AUTUMN A.D.

2019

VOL. 61 NO. 3
 Published quarterly by the Society for Promoting and Encouraging
Arts and Knowledge of the Church (SPEAK, Inc.).

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
CHAIRMAN
THE REV. CHARLESTON D. WILSON
VICE CHAIRMAN
THE REV. CHRISTOPHER COLBY

SECRETARY/TREASURER
DR. E. MITCHELL SINGLETON
THE RT. REV. JOHN C. BAUERSCHMIDT,
THE RT. REV. ANTHONY J. BURTON,
THE REV. DR. C. BRYAN OWEN
MARIAN CHANCELLOR

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
THE RT. REV. ANTHONY F. M. CLAVIER,
CATHERINE S. SALMON

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2 anglicandigest.org
 Reflecting the words and work of the
faithful throughout the Anglican
Communion for more than fifty years.

connecting gathering telling

For sixty-one years, The Anglican Digest (TAD) has been the
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autumn 2019 3
 A Letter from the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Dear Anglican Digest Family,

St. John Chrysostom, a fascinating fourth century bishop,

claimed that Holy Scripture was like “a well with no bottom”;
in other words, its depth is unfathomable. St. Jerome, anoth-
er fourth century bishop, said “Ignorance of Scripture is ig-
norance of Christ.” A modern, rather crude, idiom we often
hear about wellness is “you are what you eat.” Well, the editors
have put together a delightful (and healthy) menu of articles
inspired by favorite Bible passages from our contributors. In
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munion. With every good wish and prayer, I am:

Yours in Christ,

The Rev. Charleston David Wilson,

Chairman of the Board of Trustees

4 anglicandigest.org
6 Speaking Hope

8 The Tree of Life

12 Is All Saints’ Day Still Relevant?

16 Be Fed and Go Feed

20 Wild Bread and Wild Jesus

23 Welcome

27 Book Review

37 Rejoice in the Lord

40 Sheep With Human Faces

43 When He Had Found Him

46 I Love to Tell the Story

49 Speak, Lord, Your Servant is Listening

53 A God Seen Only in Retrospect

QQQQQ

Cover Photo Marc Langille, © 2013

autumn 2019 5
connecting

SPEAKING HOPE that the many people who en-

couraged me to take this big
The Rev. Steven W. Lawler
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, step knew what they were
Ferguson, MO talking about when they said,
“You can do this.” But I most-
For I am persuaded, that ly believed they were wrong.
neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, I blathered my wreck of an ac-
nor powers, nor things ademic history to him almost
present, nor things to come, immediately after meeting
Nor height, nor depth, nor him. I remember his kindly
any other creature, shall presence more than his re-
be able to separate us from sponse. To use a phrase that
the love of God, which is a pastor friend uses often and
in Christ Jesus our Lord. well, he “spoke hope to me.”
(Romans 8:38-39)
When he died two months
One of the first services I at- into my second semester, I
tended as a new Episcopalian did not feel hope, but instead
was for a man I hardly knew. loss – terrible, unimaginable,
I was a college student who painful loss. When a col-
both found and was found league of his read from what
by the Episcopal Church. would soon be referred to as
The man was a retired faculty the “old” prayer book (1928),
member who had been very I caught a glimpse of his face
kind to me as I started college – and in that moment I un-
at age 23. I was a high school derstood, before I had the
drop-out, and my prepared- phrase for it, what “speaking
ness for this new phase of ed- hope” means.
ucation was spotty at best. I
came to school with the hope Origen, Calvin, Luther, and

6 anglicandigest.org
gathering
Barth wrote commentaries on
this Epistle of Paul to the Ro-
mans. More recently, very fine
commentaries have been pub-
lished by Brendan Byrne, SJ
and Scot McKnight. Reading
each of these writers as they
attend to the bold crescendo
that is the 8th chapter of Ro-
mans, one is reminded of how
much there is to make of this
brilliant work, and how care-
ful we must be in reading into
the text our own wants, needs,
biases, and afflictions. These
commentaries offer many and
profound insights, but for me
the text is most alive when it
is heard in times of loss, fear,
or anxiety.
This simple passage read as
part of the 1928 Burial Office
brings us words like “per-
suaded,” and phrases like “nor
any other creature.” Lingering
with them brings more of the
real-life power of Paul’s claim
than the “convinced” and
“neither angels nor demons”
of newer translations. “Con-
telling
vinced” means that I am com-
pletely certain about some-
thing. “Persuaded” means I
am being moved to some-
thing. In times where hope
is absent, I am explicitly not
certain. Yet through grace in
these times, I may be moved.
The depth and subtlety neces-
sity to feel that hopelessness is
animated by “angels or princi-
palities” is the stuff of Dwight
Moody or Mother Theresa.
With my clay feet, times of
hopelessness are caused by
more earthly creatures – some
I work with, some who are on
the nightly news, and most
often the pedestrian one that
I am. The cosmos and higher
and lower beings are not my
challenge. People are.
These two verses have been
heard by those gathered to
mourn someone who reached
into their 10th decade, and
read as parents stand devas-
tated staring at their child’s
small coffin. They have been
clutched by lonely saints in
autumn 2019 7
connecting
squalid places and pondered
by those whose lives are be-
yond comfortable. On that
cold winter day in Northern
Illinois, a man who had long
spoken hope to students, staff,
his dying wife, and much
earlier in his life to his can-
cer-riddled young adult son,
wanted us to hear what for
him shone through hopeless-
ness’ darkness as the precious
light that he staked his whole
life on. He chose this lesson
because for him it was true.
Two times recently, I have of-
fered these verses in the face
of hopelessness. Once was to
the mother of a 36-year-old
for whose life she fears daily.
I reminded her that Paul was
in chains on his way to death.
I prayed for her child and, as I
write this, I am hoping that he
makes it through today. The
second time, this past Sunday,
was to a young woman whose
addictions and mental health
challenges have her hearing
voices and believing that she
8 anglicandigest.org
is vexed by the very demons
that the Bible imagines. She
clutched a well-worn Bible. I
asked for it, read from it, then
gave her a bookmark so she
could find it and read it again
and again.
My hope continues to be that
these words wend their way
into the troubled spirits of
these two hearers as they have
continued to into my own
spirit in these 40 years since I
first truly heard them.
Although biblical texts and
images inhabit our liturgies,
new and old, no single scrip-
ture comes to my mind more
often than this one.
THE TREE OF LIFE
The Rev. Chris Arnold
Trinity Episcopal Church,
Oshkosh, WI
There’s one verse in the Bible
that always brings tears to my
eyes. It’s a very strange thing
— I’m not one of those men
gathering
who is ashamed to cry, but I
don’t cry easily. But I always
tear up, get that little catch in
my throat, when I run into
this verse.
I can hear it read, or read it
out loud, or just be reading it
in the course of my prayer; it
doesn’t change my response.
Here’s the verse: “the leaves
of the tree are for the healing
of the nations.” It’s the end of
Revelation 22:2. The leaves of
the tree are for the healing of
the nations. Tears, every time.
A feeling of hope, springing
up out of my heart.
I have no idea why. The Lord
plucks the strings of our
hearts to his own hidden
melody. But my years of lec-
tio divina practice tell me to
notice the emotions, and to
wonder about them, but not
to worry about them. So I
wonder why this passage res-
onates so much for me, and
so faithfully. There’s obviously
something special about that
tree and its leaves.
telling
You know, I hope, the section
from which this comes? If not,
please stop reading my poor
words, take up your Bible,
and read the 21st and 22nd
chapters of the Revelation
of St. John the Divine. They
are the epilogue, the closing
chapters, of the entire Bible.
Maybe you’ve skimmed Reve-
lation and been fascinated, or
creeped out, or put off, by the
bowls of blood and the drag-
ons and the destruction. It’s a
bizarre book, and needs to be
treated with caution. But push
through to the very end — or
just skip straight to it — and
we break through the smoke
and fire and roaring of the an-
gelic host in battle to a peace-
ful place. We break through
the vision John is given of
the new heaven and the new
earth.
According to the vision, this
is how it all ends: Not with
the destruction of the plan-
et, but the re-creation of cre-
ation. The heavenly Jerusalem
autumn 2019 9
connecting

comes to earth, and the city of the woods behind my house.

God is the city we’ve all been My favorite parts of being a
longing for since we first start- Boy Scout were the camping
ed longing. We were driven and hiking trips, out in na-
out of Eden, the Garden, but ture, learning about creation.
in the end we wind up in Je- Indeed, my first forays into a
rusalem, the City, where God religious life were in the world
will dwell with us for ever. of Wicca and Neo-Pagan-
ism at the end of high school
These last two chapters of the and the beginning of college.
Bible describe that heavenly I connected with nature. The
city. It sounds beautiful — heavenly city sounds wonder-
everything is gold and glass, ful, of course, but I guess I’m
precious stones and pearls. glad that there are trees and a
But it’s not all hard edges and river in paradise. I like rivers.
angles. The passage I love I like trees.
sits in the first two verses of
chapter 22: “Then [the angel] Just this summer, my wife and
showed me the river of the I got out to Olympic Nation-
water of life, bright as crystal,
al Park in Washington State,
flowing from the throne of and up into Southeast Alaska.
God and of the Lamb through I realized how refreshing it
the middle of the street of the was to be away from the city
city; also, on either side of the
where I live, and from the
river, the tree of life with itsvery controlled agricultural
twelve kinds of fruit, yielding land around me. When we
its fruit each month; and the are in cities, or in landscapes
leaves of the tree were for the controlled by humans, all we
healing of the nations.” see is the evidence of human
I suppose I’m a bit of a hippy. power, ability, and control.
I grew up wandering around When we get out into wilder-

10 anglicandigest.org
gathering
ness, we are reminded of the
immense power of God.
And that power is life.
So I am delighted that there
is a place in the age to come
for the creation that isn’t just
humanity. I’m delighted that
there’s a river there, and trees.
God has made these things,
and I’m glad that I shall get
to enjoy them in the age to
come — assuming I make it
to heaven! And the river — it’s
as though there is a physical,
material symbol of the grace
that flows from the throne of
God.
I wonder about that tree, too.
It’s a little strange that the
tree is on either side of the
river. How is there a tree on
either side of a river? Is the
trunk massive, with a tunnel
through the middle of it, like
those big redwoods in North-
ern California? I love that the
tree of life has different kinds
of fruit, yielding fruit in each
month. A diversity of fruit, an
telling
endless harvest, and a perpet-
ual bounty of nourishment
for all.
And then the words that, for
some reason I don’t under-
stand, bring tears of hope to
my eyes when I hear them:
“The leaves of the tree are for
the healing of the nations.”
Oh, how I love that the na-
tions shall be healed! How
I love that the damage done
when our first ancestors ate
the fruit from one tree shall
be healed and restored by the
leaves of another!
I am writing this on the com-
memoration of St. Francis of
Assisi, who so easily saw the
work of God in all creation.
The maple trees on my street
are starting to turn their bril-
liant red. I wonder if you and
I will find ourselves thinking
about the leaves of the tree
of life that will heal us, our
friends, our enemies. Lord,
who hung upon the tree of the
Cross for our salvation, bring
us quickly to the tree of life!
autumn 2019 11
connecting
IS ALL SAINTS’ DAY
STILL RELEVANT?
The Rev. Dr. Virginia L. Bennett certainly wouldn’t be the last.
(retired)
Grace Episcopal Church,
Kirkwood, MO
Some years ago, a scholar of
ancient history said, “If an ed-
ucated Greek or Roman had
been told that someone had
been raised from the dead,
his first question would have
been, ‘How do we get him
back into his grave again?’”
On All Saints’ Day, the lec-
tionary usually points us to
the Beatitudes from Jesus’
Sermon on the Mount, or
the raising of Lazarus. The
message Jesus received about
Lazarus being ill didn’t seem
urgent. Lazarus lived in Ju-
dea, and Jesus was already in
hot water with the authorities
there. Whatever the reasons
for Jesus’ delay, by the time he
arrived it was too late. Mary
and Martha said those poi-
gnant words: “If only you had
been here our brother would
12 anglicandigest.org
not have died.” It wasn’t the
first time someone had said
“if only” after a death, and it
Scripture says Jesus was deep-
ly moved. The Greek suggests
Jesus wasn’t just moved, but
angry; ready to explode. No-
tice that Jesus didn’t say any-
thing like, “There there, his
soul is free at last!” or “God
must need him more than we
do”. His grief was so raw that
he wept bitter tears. His an-
ger was so hot that it explod-
ed into bringing Lazarus out
from the grave.
But after that, we hear nothing
more about Lazarus. As far as
we know, he didn’t go to work
for a hospice, or write about
his experience. Although the
raising of Lazarus may be a
foretaste of the Resurrection,
it wasn’t a resurrection; it was
just a temporary reprieve. In
spite of the fact that his ‘pretty
dead’ experience didn’t finish
him off, it didn’t prevent the
gathering
day coming when a ‘complete-
ly dead’ experience would.
When Elie Wiesel stood be-
fore the Holocaust Museum,
with Buchenwald and Aus-
chwitz on his mind, he said
“Remember, remember, re-
member.” On All Saints’ Day,
we remember the saints; all
those who have been God’s
instruments in this world.
In a world thick with amnesia,
a world where there’s a great
deal of self-centeredness and
arrogance, we will soon cele-
brate All Saints’ Day and bap-
tize new Christians. We are
given the title ‘saint’ by virtue
of our baptism. The moment
we came up dripping from
those baptismal waters, we
were called to be forever dif-
ferent. While some have said
a saint is a dead sinner who
just never got caught, such
definitions miss the truth.
However, we might feel as
though saints are the last
telling
things we should be thinking
about these days. After all,
we’re earthlings, consumed
with important earthly things,
like the political discord across
this country and the world at
large, increasing violence and
bloodshed in our own country
and abroad. Leave the things
of heaven for another day,
many would say. But the saints
concern earthly life.
While passages from the
Book of Revelation are often
read on All Saints’ Day, as
well as at funerals, it was writ-
ten when the Christians of
Asia Minor were undergoing
a savage time of persecution.
While many meanings have
been given for John’s dream
or vision in the Book of Reve-
lation, at the very least it’s the
message that human suffering
is not unique, and that God
knows and cares. It is poetry
and high emotion. Like the
raising of Lazarus, it’s the cur-
tain drawn back enough to re-
veal that God will have the last
autumn 2019 13
connecting

word. It’s trusting that the way

visions or dreams, it was often
things are now is not the way to denounce their killers. In
things will always be. On the the ancient world, there was
Feast of All Saints’, our procla-
absolutely no assumption that
mation is that most political of
every life was precious. Fa-
statements: God reigns. Our thers had the right to kill their
ultimate hope doesn’t depend children in certain situations,
upon politicians, armies, or as masters did their slaves.
the economy, but upon God, Crowds flocked to see the
and God alone. ‘theatre’ of public executions.
It still happens in this world,
Every life experiences an- in public as well as behind
guish, days when we feel embassy doors.
alone, cut off from God, from And while Christians have
each other. We feel like out- never been perfect in their
siders looking in, standing endeavors throughout histo-
at the edge, wondering, does ry, the fact is that Christianity
anyone notice, does anyone brought an irreversible shift
care? Does God care? This is in thinking about the value of
essentially what happened to every human life, value which
Mary and Martha when their could not be extinguished by
brother Lazarus became sick violence or death: That God
and died. holds on to the lives of all the
departed.
The news that someone had
been raised from the tomb, The entire New Testament
whether Lazarus or Jesus, declares that, because of the
would have been as disturb- Resurrection, we are called
ing for the Jew as for the to be caught up in the life of
Greek. In the ancient world, God now so that we might
when the dead appeared in be grasped so much by God

14 anglicandigest.org
gathering
that we will be used for God’s
purposes in the here and now.
The Church not only needs
the saints of the cloister, but
saints immersed in the strug-
gles of today, remembering
that those who reflect the
holiness of God will always
challenge the world. It needs
mystics who see through the
shadows of the world, re-
minding us that God is great-
er than the shadows.
The Communion of Saints
isn’t just an echo of voices that
death has silenced, but saints
in the sense that something
of the warmth and brightness
of God’s presence in them not
only touched us while they
were among us, but continues
to touch us now.
When death squads operated
in countries like Argentina or
El Salvador, during the Holy
Eucharist Christians there
would read out the names of
those killed or disappeared,
and for each name, someone
telling
would call out from the con-
gregation, “Present!” When
the assembly is gathered be-
fore God, the lost are indeed
present. When we pray at the
Eucharist “joining our voices
with Angels and Archangels,
and with all the company of
heaven,” we’re saying “Pres-
ent!” for all those the world
would forget, but whom God
remembers.
In one of England’s most be-
loved hymns, and mine, “I
Vow to thee My Country”, we
find these words, written by
Cecil Spring Rice:
And there’s another coun-
try, I’ve heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that
love her, most great to them
that know;
We may not count her
armies, we may not see her
King,
Her fortress is a faithful
heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and si-
lently, her shining bounds
autumn 2019 15
connecting
increase,
And her ways are ways of
gentleness and all her paths
are peace.
When we baptize new saints,
we graft them onto all those
whose presence in the Church
has gone before us, those
whose very essence lingers on
earth, upon whose shoulders
all the baptized stand. Yes,
their days will have sadness,
but to that Jesus says “Dry
your tears little ones. God’s
tomorrow has already begun.”
For all the saints, for those
whose lives reflect the glory of
God, for those wise ones who
embodied for us the shape of
faith, for those dear departed
ones for whom we still grieve,
for those whom we hope to
meet on another shore, for all
the saints, we thank you, most
gracious loving God. And we
pray that we might be count-
ed among them.
16 anglicandigest.org
BE FED AND GO
FEED
The Rev. James C. Pappas III
Sewanee, TN
John’s account of the resurrec-
tion appearance on the sea-
shore (John 21:1-19) begins
with one of my favorite verses
of scripture: Peter says to the
others, “I’m going fishing.” I
suppose I like it because, as
a fisherman myself, it’s what
I most wish that I could be
doing many days. But I also
identify with the sentiment
behind it. Even after hearing
the testimony of the women,
even after seeing the empty
tomb with his own eyes, even
after encountering Jesus in the
locked upper room, Peter just
can’t get his head around the
idea that Jesus has been raised
from the dead, or about what
this means for Peter’s own life.
So he goes back to doing what
he had done before he ever
encountered Jesus in the first
place. Compared to following
gathering
Jesus, fishing is easy, even if
you don’t catch anything.
I love the details about how
this encounter with the risen
Jesus takes place. Fishermen
can all identify with the frus-
tration of a long day or night
spent fishing without having
caught a single fish. And so
the willingness of the dis-
ciples to follow the instruc-
tions of a seeming stranger
isn’t surprising at all. When
I run into a fellow angler on
the banks of a lake or stream
or the ocean, the conversation
always starts with questions
like “Have you caught any-
thing?” or “What are you us-
ing?” I think that in moments
of desperation, most fisher-
men would be willing to try
anything to get a fish to bite.
So being told to toss the net in
on the other side of the boat is
an instruction that I wouldn’t
even blink at.
What is surprising is the huge
catch — so many fish that the
telling
net nearly breaks, 153 fish
from a single cast of the net!
I love that the story tells us
such an exact number, that
one of the guys there actu-
ally took the time to count
those fish because he wanted
to remember every detail of
the encounter (and probably
because, like all fishermen,
he wanted to be able to brag
about it later). It is in the mo-
ment of this huge catch that
the disciples recognize Jesus.
Now at first I find this unusu-
al: In the other resurrection
accounts, it is in a moment
of breaking bread, or maybe
in hearing Jesus speak their
names, that the various dis-
ciples come to recognize the
risen Lord. But in this story, it
is in a huge catch of fish. It’s an
odd detail, until you remem-
ber that in John’s gospel, the
multiplication of loaves and
fishes is the central Eucharis-
tic story. So nets swelling with
fish bring back the memory of
a few loaves of bread and two
fish that somehow managed
autumn 2019 17
connecting
to feed thousands, with bas-
kets full of leftovers remain-
ing. And if the image hasn’t
yet set in for them, when they
get to shore, Jesus already has
a meal of bread and fish wait-
ing for them.
When I was still in high
school, I went one summer
for a canoe trip in Queti-
co Park in southern Ontario
province in Canada. I didn’t
shell out the money for a fish-
ing permit, but some of the
other guys on the trip did.
One morning, they got up be-
fore the rest of us and caught
a few walleye pike. Not 153 of
them, and nothing so big that
the lines were ever in danger
of breaking. But the rest of us
woke up that morning to the
smell of fish frying and pan-
cakes being made. I think that
lakeshore breakfast of freshly
caught walleye and a couple
of pancakes has to be one of
the best breakfasts I’ve ever
eaten in my life. It is certain-
ly a memory that will always
18 anglicandigest.org
stick with me. And it makes
me love the story of Jesus
making a breakfast of bread
and fish for the disciples that
much more.
But beyond just finding an
affinity for the story of break-
fast on the seashore, I love
the fact that, despite having
already prepared a meal for
them, Jesus invites the disci-
ples to bring some of the fish
that they just caught and add
them to the meal. That’s the
way Jesus always operates:
He always invites each dis-
ciple to bring his or her own
gifts and add them to what he
is already doing. The meal is
already prepared; there is al-
ready enough cooked so that
everyone can have breakfast,
but Jesus isn’t satisfied with
that. It isn’t enough for Jesus
to feed them by sharing what
he has; the sharing must be
made complete by adding
what only the disciples them-
selves can share.
gathering
It’s that way with us too. Jesus
shares himself with us at the
Eucharistic table. He feeds
us with his own Body and
Blood. But he also asks us to
bring ourselves and lay our
own bodies on the altar as
well. Each one of us is in the
unique position of being able
to share our own lives and to
offer them to God and to one
another. Jesus invites us to be-
come a part of the story, not
just to give some sort of intel-
lectual assent to who he was
and is, but to actually become
part of the action, to take up
our own place as those who
give of ourselves and feed and
care for one another and for
those beyond our present fel-
lowship.
In case we need to reinforce
that invitation, John goes on
to share the story of what
happens between Jesus and
Peter after that breakfast on
the beach: The last time Pe-
ter stood around a charcoal
fire with someone asking him
telling
about his relationship to Je-
sus, he had denied over and
over that he even knew Jesus
at all. So now Jesus gives Pe-
ter the chance to take back the
denial and proclaim his love
for Jesus. But it isn’t enough
for Peter to say that he loves
Jesus. Jesus tells him over and
over that, if he loves Jesus,
then he has to put that love
into action and feed and care
for those who have been en-
trusted by God to Jesus’ care.
The same thing goes for us. It
isn’t enough for us to come to
church on Sunday and pro-
claim belief in God. It isn’t
enough for us to affirm that
Jesus died and was raised for
us. If we’re going to proclaim
this faith, then we have to do
something about it. We need
to offer our own selves to the
service of others. We need to
feed those who are hungry,
and shelter those who are
homeless, and clothe those
who are naked, and heal those
who are sick, and visit those
autumn 2019 19
connecting
who are lonely or imprisoned.
Jesus asks us, just like Peter,
if we love him; in response to
our answer, he gives us work
that must be done.
The good news is that we
don’t do this work on our
own. Jesus still begins, just
as he did with those first dis-
ciples, by feeding us. He calls
us together around his table
and forms us into a commu-
nity. He invites us to share
ourselves with each other just
as he shares himself with each
of us. And only then does he
send us out to do the work of
following him, of giving our-
selves up so that others can be
fed. Come to the Eucharistic
banquet and be fed. And then
go out and feed.
20 anglicandigest.org
WILD BREAD AND
WILD JESUS —
A REFLECTION
ON JOHN 6
The Ven. Malcolm French, SCP
Vicar of Cambridge,
Archdeacon of Maungatautari
Diocese of Waikato and
Taranaki, Anglican Church
in Aotearoa, New Zealand and
Polynesia
Most of us don’t make our
own bread, or even eat a lot
of homemade bread. Most of
us buy our bread at the gro-
cery store. And the bread at
the grocery store was blend-
ed and kneaded by machines,
put into large containers to
rise, cut into loaf-sized pieces
by machines, put into indus-
trial ovens to bake, and sliced
and bagged by machines. You
can tell by the flavour and the
texture of the bread that it is
store-bought, machine-made,
industrial bread.
We know bread can be better
than that. That’s why artisanal
bread has become a thing.
gathering
Some of us even bake our
own bread at home, at least
occasionally. When you make
your own bread at home, it’s
just not the same. You have
that smell in your house when
you bake bread — some of us
remember that smell from
childhood. And the way the
bread feels in your hand and
in your mouth is entirely dif-
ferent than the bread you buy
at the grocery store.
In the past year or so, I have
learned that commercially
available yeast is only about
150 years old. Prior to that,
to make bread, you either
had to save a lump of dough
from the last bread you made
to put into the new batch to
provide the yeast and make it
rise, or else you had to leave
your dough sitting out and
hope, with no guarantee, that
it would come in contact with
wild yeast that was in the air.
We’ve domesticated bread.
We’ve made it into a tasteless,
telling
crumbly thing. But real bread
is a wild thing.
Last year our curate led a
study on daily life in ancient
Israel. As part of that study, he
demonstrated how bread was
made in the ancient world.
He even built an oven in his
back yard; it looked like one
of those volcanos schoolchil-
dren make for science fairs.
It was a clay oven, open at
the top. He built a fire in the
oven so that the clay would
set; some days later, he made
his dough, built a new fire in
the oven, rolled the dough
(leavened or unleavened) into
little balls, flattened it out, and
reach into the fire to slap the
bread up against the wall of
the oven to bake. That’s how
people made bread in ancient
Israel.
To a modern person, it’s an
odd process. It seems to me
that sticking your hand into
the fire is a bit counterintu-
itive. You don’t even have a
guarantee how it’s going to
autumn 2019 21
connecting

turn out because some of the We’ve domesticated our re-

dough will fall off and into ligion. The difficulty is not
the fire. You even have to believing that Jesus is Lord,
guess when exactly the bread but believing that Jesus is Je-
is done, though I expect that sus. “What Would Jesus Do?”
would get easier with experi- Sometimes the answer is that
ence. he would turn over tables and
use a whip.
Bread, in its natural state, is a
wild thing. But we live in a so- We’ve domesticated Jesus
ciety where we have domesti- — or we’ve tried to domesti-
cated bread and taken the life cate him. Yet somehow, Jesus
right out of it. Think of Won- comes to us anyway, in any
der Bread, one of the first in- number of ways, but he comes
dustrially-baked, pre-sliced, to us in a particular way in the
packaged breads. Mostly, you Sacrament.
wonder if it’s actually bread, Now, as Anglo-Catholic as
but that is the kind of bread my heart is, and as much as
most of us grew up with. I understand the practicality
of wafers, sometimes it is eas-
We live in a society that has ier for me to believe that the
also taken Jesus and domesti- bread is Jesus than to believe
cated him: Gentle Jesus, meek that the bread is bread.
and mild. Sweet Jesus. Isn’t it
nice that Jesus is nice? Find But Jesus comes to us in this
me the passage in Scripture bread. Jesus comes to us in
that tells me Jesus is nice. Find this bread week after week.
me the passage in Scripture Jesus comes to us to feed us.
that tells me niceness is one of Jesus comes to us to feed us
the fruits of the Spirit. with that wild bread that is
the wild Jesus. Jesus comes to

22 anglicandigest.org
gathering
us to feed us, to nourish us, so
that we may go out into the
world in his name.
At the Anglo-Catholic Con-
gress in London in 1923, in
the concluding address, Bish-
op Frank Weston of Zanzibar
touched on then-recent con-
troversies about tabernacles
and about the reservation of
the Sacrament. With that as
his starting point, he spoke of
the implications of knowing
Jesus in the Sacrament: “You
cannot claim to worship Jesus
in the Tabernacle, if you do Jesus comes to us in the Sac-
not pity Jesus in the slum.”
He went on to say:
“It is folly — it is madness who need to know Jesus, and
— to suppose that you can
worship Jesus in the Sac-
raments and Jesus on the
Throne of glory, when you
are sweating him in the
souls and bodies of his chil-
dren. It cannot be done.”
Then, at the end he said:
You have got your Mass,
you have got your Altar,
telling
you have begun to get
your Tabernacle. Now go
out into the highways and
hedges where not even the
Bishops will try to hinder
you. Go out and look for
Jesus in the ragged, in the
naked, in the oppressed
and sweated, in those who
have lost hope, in those
who are struggling to make
good. Look for Jesus. And
when you see him, gird
yourselves with his towel
and try to wash their feet.
rament to nourish us to do
the ministry Jesus calls us to
do: To look for Jesus in those
to serve them in the name of
Jesus.
WELCOME
The Rev. J. Paris Coffey (retired)
Diocese of Chicago
Now all the tax collectors
and sinners were com-
autumn 2019 23
connecting
ing near to listen to Jesus.
And the Pharisees and the
scribes were grumbling
and saying, “This fellow
welcomes sinners and eats
with them.” (Luke 15:1-2)
For eighteen wonderful years,
our family included a 75-
pound canine named Bingo.
Half Bloodhound/half Lab-
rador, Bingo was a prominent
presence in our lives. He was
devoted but disobedient, star-
tling guests with his hair-rais-
ing howl. He gnawed be-
longings from sofas to shoes
and, despite our best efforts,
flunked obedience school. To
say that Bingo was a handful is
to put it mildly, and so it might
surprise you to learn that
when Bingo went missing one
day, I felt nothing but panic.
He escaped from our yard,
which he had done before,
but this time we were in a
different house. Bingo did
not know the neighborhood,
and I was sure that he would
24 anglicandigest.org
never find his way home on
his own. Not surprisingly,
he would never come when
called — but, ever hopeful, I
scoured the neighborhood,
calling his name. Neighbors
joined in, until I finally spot-
ted my wayward dog digging
through some trash. Gently
I coaxed him to me with a
morsel of food, and when he
succumbed, I threw my arms
around his neck. I had him!
Then, hooking his collar to a
leash, I traversed the neigh-
borhood again, shouting to
all that Bingo had been found.
Dread gave way to joy in our
reunion – unadulterated joy,
which had nothing to do with
merit. It had nothing to do
with Bingo’s behavior, but ev-
erything to do with love.
In the fifteenth chapter of
Luke, such love is beyond the
comprehension of the Phari-
sees and scribes. Their theolo-
gy is rooted in merit, prompt-
ing them to grumble when
Jesus welcomes the wayward.
gathering
“Keep the letter of the law
and you will earn God’s fa-
vor,” these guardians of the
law insist. “Slip up and you
will be banished from com-
munity.” To slip up and not be
banished is nothing short of
apostasy to scribes and Phar-
isees, which means that Jesus’
approach to sinners in Luke
15 threatens the very ground
of their religious beliefs. “This
fellow welcomes sinners and
eats with them,” they say with
shock, clueless to the fact that
they are sinners, too. Instead
they grumble, shocked that
Jesus — who should know the
letter of the law — exhibits
such unorthodox behavior
Their shock lies not in the
fact that Jesus admonishes
sinners, preaches to them,
or even forgives them, but
that he welcomes them. He
welcomes tax collectors and
prostitutes, whom the Phari-
sees and scribes are sure have
nothing in common with
them. Jesus’ radical behavior
telling
is more than the Pharisees can
bear, or perhaps more than
they can even grasp. After all,
Luke 15:1-2 and the parable of
the lost sheep that follows are
about the unconditional love
of One who welcomes all. All
of us are sinners — whether
we know it or not — leading
Jesus to not only welcome sin-
ners but to seek them out!
What a stark contrast between
the extravagant generosity of
Jesus and the small stinginess
that hangs over law-abiding
scribes and Pharisees. “This
fellow welcomes sinners and
eats with them,” they say in
disbelief, for in Jewish cul-
ture eating together is one
the closest forms of intima-
cy. With whom one eats is a
matter of serious concern, but
Jesus places no conditions on
his dinner guests. Repentance
is not a pre-condition to being
welcomed in, but an outcome.
“I tell you, there will be more
joy in heaven over one sinner
autumn 2019 25
connecting
who repents than over nine-
ty-nine righteous persons
who need no repentance,”
Jesus says in the parable of
the lost sheep (Luke 15:7). In
addition, Jesus says, “Let any-
one with ears to hear listen!”
Apparently the Pharisees and
scribes are not listening, but
these other sinners are. They
listen and are welcomed, and
being welcomed, they repent.
To repent means literally “to
change your mind — to come
to your senses — and turn in
a new direction,” while the
word translated in Luke 15 as
“sin” comes from a Greek ar-
chery term meaning “to miss
the mark and so not share in
the prize.” The prize is union
with God and one another,
which we do not have to earn.
God’s love is freely offered,
but we may have to come to
our senses to receive it. We
may have to turn in a new
direction to stop judging oth-
ers, stop lying to ourselves,
stop running from the truth
26 anglicandigest.org
so that God can find us. After
all, bumper stickers that tout,
“I found it!” are bad theolo-
gy. We are the ones who are
found. We are the ones sought
after, retrieved, and welcomed
by the God who loves us and
will not let us go, which is
good news.
It is news that should fill us
with hope, for unlike the
scribes and Pharisees driv-
en by their fear of sin, God’s
love depends not on who we
are but on who God is. Fear
drives us to do foolish things
— as Washington Post colum-
nist William Raspberry once
wrote about modern America,
“We keep imagining that the
problem is that young people
aren’t frightened enough, so
we keep toughening criminal
sanctions to the point where
our national incarceration
rate is the highest in the west-
ern world. The real problem is
that our young people aren’t
hopeful enough.”
gathering
The Pharisees and scribes
would have us live in fear, but
God fills us with the hope and
the promise of love. In fact,
God’s invitation is not un-
like an invitation that once
grounded our country in God:
“Give me your tired, your
poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free,” we
once invited, “The wretched
refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tost to me, I lift my
lamp beside the golden door!”
God welcomes all to the ta- for lectures on why Christians
ble. May we, in turn, welcome should give — we all know the
others.
THE ORDER OF ST. ANDREW
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 ANGLICAN
BOOKSTORE

We offer many titles for sale through our in house book supplier, the Anglican Bookstore.
We also offer bargain books, which are priced at $3.00 each. You may also order by calling
800-572-7929
connecting

The Anglican Bookstore

JOY IN CONFESSION: RECLAIMING
SACRAMENTAL RECONCILIATION
By Hillary D. Raining
Reconciliation is one of the most beautiful
and life-changing gifts that Jesus offers us,
as well as one of the most misunderstood.
Joy in Confession combines art therapy,
scholarship, theology, and worship to create a powerful expe-
rience for learning about confession in the Episcopal Church.
In this accessible, user-friendly workbook, the author pro-
vides compelling evidence of transformation for individuals
and communities who embrace reconciliation as a spiritual
practice. The workbook includes a robust toolbox for clergy,
congregations, and individuals, including insight on what to
expect during confession, how to incorporate confession into
the life of a congregation, and how to hear a confession. The
Rite of Reconciliation holds a key to grace and an invitation
from God to live with joy as a people of a resurrected hope, if
we would but answer the call.
ITEM F012 (153 pages, $15)

MORNING RESOLVE: TO LIVE A SIMPLE, SINCERE,

AND SERENE LIFE
By Patrick Allen
“A Morning Resolve,” an Episcopal prayer printed on the inside
front cover of Forward Day by Day, is a “help me tend my spir-
itual garden” prayer. It asks for God’s help in living a simple,

30 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

sincere, and serene life, by repelling negative

thoughts and attitudes, cultivating positive
attitudes, exercising graceful activities, prac-
ticing faithful daily habits, and depending
on God for the strength and the will to do
so. This unique devotional book for person-
al or small group discipleship and spiritual
formation utilizes this daily prayer to guide
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ITEM F013 (178 pages, $23)
A LIFE THAT IS GOOD: THE MESSAGE
OF PROVERBS IN A WORLD WANTING
WISDOM
By Glenn Pemberton
Somewhere out there is the “good life,” and
we’re all scrambling to get it. The author
maintains in this book that we will find this
good life not in good things but in living well
— and the biblical book of Proverbs teaches us how to live that
life. Though based on solid biblical scholarship, this is not a
textbook, commentary, or comprehensive study, but a read-
able, practical guide to the wisdom found in the ancient book
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ships, justice, money, and much more.
ITEM E1284 (paperback, 254 pages, $18)

autumn 2019 31
connecting

PRAYING THE STATIONS OF THE

CROSS: FINDING HOPE IN A WEARY
LAND
By Margaret Adams Parker
and Katherine Sonderegger
“Suffering, sorrow, injustice, confusion, and
death can touch any of us, at any time … the
Stations can offer consolation and comfort
when we are grieving; healing and restoration
ration when we are parched; inspiration and guidance when
we are searching or lost or simply beset by the turmoil and
temptation, isolation and insecurity that unsettle all our lives.”
— From the introduction
The ancient practice of praying the Stations of the Cross
strengthens our awareness of God’s healing presence. Ground-
ed in Scripture, the Stations remind readers of the overarching
power of God’s love for all people and our steadfast hope for
redemption, a sure and true comfort in the face of pain and
sorrow. This book makes the Stations of the Cross accessible for
those new to the practice and offers compelling insight to those
with long familiarity. Equally useful for individuals or groups.
ITEM E1285 (hardcover, 128 pages, $22)

LIGHT WHEN IT COMES: TRUSTING JOY, FACING

DARKNESS, AND SEEING GOD IN EVERYTHING
By Chris Anderson
We all have moments of joy, moments that move us somehow,
spiritual moments that we can’t quite put a finger on – but then
life rushes in and we move on and soon forget. In this book,

32 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

Chris Anderson encourages us to remember

and share such moments. What he writes will
inspire readers who are hurting, doubting,
or searching to find wisdom and meaning in
their lives. Drawing on an ancient prayer tra-
dition — the examen of conscience — An-
derson spurs readers to take stock of their
own experiences. He shows how it can serve
as a simple but powerful way to remember
moments of light, of struggle, of joy. And
however small or fleeting these moments are, through them
God is always calling and meeting us.
ITEM E1286 (paperback, 181 pages, $17)

ONE-MINUTE STEWARDSHIP: CREATIVE WAYS

TO TALK ABOUT MONEY IN CHURCH
By Charles Cloughen, Jr.
One-Minute Stewardship is designed to
promote the development of a meaning-
ful theology of giving in a new age. These
short reflections — helpfully indexed by
Scripture, theme, event, and lectionary —
can be included in weekly parish e-mails,
newsletters, weekly bulletins, or read as an
invitation to the offering during worship.
The book addresses the issue of designated
giving, which is usually separate from gen-

autumn 2019 33
connecting

eral stewardship appeals and is designed to empower clergy

and lay leaders to promote the message of good stewardship
every Sunday of the year.
ITEM CP01 (paperback, 200 pages, $17)

FOR CHILDREN
THE SPY AT JACOB’S LADDER: AND OTHER BIBLE
STORIES FROM THE INSIDE OUT
By Lindsay Hardin Freeman
and Paul Shaffer
In the kingdom of God, every single
thing has a story to tell and a song to
sing – donkeys, sewing needles, secret
caves, and water jugs! From the author
of The Spy on Noah’s Ark, these sto-
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mind as you read along, meeting old
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ITEM F014 (paperback, 108 pages, $12)
gathering telling

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connecting

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34 anglicandigest.org
gathering
REJOICE IN THE
LORD
The Rt. Rev. Anthony F. M.
Clavier
St. Thomas’ Church,
Glen Carbon, IL
Rejoice in the Lord always:
and again I say, Rejoice.
Let your moderation be
known unto all men. The
Lord is at hand. Be careful
for nothing; but in every
thing by prayer and sup-
plication with thanksgiv-
ing let your requests be
made known unto God.
And the peace of God,
which passeth all under-
standing, shall keep your
hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. (Philippians
4:4-7)
When I was a teenager, I heard
these words at the end of ev-
ery school year. They were
read by the school chaplain,
a willowy priest with a high-
pitched voice – and so I still
hear these verses, in my inner
ear, in falsetto.
telling
Many of you may recognize
the final sentence of that
quotation as the preface of
the blessing which may con-
clude Morning or Evening
Prayer; perhaps the rest is
regulated to that portion of
our minds which houses all
those lovely biblical verses
we feel to be impractical in
“real” life”, such as turning the
other cheek and loving our
enemies. Christians are very
good at compartmentalizing
their lives. We have our pious
life — the one that goes with
a Sunday-morning face we
believe portrays holiness, and
others may attribute to dys-
pepsia — and then there’s our
weekday appearance, ready to
do battle over politics, ecolo-
gy, the poor or football. If you
don’t believe me, read your
Facebook posts and those of
your friends.
C.S Lewis described his con-
version as being “Surprised by
Joy”. He did not thereby imply
that he went around there-
autumn 2019 37
connecting
after with a grin on his face,
giggling inanely. To rejoice
in the Lord is to be glad that
a constant and abiding rela-
tionship has been established.
Rather as in a successful
marriage, there is a constant
thankfulness that one is loved
and loves, a thankfulness that
doesn’t depend on mood or
transient happiness. God
loves us. There it is. We seek
to return that love and, oddly,
are even more aware of that
love when we disappoint or
offend God. We crucify Jesus,
hang our heads in grief and
shame, and yet he continues
to love and forgive us.
St. Paul places emphasis by
repeating his injunction: Be
thankful, rejoice, be glad. This
quality of joy is the antidote
to resentment, which leads
us to the second of St. Paul’s
injunctions: The Lord is near,
therefore be moderate, be
known for your good sense,
for your sweet reasonable-
ness. The realization that ev-
38 anglicandigest.org
erything is in God’s purpose
eventually, deprives us of the
thought that we must defend
God, or the Church, or the
nation, or ourselves, in case
everything goes to hell in the
proverbial handbasket. We are
taught patience and our place
in the scheme of things. God
doesn’t need us. The Trinity is
self-sufficient.
As we live in a polarized world
and a polarized Church, culti-
vation of moderation is all the
more necessary. Keeping our
heads while all around lose
their minds is, to misquote
Kipling, possible because we
trust God and seek to do his
will.
If these Pauline command-
ments seem otherworldly and
impossible, consider what
comes next: “Don’t worry.”
Perhaps nothing is more in-
furiating than when, in the
midst of a crisis when every-
thing seems out of control,
someone smiles and says
“Don’t worry. It will be al-
gathering
right.” Yet here is Paul of Tar-
sus saying just that — and,
yes, he is annoying and ex-
asperating, and many wish
he had stayed in Tarsus and
minded his own business. But
he didn’t stay there. After his
conversion, he was shunned
by other Christians and made
to cool his heels for fourteen
years before starting off on
missionary journeys. Along
the way he was beaten, impris-
oned, deserted, shipwrecked,
and finally beheaded. In the
midst of these experiences,
he writes to the Christians in
Philippi and tells them not to
worry, but rather to pray, to
intercede, and to give thanks.
I don’t think St. Paul meant
that they were to put people
on the local church prayer list
while humming the Hallelu-
jah Chorus and then, satisfied
with having done their duty,
get on with life. As St. Bene-
dict succinctly put it, prayer
is work, and work is prayer.
Praying for someone means
telling
little unless we are prepared
to adopt them and, if at all
possible, see to their needs, or
at least make sure their needs
are being met by someone.
Prayer is an action whereby
we join our voices with the liv-
ing and the faithful departed,
with angels and archangels, as
our small petitions and fee-
ble praises and expressions of
thanks are swept up into the
roar of worship which echoes
through time, space, and
eternity. In the midst of what
should be noise is the peace of
God. Perhaps you have been
in a great cathedral when
Vaughan William’s great set-
ting of “All People That On
Earth Do Dwell” is being
sung by choir and congrega-
tion, accompanied by organ
and brass, until it feels as if the
ancient building is trembling
– and then afterward, silence.
In that silence, one is caught
up in awe and reverence, and
filled with internal peace. All
feels right and good, beyond
autumn 2019 39
connecting
intellect and logic — the
Peace of God which passeth
all understanding.
It is then that we know what
it means to rejoice, that noth-
ing is entirely in our hands,
and thus nothing ultimately
to worry about. God is; we are
in peace.
SHEEP WITH
HUMAN FACES
The Rev. Meghan J. Farr
Holy Trinity Episcopal
Church, Melbourne, FL
I am the good shepherd. I
know my own and my own
know me, just as the Fa-
ther knows me and I know
the Father. And I lay down
my life for the sheep. I have
other sheep that do not
belong to this fold. I must
bring them also, and they
will listen to my voice. So
there will be one flock, one
shepherd. (John 10:14-16)
40 anglicandigest.org
I have always loved the scrip-
ture passages depicting Je-
sus as our Good Shepherd. I
think this has a lot to do with
the stories and images I re-
member as part of my faith
formation as a child. Growing
up, I had a collection of Arch
Books Bible stories for chil-
dren. My favorite was Jon and
the Little Lost Lamb, based on
the Parable of the Lost Sheep,
by Jane Latourette. When we
said bedtime prayers as a fam-
ily, we would end with this
song: “Jesus, tender shepherd,
hear me. Bless thy little lambs
tonight. Through the dark-
ness, be thou near me. Keep
me safe ‘til morning light.
Amen.” I still sing that song
each night when I say prayers
with my boys.
Now, as an adult, I do a lot
of funerals each year (insert
joke about priest in Florida
here), and John 10 is often
the passage families choose
for the Gospel reading. It al-
ways makes me smile when
gathering
they do because, if they are
long-time parishioners, I can
usually guess why. There is a
large stained-glass window
in the shape of a Celtic cross
above the main altar in our
church. We call it the “Good
Shepherd” window, because
it depicts Jesus as the Good
Shepherd. He is surrounded
by sheep in a pasture, and he
cradles a small lamb in his
arms. Even if someone has
only been to the church once
or twice, they remember the
window. Everyone loves the
tender image of Jesus guard-
ing his flock of sheep. Some-
times, though, people will
comment that they don’t like
the faces on the sheep because
they look too human. And, in
fact, they really do! The faces
of the sheep have very human
qualities. (I have been known
to point out which one I think
best represents me at any given
moment in my life!) My guess
is that was probably the intent
in the design of the window. It
is meant to reflect the central
telling
message of the tenth chapter
of John’s Gospel: Jesus is our
Good Shepherd. We are the
sheep, his sheep. The sheep of
his fold and the lambs of his
flock.
We’ve all heard stories and
sermons about sheep and
their lack of intelligence — it’s
probably one of the reasons
for the discomfort people
have seeing sheep with human
faces! I once heard a shepherd
say, “Every shepherd knows
a sheep is the only animal in
God’s creation looking for the
quickest way to die.” Now I’m
not saying we humans are all
running around looking for
opportunities to get ourselves
killed! Sheep do, however,
have a knack for wandering
off and getting into some pre-
carious situations. And, well,
people can be like that too, es-
pecially when it comes to our
relationship with our shep-
herd Jesus. “All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have all
turned to our own way”, as
autumn 2019 41
connecting
Isaiah 53:6 reminds us. Some
stray deliberately; others have
not yet learned to recognize
the voice of the shepherd. For
most of us, however, I think
it just happens from time to
time. We wander. What we
soon come to realize is that,
away from our shepherd,
away from Jesus, life can get
quite precarious. Without the
Good Shepherd in our life we
are left vulnerable to all the
dangers Satan and this world
can throw at us, like the wolf
that snatches and scatters the
sheep.
Blessedly, there is hope and
help for us scattered sheep.
To be fair to sheep, another
shepherd claims, “What sheep
know, they know really well.”
And that is just what Jesus,
our Good Shepherd, is saying
in this passage from the tenth
chapter of John. Again and
again, Jesus says that the shep-
herd knows the sheep, and the
sheep listen to the voice of the
shepherd. The sheep know his
42 anglicandigest.org
voice and follow. “I know my
own and my own know me,
just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father...”
What sheep know they know
very well. The sheep know
the shepherd, they will listen
to his voice and follow him.
The beautiful promise of this
scripture — and, I think, of all
the shepherding passages – is
that Jesus never stops calling
to, searching after, and car-
ing for, his sheep. He follows
each one of us and stays with
us even in those precarious
situations and dark moments
of our lives, shining his light
to guide us back into the light
and life of God. He doesn’t
leave us; he leads us. “I came
that they may have life, and
have it abundantly.” (John
10:10) Jesus the shepherd is
inviting us, his sheep, into
relationship with him and,
through him, into life with
God. And that life with God
is eternal life. It is the gift we
have been given because the
gathering
Good Shepherd laid down his
life for his sheep. Thanks be to
God.
O God, whose Son Jesus is the
good shepherd of your people;
Grant that when we hear his
voice we may know him who
calls us each by name, and fol-
low where he leads; who, with
you and the Holy Spirit, lives
and reigns, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
WHEN HE HAD
FOUND HIM
The Rev. Rodger Patience
Church of the Holy Apostles,
Oneida, WI
Jesus heard that they had
driven [the man born
blind] out, and when he
had found him, he said,
“Do you believe in the Son
of Man?” He answered,
“And who is he, sir? Tell
me, so that I may believe
in him.” Jesus said to him,
telling
“You have seen him, and
the one speaking with you
is he.” He said, “Lord, I be-
lieve.” And he worshiped
him. (John 9:35-38)
John’s Gospel shines with
both power and intimacy.
Jesus crackles with energy,
turning water into wine, driv-
ing the moneychangers from
the Temple, confounding the
learned and pious Nicode-
mus, speaking with a foreign
woman, and healing with a
word (whether the beggar by
the pool wants it or not) —
and that’s only in the first five
chapters of the story.
Jesus’ power radiates from the
pages as clearly as does his
love and concern for people.
The man born blind, healed
by Jesus’ touch and by a com-
press of mud — how like God’s
own touch, forming mud and
clay into the first human — is
driven out of the synagogue
by the religious leaders. But
the story doesn’t end there,
and in the coda John provides
autumn 2019 43
connecting

the key to understanding it Steps and Twelve Traditions,

fully. 34) based in recognizing my
need and becoming willing to
What has always impressed accept help from outside my-
me is Jesus’ action here: self.
“When he had found him.”
Jesus actively comes back John’s Gospel, according to
and finds the man in order most New Testament schol-
to complete his healing and ars, was written for a commu-
overcome his estrangement. nity of Jewish Christians who
This is a truth of the Gospel had recently been thrown out
that applies to us today: Je- of the synagogues they had
sus actively desires that we belonged to. Like the man
be whole and reconciled, and born blind, they had “seen
his Spirit is working to find us the light” of Christ, but their
wherever we may have fallen religious community could
away. not see that something new
was happening. As Judaism
For me, these verses had long sought to distance itself and
been the interpretive key for differentiate itself from the
the Gospel of John, but I read growing Christian movement
them with fresh eyes sev- in the first century, followers
eral years ago when I went of Jesus were expelled from
through the experience of the synagogues.
losing my job because of my
drinking and entering into They were probably feeling
the process of recovery. That the same sense of estrange-
experience tore apart my ar- ment, loss, and grief as the
rogant sense of self-sufficien- man born blind, wondering
cy, replacing it over time with where they could go now.
a “faith that works” (Twelve

44 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

Jesus actively found those is the same Word who was

early Christians. His Spirit with God in the beginning,
led them into a new Way, as seeks out those of us who are
they came to call themselves, hurting in order to effect our
a new “faith that worked” to healing, and seeks out those
reconcile Jew and Greek, slave of us who are estranged in
and free, male and female. order to effect our reconcili-
We are even today members ation.
of that 2,000-year-old recon-
ciled community formed by “Indeed, God did not send the
Jesus’ active desire. Son into the world not to con-
demn the world, but in order
Where we feel estranged, that the world through him
where we feel loss and grief, might be saved.” (John 3:17)
where familiar religious struc- Whenever Jesus comes and
tures or family ties are chang- finds you — when he finds
ing, Jesus is there to find us. you in your grief or loneliness
“You have seen me,” Jesus says or shame, as he found me in
to us. “And the one speaking my addiction — may you
to you is me.” once more recognize the one
As Reynolds Price writes in who is speaking to you, the
Incarnation: Contemporary one who loves and wants you.
Writers on the New Testament, And may you, like the man
the Gospel of John “says in born blind, take that next fal-
the clearest voice we have the tering step, blinking away the
sentence that mankind craves mud and tears of your frus-
from stories – The Maker of tration and pain, and believe
all things loves and wants me.” him.
Jesus the power of God, whom All that God asks of us in re-
John has come to understand turn, I trust, is that we believe

autumn 2019 45
connecting

Jesus when he comes to us you, and the power of the

and become willing – willing Most High will overshad-
to follow the only Son, who ow you; therefore the child
is close to the Father’s heart to be born will be holy; he
(as best as we can understand will be called Son of God.”
him) along “the way to a faith (Luke 1:34)
that works.”
What was the best story your
parents ever told you? May-
be it was your mom telling
the story of your birth? Or
your parents telling how they
wooed one another? What’s
your favorite story to tell?
Could it be when you played
La guérison de l’aveugle de the best practical joke ever on
naissance your best friend?
by Henri Lindegaard
For Christmas, I bought my
sixteen year old son an elec-
I LOVE TO tric razor. It’s a grooming tool
for the new beard he is grow-
TELL THE STORY ing for the first time. When he
The Rev. H. Elizabeth Back opened it, I felt a flood of gig-
St James Episcopal Church,
Pewee Valley, KY gles from funny haircut mem-
ories. Once, when my baby
Mary said to the angel, brother George was sixteen,
“How can this be, since he asked me to cut his hair
I am a virgin?” The an- – which I did, in the hallway,
gel said to her, “The Holy over the carpet. Not only did
Spirit will come upon the haircut turn out shock-

46 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

ingly bad (with serious bald remember shaving the side

patches), my parents ground- of his head, but Aidan giggles
ed him for scattering hair when he remembers taking
everywhere! I still laugh just the scissors to his own hair
thinking about it. Later, when and my reaction to Joseph’s
I became a parent, I econo- partial buzz cut.
mized by cutting my young
sons’ hair in the backyard. When I tell you that Holy
When five-year-old Aidan Scripture contains all things
grabbed the sharp scissors, I necessary to salvation, I have
was distracted from two-year- no way of proving anything
old Joseph, who took the clip- of the sort, except maybe the
pers straight across the entire fact that Luke is a brilliant sto-
side of his head. More bald ryteller. When you read about
patches. That was the last of the angel Gabriel and the
that budget saving effort! announcement, and Mary’s
question, can you suppress
Some stories evoke the feel- a feeling of … I don’t know
ings from the original event as what, except wonder? I have
if the moment can be relived, read the Annunciation story
only better. In the telling, the countless times — more times
memory is richer because than I have told my children
the punishment or danger is about the day they were born,
passed. Plus, the telling of the or about the day they cut their
story is like proving that new own hair, or the times my kids
life occurs from old anxieties. asked Uncle George if it was
I can’t prove to you what hap- true he got grounded.
pened in that hair-covered
hallway thirty years ago, but If you are reading, this you
I also can’t suppress the smile are curious enough to want
when I tell it. Joseph doesn’t to know more about “on

autumn 2019 47
connecting
earth as it is in heaven.” You
can say you desire education,
or explanation, or whatever
reason sounds reasonable to
twenty-first-century Amer-
icans about the sex life of a
first-century Jewish teenager.
But your secret is safe with
me; none of us would be be-
musing about Advent if the
Annunciation had not got its
hands on us.
Maybe there’s a story you’re
holding and you want to put
it into God’s hands. Maybe
you can’t suppress that desire
to be part of a story bigger
than yourself. If you are over
the age of thirteen, you are
now responsible for helping
pass along the stories of God’s
plans and purposes to others.
The church might look like an
institution full of respectable,
pious people fulfilling godly
responsibilities and worship-
ping according to the ortho-
doxy in which we were raised,
and all that good stuff. We
are, at the heart of it, storytell-
48 anglicandigest.org
ers who have gotten ourselves
tangled up in the most mys-
terious, possibly the messiest,
arguably the best, story ever.
Here’s my admonition to you:
Tell your story. When you are
lonely. When you are happy.
When you are desperately
searching for meaning. When
you are up to your eyeballs
in meaning. Tell the stories
your parents taught you. The
stories your Sunday School
teachers taught you. Even tell
the stories your funny uncle
told you, whether they are
true or not. It is the telling
that entangles us, even binds
us, one to another: Parents to
children, angels to mortals,
heaven to earth, the living to
the dead, and our frail hu-
manity to the Resurrection of
God’s only Son.
The poet and agnostic Ste-
phen Dunn begrudgingly al-
lowed his little girl to go with
friends to the local Methodist
Church. While trying to justi-
gathering
fy letting her go, he wrote:
She liked her little friends.
She liked the songs
they sang when they weren’t
twisting and folding paper
into dolls.
What could be so bad?
Jesus had been a good man,
and putting faith
in good men was what
we had to do to stay this side
of cynicism,
that other sadness.
OK, we said, One week.
But when she came home
singing ‘Jesus loves me,
the Bible tells me so,’
it was time to talk.
Could we say Jesus
doesn’t love you?
Could I tell her the Bible
is a great book certain
people use to make you
feel bad?
We sent her back
without a word.
It had been so long since we
telling
believed, so long
since we needed Jesus
as our nemesis and friend,
that we thought he was
sufficiently dead,
that our children would think
of him like Lincoln
or Thomas Jefferson.
Soon it became clear to us:
you can’t teach disbelief
to a child,
only wonderful stories, and
we hadn’t a story
nearly as good.
Trust the telling of the story.
SPEAK, LORD,
YOUR SERVANT IS
LISTENING
The Rev. Dr. Jennie Clarkson
Olbrych (ret.)
Charleston, SC
I am not a good listener and
do confess it freely, although
not happily. Too impatient
when someone seems to be
autumn 2019 49
connecting
droning on and not getting
to the point. Too prone to in-
terruption or planning what I
will say in response. Too quick
to offer a solution to what I
see as the problem needing to
be solved. Too ready to chime
in with my own experience
when it resonates with what
is being said. Kyrie, eleison!
Who will deliver us from this
failure to listen? How many
opportunities have we missed
to truly hear another and to
form, deepen, or mend re-
lationship with them? How
many times have we missed
God speaking to us through
that same other, or even in the
quiet of the night?
The story of God speaking to
the boy Samuel in the quiet of
the night was, perhaps, one of
the first bible stories that reg- in his disputations with the
istered with me as a night-owl,
God-curious child. (1 Samuel
3) I was encouraged that God
might actually speak at night
in an audible voice, and won- When the boy Samuel kept
dered if sleeping in the church hearing his name called in the
50 anglicandigest.org
by the altar might increase the
likelihood of it happening to
me. My heart warmed to Sam-
uel in his confusion. I felt sor-
ry for Eli who was blind and
kept getting awakened from
an old man’s restless sleep.
Later, when reading the story
with a more adult awareness,
it was apparent that Eli had
stopped listening to God. But,
in the critical moment, when
God’s call came to Samuel, Eli
knew just what was needful
— that is, to listen, to hear, to
understand, and to obey — all
meanings of the word shamea.
This word is closely related to
shema, as in the great com-
mandment to Israel known as
The Shema – Hear, O Israel!
(Deuteronomy 4:6-9). This
same command to Israel was
quoted and enlarged by Jesus
scribes at the Temple, which
we read about in the Gospel
of Mark (12:28-31).
gathering
night, Eli counseled him, “Say,
‘speak LORD, for your servant
is listening.’” Samuel listened
to Eli and, following his in-
structions, heard the Lord call
his name once again. Then
the Lord commenced to give
Samuel some fairly hair-rais-
ing instructions, which Samu-
el faithfully relayed to Eli. It is
noted of Samuel near the end
of the chapter, that “Samuel
grew, and the Lord was with
him and let none of his words
fall to the ground.” What won-
derful fruit for Samuel came
from listening carefully and
faithfully. Samuel was enabled
to live with an awareness of
God’s presence with him, and
the people trusted Samuel’s
words. What more could any
of us want?
When St. Benedict set pen
to paper in the sixth century
and composed his simple rule
for beginner monks, the very
first word he wrote was Ob-
sculta, which means “listen”.
Benedict invited them and us
telling
to “listen with the ear of the
heart.” That is, to listen from
the center of our being and
as an act of love. Paul Tillich,
writing fourteen centuries lat-
er, touched on the same thing
when he said, “the first duty of
love is to listen.”1 Can we say,
then, that listening and loving
the other are deeply connect-
ed?
When someone has listened
deeply and faithfully to us,
our trust in them grows as
we come to know that they
are truly present to and with
us. In the bond of trust, the
foundation of love is laid, for
we cannot love what we do
not trust. We can be attached
to that which we do not trust,
but attachment is no guaran-
tee of genuine, life-giving love.
Listening not only builds the
foundation of love, it makes
relationship possible — not
only between people, but also
between ourselves and God.
How, then, can we learn anew
autumn 2019 51
connecting
to listen? For a newborn,
learning to distinguish be-
tween voices — and especially
the voices of the beloved – is
one of our very first lessons.
For Samuel, the Lord’s voice
spoke into the quiet of night.
For Elijah, God spoke, not in
wind, earthquake, or fire, but
in a still, small voice (1 Kings
19:11-13). Silence is our most
important teacher in learning
to listen and to distinguish
between the outer and inner
voices.
Recently, we had a hurricane
in our area, with accompany-
ing loss of electricity. I mar-
veled at how quiet our house
and our neighborhood be-
came in an instant. Many of
us can ignore outward noise,
but we are less able to deal
with the inner racket to which
we have become almost un-
thinkingly accustomed. Once,
when I complained about in-
ner noise, a friend suggested
that I try to learn to listen for
the silence beyond the noise.
52 anglicandigest.org
It’s there, and we can teach
ourselves to listen for it. It
helps, too, to be aware of the
content of our inner voic-
es. For me, it’s usually worry
about various things, remem-
bering to-do’s, replaying con-
versations I wish had gone
better, problem solving, and
remembered voices of par-
ents or other long-gone folks
(for good or ill). Journaling
about these as well as offer-
ing them to God can help us
make peace with them. And,
it is that — the sense of being
at peace with oneself, one’s
life, and with God — which
can help us listen more care-
fully not only to others but
also for God. This is, I believe,
because having some measure
of peace makes it possible to
create a space into which an-
other can speak and be heard.
God spoke into the spacious-
ness and quiet darkness of a
holy place, and Samuel heard.
May we ask God to help cre-
ate that space in us so that,
gathering
like Samuel, we too may say,
“Speak, LORD, your servant
is listening,” and we may hear
rightly.
_____________
1
Paul Tilich – Love, Power, and Justice,
1960. “In order to know what is just in
a person-to-person encounter, love lis-
tens. It is its first task to listen.”
A GOD SEEN ONLY
IN RETROSPECT
The Rev. Dr. Robert M. Lewis
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church,
Grand Island, NE
“Then I will take away my
hand, and you shall see my
back; but my face shall not be
seen.” (Exodus 33:23)
I have long been an advocate
of preaching from the Old
Testament. I can recall my
Hebrew professor at Nasho-
tah House telling our class,
“Growing churches do not
shy away from Old Testament
texts, but make them rele-
vant for a new world.” Such
a relevant text is this. Moses
telling
seeks to see the glory of the
Lord, but God also places a
restriction on this glimpse
of his Shekinah glory. God
would, according to Jewish
rabbis, have a cause to dwell
with his people. For Chris-
tians, of course, this points to
the Incarnation. For the peo-
ple of the Tanach, or Hebrew
Scriptures, This pointed to a
momentary experience of the
Glory of the Lord — a glimpse
of God present in life.
I have found that, in times of
great transition, stress, or bur-
den, God’s glory only appears
in retrospect. We look back
and see how God has guided
situations, events, or people to
respond in a way that worked
to the highest and best of all
concerned. Those times may
not have been pleasant – in
fact, they can be so incredibly
difficult that they bring people
to their breaking point. Moses
was himself at the point of his
leadership capsizing while on
Sinai’s mount. Moses asks to
autumn 2019 53
connecting
see God’s glory, the same way
Peter, James, and John see it
on the Mount of Transfigu-
ration. Moses is asking for
confirmation — and, if we are
honest, often we are as well
when faced with life-altering
or life-changing times.
Moses has been faithful to a
vision. After he saw the burn-
ing bush, he led the Hebrews
out of Egypt and to the point
of wandering in the wilder-
ness. Now Moses, having seen
all this deliverance, asks bold-
ly in light of the recent idola-
try of these ransomed people
— “Show me your glory.”
The odd fact is that Moses has
already seen this glory. God
replies with a bit of a sneaky
caveat — essentially, “OK, you
will, but not face to face. In-
stead, you will only see where
I have already been.” You see,
there are limitations to reve-
lation. While God is not lim-
ited, our human experience
is. A quick survey of the Old
Testament yields the clear
54 anglicandigest.org
concept that all of the Old
Testament’s central figures
fail to know God in fullness
— Abraham, Moses, and the
prophets all see only glimps-
es. It is only in the fullness of
the Shekinah glory of the in-
carnate Jesus that we can fully
know God.
Moses is given a promise: He
will indeed see God’s Glory.
So he rises early in the morn-
ing, ascends Mount Sinai, and
stands in the cleft of the rock,
and even more important
than what he sees is what he
hears:
The Lord, the Lord, a God
merciful and gracious, slow
to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love and faithful-
ness, keeping steadfast love
for the thousandth genera-
tion, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin, yet
by no means clearing the
guilty, but visiting the in-
iquity of the parents upon
the children and the chil-
gathering
dren’s children, to the third
and the fourth generation.
(Exodus 34:6-7)
Moses even hears the truth
that John wrote — God is love
(1 John 4:8). Indeed, God is
holy love, and his grasp on our
problems is far more complete
than we could ask or imagine.
The bondage in Egypt, the
plagues, the deliverance of the
ransomed, and the drowning
of Pharaoh’s army — none of
this can compare to the fact
that God’s presence in our
lives is sheer love.
For the Christian, who lives in
the already and not-yet reality
of the Kingdom of God, there
is similar confusion. We live
in a world that still bears the
marks of sin and death, even
though those very concepts
are defeated at the Cross. As
I look back at my most chal-
lenging moments in life, I see
that God was already there,
long before I perceived his Perhaps you, this day, are faced
presence. I saw his “back”, with questioning, “Where is
telling
but God was moving far too
swiftly for me to ever behold
his “face”. In that way, some
things never change.
In my own life, one of the
spiritual gifts that I have long
discerned is the gift of faith. I
know God is already in my to-
morrow even when I am still
in my today. I do not worry
about the details, but trust
that God is working those
things out in such a way that I
do not have to fret over them.
I learn to trust and release
knowing that God’s slightest
touch on the details of my
life will be far better than my
best handling of them. Such
faith has often been a frustra-
tion to others around me, but
time and time again, I have
seen the “back” of God and
know his management to be
far more acutely precise than
mine. My shepherd will sup-
ply my needs.
autumn 2019 55
connecting
God today in the midst of
my troubles?” We all seek a
glimpse of this glory. We all
want confirmation, as Moses
did, that God really does care
about the problems of women
and men. When we examine
the hardships and transitions
of life carefully, we can often
NECROLOGY
The Rt. Rev. Donald
Maynard Hultstrand, 92, in
Greenville, SC. A graduate
of Macalester College and
Bexley Hall Seminary, he was
ordained to the priesthood
in 1953, and consecrated the
Ninth Bishop of the Episco-
pal Diocese of Springfield,
Illinois, in 1982. In addition
to time spent as the youth ad-
visor for the Diocese of Min-
nesota and as an instructor at
the Breck School, he served
parishes in Worthington, Lu-
verne, Wabasha, Duluth, MN;
56 anglicandigest.org
discern that God was already
there, showing us his “back”.
The human condition is to al-
ways think that we should see
him coming and behold his
“face”. Rest in the knowledge
that God has already figured
out the details, even before we
could see him act.
he also served parishes in
Canton and Cleveland, OH;
Kansas City, MO; and Gree-
ly, CO; and, in retirement,
served as Bishop-in-Res-
idence at Christ Church
Episcopal in Greenville, SC.
He also had numerous char-
itable involvements, and
multiple published works.
The Rt. Rev. Harold A.
Hopkins, Jr., 88, in Scarbor-
ough, ME. A graduate of the
University of Pennsylvania
and the General Theological
gathering
Seminary, he was ordained
to the diaconate and priest-
hood in 1955. He served par-
ishes in Pelham Manor, NY,
and Millinocket, Bar Harbor,
and Yarmouth, ME, as well as
serving as Archdeacon for the
Diocese of Maine. In 1980,
he was consecrated the Ninth
Bishop of the Diocese of
North Dakota, a position he
held until 1989, after which
he worked for the Office of
Pastoral Development for the
national church.
The Rev. Donald E. Baus-
tian, 87, in Ames, IA. A grad-
uate of Augustana College
and the General Theological
Seminary, he was ordained to
the diaconate and priesthood
in 1957. He served parishes
in Emmetsburg, Algona, Fair-
field, and Keokuk, IA; and Lit-
tle Rock, Camden, Hope, and
Magnolia, AR. He also spent
three years on the faculty of
the Theological Seminary of
the Diocese of Haiti. In retire-
ment, he also served a five-
telling
year term as North American
Warden of the International
Order of Saint Luke the Phy-
sician.
The Rev. Dr. Frederic
Augustus Alling, 88, in Dan-
vers, MA. A graduate of
Princeton University and the
General Theological Semi-
nary, he was ordained to the
priesthood in 1955. He then
earned a medical degree and
an MS in Social Psychiatry
from Columbia University.
In addition to maintaining
a private psychiatry practice
for many years, he also pub-
lished many journal articles
and one book. His ministry in
life was to treat patients with
substance abuse, volunteer
with the homeless, and pro-
vide service to patients in his
private practice.
The Rev. Giles Floyd
Lewis, Jr., 91, in Spartanburg,
SC. A graduate of Sewanee
Military Academy, Clemson
University, and the School of
autumn 2019 57
connecting
Theology at the University of
the South, he served in the
United States Army during
the Korean War and was or-
dained to the priesthood in
1957. He served parishes in
Clinton, Laurens, Greenville,
and Spartanburg, SC; Lexing-
ton, KY; Nashville, TN; and
Houston, TX.
The Rev. Lance Allen Ball
Gifford, 74, in Baltimore, MD.
A graduate of McDonogh
School, Washington & Lee
University in Virginia, and
General Theological Semi-
nary, he served as an Episco-
pal priest in the Diocese of
Maryland for nearly five de-
cades, and as the rector of St.
John’s, Mt. Washington, for 23
years until he retired in 2008.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Dar-
ling Askren, 77, in Jackson-
ville, FL. A graduate of the
University of Florida and Vir-
ginia Theological Seminary,
he served parishes in Ocala,
Jacksonville, and St. Augus-
58 anglicandigest.org
tine, FL, and Ft. Wayne, IN. In
Ocala, he also founded Hos-
pice in Marion County.
The Rev. Erroll Franklin
Rhodes, 95, in Greenwich,
CT. Born in Japan to mis-
sionary parents, he graduat-
ed from Pepperdine College
and the Divinity School at the
University of Chicago. As a
missionary himself, he taught
in the Christian Studies de-
partment at St. Paul’s Univer-
sity (Rikkyo) in Tokyo for fif-
teen years before returning to
the US in 1967 to take up the
position of Resident Biblical
Scholar at the American Bible
Society in New York. He pub-
lished numerous books over
the course of his career.
The Rev. Joseph Willet
King, 84, in Tucson, AZ. A
graduate of the University of
Texas Southwestern Medical
School, he was a pioneer in
the field of adolescent psy-
chiatry, serving facilities and
patients in Dallas, TX; Rich-
gathering
mond, VA; Tulsa, OK; and
Tucson and Wickenburg, AZ.
After his ordination to the di-
aconate, he served at St. Dun-
stan’s Episcopal Church in
Tulsa, OK.
The Rev. Clarence Ferdi-
nand “Dutch” Decker, 93, in
Upper Arlington, OH. He en-
listed in the Navy at the age
of sixteen and served during
the Second World War. He
then went on to graduate
from Michigan State Uni-
versity and Seabury Western
Theological Seminary. While
working as a professor of biol-
ogy at Point Park College, and
later for private industry, he
also served as a supply priest
in Pennsylvania and Ohio. In
retirement, he served as the
chaplain at a convalescent
center.
The Rev. Richard Melvin
Morris, 95, in Cumberland,
RI. A graduate of Brown
University and the Episcopal
Theological School, he served
telling
parishes in Belmont and
Medfield, MA; North Syra-
cuse, NY; and Lakewood, OH;
as well as multiple parishes in
and around Pittsboro and Ra-
leigh, NC.
The Rev. Marvin Brady
Aycock, Jr., 86, in Greens-
boro, NC. After serving in the
United States Army, he grad-
uated from Furman Univer-
sity and Southeastern Baptist
Theological Seminary, then
served as a Baptist pastor for
several years before becoming
an addiction counselor, so-
cial worker, and family ther-
apist. He was ordained to the
diaconate in 1988, and the
priesthood in 1995. He served
Episcopal parishes in Char-
lotte, Warrenton, Salisbury,
and Thomasville, NC.
The Rev. John Janney
Lloyd, 98, in White Plains,
NY. The son of missionaries,
he grew up in Japan, and grad-
uated from the University of
Virginia, Virginia Theological
autumn 2019 59
connecting

Seminary, and Harvard Di- being called to serve as rec-

vinity School. After the attack tor of Holy Cross Episcopal
on Pearl Harbor, he joined the Church in Kingston, NY. He
United States Marine Corps, retired after 25 years, then
and fought at Iwo Jima. spent more than 30 years as-
During his 60 years of active sisting the rector of Christ
ministry, he served in Japan, the King Episcopal Church in
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Stone Ridge, NY.
New Jersey, and New York,
and after he retired, he con- The Rev. Charles Wilbert
tinued to do supply and inter- Henley, 90, in Valley City, ND.
im work around New York. After high school, he joined
the United States Army, then
The Rev. Andrew David graduated from the Universi-
Parker, 61, in Houston, TX. ty of North Dakota and Bex-
A graduate of Texas Tech ley Hall Episcopal Seminary,
University, Texas A&M Uni- before being ordained to the
versity, and Berkeley Divinity priesthood in 1958. He served
School at Yale University, he parishes in Grafton, Park Riv-
was ordained to the priest- er, Fargo, Valley City, ND.
hood in 1989. He served par-
ishes in Abilene, Amarillo, The Rev. Michael Hunt
and Houston, TX. Murray, 97, in Easton, MD.
He served as an aviator for
The Rev. David Louis the United States Navy during
Bronson, 90, in New Paltz, the Second World War, in
NY. A graduate of the Uni- both the Atlantic and Pacific
versity of Michigan and the theaters. A graduate of Har-
Berkeley Divinity School, he vard University, Johns Hop-
served parishes in Hampshire kins University, the Universi-
and Surrey, England, before ty of Paris, and the Episcopal
60 anglicandigest.org
gathering
Theological School, he was
ordained to the priesthood
in 1964. He served parishes
in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and
Gloucester. He was an accom-
plished writer, with several
books to his name.
The Very Rev. John
Clarke Sanders, Sr., 85, in
Chagrin Falls, OH. He was
ordained to the priesthood
in 1957, and served parishes
in Houston, TX, and Atlanta,
GA, where he retired as the
Dean of St. Philip’s Cathedral.
The Rev. Dr. Arie Johan-
nes “Han” van den Blink,
84, in Elmira, NY. The son of
Dutch missionaries to Indo-
nesia, he and his family were
interned in Japanese con-
centration camps from 1942
to 1945, and in an Indone-
sian concentration camp in
1946. He came to the United
States as an exchange student,
and graduated from Trinity
College, Berkeley Divinity
School at Yale University, and
telling
Princeton Theological Semi-
nary. He served as a hospital
chaplain in Knoxville, TN,
then worked as a counselor
and psychotherapist in New
Jersey, before becoming pro-
fessor at Colgate Rochester
Divinity School. He was or-
dained to the priesthood in
1992, after having previously
been a Presbyterian minister.
He served Episcopal parishes
in Elmira, NY, and Troy, PA.
He also served as the Chap-
lain General of the Commu-
nity of the Transfiguration in
Cincinnati, OH.
The Rev. Dr. John Romig
Johnson, Jr., 84, in Charles-
ton, SC. A graduate of Fur-
man University and the Gen-
eral Theological Seminary, he
served as vicar of a parish in
Great Falls, SC. After earn-
ing a Ph.D. in Psychiatry and
Religion at the Union Theo-
logical Seminary, he served
on the faculty at the General
Theological Seminary and
Berkley Divinity School at
autumn 2019 61
connecting
Yale University. While also
working as a practicing ana-
lyst and teaching at the Jung
Institute, he served parishes
in New York City, Riverdale,
and Staten Island, NY. In re-
tirement, he served parishes
in Charleston, SC.
The Rev. Gilbert M. Watt,
97, in Verona, PA. He was or-
dained to the priesthood in
1949, and served parishes in
Barnesboro, Peters Township,
and Oakmont, PA, and Crys-
tal River, FL, in addition to
various interim assignments
throughout Western Pennsyl-
vania, Western New York, and
Western Florida.
The Rev. Albert Neely
Minor, 89, in Knoxville, TN.
A graduate of the Universi-
ty of the South, the General
Theological Seminary, and
the University of Tennessee,
he served a parish in Fort Val-
ley, GA, then as campus chap-
lain at East Tennessee State
University, before becoming
62 anglicandigest.org
chaplain at the University of
Tennessee, a position he held
for 30 years.
The Rev. Dr. Edward
Oscar de Bary, 80, in Hono-
lulu, HI. He graduated from
The University of the South
in Sewanee, TN, then served
in the United States Air Force,
before entering the School of
Theology at the University of
the South. He later also com-
pleted a doctorate in Sacred
Theology at the Catholic Uni-
versity of Leuven, Belgium.
He served Episcopal congre-
gations in Virginia and Mis-
sissippi before returning to
Sewanee to help develop, and
later direct, the Education for
Ministry program.
The Rev. Theodore E.
Hervey, Jr., 68, in Bertram,
TX. A graduate of Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and the
Virginia Theological Semi-
nary, he also attended Army
Chaplain School. He served
parishes in Alaska, and Cor-
gathering
pus Christi, San Antonio,
Weslaco, Wimberley, and
Burnet, TX. He started Span-
ish language services, provid-
ing Vacation Bible Schools in
Mexico, and expediting de-
livery of medical supplies to
needy locations in Mexico.
The Rev. James P. Mc-
Alpine, 87, in York Harbor,
ME. A graduate of Trinity
College and later the Epis-
copal Theological School, he
served parishes in Ivoryton,
CT; Rumford, RI; North Con-
way, NH; and Newton, MA; in
addition, he served as chap-
lain at Oakland University in
Rochester, MI, and as Coordi-
nator of the National Ministry
to Youth and College Students
and Chaplains for the Presid-
ing Bishop’s office. He con-
tinued to do interim work in
retirement. In 1965, he joined
the Selma to Montgomery
Civil Rights March.
The Rev. Ward Henry
Clabuesch, 92, in Rochester
telling
Hills, MI. After high school
he entered the United States
Navy, served in the Pacific
theater for 18 months, and
discovered the Episcopal
Church. A graduate of Mich-
igan State University and the
General Theological Semi-
nary, he was ordained to the
diaconate and the priesthood
in 1953. He served parishes in
Pontiac, Corunna, Allen Park,
and Dearborn, MI. After he
retired in 1992, he continued
to serve as both a supply and
interim priest in the Diocese
of Michigan, as well as serv-
ing during the winter months
at St. Gregory’s in Boca Raton,
FL for a number of years.
May they rest in peace
and rise in glory.
autumn 2019 63
gathering
connecting
connecting

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