Thanksgiving Eve service

Tonight at 7:00 We'll join the local Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist congregations for a Thanksgiving Eve service at Central Kitsap Presbyteran Church. We'll have a combined choir, liturgical dancers, a trumpet ensemble, a bell choir, holy communion, lots of cookies...and I'll be preaching.

I'll be talking about gratitude as a spiritual practice, remembering some of the times I've failed to be grateful and thinking about ways to slow down and look at what we have. The scripture text is the story of the ten lepers healed by Jesus in Luke 17. Only one of them stops and realizes what God has done for him. Stopping, I'll suggest, is the key to gratitude.

Everyone is invited to bring a non-perishable food offering for the Central Kitsap Food Bank. Sounds like a good event.

Al Stedman, "Bee Man"

Al Stedman, "The Bee Man"

Yesterday we had the memorial service for Al Stedman. There were over 200 people present - far more than we could seat in the church. Al was known throughout the state as "The Bee Man" because of his work as a beekeeper and a teacher of beekeepers.

In additional to his large extended family, we had quite a number of beekeepers present. Like Al, they're colorful and independent characters. Beekeepers work for themselves and they work outdoors...a good combination for people with an independent streak.

Two of Al's granddaughters gave a eulogy for him and his daughter Nancy also spoke. All three offered heartfelt memories of Al. They admitted he could be stubborn and obstinate, but they also remembered his warmth and support.

Al and his wife Barbara lived in their house on Anderson Hill for over forty years. It was a center for beekeepers from all over this area, and the local beekeeping association has met there for years. Al had his shop there and sold beekeeping products. His son will keep it going.

It was a privilege to be with this family in their loss and grief, and to see how a closely connected extended family draws close in times of need.
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A letter to County Commissioner Bauer

When I moved to Silverdale, I fully intended to use my bicycle to commute to work. What I found, however, is that the roads are too narrow and congested for bicycling. Bicycling on Bucklin Hill Road means jockeying for space with fast-moving cars and trucks, and there's no shoulder and no bike lane.

So when I read in the newspaper about the county Commissioners discussing whether they should include bike lanes on the new Waaga Way connector road that will go past our church, I decided to write a letter to county commissioner Steve Bauer in support of bike lanes. Here it is:

Dear Commissioner Bauer,

I read in the Silverdale Life issue of the Kitsap Sun your comments about bike lanes on the Waaga Way Connector, and I see that you have a work session on Waaga Way next Monday.

I'm the pastor of St. Antony's Episcopal Church, located on Old Frontier Road, which will become connected to the new Waaga Way road. I'm also a bicycle commuter, and I support bike lanes on all new road construction.

I encourage you to fight for bike lanes on Waaga Way. Most of the roads in the Silverdale area were built in the 1980's to funnel automobiles into a giant mall, and bicycle transportation wasn't even considered then. Most of the Silverdale area has no bike lanes, and bicycling is hazardous on Silverdale roads. We really need bike lanes in Silverdale!

I'm convinced that the transportation of the future will include large numbers of bicyclists. We've already passed peak oil, and petroleum-fueled cars are going the way of the dinosaur. We're building roads today for the future, and we need to include bike lanes to meet those needs.

Thank you for supporting bike lanes on this new road.

Sincerely,

The Rev. Bill Fulton
St. Antony Episcopal Church
Silverdale, WA 98383
Blog: http://vicarofsilverdale.blogspot.com/

The Bishop's address at Convention

Bishop Greg gave his annual address to the Diocese at Convention. Let me summarize the high points.

Radical Hospitality. He gave a humorous example of radical hospitality by telling us about his first visit to his dentist, in which he received the complete and total attention of the dentist and her staff. This was his way of emphasizing the importance of welcoming guests to our churches.

Three priorities. The bishop has always stated his three priorities are: People 35 and under; Congregational development; and Stewardship of all of our resources—human, monetary and our environment. He cited many instances where the diocese is working on those goals.

People 35 and under: a new commission for the emerging church; and a new diocesan staff person for youth.

Congregational Development: the founding of the College for Congregational Development; and the beginning of the Safeguarding God's Children training program.

Stewardship: the success of the Bishop's Society; good work by the Bishop's Committee for the Environment, including the Genesis Covenant; his service on the Governor's Climate Action team; and raising $160,000 for hurricane relief and malaria nets.

He mentioned the economic recession and addressed concerns about the tightening economy, and he talked about his mutual ministry review.

You can find the whole address on the diocesan website by clicking here.

Indaba groups at Convention

At Diocesan Convention last week, we spent several hours in discussion groups using the "Indaba" format. Indaba is a term used in African villages when an issue needs to be discussed by the whole village. In an Indaba group, everyone has the right to talk and the discussion goes on as long as necessary to iron out the problem.

In the planning of the Convention, resolutions on human sexuality were proposed for debate on the convention floor. Bishop Greg asked that we use Indaba groups in place of resolutions, and that's what we did. One of our Indaba sessions was on human sexuality, and asked the question, "Is the church ready to move ahead with full inclusion of gay and lesbian people?"

In his weekly letter, he said he'd gotten a lot of feedback about the Indaba groups and the reduced amount of debate on resolutions. Here's my letter to him with my feedback:

Dear Bishop Greg,

I appreciate your comments about the Indaba discussion groups at Convention last week. For me the Indaba groups were a refreshing change from the usual debate format. Small group discussion is a much better way to engage an issue than listening to a few tedious people wield microphones on the convention floor.

Our group had a good discussion on the questions on human sexuality. The members of our group were clearly in favor of the suggestion that the church is ready to move ahead with full inclusion of gay and lesbian people. I was alone in cautioning that some people in my parish would not be ready to accept that suggestion, and we had a good discussion about how important it is to remember the whole body of the church.

One of the members of our group told about her joy in seeing the baptism in her parish of the children of her lesbian daughter and her partner. Another person told how he moved from rejection to acceptance of gay and lesbian people. It was very helpful to hear these stories.

I hope we'll continue to use Indaba groups at future conventions.

Thanks,
Bill Fulton

Diocesan Convention

I spent Friday and Saturday at Diocesan Convention with our parish delegates Bill Demmon and Elizabeth Flagg. They were two very busy days, with an overwhelming amount of information to process. I'll be thinking about what we heard and saw for a few days and I'll share more about that later.
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Diocesan Convention Friday and Saturday

I'll be in Seattle Friday and Saturday for the Diocesan Convention. During this annual two-day event, representatives from all the churches in the diocese get together to do the business of the diocese and gain inspiration and vision for the coming year.

Inevitably there are resolutions to be debated and passed. I'm of the opinion that unless a resolution makes a real difference in the real world, we shouldn't entertain it. Too often people put forward resolutions that just promote their own political or personal agenda and have no impact whatsoever after the convention is over.

Bishop Greg has written that he hopes this convention will center around learning, bible study and sharing between people from different churches. This is more of a relational emphasis and less of a legislative emphasis. I hope it works.

We'll have Eucharist twice during the convention and as a clergy new to the diocese, I'll help administer communion tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to that.

I'll give a brief recap of convention when I get back.

Board meeting for CK Food Bank

On Tuesday evening I attended the board meeting of the Central Kitsap Food Bank. Previously I visited the food bank warehouse and met the executive director, Hoyt Burrows.

I was impressed with the board. There were about a dozen people present, and nearly all of them contributed to the discussion. Obviously they're ore than just names on a letterhead, but they're a working board.

They talked quite a bit about the upcoming Thanksgiving Dinner program. They'll be giving away hundreds of turkey dinners to people in need. They've had 600 turkeys donated and they've organized a special volunteer effort to give out the dinners in the week before Thanksgiving Day.

The board also went over their budget, their publicity efforts, a new truck purchase and of course the latest treasurer's report. They've already begun to organize their auction scheduled for next May 30. The chair of the meeting kept it moving along and the staff provided needed information.

Our Outreach Committee is always looking for outreach partnerships in our community. We have a long relationship with the Food Bank; it's only a couple of blocks from our door; and it does the work that Jesus calls us to do. I think it's a good match for our parish.

I'm going to explore how I can become more involved at the food bank, and see how it develops.
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Blog on vacation

I'll be on vacation this week, November 3-8, as I visit my family in Colorado.

I'll spend a few days with my mother in La Junta, and a couple of days with my sister and brother in Boulder and Broomfield. It'll be nice to see them all again.