Endings ... again

I just learned yesterday that our bishops have called a new priest who will be serving both St. Luke's Carey Street and Holy Nativity, Pimlico. The Reverend Glenna Reed is a young African American woman from Atlanta and I'm sure she will be a splendid pastor for these two congregations. St. Luke's has been yoked before, but this is a new experience for Holy Nativity. They are a yoking of equal partners, so this bodes well for the long term sustainability of the relationship. They are going to be a new inner-city mutual ministry model for our diocese - so that means no roadmaps or "tried and true" methodologies.

This is a lot like God's call to Abram:

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Genesis 12:1-4

The LORD did not say, "Hi Abram, it's me ... you know God. Listen, I have an idea I want to pitch to you and see what you think about it." Nope. God said "Go." No introduction, just a command and a promise. Abram went, and "believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness." (Genesis 15:6)

Believing in the LORD is to trust in God. Abram trusted fully and went, even though the roadmap was not given to him. God didn't give him the full plan, just go to a "land that I will show you." He didn't get the Google driving directions to Canaan! He didn't even get a hint that he should head westward ... just go to a land I will show you. It's as if God said, "Just start walking Abram, and I'll reveal it as you go."

Ministry is that way. We are all called to a land that God will show us. That land is the place of possibilities that do not exist right now, but will emerge as we take each step on faith. Just start moving ... God will reveal the possibilities as you trust God enough to take the steps.

I think God did it this way to make sure that Abram's ego didn't get in the way. Let's be honest, don't we all really just want God to write out the whole plan in the sky so we can get the "big picture?" The problem is, if we had the whole "big picture," we'd get our egos involved and wrest control from God to make it happen on our terms. Instead, God doesn't give us the whole picture ... just the next step. The challenge is to trust enough to take the first step, not worrying about where it goes, and trusting it will land where God wants it to land. That's a tall order.

This is true for St. Luke's and Holy Nativity, and for me too. It will be hard to say good-bye to St. Luke's. Honestly, I won't miss the haul down I-70, but I will miss the people, especially the kids. I have a few more weeks there (I think ... still waiting for final instructions on that), but it makes me start thinking about my future.

I was at Fresh Start today (our new call support group) and all this was announced. I told them the "Mercenary Presbyter" was back in the house! I'm keeping my Reverend Mom blog moniker this time though. Beloved Husband and I are opening ourselves to options which, like Abram, may ask us to get up and go to another place. If God wants us here in Maryland, a viable full-time call will open up here. But, sitting around waiting for that to happen isn't showing a lot of trust either. I need to make myself available to any possibility and see if God may be up to something unexpected.

Then again, isn't God always up to something unexpected?

If it's Tuesday, I must be a Methodist...

I'm living my life in two different worlds. For those who follow this blog (all three of you ... ok, maybe four ... maybe!), you know I'm now the Interim Rector at St. Luke's Episcopal in Franklin Square. It's only a 10 hour per week position where I'm in the office on Wednesdays from about 10am to 4pm and Sundays from 8:30am to 12:30pm ... and additional hours of work from home which puts me over 10 hours per week regularly. Here's the truth, there really are no part-time calls, just part-time pay! But that's what they could afford and I do my best to keep my hours near the 10 hour mark. Things are going pretty well there. When I started, the attendance was around 18 on Sundays ... last week it was up to 25 and yesterday it was 26. In percentages, that's a pretty big leap. I'm seeing new faces too and that gives me hope.

BUT, a 10 hour/week call is not enough to pay the bills. Yes, Beloved Husband works, but working at our diocesan retreat/conference center was a huge cut in pay from where he was in the corporate world. So I need a full-time call, but being restricted geographically means I must wait for the right call to open up and hope the congregation will call me to the position. That's a lot of hopes!

So, in the midst of all this, I also was approached by the senior pastor at Calvary United Methodist Church in Frederick to be their half-time minister of visitation. Fortunately, my bishop was gracious enough to let me take this call, with the understanding that I would be open to a full-time call when one becomes available. I began working with Calvary on All Saints Day (11/1).

As Minister of Visitation, I get to visit with our shut-ins and nursing home residents. It's great. I bring Holy Communion to those who want it and get to visit with a whole bunch of wonderful people. I hear stories from them about Frederick county from long ago, when our diocesan retreat center was the Buckingham School for Boys, when most people still used horses and buggies to get out to the farm because the roads were still largely dirt.

I figure that going to a Lutheran seminary and serving both an Episcopal Church and a Methodist Church makes me an Episco-Luthra-Dist. The thing that's really hard is keeping things straight. I'm at Calvary on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays ... and at St. Luke's on Wednesdays and Sundays. I have to keep situations, stories and names straight between the two places and I'm struggling with that. It's complicated, but I do know that if it's Tuesday, I must be a Methodist. ;-)

Slam dancing

Last week, I went to my first poetry slam. I'd heard of poetry slams, but having never been to one was a function of timing. They rose to prominence in the cities after I left LA and moved to Frederick, MD. The closest I ever came to a "slam" was the punk slam dancing of the 1980's ... I think I still have bruises to show for the mosh pit. Anyway, it was an evening to remember and I was awed by the talent!

This slam is held at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, where I serve as the interim rector. It's called "Live in the Undercroft" and is held in ... the basement (which Episcopalians give the fancy name "undercroft" in order to make it sound more ecclesiastical). We usually hold them on the third Friday of each month at 8:00PM. Consider this an open invitation: if you're in Baltimore on those evenings, come on over and check it out.

I heard more social commentary through these poems than I had heard in a long time. Sharon launched us with "What the hell is so convenient about convenience stores?" which decried the lack of fresh and healthy food in the inner city. Stephanie Okonkwo, who I believe should be named poet laureate of Baltimore (or at least Carey Street), read several of her works and talked about being an intelligent woman and being "old school." (Stephanie has just published a book of her poetry called Far Above Rubies - check it out!). Keisha presented for the first time and her poem "I Scream" was so inspiring, I had her come and read it on Sunday to lead into my homily. Uncle Daddy called his brothers to stand for something more than the violence which claims young black men in our cities. And we even heard a poem celebrating bisexuality. The whole of human experience was expressed: hopes, fears, pain, anger, dreams, addiction, healing, and love.

I came to support the program and the poets gave me a gift in return. I've asked some of our young women to help with poems for Advent which we'll include in our liturgy ... kinda turn it into a "homily slam" of sorts. I believe our faith must be relevant to our lives and poetry is a means which can make that connection. And our gifted poets have something to say!

Interims

I get a kick out of how we in the church come up with obscure titles for people's positions. I mean, people understand "facilities maintenance" so why do we call that person a "sexton?" Huh? Or "rector" for the pastor or "curate" for the assisting pastor. I think we Episcopalians must have some underlying need to elevate the magnificence of things by giving them obscure names.

As of yesterday, I have been called to be the Interim Rector of St. Luke's on Carey Street in southwest Baltimore. As Interim Rector I'm there to keep the spiritual ship of state afloat, so to speak, as they seek a permanent rector. The plan is to have someone at St. Luke's 1/3 time and also be working as an urban missioner for the diocese 2/3 time.

I preached and presided at yesterday's Holy Eucharist. Speaking of obscure words for things ... Eucharist means "Thanksgiving" and I'm not sure why we call our service "Holy Eucharist" at all. Why not just "Holy Communion?" That's what most Christian churches call it. You could go with "Holy Thanksgiving" ... but that might imply we're serving turkey and the trimmings as part of the service. Hmmm ... there might be a truth in advertising issue with that option. "Holy Communion" works for me.

I'm looking forward to working with the folks there for however long I'm there. Our whole family went down to the service and our girls just jumped right into the activities with the Sunday School. It was lively ... very lively. The kids are awesome. Andre, the Senior Warden, showed me some pictures of the after school program and the poetry slams on the third Fridays in the Crypt. Andre's working to get access to the web site so they can upload the pictures and update the site. I'd like to get some high res pictures of the stained glass in the church and put a virtual tour on the web site too.

Yeah Andre, I know you're reading this and if I hadn't told you my past life as a "web geek," well now you know! :-D

Austin Jones, the Treasurer of St. Luke's (ok, fair enough - we at least call the treasurer a treasurer), gave my husband the copy of St. Luke's 100th anniversary history booklet. This congregation has a remarkable history as one of the first Oxford Movement Anglo-Catholic parishes in Maryland (back when more Puritan minded Bishops labeled the Catholic appointments in this church as "papal abominations"). One of the first communities of nuns, the Sisterhood of the Good Shepherd, was attached to St. Luke's back in 1863, and St. Luke's started four missions in the diocese: St. Mary the Virgin in Franklintown, Holy Cross on Frederick Road (the suburbs back then), Chapel of the Nativity on Pratt & Oregon Streets, and St. Stephen the Martyr at North and Warwick Avenues. St. Luke's has a long tradition of having parochial schools and supporting education - which is reflected in today's ministry of after school tutoring to the neighborhood children. There is a holy history of Christ's presence here and a challenge to bring it into the future for the community around the church.

When church is CHURCH

I received a phone call last week from the Senior Warden at St. Luke's Episcopal Parish in West Baltimore about their need for an interim rector and asking me if I would be interested. If there's one thing I learned from Dr. Rick Carlson at LTSG, it's talk to everyone because you never know what the Holy Spirit might have in mind. I scheduled the interview for yesterday and what a blessing it was.

I live a little over an hour west of Baltimore in a rural area and my upbringing was So. Cal. suburban, so inner city urban ministry was out of my box so to speak. Baltimore is a funny city - it's really more of a loose confederation of neighborhoods with a city limit boundary drawn around them. Technically, St. Luke's is in the Poppleton neighborhood, but the other side of Carey Street is Franklin Square.

So, off I went heading down I-70 into Baltimore, down Route 40 ... Edmonston Ave., then it becomes Franklin, then Mulberry (I think Baltimore changes street names just as a nod to their English roots) ... and then a right turn on N. Carey Street towards Franklin Square - the church is on the left. It is a beautiful old stone gothic church amidst boarded up row houses in a neighborhood where the median household income is $23,000 per year. St. Luke's looks like a throwback to another time and place.

Joann Johnson, the Junior Warden, met me at the door to the undercroft to let me in. I immediately saw signs of children ... lots of signs of children even though Joann and I were the only people in the room. There were flags hanging from the ceiling, posters, pictures of their summer day camp, poetry, a bank of computers, books ... something was going on here.

We went upstairs to see the church built in 1857. This means it is a "Whittingham church" referring to its being planted by Bishop William Whittingham, the fourth bishop of Maryland. Bishop Whittingham is a legend in our diocese both for being a long serving bishop (38 years from 1840 - 1878) and for planting a lot of new churches. Whittingham churches have a particular look - gothic architecture and built of stone. St. Luke's is an historic building (click the link for an aerial view) and the congregation and diocese are working diligently to preserve it while making it usable for the programs they are doing with the neighborhood children.

While touring the church, Andre Liggins, Senior Warden, arrived. Andre and Joann both have an infectious love of the Lord, tremendous joy and excitement for the ministry they are doing with the neighborhood children. It is palpable when you talk with them about what's going on at St. Luke's. If one just looked at numbers, things wouldn't look so good at St. Luke's. Average Sunday attendance is around 20 - 25 and the 2006 plate and pledge income was $8,000. But numbers cannot tell whole story - it takes Andre and Joann to tell about the gospel happening on Carey Street.

St. Luke's has become the safe haven for the children of Franklin Square and Poppleton. Their summer day camp was attended by 40 neighborhood children. The average Sunday attendance of 20-25 is mostly children. One Saturday a month, St. Luke's hosts "Safe Saturday" where the kids can come to the church for arts and crafts, poetry, movies and games. During the school year, St. Luke's runs an after school homework club every day during the week. Andre started a poetry slam where neighborhood youth come over and perform their poetry ... and one of them even published a book of poetry! St. Luke's is bringing the hope of God's love to this place.

Andre grew up in this church while Joann joined several years ago. It's obvious they are excited about their ministry at St. Luke's and what's happening there. Andre said, "We may be a small church, but we are a busy church!" And he's right.

I am scheduled to return on October 5th to preach and celebrate Eucharist with them. Joann said the kids will want to interview me too (of course!). The position is very part-time (2 days a week) and will run through early next year as they seek to call a priest on a more permanent basis (permanency is all relative in ministry). I'm looking forward to it.

It does my heart such good to be in the presence of people who are so obviously on fire with the Spirit and who understand what it means to be Church. Andre, Joann, and the people of St. Luke's understand that the Church exists as much for the people who are not there on Sunday as it does for those who are.

(P.S. If you want to check it out, here's the map on how to get there. Services are at 9:00AM on Sundays and there's always someone at the church during the day. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.)