Advent Conspiracy

How can we meaningfully observe the season of Advent? I've been looking for new ideas, and I came upon a website with an interesting approach. Advent Conspiracy offers a new way to celebrate to Advent and Christmas. Basically they're trying to de-commercialize Christmas and make it more meaningful by helping us think about how we observe this season. You can find ithem at www.adventconspiracy.org

They offer four basic concepts:

• Worship Fully
• Spend Less
• Give More
• Love All

Here's what the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Boise, Idaho, did for their Advent Conspiracy:

"Our parish has adopted Advent Conspiracy as a way to encourage parishioners to Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More and Love All. We showed the video at all Masses, along with our own Powerpoint show, and it was met with applause! We are asking parishioners to support charities that help the poor, including the World Hunger Project, which provides a way for families to grow sustainable food sources, including getting seed and water sources, as well as support for our St. Vincent dePaul Conference, our Food Bank, our Christmas Giving Tree program for needy families, and Catholic Charities."

Of course, we already do many of these things during Advent. We support various local non-profits and we participate in Christmas Angels. But the theme of "Advent Conspiracy" might be a way to tie them all together. An interesting idea for us for next year?

The Vicar's hello

Last Saturday I sent an e-mail to our parish list as a friendly hello and update for the parish. I'd like to start doing this weekly as a way of staying in touch with the parish. I've read other parish weekly letters and I've found them warm, personal and rich. I'd like to use the email software Constant Contact because it's easy to use and it looks good in all browsers. I hope that these letters will be down-to-earth, personal, and focused on our parish life. Here's the letter I sent last Saturday:

To my St. Antony’s friends,

It's been quite a week in Kitsap County. The storm that came through on Monday night blew down trees all over the county and iced up the roads everywhere. I hope you found shelter during the storm and have been able to get back to normal. I know a lot of us were without power for extended periods of time, which made us especially thankful for the simple things of life. At our house, we snuggled down in layers of blankets and thought about those who were out in the cold. It made Thanksgiving Day even more meaningful.

Last Sunday we celebrated the 25th anniversary of St. Antony's with an energetic and fitting joint Eucharist, followed by a fantastic potluck brunch. Thank you to Cheryl Wright and Ruth Lindstrum for organizing the brunch, and to all who made it a success. That was fun!

Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent. We'll see new hangings of rich blue fabric, the Jesse Tree, and the Advent Wreath. My thanks to Sondra Meith for sewing the beautiful hangings, and to Barbara Steadman for supplying the beeswax candles as she has for many years.

Advent is a season of anticipation and expectation, waiting for the coming of God's kingdom. Advent provides a still point of quiet in the center of our lives that we can return to even in the midst of the holiday frenzy.

I'll see you tomorrow as we begin our Advent time.

With the joy of Christ,

Bill

Twenty-Fifth Anniversary celebration

Today we celebrated the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the founding of St. Antony's. We had a combined service at 9:00, with good participation from people both the 8:00 and 10:00 Eucharists. It was fun to hear a few memories by people who had been present from the beginning of St. Antony's. Afterwards we had a big potluck brunch. The modular building was packed with every seat taken. The food was great and many hands helped set up and take down. A success!

 The obligatory church potluck photo

 A smiling clean-up crew!

Fall Cleanup Day

Today was a Cleanup Day at St. Antony's as well a a day to prepare for our Twenty-Fifth Anniversary celebration tomorrow. An energetic group of about 15 people scrubbed, raked, cleaned and set up for tomorrow's St. Antony Day brunch. My thanks to all who joined this effort and accomplished so much!

Bob Hoag blows leaves off the grass

Ken Stephens sweeps up

Loretta McGinley and Mary Zabinsky sweep under the apple trees

Ruth Lindstrum and Sallie Snyder prepare the modular for the brunch

Mark and Allison Edmonds clean up the basement

My impressions of Diocesan Convention

On October 29 and 30, I attended Diocesan Convention at the Sea-Tac Hilton, along with our delegates Bill and Elisabeth Demmon, Maggie Scott, and Tovi Andrews. Here are my impressions:

• It was fun seeing old friends and making new friends. This is always the best part of convention for me.
• The convention was shortened this year in the interest of saving time and money. The result was that we packed a lot of agenda into a short time, which I found exhausting.
• We ordained two deacons in the Friday Eucharist. It's hard to have an impressive Eucharist in a hotel ballroom.
• We passed a flat budget, with a slight decrease in the assessment for parishes. This seems appropriate.
• We debated two resolutions to make congregations more accountable to the diocese. We passed one and tabled one. I'm generally in favor of both.
• We had three Indaba sessions (small group conversations). I think we need to re-invigorate the Indaba groups because they're losing their impact.

A good parish conversation

Last night we held a parish meeting to discuss purchasing a piece of property for a future church building.

I thought it was a good meeting, with about 40 people attending. John Stockwell gave an informative presentation on the property in question and many people asked questions for clarification. I think everyone got a lot of information. In the comment portion of the meeting, we had many comments from a wide representation of people. Not everyone spoke, but everyone was given the opportunity to speak.

What I heard was a cautious desire to move ahead with this purchase. The sentiment seemed to be, "This property would be a good investment even if we don't build on it."

There were some reservations expressed, and the pros and cons of the property in question were batted back and forth. There was a lot of concern about how much the taxes would be and how we would pay the taxes. I didn't hear anyone say that we should immediately start a building campaign, but the mood of the meeting was generally positive toward the purchase.

What I thought was impressive about this meeting was that we did the hard work that a parish needs to do to work through an issue. We wrestled with our concerns, our fears, our hopes, and our dreams. We were honest with each other, and we were respectful of each other. That's a wonderful accomplishment!

We purposely didn't take a vote on the issue, leaving the decision in the hands of the Bishop's Committee, as is appropriate. The BC meets on December 1 to take up the matter. Should be an interesting meeting!
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Naval Chaplains Anniversary Banquet

RADM Greg Horn

Last Friday evening I attended the Naval Chaplains Anniversary Banquet at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. I was invited by Capt. James Puttler, Navy Region Northwest Region Chaplain. It was an impressive formal dinner with a Marine color guard, a Navy jazz ensemble, and lots of brass present in formal dress.

The speaker was Rear Admiral Greg Horn, Deputy Chief of Chaplains for Reserve Matters. He gave an energetic speech emphasizing the "ministry of presence" that chaplains offer the marines and sailors in their care. It was eye-opening for me to be there and experience Navy culture. Below is a still photo from the video that Adm. Horn showed, portraying the chaplains' "ministry of presence."

Finding a time to blog

I haven't posted much on this blog lately because my daily schedule has changed, and I haven't found time in my schedule for writing.

I'm now doing my centering prayer at home early in the morning, and then coming to church for Morning Prayer in the chancel at 9:00. I like this schedule because it allows me to say my prayers in our worship space, and it makes it possible for others to join me. On Thursday mornings at 9:00 we have scheduled Morning Prayer for the parish and others are especially invited at that time.

I used to write my blog entries at home before I came to church in the morning, but now I leave too early to do that. So I need to find a time later in the day when I can make blog entries. I enjoy the writing, but I need to find a time to do it on a regular basis. I'll work on that!