior league fighting over who gets to host the tea party?

I believe it is important for everyone to stick to his or her convictions.  I believe it is important for the “left” to continue to advocate for their view of justice.  I believe it is important for the “right” to continue to hold up the historic witness of the church.  I believe the point is not to simply quell dissention.  I believe that the loss of either voice is to the detriment of the church.

I believe the “middle” is made up of people with views sympathetic to both “left” and “right” but that many of the beliefs that I have outline above hold us together in a way that is stronger than our political affiliation.  I believe the task of the Anglican Moderate is to insist to both the “left” and the “right” that we always remember that we are Christians and Anglicans first, and that the things that unite us (Our faith in the Holy Trinity voiced through Scripture, Creed, Sacraments and Episcopate) are greater than the things that divide us.   In the body of Christ, the torso isn’t an exciting part, but it keeps the arms and legs from going off in different directions. 

I believe it is our charism as Anglican Moderates to turn to our brothers and sisters on the edges, love them, listen to them, and make our way forward after careful deliberation and measured debate.  It is our duty to take the goods that each edge offers and hold them in tension for the benefit of the church catholic so that treasures both old and new can be brought out in God’s time, not ours.

I am an Anglican Moderate.  If that makes me a “Fence Sitter,” so be it.

David+