Trunk or Treat evening

For Halloween Eve a number of folks at St. Antony's offered a "Trunk or Treat" event in our parking lot. I stopped by briefly to say hello and snapped some photos of the revelers in their costumes. We didn't have many kids stop by for treats, but everyone there was having a good time. Here are some photos.

Vicar with a broken wing

Last Saturday I crashed on my bicycle and broke my right clavicle. Ouch!

I was riding down Bucklin Hill Rd at a pretty good clip when I turned into the Albertson's parking lot on my way to Starbucks. I hit a patch of wet pavement and the bike flew out from under me. I slammed down hard on the asphalt and broke my helmet, hurt my shoulder and skinned my knee.

After a day I went in to urgent care and they took x-rays that show a fracture in the right clavicle. There's not much to do about it except to keep it immobilized, ice it occasionally and take ibuprofen for the pain.

So I'm making do with a broken wing, waiting for it to heal. In the meantime, gestures during the sermon will be limited.

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Kevin Martin and Five Keys

Last Friday evening, six of us from St. Antony's attended a workshop at St. Paul's, Port Townsend given by Kevin Martin, the Dean of the Cathedral in Dallas, Texas. It was an enjoyable evening, with a pleasant drive up together and a delicious meal served by the host church.

Kevin has a long history of parish development, and he draws on many years of experience as a consultant to many parishes. He opened up some of the material from his book, Five Keys for Church Leaders. The five keys are very simple guides for improving the health of a parish. Perhaps this would be a good book for next year's Bishop's Committee to read together. Here are the five keys:

1. Build the Team
A healthy parish is not hierarachical, but team-driven. The vicar and bishop's committee should pay attention to building a team effort to lead the parish. Vision and values are the foundation for moving ahead.

2. Pay Attention to the Generations
We have more generations together in church now than ever before. Which generation runs things? Which generation do we cater to?

3. Tend the Two Doors
Getting people in the front door of the church isn't helpful if they just go out the back door. It's important not only to invite people to church, but also to welcome them and incorporate them into the life of the church.

4. Keep the System Healthy
Pay attention to the emotional health of the parish, which starts with healthy clergy. Don't give in to "emotional terrorists" who hold the parish hostage with their emotional control, usually anger.

5. Raise the Stewardship Level
Do members of the congregation know the amount of the average pledge of the diocese? Be open and up front about the level of giving. Bring new members into participation in ministry, not just attendance at church.
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Convention report

October 15 and 16 I attended Diocesan Convention in Vancouver, WA, with our delegates Bill and Elisabeth Demmon and Carolyn Segrist.

I enjoyed spending time with our delegates during the drive down and back, at meals together, and at convention. In addition, it was nice to see friends from around the diocese. I've been here long enough to get to know other clergy in the diocese, and it's a pleasure to see them at convention.

Nothing earth-shaking happened at convention. There was a good speaker, interesting exhibits, the usual elections and resolutions, and a good address from our bishop. I was a facilitator for the Indaba discussion groups, but I thought the topics for discussion weren't very compelling for the participants.

I made the sketch above while listening to the bishop's address.
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Diocesan Convention tomorrow and Saturday

Today I leave to attend Diocesan Convention in Vancouver. Our delegates from St. Antony's are also attending. Convention starts Friday morning and continues through late Saturday afternoon.

I'm looking forward to seeing friends from around the diocese and making new acquaintances. I'm *hopeful* that the speaker and the business sessions will be mentally stimulating.

This year I volunteered to be a facilitator for the Indaba groups we'll be having. The Indaba groups are small circles for conversation held three times over the course of the weekend. The idea is for us to be able to have face-to-face conversations in a small group so we can really share with each other.

I look forward to having Bishop Nedi preach at her last convention with us, and also to be part of the ordination of five new deacons at the closing Eucharist.

I'm praying for safe travel for everyone coming to the convention, for all those responsible for organizing convention, and for the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit in all we do at convention.
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Mission Statement Brainstorming

I've made a commitment to work on our mission statement during the month of October. I've organized a series of parish meetings at which we're brainstorming ideas about the mission of our parish. At each session we write on post-it notes what we think are the purpose, activities, and values of our parish. Later we'll meet to put those ideas into a mission statement.

So far it's been helpful to me to listen to people talk about our parish. I've heard a lot about how we care for each other, and how we're a friendly and welcoming parish. Worship always comes up as an important value.

I've also encountered a lot of apathy about mission statements. I guess people have been subjected to long boring meetings that produced long boring mission statements, not only in the church but in other organizations. Mission statement = boring.

Somewhere I read this: "What we need is not a mission statement but a mission." I think that's pretty valid. The important thing is not to produce a document to sit on a shelf, but to know who we are and what we stand for.

My personal goal for this exercise is to be able to stand up in front of a group and say, "St. Antony's is a ___________ church. We're all about __________."

So I'm learning a lot and I hope as we continue these meetings we'll be able to coalesce in our thinking and come up with some pithy, tangy language that expresses who we are and what we do.

Mission statement!!
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Enneagram workshop

Last Saturday I attended a workshop on the Enneagram. The Enneagram is an tool for assessing your spiritual type. You can take a simple test to tell you which of the nine types you mostly identify with.

The workshop, on Bainbridge Island, consisted of telling us about the nine different spiritual types. They're quite ingenious, and they seem to really differentiate between different types of people. Upon hearing the different types, something immediately clicks and you recognize these types in yourself and others you know.

I discovered I'm a "2". That means I fall into the "Helper" category. Here's what the Enneagram says about twos:

Twos are empathetic, sincere, and warm-hearted. They are friendly, generous, and self-sacrificing, but can also be sentimental, flattering, and people-pleasing. They are well-meaning and driven to be close to others, but can slip into doing things for others in order to be needed. They typically have problems with possessiveness and with acknowledging their own needs. At their Best: unselfish and altruistic, they have unconditional love for others.

I'd say that's probably pretty accurate for me. I hasten to add that within each type, there are various levels of health, so there can be unhealthy twos as well as healthy twos, and hopefully you move up in health as time goes on.

You can find a good Enneagram website at www.enneagraminstitute.com. I find the whole Enneagram concept fascinating and very helpful in understanding myself and others. It's not the Gospel, but it is a very helpful tool.

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Blessing the animals

Last Sunday we celebrated the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi and we had the blessing of the animals. In addition to about 20 dogs, we had a rabbit, a gerbil and a cat.

The two services were surprisingly well-ordered, considering the number of dogs present, but they were well-behaved. I'll have to admit, though, it was hard to focus on my sermon nd I got distracted. Well, probably the blessing of the animals was more important, anyway!

I think I've successfully made the transition from calling them "pets" to "animal companions". The word "pets" has the connotation that we are the owners and they are disposable niceties. But there's been a shift in recent years so that now we think of them as "companions" who shar our life and have a claim on us. We're not "owners", but we're "guardians."

We didn't bring our two cats to church. I don;t think they would have liked it. So we gave them a blessing at home. Any time will do!

Attending a Port Commissioner candidates forum

This morning after our Son-Shine Fellowship breakfast, I stopped in at the Cloverleaf Bar and Grill where there was a forum for the candidates for Port Commissioner. I was late for the event, so I sat in the back and made a sketch of the two candidates seated at a table answering the questions given by the moderator.

The weekly breakfast forum, called "Eggs and Issues", is sponsored by the Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce The two candidates are Roger Zabinski and Lynn Horton. Roger is a parishioner at St. Antony's.

As a clergyperson, I'm not able to endorse one political candidate over another without endangering our tax-exempt status, but I went to the forum to encourage Roger personally. One thing I learned at this debate: I'm glad I'm not in politics! I think I would wilt under the pressure of rapid-fire questions and intense political opinions. I'm just grateful there are people willing to put themselves forward for these positions.
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Housebuilding work party

Scott and Kathryn

Last Saturday I volunteered at the Mutual Self-Help Housing Program sponsored by Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority in Port Orchard.

One of our young families, Scott and Kathryn (in the photo above) are building their house along with a dozen or so other young families. Each family has to put in at least 30 hours of work a week, and volunteers help build the family's hours. All the families work together to help each other build their homes, and there's a wonderful spirit of cooperation and good humor present.

There's a supervisor at the site who teaches the participants how to build their houses and generally supervises the project. Since the last time I came in August, Scott and Kathryn's house has gone from a few walls on the first floor to nearly framed. The crew was nailing on the roof sheeting this Saturday.

I helped spread bales of straw on the bare ground to prevent erosion and I helped install roof trusses on one of the houses. Kathryn's mother, Heather, brought lunch to all the families which I enjoyed along with the others. I left after lunch to go write my sermon.

It was a fun and productive morning.