A Last Post for 2007

Oh my goodness -- I haven’t blogged since June 2!. Well, I have to make an entry now to complete the year!

I have been very busy since June 2. Clinical Pastoral Education was a very busy time, like I expected. I had some nice surprises, like the two honorable, generous gentlemen from the gay community in Boise who lent me their extra car for the summer. Ken, Wendy and Alex Eklund hosted me for the summer. I had a cool, quite basement bedroom, which helped a lot during the long, hot summer.

Class started ten days after I got back. I preached my senior sermon 7 days later on 9/11. Thus the semester started with a crunch that didn’t let up until the last week. Now that I’m someway recovered, I have the dreaded GOEs – General Ordination Exams coming up in less than two days. GOEs are a four day test – with two 3.5 hour test periods each day from 9 to 5 (except Friday when we get the morning off). We get the test question from the GOE website , have 3.5 hours to write a 3 page, single space essay, and submit it before the webpage goes away at the deadline. We are tested on:

1. The Holy Scriptures

2. Church History, including the Ecumenical Movement

3. Christian Theology

4. Christian Ethics and Moral Theology

5. Studies in Contemporary Society, including Racial and Minority Groups

6. Liturgics and Church Music

7. Theory and Practice of Ministry

Fun, uh?! Prayers are much appreciated! There 18 of us seminarians taking it here at CDSP, 250 for the whole Episcopal Church.

Then on January 10^th, I’m off to Quito, Ecuador to study Spanish and learn about el Iglesia Episcopal del Ecuador Comunidad Anglicana – the Episcopal Church of Equador. Visit their home page and test your Spanish, English translation here.

I wish you all un Feliz Año Nuevo -Happy New Year! Blessings!

Oh, one last thing. I'm on Facebook.

Good-bye Berkeley. Hello Boise.

My blog has been pretty slow for awhile. Been writing my brains out doing papers. I know I wrote over forty pages the last three weeks of school. One of those papers was a twenty-one pager I wrote for the toughest professor in the seminary, Marian Grau. Found out yesterday I got an A. Wow, that was truly with God’s help. In the midst of all this writing I got writer’s block so it took longer to write than I planned. But I kept pray’n and write’n. I got them all done on time, thanks be to God Now on to the next fun thing.

To my Boise area friends, I apologize for not getting this news out earlier. I will be in Boise for the Summer! But not Teresa. She is staying in Berkeley. She has a job with CDSP, working in the business office. So we will be apart from June 3^rd to August 25^th.

I will be doing a summer internship at St. Luke’s RMC in Clinical Pastoral Education. I hear CPE is pretty intense and exhausting. I hope my previous experience as a nurse will ease some of the exhaustion for me. I do look forward to being back in a clinical setting and working with patients on a different level than patient care nursing. I look forward to working on my active listening skills and practicing being fully present to each person in the moment.

I also look forward to being back at St. Michael’s. I am so glad I am going to a loving supportive place with a number of friends. I will be going from one loving parish to another. I’ve been doing field education at All Souls parish in Berkeley and have bonded with the good people there. All Souls is a very dynamic, welcoming parish, about a third the size of St. Michael’s but with the same alive energy. Lots of families of all types. Pretty diverse. Us gay folk are just part of the parish family. The parish has a way cool play yard, which is a concrete example of its commitment to children.There are folks there I will miss yet …

There are people I have missed at St. Michael’s and elsewhere in the Treasure Valley and I am glad I will be will you all for a time. This really gives me a sense that Teresa and I are sojourners now, wanders in God’s creation with no permanent home. Concrete practice in impermanence. Concrete practice in opening to God’s gift in the moment wherever we are. Concrete practice in being Christ’s body in the world .wherever we are.

So tomorrow it will be good-bye Berkeley, hello Boise. Good-bye

Teresa

and Misty.

Hello friends. I will be staying with Ken and Wendy Eklund. My email address and phone number will be the same so you all know where to reach me.

Blessings.

Never Prouder to be an Episcopalian

The Bishops have found their backbone. The House of Bishops has taken a stand for the gospel. The House of Bishops has taken a stand for equality and inclusion in Christ’s Church. The House of Bishop issued these statements today.

Read the whole statement at

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_84148_ENG_HTM.htm

In sum, the HoB rejected the Primates communiqué:

"Resolved, the meaning of the Preamble to the Constitution of The Episcopal Church is determined solely by the General Convention of The Episcopal Church; and

Resolved, the House of Bishops believes the proposed Pastoral Scheme of the Dar es Salaam Communiqué of February 19, 2007 would be injurious to The Episcopal Church and urges that the Executive Council decline to participate in it;"

And further in the statement:

We proclaim the Gospel of what God has done and is doing in Christ, of the dignity of every human being, and of justice, compassion, and peace. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no male or female, no slave or free. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including women, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including gay and lesbian persons, [emphasis mine] are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church. We proclaim the Gospel that stands against any violence, including violence done to women and children as well as those who are persecuted because of their differences, often in the name of God. The Dar es Salaam Communiqué is distressingly silent on this subject. And, contrary to the way the Anglican Communion Network and the American Anglican Council have represented us, we proclaim a Gospel that welcomes diversity of thought and encourages free and open theological debate as a way of seeking God's truth. If that means that others reject us and communion with us, as some have already done, we must with great regret and sorrow accept their decision. [emphasis mine]

Fall and Spring Together in Berkeley

I said I would post photos of fall colors and blooming magnolias, all taken on the same day, so here goes. All these photos were taken on January 6, 2007.

Fall Colors on the Cal Berkeley Campus

Fall Colors 100 feet up Virginia St. from our apartment

Blooming Magnolia Tree behind Pacific School of Religion

Magnolia Blooms 200 feet down Virginia Street from our apartment

They are predicting lows around 29 degrees Friday night. We will see how all the blooms do in the cold weather. I do hope they survive.

Postulancy

Today I received a letter from Bishop Harry, my bishop, that he has made me a postulant. Postulancy is a significant step in the ordination process. It's like going from just dating to going steady. The next major step is candidacy. That's like getting engaged. After candidacy comes ordination as a deacon. After six months, one may be ordained to the priesthood. As you can see there are still more steps to go but this one is a biggie. It puts me firmly in the ordination track. Still no guarantees until the Bishop's hands are on my head but the path ahead is clearer now.

Bishop Harry will be in Berkeley next week for a meeting of the bishops in Providence VIII, which is basically the Intermountain West and the Pacific Coast. He would like to meet with me so I am hopeful that that will happen. I do look forward to seeing him.

In the meantime Berkeley is showing its truly berserkly side. Just up the street is a tree still in its autumn colors. On the Cal Berkeley campus magnolia trees are blooming. Fall and spring at the same time! I hope tomorrow to post some wonderful photos of this berserkly event.