SUMMER A.D.

2017

VOL. 59 NO. 2

St. Peters Episcopal Church

Pomeroy, Washington
Member of the Parish Partner Plan
 SUMMER 2017

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 SUMMER A.D. 2017

VOL. 59 NO. 2

St. Peters Episcopal Church

Pomeroy, Washington
Member of the Parish Partner Plan
 Published quarterly by the Society for Promoting and Encouraging
Arts and Knowledge of the Church (SPEAK, Inc.).

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2 anglicandigest.org
 6 From the Editors
7 Consolation at the End
11 The Relationship of Consolation
14 Christianity is not an Idea
17 The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
21 The Grace of a Leaky Roof
24 Consolation in the Midst of Grief and Loss
28 What Once Was Lost
33 The Anglican Bookstore Listings
38 A TAD Literary
44 No Cheap Grace
47 An Invitation
51 Creeping Grace

The cover photographs for this issue are of St. Peters Episcopal
Church, Pomeroy, Washington. In the 25 years St. Peters has
been a member of our Parish Partner Plan, parishioners have
established a strong history of supporting TAD, and we are
pleased to recognize it now.

summer 2017 3
 From the Editors
Its annoying to be told that you would be offered a free gift
by purchasing something you dont want or need, particularly
when the free gift is almost worthless. You are not interested
on a free booklet on feet care or in owning a plastic magnify-
ing glass and if a gift isnt free, its not a gift.

The word grace means a gift of inestimable worth. We normal-

ly associate it with forgiveness. When Jesus prepared to leave
his disciples for the last time, he left them the extraordinary
power to declare that sins were forgiven (or not forgiven) a
power no political leader possesses. To lift the burden of guilt
is to restore a person to wholeness.

We dont often consider grace when we consider repentance.

After all, we do the repenting. We summon up courage to tell
a priest our intimate secrets, ones that fill us with shame and
keep us awake at night. We dare to admit to a loved one we
have betrayed them. Its our doing, not Gods. Theres a thought
that cries for forgiveness. Gods grace convinces us that we
need to unburden ourselves, and gives us the courage to seek
forgiveness.

It is our hope that this edition of the Anglican Digest will be a

graceful addition to your life. Read it, pray it, share it. Do have
a wonderful summer.

4 anglicandigest.org
gathering
Consolation
at the End
The Rev. Anjel Scarborough
Pastoral ministry places us
in many situations we cannot
imagine in which we must ut-
terly rely on God while qui-
etly recite Veni, Sancti Spir-
itus or Kyrie eleison and
hospice chaplaincy placed me
in these situations constantly.
Making space for those of dif-
fering faiths, or no faith at all,
while remaining faithful to
Christ can be daunting. Joe
was one such case.
Joe was 62 and dying of lung
cancer after a lifetime of
smoking. As the other hospice
team members introduced
themselves at our initial visit,
I observed his surroundings.
He was personable, grounded,
accepting of his terminal di-
agnosis, and very intelligent.
His bookshelves were filled
with astronomy books, sci-
ence fiction, music a wide
telling
range of interests. My turn for
introductions came around.
Im Anjel. Im here for your
spiritual care as a chaplain.
Joes response was gentle, but
direct, I wont need your ser-
vices. Im atheist.
Well, Im a .. theist. I just
pronounce it differently, I
said with a smile.
We all laughed and he said,
Thats good! Youre quick!
I explained I wasnt there to
convince, convict, or con-
vert him but rather assist
him addressing any issues
troubling his spirit so that he
could depart in peace.
Ill make you a deal, I said,
How about I come back in 2
weeks and well try this on. If
you find its helpful, great. If
not, you can kick me to the
curb no harm, no foul.
What do you say? He agreed.
Our next visit was three hours
summer 2017 5
connecting
of conversation. He had been
a forensic economist and
loved science, especially as-
tronomy. We debated how the
world would end: he thought
the sun would explode, and
my money was on a wander-
ing black hole swallowing the
earth. He had an amazing col-
lection of vinyl LPs and was
digitizing them for his grand-
sons. I never spoke of God
but after the second visit, he
did.
You know, Ill bet I can make
you lose your religion.
Too late. Im Episcopalian. It
already happened, I said with
a wink and a smile. At least
according to some Christians
I know.
God gave me the humor and
grace not to be tempted to
debate faith. I learned how
holy the gift of laughter and
presence are. I stayed true to
my promise: I wouldnt try to
convince, convict or convert
6 anglicandigest.org
him. It gave him the safety to
tell me more.
One day, he told me about the
church he was raised in as a
child: a harsh, strict funda-
mentalist congregation pro-
mulgating a narrow literal
Biblical interpretation which
shunned anyone who dared
challenge the pastor by asking
a question. He told me about
the judgmental, angry God
he came to know and how he
rejected this in college.
Wow. I can see why you dont
believe in that god. I dont ei-
ther. Hey! Maybe Im atheist
too! I said.
We both laughed and he
asked, Well, if you dont be-
lieve in that God, what God
do you believe in?
I believe in a God who can-
not be understood by my in-
tellect. Any god small enough
to fit into this brain is too
small to save me. The God I
gathering
know is a Mysterious Trinity,
One but Three, a Mystery de-
fying words and logic who
is over, through, and beyond
rationality. A God who simul-
taneously is small enough to
infuse the spaces between the
subatomic particles of matter
that make up everything, and
large enough to transcend the
eleven dimensions of string
theory. I believe in the God
who is deeply rooted in love
and mercy, and who uses this
as the basis for making jus-
tice and righteousness flour-
ish. This God is the One who
breathed every single thing
into existence and who re-
claims, redeems, and resur-
rects it all in love.
We sat for a moment in si-
lence. Ive never heard a
minister talk like that before.
Maybe its about time you
did, I replied.
Two weeks later, I made an-
other visit. It wasnt long into
telling
the conversation when Joe
said, You know, Ive been
thinking about that God you
believe in. I could believe in
that God too.
You dont say, I replied.
Yeah. Maybe we need to res-
cue God from religion. What
do you think?
Yes, Joe, we do every sin-
gle day.
I tell you what. If this God
of yours exists and is really as
expansive and gracious as you
say, I believe this God would
allow me to come back in
some demonstrable way and
let you know Im ok after I die.
You know, to give you some
kind of sign and you will
know without question that
its me. What do you say?
Sure, on one condition: dont
show up in my bathroom
when Im stepping out of the
shower because Id have to
summer 2017 7
connecting
name my fatal heart attack
after you and my husband
would be jealous.
Joe cracked up and said, Its
a deal. But, if Im right and
theres nothing after this,
youre going to be waiting a
long time for that sign.
Well, ministry has taught me
patience. It could be the test
of a lifetime.
It was the last time I saw Joe.
As was typical of cancer pa-
tients, he declined slowly and
then took a very sudden turn
and died. He died with grati-
tude for his life and his fam-
ily. He planned no funeral. I
found myself praying for him
in the words of our Eucharis-
tic Prayer D:
Remember all who have died
in the peace of Christ, and
those whose faith is known to
you alone; bring them into the
place of eternal joy and light.
8 anglicandigest.org
A few months later, I left
hospice work to enter par-
ish ministry. I never forgot
about John or his promise of a
sign. Nine months later, my
husband Stuart and I took a
few days off to rest at a cab-
in retreat in the country. One
evening, we sat outside and
watched the stars. I started
thinking about Joe. I told my
husband about him and his
promise to give me a sign that
he was OK after he died.
You know, he said, There
are no known meteor show-
ers happening right now. If a
shooting star, were to go right
over your head right now, I
would take that as a sign from
God that Joe is OK.
I would too, but I also am
mindful of scripture warning
us not to put God to the test.
No sooner had the words left
my lips than a brief streak of
light went overhead so close
it appeared I could touch it
and then it vanished. We both
gathering
screamed in astonishment
over seeing this phenomenon,
whatever it was. Neither of us
can explain what we saw, but
the timing was uncanny in the
context of our conversation.
In that moment, I was given
a gift: peace and consolation
in the Divine Mystery and the
graciousness of a God who
holds all in life and death and
beyond.
QQQ
The Relationship
of Consolation
The Rev. Jason S. Terhune
Those who repent and be-
lieve in Jesus Christ begin to
live, in the present, the way
that will make sense in Gods
promised future.
In Hebrews 5:16 we read that
it is the throne of grace that
we approach when we seek
God. The author of Hebrews
go on to say that the priests
here on earth, whom God puts
telling
in charge of things pertaining
to God are able to deal with
weakness because they them-
selves are subject to weak-
ness. There is a relationship of
common weakness, although
the priest has been set apart
for the holy things of God.
That is to say, they can relate
because of their own tempta-
tions in the world. The author
then goes on to say that Je-
sus offered himself in rever-
ent submission to God who
had appointed him a priest
forever. Jesus, who knew no
sin, was subject to temptation
and therefore can relate to the
challenges we face.
In Philippians 2, Paul reminds
us of the encouragement of
Christ, and the consolation of
love. He beckons his readers
to have the mind of Christ,
who humbled himself to the
point of death. Paul says that
there is joy to be found by him
and them even as he is being
poured out as a libation over
the sacrifice and the offering
summer 2017 9
connecting
of your faith. Paul can claim
this because he knows that it
is God that is at work in him
and them. He knows that it is
God who sustains us in our
weakness and for this we are
to rejoice, because God has
not forgotten us, but has pro-
vided Jesus Christ as the way
for us to find hope and joy.
Though not weak like us, Je-
sus put himself in the place
of weakness in order that he
might save all who would
repent and believe. Like the
earthly priest, Jesus knew
weakness and therefore he is
able bear our weakness. That
is, he offered himself from a
point of great strength to the
one who was able to save him
from death. Jesus relation-
ship to us formed in sacrifice
means that we can approach
with boldness the throne
of grace. The author of He-
brews reminds us that in this
approach we can take hold of
mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. The throne
10 anglicandigest.org
of grace is the seat for conso-
lation.
As I have thought about how
it is that we approach the
throne, I was reminded that it
is about a relationship. Eugene
H. Peterson describes pasto-
ral relationship this way, The
role of the pastor is to embody
the gospel. And of course to
get it embodied, which you
can only do with individuals,
not in the abstract. Jesus, a
priest forever, did this by be-
ing present in a relationship
with us, individuals here on
earth.
A mentor of mine always re-
minded me that as Christians
we must always be seeking
out relationships. He always
reminded me and it was
good advice that we must
always go directly to the per-
son that can do something
about our concern. His point
was that there is no need to go
around talking about some-
one, and instead we would do
gathering telling

well to go and talk to that has made himself known. He

someone. has made himself the one who
is able to sympathize with our
As he and I were talking one
weakness and made us able
day, he reminded me that we
to approach the throne of
might do the same thing with
grace with boldness. He was
Jesus that is, rather than
building a relationship with
talking about Jesus, we can
the people he so dearly loved.
explore what Scripture tells
Being sinless he offers to us a
us: What does the message
relationship wherein he has
of the Gospel teach us? Talk
procured great consolation
to Jesus. Be ready to hear
even in our sin and suffering.
back from him. He who loves
Our consolation is found in
us to the point of suffering
his nearness to us, the Church.
and death will not be silent.
Because of his life and death,
In this conversation, I gained
he brings the Kingdom of
great clarity about the nature
Heaven near. That every-
of our personal relationship
thing which the grace of God
with Jesus Christ. Jesus had
does in the way of rescuing
never been stagnant to me,
us from the inveterate evils in
nor did I believe he had he
which we are sunk, pertains
been idle in the lives of oth-
to the future world, in which
ers. But through this con-
all things are made new. (St.
versation, I saw Jesus more
Augustine of Hippo) He of-
clearly as one we talk to and
fers the great gift of eternal
not always about. It became
life in the presence of God the
more clear that if we want to
Father.
tell others about who Jesus
is, we would do well to show Moreover, he offers the con-
them how we talk to him. solation of an eternal life and
It is in relationship that Jesus joy that begins when we first

summer 2017 11
connecting
believe. Repent and believe,
draw near to the Lord because
the joy of the Kingdom of
Heaven is near. By the grace
of God in relationship to the
one who gave all, a fitting
way has been fashioned that
we might begin to find in the
present the consolation of the
life in Christ that is and is to
come.
QQQ
Christianity is
Not an Idea
The Rev. Zachary R. Thompson
It was January 6, 2017, in At-
lanta, at the Church of Our
Saviour, and we were making
preparations to celebrate the
Mass for the Epiphany. This
is always one of my favorite
services of the year and I was
delighted when a few close
friends from around the city
joined a solid number of the
faithful at the Church for
12 anglicandigest.org
the 7:30pm liturgy. A winter
warning was in effect and we
all know what a little snow and
ice does in Atlanta. The ser-
vice went off very nicely, the
mysteries of Christs manifes-
tation to the Gentiles were en-
countered, and then we gave
our well wishes at the doors
in the back of the Church.
My friends and I decided we
would go for a quick dinner
and then retire for the night.
At dinner, we shared stories,
we laughed, we listed our fa-
vorite books of 2016 and talk-
ed about what we would like
to read in 2017. The evening
was full of grace and joy.
When I returned home to the
rectory my wife and two chil-
dren were sound asleep, and
I joined their rest as soon as
possible. At midnight, my wife
and I woke to a sound and a
sensation unlike anything we
had experienced. We jumped
out of bed startled and con-
fused and instinctively made
our way down the hallway
gathering
to check on our boys. Every-
thing in the hallway looked
fine, and the boys bedroom
doors were closed. I looked up
the spiral staircase at the end
of the hallway, which leads to
a finished attic, and I saw the
stars. Sixty feet worth of a wa-
ter oak had crashed through
the house. Just then, our four-
year-old opened his bedroom
door and he walked out, cov-
ered in dirt and debris. He
was startled, and we were
unsure if he was unharmed
by the tree. My wife quickly
consoled him and brought
him to the front of the house
as I made my way to check on
our three-year-old. I turned
the doorknob and pushed the
door; it opened one inch, and
then stopped with a tremen-
dous thud. My heart sank as I
saw the massive tree through
the narrow, dark opening, and
I feared the very worst. No
noises were coming from the
room. I looked up the hallway
to my wife and she could see
the terror in my face.
telling
With desperation and hope
I called out, Ezra? He re-
sponded, Yes. With as-
tounding relief I asked if he
was on his bed and if he was
okay. He said that he was, and
in a way that only a three-
year-old can, he asked, Dad-
dy, is it up time? By this time
my wife had retrieved the
digital monitor and we could
make out that Ezra looked to
be safe. About twenty minutes
later, a fireman broke through
a window and retrieved my
son and I walked away from
the house with my family
physically unharmed.
The next morning, when we
saw the damage and the tree
in the daylight my wife and I
could not help but hold each
other and weep. We had had a
serious brush with death and,
unlike so many others, we
were spared.
Only an hour or so after the
scare, I laid awake on my
back in the neighbors guest
summer 2017 13
connecting
bed, my wife and boys next
to me. Images and terror ran
all around in my head and I
tried to recite the Jesus Prayer
and enter into the peace of the
triune God, which passes all
understanding. I needed the
God of unchangeable power
and eternal might to be near. I
needed the God who took on
the frailty and risk of our flesh
and blood humanity to be
near. I needed Christ to hold
us and keep us with his fierce
love. He did, and he still does.
His grace and mercy have the
capacity to mysteriously man-
ifest and heal broken hearts
and wounded memories.
This grace and consolation
is neither an idea nor a neat
formula. It is raw and real and
unpredictable and intense. It
is personal and it is for the life
of the world. My wife and I
found grace and consolation
from the living God in prayer
and in supplication. My wife
made her way to the Lady
Chapel in the Church the
14 anglicandigest.org
next day. She knelt in the pew
and wept. Just as she had done
when they found a tumor on
her breast (which turned out
to be benign). She wept just as
she did when my father decid-
ed to run away with another
woman after thirty-six years
of marriage to my mother,
who models Christian chari-
ty. She looked at the crucifix
above the tabernacle and she
wept, and her tears were gath-
ered in grace and she felt con-
solation.
Michael Ramsey was fond of
saying that a saint is some-
one who takes responsibility
for God. When the neigh-
borhood, the parish, and
the school system, learned
of our situation, they rallied
and supported us with char-
itable gifts, food, and prayer.
Their prayers were a kind of
consolation we cannot quite
articulate, but they were ef-
fective and healing; they took
responsibility for God.
gathering
Incarnation, crucifixion, res-
urrection, and the love of a
community rooted in gift
these are not ideas; these are
about our flesh and blood,
they are about hope and joy,
about grace and consolation.
Christianity is not an idea. It
is about a man who took on
our flesh out of fierce love and
this love has been revealed to
be the most durable element
in the universe, and that is
consoling.
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For information contact:
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The Order of Saint Andrew
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telling
The grace of
our Lord Jesus
Christ
The Right Rev. Pierre Whalon
The word grace signifies
a gift. It also arises in oth-
er contexts, such as grace at
meals i.e., thanksgiving
and coup de grce, which
implies the mercy of a quick
death. In translating the Bible,
Martin Luther used the same
word in the Old Testament
for steadfast love (hesed) as
grace in the New Testament:
Gnade. Grace is gift, thanks,
mercy, unchanging love.
Its most important meaning
of grace is Gods attitude
and action toward us. Gods
steadfast love is shed upon us
without any other reason than
Gods free choice. We cannot
merit divine favor, other than
simply to accept it. Abraham
believed God and it was reck-
oned to him as righteousness.
This verse from Genesis (15:6)
summer 2017 15
connecting
is a cornerstone of both Paul
and James understanding of
salvation (Gal. 3:6; Rom. 4:3;
James 2:23) in other words,
really basic. Abraham trust-
ed God, and that trust, that
confidence, is what made him
Gods Friend, as James says.
The opposite of accepting
grace is demanding certain-
ty about it. What does God
accuse Job of in chapter 38?
Certainty that he is right and
God is wrong. Not to men-
tion the certitude of the false
prophets (see, e.g., I Kings
22). As such, this desire to be
certain is inherently sinful,
for it insists there is more to
salvation than faith, or that
we are given more than a
reasonable and holy hope, to
quote the Book of Common
Prayer Burial Office (p. 481).
Furthermore, this unholy de-
sire, when acceded to, annuls
grace while seeming to rely on
it, because according to the
ideology derived from it, one
is saved by doing something
16 anglicandigest.org
to get this grace. In traditional
works-righteousness, one had
to do something in order to be
saved, like becoming a monk.
Modern works-righteousness
is about reciting some formu-
la and then adhering publicly
and slavishly to some confes-
sion of certainty by joining
the church of the Truly and
Certainly Saved. All we really
need do, however, is to trust,
as Abraham and every other
Man and Woman of God has
ever done. Mary, the mother
of Jesus, said yes to Gods
offer, just as her ancestor had
done (Luke 1: 38). No more
(and no less) was asked of her,
or anyone else among us.
We are saved by grace
through faith we are not
saved by faith through grace
(Eph. 2:8). And this saving
grace, that makes you and
me Gods Friends like Abra-
ham, is a gift, so that no one
can boast (vs. 9). Indeed, the
prophet Habakkuk says the
righteous shall live by faith
gathering
(Hab. 2:4b), a key verse for
Paul (Rom. 1:16). Faith in
the grace of Jesus Christ is
what the Gospel effects, and
through that power, our faith
makes us righteous, Gods
Friends, and little sisters and
brothers of Jesus by adoption.
The fact that grace precedes
faith is the clear sign that God
is sovereign. Before we can
choose to accept Gods of-
fer, God chooses us (Eph. 1:
4-22).
But this can awaken doubt,
which tempts us. The Certain
have to go forth and save
souls, as if it is another work
of righteousness instead of
the sovereign and mysteri-
ous work of the Holy Spirit.
This drive to convert is driven
more by a need for self-jus-
tification and a fear of dam-
nation than by genuine com-
passion for others. Jesus had a
word for such people who go
forth to make converts: Woe
to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites!
telling
You travel over land and sea
to win a single convert, and
when you have succeeded,
you make them twice as fit
for hell as you are. (Matthew
23:15)
One mark of the church of
the Certain is that all others
are excluded. The Certainly
Saved know who is Certain-
ly Damned. This illustrates
perfectly what Bishop Fitzsi-
mons Allison means when he
writes about the cruelty of
heresy: an inadequate notion
of salvation leads to stunted
understanding, want of char-
ity, and terrible anxiety. So we
the Certain (no one should
think theyre immune to this
temptation in one form or an-
other) worry about losing our
Certitude, and therefore our
salvation; we become very
concerned about the lack of
salvation we perceive in peo-
ple we love and become tor-
tured at the idea of their dam-
nation; we become moralistic,
so that Purity becomes the
summer 2017 17
connecting
public companion to Certain-
ty; and we resort to all man-
ner of manipulations to main-
tain what is in essence false.
We cannot possibly under-
stand God. We cannot grasp
the love of God we can only
let ourselves be grasped by
God. And we can only trust
that the Gospel is true and
that it applies to you and me
all who have in the past, in
the present, or in the future
believed God. In other words,
trust grace.
This is not to say that I do not
sometimes fall prey to anxiety
about the reality of what I say
God is offering. Faith without
doubt is no faith at all. It is the
pang of doubt that tempts us
to Certainty, whereas doubt
is the Spirits way of strength-
ening our faith. No fun, but
there it is
However, in the process, the
Spirit will console us from
time to time, so that despite
our own sharp painful knowl-
18 anglicandigest.org
edge of our sins, we feel we
can still trust in the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ. We
can rely on the love of God
no matter what. And we find
in our communion with the
Holy Spirit the ability to hear a
word of acceptance. And even
when we lack the strength to
reply in kind, Christ in us is
praying through his Spirit
in sighs too deep for words
(Romans 8:26-27). So grace
empowers us to give thanks.
In my 32 years of ordained
ministry, I have conducted a
lot of funerals, and this prayer
from the Burial Office always
gave me comfort and hope as
I gazed into an open grave. I
dearly hope these words were
helpful to others, as well, as
they still are to me:
O God, whose days are with-
out end, and whose mercies
cannot be numbered: Make
us, we pray, deeply aware of
the shortness and uncertain-
ty of human life; and let your
Holy Spirit lead us in holiness
gathering
and righteousness all our days;
that, when we shall have served
you in our generation, we may
be gathered to our ancestors,
having the testimony of a good
conscience, in the communion
of the Catholic Church, in the
confidence of a certain faith, in
the comfort of a religious and
holy hope, in favor with you,
our God, and in perfect charity
with the world. All this we ask
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
telling
The Grace
of a Leaky Roof
The Rev. Jane Schmoetzer
Just before Christmas, our
church building experienced
a sudden (and sodden!) cata-
strophic failure of the large flat
roofs over the education wing
and kitchen area. Weve never
had a single leak before in my
tenure of almost 7 years, but a
series of snow and ice storms
wholly uncharacteristic in
summer 2017 19
connecting
our area changed all that.
The accumulated snow and
ice on the roof in some
places as much as 5 thick
began to melt and leaks be-
gan appearing, first in the
mechanical room, and then
the classrooms. We dropped
everything and went to work,
trying to minimize the dam-
age. The Junior Warden, my
husband, and I mopped and
emptied buckets inside, while
a couple other stalwart pa-
rishioners spent many hours
on the roof, shoveling ice and
pumping off accumulated wa-
ter, in order to reduce what
could come in from above.
We called our insurance com-
pany, a local roofer, and a
restoration company to take
on interior repairs, and we
thought we had it under con-
trol. But before they could be-
gin we had another ice storm,
and the process started over!
More than that: it seemed as
though we had puddles and
water actively dripping and
20 anglicandigest.org
streaming in everywhere. Not
only had all the previous leaks
reappeared, but they brought
reinforcements: many more
started, in every room under a
flat roof. There were dozens of
leaks in all three classrooms,
the kitchen, both bathrooms,
the mechanical room, and
even the sextons closet. Sev-
eral other hardworking souls
pitched in trying to mitigate
the damage. I gave up trying
to remember all the names; it
was hard to keep track as we
scrambled.
By the end of that effort, I
think I counted 82 separate
containers collecting leaks:
more than 50 buckets (on
hand, bought, and borrowed),
every garbage can in the
building that would hold wa-
ter, and even the large Mens
Group Soup pots and bowls.
What a mess!
In the midst of all this, I found
myself giving thanks so
many, many times. Yes, really!
gathering
Not in a Pollyanna, it could
have been worse sort of way,
although that is certainly
true. And not in thinking that
God wont give you anything
you cant handle, because I
do not believe our loving Cre-
ator goes around dishing out
leaky roofs.
But I did find myself acutely
and blessedly aware that God
was indeed present with us
in the midst of it all. As we
worked, we were also pray-
ing with our hands and our
feet and our aching knees and
backs. Willing hearts pitched
in when and as they could,
and the work got done. Our
neighbors at a nearby church
kindly agreed to allow us to
host a funeral reception in
their parish hall when our
kitchen was unusable. The
roofer sent helpers to take
over clearing the roof at no
additional cost to us. Contin-
gency plans were developed,
and changed, and changed
again, all with a sense of abid-
telling
ing peace amid the scramble.
We even laughed sometimes
as we emptied buckets and
tore down disintegrating
ceiling tiles. And without
blinking twice, our vestry au-
thorized the full cost of the
repairs to be taken from re-
serves well before the in-
surance determined what will
be covered so that the work
could begin as soon as possi-
ble. Ours is not a huge con-
gregation, but they are fully
and faithfully committed to
our mission of equipping the
saints to seek and serve Christ
in all people, here in our par-
ish home.
As of this writing, I am told
we are on the roofers sched-
ule to begin repairs next
week. Once the roofers begin,
they will have our roofs under
large tarps during construc-
tion, which means we will be
able to move the Godly Play
and nursery materials back
into their classrooms very
soon. And the restoration
summer 2017 21
connecting
company will complete the
interior repairs as soon as the
new roofs are on. Im sure it
will be a several weeks before
were back to normal, so we
will need to practice patience
as we finish cleaning up. But
you know what? Even in the
worst of it, I could see clearly
the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit. And theres nowhere
Id rather be than in the midst
of that even when it comes
with a leaky roof.
QQQ
Consolation
in the Midst of
Grief and Loss
The Rev. Jonathan Mitchican
Back in October, my good
friend and colleague in min-
istry, Fr. Brewster Hastings,
died quite unexpectedly at the
age of fifty-five. I had no idea
how important he was to me
until he was suddenly gone.
22 anglicandigest.org
He was my spiritual father.
He walked me through a good
many difficulties. I am a bet-
ter man today because I knew
him.
Grief is a funny thing. It comes
in ways you might never ex-
pect. It is like water pouring
into your life and filling all the
cracks and crevices that are
left open to it. I have grieved
quite a bit for Brewster in
the months since his death,
in ways that have been both
healthy and unhealthy. What
I have longed for in that grief
is the one thing that I cannot
have: the chance to process
it with Brewster, to sit as we
used to in the chapel at Saint
Annes Church in Abington
and hear him say, Come on,
Jonathan, lets talk about what
God is doing in all this.
I have lost people before
friends, family members,
parishioners but there is
something unique about los-
ing your spiritual father. The
tradition of having a spiritual
gathering
father or mother is an ancient
one, going back to the early
Church. The first spiritual fa-
thers were elder monks who
worked with younger monks
to guide them along in their
religious vocations. So far as
possible, wrote St. Antony
of Egypt in the third century,
for every step that a monk
takes, for every drop of water
that he drinks in his cell, he
should entrust the decision to
the Old Men, to avoid mak-
ing some mistake in what he
does.
From this beginning, the tra-
dition grew to encompass
secular clergy and lay people
as well. Though often monks
and nuns, spiritual fathers and
mothers can come from many
walks of life. The modern title
spiritual director does not
quite capture their role. As
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware
puts it, It is not enough for
[a spiritual father] to offer
advice. He is also required to
take up the soul of his spiritu-
telling
al children into his own soul,
their life into his life. It is his
task to pray for them, and his
constant intercession on their
behalf is more important to
them than any words of coun-
sel. This is how it was with
Brewster. He was my men-
tor, my guide, and at times
my confessor. He prayed for
me ceaselessly. He looked af-
ter me. He did more than just
give me advice. He walked the
path with me.
On one of the first occasions
that I met Brewster, after a
gathering with some other
clergy, I asked him if he would
pray for me. I had been suf-
fering from severe headaches
and struggling with internal
spiritual flux. I do not know
what made me ask him, but he
was more than willing. He laid
hands on my head and prayed
aloud, unabashedly confident
in the Lord, and I could in-
stantly feel the presence of
the Holy Spirit. My headache
disappeared and my heart felt
summer 2017 23
connecting
at ease. We met for lunch a
week later and informally es-
tablished a spiritual bond that
would last for the next five
years.
It was not always easy. There
were times when the word
he had for me was discipline
rather than kindness. I am
stubborn and I do not like be-
ing told no. But as any kind of
father knows, there are times
when a child needs correc-
tion, when that is the loving
thing to do. I would get irritat-
ed with him, but more often
than not I came to discover
that he had been right. When
I followed the guidance he
gave me, I found a deeper re-
lationship with God. When I
refused, it was usually because
I was not yet ready to give up
something that was getting
in the way of receiving Gods
grace.
He was not perfect by any
stretch. He made mistakes,
some of which really hurt me,
24 anglicandigest.org
and I called him on it. I have
never known anyone so quick
to offer an apology or so ea-
ger to make amends. We had
many of the same struggles in
common, but he always took
responsibility for his actions.
He taught me to do the same.
He showed me that it is in our
brokenness that we draw clos-
er to God.
What happens when someone
you have known like that dies?
Where does the bond go? The
sins I confessed to him have
died with him, but what about
the graces we shared? Does he
still pray for me now, even as
I pray for him? Will he be my
spiritual father again when we
both meet in the kingdom, or
was that a grace only meant
for this world and this time?
Back in December, while
struggling with how to put
all this together in my mind,
I Googled Brewsters name
hoping to find a link to one
of the works of fiction that he
wrote. Instead, I found an ar-
gathering
ticle he wrote in 2014 on the
topic of grief. To accept the
persons absence takes a form
of trust, he wrote. Remem-
ber the name Jesus means
God saves or even Safe in
God. The next step is to com-
mend the person to Jesus, to
the safety of God and trust he
or she really is secure, dare we
say, most secure with him.
Brewster acknowledges that
this is impossible for us to
do on our own, as we sink
over and over into missing
the persons presence, but he
says that it is the work of God
in us, through our grief, to
bring us to a place of such ac-
ceptance and faith. From an
earthy point of view, it makes
no sense, he says. This com-
mending of the loved one to
the Lord Jesus only makes
sense from the view of eterni-
ty.
Here was consolation from
God in the midst of my grief.
It was not what Brewster
wrote exactly that consoled
telling
me though. What he said was
all pretty standard, all stuff I
already knew, all things that
I have said as a priest to oth-
ers in the midst of their grief.
What consoled me was the
mere fact that this piece of
writing survived at all and
that I found it at that particu-
lar moment when I needed it.
Reading it felt like I was sitting
with Brewster again. It felt like
my prayer had been answered,
that he was directing me once
again, processing my grief
with me, and pointing me as
always towards the place of Je-
sus in the center of it all.
I am still processing. That
may go on for some time. But
God is in the middle of it with
me. Slowly, I am learning to
trust God with Brewster. The
bond we shared was always all
for Gods glory anyway. May
Brewster rest in peace in the
presence of the Lord he loved
so very much.
Goodbye, old friend. I will see
you again.
summer 2017 25
connecting
What Once Was
Lost
Carrie Willard
I have two older sisters who
both grew up to be teachers.
They are about ten years older
than I am, and we lived in a
very rural part of Wisconsin,
and there was no cable or in-
ternet at our house. In other
words, we had a lot of time on
our hands, and my sisters used
that time to teach me how to
read and write and do math.
And so, by the time I got to
kindergarten, I could read
fairly proficiently, while other
children were still picking out
the letters in their names.
When I complained to my
mom that I wasnt being chal-
lenged, she told me that ev-
erybody goes to kindergarten
for different reasons. Some
kids go to learn how to be
away from their parents every
day, and other kids go to kin-
dergarten to learn how to read
26 anglicandigest.org
and write. You, my mother
told me gently, need to go
to kindergarten to learn how
to keep track of your things.
She was right. This was in the
aftermath of my forgetting my
lunchbox and thermos full of
milk at school, and that ther-
mos was never the same after
that.
That year, while I was still
learning the heavy weight of
responsibility that burdens
young students, I lost a li-
brary book. The title of the
book was Snow. I remember
searching the house, high
and low, and the book could
not be found anywhere. The
teacher had all of the other
students in class search their
cubbies, and it was nowhere
to be found. I had to stay in-
side from recess to write a
disciplinary plan for my lost
book, and I was told that the
plan would be kept in my per-
manent disciplinary record. I
dont remember what I wrote,
but I imagine it said some-
gathering
thing like, I promise never
to lose anything ever again. It
took me years before I would
check out another library
book, even though I loved
reading.
Imagine my surprise when,
years later, I developed a dif-
ferent kind of plan to grad-
uate high school a year early
(see above: rural Wisconsin).
I held my breath as my high
school guidance counselor
opened my file to review the
number of credits I was tak-
ing, imagining my scrawled
kindergarten plan fluttering
out and dashing my dreams of
graduating early. How could
they let someone so irrespon-
sible get by with just three
years of high school? Surely
Id have to take the full four
years to learn my responsibil-
ity lesson.
Guess what? The kindergar-
ten-library-book-plan was
not in my file! Imagine that!
I think the elementary school
telling
disciplinary folks might have
been a little heavy handed in
their dealings with little ol
me; but I was from a poor
school district, so maybe they
just had to keep a tight leash
on their library books. In any
event, the relief I felt that my
file didnt contain the dread-
ed plan was immense, and I
couldnt believe that Id hung
on to the shame of it for so
long.
By that time, I had developed
quite a system for not losing
anything ever again. I checked
pockets for keys, backpack for
homework, and never came to
class unprepared. The thought
of losing anything stressed me
out.
By the time I got to law school,
at a doctors appointment ad-
dressing the twin demons of
anxiety and depression, my
doctor found a third diag-
nosis: obsessive compulsive
disorder. She began asking
me questions about my clos-
summer 2017 27
connecting
et, and how it was organized.
What do you mean? I asked.
Well, you know, are all the
shirts together, and all the
skirts, and all of the dresses,
or are they all mixed up to-
gether?
Theyre all organized by
type, I said, wondering what
kind of gold star Id get, or
maybe if she wanted me to
take a look at the clinics filing
system.
What would happen if one
of the skirts was in with the
shirts in your closet? she
asked.
Why would anyone do that?
Would you be able to leave
your apartment if the closet
wasnt in order?
Goodnees, no. But who
would do that to my closet?
What kind of monster
28 anglicandigest.org
I didnt get a gold star in my
chart, but I did get a new di-
agnosis, and I never looked at
my closet the same way again.
Obsessive compulsive disor-
der, or OCD, is great fodder
for pop psychology humor
and quippy memes, but living
with it is not all that funny. It
can be agonizing and distract-
ing and embarrassing.
The lilies of the field and the
birds of the sky dont hold
much water with me, but the
widow with the lost coin?
Shes my girl. Those photos
where things are neatly ar-
ranged and organized by col-
or? I gaze at them to lower my
blood pressure.
With therapy and medication,
Ive been fortunate to keep
my mental health trifecta
manageable. But introducing
children into the mix didnt
help. Pacifiers. Puzzle pieces.
Legos. Library booksoh,
the library books.
gathering
I could kind of keep up with
the stuff of one child, but
along with a second baby, we
introduced a new phrase into
our family lexicon: better
than it was.
Is the toy room clean?
Its better than it was before.
What about the sock situation
in the laundry room?
Better than it was.
Did you sleep well last night?
Better than I did last year at
this time.
Good enough has become
good enough. There is grace
in better than it was, and
in a little bit of slapdashery.
Lowered standards have be-
come the key to getting any
sleep at night.
I tell myself this, but when one
of the kids comes home with
a library-book-past-due no-
telling
tice in his backpack, my heart
sinks a bit. The law-and-or-
derliness of obsessive com-
pulsive disorder pairs up with
a heap of anxiety, and I forget
all about the grace in better
than it was. I might get an eye
twitch, and there is definitely
going to be some digestive
hell to pay if the library book
isnt located post-haste. I want
my kids to care about keeping
track of their things, especial-
ly the library books oh my
goodness, the library books.
But I dont want to give them
their own disorder, even if,
selfishly, it would make the
house tidier. I want to show
them the grace that has been
shown to me, and I dont want
them to have angst about
their permanent record, like
I did. Id like them to know
that I need to be forgiven for
both the untidiness and the
lost items, and also for my ob-
sessiveness over them. I need
forgiveness for the empha-
sis Ive put on maintaining a
clean permanent record.
summer 2017 29
connecting

The real grace, of course, is missing Tae Kwon Do belt all

that our real Permanent Re-
cord doesnt exist. The library
books, the unwritten thank-
you notes, and the untidy, un-
holy mess within and without
do not matter at the foot of the
cross. All of the disciplinary
plans that we imagine could
float out at any moment have
already been shredded by the
crucifixion. This makes me
somewhat uneasy at times,
because it really doesnt feel
all that tidy. Id like to rely on
my own (even disordered)
thinking and responsibility in
order to be found worthy of
redemption, even if it means
tracking down all of the miss-
ing library books. On the oth-
er hand, it is a great relief not
to have to, and an enormous
gift.
in the same day. I practically
skipped out of school, feel-
ing like the shepherd with a
whole herd of the formerly
lost sheep, the widow with
all of the gold coins, and the
mother hen in Matthew 23,
gathering her chicks close to
her. Yes, I realize that all of
those stories have to do with
lost souls and not the Lost
and Found bin. But the relief
I felt was just the glimpse of
grace that I needed.
This piece first appeared in
Mockingbird (www.mbird.
com).

Its been a long time since

that kindergarten disciplinary
plan, but now I have my very
own kindergartner. Earlier
this week, we found two of his
missing library books and his

30 anglicandigest.org
 ANGLICAN
BOOKSTORE

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We also offer bargain books, which are priced at $3.00 each. You may also order by calling
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connecting

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF SUNDAY:

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32 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF

ROBERT E. LEE
By R. David Cox

This volume is the first close examination

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E1263 (paperback, 368 pages, $26.00)

FOR YOUNG READERS:

SONG OF CREATION
By Paul Goble
Birds pray, trees pray, flowers pray, moun-
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says award-winning author and illustrator Paul Goble. Every el-
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to join with the land and the animals in singing praise to God.
E1250 (hardcover, 32 pages, ages 5-10, $17.00)
summer 2017 33
connecting

PSALMS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

By Marie-Hlne Delval and Arno
The Psalms describe a whole range of emo-
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JESUS
By Anselm Grn and Giuliani Ferri
This graceful retelling of the life of Jesus
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summer 2017 35
connecting
A TAD Literary
From Law to Logos, Jon R.
Jordan; WIPF & STOCK, 2016,
available at wipfandstock.com
or call 541-344-1528
Anglicans, including mem-
bers of the Episcopal Church,
probably hear and recite more
Scripture than most Chris-
tians. At every Eucharist, they
hear three lessons usually
one from the Old Testament,
part of an Epistle and one of
the Gospels and they say or
sing a Psalm; at Morning and
Evening Prayer, they hear two
lessons and read or sing a larg-
er section from the Psalms.
One cant attend a Baptism,
a Marriage, or an Ordination
without being deluged with
Bible. One wonders why there
seems so much anecdotal
evidence that Anglicans are
remarkably ignorant about
Scripture.
Jon Jordan is a teacher and
a member of the Episcopal
Church of the Incarnation,
36 anglicandigest.org
Dallas. His bishop, George
Sumner, highly recommends
this little book, an introduc-
tion to St. Pauls Epistle to
the Galatians. Jon must be an
excellent teacher, because he
sets about his task with clear
prose, and maps out the aids
we need to access Pauls mes-
sage. Throughout the book, he
bids us to read the whole letter
in one go, over and over again,
while bearing in mind differ-
ent points the Apostle seeks to
make to a church he founded,
but which has been taken over
by Teachers who insist that
new Christians must be cir-
cumcised before they are bap-
tized and that they must con-
tinue to keep the Jewish Law.
St. Paul asserts his authority
as an Apostle. He insists that
there is no middle way. The
Galatians can either accept
the authentic Faith or be cut
off from communion with the
Church. Jon, very wisely, tells
us to avoid inserting our con-
temporary controversies into
gathering
the text. St. Paul is teaching
that the function of the Old
Testament law became obso-
lete when Christ died for us
all but this does not make
us lawless. Through Baptism,
we become Spirit-filled wom-
en and men, called to the
law of love. All differences of
race, culture, and gender are
washed away when we become
sons and daughters of God;
after that, we are called to live
lives which demonstrate the
practical implications of our
being one in Christ.
There are chapters on how to
read the book, how to read an
Epistle. We are introduced to
the author and the audience,
and its occasion and purpose.
The chapter introducing Ga-
latians has extended sections
on Paul and on the Galatian
church and its problems. An
excellent chapter on Pauls
use of the Old Testament is
worth reading and printing
off for further reference. The
rest of the book identifies the
telling
major themes and yes, we
are urged to read the entire
Epistle at the end of all eight
chapters. My only regret is
that Jon didnt make more of
the connection between the
gift of the Holy Spirit and bap-
tism. I hope that, in this, Jon
isnt permitting contemporary
conflicts to impinge on the
text.
Im glad to recommend this
slim volume. It is worth more
than its weight.
Being Christian, Rowan
Williams; Eerdmans 2014
Item E1247 and
Being Disciples, Rowan
Williams; Eerdmans 2016
Item E1259 are vailable from
from The Anglican Bookstore
Mention Rowan Williams
and a number of responses
emerge. He was Archbishop
of Canterbury in a time of
turmoil within the Anglican
Communion. He is the Master
of a Cambridge college with a
name which is pronounced
summer 2017 37
connecting
one way (like maudlin) and
spelt in another (Magda-
lene). He is a Baron. He has
enormous eyebrows. He is a
poet; a philosopher; a theolo-
gian with more degrees than
a thermometer; a kind and
saintly man. He sometimes
writes paragraphs of great
length and content that seems
to pass human understand-
ing, yet he can also write in
a language understanded of
the people, as his predecessor
Thomas Cranmer put it.
The late P. D. James described
the first of the two titles re-
viewed here as elegant and
lucid. Of the second, his
successor, Archbishop Justin
Welby, a man of plain speech,
wrote, Here is quite the most
beautiful writing on disciple-
ship I know.
In Being Christian, Dr. Wil-
liams has written short chap-
ters, concluding with lists of
pertinent questions on Bap-
tism, the Bible, Eucharist, and
Prayer themes one finds in
38 anglicandigest.org
perhaps the first list of crucial
Christian identity marks to be
found in the Acts of the Apos-
tles: They continued in the
Apostles doctrine and fellow-
ship, in the breaking of bread
and prayer.
On Baptism, Bishop Williams
remarks that from the earliest
days of the Church, the rite of
baptism was identified with
plunging with Jesus into death
and rising to new life, and as-
sociated with Jesus own bap-
tism by John the Baptist, So
the beginning of Christian life
is a new beginning of Gods
creative work. And just as Je-
sus came up out of the water,
receiving the Spirit and hear-
ing the voice of the Father, so
for the newly baptized Chris-
tian the voice of God says,
You are my son/daughter,
as the individual begins his
or her new life in association
with Jesus.
Another quotation worth
contemplation: If you think
of the vast expense of copying
gathering
out manuscripts in the ancient
world, and of the number of
manuscripts you have to copy
out to get a complete Bible,
you will understand why the
ancient world was not awash,
as we are, with spare Bibles.
People learned the Bible. They
recited it to one another. They
copied out stretches of it, of-
ten from memory. That is
why there are so many slight-
ly faulty quotations from the
Bible in early Christian liter-
ature, because not even then
were peoples memories per-
fect.
Speaking of the Apostles eat-
ing and drinking with his
disciples, as he broke bread,
blessed the cup, and the disci-
ples knew he was there: And
that is why, throughout the
centuries since, Christians
have been able to say exactly
what the Apostles say: they
are the people with whom Je-
sus ate and drank after he was
raised from the dead. Holy
Communion makes no sense
telling
at all if you do not believe in
the resurrection.
On prayer, Rowan writes:
That, in a nutshell, is prayer
letting Jesus pray in you,
and beginning that lengthy
and often very tough process
by which our selfish thoughts
and ideals and hopes are grad-
ually aligned with his eter-
nal action; just as, in his own
earthly life, his human fears
and hopes and desires and
emotions are put into the con-
text of his love for the Father,
woven into his eternal relation
with the Father even in that
moment of supreme pain and
mental agony that he endures
the night before his death.
In the second slim book, Be-
ing Disciples, Williams writes
terse and vivid chapters on
discipleship, faith, hope and
love, forgiveness, holiness,
faith in society, and life in the
Spirit. In this pithy couple of
sentences, he defines disciple-
ship: The disciple is not there
to jot down ideas and then go
summer 2017 39
connecting
away and think about them.
The disciple is where he or she
is in order to be changed; so
that the way in which he or
she sees and experiences the
whole world changes.
The contemporary world sets
enormous roadblocks in front
of our understanding of what
truth means to a Christian.
Yet at the same time we have
what we have learned to call
the post-modern perspective,
in which any one view may
be as good as any other, and
one persons claim to truth (let
alone absolute truth) can be
regarded by others as offen-
sive or oppressive. We are in
a period that St. John of the
Cross might have described
in his characteristic language,
as a dark night for the intelli-
gence. So Williams proposes,
Just as it is a great challenge
for the Church to be a place
that is dependable, a place
that is patient, it is also a great
challenge for the Church to
become a place sufficiently
40 anglicandigest.org
still for people to open up, suf-
ficiently quiet and unanxious
for people to learn that they
can receive what the ultimate
truth of the universe wants to
give them.
On forgiveness: The Eucha-
rist is our symbol of what it
would mean for the Lords
Prayer to be answered ful-
ly; God feeding his people
through the death and resur-
rection of Jesus, which estab-
lishes that new community of
the Spirit in which forgiveness
is the common currency.
On holiness, Theres the
catch: if you want to be holy,
stop thinking about it. If you
want to be holy, look at God.
If you want to be holy, enjoy
Gods world, enter into it as
much as you can in love and
service. And who knows,
maybe one day someone will
say of you, You know, when
I met them, the landscape
looked different.
gathering telling

Bishop Williams sums up we are able, somehow, to go

in these compelling words: on asking those questions, we
What keeps us going as disci- may have no guaranteed rec-
ples? Self-awareness and still- ipe for success, but we will at
ness, growth and joy. These least be giving God the open-
are the building blocks of a life ing to enter our lives and be at
of discipleship that can stand home in us. We will be offer-
up to everything around us, ing to God our longing to be
in the Church and the world with Jesus, wherever he may
and in ourselves, that tries to lead; and in doing that we will
stifle our efforts to stay spir- have learned something about
itually healthy. How much being disciples.
of ourselves are we ready to
know? Are we prepared to be So buy these books. Get your
quietly and positively willing priest to teach a course using
to move on? Are we ready for them. Read and pray these
the overflow, the excess of joy little books. But watch out
that can come with that? If they are transformative.
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An Anglo-Catholic religious order of Third Order brothers and
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contact:
Br. Glen Weeks, OSF,
228 Old Glenwood Rd., West Falls, NY 14170.
e-mail minister-general@fodc.net
or call 716-652-6616
Advertisement

summer 2017 41
connecting
No Cheap Grace
The Rev. Daniel J. S. Stroud
There are few pleasures great-
er in life than to find yourself
underneath a blanket by a
crackling fire with nothing to
do but admire the snow accu-
mulating outside while you
are wrapped in warmth as
the world seems to have gone
cold all around. The feeling of
comfort as you are both liter-
ally and figuratively insulated
from all that is happening in
the broader world brings an
ease to the day that you rarely
feel in the freneticism of our
modern society. Soft fabrics
and contentment, however,
are a far cry from camel hair,
lions dens, and cries to re-
pent.
We dont usually associate the
idea of comfort with prophets.
Quite the opposite, prophets
frequently meet with some
form of violence as a result of
their witness. Both the lives
42 anglicandigest.org
they live and the message
they convey to us are almost
universally and intentional-
ly uncomfortable. Prophets
are intended to drag us from
our comfort into discomfort,
from complacency to action;
they are intended to turn our
attention to important mat-
ters we have neglected, and to
drive us to reorient ourselves
back towards God.
We know that, as a rule,
things contract as they get
colder; water, however, ex-
pands when it freezes so that
ice floats. Likewise, in Isaiah
40, the pattern breaks, and
we see the exceedingly rare
occasion where a prophet is
ordered to console the people:
Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith your God. Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her, that her
warfare is accomplished, that
her iniquity is pardoned: for
she hath received of the Lords
hand double for all her sins.
(Isa 40:1-2 KJV)
gathering
Here we dont see any sack-
cloth and ash; Isaiah does not
appear to have the matted
hair and diet of locusts that
gave John his wild appear-
ance, he does not risk all by
standing in opposition to and
condemnation of those who
are leading Israel astray. In-
stead, Gods messenger Isaiah
goes before Gods people Isra-
el and speaks to their wearied
souls words of peace and so-
lace. Even the words Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem
comes from a Hebrew phrase
that translates literally as
speak to the heart a phrase
sometimes meant to convey
encouragement, praise, and
reassurance, and sometimes
meant to convey affection and
the tender concern of a lover
for his beloved. Here it means
both.
Those who have been in exile,
suffering, adrift, and lost, hear
spoken words of consolation
and peace. These words how-
ever, do not come at the first
telling
sign of trouble. Those words
of comfort follow a time of tri-
al; they come once Israel has
had time to repent and return
to the Lord. They are ready to
hear the words of consolation
only after they have opened
themselves to Gods grace
through repentance.
This is no less true today than
it was for the Hebrews then.
When we find that we have
wandered away from the life
God is calling us to live, an
immediate restoration is not
what we need; in the end,
cheap grace feels just that:
cheap. Without our repen-
tance, such grace would not
offer any kind of comfort or
solace, but would simply be us
getting away with our wrong-
doing.
Last winter, there was a story
in our local news: a 94-year-
old man from Atlantic City, NJ
told of how he had acciden-
tally broken another childs
glasses on the playground. It
summer 2017 43
connecting
was going to cost two dollars
to replace the glasses and he
panicked. His family had a
cleaning woman named Pearl
who came each week and was
paid two dollars for her labor;
his mother would leave her
payment out for her. In his
fear, he took Pearls payment.
When Pearl asked his moth-
er for her wages, the mother
thought shed already been
paid and accused her of trying
to scam them and fired her.
Word got around that Pearl
was a thief, and she couldnt
find any work to provide for
her and her children.
This man went on to become
a doctor, specializing in he-
matology and oncology. He
spent his life helping others,
saving the lives of numerous
people. No one knew the sto-
ry but him. Hed gotten away
with it. Hed escaped any sort
of consequence, but in his
heart this guilt ate away at
him. He knew hed wandered.
He knew hed fallen short, but
44 anglicandigest.org
even in his guilt he had nev-
er until now truly repented of
his sin, never until now tried
to put it right, and so had nev-
er been able to feel the burden
lifted, never been able to fully
feel Gods grace; he was, for all
of his success, unconsoled.
And so it is for all of us. For
the words of comfort to actu-
ally be comfortable, we must
recognize our own sinfulness
and shortcoming and strive to
re-order our life. Fortunately,
we do not have to be physi-
cally taken into exile before
Gods grace is offered; that
offer has been made perfect-
ly and perpetually by Christ,
but it is predicated upon our
repentance.
Though there is discomfort in
confession and repentance, it
is far outstripped by the in-
escapable discomfort caused
by our own conviction. That
conviction will continue to
hound us until we do that
for which we were created
gathering
and turn back to God. When
we do, we will finally be able
to hear those words in the
mouth of Isaiah, fresh and
clear as they were intended to
be heard, Comfort ye, Com-
fort ye my people. Speak to
the heart the warfare now
is accomplished.
There will be for us no cheap
grace, though that is all for
the best, as cheap grace is
not worth having. The grace
God offers was won through
pain, suffering, and the cross.
Rather than cheap grace there
stands ready a boundless
fount, pouring out abundant
grace, hope, and comfort on
all who return to it. It is there
that we can rest not in a com-
fort of ease, but the true com-
fort of rest and restoration,
safe in the tender love of the
grace of God.
telling
an invitation
The Very Rev. William
Willoughby III
Many in our culture look for
consolation in the wrong
place. Instead of searching for
it in a vision of God that ac-
knowledges our dependence
on Grace, we often rely on
superficial and feel-good
solutions. Thirty-five years of
parish ministry convinces me
that consolation cannot be
cultivated quickly or super-
ficially, but must be pursued
assiduously and faithfully. It
must be centered on loyalty
to Jesus and the vision which
the Church preserves in the
Gospels. I have found over the
years that the cultivation of a
pattern of adoring our Lord in
the Blessed Sacrament, com-
bined with a lively Eucharis-
tic devotion, give space and
time which not only promote
an increase of loyalty to Jesus
but provide context by which
our Lord provides consolation
that can only be experienced
as Grace.
summer 2017 45
connecting
The love of money and the
love of power are powerfully
arrayed in competition with
the love of Jesus. It might be
observed that in some circles
it has replaced the love of Je-
sus. We have a great gift in
the Blessed Sacrament which,
when used judiciously and
strategically, can make true
consolation known to every
longing heart and gracefully
introduce our Lord concrete-
ly to those in need. When
lovingly and caringly taught,
devotion to the Blessed Sac-
rament of the Altar can win
the hearts and minds of all
sorts and conditions of men,
women and children to the
person and purpose of Jesus.
The world offers many rem-
edies for the lost and broken
of spirit, but all of them have
a price attached which often
costs more than we can pay or
have the substance to engage.
Money and control, pow-
er and sex, all promise more
than they can deliver. They
not only have their limitations
46 anglicandigest.org
but they leave us wanting be-
cause they can never take the
place of a lively relationship
with the Lord. On the other
hand, when money and con-
trol, power and sex is placed
in the context of a dynamic
relationship with God in Je-
sus Christ they can be creative
tools by which we are co-cre-
ators with the maker of heav-
en and earth. It is in the pres-
ence of the One who makes all
things new that we can learn
how money and power can be
used to liberate. It is by hum-
bly submitting ourselves to
the One who humbled him-
self to become one with us
that we can learn the real joy
of a life under control and lux-
uriating in authentic intimacy.
Jesus has paid the price of our
salvation that we might live
into such joy and He offers
Himself freely on hundreds of
thousands of altars around the
world that we might find the
consolation of divine love and
use the gifts at our disposal
for the grace-filled purpose of
gathering
sharing the abundant life our
Lord makes available. Jesus is
the antidote for the sin-sick
soul; He is the tonic for the
weary heart and the food that
gives us strength when cour-
age fails. Jesus in the Bless-
ed Sacrament reserved and
freshly re-presented on Gods
Altar invites us to come apart
for a while and partake of the
substance of God that has in-
fused the creation from the
beginning. It is here that we
can find true consolation and
learn the grammar of grace. A
grammar made rich when we
share freely from the heart of
our relation with the One in
whom we have our Being.
In the presence and reception
of the Blessed Sacrament of
our Lords Body and Blood the
priceless gift of our restoration
is being realized in ways that
we can barely understand. This
is partly because God wants us
to have a glimpse of the glory
to come, but mostly it is given
to strengthen us against the
telling
conceits and the wiles of the
devil. Just as the Book of Rev-
elation of St John the Divine
was given to the Church in
order to give a glimpse of the
hope to come in the midst of
trials and tribulation, promot-
ing loyalty to God when called
to bear witness at great peril;
so the Blessed Sacrament can
steel us and embolden us to
stand firm in the days before
the return of the Lord. In this
way we not only find consola-
tion but might live as a sign of
consolation.
Adoration and communion
of the Blessed Sacrament
should inspire us to work for
the healing of Christendom.
We are too often inclined to
forget that the divided state of
the Church is a great source
of sorrow to our Lord. In the
presence of the Blessed Sac-
rament it is our vital work to
desire the heart of God. Here
we can remember that God is
grieved to see various parts of
the Body at variance with one
summer 2017 47
connecting
another. In this way we will be
compelled to ask what can I
do to promote the unity which
Jesus longs for us to have and
in so doing find consolation
and manifest that consolation
in the places we are called to
serve. Because the mystical
presence manifest in the Sac-
rament of Christs Body and
Blood is not bound by time or
space, race or geography there
can be no better place to ear-
nestly pray for vision which
will inform and strengthen
our work for the unity of all
Gods people. Here we can
dream Gods dream and ulti-
mately long for the destruc-
tion of all barriers which we
erect against our Lords will
that we all be one as He and
the Father are one a conso-
lation supremely to be longed
for in every corner of the
Church and World.
Most Christian pilgrims, for
it should be evident that all
of us who bear the name of
Christ are pilgrims, under-
48 anglicandigest.org
stand the need for devotions
that prepare us to make holy
Communions and prayers of
thanksgiving for the opportu-
nity to receive the most holy
Body and Blood of our Lord.
The multivalent and inter-
connected way the gift of the
Eucharist and the life it calls
us into demands more than
a perfunctory, narrow or su-
perficial engagement. The
mystery by which the world
is being transfigured in fact is
the crucible of life and conso-
lation. Devotion to, adoration
directed towards and worship
of our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament of the Altar invite
us into a vision and a place
that both transcends the local
and the particular and makes
the universal evident in the
specific, giving all who would
pursue the evangelical call of
the Eucharistic life a glimpse
and a gift of the consolation
which God intends for all cre-
ation.
gathering telling

Creeping Grace The spare waiting room

lacked any decorations, and
The Rt. Rev. Jake Owensby its furnishings included half
a dozen plain wooden chairs.
Grace has a way of creeping For a miserably long half hour,
up on us. Before we realize it, my rear end grew increasing-
Jesus has been at work shap- ly numb, and I struggled with
ing us into his very own Body. the impulse to walk out.
Were just not able to see our-
selves as he does yet. Just as I had formulated the
perfect parting remark and
For instance, I had a major decided to leave, the therapist
surgery when I was in my emerged from her office with
early twenties. The surgeon a softened expression and
prescribed months of post-op warmly invited me in. We sat
rehab. As soon as possible, I across a small table from each
showed up at the therapists other with a cassette player
office. between us. Several big but-
tons formed the front of the
The woman who greeted me device. Play. Record. Rewind.
there eyed me warily and, Fast Forward. Stop.
with a chill in her voice, told
me I would have to wait while She said, Youve been speak-
she reviewed my file. What- ing without a soft palate for
ever it was I had been ex- over twenty years. Youve just
pecting from a therapist, this had a major surgery to correct
wasnt it. I realized that she a speech impediment. Your
was a speech therapist, not a pharyngeal flap will make
psychological counselor. But it possible for you to make
I wasnt prepared for the Big sounds that were physically
Nurse routine. impossible for you, like S. But

summer 2017 49
connecting

youll have to do exactly what recording of my own nasal,

I tell you to do. garbled speech was torture.

This was pretty much what I I cant do that, I told her. I

had expected to hear. Life as
I had always known it was a
struggle to make myself un-
derstood. After all, I was born
without the soft part of the
roof of my mouth.
cant bear to hear myself like
that.
She said evenly, If you want
to get better, you have to do
this.

As a toddler, I had received She said, Just talk to me for

the first surgery designed to a minute, and hit the record
begin the repair of my birth button.
defect. But the second sur-
gery had never happened. I For a couple of minutes I pro-
couldnt say S and badly gar- tested into the machine. She
bled the letter J. My speech punched the stop button and
was distressingly nasal. said, Thats enough. Now lis-
ten carefully to this and well
My therapist continued, You talk about it.
havent heard yourself since
the surgery, have you? A voice I had never heard
spoke to me from that little
She reached for the cassette machine. Its the voice that
player, and my heart froze. Ive come to recognize as my
Speaking to others antic- own.
ipating the rejection and the
ridicule and the assumptions You dont need speech thera-
about my low intelligence py, she said. When you first
was hard enough; hearing a came in, I assumed that you

50 anglicandigest.org
gathering
had a mental problem. We get
that here sometimes. People
go to the wrong office. So I
figured I had to get rid of you.
But when I read your file, I
realized that you just werent
able to hear your new voice
yet.
I just wasnt able to hear my
new voice yet.
Even when we get a new life, it
takes some time to know and
accept who weve been made
into.
A surgeons skill had given me
an entirely new life. A pha-
ryngeal flap closed the airway
from my voice box through
my nose, mimicking what a
normal palate does inside the
mouth of most people. Thats
how we make sounds like S
and J. A scalpel in the hands
of a professional had given me
the mechanism for normal
speech.
By what seems like a miracle,
telling
I used that new mechanism
correctly with no instruc-
tion. Once the trauma from
the surgery had subsided, my
speech sounded like that of
any normal Southern guy. I
just wasnt able to hear it. In
other words, knowing my-
self as a person with normal
speech was going to take
some time.
To put this another way: Even
after youve been healed, it
can take a while to recognize
and to accept yourself as a
healed person.
In my case, I had over two
decades of living as an out-
sider. The surgical procedure
had done nothing to remove
my habits of defensiveness,
fear, and loneliness. I still per-
ceived myself as deformed
and off-putting.
I have to admit, when I read
a story like Jesus healing of
the ten lepers, my own expe-
rience with healing influences
summer 2017 51
connecting
my understanding of whats but we just arent able to see
going on. (Luke 17:11-19) ourselves as he does yet.
Jesus heals ten lepers. Only
one comes back to say thank
you. Some teachers and
preachers assume that the
other nine lepers felt no grat-
itude. They went about their
merry way without acknowl-
edging Jesus mercy.
It may be that those nine lep-
ers were a bunch of ingrates.
But it could also be that they
had grown so accustomed to
feeling repulsive and to being
shunned by their community
that they continued viewing
themselves as lepers. They
just couldnt see their own
smooth, healthy skin.
The risen Jesus gives all of
us a new life. In Baptism, he
weaves us into his very own
Body. The bread and the wine
of Holy Eucharist gradually
deepens our participation in
his divine life. Jesus is chang-
ing us, giving us a new life,
52 anglicandigest.org
We see this same pattern in
Jesus own life. After emerg-
ing from the tomb, the risen
Jesus walked the earth for for-
ty days. According to Ronald
Rolheiser, even Jesus had to
get used to being a new cre-
ation.
Grace creeps up on us. It does
its work on us before we even
realize it. Our self-perception
and our perception of oth-
er people lags behind the
reality that Jesus is bringing
about.
Some of us will keep berat-
ing ourselves as jerks long
after weve been forgiven.
Even when our old wounds
are nearly healed, we might
struggle with kicking the hab-
it of resentment. Some of us
have been treated as outsiders
for so long that we have trou-
ble recognizing ourselves as
the beloved children of God.
gathering
But over time through the
power of the Sacraments, in
the love of the community,
in service to the poor and
the marginalized we begin
to recognize and accept our-
selves as the Body of Christ.
I would like to think that, in
their own time, each of those
nine lepers caught up with Je-
sus somewhere or other and
began to see themselves as
he does and that is when
the real miracle happened for
them. Its the real miracle that
happens for us: We no longer
see others though the lens of
our old wounds and prejudic-
es and fears. We begin to see
others especially strang-
ers and foreigners as Jesus
does.
telling
NECROLOGY
The Rev. James Krammer
Alcorn, 75, in Sugar Land,
TX. A graduate of Trinity
University and the School of
Theology at The University
of the South, he was ordained
to the priesthood in 1971. He
served parishes in San Anto-
nio, Kingsville, and Houston,
TX, as well as directing pasto-
ral care at St. Lukes Episcopal
Hospital and, in retirement,
serving as chaplain to retired
clergy.
The Rev. Stephen Anku-
dowich, 68, in Tampa, FL. A
graduate of Trinity College
and the Episcopal Theological
School, he was ordained to the
priesthood in 1974. He served
parishes in Salem, Worces-
ter, and Wareham, MA; New
Canaan, CT; and Tampa and
Seminole, FL.
summer 2017 53
connecting

The Rev. John M. Balcom, (Baltimore), and the Episco-

98, in Amherst, MA. A grad- pal Divinity School, she was
uate of the Episcopal Theo- ordained to the priesthood in
logical Seminary and Har- 1991. She served parishes in
vard Divinity School, he was Dorchester, Lexington, and
ordained to the priesthood Allston-Brighton, MA.
in 1942. He served parishes
in Walpole, Norwood, Hol-
The Rev. Floyd William
brook, Chelmsford, and New-
Brewer, 85, in Franklin, TN.
ton Highlands, MA; Ft. Yu-
A graduate of the University
kon, Nenana, Tanacross, and
of Florida and the School of
Fairbanks, AK; and Hook,
Theology at The University of
Surrey, England.
the South, he was ordained to
the diaconate in 1996 and the
The Rev. Susan Endicott priesthood in 1997. He served
Wright Bell, 84, in Shreve- parishes in Tampa and Palm
port, LA. A graduate of the Harbor, FL and, in retirement,
University of Texas, El Paso, served as a chaplain for retire-
Louisiana State University, ment homes in Tennessee.
Shreveport, and the Episcopal
Theological Seminary of the The Rev. Ervin Adams
Southwest, she was ordained Brown, III, 79, in Balti-
to the priesthood in 2002 fol-
more, MD. A graduate of
lowing a thirty-year career as
the University of Alabama,
a teacher. Indiana University, and Vir-
ginia Theological Seminary,
The Rev. Karen Zahniser he served parishes in Rux-
Bettacchi, 73, in Lexington, ton, Glyndon, St. Michaels,
MA. A graduate of Greenville and Baltimore, MD; Lynch-
College, Loyola University burg, VA; and Detroit, MI.

54 anglicandigest.org
gathering
The Rev. Robert James
Crawford Brown, II, 84, in Ri-
pon, WI. A graduate of Ripon
College and Nashotah House
Theological Seminary, he was
ordained to the diaconate in
1956, and the priesthood in
1957. In addition to teaching
New Testament and Greek at
Nashotah House, and Greek
and Latin at Ripon College,
he served as Chaplain of the
Episcopal Campus Rectory
at the University of Wiscon-
sin, Milwaukee, and served
parishes in Ripon, Wautoma,
Milwaukee, Shullsburg, and
Platteville, WI, and Galena,
IL.
The Rev. John William
Burbery, 84, in Visalia, CA. A
graduate of UCLA, he served
as an artillery officer for 25
years before enrolling at the
Church Divinity School of
the Pacific. Following his or-
dination to the priesthood,
he served parishes in the San
Joaquin Valley for 15 years.
He also taught history at the Butler, 83, in Berlin, MD. A
telling
College of the Sequoias for 20
years.
The Rev. Edward Noyes
Burdick, II, 92, in Granville,
OH. A U.S. Army Air Corps
veteran of WWII and a grad-
uate of Yale University and
Union Theological Seminary.
He served as rector of St.
Lukes Church, Granville, OH,
for 29 years.
The Rev. Douglas Gray
Burgoyne, 86, in Newport
News, VA. A graduate of Wil-
liams College and the Episco-
pal Theological School, he was
ordained in 1958. He served
parishes in Ontario, OR; Wil-
liamstown, MA; and Newport
News and Richmond, VA. In
retirement, he served as in-
terim rector for parishes in
Richmond and Ashland, VA,
as well as serving part-time in
other parishes and doing sup-
ply work.
The Rev. Guy Harry
summer 2017 55
connecting

graduate of Franklin Marshall instructor during WWII,

College and Philadelphia Di- then returned to finish his de-
vinity School, he served par- gree. He was ordained to the
ishes in Harrisburg, Erie, and diaconate before continuing
Meadville, PA; Salisbury, MD; his studies at Trinity College,
and Grand Prairie and Jack- Cambridge, the University of
sonville, TX. He also served Strasbourg, the University of
as Stewardship Officer of the Zurich, and Colombia Uni-
Dioceses of Ruperts Land, versity. He taught briefly at
Keewatin and Brandon, Can- Vassar College and Barnard
ada. College, and as deacon at the
Cathedral of St. John the Di-
The Rev. Anna Marie vine, New York City, before
Butterbaugh, 59, in Pensaco- founding the Department of
la, FL. A graduate of the Uni- Religion at Trinity College,
versity of West Florida, Spring Hartford, CT.
Hill College, and the Episco-
pal Seminary of the South- The Rev. Bruce Henry
west, she was in her sixth year Cooke, 93, in West Lafayette,
serving as Priest-in-Charge of IN. A graduate of the Uni-
St. Johns Episcopal Church, versity of Michigan, the Uni-
Pensacola, at the time of her versity of Maryland, and the
death. Episcopal Theological School,
he served parishes in Mich-
The Rev. Edmond La igan, Wyoming, Missouri,
Beaume Cherbonnier, 99, Iowa, and Virginia. He also
in Hartford, CT. A graduate remained active in the Air
of Harvard College, he inter- Force Reserve and the Air Na-
rupted his studies at Union tional Guard, eventually at-
Theological Seminary to taining the rank of Brigadier
serve as a naval aviator and General. He was instrumental

56 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

in the founding of Trinity Ec- Professor in Christian Min-

umenical Parish Episcopal, istries at Seabury-Western
Lutheran, and Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
in Moneta, VA.
The Rev. Robert Joseph
The Rev. William Thomas Duval, 78, in Whitehall, PA. A
Dalton, 83, in Bonham, TX. graduate of Trinity College, he
Following his Army service served seven years in the U.S.
in the Korean Conflict, he Air Force, then spent 17 years
graduated from the Episcopal working in insurance, before
Theological Seminary. He was graduating from the School
ordained to the diaconate in of Theology at The University
1964, and served a parish in of the South. Following ordi-
Dallas before leaving active nation to the priesthood, he
ministry in 1967. Following a served parishes in Trumbull
35-year career in business, he and Hebron, CT.
was restored to the diaconate The Rev. Dwight Wood-
in 2002, and ordained to the bury Edwards, 86, in Pacif-
priesthood in 2004, going on ic Grove, CA. A graduate of
to serve parishes in Bonham the University of California,
and Denison, TX. Berkeley, and the Church Di-
vinity School of the Pacific,
The Rev. Dr. John La he was ordained to the priest-
Verne Dreibelbis, 82, in hood in 1955. He served St.
Evanston, IL. A graduate of Timothys, Mountain View,
the University of Chicago and as record for 17 years, then
Seabury Western Theological St. Marys by the Sea, Pacific
Seminary, he served parishes Grove, for 25 years.
in Evanston, Oak Park, and
Chicago, IL, as well as Huron, The Rev. John Phillip
SD. For 10 years, he was the Gorsuch, 85, in Milwaukee,

summer 2017 57
connecting

WI. A graduate of Wesleyan The Rev. Dr. Margaret

University and Yale Divinity Adah Beltz Guenther, 87, in
School, he was ordained to Washington, D.C. A graduate
the priesthood in 1956, and of the University of Kansas,
served parishes in Washing- Radcliffe College (Harvard),
ton, D.C.; Great Bend, KS; and General Theological
and Yakima and Seattle, WA. Seminary, she led many re-
He also founded the Center treats, was the author of many
for Spiritual Development, in books, served St. Columbas
Seattle. In retirement, he con-Episcopal Church in North-
tinued to offer workshops and west D.C., and was Professor
lead retreats. Emerita of Ascetical Theology
at General Theological Semi-
nary, where she also served
The Rev. Gordon Bud- for many years as Director of
dy Boone Gudger, Jr., 84, the Center for Christian Spir-
in Baytown, TX. A graduate ituality.
of Texas A&M University, he
served three years in the U.S. The Rev. Dr. Richard
Army before beginning his Charles Dick Hall, 81, in
studies at the Seminary of the Pasadena, CA. A graduate of
Southwest. He was ordained Hamilton College, General
to the priesthood in 1961, Theological Seminary, and
then spent nine years serv- Claremont Graduate Univer-
ing several Texas parishes. He sity, he served as a mission-
spent five years working as a ary in the Philippines and as
chemical engineer, then re- rector of a parish in Corona,
turned to full-time ministry CA. He was also very involved
for 18 years before retiring, in community development
having served ten congrega- which, among other things,
tions in Texas. led him to found the Corona

58 anglicandigest.org
gathering
Free Clinic and direct the St.
Barnabas Senior Center in
Los Angeles.
The Rev. Canon Michael
Kent Hansen, 71, in Sausalito,
CA. A graduate of the Univer-
sity of St. Thomas, he taught
at St. Peter Claver Catholic
School in St. Paul, and served
as a priest in Minnesota, be-
fore spending more than 20
years as the Executive Officer
and Deployment Officer of
the Episcopal Diocese of Cal-
ifornia.
The Rev. Clifford Eugene
Kent, 96, in Santa Rosa, CA.
A graduate of Purdue Univer-
sity, he spent more than 40
years as a chemical engineer
before graduating from the
Church Divinity School of the
Pacific. After his ordination
to the priesthood, he served
multiple parishes in northern
California, including in Sara-
toga, Kenwood, and Santa
Rosa.
telling
The Rev. Hope Gwendlyn
Phillips Koski, 77, in Gaines-
ville, FL. A graduate of the
University of Connecticut,
Union Theological Seminary,
and Nashotah House Sem-
inary, she was ordained to
the priesthood in 1983 one
of the first 100 women to be
ordained in the Episcopal
Church. She later became the
first woman in the Diocese of
Long Island to be appointed
rector of a parish, and later
became Dean of the region,
overseeing 10 parishes. She
served as rector of St. Law-
rence of Canterbury Church,
in Dix Hills, NY for 17 years.
In retirement, she served as
an interim in Chiefland, and
assisted in other area parish-
es.
The Rev. Barrett Kelland
Lindsey, 75, in Spokane, WA.
He served parishes in Oklaho-
ma; Honolulu, HI; Portland,
OR; and Seattle and Spokane,
WA.
summer 2017 59
connecting
The Rev. Robert James
Mayer, 84, in Cupertino, CA.
A graduate of Brandeis Uni-
versity and a veteran of the
Korean Conflict, he pursued
a career in software develop-
ment. He was ordained to the
priesthood in 1971, and as a
non-stipendiary priest in the
dioceses of California and El
Camino Real. He served as an
interim pastor for congrega-
tions all over the South Bay
Area.
The Rev. John Holbrook
Parke, 100, in Springfield,
MA. A graduate of Prince-
ton University and General
Theological Seminary, he was
ordained to the priesthood in
1942. He served as an Army
Chaplain in WWII and, af-
ter the war, served parishes
in Massachusetts; Newport
Beach, CA; Scottsdale, AZ;
and Falls Church, VA. He
also served several years as
director of the International
Order of St. Luke the Physi-
cian, leading healing missions
60 anglicandigest.org
throughout North America
and Australia.
The Rev. Edward Moray
Peoples, Jr., 78, Louisville,
KY. A graduate of Marshall
University and the School of
Theology at The University
of the South, he served as a
chaplain in the U.S. Air Force,
as well as serving parishes in
Virginia, West Virginia, and
Kentucky.
The Rev. Roderick Ken-
neth Potter, 83, in Augusta,
ME. A graduate of Bates Col-
lege and General Theological
Seminary, he was ordained
to the priesthood in 1963. He
served as vicar of St. Lukes
Episcopal Church in Farm-
ington for 17 years before
training as a pastoral care and
chemical dependency coun-
sellor. He also served parish-
es in Gardiner and Hallowell,
ME.
The Rev. Mary Elizabeth
Pratt-Horsley, 70, in Los
gathering telling

Osos, CA. A graduate of Rut- University of North Caroli-

gers University and San Jose na Chapel Hill, and Gener-
State University, she spent al Theological Seminary, he
several years teaching French was ordained to the diaconate
at Ohlone Community Col- in 1974, and the priesthood
lege before returning to study in 1975. He served parishes
at the Church Divinity School in Asheville, Kings Moun-
of the Pacific. Following her tain, and Bessemer City, NC,
ordination to the priesthood, and Baton Rouge, LA; he
she served as the director also served as an interim for
of the Santa Maria Urban parishes in Asheville, Salis-
Ministry of San Jose, then as bury, Cashiers, Boone, Rocky
the rector of St. Benedicts Mount, and Lincolnton, NC.
Church, Los Osos.
The Rev. Charles William
The Rev. David Lee Price,Tait, 93, in Seattle, WA. His
69, in Snohomish, WA. Fol- studies at Harvard College
lowing several years of ser- were interrupted by WWII,
vice in the U.S. Air Force, he
during which he served as
graduated from Alaska Pacif- a translator of Japanese and
ic University, the UniversityGerman, and a post-war pe-
of Alaska, Anchorage, and riod with a special counterin-
Seabury-Western Theological telligence company assigned
Seminary. He was ordained to to track down Nazi war crim-
the priesthood, then served inals; he eventually complet-
parishes in Mill Creek and ed his studies at Harvard.
Darrington, WA. He then spent several years
working for the State Depart-
The Rev. John Carlton ment, before he began study-
Southern, Jr., 70, in Ashe- ing at Virginia Theological
ville, NC. A graduate of the Seminary. He was ordained to

summer 2017 61
connecting

the priesthood in 1962, taught Jeannette, Pittsburgh, Oak-

at Bishop Tucker College (an mont, and Charleroi, PA;
Anglican seminary in Ugan- Berea, OH; and Anchorage,
da), and served as a parish Palmer, Wasilla, Juneau, AK.
priest in Wellesley, MA, be- A decorated Vietnam-era vet-
fore returning to teaching for eran, he served 23 years of ac-
19 years. tive and reserve duty, earning
numerous awards for merito-
The Rev. Dr. John Harvey rious service before retiring as
Thomas, 88, in Sandwich, a full colonel.
MA. A graduate of University
of Maine, Orono, and Epis- The Rev. Glen Miley
copal Theological School, he Wilcox, 88, in Fairbanks, AK.
was ordained to the diaconate A graduate of Hamline Uni-
in June 1958, and the priest- versity and Berkeley Episco-
hood in December 1958. He pal Seminary at Yale Univer-
served as diocesan vicar to sity, he was ordained to both
the former Otis Air Force the diaconate and the priest-
Base, and quickly became the hood in 1953. He began as an
de facto priest of St. Johns, overseas missionary to terri-
Sandwich; he was installed as torial Alaska, where he served
the first rector of St. Johns in parishioners in Anvik, Shage-
1969, and retired from that luk, Holikachuk (the present
position in 1993. day Grayling people), and the
mission at Bethel, while also
The Rev. Ralph Fellows serving in multiple non-re-
Wagner, 88, in Palmer, AK. ligious roles (e.g., postmas-
A graduate of Pennsylvania ter, marriage commissioner,
State University and Nasho- airline contract agent, village
tah House Theological Sem- radio operator, welfare agent,
inary, he served parishes in school generator operator,

62 anglicandigest.org
and tooth extractor). He lat- the Church of the Good Shep-
er served parishes in Cordo- herd in Ogden, UT, before
va and Valdez. He went on becoming the Archdeacon of
to set up the first alcoholism the Diocese of Utah.
programs throughout Alaska,
as the coordinator of the Of- The Rev. Walter William
fice of Alcoholism, and later Witte, Jr., 89, in Vinyard Hav-
served as coordinator of the en, MA. A graduate of Hobart
Office of Aging, and the Fair- College, the Berkley Divinity
banks chief of Health and So- School at Yale University, and
cial Services, before opening Union Theological Seminary,
a real estate firm. He became he was ordained to the priest-
certified to teach comput- hood in 1954. As a bi-voca-
ing, and taught many people tional priest, he served par-
at home before becoming an ishes in New York, Missouri,
adjunct professor at the Uni- Newark, and Massachusetts.
versity of Alaska Fairbanks. The Rev. Douglas Earl
He also continued to officiate Woodridge, 86, in Tualatin,
services at St. Matthews and OR. A graduate of Loyola
Fort Wainwright, and helped University in Los Angeles
in the formation of St. Judes and, after a decade in busi-
Church in North Pole. ness, Seabury-Western Theo-
logical Seminary, he served
The Rev. Francis Lee parishes in San Diego, and
Pete Winder, 84, in Salt Carlsbad, CA, as well as Lake
Lake City, UT. A graduate of Oswego and Portland, OR.
the University of Utah and
the Church Divinity School of
May they rest in peace,
the Pacific, he was ordained
to the priesthood in 1957. He and rise in glory.
spent 17 years as the rector of

summer 2017 63
St. Peters Episcopal Church
Pomeroy, Washington
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