The vicar officiates at a wedding

Today I had the pleasure of officiating at the wedding of Zach Cundiff and Allyson Sultan. The wedding took place at Kiana Lodge, a marvelous setting right on the shores of Agate Passage. The weather was perfect, the bride was radiant, and the ceremony was grace-filled...and brief.

Allyson was raised in a Jewish family, but as an adult she has embraced the Christian faith. In order not to offend her family, who are observant Jews, she asked at the very start if I could do a wedding without using the name of Jesus.

I wasn't sure about that, never having done an interfaith wedding before. So I called a trusted advisor, a retired priest I respect. He pointed out that the Prayer Book offers a good deal of latitude in "An Order for Marriage" on p. 435. So I used the wedding service, offering the prayers in the name of God.

After the ceremony, members of her family thanked me for showing sensitivity for their beliefs. I answered by saying, "There is only one God, and we all worship the same God," to which they agreed.

It was a lovely ceremony and a lavish reception, a joyous occasion and a good start to a strong and fulfilling marriage.

The bicycling Vicar

There's a charming stereotype of the barmy small-town English Vicar who rides his bicycle wherever he goes. Well, I hope I'm not barmy, but I am starting to ride my bike!

Today I rode my bicycle to church, a distance of about 6 miles. It takes me 30 minutes and it's very refreshing. To get home, I'll take the bus from Kitsap Mall to Pine Rd. and Riddell Rd., a short (downhill) ride home.

I like to ride my bicycle for several reasons. One is for my health. When I get regular exercise, I feel better all over and my energy level is consistently higher. I get good aerobic exercise, and my heart and lungs get a workout.

Another reason is environmental. When I ride my bicycle, I'm not emitting any hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, and I'm not using using up the petroleum resources of the earth. That feels good.

A third reason is that it helps ground me. When I ride my bicycle, I see things differently. I'm closer to the ground, and I breathe the air and feel the rain. I get a feel of just how far six miles is. It makes me feel more connected to my world.

Of course, I can't ride every day. Often I have visits or meetings to attend that require driving a car. But when I can, I'm going to try to ride my bike.
-

Celebrating the Fourth of July in church

Yesterday we celebrated the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, which happened to fall the day after the Fourth of July, also known as Independence Day.

During our worship we said several of the Prayers for National Life, including the Collect for Independence Day (p. 242 in the Prayer Book); the Thanksgiving for the Nation (p. 838); the Collect for Heroic Service (p. 839); and we sang "My country, 'tis of thee" and "O beautiful for spacious skies" in the 10:00 Eucharist.

My question: Is this about the right amount of patriotic content for the Sunday after the Fourth of July? Too much? Too little?

As the Episcopal Church, we have a tradition of praying for the nation which goes back to our roots in the Church of England, a state church. The church is to hold up the nation before God and ask God's blessing and favor.

The other side of that tradition is that the church is supposed to play a prophetic role in the nation, calling the country to account when we fail to meet our ideals. Being too closely aligned with the nation makes it difficult to speak prophetically.

So the church needs to celebrate the nation and its values, but not identify itself completely with the nation. Finding that fine line can be difficult. Let's hope we get it right.
-

The Vicar goes golfing

Yesterday I went golfing for the first time in my entire life. I never thought I would become one of those guys with the knickers and the tweed vest, but....here I am!

Actually, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the outing. I was asked by two parishioners to go with them to Village Greens Golf Course in Port Orchard. "No pressure...we just play for fun," they said. And they were true to their word.

We three duffers ambled through the golf course, swinging and putting and making excuses for our whiffs and clunkers. Every shot that was halfway in the right direction got high praise all around. How much more fun can it get?

Village Greens is the poor man's golf course. With short fairways and a simple layout, it's not much of a challenge for a competitive golfer. But for a beginner like me...perfect. I used a set of loaner clubs, and my friends gave me tips on how to swing and which club to use.

The payoff for me was not only a pleasant day with friends, but a chance to get to know my parishioners better. There's nothing like a casual stroll up the fairway to share what's going on in your life. Golfing with parishioners is a kind of pastoral care (Did I actually say that?). Just part of the daily work of a clergyman.
-

Children's sermon

On Sunday I gave my first childrens sermon at St. Antony's. I told the children the story of the healing of Jairus' daughter by drawing a picture for them on an easel pad. Above is one of my practice drawings.

I plan to do childrens sermons during the summer, when Sunday School is in recess. I want to let the children know that they're important to us, and I hope to communicate the Gospel story in ways they can absorb it.

A good childrens sermon takes as much preparation as an adult sermon...and sometimes it communicates the Gospel better than the adult sermon! A childrens sermon should pack the Gospel story into a easily grasped package. That means simplifying the message and crafting a good container - not easy.

We'll see how my creativity holds out over the course of the summer!

Choir retreat

Today we held our choir retreat to mark the end of this year's choir season. Before our picnic lunch at the Little's lakeside home, we had a fruitful conversation about what choir means to us and we shared our hopes and dreams for next year's choir.

Several of us spoke about how important music is to our spirituality, and how for us singing is praying. All of us value the relationships formed in choir, and we resolved to do better next year in spending social time together as a choir.

We agreed that we want to have enough time to prepare a high-quality anthem, and so we'll only offer an anthem very two weeks or so next year. We also decided to spend a Sunday afternoon at the Little's once every two months to really work on some music.

We sang a round together for our grace, and after lunch we sang from the "Wonder, Love and praise" Hymnal. It was lovely to sing together and hear our voices blend with each other.

Stewardship Conference

I feel like I've overdosed on conferences. First I had eight days of the College for Congregational Development, then a day of Fresh Start on Tuesday, then Saturday I attended a stewardship conference at St. John's, Kirkland, entitled, "Enabling Generosity in Anxious Times".

The stewardship conference had some practical offerings as well as some food for thought. "The Ten Commandments of Annual Pledge Campaigns" was especially helpful in planning a successful pledge campaign. Here are some of the key points:

1. Conceptualize the program at the beginning - get the big picture.
2. Identify the support you'll need, like key people and databases.
3. Define the parish leadership roles. Who will do what?
4. Recruit and train the leaders of the campaign.
5. Define what the mailings will be, such as invitations, thank yous, and pledge cards.
6. Recruit people to offer their witness.
7. Create a theme for the campaign with words and images.
8. Plan events that will happen.
9. Celebrate "Pledge Sunday" when pledges are returned.
10. Follow up with thank yous and evaluations.

I'm sure this will be helpful as we plan our pledge campaign this summer and fall.
-