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Sustainability and stewardship are topics circulating with renewed vigor in the Diocese of Missouri.
On Saturday, March 20, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, at Christ Church Cathedral, attend the Global Warming Cafe: from Conversation to Action. We know that global warming is a dangerous reality, one that will increasingly touch our lives, those of our children and grandchildren, and many of the poorest people on our planet. Serious consequences can already be seen in the form of floods, heat waves, more violent storms and the rise of sea levels. World Cafe is a wonderfully facilitated conversation. (Your editor has a good deal of experience with the conversation cafe movement, and when we were planning the first meeting of the online Episcopal School for Ministry book club mentioned this conversation style to Fr. Rod Wiltse, book club facilitator. Father Rod exclaimed, “Oh, Lectio Divina!”) (more…)
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 Veronica Kyle, Congregational Outreach for Chicago-based Faith in Place, spoke this past Friday to the Province V gathering at the annual ENEJ (Episcopal Network for Economic Justice) conference. Faith in Place has partnered with over 500 congregations in Illinois—Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Zoroastrian, Baha’i and Unitarian—to promote clean energy & sustainable farming. They’re also part of the national Interfaith Power & Light campaign. Bullet points from the presentation:
- We need to merge our efforts to bridge the ecological divide and to bridge the economic divide. Our job should be to educate everyone about issues of sustainability.
- The faith community needs to be involved in the conversation about the green economy.
- We often think about the secular green organizations, the Sierra Clubs. How can we connect our faith to thinking green? Can we make changing light bulbs and recycling an expression of our gratitude to God? (more…)
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One of the duties of the Standing Committee is to consent to the election of bishops in the larger Episcopal Church. This may seem simple, and it often is. Other times, the conversation is more complex. (more…)
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 I remember reading somewhere in the works of Roland Allen, great Anglican theologian of mission, his idea of the most important thing that a missionary can do: Go on leave.
To do otherwise is, first, to distrust the Spirit, and second, to disregard the gifts of the very community in which one serves. Any work worth doing can lead to fantasies that one is irreplaceable, a deception undercut by Allen’s good sense. The dignity and value intrinsic to any human being cannot be in doubt, and the pursuit of excellence in the doing of one’s vocation is a virtue. But no one person is indispensable, a truth worth remembering.
The practice of Sabbath itself, holy leisure, reminds the believer who is God—and who is not. Human being, capable creature of God that we are, does not run the universe. We have some responsibilities for the cosmos, yes, but we are not in charge. The full stop provided by Sabbath time, interwoven into the very structure of creation in Genesis 1, should remind us of that truth about God. We can quit working, and the universe goes on—precisely because we are not God. The God-ward direction of Sabbath time complements that other crucial piece inherent to the day, the practice of holy rest, the restorative value of intentional leisure, in and of itself. Human being grows weary and needs rest, and Sabbath time is a gift from the Creator to these beloved creatures.
For years I have encouraged colleagues in ordained ministry to take substantial time away at regular intervals. I believe that the processes of disengagement from one’s community and re-engagement afterward bear fruit, both for the cleric involved and for the community. I have pushed people to make space in that time away for four purposes: sheer rest, self-care, spiritual renewal, and learning for its own sake.
So now it is time for me to heed my own advice, and I am taking two months, March and April, away from the day-to-day ministry as Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri. This is my first Sabbatical during my tenure as Bishop, and it will not be my last. Let me sketch out my plans. In early March I will head to South Texas, for two weeks of warm-weather camping, pure leisure. Later in March I will drive to Camp Allen, near Houston, for the spring meeting of the House of Bishops. (Let me say that I had considered not attending this meeting but came to realize how restorative I find this peculiar community, that I would miss not being with friends and colleagues.) I then will spend Holy Week and Easter at Sewanee, keeping the rites of the season with that community, mostly at the School of Theology. The rest of April I will devote to some pursuits of learning—and perhaps some writing.
I am grateful to the Diocese of Missouri for making it possible to be away; I know that I am eager for rest and renewal. I hope, in fact, that this time of Sabbatical will make for my deeper engagement with the Diocese of Missouri, and enhance the work we share in serving God’s mission.
+Wayne Smith
Tenth Bishop of Missouri
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 A Lenten Gift from St. Martin’s-Ellisville. This year forty-three parishioners contributed to a collection of 46 meditations. The daily readings cover the 40 days – as well as the six Sundays — of the Lenten season. Mary Drastal contributed the original cover image; Ruby Downs and Janet Theiss produced the books in the church office. (more…)
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 Congratulations and prayers to the Rev. Renee Fenner and the people of St. Barnabas, Florissant and Christ Church Cathedral. Canon Pastor Fenner, currently serving Christ Church Cathedral, has answered the call from St. Barnabas to be their next rector. Stories from the cathedral and St. Barnabas online. Fenner has been a steady and faithful guide and presence these past years at the cathedral, and will be terribly missed, but there is great joy surrounding her new ministry with the people of St. Barnabas. Caught in the hallway, at the end of the day, Canon Renee asked that we continue to hold her and the people of these two Metro II congregations in our prayers.
- Cathedral Christ Church Cathedral, 1210 Locust St., St. Louis, MO 63103, ph 314-231-3454, www.christchurchcathedral.us
- St Barnabas St. Barnabas' Episcopal Church, 2900 St. Catherine, Florissant, MO 63033, ph 314-837-7113, www.stbarnabas-stl.org
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This year, Ashes to Go will be available at the corner of Grand & Arsenal in south St. Louis City from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Ashes-to-Go is an ecumenical, short, Ash Wednesday service with imposition of ashes held on the corner of Grand and Arsenal streets in St. Louis. Now in its fourth year, clergy and laity from St. John’s Episcopal Church-Tower Grove participate. “South Grand neighborhood in the City of St. Louis is a perfect place to bring church to the streets,” says the Rev. Teresa Danieley, rector at St. John’s-Tower Grove. (more…)
- St John-TG St. John's Episcopal Church, 3664 Arsenal St., St. Louis, MO 63116, ph 314-772-3970, www.towergrovechurch.org
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Hymn Sing for Haiti
4:00 pm., Sunday, February 28, 2010
Christ Church Cathedral, 1210 Locust, St. Louis.
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Even before the earthquake, visitors to Haiti had hearts touched hearing hymns sung by the faithful. Now, amid rubble and uncertainty, hymns continue to waft over the tent cities and places of refuge; a people’s response of prayer and determination.
 
Photos from Episcopal News Service. Cathedral in Nov. 2008, and Haiti’s Bishop Jean Duracin and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Feb 8, 2010, in front of the cathedral ruins.
The Diocese of Haiti is the largest diocese in the Episcopal Church, and she has lost a cathedral, a convent, schools that educated 80,000 children, colleges, and churches; she has lost parishioners. But the people of Haiti have not lost faith. (more…)
- Cathedral Christ Church Cathedral, 1210 Locust St., St. Louis, MO 63103, ph 314-231-3454, www.christchurchcathedral.us
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 Sunday, February 14, Trinity Episcopal Church, 124 North Mulanix St. in Kirksville, is having a Haitian Kanaval Dinner to raise money for the earthquake victims in Haiti and to mark the beginning of Lent.
“Haitians celebrate three fat days, trois joursgras, or Kanaval, and so will we,” said Scott Alberts, Trinity choir director and the dinner’s organizer. “They go from Mass until Wednesday morning nonstop, so our custom of a Sunday party is perfect. We don’t just want to help Haiti, we want to celebrate Haiti.” (more…)
- Trinity-Kirksville Trinity Episcopal Church, 124 N. Mulanix, Kirksville, MO 63501, ph 660-665-6155, www.trinitykirksville.org
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 Saturday, March 6, 2010,
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Registration begins at 8:30)
St. Martin’s, Ellisville.
This year’s annual Leadership Conference for clergy and lay members of the diocese is devoted to Public Narrative; how we effectively, succinctly, and engagingly tell our story.
Keynote and lead presenter will be the Rev. Devon Anderson. In addition to her work as executive director of Episcopalians for Global Reconcilliation, Anderson was the project manager for the Episcopal Public Narrative Project. (more…)
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