Mary Phelps
Mission Project Presentation
April 29, 2004
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Owanah. 400 Years: Anglican/Episcopal Mission among American Indians. Cincinnati: Forward Movements Publication, 1997.
An in depth study of Episcopal mission throughout the United States.
Sheppard, Betty. The Mission at the Lower Sioux. The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, 1981.
A little book written commemorating 90 years of service to the Sioux at the Whipple mission at St. Cornelia’s Church.
1901, accessed 25 March 2004; available from http://justus.anglican.org/resources/pc/usa/whipple/flandrau.html; Internet.
Project Canterbury – “The Work of Bishop Whipple in Missions for the Indians” by the Hon. Charles E. Flandrau, addressed October 14, 1901. Part of the Minnesota Historical Society Collections.
2000, accessed 25 March 2004; available from http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Enmegahbowh.htm; Internet.
A bio of Enmegahbowh written by Alvin H. Wilcox in 1907 for A Pioneer History of Becker County Minnesota.
Accessed 26 March 2004; available from http://www.vts.edu/resources/classnotes/CH205/Grants_Peace.htm; Internet.
Written by Robert W. Prichard for a class (CH205) at Virginia Theological Seminary. No date available.
Accessed 26 March 2004; available from http://www.indians.state.mn.us/tribes/lowsioux.html; Internet.
A brief document about the Lower Sioux written for the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.
2003, accessed 11 April 2004; available from http://www.faribault.org/history2/Henry/Henry_before.html; Internet.
Fascinating People of Early Fairbault, “Bishop Henry Whipple Before the Story: 1822-1867.
2001, accessed 14 April 2004; available from http://www.mpls.lib.mn.us/history/eh1.asp; Internet.
From an article on the History of Minneapolis, an overview by the staff at the Minneapolis Public Library titled “Mdewakanton Band of the Dakota Nation.”
1999, accessed 14 April 2004; available from http://www.mnhs.org/places/historycenter/exhibits/territory/people/count/; Internet.
A map and census of the Minnesota territory 1849-1958 for the Minnesota Historical Society.
2003, accessed 14 April 2004; available from http://www.faribault.org/history2/Look/Treatment_HW.html; Internet.
Fascinating People of Early Faribault, “Treatment of Indians.”
2001, accessed 12 April 2004 available from http://www.episcopalmn.org/WhippleSunday_Crypt.htm; Internet.
A series of photos entitled “Bishop Whipple’s Crypt” taken on Whipple Sunday, September 16, 2001 at the Cathedral Church of the Merciful Saviour in Faribault, Minnesota.
2001, accessed 12 April 2004 available from http://www.episcopalmn.org/WhippleSundayHome.htm, Internet.
An image of the seal of the Diocese of Minnesota designed by Bishop Whipple. It was made into the stained glass window in the Cathedral Church of the Merciful Saviour in Faribault, Minnesota.
Accessed on 21 April 2004, available from http://www.episcopalmn.org/Photos/PhotoDraw57.jpg; Internet.
A photo of the Cathedral Church of the Merciful Saviour in Faribault Minnesota.
1997, accessed on 23 April 2004, available from http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/Buffalo/PB45.html; Internet.
Form an article by Tim Roufs at the University of Minnesota Duluth titled “When Everyone Called Me Gah-bay-bi-nayss: ‘Forever-Flying Bird’, An Ethnographic Biography of Paul Peter Buffalo.”
Below is the annotated bibliography that I used in putting together the section of the presentation dedicated to Navajoland missions. I have omitted 400 Years, as Tim has already seen to its inclusion in his bibilography. A very extensive bibliography is also avalible on the National Episcopal Church website.
Anderson, Owanah. 100 Years: The Good Shepherd Mission to Navajoland 1892-1992.
This publication is available through the Office of Parish Resources of the national Episcopal Church. It gives extensive background information on the Navajo culture, including much on the religious rituals. As a brief monograph on the history of Fort Defiance and the medical missions established with the aid of Episcopal Church Women in Westchester, New York. Anderson also includes the diverse history of the many missionaries who journeyed to Arizona and the successes and failures of the work undertaken. This is information which is included in edited form in 400 Years: Anglican/Episcopal Mission among American Indians also by Anderson.
First People’s Theological Journal published by The Indigenous Theological Training Institute.
The introduction of this inaugural edition invites the reader to contemplated the theological contributions of indigenous peoples. The journal includes work done in the areas of native spirituality, preaching and proclamation, as well as articles integrating Christianity and indigenous traditions.
The New Jamestown Covenant
This document produced by the Episcopal Church is a statement devoted to the reconciliation of indigenous people and those of European background, focusing particularly on the affirmation of oppression, yet seeking conversation and remembrance. It includes prayers and a historical timeline of the Episcopal Church’s dealings with indigenous peoples.
The outline for the presentation for the missionary work in Navajoland is given below. The bulk of the information was culled from 400 Years: Anglican/Episcopal Mission among Native Americans by Owanah Anderson and 100 Years: The Good Shepard Mission in the Navajo Nation (1892-1992) by Owanah Anderson
Episcopal Church to Navaho Land
1) Culture Context
i) The Navajo nation compromise a vast swatch of land covering New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah
ii) The Navajo call themselves Divine-meaning the people
iii) Navajo identity is closely linked to the land
(a) Much of the spirituality is ritualistic and encompasses a great affirmative and empathy for the land
iv) Navajo language is highly dialectical
v) In the culture there are 75 clans all traced matrilineal-marriage within the clan is prohibited
2) Mythological Structure
i) The Navajo regard the world as a balance between good and evil
(a) Good, harmony, and beauty
(b) Evil, chaos and ugliness
ii) Evil occurs when people are out of balance with nature
iii) 4 Sacred Mountains
iv) Medicine man-billgaana, Hataathii
(a) Is a traditional religious leader
(b) 35 different rituals, including sand painting, dancing, and chanting demands years of study and apprenticeship
(c) Navajo employ singing and dance in ritual- perhaps most importantly the Square dance- a leading ceremony for those who have been away from the 4 sacred mountains
v) Beauty Way- #1
3) Mission
i) 3 beginnings for the Episcopal Church
(a) Fort Defiance Arizona
(b) Medical Mission in NM
(c) 1942 Utah baptism
ii) 3 Gospel missions. Good Shepherd at Fort Defiance, San Juan at Farmington, and St Christopher’s at Bluff, UT
iii) Prior to 1975 ministry was controlled by 3 Episcopal diocese- AZ, Ut, NM
iv) General Convention 1976 voted to unify Navajo work into one diocese as an area mission completer with election of a bishop
v) No vote at General Convention until 1997
vi) 10 year transitional period 1987
vii) Otis Charles (Bp of Ut) was appointed Bp in charge
viii) Elected Steven Tsosie Plummer, from Coalmine, AZ elected Bp in 1989
4) Plummer
i) Had beginning training to be a medicine man after dropping out of school in 9th grade
ii) Felt a call to the Episcopal priesthood
iii) Ordained to deaconate at Canyon de Chelly
iv) Trained at Cool Christian Training School Phoenix Jr. College, CDSP
v) Consecrated Bp March 1990
5) Fort Defiance, AZ
i) 1892
(a) Episcopal lay teacher arrives
(b) George H. Wadleigh
(c) Both designated teacher and Episcopal presence
ii) Ft. Defiance was both Indian agency headquarters and government school
iii) Established for the purpose of subdividing the Indian in 1849 after Mexican American War located in the center of Navajo country
iv) Head quarters of Kit Carson
v) Given as part of Indian Resettlement in 1868
vi) 1864 hwelt the Long Walk a forced exile
vii) To Bosque Redando in NM
viii) Time after resettlement was bleak- threat of starvation ever present
ix) Out of this grew Navajo weaving and silver smiting as economy and trade
x) Under Grant Peace Policy- Presbyterians sent Miss Charity Gaston to start a school
xi) Herbert Welsh (Episcopal philanthropist)
(a) “I am now more than ever impressed with the great heads of the Navajo People
6) Women of Westchester Country
i) Episcopal women of Westchester Country, NY became involved
ii) Women’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions
iii) 1880 government built a government school at Ft Defiance- 1887 compulsory education for Indian children=> boarding school
7) Wadleigh
i) Open work among Navajo sanctioned by Jn Mills Kendrick (Bp of Arizona)
8) Eliza Thachara
i) Found to run the Medical mission (funded by Westcher Women)
ii) “Woman who laugh”
iii) 25 years of service to Navajo mission
iv) Lasting Episcopal witness to Navajo land
v) 1890s- women medical missionaries and teaching ????
vi) 1897- March 1sy Thackara’s Hospital opens
vii) Work continues tirelessly
viii) Assumed by Anne E. Cady
9) Cady
i) Came in 1915 as a nurse
ii) Had worked in native field before
iii) Started 2 chapels which continue today
10) Good Shepherd Mission
i) Began as hospital mission
ii) Women were replaced (authority) by Bp Walter Mitchell- men were expected to be in charge
iii) Good Shepherd became an orphanage
iv) Continued school mission
v) Arrival of Walter L Beckwith 192 saw increase in pastoral and evangelistic visits throughout the area
vi) Male clergy stayed at most 2 years
11) The Mission in Great Depression
i) Struggled like rest of country
ii) G.S became resource center for food and goods
12) David Clark
i) First male clergy to remain over 2 years
ii) Had been missionary to the Sioux in SD
iii) After 1942 mission school was closed
iv) 1948 school for pre-school aged children
13) New Chapel
i) Arthur Vining Davis Foundation funded a chapel and clergy residence at Good Shepherd
ii) G.S continued to have great clergy turn over 20 priests in 34 years
14) New Mexico
i) San Juan Mission
(a) Mattie C Peters
(b) Established Juan Mission
(c) 1914- Fredrick B. Howdin Bp of NW and SW Texas integrated programs of medical, social, and religious work
(d) 1916- plans to build a hospital
ii) San Juan Hospital
(a) Staff positions appointed by Mission Board in NY paid by UTO ECW
(b) Hospital and outlying clinics run by women
(c) Robert Yarbrough Davis- sent as chaplain to hospital in 1927- stayed for 23 years
iii) Again and again women served found staffed mission outpost as nurses, teachers, and social works
iv) GS would see the ordination of 1st Indian women priest
v) First native Navajo bishop
vi) Racial unrest- Chokecherry Canyon Murders
15) St. Christopher’s Mission
i) 1942 Harold Baxter Liebler establish a mission among Navajo
(a) Mission tactics radical
(b) Education at Nashotah
(c) Convinced he could minister to Indian while still respecting their way of life
(d) Bluff Ut. - remained for 40 years
(e) “Priest with Sore Gut”
ii) Clinic- baby
iii) School
iv) Fr sensitive to the cultural connections and responsibilities of Navajo
v) Liebler concept of Mission - defined as the working within the cultural context rather than against it.
Mary,
I'm not sure which changes you are talking about, but they do apply to us now. The changes have streamlined the process for us. There are fewer hoops.
I noticed a couple of changes in Title III that could affect some of us. Does anyone know if we are godfathered in under the canons that were in place when we were made postulants?
I thought that this e-mail from the Seabury Bulletin Board was quite timely in light of Rev. Primo's discussion with us yesterday. . . "Mission as Politics" has not gone away. . . .
*****
This message came this morning from Sudan.
At 9.00am this morning, police entered the Episcopal Church of Susdan (ECS) Guesthouse in Khartoum (which also serves as the Provincial Office) and ordered the eviction of ECS personnel and properties from the building. Staff were warned that if the order was not complied with, force would be used to ensure compliance - armed riot police were positioned at the gate for this purpose.
This is the diocesan office of Renk, Abraham Jiel's ('03) diocese that was affected. Bishop Daniel Deng Bul and his staff were not harmed physically because he told them not to resist. They have taken refuge in the Episcopal Cathedral in Khartoum. Please, fervently pray for these brothers and sisters in Christ. The Diocese of Renk is one of the Diocese of Chicago's companion dioceses.
Connie Wilson
A MELANESIAN REFLECTION
Address delivered by the Rt. Rev’d Dr. Terry Brown, Bishop of Malaita, Church of the Province of Melanesia, at the Convocation of Trinity College, University of Toronto,
May 11, 2004.
Honourable Chancellor, Madam Provost, Distinguished Guests, Fellow Graduates and Friends:
Trinity College, Toronto, and the Church of the Province of Melanesia (established as the Melanesian Mission), founded within three years of each other, share a common Catholic tradition. Their founders, John Strachan, first Bishop of Toronto, and George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, also bear many resemblances. Both struggled against narrow evangelicalism and espoused (some would say, established) Anglican synodical government. Selwyn’s establishment of the Melanesian Mission in 1849 and Strachan’s founding of Trinity College in 1851 both embodied a vision of holistic Catholic Christianity for the frontiers of their societies. Bishop Selwyn’s motto for the Melanesian Mission, "True Religion, Sound Learning, Useful Industry", would have been appreciated by Bishop Strachan. I am greatly honoured to be here this evening as one of a few Trinity graduates who have experienced and been enriched by both these institutions. So I begin by bringing you warm greetings from the Archbishop of Melanesia, from the Church of the Province of Melanesia, from the Diocese of Malaita and from my Trinity College-graduate colleague also working in the Church of Melanesia, Brother John Blyth.
However, I do not intend talking about the two institutions or two founding Bishops this evening. Rather, I want to use imaginatively a social science, anthropology, which has many of its roots, at least for Melanesia, also in the Melanesian Mission. Many of the first Anglican missionaries to Melanesia were also early ethnologists, documenting Melanesian cultures and languages; one has only to mention names such as Robert Codrington, Arthur Hopkins and Charles Fox; even secular anthropologists such as W.H.R. Rivers worked closely with the Mission. But I shall not be talking about these proto-anthropologists.
Rather, I want to recount the humble advice of an imaginary Melanesian sage, perhaps an old man, perhaps an old woman, of about 100 years ago. What would that advice have been to his or her people and, indeed, to us listening in? And is such advice really archaic and out of date; or is it still valid today? My imaginary Melanesian sage has ten short pieces of advice:
1. "Beware of head-hunters, cannibals and sorcerers." Melanesia was violent and in many places still is. We are still a place of martyrdom. We have just marked the first anniversary of the martyrdom of seven Melanesian Brothers. But is the rest of the world today much different? In your ministries (I speak to those graduating), beware of and resist militarists, militarism, military solutions, violent nationalisms, support of weapons production, family violence and participation in the destruction of peoples and cultures; beware of the patenting of genetic materials and the destruction of native species for financial gain. Beware of bio-piracy. Rather, seek peace and pursue it.
2. "Beware of the slave-traders." During the last half of the nineteenth century, Melanesia was beset by the indentured labour trade (so-called "black-birding") in which many thousands of Melanesians were taken (often kidnapped) to the sugarcane plantations of Queensland and Fiji, where they laboured for very cheap wages. But is the situation much different today? In your ministries, avoid the transnational corporations which oppress those who labour through seeking ever lower and lower production costs ñ the Nestles, Nikes and McDonalds of this world; be aware of and address issues such as migrant labour and human trafficking, offering pastoral support to those far away from home and separated from their families by financial realities. Seek justice and pursue it.
3. "Beware of the missionaries." The missionary movement, even in Melanesia, had its underside; one has only to visit the cemetery of St. Barnabas, Norfolk Island, to see the graves of the young Melanesian scholars who died of pneumonia. The Canadian churches are still reaping the havoc of the errors of the missionary movement among Canada’s native peoples. But mission is essential for the church and the words of John Coleridge Patteson, first Bishop of Melanesia, can hardly be improved upon: "The secret of these Islands is to live together as equals. Let the people know that you are not divided from them but united in Christ’s love." But many other missionaries were and are much more problematic. For we the Church, the Body of Christ, do contemporary missionary movements sent from us or to us have that much to offer? One thinks of contemporary Christian fundamentalist groups still hell-bent on the destruction of traditional cultures and other religions (even other Christian denominations) as demonic; of the scourge of so-called Christian Zionism, looking forward to, indeed encouraging, war in the Middle East; of New Puritanism, the missionary movement of the Diocese of Sydney; of self-righteous renewal movements; of messianic sectarianism (whether evangelical, catholic or charismatic) calling itself orthodoxy. Seek and pursue a Christ-like mission strategy of sensitivity, openness, listening and love.
4. "Beware of the colonial government." As colonialism goes, Solomon Islands colonialism was fairly benign, one of neglect, whereby the churches were left to develop education and medical work, while the Resident Commissioner classified butterflies; New Hebridean colonialism was the opposite, with two colonial governments, Britain and France, in conflict with the colonized and with each other. In both cases, the Melanesians were considered to be a dying race. In both cases there was violence, racism and the institution of a plantation system that separated families and oppressed labourers. But is there improvement today? In Melanesia today, Indonesia continues its brutal occupation of West Papua, with the support of Canadian mining companies; France and the United States continue as Pacific colonial powers, largely for military purposes. Very broadly, the line from the enclosure movement to imperialism and colonialism to neo-colonialism to the New World Order to globalization to the American occupation of Iraq is a direct one; all speak of the hegemony of the economically powerful over the weak. Stand with the weak rather than with the powerful. Remember the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, "The use of violence to retain superfluous wealth is Ö none other than the sin of robbery." Live a ministry of kenosis, self-emptying of power and wealth, so that the oppressed and broken may be lifted up.
All of those have been warnings. Now a bit of positive advice:
5. "Remember tribe, totem and tabu." This evening, we are doing precisely that. In a world of demonic nationalisms and imperialisms, it may seem strange to speak positively of tribe, totem and tabu. Oceanic cultures, like many other tribal cultures, are intensely holistic and communal, where personhood, friendship, marriage, community, identity, morality, faith and ritual are virtually inseparable ñ even today, despite the incursions of western individualism and attacks of western neo-conservatives. Individualism runs deep in all of us in the west but in the end it is not sustaining. People need a personal identity of communion with God and others beyond their sex, gender, sexual orientation, politics, age and occupation. (Hence, the considerable growth of Islam, even in the west, while western Christianity remains crippled by its individualism.) Extended family, friendship, marriage, church, community, neighbourhood, workplace, tradition, ritual, play and, indeed, restraint and prudence (tribe, totem and tabu) all play their part. As Catholic Christians we believe this communion is ultimately rooted in and nurtured by our participation in the Holy Eucharist. Shun the lone ranger model, shun the glorification of the individual alienated soul and rediscover and nurture your personhood as essentially relational and participatory, reflective of the Holy Trinity. Let your ministry be one of friendship.
6. "Marry outside the clan or tribe." Many Melanesian cultures are exogamous, where there is a tradition of taking a wife or husband from the "other", perhaps from some place far away, to build relationships with potential or even real enemies. Such arrangements are a kind of check on the potential idolatry of tribe, totem and tabu. They also help tribes and persons to continue to reach out and develop and not to become ingrown. What of our relations of friendship and intimacy? Seek relationships of friendship and intimacy with the stranger, the other, the shadow, the broken, indeed, the enemy, potential or real. Scripture counsels us to love our enemies, not just our friends.
7. "Touch and be touched." To risk a generalization, Melanesians establish relationships through touch; North Americans and Europeans often establish relationships through boundaries and private space. The latter’s ever-increasing suspicion of touch (indeed of all the senses except sight and sound, which can be exercised at a distance) is almost Manichean. Melanesian patterns of touch, of course, are part of the understanding of the person as essentially relational and corporate. When, as in Melanesia, the individual rather than the community is the anomaly (where "one is a fraction of two", to quote Maurice Leenhardt’s classic study of Melanesian personhood, Do Kamo), touching another is not much different from touching oneself. Appropriate boundaries are important and must be observed; no one wants sexual abuse, for example. (Indeed, Oceania contributed the word "taboo" to the English language.) But when separation, boundaries, establishing space and, indeed, self-consciousness and fear become the primary bases of relationships, intimacy and, indeed, love, become very difficult indeed. As we withhold physical affection from children, we risk producing the miserable adult spirituality of a saintly Henri Nouwen. In spite of the paranoia of western culture, be open to touch. At the centre of the Eucharist is the Kiss of Peace.
8. "Remember to tie the rope around your leg when you enter the holy of holies to offer sacrifice." I am told that such was the practice in the area of Malaita where I live. There was always the danger that the custom priest’s expiatory sacrifice, usually the immolation of a pig, could go drastically wrong and the priest rather than the pig be immolated. The priest’s family held onto the rope to pull him back, lest he be taken by the spirits and never seen again. If we have lost all sense of the power of the holy, we may be quietly amused. But the advice warns us to recognize that God’s world and power are not our own norunder our control. It also urges us to use some caution in the spiritual life, for example, not to be entirely trusting of spiritual directors, losing our freedom. It warns us against practices of sacrifice ("self-immolation") that produce death rather than life. Perhaps the story is an example of Melanesian "Reason". Accept the support of friends, do not lose your freedom and approach God with the greatest fear and humility.
I conclude with two final warnings and a comment:
9. "Beware of the camera, it will steal your soul." Many years ago, I visited a neo-custom movement on the Weather Coast of Guadalcanal with a group of students. Having shed most of our clothes, I proposed taking a camera into the community’s custom house. Eventually, the request was accepted but I paid a small compensation for the camera, as it was seen as disrupting the traditional order of relationships. The camera sees us as others see us, locked in time and space. With digital technologies, pictures now also lie. Perhaps a more modern version of this advice is, "Beware of the media, it can steal your soul". If we always see ourselves primarily as others see us, we lose ourselves. Current controversies in the Anglican Communion are exacerbated, indeed, encouraged, sometimes even invented, by the media. If we speak to the media before we speak to our neighbour, we are in trouble. Live your life as God is calling you, and don’t pay that much attention to the media, though if you can use it for the Gospel, do so.
10. "Avoid the "cargo cult’". This advice is anachronistic, as so-called cargo cults did not appear in Melanesia until after World War 2, although the church’s winning of converts through gifts of tobacco and knives presages them. But many would argue that time in Melanesia is qualitative and cyclical rather than quantitative and sequential. Not entirely unreasonably, practitioners of Melanesian cargo cults sought and seek to use their traditional magic to bring prosperity ("cargo") to their societies. While the aim is laudable, the efforts fail and people are left disillusioned. Westerners have made fun of the extremes of cargo cults, such as airfields constructed to receive planeloads of cargo. But is the west much different? Are our expectations of wealth any more reasonable? Many still see wealth as the primary solution to their problems; others seek New Age magical solutions, or the lottery, or the casino, or the astrologer or very magical views of the Holy Spirit and prayer. The "Gospel of prosperity" flourishes. Our culture has not entirely bought out of the capitalist myth, that in accumulation and consumption, we attain salvation. Avoid the magical solution; take on the hard work of helping to bring into this broken world the Commonwealth of God.
What do these bits of advice, I hope, contribute towards? Or, perhaps better, what do they presuppose? I would offer, simply, Catholic Christianity ñ meaningful and intimate inclusion in the Body of Christ, including a loving relationship with all of humanity and all of creation ñ striving towards the Beatific Vision. That Vision, ultimately beyond our comprehension, comprehends our lives and ministries and fills us daily with grace, leading us in ever new and unexpected directions. Let me finish with a very challenging comment of St. Hugh of Victor, sometimes quoted by contemporary philosophers: "The one who finds his or her homeland sweet is still a tender beginner; the one to whom every soil is as his or her native one is already strong; but the one is perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign land."
I agree their are more people outside of the church than in it. People in this society don't think they need God because they can take care of themselves. They may not have a "fear" of God, but no matter how independent they are, I think many people have a fear of the chaos in the world - a world closer to them that they can admit even to themselves. That's why I think mission to our local community is so vital. Mission like Faith Based Community work that joins with our neighbors to dismantle unjust social and political structure that cause much of the pain and chaos people have to deal with. The church's 20/20 mission is a great part of that mission also.
Perhaps I am too skeptical, but I had a difficult time with Reno's assessment that the church is in ruins. I'm not sure that I agree with that, but even if what he says is true, how is the church so different now than in years past? Hasn't the church always struggled with its identity in the midst of the world? Is Reno really calling for something new, original?
He asserts that people are genuinely afraid of the church and its authority (p.36). He goes on to says that, "the horror of dependence and the fear of difference more adequately explain important modern criticisms of Christian teaching..." (p.57). Further, "Chrisitianity is not too incredible; it is too dangerous" (p.57).
I think that Reno is right in pointing out that this is clearly a question of authority; however, I do not think that fear is a reality for most people in regard to the church. I question whether the church is largely even a consideration. There are more people outside the realm of the church than inside the church. The church is largely invisible. Darby says that and Reno concurs. "The church is in a state of ruin, immersed and buried in the world--invisible, if you will have it so; whilst it ought to be held forth, as a candlestick, the light of God" (p.16). I agree that "an invisible church is a failed church" (p.16).
Reno says that people are afraid of the church and what it represents.
I am hesitant to agree with him. I think that rather than fear, it is precisely a lack of fear that has caused the situation that the church finds itself in today. People are fearless in this world of ours where momentary gratification in a smorgasboard world is right at our fingertips. The church has been reduced to a small condiment amidst the vast spread of consumerist entrees.
How can the church reclaim its rightful place? Its authority?
Reno says that we need to "draw near to the memory of the apostles, made sensual in the words of the Scripture, in the ancient liturgies, in the dogmatic and disciplinary traditons of the church" (p. 28).
Okay. How do we do this?
I think he touches on something significant. Perhaps too much emphasis has been placed on the church's need to change when in reality it is we who are in the church that need to change our thinking, attitudes, practices of daily spiritual life. Reno says, "revision should strengthen the anchor of common worship so that we see as clearly as possible that we-- not Christian teaching and practice--must change in order to dwell in the fullness of new life" (p.109).
I think he is right. I still wonder what this looks like? Using Reno's theology, I wonder what a practical theology looks like? Does fear need to be reclaimed as good, not an evil? Doesn't fear serve to heighten moral consciousness? If there are no consequences for our actions then why change?
I'm not advocating an oppressive "fear" that keeps all of us beaten down and cowering, but I do think that there is something significant in reclaiming fear as respectful reverence for the authority of God. What do you think?
It was fun to work on the presentations, there is so much that could have been said. It is amazing that it was not so very long ago that the missionaries we talked about were doing their work! I agree that music is very important in liturgy. Often it is the feelings that music stirs up in us that inspire us to serve God and the church. It's important to be attentive to what music inspires parishioners in each congregation. I have know people to leave a church that did not use contempory as well as traditional music. I once read that if the congregation need a particular type of music and the priest doesn't like that kind of music, tough bananas for the priest. The church is for the people not just him or her.
It was fun to work on the presentations, there is so much that could have been said. It is amazing that it was not so very long ago that the missionaries we talked about were doing their work! I agree that music is very important in liturgy. Often it is the feelings that music stirs up in us that inspire us to serve God and the church. It's important to be attentive to what music inspires parishioners in each congregation. I have know people to leave a church that did not use contempory as well as traditional music. I once read that if the congregation need a particular type of music and the priest doesn't like that kind of music, tough bananas for the priest. The church is for the people not just him or her.
Annotated Bibliography
Missional Liturgy: Towards a Working Definition
Debra K. Bullock
Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission (http://associatedparishes.org/statement/)
This website, clearly a work in progress as the majority of the links are “under construction” does contain APLM statements on a variety of topics from 1969 through 2002. Topics include: admission of children to communion, the removal of the filioque, inclusive language, art and architecture, evangelization, centrality of baptism, and several more.
Geitz, Elizabeth Rankin, Marjorie A. Burke, and Ann Smith, eds. Women’s Uncommon Prayers: Our Lives Revealed, Nurtured, Celebrated. Harrisburg: Morehouse, 2000.
This anthology of worship resources – prayers, poems, liturgies – was developed by the Council of Women’s Ministries, an organization comprised of more than 30 Anglican / Episcopal. The book was compiled in response to a vision: “a vision of Episcopal women speaking authentically with one another and with the church at large. . . sharing the richness and diversity of their spirituality. . . uniting in the midst of that diversity, modeling wholeness and health to the church” (Preface, xi). Women’s Uncommon Prayers is an invaluable source of inclusive and alternative God language which can be used in a number of liturgical settings (e.g., “Maria Sacerdota – Mary, Protopriest of the New Covenant” by The Reverend Dr. Alla Renée Bozarth (p. 287-8) was read at the Dean’s Mass on Tuesday, May 4, 2004 at Seabury).
Jewell, John P. Wired for Ministry: How the Internet, Visual Media, and Other New Technologies Can Serve Your Church. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2004.
This book provides a cautious approach to the utilization of technology in many areas of ministry including church growth, worship, and education. In addition to recommendations for its use, Jewell provides several pointers on pitfalls that can (and often do) lead churches astray. The title of chapter 5 sums up his project: “Forget About Technology – But If You Must – And We Know You Will: New Directions and Opportunities.”
Price, Charles P. and Louis Weil. Liturgy for Living, Revised Edition. Harrisburg: Morehouse, 2000.
Price and Weil speak to the ongoing attempts at reclaiming the earliest routes of Christianity as enacted by our liturgies. The authors consider the historical development of the Book of Common Prayer and how each change has altered our worship experience. They also provide some wonderful commentary on changing practices and current liturgical controversies (e.g., confirmation), pp. 82ff). If you enjoy word etymology, you will get your fill in this book. A glossary of liturgical terms is also appended.
Sample, Tex. The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World: Electronic Culture and the Gathered People of God. Nashville: Abingdon, 1998.
Sample’s enthusiasm for all things technological is in stark contrast to the conservativism of Jewell’s text. Sample wants us to bring worship into the post-modern age with lights, sounds – the whole shebang! This is not worship as most of us have known it. Sample claims it is worship for Generation X and Millennial youth – the “media sophisticates” (28). At the tail end of Generation X, I must confess that the worship Sample describes does not appeal to my more conservative Anglo-Catholic routes. However, for those who want to explore this new direction in worship, the book will surely be a great resource – the final chapter even provides “An Illustrated Worship Service.”
St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco (http://www.saintgregorys.org)
This parish began as what can only be described as a joint venture between All Saints’ Company and the Diocese of San Francisco. Growing from an “experimental mission” into its current status as a parish church of the Diocese of San Francisco, St. Gregory’s website is a multi-media extravaganza of liturgical resources – iconography, sermons, original liturgies, articles about liturgy and mission, photographs and movie clips of liturgies being conducted, MP3 downloadable files, and “Deacons’ Scripts” for entire worship services. I suspect that St. Gregory’s would agree that they are a John Jewell Wired for Ministry kind of church.
Willow Creek Community Church (http://www.willowcreek.org)
Willow Creek is an interdenominational church located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago (Barrington). The church began in the early 70s as the youth ministry program of a church in Park Ridge. It is now a church with thousands of members and over 100 ministries. I suspect that Willow Creek would agree that they are a Tex Sample Spectacle of Worship kind of church. The church’s website is interesting as you can see the juxtaposition of contemporary secular images with conservative Christian themes.
I thought the presentations last week were very helpful.The ideas of mission and music are closely related, that's where emotional experience is most easily visible. The Methodists speak of a Wesleyan Quadrilateral - Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience (you may recognize this as the Anglican three-legged stool with an improvement), and the book they associate with Experience is the Hymnal. Think how moving some of our own hymns are. Think how much more moving a eucharist might be without some of the boring unmelodic service music we use, chosen, I presume, because the Committee members selected their own music. And just because music is so closely enmeshed with the individual personality and with the communal identity, it is difficult to impose the music of one culture on another culture and have it work, as the presentation made clear.
The presentation on expanding mission in the wild west , meaning Wisconsin and Minnesota, gave me a lot of valuable information and was a surprising reminder of how recently we have been in these parts -- hardly more than a hundred years. Tim, that sermon you read had one or two nuggets I would like to copy.
Let me share with you a couple of things I have found about Bishop Newbigin, the bishop of the Church of South India on whom I will report Thursday. At the end of his life he saw secular paganism in Europe, the idolatry of the market, as perhaps the toughest missional challenge. How to face this secular freedom which does not make free? He said the gospel story of Jesus' incarnation, life, death and resurrection creates a space and time in which we who are unholy can nevertheless have fellowship with God who is holy; in that space we find true freedom and justice. So the point of mission is: if God has done for us what the gospel story tells us, the only possible response is praise and thanksgiving: mission is the work of sharing that praise and thanksgiving with others.
At the end of his autobiography, Newbigin says "I still see the cross of Jesus as the one place in all the history of human culture where there is a final dealing wihthe ultimate mysteries of sin and forgiveness, of bondage and freedom, of conflict and peace, of death and life."
Music and Missions
Andrea Mysen
Shannon Macvean-Brown
Jeff Bower
Bread for the Journey, Global Songs*Local Voices, (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bread for the Journey, 1994).
This CD is a compilation of contemporary hymnody from around the world. It represents the move that is presently being made to lift up the indigenous music particular to foreign cultures and the importance of the marriage between language and song in the communication of the Gospel. It is produced as part of a larger project undertaken by the Division of Global Missions, ELCA “in hopes that we may all learn from each other’s struggles to be faithful in a broken world.”
Harris, Imojen, South American Pictures Features, The Music of the Missions. This site provides the story of 18th Century Jesuit Missions of the ‘Green Hell’ between the Atlantic Ocean and the Andes Mountains in South America during the time period 1823 and following. Particular to the missions was the European music traditions that the Jesuits established among the Native Americans. The Jesuits used music as a means for communicating in a language other than spoken and found that the Native Americans were quite adept learning and performing on classical instruments. Included on this site are numerous pictures of some of this historians findings. Hustad, Donald P., Jubilate: Church Music in the Evangelical Tradition, (Carol Stream, Illinois: Hope Publishing Company, 1981). Donald Hustad gives an overview of the history of music in missions, from its very grass root days of 1st Century Judea to the present. He articulates the movement in missions that has occurred from the projection of western genres of music on foreign cultures to the actualization of indigenous genres of music within those same cultures. He explores the role of the ‘missionary musician’ and the practical challenges that exist. Finally, Hustad gives the reader an overview of the important work that is and can be done through the medium of music in Christian missions. He writes of the importance of ethnomusicology as a way of understanding both foreign cultures and indigenous music, establishing the practices of working within the musical genres that already exist in foreign lands to share the Gospel. Kerr, Phil, Music in Evangelism, (Glendale, California: Gospel Music Publications, 1939). Kerr speaks of the evangelistic essence of Christian music. He writes, “if it be true that music can be a powerful force in the realm of evangelism, then surely every Christian worker should realize its importance, and learn to employ it to the utmost advantage” (p. 89). He discusses the various ways that music can be employed in missions and the need to ‘step outside the box’ of established normative patterns to reach people in the broader culture both within the United States and in foreign lands. The underpinning thread for his discussion is that music is a language ( some even claim its universality) and a critically important medium through which the Good News can be heard and experienced. Coppolla, Sofia, writer/producer. Lost in Translation, (California: Universal Studios, 2003). The story is about the relationship between a successful American film star and the newly wed bride of an aspiring photographer. They find themselves in Tokyo at the same time and depend on each other to survive in this foreign land. This film can be interpreted on multiple levels. For the purposes of this project, the film is being suggested as a way of understanding what happens in mission when Western understandings (music or otherwise) are introduced into foreign cultures without careful attention to the indigenous music and language of those same cultures. The point: We cannot simply impose a Western notion of ‘right’ language/music, etc. on foreign cultures, nor can we simply translate English words into a foreign language and expect that the translations will have the same meaning or importance. Language and music are intricately and intimately woven together. Understanding the culture and working within it is key to establishing music and missions, the very proclamation of the Gospel. Wilson-Dickinson, Andrew, The Story of Christian Music, (Elgin Illinois: Lion Publishing, 1992). The product of five years of research, this work captures the history of Christian Music throughout the world, covering the evolution of Christian music in Europe, the Orthodox tradition, Africa, and America. Wilson-Dickerson includes the voices from the historical past to tell the story of Christian music. His discussion of the indigenous music of Africa is fascinating. He articulates the difficulties in foreign missions in reconciling the indigenous music of foreign lands with the music of the western church, a struggle that still exists. The California Mission Site. Summers, William John, Ph.D., Jul 1998. Dartmouth University. Sept 24, 1998. This web site provides a history of missions and mission music as it pertains to the development and expansion of the territory now known as California. The site provides a thorough discussion of the role that music played as new missions were developed from 1769-1823. Summers articulates how the indigenous music of the native people was suppressed during this time period. www.sacollectibles.com/instrum www.salvationarmy.org www.salvationarmy.org.uk www.salvationist.org Collier, Richard. The General Next to God: the Story of William Booth and the Salvation Army. Wilson-Dixon, Andrew. The Story of Christian Music: From Gregorian Chant to Black Gospel. Contemporary approaches to mission through music annotated web sources Individual artists and performing groups bethwilliamsmusic.com bludbros.com hightechministry.org/rojas.htm ngm.org.uk Missions to foreign countries russianfolk.com/html/minm.html musicmissionkiev.org/index.cfm washingtonfreepress.org/44/music.html communityofcelebration pastor.net.au/kmusic zen6741.zen.co.uk/share-music
Andrea Mysen
Annotated Bibliography
www.mundus.ac.uk/cgi-bin/
Provides some biographical and administrative history of the SA, and a breakdown by year of its expansion world wide.
Provides historical description of the SA’s development of businesses, repair shops, and eventually musical instrument manufacturing.
This is the international home page of the Salvation Army. It provides an excellent description of the varied ministries associated with the SA, including a break down by individual countries in which the SA operates. Among other things, lists the mission statement, vision statement, some history, and current statistics related to the SA. Includes links to current articles related to SA.
SA website focusing on UK and Ireland.
A password required (available to anyone who submits data online) web site that includes links to related chat rooms, current pictures and news articles, job listings, and a listing of the hymns currently in use by the SA.
New York: Dutton, 1965.
Book provides detailed historical background of William Booth’s life and the development of the SA.
Oxford: Lion Pub., 1992.
Book provides overview of Christian music through the centuries. Includes a brief explanation of the SA and its origins in England.
This is the site of an individual who says that her mission is to use her music to inspire, empower others in their spiritual journeys.
Blud Bros is a group of men whose blues style music has a Christian content. Their mission is to: "Reach out to those who need Jesus but probably will never darken the door of a church. Reach in to our brothers and sisters in the church with a whole new excitement about God's work. Reach up to bring honor, glory and delight to God."
This is the web site of Heidi Rojas, a seventeen year old young woman who is a singer that is raising funds to go on a mission trip to Ecuador. She plans to spend her life ministering through sons and dance. She says that she was eight years old when she dedicated her life to Christ while at a Michael W. Smith concert.
New Generation Music Mission exists to take Christ into youth culture. They are involved in training young people to minister to other young people, and help young musicians to develop their music. This site has samples of music and video clips of the worship experiences they host.
Music in mission Project for the Children of Kursk and St. Petersburg is a project that raises money for orphans by performances of music presented by Vitaliy V. Bezrodnov and the award-winning trio Moscow Nights. They perform Russian folk music. There are music clips and videos of Moscow Nights in performance on this web site. This project is sponsored by several denominations and mission groups.
Music Mission Kiev is a Christian mission group that uses Western classical music in their proclamation of the gospel in the Ukraine. They consider members of the Eastern Orthodox Church as Christians,
This web site has an article about the Seattle Peace Chorus. This is a group that takes mission trips. Their repertoire contains Broadway Show tunes, Spirituals and Protest Songs.
Groups who make Christian music available
Community of Celebration is an Anglican lay religious order. They give conferences and workshops for worship leaders. They have many recordings and song books available through their web site. Several pieces of music from this community can be found in the Hymnal 1982. Music by Betty Pulkingham.
At the web site of Kingdom Music one can find help in typesetting and arranging music for a fee. They maintain a data base of music that can be down loaded for free. One of their goals is to spread the Word of God in music via the internet.
Share Music offers what they call, "…the very best of today's Christian Music." This music is available free of charge.
Hello Everyone. Here are the prayers from the presentation by the Reverend Alvaro Araica:
O DIO che hai fatto d'un sol sangue tutte le nazioni degli uomini per abitar sulla faccia della terra, e che hai mandato il tuo benedetto Figliuolo a predicar loro la pace ai vicini ed ai lontani, concedi, te ne preghiamo, che tutti da per ogni dove ti cerchino e ti trovino. Adducili, o Signore, nella tua greggia, aggiungi i gentili alla tua eredita. Ed ancora ti preghiamo che tosto si compia il numero dei tuoi eletti, e d'affrettare il tuo eterno regno per lo stesso Gesu Cristo nostro Signore. Amen.
Omnipotente Dios, tu enviaste a tu Hijo Jesucristo a reconciliar al mundo contigo: Te alabamos y te bendecimos por los que has enviado en el poder del Espiritu a predicar el Evangelio a todas las naciones.
Te damos gracias porque en todas partes del mundo se ha reunido una comunidad de amor por medio de sus oraciones y labores, y porque en todo lugar tus siervos invocan tu santo Nombre. Oh Senor, tuyo es el reino, el poder y la gloria por siempre jamas. Amen.
Omnipotens Deus, qui Filium tuum Iesum Christum misisti ut tibi mundum reconciliet: Laudamus et benedicimus te propter illos a te missos in virtute Spiritus ad Evangelium praedicandum ad omnes gentes. Tibi gratias agimus quoniam in omnibus partibus orbis terrarum societas caritatis per orationes eorum laboresque congregata est, et in omni loco famuli tui nomen tuum invocant; quia tuum est regnum, et potestas, et gloria in saecula. Amen.
Almighty God, you sent your Son Jesus Christ to reconcile the world to yourself: We praise and bless you for those whom you have sent in the power of the Spirit to preach the Gospel to all nations. We thank you that in all parts of the earth a community of love has been gathered together by their prayers and labors, and that in every place your servants call upon your Name; for the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours for ever. Amen.
My apologies for the absence of accents. I could not figure out how to change the font on this site.
Peace,
Tim