tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66593008089490040772024-02-20T04:47:02.072-05:00Episcopal Office of Armed Services and Federal MinistriesNews from the Bishop SuffraganThe Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-15184452122721519502014-10-26T07:56:00.002-04:002014-10-26T07:56:24.889-04:00Episcopal Visit to Ferlong Federal Correctional Institution and Camp Pendleton
Today, Saturday the 25th of October, I am on my way back to D.C. after a couple of very productive visits with our Episcopal chaplains who are serving in the Armed Forces and Federal Ministries. Early in the week I conducted my first visit with Chaplain Chris Waweru at the Federal Correctional Institution Herlong in Herlong, CA. After a number of years as an Army chaplain (active service), Chris transitioned to become a Bureau of Prisons chaplain. The nearest airport to FCI Herlong is the Reno-Tahoe airport from which is about a one-hour drive away. FCI Herlong is a relatively new medium security prison for males that currently houses about 1600 residents. After a warm welcome form Warden Rafael Zuniga and his Executive Assistant Chris Ulrich, I was taken on a 1 1/2 hour tour of the facility. Perhaps most impressive to me was the fact of Chris' connectivity with both staff and inmates. In little over three months she has adapted to this environment and has found her niche in the unique role in the BOP as both a chaplain and a corrections officer, normal for all BOP chaplains. Later in the day we celebrated Eucharist with Confirmation in the prison chapel. With over 75 residents in attendance, we confirmed two men and renewed the Baptismal vows of all. After a full day with Chris and the staff I drove back to Reno to get organized for a next morning flight to San Diego.
The day following my arrival in San Diego early in the morning I got back on the road driving north up to Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base to spend the day with Chaplain Hal Carter. Hal is in his first tour of active duty as a Navy chaplain and serves as a battalion chaplain with Marines. Prior to this Hal had been the Assistant to Rector at the Church of the Advent, Spartanburg, SC. Hal and I spent most of the day walking the vast area where his Marines, all members of a Combat Engineering Battalion, did their work. As with Chris, Hal knew his people, and his people knew him. The professional transformation from being a parish priest to becoming a Navy chaplain with Marines is, to say the least, significant and demanding. Yet, Hal is making this transition in grand style. After a noonday cookout with all the 1st Marine Division chaplains and Religious Program Specialists, we concluded our visit with Hal's battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Colin Smith, USMC. From both Hal and LtCol Smith I learned how difficult it has been for this battalion, which recently returned from a deployment in Afghanistan, to adjust to the necessary routines of garrison life after being involved in such day-in-day-out taskings as clearing explosive ordinance from the roads Marines and their vehicles would travel. Hal's commanding officer quite honestly and lucidly made me aware of how easy it would be for him to become overcome by the administrative demands of garrison life inside the headquarters building and fail to do the important work of being in the shops and field with his Marines. That is a great lesson for commanders and chaplains alike.
Since both of these splendid chaplains were in the midst of an initial assignment with their respective organizations, I am clearly aware that this is a not-to-be-missed opportunity for learning. Knowing that the primary focus of my ministry is to aid the chaplains of this episcopacy in their pursuit of success, during the 4+ years I have been engaged in this ministry I have learned that it is of utmost importance for the bishop to show up and be physically present with the chaplain within the first six months after having reported aboard for the first assignment. As was borne out in each of these visits, the chaplain and the bishop can accomplish much in a relatively limited period of time. For example, though I am aware that Chris and Hal were very well prepared for their respective positions, no amount of classroom preparation could fully prepare them for the rigorous demands and expectations of the actual ministry environment in which they serve. Such ministry environments make up an excellent cauldron for learning and sharpening skills. I try to always be aware of how fortunate I am to be able to be with you as you learn and sharpen.
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-80742201644782218152014-09-23T07:03:00.000-04:002014-09-23T07:03:01.802-04:00Far East Daily Blog #10September 22, 2014
On this final day of our Fall 2014 House of Bishops meeting, we began our day with Holy Eucharist. Though normally have been moving beyond our worship to describe the other events of the day, today I would like to comment upon the sermon preached by one of our HoB chaplains, The Rev. Canon Simon Batista. His text was the Luke (9:1-6) story which we generally know as the first or "limited" commission of the disciples. In a powerful and musing ( at times amusing) way Simon enthralled us with his description of what it meant for the disciples to be called out by Jesus to leave home to pursue the mission that Jesus gave them. What I heard Simon say to me was that Jesus calls me to be with you whether you are in Yokosuka, Japan; Anchorage, Alaska; Rammstein, Germany; Herlong, California; or Durham, North Carolina. The mission Jesus has given me is to leave home, pack light and go be with you, wherever you may be. Some of you have told me that it is so good that I will go to this extent to be with you. Let me be clear that though I appreciate these words of support, God has supplanted any air travel fatigue I may encounter with his marvelous grace and joy. I do love to be with you and to hear your stories of ministry and mission challenges. Most of you know that my greatest task is to make you as successful as possible.
Then we moved into our "town hall" meeting. This is a setting in which each member of the HoB has the opportunity to share any small items of interest. Our topics of conversation included: a Haiti update, engagement with the Ebola crisis in Africa, the 2015 General Convention in Salt Lake City, a review of our Church Pension Group fund investments, Diocese of Missouri involvement with the Ferguson crisis, personal messages of thanks for personal and pastoral support, Bishops United Against Gun Violence, and immigration problems for people of color entering Great Britain for religious work. Our reality is that the bishops of TEC are involved in mission within an incredibly vast expanse of settings. Then we heard from Bishop Stacy Sauls, Chief Operations Officer of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, about the work of DFMS.
The last event of the morning was our business session. At this session we discussed various and sundry salient changes that are pertinent to the members of the HoB and to TEC at large. Finally we received three resolutions that would express the mind of the HoB. Two of the three were approved: a resolution that supported the Archbishop of Hong Kong during a time of political and social transition, and the other in support and commendation of our Presiding Bishop, the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori. Finally, we accepted the resignation of Bishop Jim Curry, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Connecticut.
This will be my last blog entry in this series. Tonight we will have a closing community dinner at which we will hail new members of the HoB and give our farewells to those who are departing for either retirement of other venues. Then tomorrow most of us will go to the airport to either fly back to our homes or to engage in pre-arranged travel to some other locations in Asia. As you know, on the way to Taipei, Taiwan Carolyn and I stopped over in Japan for 7th Fleet command visit with Cam and Paulette Fish. Hence, we will be traveling back to the states - a trip that will take almost 20 hours of air travel.
We have had a special time in Taipei. Not only have we learned about the culture and how the Christian faith is being shared, we met many, many wonderful people. At the end of the day, these experiences of meeting people are the events that stay with us. We have been blessed!
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-78613740629115762332014-09-23T07:00:00.002-04:002014-09-23T07:00:56.241-04:00Far East Daily Blog #9September 22, 2014
Today we continued our discussions of the theological context of what it means to be Christian in the countries, provinces and dioceses in the Far East.
Our first context speaker was the Rt. Rev. Nathaniel Uematsu of The Anglican Church in Japan, or Nippon-Sei ko kai (or NSKK), Diocese of Tohoku. The Christian population in Japan is <1%. Japan was closed to Christian missionaries until 1863. Bishop Nathaniel told of the experience of going into the homes of parishioners and finding Christian symbols alongside a statue of Buddha. A major part of their recent ecclesiastical history has to do with the post-WWII era when the country experienced democratization, demilitarization and the demise of emperor worship. In the midst of this opportunity the NSKK began to grow and evolve. One of their first tasks was to affirm NSKK responsibilities for their country's actions during WWII and, the initiation of both their confession to God and an apology to the people of Asia and the Pacific. Today the NSKK struggles to have a significant cadre of educated priests to lead the congregations. Additionally, the NSKK continues to discern its role to pursue peace and reconciliation. To many in this body, the US military presence in Japan is troublesome.
Next we heard from the Rt. Rev. Paul Kim of the Anglican Church of Korea. Like the NSKK, the period following WWII was a time of intense expansion. The Korean Peninsula has been divided for over 60 years. This great divide has been very painful to not only the families on both sides of the 38th Parallel division of North and South Korea, but also has been painful to the Christian church. The possibility of war has an overwhelmingly powerful ever-present reality in the two Koreas. The people of the church are committed to the transformation of Korea and know that the road to peace must be traveled in the absence of force and in the presence of peace-making forgiveness and reconciliation.
Our final Episcopal primate was the Most Rev. Edward Malecdan of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. The ECP, founded through mission of PECUSA/TEC in 1901 through the action of the General Convention of that year in Los Angeles. At that it became a missionary diocese of PECUSA/TEC. Only since 1991 has the ECP begun to become independent from TEC. The year 1991 was a important year for ECP when it began to develop its own mission strategies and priorities as it experienced economic independence. According to Bishop Ed, many of the Filipinos did not want to cut this dependency tie. Finally, in 2005 they completely severed the economic umbilical cord when they decided that such would be necessary if ever they were to assume full self-responsibility for their mission. Even though their population is the 4th poorest in the hemisphere, this entity of the Christian church is beginning to develop and grow. Economic indicators reveal that the Filipino economy is experiencing the fastest growth in all of S.E. Asia. Against this background of independence and growth, they know that they must deal with the overwhelming abject poverty, ecological disasters, and war with radical Muslims and Communist insurgents.
The remainder of the day was devoted to three particular foci: the Task Force to Reimagine the Episcopal Church (TREC), the Task Force for the Study of Marriage and the election of our next presiding bishop. Let me say a few words about each one of these important topics.
TREC has been put together in response to a resolution of the General Convention of 2012 with a task to reimagine TEC: both how it is structured and how it does its work. Four of our bishops have worked very hard on this project and are nearing the finish line which is the place at which they will prepare resolutions to be presented to the General Convention of 2015 that meets in Salt Lake City next summer. For a fuller look at their work go to http://reimaginetec.org.
The Task Force for the Study of Marriage, also put together in response to the General Convention 2012, has been engaged in the study of Christian marriage from every possible perspective. After the study was presented we were asked to discuss their preliminary work at our small table groups. To be quite honest, I do not spend a great deal of my time focused upon marriage. Like most of you, I have performed my share of marriages. Like most of you, I have gone through with the pre-marital work and for time to time wondered if the couple whose relationship I was about to bless would even be living in the same state or even country one year hence; so much for my belief in the fidelity of enduring love. However, most of my table-mates and I surprised ourselves when we came down solidly to say at least two particular things about marriage. The first was that work we do with couples is an evangelical opportunity when we may nearly have the undivided of both parties. We out to exploit that opportunity. In addition we said that we believe in marriage. That is, we believe that marriage is a good thing in that it brings two people into the most intimate of relationships, which, when engaged in for the right reasons, can be a solid building block for the larger social community and certainly of the Christian community.
The final presentation was from the Presiding Bishop Nomination Committee. Next summer at the General Convention we will elect a new Presiding Bishop. Our much beloved Katharine Jefferts Schori will have served 9 full years as our PB, the canonical limit of time any bishop can serve as our primate. Currently nominations are actively being sought. On the 31st of October the nominations will close. Then at the spring House of Bishops meeting at Kanuga Conference Center, Hendersonville, NC the slate will be announced. There is not a great deal more than can be said about the process right now. Between the end of October and the next House of Bishops meeting, all of the vetting and interviews will have to take place in order to determine who will be on the final list. Stand by.
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-75187852446388807462014-09-22T09:31:00.002-04:002014-09-22T09:36:02.437-04:00Far East Daily Blog #9September 21, 2014
On this Lord's Day, the bishops and spouses had the opportunity to go to any of three different congregations. Carolyn and I chose to attend worship at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Taipei. This congregation is led by the Rev. Lily Chang, parish rector, and consists of Chinese, Taiwanese and English speaking people. The service, interestingly enough, is in all three languages. How, you might ask? Believe it or not it is very possible to do this through saying parts of the service in any of the languages, but rarely all three. The preacher was the Rt. Rev. Richard Chang, resigned (from the Diocese of Hawaii) and retired. Bishop Chang's sermon was one of the longer parts of the service because each time he spoke several sentences in English, a woman from the choir translated his words in to Chinese (Mandarin). After the service we had a delightful congregational meal that had been prepared by the women of the church.
Regarding the mission of Good Shepherd Church, the the leaders are very clear that their primary reason for existence is to make Christians, not Anglicans or Episcopalians. The denominational affiliation is always secondary to the task of discipleship. We learned this during a Q&A session with the Rev. Ms. Chang. It was both refreshing and comforting to hear this, especially when I know that most of the priests who serve in the Armed Forces and Federal Ministries episcopate are also dedicated to the primary task of making disciples of Christ.
After returning to the Grand Hotel, bishops and spouses spent an hour or so in conversational small groups discussing our Taipei and greater Taiwan trip highlights. Interestingly enough one of the most common themes was appreciation the missional goal of making Christians in this overwhelmingly non-Christian population. Thinking about this, as I read the prognostications of futurist social scientists, someday this could the state of the USA. If so, rather than fear that possibility, we might want to think in terms of embrace. The church in Taiwan may be an example for us. Every indication is that the Taiwanese Church here is both healthy and growing. In fact, there may be something to be said in favor of being in the minority. Some of us believe that the early church in Palestine was its healthiest when it was a distinct minority.
The last event of the evening was something that happens at every House of Bishops meeting, a "fireside chat" with the Presiding Bishop. Though these conversations are always permanently embargoed, I hasten to say that invariably this this conversation one of the highlights of the entire meeting. Once again, as a bishop of the church, I have to be present in order to participate.
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-14973013912295197632014-09-21T10:33:00.000-04:002014-09-21T10:33:09.141-04:00Far East Daily Blog #8September 20, 2014
The majority of this day was devoted to the experience of the sights and sounds of the Taiwanese culture. One again the bishops and spouses were divided into several groups and went to different destinations. Carolyn and I went with the group that went to the Yilan National Center for Traditional Arts. After a 1 1/2 hour bus ride we experienced such things as historic and contemporary music and dance. During the performance interludes we were able to spend time with native Taiwan artists whose creative skills ranged from the design of jewelry and clothing to making musical instruments. As has been the case in any number of our outing the visit concluded with a meal consisting of a wide variety of Chinese foods.
In the evening after we returned to the hotel we attended an instructional tea service ceremony that was conducted by Bishop David Lai. Though perhaps we thought we knew something about tea and the service of same, we were quickly disabused of that notion. For over two hours we learned about the selection and care of tea pots, varieties of Chinese tea, how to make the tea and then how it is to be served. Finally we got to taste a number of different tea varieties. As persons whose initial basic concept of tea was that it comes in a small white bag and has the word "Lipton" affixed to a tab of paper at the end of a short string, we were in for a great surprise. While some of the tea was strong enough to put the tea-drinker at the position of "attention," still other types were exceedingly smooth.
At the completion of the day Carolyn and I were musing upon how a person can learn a new culture, which was what Taiwan was to us. One of our conclusions was that a central part of culture learning is to partake of the local food and to take note of the customs of how the food is to be served. Having eaten food all over Asia, I thought the process to learn their food would be very simple. In fact, we have had to learn a whole new way to eat, be served and serve others.
In addition to musing on the Taiwanese variety of Chinese food, I spent time thinking about the basic kindness of the people of the country. In particular, I began to think about the kindness of the Christian people we encountered each day. To put their hospitality into perspective, I believe these Taiwanese people know that as a minority group comprising only 3-5% of the overall population, these Christians know that their ability to effectively bear witness to the love of God in Christ will be enabled through initial acts of graceful kindness. Now that is something that we would do well to learn!
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-606802981917273602014-09-20T12:36:00.002-04:002014-09-20T12:36:30.180-04:00Far East Daily Blog #7September 19, 2014
After an opening Eucharist, our focus for the day began to unfold: the theological context of Taiwan,Hong Kong and Pakistan - three geographical locations of prominent Anglican/Episcopal Church presence in the Far East. By the way, the Eucharist began with the singing of "Eternal Father" which mightily inspired me!
TAIWAN
The Rt. Rev. Peter Lai, Bishop of Taiwan began with a presentation of the history and ministry of the Diocese of Taiwan. The Diocese began in the late 1950s as a ministry to US military personnel and members of their families. I can only imagine that this involved a cooperative relationship between military chaplains and on-the-ground missionaries. Representatives of the Episcopal Church (then the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America) were the initiators of this missionary effort. Understandably, today, the leaders of TEC continue to experience and live out our connections with the Diocese of Taiwan as a province of our church. However, the first actual diocesan synod was not held until 1969. The first bishop was James L. Wang, who was appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and then ratified by this initial diocesan synod. Those of you who are reading the daily entries of this blog series will know that yesterday I named Bishop Wang as the founding influence for St. John's University in Taipei.
Upon reflection, it is obvious to me that the Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan was born out of the background of the political, social and religious tension that came to fruition in mainland China during the first two decades after the completion of World War II. When Christian people came from Shanghai to Taiwan, their Christian faith was reborn in the Diocese of Taiwan. Though very little has been said about this background tension, it is an inescapable part of their history.
Bishop David told us that Christianity is a minority religion in Taiwan that exists alongside the majority lunar-based ancestor-worship religious traditions (i.e. Buddhism and Taoism). Describing how Christians live alongside the other religions of Taiwan, Bishop David said, "I always tell my church members that they should not keep silence in the face of the lunar-based religions - otherwise you will appear to agree with them. Don't argue, but tell the story of the Lord Jesus... Also, you have to know your faith if you are going to share your faith."
HONG KONG
Next we heard from the Rev. Peter Koon and Mr. Gareth Jones. The Rev. Mr. Koon is a member of the staff for the Archbishop of Hong Kong. He described for us the current political struggles between a group of Protestant Christian community organizers and the government of the Peoples Republic of China. The Christian organizers have been engaged in street protests that are much akin to the "Occupy Movement " that we have seen in the U.S. and some other countries. The Hong Kong Anglican Church and the Archbishop seemingly are in a very delicate position wherein they enjoy the benefits of being allowed to live out their Christian Faith, at the same time they are aware that there may be some political changes that need to be made in Hong Kong.
Mr. Jones, who is associated with the Anglican theological college in Hong Kong, spoke about their processes of formation for aspiring priests. My major conclusion from his presentation was their recognition that the spiritual formation of aspirants is every bit as important as their academic preparation. Currently, they are - as are most graduate theological schools in the U.S. - attempting to find the correct balance.
PAKISTAN
Finally, we were inspired by an old friend of this episcopacy, the Rt. Rev. Samuel Azariah, Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church of Pakistan. Though I easily I could devote several pages to what Bishop Sam said to us, there are two points that stand out to me. The first is that in the midst of their minority context (a population that is 98.5% Muslim and 1.5% Christian) they are trying to live out their lives as faithful Christians who and at the same time find ways to be respectful of moderate Muslims. The bishop said that the hope of the church is young people, improving our relationships with Muslim people, but only in the context of relationships as equal sisters and brothers.
Bishop Sam's second point of interest was that he wanted to develop a new paradigm of how they understand the gospel so as to expand their apostolic witness. Perhaps this idea was best stated when he said, "Our apostolic witness should not have denominational and geographical limitations." This last point had quite an impact upon me, and in the plenary discussion I initiated a question about how he understood this concept. In short his explanation described to me a near perfect analogy between his status as a minority Christian and the context of all the federal chaplains I serve. The common point is that the apostolic mission can only be achieved when we tear down our denominational and faith community barriers and boundaries. That which separates us will be the inhibitor for all when it comes to the achievement of the apostolic mission of Gospel proclamation.
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-79632964142655698542014-09-19T08:16:00.000-04:002014-09-19T08:16:09.658-04:00Far East Daily Blog #6September 18, 2014
Today members of the HoB and their spouses were divided into four different groups to go on field-trip excursions to visit important functional entities of the Diocese of Taiwan. The group to which Carolyn and I were assigned boarded a bus this morning to make the 45 minute trek to St. John's University in Taipei.
Let me tell you something about St. John's University. Founded in Mainland China in 1879 in Shanghai, development of the university was spearheaded by American Bishop Samuel Issac Joseph Schereshewsky who had arrived there in 1845. With colleges in the humanities, engineering, and medicine, the institution constantly grew to the point of being a major influence in Shanghai. However, with the revolution that began after WWII in 1949 the new government leaders were less than sympathetic to its founding faith-based principles. Consequently St. John’s was closed in 1952 and combined with another existing institution. During the next decade some of the staff and faculty moved to Taipei, Taiwan and envisioned a new start for the school in the Republic of China. Through the support and inspiration of Bishop James Wang, the first full fledged bishop of the Diocese of Taiwan, blueprints were drawn up, and construction was begun. With Bishop Wang’s encouragement TEC became financially involved. In 1970, just subsequent to Bishop Wang’s death, the University was reopened in Taipei. Ultimately accredited by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the University has produced graduates who have brought significant prominence to the institution. Not only do their graduates include a president of the Republic of China, but also world renown architect I.M. Pei.
Last night when Republic of China President Ma Ying-jeou spoke to us he stated that one of his four major strategic goals was economic and technological development. It was obvious to all of us that St. John’s University is producing graduates who can and will help him to achieve that goal.
Now thinking about what we experienced today at St. John’s it occurred to me that though this university was founded by forward-thinking leaders of the Diocese of Taiwan and TEC, over 50 years later what should be the role of the church in the education of people at this school? I believe that this question is every bit as applicable for academies in the United States as it is min the Far East. Should we be using the university as a place to form young women and men into mature Christian adults, and if so, how can we do that? Though St. John’s University has a beautiful chapel at the very center of its campus and a full-time Episcopal priest/chaplain, all of the religious formation and instruction is optional. Short of thinking that I know more about young adult ministry than the staff, faculty, and chaplain of St. John’s, is there a better way to accomplish these goals?
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-25361835732060699382014-09-18T07:01:00.002-04:002014-09-18T07:01:55.674-04:00Far East Daily Blog #5September 17, 2014
Today was the "official" first day of the House of Bishops meeting in Taipei, Taiwan. As is our usual custom, we began with the opening Eucharist at which at which Presiding Bishop Katharine (Jefferts Schori) was the celebrant and preacher. Since this was the feast of Hildegard of Bingen, Abbess and Mystic (1179), Bishop Katharine's sermon was based upon the historic place of women in the church as they have increasingly been placed in positions of leadership. A central part of her message was that it was not always easy, but that women of fortitude such as Hildegard were the forerunners of those who lead today.
After a photo shoot to take pictures of the bishops and spouses, and lunch, the bishops engaged in their first executive session to check in with one another. Let me describe a bit of how this is done. Every three years the bishops at the General Convention the bishops are assigned to table groups of 8-9 bishops. The bishop will stay in his/her table group for the next three years. For all purposes, this is our small group, reference group and extended family. Today in this our extended family we spent time updating one another on the professional and personal events of our lives. While certainly each six-months at these semi-annual meetings I hear stories of successes and achievements, additionally I hear expressions of heart felt statements of family needs. It is humbling, just humbling.
Reflecting upon the table group, I have been asking myself a central question: Why would I, as a member of the House of Bishops, want to travel through 13 time zones and half the way around to the globe to be at this meeting? I can think of several reasons not to attend. Had I not attended this meeting my annual budget would have not been decremented for the trip. The time away would have been negated. I could have kept up better with my daily tasks such as real-time correspondence with you. So why would (Carolyn and) I make this trip? The answer is elusively simple. I needed to make this trip to fulfill my ordination vows to participate in the counsels of the church. Additionally, there is another reason, which possibly trumps the first reason. I attend these HoB meetings to represent you and to insure that always your bishops diocesan are reminded of your sacrificial service for the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ. In short, the only way these two tasks can be accomplished is through my attendance at the HoB meetings with my colleague bishops.
The evening ended in grand style with a semi-formal a welcome reception hosted by the Diocese of Taiwan. Much to our great surprise, Bishop David Lai, the bishop diocesan, had invited the president of the Republic of China to be the central speaker. I had been told ahead of time that the Mayor of Taipei might be with us. However, we were somewhat stunned to have President Ma Ying-jeou with us. For reasons that many of you, especially our Armed Forces chaplains, will understand, this is a particularly sensitive time in Taiwan. Currently US Pacific Command is engaged with operational units in a huge annual exercise known as Operation Valiant Shield. It is my understanding that a major purpose of this operation is to send a message to the Peoples Republic of China that the United States stands by and will defend the Republic of China/Taiwan and its democratic principles. I have it on good authority that this region of the world, to include the Taiwanese Straights, may be the most sensitive military and political area of the world. According to the "Taipei Times" newspaper, earlier in the day President Ma had been at sea aboard a Perry-class Taiwan Navy frigate to view parts of the maritime operation components.
This has been a big day for both the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church and for the Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan.
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-59514740588806184142014-09-17T17:50:00.000-04:002014-09-17T17:50:30.616-04:00Far East Daily Blog #4September 16, 2014
Perhaps the highlight of this day is the opportunity Carolyn and I had to travel from
Yokohama toTokyo Narita Airport aboard a Japanese fast train. It has been a while since I have had the opportunity to experience the smooth ride of a Japanese train.
When we got to the airport it was a pleasure to have met up with so many of the other bishops and their spouses whom Carolyn and I had not seen for several months. The camaraderie between the members of the House of Bishops and their spouses is truly impressive. It is not that we are all in agreement with one another or even in harmonious relationships. We are very different, but those differences give us the opportunity to appreciate one another through an appreciation of our differences.
Carolyn and I found that having been in this time zone for over 4 days, we had a significant advantage over most of our peers. Though we are still experiencing some of the effects of jet-lag, for the most part we can sleep when we want to sleep, and be awake and alert when we need to be awake and alert. Though usually most of us take alertness for granted, overcoming the effects of moving through 13 time zones in one day makes for a enlivened appreciation.
More tomorrow.
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-24432097926196482532014-09-15T17:31:00.000-04:002014-09-15T17:31:01.026-04:00Far East Daily Blog #3September 15, 2014
The day began for us under clear skies at Naval Station Yokosuka. Chaplain Cam Fish and I met early and made the trek over to the ships piers where we boarded the USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), the command ship for the U.S. Seventh Fleet. After a brief tour of the ship we paid a call upon the Seventh Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Robert Thomas. My greatest amazement came at the briefing he gave me on the extent of his responsibilities in the Far East: essentially from China and Taiwan to Australia and New Zealand. Though the number of ships and Sailors in the fleet is growing, it will always be a tremendous challenge to ensure freedom of the seas for that large an area. As is the case with almost every senior commander with whom I have visited during the past 4+ years, Admiral Thomas is clear that one of his greatest challenges is to keep his people mentally, physically and spiritually sharp. He and Chaplain Cam Fish emphasized to me how important the chaplains of the Fleet are when it comes to the achievement of that goal.
After meeting with Admiral Thomas I had a brief visit with his Chief of Staff, Captain Jeffrey Griffin. Like his commander, Captain Griffin emphasized to me how essential it is to have chaplains who can provide very competent religious support to the men and women of the Fleet.
Next, we disembarked from the ship and walked over to the offices of the Commander Navy Region Japan where we met with Chaplain Mil Li, the Regional Chaplain. Chaplain Li, a chaplain of the Evangelical Covenant Church, also gave me a good overview of the vast territory for which he is responsible. His task of providing broad religious ministry support is a significant challenge. Yet, he impressed me as a committed and capable leader who is equal to the task.
Our meetings for the day concluded with a meal with a number of senior chaplains who had expressed a desire to talk with me about their concerns and my perceptions. The topic of our conversation kept coming back to the question of the quality of chaplains. The expectation is that persons like me who fulfill the role of the Ecclesiastical Endorser will give recruit and access only the best clergy to serve as military chaplains. If I had to pinpoint one take-away from this last meeting it would be that the spiritual care of the men and women of the sea services is in the hands of some very competent Chaplain Corps officers.
Tomorrow is a travel day when we will go from Yokosuka, Japan to Taipei, Taiwan for the House of Bishops meeting that begins on Wednesday. More to follow.
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-37837529548213099892014-09-15T10:01:00.001-04:002014-09-15T10:01:50.108-04:00Far East Daily Blog #2September 14, 2014
This morning Cam and Paulette Fish, and Carolyn and I launched at 0900 in route the Ikego Navy Housing complex where I was scheduled to be the preacher for the Ikego Church. Ikego Church is a new concept Navy chapel community that meets in the combination cafeteria/auditorium of a Department of Defense School. The Navy chaplain-in-charge of the congregation is Saul Burleson.
I call this a "new concept" worship service for several reasons. First of all, the service has only been in existence for 5 weeks, and this was the first Sunday that they held worship in the school. Also, the worship style is one with the form of a sacramental/liturgical polity combined with contemporary Christian music. In the service itself, I believe that most Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians would find things that are familiar and to their liking. Perhaps the outstanding part of this community is that it consisted of almost 90 people, at least 30 of whom were probably under the age of 8. I know that about the children because I gathered them together for a kid-talk time just before the sermon.
Thinking about what I experienced this morning, several questions come to mind for me. As priests of the church how do we maintain our Anglican sacramental identity when we engage in worship such as this? What is the validity of the sacrament when the presider at Eucharist is a clergy person who is neither “…Ordained by Bishops of Churches in Communion with This Church” nor by “…Bishops in Churches in the Historic Succession but Not in Communion with This Church.” (Quotes are taken from Title III, Canon 10 of the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church [2012]) Is the focus of our worship upon us or upon the people who we said we would serve?
There are numerous other questions that could be asked, but these serve as a good starter for our contemplation. It is my intention to raise them with those of you who attend the annual Chaplain and Spouse/Partner Training Symposium that will be held this fall at San Damiano. The context and environment of our ministry is changing, and I believe we must do everything we can to stay ahead of the changes by engaging in honest and productive conversation.
Tomorrow I’ll be making command calls at Naval Station Yokosuka with Chaplain Cam Fish and then having a conversation with a number of the chaplains who are assigned to commands based here.
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-17689764929722335062014-09-15T09:59:00.003-04:002014-09-15T09:59:53.402-04:00Far East Daily Blog #113 September 2014
This is my first blog entry for my two-part trip to the Far East. The initial part of the trip is to Yokosuka, Japan to visit with Chaplain Cam and Paulette Fish. Recently Cam took up his duties as the U.S. 7th Fleet Chaplain. The second part of the trip will be in Taipei, Taiwan for the Fall 2014 House of Bishops meeting.
On occasions Carolyn is able to travel with me. This is particularly appropriate when we will be visiting with the spouse of a chaplain. Hence, Carolyn came with me on this trip. We left Reagan National Airport on Thursday morning and traveled to Japan/Narita via Minneapolis. On Friday night the 12th of September we met up with Cam and Paulette and made the trek to our quarters at the Naval Station Yokosuka.
After a 13 time zone trip, we have had spent the first part of our day today just catching up on sleep and getting our bearings at this sprawling naval base. One of the things that I have learned over the last 4 1/2 years is that one of the most efficient ways to overcome jet-lag is to have a significant amount of physical activity on the day after arrival. My "fit-bit" monitor tells me that we have walked over 22,000 steps today. We should sleep well tonight.
The major event of the day was an afternoon of relaxed visit time with Cam and Paulette. One of the strong points that I re-learned today was just how much stress there is in an around the globe permanent change of station move. Cam, being assigned to an operational forward-deployed command, had to hit the decks running. As I understand it, he and Paulette arrived on a Friday, and he was at work bright and early on Monday morning. Shortly thereafter he went to sea with his command aboard the USS Blue Ridge. He has been maintaining the port-to-sea-to-port-to-sea schedule ever since. In the mean, time Paulette has been in Yokosuka setting up the household and accomplishing the many, mostly invisible tasks that our spouses perform.
My take-away today is that we have some absolutely amazing priest/chaplain families. Bravo Zulu!
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-47154666944181869692013-03-14T12:24:00.000-04:002013-03-14T12:24:04.012-04:00Bishop's Remarks to the House of BishopsThe Rt. Rev. James B. Magness
To the House of Bishops
Kanuga Conference Center
Hendersonville, NC
On March 12, 2013
Good afternoon. Jay Magness: Armed Services and Federal Ministries.
I want to use the next few minutes to update you on some things I am doing and in which my small staff and I are engaged. For the benefit of those of you who are new to the House, I was elected three years ago at the spring HOB meeting in Camp Allen, IAW Article II, Sec. 7. of The Constitution of TEC: "It shall be lawful for the House of Bishops to elect a... Bishop (Suffragan) who, under the direction of the Presiding Bishop, shall be in charge of the work of those chaplains in the Armed Forces of the United States, Veterans' Administration Medical Centers, and Federal Correctional Institutions who are ordained Ministers of this Church." This is my episcopacy on federal lands in this and in foreign countries. Having been elected by the House, I make periodic reports to you on the ministry you have called me to do in support of my Priest/Chaplains who serve in the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs and in the (Federal) Bureau of Prisons.
In the interest of time, let me tell you a story. In the 1970s I served at one of my first parishes which was in this county of this diocese. The parish, St. Paul's, is about 15 miles north east of here. St. Paul's is surrounded by some beautiful commercial apple orchards. In the autumn each year thousands of tourists frequent the area to buy apples and see the fruit laden trees. On one warm sunny September afternoon a man and his wife from Atlanta in their long black Lincoln were driving past one of the local orchards when they saw a very peculiar sight: a farmer standing beneath an apple tree with a pig upon his shoulders which pig was eating apples off the limbs of the tree. At first the man and his wife passed by, but upon doing a double-take had to return to check out this strange sight. They pulled up beside the man with pig, rolled down the driver's side window to inquire about what the man was doing. The quick and curt reply was, "The pig was hungry." The man from Atlanta, who fashioned himself as having great knowledge of how to do things in the most efficient way, said, "Wouldn't it take a lot less time if you just put the pig on the ground and shook the tree so the ripe apples could fall within snout's reach of your hungry pig." The farmer, without so much as a slight pause said, "Time don't mean nothing to a pig."
When I came into this episcopacy I reasoned that I had plenty of time to do what we needed to do to perform our highest priority task: recruiting priests and seminarians to serve as military, VA and Bureau of Prisons chaplains, but particularly military chaplains. I have since determined that time is not on our side. Recent events have demonstrated that we are in a dire need to increase our numbers of very capable and thoughtful clergy of this church to serve as chaplains within the branches of the armed forces. Why, you might ask, do we still need more clergy to serve as chaplains when we have shut down the war in Iraq and are winding down the war in Afghanistan. Though I could cite many, there is a primary reason. Even though Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan is drawing to a close, my chaplains are serving in an environment that is increasingly dominated by severely conservative to fundamentalist clergy, who are on one hand bent on expressing all of what they see as their First Amendment liberties to impose their version of the Christian faith upon everyone with whom they come into contact and also who embrace a sense of imperialistic nationalism by means of which they are eager to bless and condone almost any expression of armed warfare in any situation. In contrast, our clergy offer a very important reasoned influence to the environment. That influence is increasingly important because in all of the military services, not only are chaplains expected to provide pastoral, liturgical, and sacramental care to service members and to members of their families, also chaplains also expected to provide advisement to command leaders. When more so than ever before our military units are being employed as agents of international stabilization and diplomatic power projection, it is very important to me, and I hope to you and the people you serve, that their senior command leaders have the best moral and spiritual advise that is available to them.
Last year for the first time we recruited more chaplains than we lost. Though it took us longer to change the loss trend, a trend that had been in place for the last 6 to 8 years, now we have the momentum to move forward, and I do not want to lose this momentum. This week we have talked about grief, pain and catastrophic personal loss. I can think of few environments where such loss is any greater. We need your best and most capable young priests. We need bright and young seminarians who can enter our student programs. While I am very thankful to all you who have supported this episcopacy, please continue to send us the excellent applicants.
My second point is to let you know how much I appreciate your collaboration in receiving active duty military chaplains of other faith traditions through Title III, Canon 10 and enabling them to transition into the priesthood of this church. This is a crucial part of our recruiting effort. Currently we have 5 other-faith-tradition military chaplains in 5 different dioceses who are in some stage of transition into Holy Orders in The Episcopal Church. I recognize how difficult this can be for you and your Commissions on Ministry. I can and will assist you through this process. We know how the military system works and what is crucial for the soon to be priests to function in their operational environments. Call me and I will help you. You do not need to do this in isolation.
Finally, very recently the Presiding Bishop received an email through the TEC web-site from the rather disgruntled spouse of a National Guard officer. Katharine passed the email on to me so I could contact the woman. To make a somewhat long story short, during her husband's second 14 month deployment to Southwest Asia she became very frustrated and hurt that she had become invisible to her parish priest as she struggled to be a working mom who was raising two small children on her own. After talking with her I got in touch with one of you, her priest's bishop, and we worked through the situation. What I found that what this young wife and mother wanted more than anything else was for someone to compassionately listen to her, both while her husband was away and after he had returned home; she did not need to be "FIXED," but to be heard. She wanted, as my former bishop Ted Gulick taught me, to carry her and her needs on my heart. In the end, this problem ended up being something we could work with and help. My take away is that some of the most invisible sacrifices in these long and tragic wars are being made by Reserve and National Guard service members and members of their families. Barry Bisner, who was for many years a National Guard chaplain, undoubtably can give you many examples of such situations. Unlike their active-duty counterparts, hometown Guard and Reserve people don't have the luxuries of being near large military installations with many family support resources. Please encourage your clergy to identify the Reserve and Guard families in their congregations and to monitor them. I know that it is important to remember that for these folk the war will not be over until long after the last round is fired and the last service member comes home. Many have experienced some horrendous sights and sounds, and have done some unthinkable things. The afterlife of their pain will endure for months and for years. Trust me, as a Vietnam veteran I know.
In closing, more so than ever before I am fully aware that I can't do this without you. The work of Armed Services and Federal Ministries is a collaborative effort I do with your assistance and cooperation. Thank you for all you are doing to support the people you have asked me to serve.
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-9725916189945878682012-03-01T16:17:00.003-05:002012-03-01T16:17:51.151-05:00New WebsitePLEASE GO TO OUR NEW WEBSITE AT WWW.BASFM.ORG TO SEE ALL THE NEWS AND EVENTS.The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-91206945709447093932011-12-20T15:24:00.004-05:002011-12-20T15:24:56.657-05:00THE LAST DAYS OF ADVENT AND APPROACHING THE NATIVITYI hope that you've all had a good Advent this year. Like many of you, my colleague Wally Jensen (my XO) tells me that Advent is his favorite season of the church year. If I've got it right, to Wally Advent is a season of penitential reflection without all the guilt of Lent.
I get his point. Like Wally, this is one of my favorite seasons. I enjoy the emphasis upon disciplined reflection. One of my disciplines is to read The Anglican Theological Review. I'd be curious to know how many of you subscribe to (in paper or electronic form) the ATR. I find it to be a stimulating alternative to some of what we read that may be passed off as theological writing, when really it is a devotional exercise. Don't get me wrong. I know there is a place for devotional writings. I read them as well. However, I know myself well enough to realize that I need to do ongoing theological integrative work.
In a recent issue (Spring 2011, V. 93, No. 2) I read an article by Jesse Zink about the work of Bishop Stephen Bayne who in 1959 was chosen to be the first Executive Officer of the Anglican Communion. One of his important tasks was to help the Anglican Communion confront their wistful legacy as somewhat ethnocentric missionaries from the west and to shift attention to very real mission challenges that confronted them.
I have a couple of major take-aways from this well written article. The first is that Bishop Bayne was convinced that the Church exists for mission, and not the other way around. In other words, the church did not discover mission. Quite the contrary; because a mission oriented structure or organization was needed, the church was established. Look at the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul. Congregations grew up around the idea of living out the mission of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The second take-away is that his words have been largely unheeded, at least until recently. Within the past decade or so it seems that everywhere I look people are talking about reclaiming the mission of the church as the primary reason for the church to exist. As I look at the writings of people who talk about the mission oriented and the emergent church (Brian McClaran, Phyllis Tickle, etc.) it is clear that this theme has a new life with a new urgency. Perhaps there has merely been a time lag between the utterances and taking Bishop Bayne's words to heart. I've often wondered if at times a visionary prophet can only be heard decades after uttering the prophesies. Perhaps we're being motivated to heed this all because we have reached the point of realizing that we are in the midst of a moment of crisis.
The application of these mission oriented approaches to our federal ministry environments is at the very least a significant challenge. Yet, these challenges might well be easily met. For years it has been clear to me that in the federal entities in which you serve there is an ongoing challenge to be, in essence, missionaries. In the tradition of Bishop Jackson Kemper, first missionary bishop of The Episcopal Church (about whom I'll write on another occasion) and the Apostle Paul, your mission is to go to people and places our church and society have forgotten. You do this as members, at best, of the diaspora. Within the organizations where you serve you have little, if any, entitlement and you don't expect to be entitled. Unlike many of the chaplains with whom you work, you understand the dynamics of the Constitution's First Amendment and that you are not entitled to impose the Good News of Jesus on every person whom you meet; that you pray in Jesus' name when you are engaged in worship within the Christian worship community and OUTSIDE of the public square. Yet, you still know of and experience the passion to share and live out the essence of Christ's story with all the people whom you serve. In most of your federal ministry settings the body of Christ will never be formed in the same way it is formed in civilian congregations.
So what differences are there between the ministry environments of civilian and federal cultures? I am aware that this week many of you are in the process of completing your Christmas Eve or Christmas Day sermons - as I am for a sermon I will preach on December 25th at Yongsan Garrison in Korea. How will your sermon differ from a sermon that you would preach to a congregation in your dioceses of canonical residence? What unique words and phrases do your people need to hear from you? How does your hermeneutic differ from one that would be applied within the diocesan congregation? I really would like to know, as would many of your colleagues. On this blog site it would be helpful and informative to read your comments and reflections.
May the blessings of this Advent and the anticipation of the Nativity be with you.
Bishop JayThe Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-3932970530485294282011-11-16T21:13:00.001-05:002011-11-16T21:14:17.648-05:00Bishop Magness' Sermon Nov. 13, 2011Pentecost Season/A
Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, TX (111113)
A Sermon by the Rt. Rev. James B. Magness
Isaiah 42:1-9
Luke 4:14-21
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me!
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind....”
Each November around Veterans Day we engage in a pause as we remember the men and women who have served their country through being Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen. These remembrances began almost a century
ago with the creation of Armistice Day observances when World War I ended in Europe. Today we honor and remember persons who have worn a military uniform and who have served their country; who have blessed us by serving us. Often we describe their actions as patriotism, a term that engenders suspicion in the hearts and minds of some of our fellow Christians. At the root of their suspicion is a foundational concern – a concern of whether or not of people of faith in the risen Lord Jesus can be faithful believers and simultaneously serve their country in a military uniform.
That thorny conundrum begs a question that probes even deeper into who we are and what we do as God’s people.
* What makes a person of faith?
* How are people of faith formed into the persons whom God wants them to be?
* How should people of faith live out their lives?
We have some clues to the question of formation in the reading from the Gospel of Luke about Jesus' formation.
To unpack this question of formation I want to do a moment or two of Bible study with you. In the gospel of Luke there were three formative events in which Jesus was formed. Do you remember how, according to Luke, Jesus started his ministry? Think for a second. Yes, that's right; Jesus went down to the Jordan River to meet up with his cousin John and experienced John's primitive version water baptism. Everyone who saw what had happened knew full well that Jesus was, from that moment on, a marked man; Jesus was one with God his Father. How did they know that? Because when he was baptized the voice of God was heard to say, "You are my beloved Son..." At that moment the spirit of God DESCENDED UPON Jesus. Here Ends Jesus' Preparation Part I.
Do you remember what happened next? Of course you do; Jesus went off on a 40 day wilderness fast and retreat when he was in mortal combat with Satan for his soul. Satan tempts Jesus to take an easier life path; one devoid of sacrifice and suffering. In response to each temptation Jesus kept his focus – a focus on the mission his Father had given Him. In the end the victorious Jesus was FULL of the Spirit. Here Ends Jesus' Preparation Part II.
The next formative event is what we have in the reading we heard this evening. Jesus walks into the temple on the Sabbath, as the text tells us “…as was his custom ," to open a scroll of scripture to read about the power of God, his Father, to bless the poor, the captives and the blind. Considering where Jesus was, in the center of Jewish worship - the temple, and who Jesus was - the son of a common family, you'd have to be a bit crazy to go into the midst of such a potentially hostile crowd and say what Jesus said. Yet, through this act Jesus was filled with the POWER of the Spirit. Here Ends Jesus' Preparation Part III.
You can see the linear progression. The Spirit descends upon Jesus. Jesus is full of the Spirit. Finally, Jesus is filled with the power of the spirit. And it is a good thing, because Jesus’ life is just about to get crazy. From this point on, both friend and foe alike, will never leave him alone. The power of the Spirit has filled Jesus because things are just about to get crazy and mission is about to happen.//
In the 1940s there lived a man by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonheoffer was a German pastor, a theologian, and ultimately a martyr. During that time he was in prison because after a long dark fortnight of the soul, he decided that the ruthless and controlling German leader Adolph Hitler had to be assassinated; and Dietrich decided that he was the one who had to perform this act. However, Dietrich was apprehended and imprisoned before he was able to carry out the deed. While awaiting execution he was critical of the German Christian church. How, he wrote, could the Christian church in Germany allow a man such as Hitler to exist without challenge? In one of his letters from prison he wrote about what he described as “religionless Christianity.” His idea of Religionless Christianity is of a faith that is devoid of all of the outward appearances, trappings and structures of religion; but goes to the actual heart of what it means to be a Christian, especially a Christian servant. The true servant of the risen Lord is a person whose mission flows from the heart. The emerging connection is between servanthood and mission.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer taught us that there is a cost to being a servant engaged in mission - that through being a missional follower of Christ you could even be called upon to give up your life - for the sake of the lives of others. Over the years I've heard people say that true faith - true religion - is in the heart and can't be seen. Though I am not going to ask for a show of hands, I wonder how many of you believe in such a theory of the invisibility of faith and true religion. You see, I believe that the invisibility of our faith is a comfortable myth of which we've convinced ourselves. I believe that you have to be able to SEE faith in action if it is going to be real.
• Faith is about reaching out to your neighbor / when reaching out to your neighbor may call for you to go through a public baptism.
• Faith is about sacrificing for your neighbor / when there is an easier way that would be far less costly.
• Faith is about responding to your neighbor's needs / when to respond to those needs will place you in a very hostile situation.
It has occurred to me on more than just a few occasions that there are times and places in life when you have to be a little crazy, both as individual believers and groups of believers, to stand up and proclaim your faith in the risen Lord. However, the real "crazy" happens when the actions of your life bear witness to what you believe. This "crazy" is no less than "crazy like Jesus." When the power of the Lord's spirit is upon you, you are willing to walk into potentially hostile environments in the same way that Jesus walked into the temple. When you get crazy like Jesus, the scripture is being fulfilled in your life.
As members of the body of Christ we are called to recognize that our world is marked by "... the reality of sin and the brokenness of the world... (God beckons us to follow) as the Spirit leads... (us) into the world to participate in God’s mission… (We know God’s mission is being accomplished when we hear the) creation itself, ‘…groan inwardly’ as all await release from the bondage of sin .”
Our mission is to take the fullness of God – all God's creative and redemptive energy – to bear upon our world. We are the ambassadors and the emissaries whose work it is to bear witness – often without fanfare and in the midst of horrendous, compromising and complicated settings. Our calling is our mission to all God’s children as together we exercise the power of God – the same power Jesus came to know and use in the temple that day so long ago.
The Episcopal priest/chaplains who represent you within the Armed Services are quite familiar with how and where our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen live out their lives. Your chaplains know that service members are men and women who have learned to embrace the values and virtues of honor, loyalty, courage, integrity and commitment. Your chaplains know that they embody these values in some very hostile environments that some of us can only grasp in the fantasy of our imagination. Yet for them it is no fantasy. It is real and is all tied up with mission – for our chaplains and for many others in uniform, who also are people of faith.
* When a Soldier comes to one of my chaplains in a wounded warrior rehabilitation program at a sprawling Veterans Administration hospital and says, "Chaplain, I think I've lost my soul," I know it is about to get crazy, crazy like Jesus when mission starts to happen.
* When a Navy explosive ordinance disposal officer sitting in an overseas USO passionately tells my wife the story of his inability to stop 4 suicide bombers from killing over 40 people in a packed Roman Catholic Church in Iraq, I know it is about to get crazy, crazy like Jesus when mission starts to happen.
* When one of my chaplains is at the Dover Air Base Mortuary to meet the caskets of returning service members who had been killed in an aircraft crash in Afghanistan, and the wife of the pilot with two small children in tow comes up to him to ask where God was when her husband was killed, I know it is about to get crazy, crazy like Jesus when mission starts to happen.
Such questions and statements bear witness to the incredibly difficult environment in which service members work and with which their families have to cope. Yet, also this is a witness to our call to Christian mission - into the midst of brokenness. Mission, after all, was what Dietrich Bonhoeffer was doing when he decided to end Hitler's life; he engaged in a dilemma wherein the greater good was deemed to require that he break one of the foundational understandings of people of God - that you do not kill. No one ever said that mission was safe, easy and devoid of sacrifice.
Military people have a keen understanding of what it means to embark upon mission and the planning entailed to be successful. They know that to engage in a mission is to enage in sacrifice. Have you ever wondered how so many of the posthumus recipients of the Medal of Honor were able to sacrifice their lives? Though often we say that they did what they did for their country, which may be true, more so I am convinced that their heroic sacrifice was for the sake of their battle-mates whose needs they consiered to be more important than their own.
This is the behavior that exemplifies the heart of Jesus - who gave his life that we might live. There is a certain craziness about having the heart of Jesus. You see, in our culture it is more than just a little countercultural to consider the needs of the other to be more important than your own - to break stride with the mantra, "enough about you, what about me." When you consider the needs of the other to be above your needs, you've opened the door to the possibliity of mission. The mission of gospel proclamation is about to happen, and it is about to get crazy like Jesus. The mission of Jesus is at the heart of a servant.
It gets crazy when the rawness of a person's soul is laid open before you. Do you know what it feels like to be in front of a person who opens her soul up to you? Recently one of my priest/chaplains described a situation when a commander of troops in Bagdad took him to see the wreckage of an armored vehicle that had been destroyed by a roadside bomb, a bomb that killed two of his Soldiers. My chaplain told me about the commander's intense description of what it was like to be at the head of a convoy of vehicles and hear the explosion behind him; knowing full well what would come next. My chaplain told me how very small and weak he felt in the presence of the commander's powerful words. Then he said he knew that the power of the Holy Spirit was in their midst. The chaplain knew that his mission was to stand there and be a physical reminder to the presence of God. The mission at that moment involved very few words and lots of silence. That was the craziness of that moment when he learned the truth of Isaiah's proclamation: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind..."
I am very proud that our franchise of the Christian church has a a serious mission to service members and veterans. Part of that mission involves a significant outpouring of pastoral care for people who hurt, but an even larger component of the mission is our calling to share the redemptive good news of God in Christ. We have this mission because we care about and for God’s children, ALL of God’s children.
As I said earlier, November is the time of the year when we remember the sacrifice of our Veterans. These are men and women who have served and sacrificed for us - often for the sake of their faith. Many of these men and women felt compelled to address the dilemma between faith and military service. In the end, the men and women who chose to wear the uniform knew that for them the responsible action was to serve.
The mission of our church, through your military chaplains, goes where our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen go. In time of war and in time of peace, we care for the service members who serve and have served us; service members who give and have given much; some gave all they had and, as vividly we are learning today, some gave even more than that.
I will conclude with stanzas from Laurence Binyon's 1914 poetic remembrance, For the Fallen, ultimately used for the first Armistice Day. I offer this as a tribute to those who wore the uniform of their country, whose lives were given for us and whose sacrifice is known only to God:
They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound, Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
May their souls and the souls of all the righteous rest in Christ. AMEN.The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-61815159982896899132011-11-16T21:12:00.001-05:002011-11-16T21:12:50.433-05:00Bishop Magness' Sermon Nov. 13 2011Pentecost Season/A
Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, TX (111113)
A Sermon by the Rt. Rev. James B. Magness
Isaiah 42:1-9
Luke 4:14-21
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me!
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind....”
Each November around Veterans Day we engage in a pause as we remember the men and women who have served their country through being Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen. These remembrances began almost a century
ago with the creation of Armistice Day observances when World War I ended in Europe. Today we honor and remember persons who have worn a military uniform and who have served their country; who have blessed us by serving us. Often we describe their actions as patriotism, a term that engenders suspicion in the hearts and minds of some of our fellow Christians. At the root of their suspicion is a foundational concern – a concern of whether or not of people of faith in the risen Lord Jesus can be faithful believers and simultaneously serve their country in a military uniform.
That thorny conundrum begs a question that probes even deeper into who we are and what we do as God’s people.
* What makes a person of faith?
* How are people of faith formed into the persons whom God wants them to be?
* How should people of faith live out their lives?
We have some clues to the question of formation in the reading from the Gospel of Luke about Jesus' formation.
To unpack this question of formation I want to do a moment or two of Bible study with you. In the gospel of Luke there were three formative events in which Jesus was formed. Do you remember how, according to Luke, Jesus started his ministry? Think for a second. Yes, that's right; Jesus went down to the Jordan River to meet up with his cousin John and experienced John's primitive version water baptism. Everyone who saw what had happened knew full well that Jesus was, from that moment on, a marked man; Jesus was one with God his Father. How did they know that? Because when he was baptized the voice of God was heard to say, "You are my beloved Son..." At that moment the spirit of God DESCENDED UPON Jesus. Here Ends Jesus' Preparation Part I.
Do you remember what happened next? Of course you do; Jesus went off on a 40 day wilderness fast and retreat when he was in mortal combat with Satan for his soul. Satan tempts Jesus to take an easier life path; one devoid of sacrifice and suffering. In response to each temptation Jesus kept his focus – a focus on the mission his Father had given Him. In the end the victorious Jesus was FULL of the Spirit. Here Ends Jesus' Preparation Part II.
The next formative event is what we have in the reading we heard this evening. Jesus walks into the temple on the Sabbath, as the text tells us “…as was his custom ," to open a scroll of scripture to read about the power of God, his Father, to bless the poor, the captives and the blind. Considering where Jesus was, in the center of Jewish worship - the temple, and who Jesus was - the son of a common family, you'd have to be a bit crazy to go into the midst of such a potentially hostile crowd and say what Jesus said. Yet, through this act Jesus was filled with the POWER of the Spirit. Here Ends Jesus' Preparation Part III.
You can see the linear progression. The Spirit descends upon Jesus. Jesus is full of the Spirit. Finally, Jesus is filled with the power of the spirit. And it is a good thing, because Jesus’ life is just about to get crazy. From this point on, both friend and foe alike, will never leave him alone. The power of the Spirit has filled Jesus because things are just about to get crazy and mission is about to happen.//
In the 1940s there lived a man by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonheoffer was a German pastor, a theologian, and ultimately a martyr. During that time he was in prison because after a long dark fortnight of the soul, he decided that the ruthless and controlling German leader Adolph Hitler had to be assassinated; and Dietrich decided that he was the one who had to perform this act. However, Dietrich was apprehended and imprisoned before he was able to carry out the deed. While awaiting execution he was critical of the German Christian church. How, he wrote, could the Christian church in Germany allow a man such as Hitler to exist without challenge? In one of his letters from prison he wrote about what he described as “religionless Christianity.” His idea of Religionless Christianity is of a faith that is devoid of all of the outward appearances, trappings and structures of religion; but goes to the actual heart of what it means to be a Christian, especially a Christian servant. The true servant of the risen Lord is a person whose mission flows from the heart. The emerging connection is between servanthood and mission.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer taught us that there is a cost to being a servant engaged in mission - that through being a missional follower of Christ you could even be called upon to give up your life - for the sake of the lives of others. Over the years I've heard people say that true faith - true religion - is in the heart and can't be seen. Though I am not going to ask for a show of hands, I wonder how many of you believe in such a theory of the invisibility of faith and true religion. You see, I believe that the invisibility of our faith is a comfortable myth of which we've convinced ourselves. I believe that you have to be able to SEE faith in action if it is going to be real.
• Faith is about reaching out to your neighbor / when reaching out to your neighbor may call for you to go through a public baptism.
• Faith is about sacrificing for your neighbor / when there is an easier way that would be far less costly.
• Faith is about responding to your neighbor's needs / when to respond to those needs will place you in a very hostile situation.
It has occurred to me on more than just a few occasions that there are times and places in life when you have to be a little crazy, both as individual believers and groups of believers, to stand up and proclaim your faith in the risen Lord. However, the real "crazy" happens when the actions of your life bear witness to what you believe. This "crazy" is no less than "crazy like Jesus." When the power of the Lord's spirit is upon you, you are willing to walk into potentially hostile environments in the same way that Jesus walked into the temple. When you get crazy like Jesus, the scripture is being fulfilled in your life.
As members of the body of Christ we are called to recognize that our world is marked by "... the reality of sin and the brokenness of the world... (God beckons us to follow) as the Spirit leads... (us) into the world to participate in God’s mission… (We know God’s mission is being accomplished when we hear the) creation itself, ‘…groan inwardly’ as all await release from the bondage of sin .”
Our mission is to take the fullness of God – all God's creative and redemptive energy – to bear upon our world. We are the ambassadors and the emissaries whose work it is to bear witness – often without fanfare and in the midst of horrendous, compromising and complicated settings. Our calling is our mission to all God’s children as together we exercise the power of God – the same power Jesus came to know and use in the temple that day so long ago.
The Episcopal priest/chaplains who represent you within the Armed Services are quite familiar with how and where our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen live out their lives. Your chaplains know that service members are men and women who have learned to embrace the values and virtues of honor, loyalty, courage, integrity and commitment. Your chaplains know that they embody these values in some very hostile environments that some of us can only grasp in the fantasy of our imagination. Yet for them it is no fantasy. It is real and is all tied up with mission – for our chaplains and for many others in uniform, who also are people of faith.
* When a Soldier comes to one of my chaplains in a wounded warrior rehabilitation program at a sprawling Veterans Administration hospital and says, "Chaplain, I think I've lost my soul," I know it is about to get crazy, crazy like Jesus when mission starts to happen.
* When a Navy explosive ordinance disposal officer sitting in an overseas USO passionately tells my wife the story of his inability to stop 4 suicide bombers from killing over 40 people in a packed Roman Catholic Church in Iraq, I know it is about to get crazy, crazy like Jesus when mission starts to happen.
* When one of my chaplains is at the Dover Air Base Mortuary to meet the caskets of returning service members who had been killed in an aircraft crash in Afghanistan, and the wife of the pilot with two small children in tow comes up to him to ask where God was when her husband was killed, I know it is about to get crazy, crazy like Jesus when mission starts to happen.
Such questions and statements bear witness to the incredibly difficult environment in which service members work and with which their families have to cope. Yet, also this is a witness to our call to Christian mission - into the midst of brokenness. Mission, after all, was what Dietrich Bonhoeffer was doing when he decided to end Hitler's life; he engaged in a dilemma wherein the greater good was deemed to require that he break one of the foundational understandings of people of God - that you do not kill. No one ever said that mission was safe, easy and devoid of sacrifice.
Military people have a keen understanding of what it means to embark upon mission and the planning entailed to be successful. They know that to engage in a mission is to enage in sacrifice. Have you ever wondered how so many of the posthumus recipients of the Medal of Honor were able to sacrifice their lives? Though often we say that they did what they did for their country, which may be true, more so I am convinced that their heroic sacrifice was for the sake of their battle-mates whose needs they consiered to be more important than their own.
This is the behavior that exemplifies the heart of Jesus - who gave his life that we might live. There is a certain craziness about having the heart of Jesus. You see, in our culture it is more than just a little countercultural to consider the needs of the other to be more important than your own - to break stride with the mantra, "enough about you, what about me." When you consider the needs of the other to be above your needs, you've opened the door to the possibliity of mission. The mission of gospel proclamation is about to happen, and it is about to get crazy like Jesus. The mission of Jesus is at the heart of a servant.
It gets crazy when the rawness of a person's soul is laid open before you. Do you know what it feels like to be in front of a person who opens her soul up to you? Recently one of my priest/chaplains described a situation when a commander of troops in Bagdad took him to see the wreckage of an armored vehicle that had been destroyed by a roadside bomb, a bomb that killed two of his Soldiers. My chaplain told me about the commander's intense description of what it was like to be at the head of a convoy of vehicles and hear the explosion behind him; knowing full well what would come next. My chaplain told me how very small and weak he felt in the presence of the commander's powerful words. Then he said he knew that the power of the Holy Spirit was in their midst. The chaplain knew that his mission was to stand there and be a physical reminder to the presence of God. The mission at that moment involved very few words and lots of silence. That was the craziness of that moment when he learned the truth of Isaiah's proclamation: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind..."
I am very proud that our franchise of the Christian church has a a serious mission to service members and veterans. Part of that mission involves a significant outpouring of pastoral care for people who hurt, but an even larger component of the mission is our calling to share the redemptive good news of God in Christ. We have this mission because we care about and for God’s children, ALL of God’s children.
As I said earlier, November is the time of the year when we remember the sacrifice of our Veterans. These are men and women who have served and sacrificed for us - often for the sake of their faith. Many of these men and women felt compelled to address the dilemma between faith and military service. In the end, the men and women who chose to wear the uniform knew that for them the responsible action was to serve.
The mission of our church, through your military chaplains, goes where our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen go. In time of war and in time of peace, we care for the service members who serve and have served us; service members who give and have given much; some gave all they had and, as vividly we are learning today, some gave even more than that.
I will conclude with stanzas from Laurence Binyon's 1914 poetic remembrance, For the Fallen, ultimately used for the first Armistice Day. I offer this as a tribute to those who wore the uniform of their country, whose lives were given for us and whose sacrifice is known only to God:
They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound, Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
May their souls and the souls of all the righteous rest in Christ. AMEN.The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-84473657642542316532011-11-10T10:47:00.000-05:002011-11-10T10:47:05.914-05:00Bishop Magness' Veterans Day Article for The Huffington PostVeterans: A New Era of Serving God and Country
For many people of my generation who came of age through rites of passage in the 1960s, military service most often was looked upon as THE least preferred life choice. Even amongst those of us who joined the military service through our own choice - often to avoid the Selective Service which, we reasoned, surely would have resulted in Vietnam duty - it was fashionable, and at times expected, that we would let it be known to anyone who would listen that we detested military authority and wearing a uniform. Those of us who grew up with a religious dimension as a part of our lives knew that we would receive little if any support for our choice to serve from our faith communities. Within the communities of worship in America attitudes about military service were often angrily expressed. In fact, for those of us who were spiritually formed in the main-line religious traditions, the only support we could expect was if we had chosen to become conscientious objectors. Today the social and religious landscape of America is changing. While seeking the status of being a Conscientious Objector may be an honorable choice, there are other honorable choices as well. During that era I chose to be one of the draft-avoiders and joined the Navy. Though by that time I had a mostly dormant faith in God, even I knew that I need not expect much support from people in the pews - and perhaps not even from the clergy who led the congregations.
For those and other reasons many of us today struggle to understand why young men and women, frequently people of faith, are so eager to line up at Armed Forces Recruiting Offices to join up, be administered the oath of office and take the roller coaster-like ride of basic training or boot camp. The Marine Corps, the military service with the highest expectations and most demanding standards, has so many requests to join that an applicant may have to wait 6 months or more to go to boot camp. Considering that we have just completed 10 years of a brutal and ongoing war, and that there is no requirement for compulsory military service, something is happening that most of us may have missed.
My observation is that a new ethos is emerging about military service. Even though far less than one percent of our citizens of our country serve in any branch of the military, as a society we have become very connected with men and women in the military services. A significant part of this positive connectedness in no small part has come as a result of all the National Guard and Reserve members from our communities who serve alongside their active-duty counterparts. It is very possible today for a soldier, sailor, marine, or airman to be in Afghanistan one week and then the very next week be back at home working in the office and sitting beside you in the pew of your synagogue, church or mosque.
I recognize that any war, by the very nature of what people who are engaged in armed conflict do to one another, will always be viewed through the lens of moral questions. Some of these questions will be faith based. It is always possible that military service will result in periods of being immersed in the moral tension of war. As a follower of Jesus Christ I hope we will never cease to view the actions of our military within the context of the scriptures and teachings of the church. Though the wars of the current era are no exception, our military leaders and actors impress me as having an incredibly high standard of moral and legal requirements that must be met before engaging in doing personal harm to our enemies. Accordingly, I think it is certainly very possible that people of faith can honorably serve in our country's Armed Services.
Within my own Christian tradition I am reminded that Jesus viewed the service of others and self-sacrifice as one of the superior virtues (Matthew 23.11-12). To those of you who are in some way related to a service member, thanks for supporting your loved one in uniform. The life of a service member is not easy, nor is it easy for you to be connected to her or him. I hope that on Veterans Day this year, you will be able to suspend your fears and anxieties, even if only for the day, and simply be proud that you are related to a person who is serving her or his country, and who may be serving as an expression of faithThe Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-59830041053103564732011-09-22T13:30:00.001-04:002011-09-22T13:30:16.971-04:00Report on the House of Bishops Meeting September 21, 2011
St. Matthew the Evangelist
Dear colleagues and friends,
As I write this I am aboard a flight from Miami returning to Washington, DC. Early this morning Carolyn and I left Quito, Ecuador where for the last seven days I've been attending the Fall House of Bishops meeting. The 9000+ feet altitude takes a little bit of getting used to. However, we found Quito to be a charming Latin American city. Perhaps the most impressive attribute of the city is the people who live there. We found them to be gracious in ways that far exceeded any of our expectations.
There are many things I could tell you about our HOB meeting. Since I am aware that you can get the most of this information from the Episcopal News Service where Ms. Neva Rae Fox, our Public Affairs Officer has posted daily stories, I'll limit myself in this brief missive to a description of three particular things.
Some of you may be wondering why in the world we decided to meet in Ecuador. Quite honestly, I found myself asking the same question. What I have come to realize, some of which I already knew, is that in going to Quito we never left the confines of The Episcopal Church (TEC). Quito is in Province IX of TEC and consists of these dioceses: Ecuador Central, Ecuador Litoral, Columbia, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. On occasion I hear some of my colleagues refer to TEC as the "national church." Quite literally, because our church borders stretch far beyond the confines of the continental United States, it has been ages since TEC has been a "national church." If anything, we are we are an international communion of Anglican provinces and dioceses in the Americas, and not the "national church."
One of the most significant benefits of being in Quito was to have an opportunity to be a witness to the mission of the Diocese of Ecuador Central. Last Saturday Carolyn and I, and many other bishops and spouses, boarded a bus early in the morning and took a day trip to the town of Tulcan on the Ecuadorian-Columbian border. While there we learned that for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the ongoing armed civil conflict in Columbia, the refugee population moving from Columbia to Ecuador is one of the largest in the world. On that Saturday the bishops and spouses gathered on the bridge that connects Ecuador to Columbia and engaged in prayers for the people who were literally leaving all they had, sometimes to include beloved family members, to escape the instability and violence of Columbia. Later in the day we spent time at the border Episcopal mission congregation people as they bore witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ. The work of our Episcopal mission is to use word and deed to tell the refugees how important they are in the sight of God.
My final observation has to do with a speech I made on your behalf to the entire HOB. I made a request to work with bishops diocesan when a chaplain from another Christian faith tradition wants to become an Episcopal priest and a chaplain of this church. Currently there at least five chaplains, in five different dioceses, who are engaged in discernment about becoming a priest of this church. I spoke to the bishops about our efforts to recruit women and men to become chaplains in each of the three federal entities of this episcopacy. I told my colleagues that in order to become a federal chaplain the applicant needs to be agile, flexible, healthy, smart and missionally committed. In other words, we are looking for the best of the best. Finally, I issued a request for invitations to the diocesan councils and conventions of TEC in order to bear witness to the excellent work you will do. It is greatly important to me that the people of our church know what you do for the women and men whom you serve. Upon leaving I had numerous invitations. Though I estimate that it will take four to five years to visit the majority of our dioceses, I am committed to making these visits for one very simple reason: my pride in who you are and what you do. Sisters and brothers, you are some of the hardest working and most dedicated front-line missionaries of this church working in the most difficult settings that anyone could ever imagine.
Be faithful and know that I pray for all of you each day.
+Jay
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-33695644283410296522011-09-09T11:20:00.000-04:002011-09-09T11:20:05.030-04:00Article from Episcopal News ServiceFollowing 9/11, Episcopal chaplains made room for sacred space<br />
By Val Hymes, September 08, 2011<br />
<br />
[Episcopal News Service] "I realized we had to do something. We've got to step into the vacuum, step into the breach, either lean in or run away. We are chaplains. We know how to do chaplain's work."<br />
<br />
George Packard, then Episcopal Church bishop suffragan of chaplaincies, had gone alone to the still-smoking Ground Zero, where terrorist attacks had destroyed the Twin Towers in New York. With those words, he pushed back his grief and fear and moved to rally forces and launch what became a 100-day mission of support to those at the site and in nearby communities.<br />
<br />
It began the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when someone entered the chapel at the Episcopal Church Center in New York to tell announce that a plane had just flown into the World Trade Center.<br />
<br />
"I happened to be leading morning prayer that morning," said the Rev. Gerald Blackburn, director of federal chaplaincies and executive officer to the bishop suffragan. "We soon realized it was not a small plane off course. After the service, we gathered around a television set and watched in numbness and shock as the second tower was struck."<br />
<br />
Packard recalled, "We went outside to smell burning rubber and electrical-fire fumes. The wind was blowing smoke and debris. People were streaming up the avenue with their clothes covered in ash. The sirens started to wail, they closed down all the avenues. It was just chaos. We started to make an assessment of what we had to do."<br />
<br />
Said Blackburn, "The whole city was in shock."<br />
<br />
Earlier that morning, at the Pentagon across the Potomac River from the nation's capital, Senior Chaplain Jay Magness, now Episcopal Church bishop suffragan for the Armed Services and federal ministries, had sat down to a meeting of senior chaplains. Thirty-five minutes after the second tower was hit in New York, alarms sounded, ordering evacuation at the Pentagon.<br />
<br />
Magness and his colleagues went outside to see billowing smoke and flames. A plane had flown into the building about two wings away. They quickly broke into teams of three and re-entered the building to help rescue survivors.<br />
<br />
"It looked like nothing I've ever seen," he said. "I saw the absolute horror in people's eyes. Acrid smoke filled our nostrils. We tore up T-shirts for masks."<br />
<br />
Magness worked with two other chaplains and helped carry out the injured and dying, comforted other survivors and called families for them. His own wife, Carolyn, did not hear that he was safe until hours later.<br />
<br />
"We had absolutely no first-aid equipment," Magness said. A senior Air Force officer dragged out a medical cabinet and broke it open with a chair. With no ambulances there yet, "we were using minivans," he said. "I will never forget seeing a woman who ran out of her shoes and kept running."<br />
<br />
'We were needed'<br />
<br />
In New York, church center staff members, including the Rev. Jackie Means, the Rev. Melford "Bud" Holland, UMC minister David Henritzy and the Rev. Canon Brian Grieves, left to find a way to help people.<br />
<br />
"I knew we were needed somewhere," said Means.<br />
<br />
Some went to a hospital to comfort families waiting for survivors who never came; others went to an emergency rallying point on Manhattan's lower West Side to help counsel the shocked and grieving evacuees and workers.<br />
<br />
"Every New Yorker of every stripe and kind came bringing blankets and water jugs on their shoulders," said Packard. "It was New Yorkers at their best, wearing both tattoos and suits.<br />
<br />
"We didn't know the extent of anything," said Packard, "so we hunkered down to assess what we could do." He and Magness each had fought in Vietnam. They did not know if there would be another attack. <br />
<br />
In his first trip to Ground Zero, using his military identification to get through the barriers, Packard found a "silt-like ash covering everything. Lights were on the lattice-grid, the shell of a tower about three stories tall.<br />
<br />
"It was eerie, with smoke and steam and secondary explosions. Fire hoses snaked around all over the place. The only thing left was a hill of debris. It was awful."<br />
<br />
Recalled Means, "It looked like World War II, with everything bombed out. Nothing is around, but the church is there." While a dozen buildings around the Twin Towers were demolished or badly damaged, she said, St. Paul's Episcopal Chapel did not have even a cracked window. <br />
<br />
When Packard got to St. Paul's, he found the Rev. Lyndon Harris, priest-in-charge, putting water out on a table and inviting in exhausted firefighters and EMS crews. Soon the chapel became a haven and the heart of the ministry to the workers, providing food prepared by the chefs of New York's restaurants, medical treatment, pastoral counseling and the services of a podiatrist and a chiropractor.<br />
<br />
"This is what the church is about," said Means. "One woman's ministry was to bring fresh flowers to the chapel every day."<br />
<br />
Added Packard, "Lyndon Harris is the real hero of this story. He brought things together. It was a unique luminary, a unique moment of the church happening there at St. Paul's."<br />
<br />
"For three or four days the Episcopal church and a Catholic priest were the only presence there," said Packard. "The Diocese of New York asked us to be the clearinghouse for chaplains at Ground Zero, so we set up a rotation of chaplains to be on site 24-7."<br />
<br />
When they arrived at Ground Zero, Blackburn said, he and Packard found National Guardsmen, firefighters and emergency workers hungering for a blessing or a prayer. "One big old policeman wrapped his arms around me," Blackburn said.<br />
<br />
When they took water to the workers at the debris "pile," Means said, "one said he needed a hug. I gave him one. It was the simple things that were needed."<br />
<br />
"We helped set up a field morgue on the site," said Packard. "They would bring us remains the size of a lunch box or a toaster. We would say prayers and see that they were given proper care. It was awful."<br />
<br />
While working at Ground Zero, he simultaneously was acting as liaison with the Pentagon and the 13 affected dioceses and trying to minister to all Episcopal military, health-care and prison chaplains. "It was pretty exhausting," he said.<br />
<br />
He declared "100 days of Mission Support." It included satellite programs to minister to those in surrounding communities whose loved ones did not come home from work after 9/11.<br />
<br />
"The shock effect was not only at Ground Zero," he said. "There were cars never claimed in parking lots in the suburbs. Every community had some part of the trauma."<br />
<br />
Field teams worked with people in the churches in the tri-state area. Psychologist David Knowlton from the Diocese of New Jersey "brought his vision and expertise to that mission," Packard said.<br />
<br />
Many of the clergy pressed into service as chaplains continued ministering day and night at Ground Zero even after the Red Cross took over that role. Families of the chaplains became involved.<br />
<br />
"I love this city," said Brook Packard, the bishop's wife. "The people are grieving. I feel so much for them." She went to the site at 3 a.m. to offer water and comfort to the workers working under floodlights.<br />
<br />
The Seamen's Church Institute on Water Street also became a respite site for first responders and was served by Episcopal chaplains, prompting Packard to refer to the "Episcopal bookends" of Ground Zero. Bishop Christopher Epting, one of the clergy drafted for chaplain service there, advocated for "patient and wise conversations with the Islamic community," said Packard.<br />
<br />
Magness said 9/11 was the third mass casualty event he had dealt with in his life. As chaplain, he had worked with the families of the victims of the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut and of the bomb that damaged the USS Cole in 2000.<br />
<br />
"All three were inspired by or committed by Islamic terrorists. It began for me two years of spiritual calibration," he said. That included defending a Muslim chaplain at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, on the island of Cuba, and pressing for a military message after 9/11 of nonretaliation against Muslims in the service, saying, "They are Americans and part of our team."<br />
<br />
"I questioned why people who embrace the same God can do something like that," Magness said. "I gradually came to realize that we need to affirm others whose faith differs from ours. If we don't find a way to do that, we stand a chance of killing every man, woman and child on the face of this earth." <br />
<br />
Packard said he did not know if he could have done things differently. "I do know," he said, that in giving last rites to the remains of victims over and over at Ground Zero, "I had a definite sense of God's grace.<br />
<br />
"I knew," he said, "that we had to make room for sacred space for the holiness that was there."<br />
<br />
-- Val Hymes is a member of the Diocese of Maryland and editor of www.PrisMinNet.org.The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-9807020279755830092011-09-08T11:01:00.002-04:002011-09-08T11:01:54.279-04:00Seating of the CanonMany have asked and perhaps several are wondering about the seating of Bishop Magness as a Canon at the Washington National Cathedral. <br />
<br />
What is a canon and how does a canon function? An ecclesiastical person (Latin Canonicus), a member of a chapter or body of clerics living according to rule and presided over by one of their number. In this case, Bishop Magness, who is one of three Bishops Suffragan (Assistant Bishops) to the Presiding Bishop, will be seated as the Presiding Bishop’s Canon at the Washington National Cathedral.<br />
<br />
Bishop Magness is the Bishop Suffragan for Armed Services and Federal Ministries of the Episcopal Church. Have you ever wondered to whom he serves as Suffragan? The answer is that he the Bishop Suffragan to the Presiding Bishop and is responsible to her for the ecclesiastical oversight of all Federal Ministries engaged in by The Episcopal Church.<br />
<br />
You may or may not be aware of the fact that the Presiding Bishop has a chair (cathedra) at the Washington National Cathedral. The Presiding Bishop will seat (install) Bishop Magness as her Canon to function on her behalf at Services and events involving Federal Ministries. Bishop Magness will be involved in Services such as the annual United States Marine Corps Anniversary held at evensong on the Sunday closest to November 10. If there should be a national funeral for a dignitary or if an event is scheduled to be held at the Washington National Cathedral related to Federal Ministries, Bishop Magness will be asked to participate on behalf of the Presiding Bishop.<br />
<br />
What you may be gathering from this blog is that Bishop Magness will not be the “Dean” of the cathedral nor will he be on the staff of either the cathedral or the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. While this position will require a minimum amount of time it will produce the added benefit of connecting all of our military, V.A., and Federal Bureau of Prison chaplains more closely to the Presiding Bishop, Washington National Cathedral, and to The Episcopal Church.The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-89123343030118048642011-09-06T16:15:00.000-04:002011-09-06T16:15:41.257-04:00Spirituality Forged in Smoke and Fire: A 9/11 Retrospective[Note: This article was written by Bishop Magness for publication in The Huffington Post.]<br />
<br />
As the senior military chaplain for U.S. Joint Forces Command, I was in Arlington, Virginia with my colleagues for an annual meeting of the senior Armed Forces chaplains assigned to the command staffs of our nation's Joint, or unified commands. On the morning of Tuesday, the 11th of September, we were riding in a small bus going down the hill from our hotel to the Pentagon where our meeting would be held in an E-ring conference room near the Pentagon Athletic Center entrance. As stated in the opening sentence of the 9/11 Commission Report, the day “…dawned temperate and nearly cloudless in the eastern United States (p. 1).” Driving past Arlington National Cemetery I recall thinking how placid a place that was. Then I came back into reality and remembered the funerals I had done there as a Navy chaplain who had worked next door in the Navy Annex (to the Pentagon) a couple of years earlier. <br />
<br />
We were a few minutes late getting to our meeting because our driver, a man with Middle Eastern features, had missed the turnoff to the Pentagon. We had to go into the District of Columbia, turn around and come back for the correct turn into the Pentagon parking lot. <br />
<br />
All in all, it was a pretty normal morning - until American Airlines flight #77 that was still almost full of fuel came in over the northern horizon and slammed into the side of the building. It was only after we had been evacuated from the building that my life began to change. After being sequestered for a few minutes near the Potomac River, it was apparent that what some of us at first thought was an emergency drill had actually been a sizable explosion on the far side of the building. Collectively we knew that the explosion called for a response. We had been called to action. Through the leadership of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chaplain we were organized into small teams headed by the senior medical officer present. Since all of us had been trained in immediate first aid, we were eager to use our combined medical training and pastoral skills to give aid to the injured and comfort to the dying. <br />
As we worked to rescue the injured service members and civilians to give rudimentary medical assistance, simultaneously we worked to find the ambulances of necessity: a small fleet of mini-vans that belonged to persons who worked in the Pentagon. <br />
<br />
After an hour or two, it was clear that all the "easy" rescues had already been made. It was time to re-enter the building and get down to the tougher work of the day. Walking through a maze of circuitous routes our team worked our way back down the corridor and into the Pentagon center courtyard. By this time we had almost forgotten about the acrid smoke we had been breathing and even pulled down our make-shift undershirt material face masks. At about 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. it became evident that our work of lifesaving had run its course. There were no more persons to be removed from the rubble. We all agreed that it was time for us to leave and let the fire and rescue people take over. Upon leaving and walking back up the hill to our hotel I remember thinking that my 9/11 work was complete. Goodness, but how wrong could a person could be?<br />
<br />
For days on end I contemplated how people of faith, people who affirmed the Abrahamic faith which Jews, Christians, and Muslims embraced, could do such a horrible thing. Now, I'm not necessarily naive about people who do bad things. After all, when I was younger I spent the better part of a year in Vietnam being best friends with an M-16 rifle and a 50 caliber machine gun. I learned plenty about the bad things people, me included, can and will do. <br />
<br />
But somehow this was different. I wondered if maybe President Bush could be wrong, and we were in a religious war. <br />
<br />
Something was happening in my psyche and in my soul. It was as though I was two persons: light and darkness. I was trapped in my own dualism where two competing opposites held me in tension. This was a type of dualism that had captured many Americans. Back in those days right after 9/11 the smart money was for the darkness to win. <br />
<br />
As a priest of The Episcopal Church and a Navy chaplain, I knew that my vocation was to embody, to incarnate God’s grace and forgiveness. Out of the light that was in me, I could affirm such divinely inspired and generous thoughts. However, there was also darkness. There is a ponderable and somewhat strange quotation of Jesus in the Christian Gospel of St. Matthew. Instructing His disciples about their mission, Jesus said "...whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven." (Matthew 18.18, NRSV). From the dark side of my being I wanted to bind those folk and those who sent the aviators-for-a-day to kill; bind them over to hell. I began to wonder if the Islamic people with whom I was familiar were engaged in a coordinated sham to deceive us; that somehow they were all behind everything we had experienced on 9/11. <br />
<br />
Out of my darkness I wanted to get even. I wanted to make "those persons" pay for the pain they had caused us. In one of my darker moments, I even contemplated the idea that our wayward bus driver was a part of the scheme. You can believe me that it took a pretty vibrant imagination to entertain the bus driver plot. Actually I learned that when you are living in a world that is dominated by darkness that it's not such a fantastic reach after all. <br />
<br />
Instinctively I knew that I had to break out of this dark funk, but how? I prayed the Daily Office of Morning Prayer from my Episcopal prayer book each morning. That didn't do it. I led and attended public worship services. That didn't do it. I talked with a therapist and with my closest friends. Even that didn't do it. What could I do? <br />
<br />
Desperately I needed a change of heart. Yet I found that the change would not come easily or quickly. For months I grappled with what had by then become a spiritual dilemma in my life. Then without warning I got a jolt to my soul that awakened me to a new vista; a new way to move into a greater understanding and grasp of God. In my role as a leader of Navy chaplains I was visiting the military chaplains assigned to our new Joint Task Force detention facility at the Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ever since the facility opened we had assigned a Muslim military chaplain to be on staff and work with the detainees, suspected terrorists of whom almost all embraced the Muslim faith. Upon arrival I was told that there was significant conflict between the commander of the detention facility and my Muslim chaplain. Though to this day I am still not clear about precisely what caused the conflict, I was very aware that in the end a significant part of the problem was based in the commander’s distrust of a Muslim chaplain. On my second day I ended up standing between, quite literally, the commander and my chaplain. Instinctively I knew that as a leader I had to stand up for the person for whom I was responsible. Well, that was it! At that moment the darkness in my life began to ebb away, the light began to shine. <br />
<br />
But why? How? The change began when I was able and willing to sacrifice some of my own safety and security, and stand up for a chaplain for whom I was responsible but with whom I had religious differences. That day God had led me to the point at which I had the opportunity to sacrifice my comfortable, condescending, and divisive views about all Muslims. I learned that day that once I could affirm my chaplain, my Muslim chaplain that I could begin to be transformed so that in my soul I could see more light than darkness. <br />
<br />
That day I began my journey of learning that at times I have to sacrifice my needs in order to affirm and care for the other. I began learning that the affirmation of our spiritual differences is the only vehicle through which we can build the framework for common ground. That day when I practiced the affirmation of my Muslim chaplain I learned that I could affirm his spiritual needs when I didn't even understand or share those needs. I began to learn that to do anything less, and to try to base our relationship entirely upon our a quest for common ground ends up being little more than a self-fulfilling utilitarian quest in which I have regard for the other only when I can get what I want. <br />
<br />
Some of my fellow Christians may believe that an unrestricted affirmation of the other’s spirituality will diminish a believer’s faith and belief. I can only respond that in my own life experience I have experienced something quite to the contrary. Not only does such affirmation and recognition not diminish my Christian faith; if anything it has enhanced my faith. As I guard and stand up for the other, the one who believes differently than me, my own faith grows. <br />
<br />
Now it is starting to dawn upon me that two thousand years ago when Jesus was telling his people that whatever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven, He was talking about the work of being aware of the evil in our midst and in our own hearts, and to behave in such a way as to bind it from spreading and multiplying. Day in and day out the federal chaplains whom I serve in the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Federal Bureau of Prisons are doing the work of binding darkness and being ambassadors of light. Though I can only hope and pray that their work and ministry will hasten the reign of the Lord God in our midst, I know for certain that as they become light in the midst of extreme darkness God’s light has begun to shine.The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-78995198863086740612011-08-08T11:01:00.000-04:002011-08-08T11:01:09.975-04:00Prayer for the 30 who died in AfghanistanAugust 7, 2011<br />
<br />
Those of us who serve and care for the men and women of the Armed Services have heavy hearts today as we mourn the loss of 30 U.S and NATO special operations service members who died in an aircraft crash yesterday in Afghanistan. The words of the Psalmist in the Old Testament speak for us: "Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also." (Psalm 31.9) Please join me in prayer for the their souls, for their families and for those who served with them. <br />
<br />
+Jay<br />
The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-8269148271437645792011-08-02T16:25:00.000-04:002011-08-02T16:25:01.399-04:00Former Army Chaplain Devoted to Helping Vets[This article appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune. Bishop Magness was interviewed for the article.]<br />
<br />
Nobody was as ardent a champion of veterans as the Rev. William Mahedy Jr. An Army chaplain in Vietnam from 1970 to 1973, he knew intimately how war could haunt its survivors, and he forged a career serving them.<br />
<br />
“I still carry something in my soul that is unresolved,” he said during a 1991 interview with the San Diego Union.<br />
<br />
Rev. Mahedy wrote extensively on peace in the nuclear age and co-authored the program that led to the establishment of Vet Centers nationwide. He also helped found the predecessor of Veterans Village of San Diego.<br />
<br />
Rev. Mahedy died of cancer July 20 at the VA San Diego Medical Center in La Jolla. The Clairemont resident was 75.<br />
<br />
As a VA benefits counselor in Los Angeles in 1977, he teamed with another counselor, Shad Meshad, to design the Vietnam Veterans Outreach Program. It provided the blueprint for the storefront Vet Centers that offered counseling and readjustment services.<br />
<br />
“Bill was called the ‘High Priest,’ and I was the ‘Street Priest,’ ” Meshad said of their odd-couple partnership when they introduced their program to officials in Washington, D.C. “Bill was fluent and elegant and looked like VA in his polyester suit. I looked horrific with this Afro and beard and my street talk.”<br />
<br />
Rev. Mahedy worked a year at the Vet Center in Van Nuys before coming to San Diego as team leader. He left two years later to create a uniquely local vets group.<br />
<br />
“We started a rap group (at the Vet Center), and out of that he challenged us to start the Vietnam Veterans of San Diego, now Veterans Village of San Diego,” said Jack Lyon, co-founder of VVSD. “He said, ‘Why don’t you do something purposeful with your energy and your rage?’ ”<br />
<br />
Rev. Mahedy was a guiding force for numerous VVSD programs, including job placement, drug and alcohol recovery, getting homeless vets off the streets and, in 1988, Stand Down.<br />
<br />
“What he gave us kindled a little flicker of hope in us when we felt hopeless,” Lyon said. “He gave us confidence, and he loved us when we really didn’t know how to do that so well.”<br />
<br />
William Peter Mahedy Jr. was born June 30, 1936, in San Diego, the oldest of four to William Mahedy Sr. and Loretta Engler Mahedy. He attended St. Augustine High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Villanova University in 1959. In the 1960s and 1970s, he obtained three master’s degrees: in marriage, family and child counseling from Chapman University; in philosophy from Villanova; and in religious education from Augustinian College.<br />
<br />
Ordained a Catholic priest in 1963, Rev. Mahedy left the priesthood to marry and became an Episcopal priest in 1976. In the ’80s and ’90s, he served as a priest and campus minister at UCSD and SDSU, and worked as a VVSD therapist, a VA Medical Center chaplain, and a member of the medical center’s PTSD Clinical Team.<br />
<br />
Rev. Mahedy is survived by his wife, the former Carol Rice of Clairemont; sister Mary Shier of San Diego; brothers Thomas of Des Moines, Iowa, and John of Portland, Ore.; son Michael of Tracy; daughter Marie Lockton of San Diego; and three grandchildren.<br />
<br />
A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. today at Good Samaritan Episcopal Church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Rev. Mahedy’s memory to St. David’s Episcopal Church, 5050 Milton St., San Diego, CA 92110.<br />
<br />
caroline.dipping@uniontrib.com (619) 293-2823<br />
Written by<br />
Caroline Dipping /h5>The Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6659300808949004077.post-64529688762054878772011-07-25T10:31:00.000-04:002011-07-25T10:31:19.968-04:00Rector Position Available in Northern VirginiaDear Friends,<br />
<br />
Our beloved rector, The Rev. Scott Dillard, will retire this May after 18 years of service at Wicomico Parish Church. We are grateful to him for our joyful worship services, for helping us find Christian purpose in our lives, for parish stability and growth, and for our prayerful awareness of who we are and where we are headed.<br />
<br />
As such, we will be seeking a new rector. Most importantly, we want a spiritual leader who is able to preach and make scripture relevant to our daily lives. We have little interest in evangelism or church politics, are traditional in many ways, and respect the variety of understandings and interpretations that exist among us. We are most comfortable with an informal style and an outgoing, communicative and self-confident manner, and we also appreciate a sense of humor.<br />
<br />
We recognize the need for a pastor to counsel and guide us in times of spiritual and personal crisis. More specifically, we seek one who is comfortable dealing with the fears and uncertainties of the aging and elderly while appreciating their wealth of experience and depth of understanding regarding life’s joys and sorrows.<br />
<br />
Wicomico Parish Church is a small country church founded in 1645, and located in the Northern Neck of Virginia. We enjoy almost 200 miles of waterfront, open fields, forests, and small towns as well as many social and cultural activities and facilities. Those who live here embrace our rural setting and slower pace of life.<br />
<br />
The members of our church number approximately 200, the majority of whom are married, retired, well educated, active, over 60 years of age and from diverse backgrounds. We are known for our warmth and friendliness as well as our commitment to outreach. There is nothing stuffy about us.<br />
<br />
Sunday worship services are held at 8 AM and 10 AM, and the average attendance at both is around 50 parishioners. The early service is briefer and more informal than the later one. Each service involves lay volunteers who read the scripture, lead the prayers and serve as chalice bearers. The 10 AM service also includes our choir, acolytes and ushers.<br />
<br />
Parishioners at Wicomico Parish Church feel a strong sense of community, both in our parish life and in our efforts to care for those beyond our walls. Volunteers are willingly involved in many efforts and events throughout the year for both fellowship and to support outreach projects.<br />
Our church building is the kind found on postcards, with a parish hall connected by a breezeway, a thrift shop, a cemetery and a columbarium. Our rectory, “Wicomico House,” is over 150 years old but has been recently renovated.<br />
<br />
Please visit www.wicomicoparishchurch.com and contact us at any time.<br />
Point of contact is Marshall Waterman, Chairperson of our Search Committee whose email is:<br />
marshallwaterman@gmail.comThe Rt. Rev. James B. (Jay) Magnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031384330995600299noreply@blogger.com0