March 16, 2009 - Letters to the Churches of Carbon County and beyond

The Altar Guild at St. Paul is one of silent work. This group of people quietly go about their work and prepare everything for the service. I just happen to "catch" them when they were setting up.

Here is a picture of the faithful at St. James in Encampment. It has been almost a month or two since I been there. The young family made it for the service and so we had kids help out with the service and according to tradition the "newest" member of the congregation (the person on the right) was incorporated into the service by asking her to lead the Prayers of the People.

Here is a picture of St. Thomas doing what they do well. The celebration of St. Patrick's day is in full swing. The picture itself was taken a couple of weeks ago, but that did not dissuade this group from having a party!

For the record that is Ice tea in my hand! A young girl asked me to put on this hat and so I did. Others around LSRV (Little Snake River Valley) could not let this photo opportunity get a way and so the picture was taken!

March 16, 2009

Hello folks of Carbon County and beyond, how is the season of Lent treating you? It feels like an in-between winter and spring. The calves are not quite ready to drop, basketball tournament time is gearing up (aka March Madness), the snow comes and goes, and the wind continues to blow around. Talking about blowing around lets take a quick look around the county; St. James continues to be a stable force in the midst of change (weddings and arrivals of old friends); St. Luke is plugging along; St. Paul has competed their discernment and I will get to that latter in this letter; St. Thomas continues to work through the season of Lent. I hope this letter finds you well.

Last Monday I attended a book study at St. Thomas. The gathered group has been working through a book called “The Bible for Today’s Church” from the original Church Teaching Series. As a part of Karen’s formation process a group has been gathering about every two weeks to share their insights of this material. The session covered the entire Bible in a narrative form as another way to tell the stories. For the group they found this approach to be refreshing to see the Bible with a new set of eyes. As the exercise they went through the prayer that is found on pg 838 (For the Saints and Faithful Departed) of the Book of Common Prayer and looked at how well they identified those who were named. Great bible quiz!

Tuesday I did some correspondence both by e-mail and phone calls; mostly it was an administrative day. Wednesday I was one the weekly web/phone call with other Ministry Developers, we talked about the Wyoming Visitor Weekend (similar to the Northern Michigan’s Visitor Weekend) the successful move of the Diocesan office for the renovation (all mailing addresses and phone numbers will remain the same) a brief report on LifeCycles and general check in. It is amazing that we can cover so much in one hour. Thursday was another day for sermon writing and general correspondence. Friday I was contacting people all over Region IV to both remind them about the Apostolic Meeting on March 28, 2009 in Rawlins and the future of this group.

Sunday I presided at two services. The first service was at St. James in Encampment. Fred was not at the service and so the faithful people of this church carried on without their verger. The kids were most helpful in the collections of the alms and assisting me with the setting of the Table. They have planned a master planning session on March 29, 2009 @ 5pm to look at the church and begin to imagine the future which will include the Mustard Seed Project.

Sunday evening was in at St. Paul’s in Dixon a.k.a. Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) for a couple of things. One, the training for the Eucharistic Visitors or EVs has started. Jill will be leading these classes and helping others be prepared for this ministry. I made the announcement in regards to the outcome of the discernment process. The process that was used for this discernment followed these steps. One, the congregation does a discernment and submits names of people they see who are called to the priesthood. Those names would then be forwarded to the Bishop and Canon for Congregational Development. Once there is an agreement at that level the persons would be contacted directly for a time of personal discernment. It is when all three parties are in agreement then the names would be made public as discerned to enter the process to the priesthood. The purpose of this process is to give everybody freedom to respond to God’s call according to how they hear it. The persons who were discerned felt the call to continue with their ministries at St Paul and did not enter the process for Holy Orders. This is not an uncommon event; however I was told that the process was good because it provided the space for open and honest discernment without undue pressure to say yes or no. What happens next? St. Paul will continue to live into their identified ministries of the church and call again in a year’s time.

The remainder of the week looks like this: Tuesday I am heading to LSRV (St. Paul’s in Dixon) to make my presentation of my trip to Israel. This will include a dinner starting at 5:15pm and the presentation will start at 6pm. Wednesday is an all day web/phone meeting with the Ministry Developers. Thursday is an administrative day and Friday evening I will be attending the vestry meeting at St. Thomas. Saturday St. Thomas will have a Ministry Support Team (MST) meeting @ 9am. Sunday I will be at St. Luke’s in Medicine Bow at 10:30am. I am looking forward to catching up those folks and reloading my picture album!

Shalom my friends, shalom –

Doug