The Pastoral Office of Bishop

The Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, as an extension of it's Vision 2018 process, has sponsored a workshop series titled, Church Depot.

Vision 2018, over the past two years, has worked to craft a program that will enable the Diocese to assist parishes to revitalize as they minister to the needs of current members and project the good news of Jesus into our communities. As that work takes place the office of the Diocese will change significantly the ways in which it has administered and supported ministry. After many meetings within the Diocese, a comprehensive exposition of the plan in draft form and a major rewrite after the draft was circulated, the plan was presented to Synod 2009 and approved by an overwhelming majority of delegates.

It is not surprising, given the success of this initiate, that the National Church has now embarked on a similar program titled Vision 2019.

The latest effort of Church Depot was expressed yesterday in the presentation of a seminar, attended by about 150 people, entitled, Cascadia: Spiritual but not Religious.

The hook that the seminar hung on was data that suggested that in the Cascadia area, stretching from Alaska south through to Northern California, an overwhelming majority of people identify themselves as being spiritual but not religious.

The day consisted of keynote statements by two individuals, Patricia O'Connell Killen, who is a member of a Christian tradition and, Kolin Lymworth, self-identified as not belonging to a specific religion but practicing some Buddhist forms and being conversant with many other expressions of what is often called non-traditional spirituality.

The audience broke into small groups for discussion and after lunch the speakers, joined by Bishop Michael, and moderated by Douglas Todd responded to a number of questions and statements from the audience.

Given the self-identification of most participants as Christian, the parameters of the discussion centred on how we (Christians) respond to those who see themselves as being spiritual but not religious. For me, the most remarkable element of the afternoon was the degree of acceptance by most of the speakers of the validity of a wide range of spiritual inclinations and practices outside the Christian tradition.

The day was informative, to say the least.

The remarkable thing about this gathering is that it was initiated through the office of the Bishop. Remarkable because the hierarchy of main-stream Christian churches seldom takes on issues as difficult as the one that titled this seminar. Seldom lets the word ecumenical be stretched to encompass what organized religion often refers to as the fringes of spirituality.

I would argue that this day of learning and of reflection was a critical element of the pastoral office of the Bishop.

A deliberate step in the implementation of Vision 2018.

Following on yesterdays events Bishop Michael visited the Parish of St. George in Maple Ridge for our 10AM service and celebrated with us the baptism of six Christians. As we all reaffirm our baptism at this core service of the church, we coud be said to have actually celebrated the baptism of over one hundred and sixty. A wonderful and uplifting affirmation of who we are as Christians and of the ancient traditions the source of which we remember by carrying them into the present. Another expression of the pastoral office of the Bishop.

During the service Bishop Michael preached on the first reading of today which was taken from the Book of Job. It was as clear and defining an exposition of this wondrous book as I have ever heard. A copy of the sermon can be found at: http://www.stgeorgemr.org/ The teaching office is a significant element of the pastoral office of the Bishop.

Bishop Michael has had so much on his plate over the past several years as the consequences of the Synod decisions to allow same sex blessing have unfolded that those consequences have in many ways overshadowed, though not diminished, his role as pastor to our community. It is my greatest hope that our Bishop, as these, "big," issues are resolved, uses the remaining years of his ministry to practice use of those gifts with which the Spirit has so amply blessed him. The gift he has to reach out and draw in to the center of our community those on the fringes, the gift of speaking with a prophetic voice, the gift of being able to teach, the gift of being able to build healthy communities.

raptors

This is getting to be a bit of a critter blog... This time of the year the weeds begin to die back and all manner of raptors cruise the open areas of our fields looking to snack on moles, voles and mice. Small rodents find a lot of protection under the cranberry vines, but not a great deal of food. The open areas where the weeds flourish have a banquet of seeds grasses and other goodies that attract small mammals building up their winter fat reserves. And so the birds come...

critters

Great Blue Heron. We get a lot of these around the farm. Pretty spectacular birds. For reasons that are beyond me I find the remains of up to half a dozen of them in the fields every year. The only thing that I can figure is that they ground roost during the nights and coyotes get lucky every now and then. When I lived in Victoria there was a Heron colony that roosted in the tops of the trees near Goodacre Lake in Beacon Hill Park. There is a Heron colony not far from the dikes here in Pitt Meadows.

The cranberries are coming along at their own speed this year. Usually by this time we have the colour peaking and are just waiting for the neighbour to finish off his harvest before we start ours. This year the colour is coming slow and I would not be suprised if we don't start our harvest until the beginning of November. It is not a big problem as long as we don't find ourselves in a deep freeze. Three years ago we were booming and loading out in a heavy snow storm and the day after we finished there was half an inch of ice on the bogs. Bloody cold. Of course when it is that chilly, the chances of bending too low and getting a gallon of water slopping into your chest waders seems to increase.