SAINT THEODORE S TIDINGS

Transcription

1 SAINT THEODORE S TIDINGS Advent-Christmas issue October 2018 January 2019 The Anglican Church of St Theodore Cnr Swaine Avenue and Prescott Terrace Toorak Gardens, S.A Website: Being an Episcopal Church Fr Grant Bullen At the Parish Forum, in response to a question about how we make decisions and exercise authority at St Theodore s, I said as part of the Anglican Church of Australia, we are an episcopal church, not congregational. I was asked to write more on this subject. I will keep it as practical as possible. In a congregational church, every local church is independent and autonomous, and all major decisions are made by the congregation itself... including who will be the minister/pastor. There is delegated authority to the minister and a team of elders, but ultimate authority lies with the congregation. On the other hand, an episcopal church is hierarchical in structure, with authority over a wide range of major matters held by the Bishop and the Diocese... not the parish. In the Australian Anglican Church, the Bishop s authority is held in council, meaning that it is shared with Synod (both national and diocesan) made up of representatives from the clergy and parishes. As an episcopal church, we are not able to do anything we want at St Theodore s. We are under authority and there are rules and regulations. For example:! we need to use the Prayer Book to shape and determine our services;! our buildings and property are all owned by the Diocese we manage them in trust but they are not ours to do with as we wish;! we follow rules about baptism and marriage for instance we are not allowed to conduct same-sex weddings regardless of the change to state law; and! this year we have had the experience of the Archbishop ruling that we could not continue with the use of a particular version of the Bible in public worship. A big difference between the two churches is in the status of the minister. In congregational churches, the local congregation calls and supervises their minister (and sometimes even ordains them). However, in an Anglican church the Parish Priest is not an employee of the parish, nor is he/she supervised by the Wardens or PC. The priest is licensed by the Bishop and is ultimately responsible to him. The priest is supposed to represent the wider church in the midst of parish life. He/she is not sent to do what the people find most comfortable... and indeed proclaiming the Gospel and calling the people to be church (as distinct from a club) may be very uncomfortable for everyone. The Bishop expects the priest to maintain the worship and community life in good order, and the Bishop can discipline or remove priests if they are neglectful of this duty. Episcopal structure has its roots in the early church, going back to the 2 nd and 3 rd centuries, not surprisingly reflecting the hierarchical societies of the time. Congregational churches come out of the Reformation era (16 th century) and this is therefore the common structure for Protestant churches. 1 The Anglican church is very definitely episcopal, but because its formation was heavily influenced by the Reformation, we also have features of congregational governance not found in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. So, although all clergy are ordained and licensed by the Bishop, the parish is given a role in the selection of who comes to be their parish priest. In the church of our childhood it did feel as if the priest was boss of everything in the parish, but now the clear intention is that priest and people work together. Authority is very much shared and there are mechanisms and structures to enable this. Each year there is an Annual Vestry where the big-ticket items (e.g. budget and property) are decided by the congregation, and a Parish Council is elected. The Parish Council serves for the full year until the next Vestry... really as an executive for the people. Our governing ordinance says, The Parish Council together with the Parish Priest is responsible for the worship, ministry and mission of the parish under the leadership of the Parish Priest. So that means the PC carries the responsibility for our whole life. If you want to say something about any aspect of our life, a PC member is your open door to decision making in our parish. You elect them... so if you do not like their leadership you elect different people Tidings (October 2018 January 2019) page 1

2 next year. But remember they are called to lead... to decide... and to be faithful to the call of faith... and that does not mean always doing what you want them to. We are a church, not a club. I have a positive appreciation of our episcopal structure. It is healthy to be constantly reminded that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we are called beyond our own immediate wants and comfort. I also believe being church is about being a community of mutually responsible adults, and cooperative teamwork is the way by which we should operate. At this time, we at St Theodore s are being called by our Archbishop to participate in a process of vision and action... a vision that is for our whole Diocese, but which we will live out in our own unique local way. My voice as priest will be soft in this discussion, as my role will be to assist and encourage you the congregation to discern and decide the church you are called to be, as part of the Anglican Church of Australia. 1 There is a third form presbyterian as seen in the Uniting Church, but for simplicity I have stayed with the two polar opposites. THE PROJECT a ministry of encouragement and formation in the contemplative path with younger Christians is now in its fourth year. Some things are entirely stable, others continue to shift, change and surprise me. Retreats and Spiritual Direction have continued steadily since last year s report. I continue to run two Retreats each year March and October, both of them at Sevenhill Retreat Centre in the Clare Valley and both are well patronised. Most of the retreatants are Anglican clergy in active ministry... predominantly from Adelaide, but three from interstate (including a Bishop!). Spiritual Direction also continues to feature strongly in the work. I see 2-3 people each week in this ministry. I am surprised by how much satisfaction and stimulation I am finding in this... and take pleasure in seeing my own development and growth as a director. Last year I reported a shift in the third element of the project from occasional Workshops to Days of Quiet Reflection. We did have an excellent Quiet Day on the theme of The Lord s Prayer in February. Titled Praying as Jesus Taught: rediscovering Jesus prayer of the Kingdom it was led by Archdeacon Andrew Mintern, parish priest from St. Peter s Glenelg. But beyond that the idea did not catch on, and I chose not to pursue it. Then the recent day with the Rev d Dr Sarah Bachelard on An Emerging Contemplative Christianity was such a positive experience it challenges me to reconsider the Workshop option. Sarah drew a strong response and I saw once again how hungry my colleagues are for such opportunities. So, my current discernment is around the question of how often I might do this in the future. The experience with Sarah shows the quality and reputation of the presenter makes a difference. I am currently chairing a working group planning for a visit by John Bell from the Iona community in May John, through his Wild Goose publications, has been the biggest single influence on the renewal of Christian hymnody in the late 20 th and early 21 st century. I continue to value this specialist ministry alongside my work as a Parish Priest. It does feel integral to the vocation God sets before me at this time of my ministry. And it remains my small way of offering service to the wider church. (I sit on no other boards or committees in the Diocese.) And through my work, it is a real contribution from St Theodore s too. The Julian Centre Trust continues to generously reimburse the parish for one day a week to release me to do this work. They have indicated their continuing support in Fr Grant Bullen! All Saints celebration, Sunday 4 th November... Holy Communion 8.00 am; Sung Eucharist 9.30 am with morning tea on the Rectory Lawn following.! Advent Sunday, 2 nd December... Holy Communion 8.00 am; Sung Eucharist 9.30 am! Carol Service, Thursday 20 th December... at 8.30 pm we will hold our Carol Service in the Church followed by a supper in the main hall afterwards. This is a traditional service with fine choral singing by a specially gathered choir! Christmas Services... " Monday, 24 th December... Christmas Eve Sung Eucharist 8.30 pm {Please note this time has changed there is no Midnight Mass this year} " Tuesday, 25 th December... Christmas Day Holy Communion 8.00 am; Sung Eucharist (with presentation and activities for children) 9.30 am! Epiphany Sunday, 6 th January, Holy Communion 8.00 am; Sung Eucharist 9.30 am Tidings (June September 2018) page 2

3 An Advent Meditation The meaning is in the waiting : An Advent spirituality Fr Philip Carter Fr Phillip Carter, now retired, was a parish priest in Adelaide and the Murray in the years after his ordination in His great work in spirituality began first at the Retreat House (Belair) in 1988, and then continued in The Julian Centre from As a retreat conductor and spiritual director, Philip was a great encourager and guide to many priests and lay people throughout Australia and in Malaysia (where he still takes retreats). Fr Grant s work in spirituality is in many ways a continuation of the legacy of Fr Philip s ministry, and it is the Julian Centre Trust that reimburses the parish for Grant s one day a week on The Project. R.S. Thomas, the Welsh Anglican poet and priest in the latter part of the 20 th Century, wrote a lovely poem called Kneeling with the last line, The meaning is in the waiting. But we are not very good at waiting: we get impatient, we like outcomes, we like things to happen, we like to know when things are going to happen. But waiting is at the heart of all real life. And when we think about God, the presence, activity and grace of God which is what we think about every Christmas most of us, if we are honest, have to admit to a certain kind of disappointment and frustration with the God we often seem to experience as either indifferent or silent. R.S. Thomas had his fair share of poems that seem to be complaining about a God known mostly through long absences and long silences: yet somehow he is able to say, simply and hopefully (I think), The meaning is in the waiting. As human beings we invest so much in the way things should go... the way we would like things to turn out, and it takes us a fairly long time to come to terms with and accept the way things are. As an American poet has written, We live the given life, not the planned. This given life of ours is asking us to learn the art of paying attention, of learning to see what is under our noses. I don t know what a prayer is says another poet, but I do know how to pay attention. Part of our trouble is that we too readily assume that nothing much is happening at the moment, and we fail to recognise that we are always being addressed by God in the very ordinary circumstances of life. If only, we say, God would make things a bit clearer; if only God would answer my prayers; if only... which of course takes us away from the present moment. What if, instead of hanging out for a God of our making, we asked ourselves What is God up to now? What might God be saying to me in the present circumstances of my life? Michael Leunig, the Australian cartoonist, wonderfully suggests that a small shy truth is embedded in all the circumstances of our lives, waiting to emerge and speak to us. This is precisely the kind of God we celebrate each Christmas a God who somehow meets us from the inside of our human experience, and speaks to us through a vulnerable, needing to-be-cared-for, baby. Instead of thinking how God should be, could we simply let God surprise us in our weakness and in vulnerability? In Jesus, we say, God takes on our condition: he becomes like us, and meets us where we are. Advent asks us to re-shape our understanding of God... to wake up to the fact that God comes, precisely it seems, when God refuses to be the kind of God we want. We so often cling to a story that does not work, where our old ways of thinking no longer give us any sense of purpose or meaning. God comes into this liminal, in-between kind of space where we realise the old story that we have clung onto like a security blanket no longer works. Something has died, which reminds us of one who told us that if we can die to our old self, the old ways of living and protecting ourselves, we will find life: this is the Jesus who put his own life on the line, and died as a result, in order that an altogether new way of living could appear... something has died, and we now wait. Advent tells us something about the kind of waiting that brings life, hope and freedom. We think of the future as something that grows out of the present: the current conditions of our lives somehow help us to depict what our future life will and should be. But Advent tells us that God is the kind of God that surprises and breaks through and radically opens us up to possibilities we could scarcely dream of. This is not fantasy, nor optimism, which is about things turning out in a particular way: this is hope, that whatever happens... and this is the kind of life we are all involved in, where anything can happen... life still can make sense. Here we are being invited into a brave new world, into a larger horizon, a larger God. The meaning is in the waiting: and making sense of life asks us to be attentive, responsive and patient. A future is calling us, and we have caught a glimpse of it in the baby at Bethlehem, who has taken on our life and lived it from the inside, so that we learn to let go of the old stories we too often cling to... and enter into this vulnerable, empty space where all we have is our yearning, our longing, and our waiting. Instead of being in charge or in control, we are surprised into a whole new way of thinking: that our God is doing, and always doing, a new thing in our lives. The waiting prepares and alerts us, like nothing else, disposing us towards seeing or hearing the small shy truth of our God who is addressing us at every moment in our lives. And the marvel of this is that we find ourselves addressed, and in being addressed, we find ourselves. Tidings (June September 2018) page 3

4 Our Vision and our yearning is that over the next five years... We will be a Diocese of flourishing Anglican communities, united and connected, whose members are confident and competent to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. I have to be honest and say that throughout my working career as an academic, I became quite cynical about vision and mission statements... it always seemed that they were constructed in lengthy discussion sessions with much hyperbole, and resulted in a series of rather bland statements and if there were key performance indicators (KPIs) they were rarely subsequently examined and critically assessed. Maybe they worked better in other environments such as business, but it was with some trepidation that (along with other members of the St Theodore s Parish Council) I attended one of the Lay Leadership Meetings conducted in July by Archbishop Geoffrey Smith. VISION 2022 is actually a substantial remodelling of an earlier Vision statement (VISION 2016), which included input from parishes throught the Diocese during Well, I am pleased to admit I found the session with Archbishop Geoffrey quite engaging, and the statement helpful... we as a Parish will be addressing aspects of it in the near future, and that will be an interesting challenge. VISION 2022 relates to the Diocese as a whole, but it will be up to us as one of the parishes within the Diocese to make our discernment of how we contribute our talents and competencies to those ideals as part of the body of Christ. Archbishop Geoffrey noted phrases of the statement (shown above) and made some elaborations: 1. Flourishing Anglican communities. By communities, we are to include parishes, as well as schools and such entities as Anglicare. And flourishing? That can be interpreted in a number of ways including being united, growing, generous, serving and providing possibilities for service. 2. United and connected. We may be united within the parish, and united and connected with other parishes and the rest of the church, and with the community in which we live. 3. Confident and competent to live as disciples of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Are we a prayerful community? What are we doing to assist people come to the Christian faith? What do we do to provide opportunities? What do we do to encourage service? What is our mission action planning - what is our giving? There is much to ponder in this statement, and we must pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us we perceive ourselves and offer ourselves as Christ s church in our little corner of the world. Certainly your Parish Council will be very earnestly considering these matters in the near future, and there will no doubt be opportunities for input more widely from the parish community. Within the VISION 2022 statement, the Diocese identifies four areas of prime importance, shown below... Archbishop Geoffrey asked that each Parish Council might have four conversations during the year one on each of these key areas and he suggested that as each parish contemplated its own vision and mission it should aim initially at one specific action in each area. An interesting exercise... updates will follow in the following issues of The Tidings. Innovation & Advocacy Ministry within and beyond the existing church communities to! Develop multicultural ministry! Implement a Reconciliation Action Plan! Strengthen chaplaincy! Develop new and expanded faith communities Flourishing Churches Support and enable the churches of the Diocese to grow in evangelism, discipleship, service, and generosity (cont./) Tidings (June September 2018) page 4

5 Leadership Development Discern, equip and sustain lay and ordained leaders to develop and lead within teams Growth in Discipleship Enable people of the Diocese to grow in Discipleship of Jesus so that! There is an increased confidence and competence to share the Gospel of Jesus! There is an increased competence for ministry! More disciples of Jesus are made Richard Keene Advent and Christmas... and the around the church... After the Carol Service there was a choice of wine and mince pies, or coffee I don t know who they are, but they re definitely following us... The church mice were squeaking in tongues... from the Church Times They prayed that the election campaign would be run in the spirit of fairness and good-natured tolerance Tidings (June September 2018) page 5

6 A Little Pilgrimage... For over 150 years, AnglicareSA has supported South Australians in need. Its Mission Statement commits it to provide care and support with a voice for disadvantaged and vulnerable people in our communities. With 1800 staff and 700 volunteers it supports nearly 58,000 people each year through diverse programs including parenting, youth, foster care, financial literacy, new-arrivals, Aboriginal services, disability care, emergency assistance, homelessness and aged care. AnglicareSA supports people to change their lives for the better. It is a member of Anglicare Australia. On September 2 nd Anglicare Sunday Peter Burke... a member of St Theodore s congregation, and also the Director of Mission and Anglican Community Engagement of Anglicare SA, preached at our Sunday services and spoke of what Anglicare is, what it does, and how it connects with the faith and life of what we usually understand as church. Peter also introduced the new series of Photographic Posters which feature the diversity of the work of Anglicare, and he provided the opportunity to connect with the work of Anglicare through a reflective progressive exercise with the posters, similar to the Stations of the Cross. It was an impressive reminder of the work of Anglicare, and we share here some of the posters and the reflection on one of them. Let us share the Introduction to this display and some examples of the posters and the reflections... Welcome to the AnglicareSA Photographic Poster Display! There are several layers to this little pilgrimage : In one layer, these posters are about the Vision, Mission, Values and services of AnglicareSA, a service organisation linked to the Anglican Church. AnglicareSA is a large and diverse community of people employees, volunteers, members, supporters and of course, the people who participate in the services of AnglicareSA every day. In another layer, these posters are about how AnglicareSA s work demonstrates God s Mission of love in the wider community, and our participation in God s Mission as disciples of Jesus Christ. In yet another layer, these posters are about the lives of real people: their pain and joy, their lives and meaning, and our interdependence as people made in God s image. We are connected with each other through loving service and the desire to transform the unjust systems of the society in which we live. As you view these posters and hear the story, consider how this touches your life. Consider each poster slowly, as a group or in any way you choose, from beginning to end or somewhere in the middle. Wherever you begin, you may end up in a different place one way or another. Where is the Spirit of God leading you, as you experience this little pilgrimage through these posters? Tidings (June September 2018) page 6

7 As an example, for the poster on Compassion the suggested meditation on it follows... Reflect Often the most important things we can do in our care for one another is to listen and to be present. Sometimes this is all we can or need to do. When we acknowledge the reality of another person s experience, we can sometimes open the way for healing and growth. The Prophet Micah reminds us of what is required for us to be truly compassionate: He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8) We also need to be compassionate towards ourselves. Every person is both needy and gifted. We all have something we can receive as well as give and the best kind of care is often mutual. Look Consider the image in this poster for the Compassion value it represents. Can you see yourself as a receiver as well as a giver of compassion? Pause for silence. Pray Compassionate God, we thank you for the many ways in which we experience compassion in our lives and the opportunity we have to be compassionate to others. Help us to rely on your help as we engage with compassion, that we may be truly and powerfully present to each other. In Jesus Name, we pray. Amen. There are 19 posters in total... the three above and those shown below... as well as posters dealing with Integrity, Stewardship, Aboriginal Leadership, Child Care, Emergency Assistance, Family support, Foster Care, Homelessness Support, Housing Support, Mental Health Support, Multicultural Services, and Youth Services. Each poster has its own individual guidance for meditations. The display was very impressive in its depiction of the activities of AnglicareSA. And it may well be that as we consider how St Theodore s parish is to be God s church in our community as part of Vision 2022, that our involvement in some of these activities... or our own initiatives along the lines of some of the aspects raised in this moving display... may be how the Holy Spirit will call us to serve. Christ has no body now, but yours. No hands, no feet on earth, but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ looks compassion into the world. Yours are the feet with which Christ walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which Christ blesses the world. (St Teresa of Avila) St. Theodore s Contacts Parish Priest: Fr Grant Bullen (Office ) Associate Priest: Priest s Warden: Peoples Warden: Rev d Peter Anson Ian Campbell John Needs Parish Council (2018) Fr Grant Bullen, Stewart Perkins (Treasurer), Ian Campbell, John Needs, Peter Burke, Mavis Evans, Lee Fulton, Martin Godfrey, Angela Jones (Secretary), Richard Keene, Helen Starr The Tidings Editor: Dr Richard Keene (ph ) Tidings (June September 2018) page 7

8 Parish Council and Vestry matters... Our Annual Vestry meeting for 2019 will be held on February 17 th at am in the church, immediately following the Sung Eucharist. Father Grant presents much of his Annual Report in the sermon for the day. In Anglican polity, the Annual Vestry functions like an AGM. It hears reports, receives the financial statement for the previous year and passes the budget for the year ahead. There is the opportunity to ask questions from the reports; also items/motions for discussion and debate can be listed Motions need to be with the Rector by February 3 rd, It is also the meeting where parish officers are elected. Each year the following positions fall vacant:! People s Warden! Parish Councillors [6]! Auditor! Nomination Committee [3]! Synod Representatives [2] The annual Vestry Meeting was held straight after the 9.30 am Sung Eucharist Nomination forms will be available in the month prior, and nominations close on February 10 th, We endeavour to run efficient meetings, so generally the Vestry runs for no more than 45 minutes. Because of its importance in the administration and care of the parish, Vestry is a meeting all parishioners are encouraged to attend. If you have any questions please ask Fr Grant, one of the Wardens or a member of Parish Council. ST THEODORE S ANGLICAN CHURCH, TOORAK GARDENS FR GRANT S LENTEN SERIES FOR 2019 ON THE JOURNEY with TERESA as our GUIDE Sundays through Lent 11.00am in the Main Hall Week 1 March 17 Week 2 March 24 Week 3 March 31 Week 4 April 7 From the Church Times Fr Grant writes... A healthy Christian life is never static and we have never arrived we are always moving, changing, growing in our faith and our relationship with God. Throughout Christian history, we have explored ways of describing the journey, its steps and stages. One of the most famous is Teresa of Avila s metaphor of the interior mansions... and we will use her as our guide for our Lenten Study in Richard Rohr says, Unless we can somehow chart (our) trajectory, we have no way to discern growth and what might be a full, fuller or fullest human response. Neither do we have any criteria for discerning an immature, regressive or even sick response... there must be a direction to ripening, but we must also recognise that any steps towards maturity are by necessity immature. An understanding of ripening teaches us the wisdom of timing, love and patience, and allows us to be wise instead of judgemental. Our 2019 study will mainly look at where on the journey we are as parishioners of St Theodore s, where we are moving and where we are stuck... and give us a glimpse of the path to maturity that stretches ahead. In this exploration, Teresa will be our guide. Let nothing disturb you Let nothing frighten you All things pass God never changes Patience achieves all things {The weekly sessions are consecutive, but they are OK for occasional attendance} The Tidings is the newsletter of the Parish of St Theodore s Anglican Church, Toorak Gardens. It is published three times each year the first issue in early February (following the Annual Vestry meeting) and includes Lent and Easter; the second in June, and includes the Patronal Festival of St Theodore; and the third in December, and includes Advent and Christmas. The Editor is Dr Richard Keene (ph: ; cramn@iinet.net.au) Comments/compliments/criticisms/contributions are always welcome! Tidings (June September 2018) page 8