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An Advent Discipline

Fr. Jim — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 19:58:44 +0000

I want to suggest something different for some of us during Advent this year. I would like to form, basically, an E-mail group of people who want to take on a single spiritual discipline from November 28th through December 24th, and to share a bit of what that is like with the larger group. We will try to meet together in person one time, to get our supplies and some helps, and then go our way, practice our discipline privately, and occasionally reflect on it by E-mail with the rest of the group.

While we will talk about a variety of possible disciplines, there are a couple I do want to stress. These are different disciplines of prayer. The first is using the Anglican Rosary, which is an adaptation of the Catholic rosary, which has been in use since the 13th century. The Anglican Rosary is quite different, but uses the same principles of having beads as an aid to prayers.

The second is much more ancient, and that is the Prayer Rope, which goes back to the 300′s, and is usually used in conjunction with the Jesus prayer. I will have a supply of both Anglican Rosaries and Prayer Ropes on hand.

The discipline is to make a commitment to a set time of prayer each day; and then simply to do it. Such disciplines often get us thinking about a number of things, and the E-Mail group is a way to share these thoughts. If you are interested, let me know, and we will start making some plans.

God in America

Fr. Jim — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:36:08 +0000

This October 11th through 13th, PBS will run a six hour series titled “God in America”, which will “explore the historical role of religion in the public life of the United States.” The good, the bad and the rest. St. Nicholas’ will be the Primary Local Sponsor of the series, and this will involve not only mention on the series but also opportunities for us to be especially involved in this program. For more information, contact Jane Wolf or check out www.pbs.org/godinamerica/.

Godly Play

Fr. Jim — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:34:24 +0000

This Fall, we will begin a new design for our Christian Education for younger children. The program is called Godly Play, and is truly special.

“Godly Play teaches children the art of using religious language – parable, sacred story, silence and liturgical action – helping them become more fully aware of the mystery of God’s presence in their lives.” It uses Montessori methods of teaching, has been around for over 30 years, and has been used with great success in several parishes in our Diocese.

Two web resources on Godly Play are www.godlyplay.org and www.godlyplayfoundation.org. There is also a Facebook page.

Last month, Doña Josie and Deacon Roland Rose attended a training program in Austin, and will be helping us get started. We are all very excited about this, and want everyone to be aware of it. To that end, there will be a meeting after the 9:00 Service on Sunday, August 22nd for parents of elementary-age children and the folks involved in Godly Play to talk about the new program, answer any questions people might have, and get ready to begin classes on September 12th.

For more information, please contact Josie or Roland, or the Parish Office.

Let’s Get Started

Fr. Jim — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:44:32 +0000

This blog is intended to be a place for news, discussion of topics of interests, and other communications that might matter to members and friends of St. Nicholas’ Episcopal Church in Midland. Anyone who wishes can register and post, and anyone can comment on a post by simply filling in your name and E-mail. However, I will moderate a bit if things get inappropriate.

Now, to begin with some things the Vestry is doing: For some time now, the first few minutes of many of our meetings have been spent in some type of teaching or learning. This year, we will be reading a book together, Christianity for the Rest of Us, by Diana Butler Bass. Bishop Mayer suggested it during our Vestry Retreat last month, and our goal is to read and discuss a chapter a month from Section II. In April we will do an overview of the book and begin looking at Part II, which talks about ten practices that Bass sees as characteristic of lively and effective mainline parishes that have something distinctive to offer in contrast to the evangelical mega-churches.

Central to her thesis is the idea that we need to look at how to be a ‘Village Church’, a place of welcoming community, searching, and wisdom in a culture that seems not to be very interested in these things. Behind this is the obvious, if often ignored, reality that the older ways of doing church among the mainline churches is really no longer a viable way to go. We are not an extension of the establishment or an entry into social respectability. So, what are we, and where are we going. The ‘good old days’ whatever those were, are gone forever; and something different, something, perhaps, more distinctively Christian, is called for.

Bass is one of a long series of writers who are struggling with the notion of re-visioning mainline American church life given our new social and religious realities. It really began, I think, with Loren Meade’s, The Once and Future Church and Hauerwas and Willimon’s Resident Aliens, two seminal books in this genre. The fact is, the world the Church has lived in for a long, long time is changing–I suspect it’s gone most places other than the old Confederacy and the Central Time Zone, and we need to see this, pray this, and look for ways that we can find God’s hand, God’s word and call to us in all of this.

I hope to have more to say about some things the Vestry is working on after our meeting on Thursday. There are a number of interesting and exciting things in the early planning stages, and there should be a lot to talk about.