Tony's Trekkers

Last Saturday, I went on my first hike with "Tony's Trekkers", the hiking group that is based out of St. Antony's. There were fourteen of us including me and my son, Guy (second from left in the photo above).

We hiked 4.7 miles up the Lower Quilcene River trail to Jolly Camp, where we had lunch. My legs were aching by the time we finished the hike! But it was a good ache. It was a beautiful sunny day and I'm glad we had the shade of the huge old-growth trees to keep us cool.

Tony's Trekkers has been in existence for a number of years, and it attracts a good number of people, some of whom aren't members of St. Antony's. It's just nice to have someone to hike with!
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Welcome

The door to an Episcopal Church

In the Gospel lesson for Sunday, Jesus talks about welcoming. He says, "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me."

This comes at the end of a long section of teaching to the disciples, in which Jesus sent them out to do his work of teaching and healing. Now at the end of this teaching, he talks about the welcome they'll receive and the welcome others give them.

Perhaps Matthew included this teaching because the sending and welcoming of missionaries was such an important part of the early community of Christians. It may be that sometimes emissaries from a Christian community weren't welcomed in another community. Jesus's words about welcoming were therefore important.

Welcoming is part of the DNA of the church. From the earliest times, welcoming the stranger or the visitor was part of what it mean to be a follower of Jesus. Our churches should be welcoming places.

At st. Antony's, we welcome our newcomers, our visitors, and all who show up at our doors. We are a welcoming church.
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Who wants to be a prophet?

In the Old Testament lesson for next Sunday, we hear the prophet Jeremiah's scathing rebuke of the happy talk coming from Hananiah. Hananiah has been prophesying peace and good times for the people of Judah. Of course, this is what everybody wants to hear: the prosperity gospel. Things are only going to get better from here on.

But Jeremiah knows better. He knows that the people have not changed their evil ways and their sins still demand payment. Sarcastically, he says to Hananiah, "May the LORD fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles."

Then he reminds him what a prophet is: "The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet."

It's not easy being a prophet. Jeremiah suffered for his unrelenting message of repentance he preached. No one wanted to hear his message. But someone has to be the one to speak the truth, and Jeremiah was unable to stop himself from telling the bad news.

We all want to hear the good news, but sometimes we've got to hear the bad news before we can hear the good news. Who are our prophets today?
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A funeral and a baptism

One of the things I like about ministry is that I get to participate in the major life events of my parishioners. Last weekend was a perfect example: I officiated at the memorial service for Don on Saturday, and I baptised Andrew and his daughter Erin the next morning.

The memorial service for Don was dignified and yet personalized. Dick Scott gave a warm and personal remembrance of Don and others added their memories. Afterwards the church provided a reception (more like a banquet) in the parish hall. Don's friends and family came from far and near to remember him.

The baptism on Sunday was full of joy and light. I preached on baptism, and then I asked Andrew and his wife Lorien to come up with their daughter Erin, along with their sponsors. The font was right in front of the pews and very visible to all. The children of the church also gathered around as we joyfully baptised Andrew and Erin. After the service there was another big reception and gathering. What a wonderful day!

The church is the place where our major life events are observed. Birth, marriage, and death are marked with the sacraments, and week by week we are fed with the precious Body and Blood of our Lord. Is it any wonder I love the Church, even with all her flaws?
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Baptism this Sunday

This Sunday at the 10:00 Eucharist we'll baptize Andrew and his infant daughter Erin. Baptism is always the occasion for great joy (as in the photo above of a baptism I did a few years ago).

⁴It just so happens that in the Epistle reading for Sunday, Paul talks about baptism. He writes, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."

Baptism is a sign of the new life we have in Christ. When we are baptized, we enter into a new way of life that is open to the Spirit of God. This doesn't mean we suddenly stop sinning and become perfect beings, but it does mean that we open ourselves to the working of the Spirit.

I look at it this way. If we want to become a better person, we start associating with better people and we start new habits that will lead to better attitudes and behaviors. That's essentially what we're doing in baptism: we're associating ourselves with Jesus and the community of the Church, and in doing so we believe that we'll become a better person.

Andrew and his daughter Erin will be joined with Christ in baptism this Sunday and they become members of the believing family of St. Antony's. Welcome!
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Lunch with the Bishop of Olympia

Yesterday I traveled to Seattle and had lunch with Greg Rickel, our bishop. It was the first chance we've had to meet each other, and I'm grateful he fit me into his busy schedule. We dined at the Eastlake Bar and Grill with a lovely view of the Lake Union waterfront. It was a good opportunity for us to get to know each other and share a little about our ministries.

Greg (as he prefers to be called) is obviously very aware of what's happening in the congregations of the diocese and he asked specific questions about me and St. Antony's. It's good to know that he cares about us as a congregation.

Our bishop has a passion for congregational development, and he wants to see the congregations of the diocese focused on our mission. Telling the good news about Jesus, baptizing seekers, and living into our baptismal vows is what we're about.

I'm glad we've got a bishop with energy, focus, and a vision for the future.

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USS Turner Joy

Yesterday my sons and I toured the USS Turner Joy, a historic Navy ship berthed in the Bremerton waterfront. We gaped at the big deck guns and we wandered through the engine rooms, the mess, the officers' quarters, and the bridge. It was quite an eye-opener.

We did this because I want to get a feel for the Navy. I need to know what it's like to be on a ship enmeshed in the gritty daily life of a sailor. The narrow passageways, the tidy cabins, the carefully laid out engine room all attest to a carefully circumscribed life on board a ship. I especially liked the smell of diesel oil in the engine room and the aroma of cigars in the cabins. I could just imagine the salty chief petty officer growling at the young seamen.

On board a ship, everyone has their place and their duty to perform. There's a clear ladder of authority and the whole ship depends on everyone to do their job. It must be bracing to part of such a well-defined, highly organized network of command and performance. I can see why Navy people feel such pride.

The Turner Joy is a historic ship, of course. It was commissioned in 1959 and served in the VietNam conflict, among other tours of duty. Modern Navy ships are much more sophisticated technologically, with computerized systems of propulsion, firepower, and communications. But still I would guess the pattern of daily life on board ship is much the same.

I imagine that being in the modern Navy is much the same as being in a large corporation. There's a high level of complexity and an intense demand on one's level of expertise and personal performance.

We have a good number of active and retired Navy people in our congregation. They're committed and involved and they bring much of their Navy background to our parish: a sense of order, purpose, and leadership that benefits our parish greatly. We're lucky to have them.
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Saying the uncomfortable truth

The Old Testament lesson for Sunday is from the prophet Jeremiah. Poor Jeremiah lived an excruciating life, because he foresaw the destruction that was coming upon his people, and God put a word of warning to the people on his lips.

Jeremiah didn't want to speak this word of warning. He would rather have just kept silent. But God prevailed upon him to speak; God "enticed" him; God overpowered him, and he had to speak.

"If I say, 'I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,' then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot."

It's not easy to say an uncomfortable truth, but sometimes it needs to be said. And we need to have people who will tell us the uncomfortable truth, especially when we don't want to hear it.

I don't know how many meetings I have sat through wondering when someone would ever bring up the "elephant in the living room," the obvious but unacknowledged truth that the meeting talks around but never mentions.

Often there is one person in the room who will be Jeremiah for the group and brashly say, "Why aren't we talking about....?" Then you can see the discomfort and anxiety rise as the group actually starts dealing with the hidden issues.

We need Jeremiahs. We need someone who will tell the truth. Otherwise how will we be honest with each other?
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A promising young man

Yesterday at the Sunday Eucharist, a local son of the church returned to us as a brand new deacon. Michael Demmon grew up as a child in St. Antony's Church, went to college and then seminary, and was recently ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church.

Michael is poised and confident and has a refreshing smile. He and his lovely young wife Libby were married just last August, and they're moving to Fort Collins, Colorado, where he'll be the assistant rector at St. Luke Episcopal Church. After two or three years there, he'll move on to the U.S. Army, where he'll complete his ROTC commitment as a chaplain. After that he'll choose between a career as a military chaplain or parish ministry. What a promising young couple!

Michael preached on the passage from the Epistle to the Romans. He reminded us of Martin Luther's words, that "Romans is the heart of the Gospel," and he compared Paul's message to drinking fresh water after swimming in an ocean of bitter salt water.

Michael said that this is a message for hurting people. Even though we encounter suffering in our lives, we have the hope of sharing the glory of God. Even though we are sinners, weak, even enemies of God, still Christ died for us. So we are at peace with God.

Michael was given a stole and a Tau cross as gifts from the people of St. Antony. What a proud day for our parish!
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We have peace with God

Most of us work pretty hard to make ourselves acceptable to the rest of the world. We want to present a public self that others will value. We dress up, we carry titles, we label ourselves with one of the many labels our society offers us, or we put on a mask of respectability.

The problem is that we can mistake our public self for our real self, the person we are underneath it all. Our real self is often vulnerable and needy, having experienced pain and rejection in the past. So we keep our real self hidden.

In Paul's letter to the Romans for Sunday, he writes, "Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

His argument in the letter is that through Christ's death we have been restored to right relationship with God. Nothing we can do will make us reconciled to God. Nothing we do will erase our sins that alienate us from God. But through the grace of God, Christ has reconciled us to God, and therefore we are at peace with God.

We are at peace with God and we no longer have to pretend to be something we're not. We are at peace with God, and therefore we don't have to put on a false front. We can admit our failures and our defeats -- as Paul himself does -- and still be at peace with ourselves and with God.

We are loved unconditionally by God. We are accepted totally by God. All we have to do is let ourselves be loved. We can drop the mask and be our own authentic self, living at peace with ourselves and being at peace with God.
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What is our mission?

In the Gospel lesson for Sunday, Jesus sends the disciples out to do the mission he has given them.

He says to them, "As you go, proclaim the good news, `The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons."

This is our mission, too. Jesus sends us out to proclaim the good news and bring healing and new life. But just how do we do it in our particular context? What does it mean for us to proclaim the good news of Jesus and bring healing and new life here in Silverdale?

In the next year or more, I'll be especially looking to see what our particular mission at St. Antony is, and how we go about it. Here are some questions I'll be asking:

• Who are we as a congregation?
• What is God calling us to do and be?
• What makes us unique?
• Who is our neighbor?
• How do we serve our community?
• How does our Anglican/Episcopal heritage shape us and form us?

I'm certain that we have a unique mission to do here at St. Antony. I look forward to learning what it is that God is calling us to be and do.

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The 100 Thing Challenge

This week's TIME Magazine pointed me to a blog by Dave Bruno in which he has challenged himself to reduce the number of his personal possessions to 100. Here's what he says;

"I’m calling it the 100 Thing Challenge. And I’m taking it. Here is how it goes. I’m going to only keep 100 things. All the rest gets purged. Sold. Given away. Traded ;-) Some how, all the other things will no longer remain in my possession."

His blog is attracting a lot of interest from people like me, who realize we're tottering under an enormous burden of possessions. Having boxed up all our family possessions and carried them in and out of a U-Haul van (actually TWO U-Haul vans) in the last month has made it depressingly clear that we have TOO MUCH STUFF!

In the Gospel lesson for this Sunday, Jesus sends the disciples out saying, "Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff."

Clearly, Jesus intended the disciples to travel lightly. I think this is because he knew that having lots of possessions would just slow the disciples down, cause problems, and insulate them from the people they were sent to meet.

I wonder how many possessions I have, and how they prevent me from doing what Jesus wants me to do? What do I need to get rid of?
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Son-shine Fellowship

Every Tuesday morning at 6:30 AM, a group of St. Antony's folk gathers at The Pancake House for an early morning breakfast and Bible Study. Yes, that's 6:30 AM. It's called Son-shine Fellowship for a reason.

We read through the Bible lessons for the upcoming Sunday and discuss them over waffles and eggs. So far, there's been a steady group of six or seven of us. It's mostly men, as you can see above, but Jean joined us this morning shortly after the photo was taken by our waiter.

It's a great way to have some enjoyable time together and also get acquainted with the Sunday lessons. Everyone has some good comments to make, and it always educational to hear how others perceive the passage. We learn from each other.

The pancakes are good, too!
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The Vicar of Silverdale?

I've named this blog "the vicar of silverdale", which may seem presumptuous. How can I call myself the "Vicar of all Silverdale" when I've just been called to be the pastor of a small church in the community? Do I think that I'm responsible for every soul in Silverdale?

Besides that, I probably ought to remember that I was called by St. Antony's Church and I'm paid by St. Antony's church so I ought to spend my time in the parish instead of frittering it away in the entire community.

But when I read the Gospel for Sunday it seems to me that Jesus didn't confine his efforts to a narrow segment of society. Jesus called Matthew, a despised tax collector, to be a disciple. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He healed an unclean woman and he touched a dead girl (unclean!) and brought her back to life.

Jesus was Savior, not of the chosen people, but of all the people. He reached out to all people everywhere and he had compassion for every human being.

So why shouldn't I also have a spirit big enough for all Silverdale? Sure, it's a presumptuous title and it might be a little exaggerated, but why not consider my ministry as an outreach to the whole community?

The mission of the church is to the whole world, and the mission of St. Antony's is to our whole community. There are a lot of people in our community who need the saving message of the Gospel and a caring community. I hope we'll be a church for all Silverdale.
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