A Two Goal Lead is the Most Dangerous Lead...

You can read about this here on the Diocesan website. I wanted to post this so people could read a little bit about the goal as this network idea seems to have a lot of energy right now. So read through and make comments, I will comment early next week or later today depending on how much time I have to write. This is just the first operational strategies, #6 not the entire Goal, so the rest will come soon. Thanks! A+ Goal 3: Recreate the Diocese as a Network To redevelop the entire diocese by the end of 2009 to function primarily as a network of congregations and ministries. These networks will exercise local initiative and responsibility for shared ministry in their contexts. Recommended Mission & Ministry Initiatives Initiative 6: Develop Network Infrastructure: We need to re-conceive and redevelop the diocese as a network of congregations and ministries where organization, communication and the use of resources flow along the lines of meaningful relationships and shared minist...

I snapped this picture of Naomi yesterday, not so flattering of Eliot, but what a shot of Naomi. She was having a great time.

So I ended up speaking on the floor convention and looking back at that previous initial post, I realized I changed a lot of that. So here is the text of the statmenet I read at convention, what I actually said: It is vital to the future of the Diocese and the integrity of the BCMS work that we call a Bishop Coadjutor. To do anything else would limit the effectiveness of how we continue to discover how we will be the Church together. God is working among us, and I believe that this process is an opportunity to deepen our commitment and participation with God in the mission God is calling us all to. With the work of the BCMS at the center of all we do in the search for a new visionary leader we can be confident that we elect someone who can work collaboratively and in full partnership with all of us to continue to create a pioneering vision for the future of the Church. I imagine the demands upon the time of a bishop are great, only Bishop Jelinek can tell us what that demand is lik...

Had a Baptism on Sunday and was reminded of how core that action is to my life of faith. I love how the Baptismal Covenant, though uniquely Episcopalian, says nothing about being an Episcopalian or even for that matter, says nothing about institutional Church. It was so refreshing. It was similar to past experiences where I re-discovered those things I loved as a child or a young adult, things that gave me energy, passion and nourishment, not just nostalgia and useless memories. For instance, and laugh at your own risk, Dragonlance Fantasy novels, I love those things and read them regularly still today. They were enduring objects, hobbies or activities that I have, for a long time, enjoyed immensly. Saying the Baptismal Covenant with the members of my parish, claiming those questions as a core piece of who I am as Christian, really was like breathing fresh and new air. I heard little about our Baptismal covenant at Convention, or of what we as a Episcopalians claim as pieces of ho...

I am ever the optimist, I always assume that people are operating out of the general good of their hearts, for the betterment of whatever it is they might be working or advocating for. I am also not one to hold a grudge, and will jump on board with the decisions made by a body that they believe are what that particular body needs. So, of course, when I was on the losing end of just about every resolution presented at convention I was able to look forward to what would come next and prepare myself to support the decisions I need to support as we move forward. Tonight I put all my eggs into the basket to try to get a coadjutor process passed as the way we would proceed in calling a new bishop. We missed that by three votes, granted, a majority of the Diocese wanted to have a coadjutor, but because of a motion to have the vote by orders it lost, clergy passed it 86-59 and the laity narrowly missed it by a vote of 114 to 117. Makes for some nail biting prime time entertainment, let me t...

I believe it is in the best interest of the Diocese of Minnesota to proceed with a modified version of Bishop Jelinek’s coadjutor plan. I believe we have already completed a two year interim process through the powerful work of the BCMS and that this work needs to be the core of the Bishop Coadjutor search process. The Bishop’s Commission for Mission Strategy has looked closely at and been honest about our diocesan wide bad habits and helped us acknowledge, honor and move forward to create collaborative relationships and collegiality among laity and clergy. We have begun to overcome our bad habits and new partnerships and opportunities have emerged. We have begun to discover our gifts, talents and skills as we have heard the Good News in the ministries and missions of congregations around the Diocese. The past two years have been extraordinarily challenging and anxiety provoking. We have asked HOW we will be the Church together as we move forward. Two years of maintenance and deep s...

I am listening, right now, to a podcast from Speaking of Faith in which Krista Tippett interviews a young Rabbi fro LA named Sharon Brous. She is crazy inspirational. One thing she said that has kept hitting me is this: "What do we want the world to look like and what are we doing about it." Powerful stuff, wow, what if we as a community gathered together and had a real conversation about just this topic. What do we want, what do we desire, what is it we see when we look at the world, and how then, do we see GOd in it. She is quite cutting edge, even going so far as to say about worship if you are not inspired each time you come to celebrate go see a movie instead, I should say that. More to come when I finish this podcast, it is amazing! Be well, A+

Well, sometimes the best of intentions just don't cut it, do they. Today I am sitting in my office getting caught up on email, and mail and phone messages and all that wonderful stuff. I have been in Baltimore since Friday and just returned to my office. My office, today, is freezing cold, I mean freezing, even I couldn't handle it anymore. So I walked downstairs flipped on the boiler, thinking I would like to have it run for a while and warm the place up. So I did. And it got warm, I was comfortable, and was planning on turning the boiler off at about 12:30 before I left for my 1PM appt. It was not long after I turned the boiler on, 25 minutes MAYBE, the sirens started screaming, the fire trucks, and I mean a lot of them, more than I have ever heard, starting coming towards the church, so I got up to see where they were going, and what they were doing. When I stood up, and looked out my office window, lo and behold they were sitting right there looking at our roof. I we...

I was sitting in an office today and looked at the front page of the Star Tribune. On said front page was an article about how my alma mater is rejecting a request to have Bishop Desmond Tutu come and speak. For the record, I think it is ridiculous, of course that a man such as Tutu, with the tremendous accomplishments he has achieved, is going to be sent away from even a Roman Catholic institution. Sara and I are both appalled and have more reasons to not give any of our hard earned dough to the University. Anyway, as I looked at the front page, I was struck to see what they were actually writing. The paper, and this is my first reaction, had the GALL to place Archbishop Tutu in the same company as the president of Iran, can't spell his name right now, Ann Coulter and Michael Moore. WHAT??? Ann Coulter? What has she done that could even shine a candle to the ministry Bishop Tutu has accomplished? What has Michael Moore done? And the president of Iran? Yikes, the point, ...

This is what i put together for the blessing of the animals service I was at this weekend, the 6th of October. Our pets, as many of you already know, help us remember significant moments in our lives. My wife and I had a chocolate lab named Fran; Fran was the first pet we had as new family living in the world. She was beautiful and gentle and cuddly and so much fun to play with. On September 10th, 2001, the day before the Twin Towers fell, Fran was jumping up and down at our back door, she really wanted to go outside, it was morning, so I assumed she had a full bladder and needed to be let out. When I opened the door, I realized she was not so much interested in finding a fire hydrant as she wanted the rabbit that was hiding somewhere in our backyard. She took off after the rabbit and during the chase leaped over the flower bed in our back yard, in that moment her life changed, our lives changed. She landed on her neck, had somehow paralyzed herself in the jump, and couldn’t move...

For 2 years I have wanted to do a blessing of the animals service at the Garden, and for 2 years I have failed to make it work. I do have a blessing of the animals service to preside at however, this year, at the Veterinary Medical Center at the University of Minnesota on Saturday, October 6th at 4:30PM. All are welcome to bring their pets, pictures of pets that have died or even, and this is my addition, stuffed animals that are meaningful. Should be fun, be sure to join us! Be well, A+

Here is my sermon from Sunday, enjoy... We believe God is here, seriously we do. So how will we make the words on our sign ring truer each day as we live our life in God together? We believe that God is actively working in our lives to change the world, to reveal the Kingdom of God to all who wish to experience it. We believe God is here, not far off in a galaxy far away, but right here, living next to us. God’s presence among us is a tough question though, it is a tough question because the idea of God being actively present in our lives has been co-opted by conservative Christians throughout the world, conservative Christians around the world who believe God active in our lives now means that God will make me rich if I pray enough; people who believe that God will intervene in Iraq and destroy the heathen, namely all of Islam. People who believe that means their children will be healed of debilitating diseases without medical intervention; people who believe that God brought deb...