Evangelism in 10 (or 20) easy steps!

I commend two blog postings. Ten ways to get someone to stay away from your church, and then ten ways to draw someone to your church. How does your congregation rate?

Teaching kids the Bible

Recently, the Christian Century published an essay by Nancy Ammerman on teaching kids the Bible and why it matters. It's provocative reading, and any parent or anyone who hopes for future generations in church should read Ammerman's essay. An excerpt:

Many mainline kids don't even hear sermons, since they leave for Sunday school after the opening portion of the worship service. And in many New England churches, religious education shuts down for the summer. Even a pretty regular attender in these churches is lucky to get 20 to 30 hours a year of religious exposure. Also, when children are in Sunday school, free-thinking teachers rarely ask them to memorize anything, lest they be accused of indoctrination. It seems likely that these children's reservoir of biblical memory will run dry before they ever have a chance to reach adulthood.

In some churches, this pattern is more a matter of neglect than intent, while in others it reflects a genuine ambivalence about teaching children the Bible. Is all that Bible reading and memorization a good thing? Have those biblical images embedded in our brains made us too accepting of patriarchy, too willing to trust authority, too willing to believe? Perhaps. But I am convinced that it need not be so, that when we commit something to memory, it sinks deep and often resurfaces in surprising ways to meet new situations. Biblical fragments ("knit together in my mother's womb," "her price is far above rubies," "plans for your welfare and not for harm") happily can grow with us, providing both a touchstone to the past and points of connection to new people and new meanings. We stuff our memories with so many things (lyrics to Sesame Street songs, Santa's reindeer), why worry about adding the names of the apostles and the words of Psalm 23 to the mix?

Those biblical words are, in fact, the common language we speak as Christians, part of the tool kit with which we build ourselves and our communities of faith. If nothing else, the Bible's existence means that we do not have to start from scratch in building a community of faith. And its infinitely multivocal and multiform self also means that there is plenty of material to work with as we and our communities change. Thinking again about how scripture works, I have become convinced that having a canon matters, not just because the words are uniquely inspired or holy or true, but because this is the core set of stories that we've all agreed to share and that have shaped us and our forebears in manifold ways. There are always other stories and always many interpretations, but those who have called themselves Christian for all these years have these characters and plots in common.

Spending time building up that core, then, is essential. It can later be deconstructed and reconstructed, added to or set aside, but if we don't start here, we may lose something very important.

How does your congregation do on teaching the Bible to kids? Are kids learning the sacred stories? Does your church do anything to feed kids and their inquisitive minds during the summer? (For that matter, do you offer any learning for adults in the summer?) There's much at stake, so this writer hopes Ammerman's points will be pondered in your hearts.

Hat tip to T19.

Turning chaos into shalom

[Episcopal News Service, Virginia Beach] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori challenged a gathering of Episcopal Communicators April 25 to engage gifts such as proclamation, witness, storytelling, moviemaking, language, images to help usher in the biblical vision of shalom, of equality and justice for everyone.

"There is something gravely and sinfully wrong with a world where the division between the rich and poor continues to expand, where some still live in palaces and recline on ivory couches while others starve outside their gates," she told about 120 parish, diocesan and national church communicators from around the country.

"In our day, the prophets still speak for a world where the hungry are fed, the ill are healed, where all children are educated and no one is denied the basic necessities of life."

. . . So is incorporating chaos theory -- that very small changes in initial conditions can lead to radically different results -- into mission, she said. "Each and everyone sitting here is capable of changing the world. Somewhere, somehow each one of us has the capacity to tame the chaos around us and turn it toward the peace of shalom. So where are the prophets? Who's going to speak those words? Who's going to do that work?

Full Story

Projo on the big wedding

Here's an excerpt from the Projo's piece on the wedding of Bishop Geralyn Wolf and Mr. Thomas Bair.

The bride walked down the aisle without her usual miter and crosier, forsaking both for a cream-colored wedding dress and a garland about her hair.

In a festive ceremony yesterday that started with her walking down the aisle hand in hand with her cousin's 5-year-old son, with five young girls close behind, Episcopal Bishop Geralyn Wolf married Thomas Charles Bair Jr. before a crowd of nearly 400 at her diocese's Cathedral of St. John.

"I think it was the most spirited wedding I ever attended," said former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, a long-time friend who had baptized Wolf on her conversion from Judaism to Christianity 36 years ago and preached at her ordinations to deacon, priest and bishop.

Read the whole article (free registration required). Photo by THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / Frieda Squire.

Photos from the wedding of Bishop Geralyn Wolf and Mr. Thomas Bair

Here are a few photos from the wedding, as a sample. You can view the whole set here.

The Bishop enters with children

The choir

The happy couple

The happy couple at the High Altar

At the reception at the Art Club, the former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and the Bishop's mother (right).

Please note, you are welcome to use these photos for non-commercial purposes, but please credit "Photo by Scott Gunn." View the whole set.

Details for Bishop's wedding

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:
Jessica Gates, Communications Officer
Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island
jessica (at) episcopalri.org

Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island Announces Wedding Details for Bishop

PROVIDENCE, RI, April 21st, 2007- The Right Rev. Geralyn Wolf and Thomas Charles Bair Jr. will be united in holy matrimony on April 21st, 2007 at the Cathedral of St. John, Providence. The service will begin at 11 am.

An open invitation has been issued to the diocese. Public seating will begin at 9:30 am at the Great West doors of St. John’s Cathedral, and will end at 10:30 am and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Overflow seating will be provided at Synod Hall.

No unauthorized photography will be allowed. High resolution photographs will be made available to the press.

For additional information, contact Jessica Gates, Diocesan Communications Officer.

Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island - 275 North Main Street Providence RI
Cathedral of St. John - 271 North Main Street Providence, RI

- END -

In Observance of the Feast Day of Hope Springs Eternal

AKA

OPENING DAY!

For the gift of new beginnings, clean slates and new seasons;
We give you thanks, O Lord.

For the hope that springs eternal with every new at bat;
We give you thanks, O Lord.

For fresh mown grass, seventh inning stretches, hot dogs, peanuts and crackerjacks;
We give you thanks, O Lord.

For the inspiration to work collaboratively, strive for excellence and build relationships in pursuit of common goals;
We give you thanks, O Lord.

For perspective in defeat and for graciousness in victory;
We pray to you, O Lord.

Holy God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to offer our common thanks for the gift of baseball. Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions for this new season ahead as maybe best for us; granting us in the regular season success on the field and in the playoffs to come a shot at the World Series. Amen.