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Diolog: Texas Episcopalian (since 1874) is an official publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.
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1 | epicenter.org
Diolog The Texas Episcopalian
www.epicenter.org
page 19
page 09
OPENING THE DOORS: SHARING
THE WORD OF GOD
ADVENT2011
THE BISHOP’S COLUMN | CAMP ALLEN | DIOCESAN NEWS
DEC. 2011
VOLUME 1
NUMBER 4
The Episcopal Diocese of Texas
Diolog: The Texas Episcopalian (since 1874) is an
official publication of the Episcopal Diocese of
Texas.
Our mission is to bring you the wealth of stories from the
Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, to inform
and inspire you and to deepen your spiritual life.
PUBLISHER: The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle
EDITOR: Carol E. Barnwell, [email protected]
STAFF WRITER: Luke Blount, [email protected]
DESIGNER: LaShane K. Eaglin, [email protected]
Diolog: The Texas Episcopalian (PE# USPS 10965, ISSN#
1074-441X) is published quarterly (March, June, September
and December) for $25 a year by the Episcopal Diocese of
Texas, 1225 Texas St., Houston, TX 77002-3504. Periodical
postage paid at Houston, TX. Address changes may be
emailed to: [email protected]
POSTMASTER: Address changes: Diolog: The Texas
Episcopalian, 1225 Texas St., Houston, TX 77002-3504
Diolog | 3 | DECEMBER 2011
20
In This Issue:
Contents:
OPENING THE DOORS
DECEMBER 2011
ADVENT 2011
06VOCATION
PROFILES
06 Bishop’s Column
08 Meeting Neighbors on
Their Turf
10 Is There a Price Tag on Evangelism?
11 Finding God in Community
12 An Open Table
14 Let the Little Children Come to Me...
16 At the End of the Day...
18 Member of the Club or One of the
Family?
19 ADVENT 2011
The Rev. Canon John Newton, IV
32 CAMP ALLEN
34 BISHOP’S CALENDAR & PEOPLE
24 Icon Exhibit Offers Visual Theology Vivian Karayiannis The Rev. Mary Green
LuminaryHarley Savage page 21
Advocate, MEHOP page 28
Congregation, St. Mark’s, Bay City page 30
04 EDITOR’S LETTER
Carol E. Barnwell
How hospitable are we willing to be? Any congregation can hang up a
sign that says: “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You,” but how do we
welcome our guests?
Advent reminds us of our call to welcome the stranger. Advent, a season of expectancy, means “coming.”
Cover and Inside Cover Icon: Vivian Karayiannis
The Prophet Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath
Photo: Heidi Shott
4 | epicenter.org
EDITOR’S LETTER
“The Episcopal Church Welcomes You”
so the sign says.
A better question might be, “How
well do we welcome guests?”
One Sunday morning some time
ago a young woman came in to the
church just before the worship service
started. I handed her a bulletin and held
the interior door open for her, but she
hesitated at the back of the nave. She
turned and asked me, “Is there room?”
When I looked into the church, I saw lots of room, but there
was someone seated at the end of every pew. Not very welcoming
from the guest’s point of view. The appearance was one of, “There’s
room here but you will have to crawl over me for a seat!” So
the short version of my advice on welcome is: “SCOOT OVER,
PEOPLE!” Change the point of view from which you see your
church and consider the one who is not there.
When I am having guests for dinner, all the detritus I look
past at my house suddenly shows up: a crack in the sheetrock,
books piled in the corner of the living room, shoes on the stairs. I
start seeing my home like one of those real estate shows on HGTV
where they “stage” for a good showing.
I’m just saying … the first thing to do (before you scoot
over) is take a look around. Are there papers left in the pews, dust
bunnies in the corners, worn toys in the nursery, or boxes of Mardi
Gras decorations under a table in the parish hall?
Just like the people at the ends of the pews, all of the things
that might be invisible to you are obstructions and hindrances to
guests. It appears you have not prepared to receive recieve them or
worse, that you weren’t expecting them.
In this issue of the Diolog you will read several articles about
“Welcome” and “Invitation.” I hope this helps all of us do a better
job making room. A warm welcome from a prepared congregation
isn’t a program or a project. It should be part of who we are.
We’ve provided lots of resources on the diocesan website at www.
epicenter.org to help.
Take a look at www.sjd.org for a fabulous approach to
welcoming people. Remember you website is in the first place they
are likely to encounter your church.
Sharing Faith: Dinner Conversations
This spring, the diocese is planning a unique event Thursday,
April 26. We hope to have more than 9000 people from our 156
congregations gather in small groups to share their faith stories.
Trained moderators will be at each host’s home with questions
to help start the conversation. Learn more about how you can be
part of this exciting event at www.epicenter.org/sharingfaith or
contact the Rev. Gena Davis at [email protected] or call me
at 713.353.2140.
Things are lively in Bay City. Profiles this month include
Harley Savage, a rice farmer turned priest; St. Mark’s, a growing
and vibrant church; and MEHOP, the health ministry St. Mark’s
helped found that offers medical and dental support to the entire
community. Our arts profile focuses on a current exhibit of icons
at the Diocesan Center in Houston, one of which graces the cover
of this issue.
Read and enjoy this issue, and then share it with your
neighbors when you invite them to church.
Blessings, CEB
Carol E. Barnwell Editor
WELCOMEbienvenidosbienvenue welkomvelkommenalohaBENVENUTIhaere mai kαλώς Ήρθες(kalós írthes)ようこ(yōkoso)
Diolog | 5 | DECEMBER 2011
EPISCOPAL CHURCH RELEASES MEMBERSHIP DATA INFORMATIONSt. Martin’s, Houston remains the largest church nationaly, and some dioceses see regional growth despite overall declining membership. Read more @tinyurl.com/MembershipData
163rd COUNCIL REGISTRATION AND INFORMATIN ONLINEThis year’s Council will be held in Bryan, TX, February 10-11, 2012. Read more @ epicenter.org/council2012
CALL FOR A BISHOP SUFFRAGAN The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle has announced his intention to ask the 163rd Council to call for the election of a Bishop Suffragan. Read more @ epi-center.org/suffraganelection
Phot
o: G
us S
alin
nas
Instructed Eucharist, prayer styles, history
of the Episcopal Church?
It’s all here for you in the Discovery Series.
On DVD in English and Spanish. $200 and
$150
Order the 15-segment video series for
your next newcomers or confirmation
class at this address.
epicenter.org/discovery
THE DISCOVERY SERIES
A Christian Journey
6 | epicenter.org
OCCUPY THE
SEASON WITH
GOD’S LOVE
WELCOMING
by the Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle
Diolog | 7 | DECEMBER 2011
In November the world’s population
surpassed 7 billion in human
inhabitants. The global economic crisis
has been framed with protests similar
to the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Debates in our own political
conversation are ones that amplify the
divisions between the haves and the
have nots.
In the midst of this season where
the economy is the news, Robert Smith,
an NPR reporter, posed a more humane
question in an article about lifestyle
choices globally. Smith asked, “What is a
baby worth?”
He wrote, “Let’s set aside for a
moment all of those goo-goo feelings…
A baby is an economic investment.
Businesses will eventually get a new
worker and a new consumer for their
products. Parents will get someone
who will support them in their old age.
Governments get a taxpayer — and a
guarantee that the country will live on.”
His point was that, as the concern
of extinction was removed and people
lived longer, people in rich countries
invested in other things like getting
more money or more square feet in
their homes. They bought nicer cars,
more music, took more vacations and
had more leisure time. Furthermore, in
countries with declining populations,
governments are incentivizing child
birth.
With consumption swirling around
us, we Episcopalians (with our global
Anglican Church and other orthodox
faiths) take a time-out. We pause as we
enter into the season of Advent, then the
celebration of the nativity of our Lord
Jesus Christ and the Epiphany.
It is a season in which we remind
ourselves of our interconnectedness with
God, our creator. We remember that we
are more than the value we may have to
a government, the local department big-
box stores or online retailer or any global
economic system.
We remember in our celebrations,
especially at Christmas time, that we
have value because God chooses us as
partners and laborers in his garden. We
have value because God humbles himself
and comes in the form of a man — the
incarnation. We have value because God,
in Christ Jesus, calls us “friends.” We
have value because throughout all of
history, God chooses us and in the end
chooses to dwell with us — Emmanuel.
We also understand our value as
one whom God blesses and invites into
even greater relationship through the
Resurrection. Through Jesus Christ we
know that God loves us. It is the kind of
love that cannot be undone. It is the kind
of love that, when we it embrace it fully,
no power or principality can divide us,
either from God or from one another.
God blesses us in the nativity of
Jesus Christ. He brings us mercy and
forgiveness. He brings justice and the
promise of transformation. The singular
incarnation of God in Christ offers a
blessing and value for all humanity and
an exodus from the economy of the
world.
In this season of Christmas, as we
gather with our families and with our
friends, let us be reminded of God’s
special relationship with humanity. Let
us pause and take a time-out to see God’s
love in the midst of those relationships.
Let us renew our commitment to church
and to hearing the life story of Jesus
once again; yet let us hear it as a people
who have been chosen to be sons and
daughters in the family of God.
In the midst of holiday parties, in
our Christmas Eve services and holiday
celebrations with friends and colleagues,
allow the value God gives us to overflow
in your value of others.
Let God’s love for us and for
our community flow so freely that we
become God’s incarnate hands at work
in the world around us. Let us so be
filled with God’s affection that we work
and value those who the world says have
no value. Let us so be aware of God’s
presence that we see the face of Jesus in
God’s intimate friends, the poor, that we
share the goodness of our blessings with
them.
May the light of Christ’s presence in
our homes warm the world outside our
doors this winter. And finally, just as we
spend ample time preparing and making
ready for our Christmas celebration may
we share as abundantly with God’s world
the news of the birth of his Son Jesus
Christ that all may find favor and value
in his embrace.
May we in our celebration of the
incarnation of God this Christmas live
lives worthy of his humble nativity.
Robert Smith, “When governments pay people to have babies,” Morning Edition, NPR, November 3, 2011.
8 | epicenter.org
WELCOMING
by the Rev. Dwight Zscheile
Meeting Neighbors on Their Turf
Diolog | 9 | DECEMBER 2011
I grew up as an outsider to church. Raised in a secular
home in California, I had no meaningful knowledge of
the Christian story. Among my circle of friends, going
to church was a rare and countercultural thing to do.
The church has never been well established on the
California coast. People are more likely to seek God in
a hike through the forest or a walk on the beach than
through organized religion.
For me and the majority of my friends, it wasn’t
enough for the church to be welcoming. We weren’t
looking for a church—it wouldn’t have even occurred to
us to try to find one. If there were friendly and gracious
Christians waiting for us to show up at their churches,
they weren’t doing us any good.
No, the church had to come to us, on our turf.
Fortunately for me, God worked through people in
my life to open up my spiritual awareness, and when
some Christians knocked on my college freshman dorm
door, I was ready to welcome them in. (They were not,
unfortunately, Episcopalians, and it took me several
years to discover the church in which I felt most at
home.)
Often, the church’s conversation about welcome
and hospitality is focused on treating newcomers well
when they show up at the church door. By all means
we should be prepared to do so for those who have
the courage seek us out. Yet in today’s society, where
increasing numbers of people (especially younger
generations) have no link to a faith community, little
background knowledge of the church, and a hunger for
spiritual meaning and purpose, this stance is becoming
less effective.
In this sense, I come from Texas’ future. If trends
hold, the American South and Midwest, where the
church still enjoys lingering cultural privilege, will
resemble California, the Pacific Northwest, New
England, and other increasingly unchurched areas in
coming years.
The Gospel challenges us to understand welcome
and hospitality from another angle. At the heart of the
Christian story is the incarnation—God becoming flesh
and relying upon the hospitality of the world. Jesus
sends his disciples out into towns and villages to depend
upon the local residents for their well-being (Luke 10:1-
12). He tells them to go “without purse, bag, or sandals”
and to dwell in local homes, eating what is set before
them. They cannot impose their resources or culture
on these villagers, for they come empty-handed. In
exchange, they share the peace, preach the good news of
the Kingdom of God, and heal the sick.
What might it mean for us to go to our neighbors
to share God’s peace while we rely upon their
hospitality? The long history of cultural and social
establishment for the church in the U.S. and other
western societies has fostered a “come-to-us” logic. The
new apostolic era in which we live today invites us to
adopt a “go-and-share” posture, where we join up with
people in our neighborhoods and seek to discover what
God is doing in their midst, in their homes and cultures.
This inevitably involves vulnerability. We
Episcopalians are generally not used to going without
money and baggage into our neighborhoods to develop
community with people on their turf. Yet this is how
Jesus comes to us, as well as how Jesus sends the
church in the power of the Spirit. What is important
to recognize is that God, the great host of the universe,
is already there before us. We don’t go alone. The end
purpose of our being sent isn’t just filling up the pews
of our established churches, but participating in God’s
reconciliation of all people in Christ. There are many
neighbors in our towns and villages who may not be
seeking a welcome, but who would gladly welcome us if
we came to them in peace. I was once one of them.
The Rev. Dwight Zscheile is an Episcopal priest and
professor of congregational mission and leadership at
Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. His latest book,
People of the Way: Renewing Episcopal Identity (Church
Publishing, 2012), explores the themes of this essay.
SHARING YOUR FAITHeach of us has our own personal faith story, share yours with us @ www.epicenter.org/sharing
E-NEWSget weekly diocesan and parish news @ tinyurl.com/diolo-genews
10 | epicenter.org
$10,000
WELCOMING
I’ll never forget the day St. David’s, Austin received an incredible
bequest. At the time, I was the associate priest for Newcomers
and Evangelism. There was money given for everything from
youth ministries to music. One line item was pertinent to me:
$10,000 designated for evangelism.
That brought up an immediate question: “How do we spend
$10,000 on evangelism?”
Evangelism, in its purest form, is not something we can buy.
In its most effective form, evangelism happens when one person
lovingly brings the Good News of God in Christ to another. Unlike
what we see in tent revivals and flashy TV broadcasts, the best
evangelism happens when stories of faith are shared authentically,
when Christians take time to listen deeply and generously to
someone who shares his own stories, doubts and questions, and
when we practice genuine kindness toward one another. That is
evangelism, and it doesn’t cost any money.
However, it does require intention. Just as we have to work
to make our churches truly welcoming places, we also have to
give some attention to teaching and equipping our members to
be evangelists. Of course, most of our members would say that
they don’t want to be evangelists! They “don’t believe in pressuring
others to join their church.” Most have a negative connotation
associated with evangelism. Many are afraid to, and don’t know
how to, talk about their faith. It’s a challenge that we must face. For
seven years I led the evangelism efforts of this parish, and here are
some things I learned:
1. We must redefine and reclaim evangelism, sharing by word and example the Good News of God in Jesus Christ. We need to teach evangelism so that so-called “evangelicals” do not get to define the practice of evangelism. Make evangelism part of your curriculum for newcomers, and have open discussions on this topic in classes for adults and youth.
2. Help people learn to tell their stories and articulate their faith. Give people plenty of opportunities to share their experiences of faith, in small groups, classes and retreats. People who practice are more likely to share outside the church as well.
3. Equip and encourage members to make an invitation. Printed materials, such as business cards showing service times or postcards advertising the Christmas schedule, give people an easy way to invite a friend to worship or to a parish event. Printed materials must be professional and attractive, but they don’t have to be expensive. Some people put the cards out at their business, or tuck the Christmas invitation in with their own Christmas cards.
Teaching and equipping people of faith to be evangelists is
sometimes challenging and requires commitment, but it doesn’t
have to be overwhelming or expensive.
Are you wondering now how we spent $10,000 on
evangelism? We installed a new exterior sign, increasing our
visibility and making it easier for guests to find us. Then we
designed nine beautiful, compelling invitations, including
redeemable coupons for breakfast, coffee and gifts, and mailed
them over a period of months to 3000 of our closest neighbors.
There wasn’t a huge response. Evangelism doesn’t happen in
mailboxes. But, I believe it was worth every penny, because our
effort into that project and the resulting ads created a new kind of
energy and pride in our community. Most of the new members
that we welcomed did not receive the ads in their mailbox, but
rather from the hand of one of our members, personally inviting
them to try out our community. Our church has hundreds of
visitors every year because people have experienced the love of
Christ and know how to share it.
Vano is now rector of St. Margaret’s, Little Rock, AR.
Is There a Price Tag on Evangelism?by the Rev. Mary Vano
Diolog | 11 | DECEMBER 2011
We are a clannish lot. We search out our
own, and are most comfortable with
people just like us. We get set in our ways,
really don’t like change as much as we
say we do, and tend to compartmentalize
(read: marginalize) those who don’t think
like we do. How knowing is Homo sapiens!
Fifteen hundred years ago, St.
Benedict wrote a Rule for the monks in
his monastery, who were (and still are)
probably some of the most scheduled
people on the face of this earth. Benedict
sets forth in great detail the times and
methods for prayer, work, study, meals and
sleep for the community. The hallmark
of his Rule is to try to achieve balance
in a world that does not always hold
the same values. It seems almost
contradictory that the more well-defined
framework we have to operate in, the
freer we are to be and become our best
selves.
We are just now beginning to
realize that in our world of instant
connection and ever on-call status
(via cell phones, pagers, telephones,
and the like) we really do need pattern
and rhythm in our lives to function
as healthy and whole human beings.
We observe the cyclic and seasonal
changes in nature, but deny those rhythms
in our own lives, even though we know
deep down that we are a part of that very
same nature to the very last fiber of our
being. This plays a great part in fueling
our frustration that we are too busy, too
distracted, and that life is not as simple and
satisfying as it used to be before we had all
these “time-saving” devices. We are losing
the instinct for knowing what is important
and what is not, and it is making us sick.
We have endless to-do lists and fret when
we cannot accomplish the unreasonable
goals we have set for ourselves. We have
lost the balance that Benedict so carefully
tried to lay out for his monks.
But whether we are cloistered in a
monastery or determined to be human
doings instead of human beings, there is a
danger that people who come into our lives
might be looked on as an interruption or
distraction from that which we should be
about.
St. Benedict realized this danger
of self-absorption and reminded his
monks not to forget why they were in the
monastery in the first place: to search for
God through the medium of community.
Both the members of the community and
those strangers who come into our midst
were to be welcomed as Christ (RB 53:1). I
was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt.
25:35).
Everyone is holy because we are all
one in Christ, and we participate even now
in the love and unity of the Trinity—but
only to the extent that we cooperate as the
hands, feet, eyes and heart of Christ in our
world today. That is our sacred duty of
hospitality, and that is indeed Good News!
Gallagher serves at Holy Cross Monastery,
Beaumont.
by Brother Michael Gallagher
$10,000Welcome! My name is Martin and I am an Australian Shepherd. I had the privilege of being an official greeter at a wonderful little church and I have written a book about my experience. I can’t wait to share it with you!
Now available online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and at your favorite bookseller.
Written by Martin the dog, As dictacted to The Rev. Dick Elwood Illustrated by Riley Cohn
Finding God in Community
12 | epicenter.org
WELCOMING
Did you hear the one about the guy who offered a woman in
labor and her strong silent-type husband a place to spend the
night in his barn because there was no room in the inn? The
punch line: stories about the hospitality imperative neither begin
nor end on Christmas.
Biblical hospitality, beginning in Genesis (18:1) when Abram
and Sarah feted three strangers at Mamre, is an eighteen-hundred-
year road leading to the four Gospels in which Jesus never saw
a dinner party he didn’t like. Hospitality is not only a part of the
Biblical story, it is the fabric upon which that story is woven.
In the ancient Near East, hospitality was not a pleasant
luxury—it was a peasant necessity. The vast majority of the
population was impoverished and there were no public safety
institutions, such as local police and state troopers. Individuals
and families taking the risk to travel, even short distances,
were utterly vulnerable. Any weapon carried for protection was
rudimentary and only as useful as the person who wielded it,
and subsistence farmers and nomadic herders were not Kung Fu
masters. Ordinary people were dependent upon the hospitality of
strangers for a place to eat and sleep, even if only stale bread and
the floor.
It is difficult for us to imagine life without motels, fast travel,
clean restaurants and highway plazas that offer everything from
Starbucks to video arcades. In our culture, autonomy and self-
sufficiency are the norms and talking to strangers is perceived as
a serious threat. Often when we read the Bible we need to release
our contemporary assumptions in order to read between the
lines of the story. In the case of hospitality, the ancients extended
it to total strangers because they were likewise dependent upon
such hospitality. The culture of nomadic and peasant life in the
ancient world was built upon mutual hospitality among strangers,
just as thoroughly as our culture is built upon individualism and
autonomy.
Jesus is the gold standard when it comes to hospitality. We
are so completely immersed in Jesus stories that it goes almost
unnoticed that Jesus ate with women, children, civil servants,
wealthy patrons, peasants, religious authorities and, most likely,
the diseased and unreligious. Our preachers have made it well
known that tax collectors were not welcome dinner companions
for Jesus’ pious contemporaries, but we may not be aware of
the extremely strict caste system requiring a severe separation
between men and women, and adults and children, not to mention
rich and poor, healthy and ill, pious and profaned. No potluck or
barbeque gatherings in the neighborhood in those days.
In first century Judah and Galilee, even when hospitality
was offered, it was extended with the rules of segregation in force.
Jesus was the exception. He seems to have eaten with anyone
and everyone, and when he was the host, his table was radically
open. Such hospitality was too subversive to have been accidental.
Something about an open table was intentional, and at the core of
how Jesus understood his mission. What about us?
An Open Tableby the Rev. Cameron Miller
How hospitable are we willing to be? Any old congregation can hang up a sign that says, “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You,” but that is a passive gesture.
Diolog | 13 | DECEMBER 2011
How hospitable are we willing to be?
Any old congregation can hang up a sign
that says, “The Episcopal Church Welcomes
You,” but that is a passive gesture. Too often
the sign really means we welcome you if
you want to come here and be like us. How
many congregations ask, “Who is not here
yet, and why?” Asking that question means
being prepared to change who we are and
what we do in order to make our spiritual
home and table of worship more accessible,
and more comfortable to those who haven’t
found their way to us yet.
Earnestly asking ourselves that
question, and bravely following it as it
turns our assumptions upside down, may
lead us to become a very different kind of
congregation. The hospitality imperative,
as Jesus practiced it, undoubtedly means
talking to strangers, changing what we do,
and eating with people we might otherwise
never have known. As we become agents of
welcome in the name of Jesus, we may find
ourselves subverting and changing our own
parish culture as well.
Miller is rector of Trinity Church, Buffalo,
NY.
ABOUT YOUshare your vocation story with us @ www.epicenter.org/share
NEWSstay updated on the latest news @ www.epicenter.org/comm
GET INVOLVEDfind out how you can help @ www.epicenter.org/outreach
The congregation gathers around the altar at St. Gregory’s of Nyssa, San Francisco for a renewal of ministry celebration.
Photo: Richard Anderson
14 | epicenter.org
WELCOMING
When my wife and I were young parents, we invited a child
safety expert to come and look at our house and to give us any
suggestions on how to make it safe for our children. She arrived
on the appointed day and, after pleasantries, promptly got down
on her hands and knees and crawled through our house! To
accomplish her goal, she told us she needed to see the house
from the child’s perspective. It made perfect sense, and her
approach, although initially puzzling, has always stuck with me.
At St. Francis, we have endeavored to take a similar approach
to worship for children and for families with children. We try
to see things, as much as possible, from the perspective of the
children and their families. We try to determine what works for
them. If the church can make the worship experience something
that is accessible and enjoyable for the children, it is easy to get the
parents to attend.
For many years, our church offered little by way of
accommodations to young people in the Sunday worship services.
The children were expected to behave, be quiet, and eventually
appreciate the grown-up worship. A couple of years ago, we cut
our teeth on a Wednesday afternoon children’s service in the
parish hall. Children came immediately after school, and we
experimented with the idea “what does it mean to worship as
a child?” With the help of some amazingly supportive parents,
we began to see that it is not necessarily the same thing as what
would be natural and appropriate for adults. One thing we did, for
instance, was to allow them to move. If a song mentioned running
or skipping or shouting, we sent them off to do just that in the
parish hall.
The mid-week afternoon service died a natural death, for
various reasons, but it did pave the way for a Sunday morning
family service, which now outnumbers our main service. We
strove to involve the children at as many levels as possible. We
encouraged participation and engagement.
We offered them some buy-in and
ownership. We sang songs they enjoyed, and
we offered a Bible lesson they could relate to.
“Our Wednesday service was a great
way to bridge the church community
with the school community,” said Becky
Gottsegen, a mother who brought her three
children first to the Wednesday service,
then to the Sunday family service. “We
found a way to include every child in the
service—be it puppets acting out the Bible
lesson, asking thought-provoking questions,
or the beautiful prayer box that the
children decorated and where they placed
their weekly prayers. After the service, we
gathered for dinner, which we took turns
preparing. We created a real sense of
community. The best way to sum it up is that
I felt like I was at home,” she said.
Now at our Sunday morning family
service the children ring the chimes, read
the lessons, lead the prayers, sing the
songs, act out skits, serve the table, carry
things, find things and lose things! They are
learning both to feel at home in our service,
while at the same time learning reverence
and appropriate worship behavior.
It is at this family service that we honor
our sports association, Cub Scout pack
and Girl Scout troop. At the Sunday closest
to Hallowe’en, for instance, we invite the
by the Rev. Robert Wismer
Let the Little Children Come to Me… Family Worship at St. Francis, Houston
Diolog | 15 | DECEMBER 2011
children to come in their costumes (one
of the riskier things we have attempted!).
All of this has meant that we have had to
offer two family services on Christmas Eve
besides our late night service.
Beth Hurst , a parishioner who has
watched her boys grow up at St. Francis,
and had a heart to see the church grow and
develop, invited Mary Parmer, a consultant
for the Diocese of Texas, to come and
engage us in conversation about how to
make St. Francis more welcoming and
accessible to guests who visit our church,
and how to invite them to come and give
us a try. Mary was extremely helpful in
guiding our thinking, reflection and action.
How do children worship? Is it
something that we must teach them, or
is it something that they must teach us?
What did Jesus mean when he said that
we must become like children. Is worship
a matter of how to behave? Or is it more
about how to live? Worship, surely, is about
how to live, how to step out into the life
God has given us and to live authentic lives,
enthusiastically, passionately and joyfully.
Worship helps us to live a life that is deep,
profound and free. This is what we offer to
the world around us, and this is precisely
what children can offer to us.
Wismer is senior chaplain at St. Francis
Episcopal Day School and associate rector of
St. Francis, Houston. For more information
contact Wismer at bwismer@sfedshouston.
org.
16 | epicenter.org
by Mary Parmer
Imagine what would happen if the clergy and laity of the
Episcopal Church lived into the idea that we are a part of
salvation history and God’s mission in the world. Imagine if
we overcame our fear of invitation, if we obeyed Jesus’ gospel
mandate to see and welcome the stranger into our midst, and
if we cultivated the sacred act of listening. Compelling stories
emerge from congregations around our diocese that take
these imaginings seriously, and one by one they experience
transformation.
St. Francis, Houston, a pilot congregation in the newly
developed Newcomer Ministry Project, began using the
assessment tools to evaluate their invitation, welcome and
connection processes. They began to see the school on their
campus and the families and students as their biggest mission
field. Only 10 percent of the students’ families were members
of the church; and, within six months of refocused effort, an
additional 10 percent had joined the church or were attending
regularly.
The Newcomer Ministry Project’s primary objective was
the creation of tangible materials for congregations to use in
the development of effective newcomer ministry. These are now
available on the diocesan website (www.epicenter.org), and
congregational coaches have been trained to assist locally with
implementation of the ministry.
Complacency around newcomer ministry is the greatest
challenge for Episcopal congregations today, and it might be our
prevailing sin. We think of ourselves as a “friendly community”
when in reality we are a “community of friends.” Observe, if you
will, any average Sunday morning coffee hour and you will see
people visiting primarily with friends, not the stranger in the
room.
Action is another serious challenge. At the end of the day,
our actions speak louder than our words. It is not what we say,
teach or preach—it is what we do! At the end of the day, did we
see Christ in the newcomers who walked in our doors? More
importantly, did they see Christ in us?
Although there are no magic pills for turning around flat or
declining church membership, failure to address the essentials of
newcomer ministry will keep the revolving back door spinning
in our congregations. These broad essentials make up the
Newcomer Ministry Project and include: Invitation, Welcome, and
Connection.
Invitation, a.k.a. Evangelism This is not only about inviting
people into a relationship with you and your congregation,
it is also about inviting them into a relationship with God
through Jesus Christ. Bishop Claude Payne emphasizes
the need for congregations to embrace evangelism as
fundamental to their ministry in his book, Reclaiming the Great
Commission.“Evangelism is not a program. It is an ethos,” he says.
David Gortner expands this thought in his recent book,
Transforming Evangelism, “Evangelism is not a programmatic
effort … It is a willful, joyful, spiritual discipline of seeing
and naming the Holy Spirit at work in ourselves and those we
encounter—giving voice to our own grace-filled experiences, and
helping others find their voice.”
Welcome, a.k.a. Ministry of Hospitality The gospel tells us
that welcoming the stranger is welcoming Jesus. Jesus modeled
for us a new way of seeing people—the way of love, compassion
and forgiveness. Christine Pohl quotes Jean Vanier in her book,
Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition,
At the End of the Day…Cultivating new practices of invitation, welcome and connection that are rooted and grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ will transform our congregations ...
WELCOMING
Diolog | 17 | DECEMBER 2011
“Welcome is one of the signs that a
community is alive … A community which
refuses to welcome—whether through fear,
weariness, insecurity, a desire to cling to
comfort or just because it is fed up with
visitors—is dying spiritually.”
Connection, a.k.a. Assimilation
Connection is having an intentional
process for connecting the
newcomer, giving them an
opportunity to share their story,
discerning their giftedness
and encouraging them in their
journey of faith. The sacred act
of listening is critical, and Henri
Nouwen speaks of this in Bread
for the Journey.
“Listening is paying
full attention to others and
welcoming them into our very
beings. The beauty of listening
is that those who are listened
to start feeling accepted,
start taking their words more
seriously and discovering their
true selves.”
At the end of the day, our
choices make us who we are.
When we choose to live into
our sacred calling to be fully
engaged in living out God’s
transformative mission of
hospitality to the world, we will
be transformed. May God give us
all the desire to make that choice.
Parmer is project consultant for the
Newcomer Ministry Project.
IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE (SOME RESOURES)
Believe that your life will be enriched when new people join
our worship.
Shed your belief that people “want to be left alone” and
embrace the spirit of the Seeking Shepherd (Luke 15) and
Persistent Widow (Luke 18).
Model personal invitation.
Organize strategic ways to invite new people to visit our
church, welcome and connect them with others so their lives
and ours may be transformed.
Respond to every guest with an intentional, prayerful and
strategic follow-up plan, understanding that the Body will be
healthier as others are welcomed into the family of God.
“Scoot to the middle” on Sunday morning. Don’t sit at the
end of the pew, blocking the way for others to sit. Move to the
middle of the pew and leave the rest open as an invitation for
guests to join you in worship.
Find someone new to speak to during coffee hour. If you are
worried they may be longtime members of the church and not
guests, begin with: “I don’t believe we’ve met . . .”
18 | epicenter.org
WELCOMING
A cradle Episcopalian, I attended St.
Andrew’s, Bryan, for 30 years. Over those
years I visited many churches at home
and abroad. The same liturgy, the same
hymns, the same bread and wine tying me
to the same God, celebrated in different
cadences yet still in common. How could
I imagine the hardest visit of all would be
my move to Atlanta in 2009? Episcopal
churches here were all happy, indeed
anxious, to invite me to membership.
“Join Now! Plenty to Do! Something for
Everyone!” What was not apparent was
one church in particular over any other.
From their material I read, I’m not sure I
can answer. How can God’s heart, beating
within each of us, be known without
relationship to each other and to Christ?
There is a vast difference in being
asked to membership and being invited
into the family. Our lives are full of, and
often defined by, our memberships: book
clubs, health clubs, service groups, even
some ministries. Membership, alone, is
the illusion of relationship. The appeal of
online social networks and the community
they represent is understandable. At their
center is at least the hope for relationship
and a place to come home, even if only
in the imagination. My search was for a
home, a destination to travel towards and
a mark to aim for. I want to be, and out
of that being, to do. I want to be part of
something infinite, yet personal enough to
be intimate in the details of my life.
During my search I participated in a
four-week book study at one parish, with
no follow-up even
though I met
people and signed
in each week. I
filled out a visitor
card with all my
contact information and a “yes – please
call me, I’ll join!” Not enough. The office
insisted on a membership form, to make
sure they had all my contact information!
Still no one called: not office, not lay, not
clergy. The vestry did send a form letter
about the $1m deficit and the importance
of fulfilling my pledge. Clearly, they want
paying members.
While chatting
with a greeter at
the Cathedral of
St. Philip’s, I was
invited by him
to the upcoming
newcomer dinner
simply because, “It’s
important to meet
people in a new city
so you won’t be lost!”
Relationship versus
membership. During that dinner the vicar
used the same metaphor in describing
what every individual should expect in
their parish life—a relationship. One week
a six-year-old helped me write my name
tag. Advent found me still visiting. During
the peace, as they did with each other, I
was also greeted by name. At Christmas,
deeply grateful for God’s comfort and care
during my journey, I dropped a check in
the plate. When St Philip’s sent a letter
blessing my giving for its use helping the
body of Christ, they tugged at my heart
because they told me what was important
to theirs.
With that blessing I transferred
my membership and started a new
relationship. How many forms? Just the
sign in at the newcomer dinner; after all,
they already knew me.
McClurkan is director of operations at LexisNexis in Atlanta.
Member of the Club or One of the Family?by Elaine d’Lys McClurkan
How can God’s heart, beating within each of us, be known without
relationship to each other and to Christ?
Dean Samuel Candler greets visitors at St. Phillips, Atlanta
Diolog | 19 | DECEMBER 2011
Jesus invites us to live radically hospitable lives. As the author of Hebrews instructs, we must not “neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb 13:2). The world is full of gift-bearing angels. Sadly, our world teaches us to call them “strangers.”
The Bible is filled with accounts of people who welcomed the stranger only to be blessed in return. Abraham welcomed three men who revealed themselves as the Lord and announced that his wife would conceive a son. The widow of Zarephath offered Elijah food and a place to stay. She then discovered he was God’s prophet with the power to raise her son from the dead. Two men traveling to Emmaus invited a stranger over for dinner. In the breaking of the bread that Stranger was revealed to them as Jesus himself. The consistent Biblical witness is that the stranger brings gifts to be shared.
Advent and Epiphany remind us of our call to welcome the stranger. Advent, a season of expectancy, means “coming.” The message of Advent isn’t only that Jesus came to us once in a manger but that Jesus comes to us now in the stranger. In the same way, Epiphany means “appearance” or
“manifestation” and is a season of revelation. In Epiphany we marvel that God manifested himself most clearly in the cross. If God manifested himself once in weakness, can God not do so right now in and through the sick, the dependent, the addicted, the elderly, the weak, and the stranger? “Just as you do it to one of the least of these,” Jesus
says, “you do it to me” (Matt 25:40).
In the midst of a hostile world our tendency is to cling to what’s safe and familiar. But Jesus invites us to live differently—to offer all people a free space where they feel accepted, loved and at home. As Henri Nouwen notes,
“Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.” So where do we start?
First, we start with ourselves. We all have
“strange” aspects of our character that startle and confuse us. Never forget that nothing is strange to Jesus. Create a space for Jesus to manifest himself in and through your weakness. Jesus has redeemed us at great cost to himself. It is insulting to God when we’re inhospitable with ourselves. Shame has no place in the Christian life.
Second, practice hospitality towards those closest to you: your spouse, your children, your friends and your co-workers. Let your actions and your attitude tell the people you’re closest to that they are
“welcome” just as they are. After all, God welcomes us just as we are. Far from being
hostile, the God we worship is radically hospitable towards us.
The Lord is coming. Jesus is always eager to manifest himself through the gift-bearing angels we call strangers. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, not because they need you but because you need them. Each one is bearing a gift.
Newton is the Canon for Lifelong Christian Formation for the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.
Live a Radically Hospitable Lifeby the Rev. Canon John Newton, IV
ADVENT 2011
The Prophet Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath
Dean Samuel Candler greets visitors at St. Phillips, Atlanta
20 | epicenter.org
PROFILE: LUMINARY
Diolog | 21 | DECEMBER 2011
CEB: You served in Korea after college. What lessons did you
bring home?
EH: That you can have a little bit of nothing and make anything
work and that you can endure hardships that you, hopefully, will
never see at home.
CEB: Did you return to the family business right after you came
home?
EH: Yes, Jane and I married in ’51, and I finished my schooling,
then went into the service in 1953. We had one daughter when
I left. After I got out of the military I came back to Bay City and
went right into the family rice farming business. My grandfather
started the business in 1929 and I worked with my dad and
brother. When my dad retired, my two sons came into the
business, and now I have grandsons who have come back to work
with us. We’re one of those family farms that people talk about.
CEB: What does that mean to you?
EH: All farmers ought to be stewards of the land—sort of the
restorers of the resources. I’ve always told my boys, “We really
don’t own anything. We just use it for a while, so we need to take
care of it.”
CEB: There are broad issues with the drought. How will this
affect your production?
EH: Probably ¾ of the rice grown in Texas is grown in Colorado,
Wharton and Matagorda Counties. We are looking at losing ½ of
our production next year if we don’t get a lot of rain.
The Rev. Harley Savage
Harley Savage turned 80 last spring and just celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary with his wife, Jane. A rice farmer and a bi-vocational priest, Harley was born and raised in Bay City and grew up at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. In 1952 he graduated from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio before joining the military and serving in Korea. He and Jane live with several of his children on a family compound with several of his children, built around a small lake where the grandchildren and great-grandchildren play and the extended family regularly gathers.
The Good Steward
22 | epicenter.org
Whenever we’re dependent on our food
source from somewhere else, we are in
trouble but it’s hard to sell that to people
when you go to any supermarket, and
it’s overflowing of whatever you want.
But if you took all of the food that we
have today and divided it, we’d still have
hungry people in the world. I sound like
the Chamber of Commerce, but I read a
lot. We’re the only country with a surplus.
The Middle East and Vietnam export at the
expense of their own people.
CEB: Here you are in Bay City,
population 18,000, growing all of this rice,
but you have to have a world view.
EH: Oh, yeah, because we’re tied to the
world market on everything we do. We’ve
been tied to the world market for years,
so you’ve got to know what is happening
in the rice-growing parts of the world.
For years Cuba was our biggest customer.
Everybody in the Caribbean basin is a rice
eater. Rice is a staple for ¾ of the world’s
population. We own about 4,500 acres and
lease another 12,000. With organic rice,
you have to lay out for 10 years between
crops—let cattle graze on it.
CEB: How has St. Mark’s shaped your
life?
EH: Jane and I had five kids in 10 years.
They all grew up here and were a part of St.
Mark’s. We went to the church real often,
and they learned how to behave in church
[from the beginning]. Milton McWilliams
was [the priest] here for a long time, he’s 91
now. I still talk to him pretty often. When
I was a teenager, it was 1941 or ’42, Father
Pat Malone made the biggest impression
on my life—that was my beginning of my
own spiritual journey. He was a young
priest when he came and he was real
active with us—the acolytes became very
important and we had an all-boys choir.
The parishioners were so supportive of
everything we did—it was one of [times]
that leaves an impression that you don’t
forget for the rest of your life.
Of course, part of my learning came from
[our] bishops. Bishop Quin was here a lot.
I can remember—I was just a young boy
then, but when he walked in the room, you
knew he was a bishop. He was in command
when he walked in the room. He had
that kind of presence about him. He was
very inspirational—he would talk about
life—what does life mean to you and what
experience is life-giving.
CEB: How did that inform what you
thought about and how you lived your life?
EH: Well, as a young person growing
up—a man of that statute that was
speaking about life experiences, and here
I was—I hadn’t had any yet. I would just
like some of what you’re telling us about.
I think he was a kind of cheerleader in
the diocese. What I thought about was
I would like to have some of the stature
that he had—be able to emulate some of
the feelings that he had, be able to be an
influence on some of the people around me
like he had. He had a loving relationship
with everybody.
CEB: Do you feel like you’ve been able to
do that?
EH: I hope so. I have a family that is as
The Rev. Harley Savage and his grandson Scott Savage, five generations on the Land.
Diolog | 23 | DECEMBER 2011
large as a lot of parishes—you know—
48 in my immediate family now and
one on the way.
CEB: What led you to want to become
ordained?
EH: Well, I’ve always felt like I was
called to ministry, but I always had an
excuse. I really felt at one time that I
would go to the seminary, but at that
time, I had a young family. I thought
well, Lord, I can’t do that now. When
my father got sick, “somebody” had
to run the family business, then I was
sending kids to college, so, “not right
now.” Finally, I ran out of excuses. I
became the first bi-vocational priest
in 1997 and served at Christ Church
Matagorda for seven years. It’s been a
blessing. But I’ve learned you can’t be a
pastor to your own family!
CEB: What have you learned as a
priest?
EH: The thing I think that you learn as
a priest—or that you learn as a person
first and then in your profession as a
priest called by God—is that you don’t
have all the answers, but you know
people who have the right answers, and
you learn to point people in the right
direction.
CEB: What do you see as the best
piece of advice that you’ve ever given
your children?
EH: Be honest and truthful in all you
do. Be able to sit down and talk and
communicate with everybody around
you. Communication is the most
important thing that we have in life
and then be able to sit down and have a
conversation with God.
CEB: What is your personal rule of
life?
EH: For 40 years I’ve written in a
journal daily. I read the lessons for the
day, then I read the meditation from
Forward Day by Day, and that’s what
I usually write about. My handwriting
was better 20 years ago than it is today.
That’s just a part of me. It gets to be a
part of your life.
CEB: To what do you attribute your
60-year marriage and strong family
relationships?
EH: I’ve had a lot of models of people
in my life of people taking care of
their family, taking care of themselves
with long relationships and a lot of
children. My children were raised in a
house where we sat down together for
three meals. We work hard to keep the
relationships open. In the summertime,
we gather for a common meal every
week. And we really work at it. If
somebody—one of the younger ones—
needs some help … we always pick
up the slack. We never tried to make
Christmas even. The ones who need the
most, get the most help, because in a
big family, with that many people, there
is always somebody.
Somebody asked me a long time ago—
“How long does parenting go on?” I
said, “From the womb to the tomb.”
That’s it. You can’t explain it any other
way than that.
.
CEB: What is the best part of your
and Jane’s relationship?
EH: We’ve been lovers and we’ve been
best friends forever. I think it’s being
able to sit back and have all of these
children around us and to be a part of
their lives. That has been a blessing.
24 | epicenter.org
PROFILE: THE ARTS
Diolog | 25 | DECEMBER 2011
Icon Exhibit Offers Visual TheologyThis Advent, two iconographers’ work will be featured at Edot Gallery, in the Houston Diocesan Center, 1225 Texas Ave., Houston. Vivian Karayiannis is a trained Byzantine iconographer and the Rev. Mary Green, originally a student of Karayiannis’, has now written a book on the subject. Both women will show their work and lead a Sunday school class at Christ Church Cathedral on icons, December 11. The exhibit is open November 10 through January 6, M-F, 9-5.
An icon is a painted panel of a religious figure or event. Just as medieval monks copied ancient sacred texts, icon painters of long ago copied ancient, iconic originals, to serve as visual theology. To avoid the taint of idolatry, icons were created in a formalized, deliberately stylized manner that emphasized otherworldliness rather than human feeling or sentimentality. The process was codified in Russia in the 16th century and demanded strict emulation of the existing format so that artists would not depart from the iconographic canon.
Since icons are considered sacred images that convey theological truth, painting an icon is referred to as “writing” an icon. Each step in writing the icon, as well as the materials used, has sacred meaning. Many icons are written on traditional wooden boards, with an indented space within which the image is painted. Each board is first covered with linen and many layers of gesso (made from marble dust) before the image is outlined. The pigments used to paint the icon are ground minerals, and the colors are symbolic: red symbolizes the blood of Christ and martyrdom; white, purity; blue, truth; gold, the glory of God.
A nurse by training, Green attended Seminary of the Southwest, Austin and was ordained in 1992. She served as vicar of Christ Church in Cedar Park before joining the chaplains group at St. Luke’s Hospital, Houston and now teaches at the diocese’s Iona School of Ministry. She began her training in iconography because she wanted to learn to paint portraits, to paint Christ’s face. Karayiannis tried to explain to her that—the process is not “that easy or logical.”
“It took me a while to realize that making icons is a religious art, it is sacramental and done for the benefit of the person who will interact with that icon,” Green said. “One
has to surrender to the process and realize that it is a spiritual discipline of prayer, guided and enabled by the Holy Spirit.”
“It takes time to understand the importance of the process and the discipline. I cannot paint just any time. When I feel a divine intervention, it comes out on the icon—you feel it,” Karayiannis said. A classically trained Byzantine iconographer, Karayiannis was born in Greece, where she studied, then worked for one of the leading iconographers in Greece. After a brief time in Toronto, she moved to Houston in 1991, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
The first images that appeared were influenced by complex historical contexts and many cultural dependencies as well as the war of the holy images during which the iconoclasts destroyed innumerable icons. The first images were paintings from the third century, showing Mary with the wise Men adoring the Child.
In the fourth century, Constantine’s conversion served to fuel an esthetic period for the next several centuries. Following the Third Ecumenical Council, held in Ephesus in 431, Mary, who was there proclaimed to be the Mother of God, began to appear in images with the divine child on her lap. In 730 a doctrinal war arose between partisans and enemies of icons, which ended in 842 when icons were once again exalted. Byzantine icons became an integral part of the Orthodox faith during the Byzantine Empire. They were used to express in images the same Gospel message that Scripture communicates in words. Image and word illuminate each other, while neither can substitute for the other.
While they were suppressed in Soviet-era Russia, they enjoyed a revival in the 20th century, further stimulated by the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in the 1980s.
Icons are sacred paintings of Jesus Christ, Mary and many angels and saints characterized by vivid colors and often gold colored backgrounds. They are embedded with symbolic language, a “visual theology,” Green said. “They are huge with meaning.”
For example, the ears of Christ are large and his mouth is small to signify that he hears everything but only speaks words of holy wisdom. Icons only seem to have a width and a
26 | epicenter.org
height, no depth as traditional paintings. The third dimension of an icon is spiritual and therefore goes beyond what the eye can see. Icons are a window into the sacred and enable one who is praying to the person depicted to connect directly with that person. As St. Paul said, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15).
Illumination by the Holy Spirit is an important part of an iconographer’s ability to express the living truth. Because of the
sacred nature of an icon, it follows that the icon “writer” be more than an artist. An iconographer is a theologian as much as he is an artist presupposing a lifestyle of prayer and meditation.
“When a person is learning, they don’t really have time to contemplate. Students have to have patience to learn to get to a certain skill level so it can become contemplative,” Karayiannis said. She has taught classes at St. Christopher’s and St. Mark’s in Houston as well as private
lessons.
“Some people have the attitude that you can just pick this up,” Green pointed out. “It’s more than a skill, it is a spiritual discipline.”
It can take a month or several years to complete an icon. Gold leaf used to cost has doubled, today it has doubled. Boards on which icons are painted come from two sources in the Unite5
Scan to view more Icon in the EDOT Gallery online
Right clockwise: Our Lady of Sorrow by Karayiannis; Nole Me Tagere by Green; Angel by
Karayiannis and Pantocrator by Green. The two artists will teach an adult class on icons at
Christ Church Cathedral at 10 a.m. Sunday, December 11. The exhibit will be open following
the class.
Vivian Karayiannis and the Rev. Mary Green discuss the finer points of writing icons.
Diolog | 27 | DECEMBER 2011
28 | epicenter.org
PROFILE: ADVOCACY
MEHOP Finds New Ways to Do ‘God’s Work’
Life changes fast at the Matagorda
Episcopal Health Outreach Program
(MEHOP). In 2008, the clinic received
3,370 patient visits, but by 2010, that
number had almost tripled to 10,079. In
that time span, the clinic was recognized
as a federally qualified institution,
received stimulus funding and hired a
full-time medical doctor, therapist and
dentist.
“It’s a good thing I like change,” said
executive director Celeste Harrison. Since
2008 she has overseen the expansion of the
nonprofit clinic in Matagorda County.
But as the saying goes, the more things
change, the more they stay the same.
Recently, MEHOP started offering a mobile
clinic, an idea that formed the basis for the
clinic in 1998. In 2007, MEHOP found a
permanent site in Bay City, but they are
now returning to their roots by sending
a mobile clinic to St. Thomas, Wharton,
twice a week.
“In many ways I’ve grown to appreciate
St. Thomas in Wharton,” Harrison said. “I
have to highlight them as a church that is
truly focused on outreach.”
The mobile clinic parks outside St.
Thomas’ Thrift Shop on Wednesdays and
Fridays, taking scheduled appointments
and walk-ins.
MEHOP primarily serves those who
are uninsured. Payment is determined on
a sliding scale system based on income.
Alhough MEHOP takes all types of
insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, their
patient visits are still 70 percent self-pay.
“That means we have to write tons of
grants,” Harrison explained. “And what
distinguishes MEHOP from most doctors’
offices is that we also have a case manager
and outreach people working for her. She is
a social worker and does case management
for all the clients who go through MEHOP.”
The clinic also offers health education
for the community on subjects such as
diabetes and high blood pressure, which are
typical ailments in their client base. Most
of the people visiting live on fixed incomes
and many of them make too much money
to qualify for government funding, but
not enough to afford their own insurance.
Currently, MEHOP is working on building
their client base as they continue to gather
more resources.
As MEHOP has expanded, so has the
face of the staff. Many of the providers and
administrative staff left jobs in completely
unrelated fields to be a part of the work at
MEHOP.
“Many of us came to MEHOP because
we were really and truly called to be here,”
said Harrison, who left a life as a stay-at-
home mom with a background in chemical
engineering.
“Our lives will never be the same.
Almost everyone has a story as to why they
are here,” Harrison said.
Dentist John Ferguson left his practice
in Indiana after 25 years to work for the
nonprofit clinic in May of 2010. MEHOP is
now the preferred medical provider for the
area, ahead of other for-profit businesses.
“I love being here,” Ferguson said. “I do
see a lot more patients that have issues with
their general health, not just dental health.
In that way, it is a little more challenging,
but it’s interesting.”
Nina Sicking was a nurse and diabetes
educator at MEHOP a few years ago when
she decided to go back to school to become
a nurse practitioner. Already in her 60’s,
Sicking took classes for three years in order
to help the clinic.
“The hardest thing for me is finding
ways to treat these patients that they
can afford,” she said. “Since I worked in
education so long, I’m really big on diet and
exercise.”
MEHOP is currently in the process of
moving all of their records to electronic
databases. Harrison expects this process to
increase efficiency and lead to better care,
but the process has forced them to slow the
pace of patient visits while they catch up.
by Luke Blount
Diolog | 29 | DECEMBER 2011
The landscape at MEHOP continues to evolve and expand, but
the message is still the same. Since it began as a project funded by
The Episcopal Diocese of Texas and Episcopal Health Charities,
the clinic has found new funding from different sources and has
worked to serve new clients. But Harrison and her colleagues have
the same mission.
“I don’t know how you could work here and not understand
what God expects us to do, and in my view what he expects us to
do is to be out there helping others. We are open to God’s work.
When you go to church, you expect God’s presence, but we’ve
begun to live it as part of our lives and our work here.”
To learn more about MEHOP visit www.mehop.org or contact Celeste
Harrison at 979.245.2008 ext. 302 or [email protected].
Diolog visited MEHOP’s mobile unit in Wharton (top left). Celeste Harrison (top right),
MEHOP executive director, gives a tour of Dr. John Ferguson’s dental office in Bay City
(below).
30 | epicenter.org
PROFILE: CONGREGATION
The “Ladies Orchestra” was indirectly responsible for the death
of a mule. Sunday School teachers were “devoted” and funds
for the church’s organ came from a lemonade stand at the ladies’
baseball game in 1919. Apparently, women in Bay City carried
the day when it came to getting things done, although the mule
might take exception.
St. Mark’s organized in May 1895 when Bay City was
founded as the Matagorda County seat, a center for business and
the railroad. Many of the town’s founding members belonged to
St. Mark’s.
Rice farming and a population “boom” arrived with the
railroad at the turn of the 20th century; and St. Mark’s first church
building was dedicated in 1906, destroyed by a hurricane in
1909, and rebuilt the following year. By 1913, the relatively young
congregation gained parish status, no longer needing a subsidy
from the diocese.
St. Mark’s has been woven into the fabric of life in Bay
City since its inception. St. Mark’s has been a witness to rapid
industrial growth in the area and has survived two World Wars,
the Depression and other hard economic times. The congregation
provided the town’s first college preparatory school and raised up
a number of clergy.
An animated and colorful history describes church life as
“robust.” May fests and Christmas pageants involved “every” child.
Fabric of Life in Bay Cityby Carol E. Barnwell
Diolog | 31 | DECEMBER 2011
The ladies’ orchestra, known as the Melody
Six (with two saxophones), was established
to raise funds for the organ, and one member,
Lurline Wadsworth, served as an organist
at St. Mark’s for 54 years. During a church
event in 1971, she confessed the group’s
involvement in the death (in 1921) of a mule
that belonged to Seth and Ella Taylor. Dr.
Sam Sholars had been the orchestra’s “official
chauffeur” and hit the mule while driving the
group home from a dance in Wharton where
they had played.
“When the impact came, we were
thrown from our seats to the floor,”
Wadsworth told church members at the St.
Mark’s Day celebration in 1971. “In a state of
shock, we dug out amid instruments …” and
no one said a word about the mule.
The Taylors noticed the broken
headlights and surmised how their mule had
died. Although they suspected their fellow
church members, the Melody six, “no one
knew for sure,” Wadsworth said.
Reading these early accounts, it is easy
to see the humor and the strong relationships
that resulted from life at St. Mark’s. The
young people’s service league was established
in the early ‘20s and was a focal point for
young people in the community for many
years.
In 1962, when the Colorado River
opened to barge traffic, Celanese Chemical
Company moved to Bay City. The South
Texas Nuclear Plant was being constructed
and both added to the area’s traditional
economic base of rice, cattle and oil. An
economic downturn followed the growth of
the ‘50s and ‘60s as the congregation aged
and people transferred away.
Today, the Rev. Susan Kennard leads a
gifted and renewed congregation of leaders
who are active in the decision making and
ministry of St. Mark’s and in Bay City. A
recent renovation of the large kitchen has
made it possible for the church to join with
other local nonprofits to serve breakfast to
less fortunate members of the community.
St. Mark’s has a strong history of leaders
and indeed has produced three bi-vocational
priests in recent years. The Rev. Hoss Gwin
is an attorney who currently serves at Christ
Church, Matagorda. The Rev. Dr. Jim Ely is
a physician and served at St. John’s, Palacios.
The Rev. Harley Savage runs the rice farm
founded by his grandfather in the 1920s (see
page 21). All three credit an engaged and
supportive congregation.
Ely said he had a difficult time deciding
whether to give up his role as a physician
to enter seminary and was thrilled at the
prospect of being able to do both. Ely plans
to retire from his obstetrics practice soon but
will take up a part-time position using his
medical skills at Matagorda Episcopal Health
Outreach Program, a community ministry of
St. Mark’s.
Savage, who was baptized at St. Mark’s
in 1938 and confirmed by Bishop Clinton
Quin in 1942, agrees with Ely. He and his
wife, Jane, raised five children at St. Mark’s.
He thinks St. Mark’s has entered a pattern of
growth today similar to one experienced in
the 60s. “If we continue to grow, we will be
thinking of having three services on Sunday
morning again,” he said. The town has
swelled to 18,000 from the 4,000 of Savage’s
younger years.
Kennard is part of the area’s ministerial
alliance and makes sure the community
knows about St. Mark’s. The congregation’s
ministries include an annual medical and
dental mission to northeastern Honduras,
established nearly 20 years ago, and they
helped found a local clinic and social
service agency, Matagorda Episcopal Health
Outreach Program. (Read more about
MEHOP on page 28),
Church growth is not magic. “I’m very
faithful as a pastor,” Kennard said. “Sunday
School and outreach are also important,” she
said.
Savage puts credit for church growth
directly on Kennard’s lap. “Susan is one
of most compassionate people I know.
That’s had a big impact—caring for people
goes a long way.” Her pastoral model has
invigorated the Lay Eucharistic visitors, he
said.
St. Mark’s also has consistent clergy
leadership when Kennard is away from
church, as Savage and Ely fill in during her
absence.
Savage believes the church’s ability to
integrate young people into the literal life
of the church is critical to growth. “You
have to train leaders and give them an
opportunity to participate and the ability to
make decisions,” he said. He points to his
adolescence and influence of the priest and
earlier bishops as guiding examples in his life.
“They did everything to make me a part of
the church, not just a ‘stand-in.’ That has an
impact on young people.”
Kennard said she looks for expansion in
the near future. Sometimes the pews are not
ful,l but there is little room left in the nursery
with 10 toddlers. She hopes to increase the
church’s capacity to meet the needs of Bay
City’s poor. “That’s a ministerial alliance
project,” Savage adds, but that shouldn’t be
a problem for St. Mark’s. Maybe they can
reconstitute the Melody Six for a benefit
concert.
St. Mark’s sunday school classes continue to grow.
32 | epicenter.org
CAMP ALLEN“We have become known for our Christian hospitality
in event planning and sponsored programs.”Hosting more than 52,000 guests
annually is a hospitality challenge, but
Camp Allen has established itself as one of
the leading Christian Conference Centers
in the U.S.
“Camp Allen guests are looking for a
retreat experience that they can’t receive
from a typical hotel environment,” said the
camp’s president, George Dehan.
“Camp Allen delivers that experience
with a staff that has a passion for customer
service. This is inherent in the Christian
hospitality that we provide,” he said,
adding, “Our guests drive our mission—
they are the ones who really sign the
paychecks, and they let us know when we
need to adapt to something new.”
There is a big difference between a
facility that has a friendly environment and
a facility that offers Christian hospitality.
Camp Allen has a chapel that seats nearly
1,000 people, three large wooden crosses
on the property, an outdoor chapel, two
meditation areas, daily worship services
and a full-time chaplaincy program—all
created to welcome Christians.
“More than 200 churches gathered at our
Diolog | 33 | DECEMBER 2011
Camp Allen staff member Alice Mock assists child with special needs off a horse during Joni and Friends Family Camp.Photos: Lauren Day
camp last year in addition to the Episcopal churches we hosted from
our own diocese,” said Toni Christopher, Camp Allen’s marketing
director. “We have become known for our Christian hospitality
in event planning and sponsored programs,” she said. An event
coordinator on the Camp Allen staff calls every guest group one
month prior to their arrival to ensure the camp meets goals and
aspirations for the best guest experience possible.
The mission begins during the hiring process. Camp Allen hires
staff members who embrace customer service as a goal rather than
a task. An employee cannot just be a quiet dishwasher doing their
job. “The conference center dishwashers are present at the window
where guests return their trays and they thank the person they see
in that window,” Dehan explains.
“Think about how important this is. Our dishwashers know
how our guests feel about their meals before
anyone else. That same concept applies to
the campsite kitchens,” he said. Campsite
kitchen crews welcome 7,200 impressionable
children each year. The food quality is
important but the welcoming atmosphere
is also very important. Campers notice and
they respond positively. All staff members—
the front desk receptionists, maintenance
people, camp counselors, housekeepers,
and administrative personnel—consider a
welcoming spirit as an important part of
their job.
The welcoming atmosphere at Camp
Allen affects multiple generations and
transcends all of the programs that are
offered. Parents have sent their children
to Camp Allen for 90 years. Parents and
grandparents want their children to
experience the same environment that they
experienced in a spiritual and nurturing
sense. Though the programs, equipment and
facilities are improved each year, the clergy
and youth leaders bring a faith-filled week to
a new generation each summer, articulating
their love for Christ.
“We have seen unchurched people attend
a Camp Allen program after their child
experienced the Discovery Program with their fourth- or fifth-
grade class,” Dehan said. Many groups plan their events annually on
the same dates to share their experience on the 1100-acre, wooded
property. After a guest departs, the group leader receives a full
survey from Camp Allen to assure both Camp Allen and our guests’
coordinators that everything was as they wished.
“A heart-felt welcome, consideration of a guest’s needs and a
positive response encourage guests to share their experience with
others and to come back. The results speak for themselves. Our
many, many returning guests are a good sign that there is Christian
hospitality at work,” Dehan said.
To learn more about Camp Allen or to see a complete listing of upcoming events, please visit: www.campallen.org or call 936.825.7175.
34 | epicenter.org
NEWS & EVENTS
December
2 6 p.m. Diocesan Clergy Christmas Party, Camp Allen 4 7 a.m. Lord of the Streets, Houston 10:30 a.m. Trinity, Houston, CF 4 p.m. Blessing of New Property & Buildings,
St. Francis School, Houston 6-7 Executive Board, Camp Allen 7 6 p.m. Holy Apostles, Katy, CF 11 11:15 a.m. St. Martin’s, Houston, CF 18 10 a.m. Holy Cross, Sugar Land, CF 24 11 p.m. Christmas Eve Eucharist, Christ Church, Houston 26 11 a.m. Feast of St. Stephen Day Mass & Boxing
Day Celebration, Houston
January 5 11 a.m. Northwest Convocation Clericus, St. Paul’s, Waco 8 11 a.m. St. Philip’s, Palestine, CF 9-10 HOB Committee with Presiding Bishop,
Episcopal Church Center 10-13 Society of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge, MA 15 10:30 a.m. Holy Comforter, Spring, CF 22 10 a.m. Christ Church, Eagle Lake, CF 6 p.m. Three Choirs Festival Evensong,
St. Thomas’, Houston 26 9 a.m. St. Luke’s Health Charities Grant Conference,
Camp Allen 29 11 a.m. St. Mary Magdalene, Manor, CF
February 1 7 p.m. Howard Castelberry Celebration of New Ministry,
Christ Church, Nacogdoches 5 10 a.m. Epiphany, Houston, CF 10-11 163rd Diocesan Council, Bryan-College Station 16 5 p.m. Diocese of West Texas Annual Convention,
McAllen 19 10:30 a.m. St. Matthew’s, Austin, CF 5 p.m. St. Mary’s, Bellville, CF 23 11 a.m. Southwest Convocation Clericus,
St. Mark’s, Bay City 25 Wardens & Vestry Conference, Houston 28-29 Abundant Living Conference, Camp Allen
The Rev. Carol Blaine accepted the appointment as interim rector of Good Shepherd, Friendswood.
The Rev. Todd Bryant accepted a call as rector of Ascension, Houston. He was formerly associate rector of Palmer, Houston.
The Rev. Howard Castleberry accepted a call as rector of Christ Church, Nacogdoches. He was formerly the assistant to the rector of Christ Church, Temple.
The Rev. Gena Davis is now the vicar of Grace, Houston. She previously served as assistant to the rector of Trinity, Baytown.
The Rev. Mifflin H. Dove resigned as rector at St. Paul’s, Katy, and the Rev. Robert E. Wareing will serve as interim rector.
Lorinda Driskell, an Iona School student, was appointed pastoral leader at Trinity, Anahuac.
The Rev. Glennda Hardin will serve as a deacon at St. Stephen’s, Liberty.
The Rev. Rich Houser accepted the appointment as pastoral fellow at St. Luke’s Hospital, Houston. Houser was previously the assistant to the vicar of St. Aidan’s, Cypress.
The Rev. Steve Kinney is now the assisting priest at All Saints, Austin.
The Rev. Kirkland “Skully” Knight accepted a call as middle school chaplain for Episcopal High School of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Knight previously served as chaplain at All Saints’ School, Tyler.
The Rev. Doug Lasiter is no longer the acting rector of St. Michael’s, La Marque.
Mark Marmon, an Iona School student, was appointed pastoral leader at All Saints’, Hitchcock.
The Rev. Tracie Middleton has moved out of the Diocese of Texas. She was previously deacon at St. John’s, Silsbee.
The Rev. Lance Ousley accepted a call as Canon for Stewardship and Development in the Diocese of Olympia. Ousley was formerly the rector of St. Thomas, Wharton.
The Rev. Josephine Robertson was fully licensed as a priest. She was previously conditionally licensed as a deacon.
The Rev. Brad St. Romain accepted a call as rector of St. Francis’, Temple. He previously served as associate rector, St. Paul’s, Waco.
The Rev. Paul Wehner, formerly the rector of Grace, Galveston, is now the rector of Calvary, Richmond.
The Rev. Aaron Zimmerman is the new associate rector in charge of outreach, families and young adult ministries at St. Martin’s, Houston. He previously served in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Deaths
The Rev. J. Patrick (Pat) Hazel of St. David’s, Austin, died October 1.
The Rev. J. Allan Green of Lakeway, Texas, died August 9.
Please keep the Hazel and Green families in your prayers.
Bishop Doyle’s Calendar People
Diolog | 35 | DECEMBER 2011
EDOT
benefiting St. James’ Houseepicenter.org/edotgallery
Gallery
Sign up to host a gathering of 8–12 at epicenter.org/sharingfaith. A trained moderator will attend each dinner.
Share your own story of faith at: epicenter.org/sharing
Contact the Rev. Gena Davis for more information at [email protected].
THURSDAYAPRIL 26, 2012
Encounter faith with a simple meal and fellow
Episcopalians.
SHARING
FAITH
White Rose by Carol Andrews Jensen
Artists from throughout the Diocese of Texas have donated works to enhance the surroundings at St. James’ House, the diocesan retirement community in Baytown.
“We are grateful to all the artists who have donated pieces for the enjoyment of the residents at St. James’ House,” said Kathy Tellepsen, chair of the St. James’ House Board. “We have a lot of space to hang photographs and paintings and they add so much to the atmosphere. We hope others will join in the project,” she added.
Pieces will be exhibited at the Diocesan Center in January and at Diocesan Council before being hung at St. James’ House. To donate a piece, contact Carol E. Barnwell, [email protected].
All donations are tax deductible.
EDOT Gallery is located in the Diocesan Center in Downtown Houston
and is open from 9-5, M-F. Call 713.520.6444
for group tours.
The Episcopal Diocese of Texas1225 Texas StreetHouston, TX 77002-3504
Plan Your 2012 Meetings Now
Why do more than 200 churches meet at our facility each year?Visit campallen.org to find out.
Camp Allen is within an hour of Houston, and it is the best site possible for conferences and retreats. The food, the facilities, and the stadd represent the very best in Christian hositality.
