Spirituality You Can Sink Your Teeth Into

A Spirituality You Can Sink Your Teeth Into

When we think of things of the Spirit we may think of things ethereal, things we cannot see or touch. We may think of things other worldly. But when we think of Jesus, we can see him in a manger, feeding 5000, on a cross. We see him in vivid detail. He is someone we can see and touch. Jesus is flesh and blood. And he said he is the Bread of our Life.

What did he mean by that? I think he means that he is someone we can sink our teeth into. As jarring as that may sound to us now, so it was when he first said it. 

Years ago as part of our Pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a bus load of high school students we travelled along the tense border between Israel and Lebanon in the Golan Heights. 

We stopped by a roadside gathering of Druze. We were hungry and the Druze were cooking sandwiches made of a kind of pita bread that was cooked over a convex metal surface and a charcoal flame. I don’t know what was in those wraps but they were delicious. There was an oily substance with tomato and zucchini and fresh, fresh bread. It was something you could sink your teeth into. It was so satisfying! 

The Druze are a very close knit folk and prefer not to get into theological discussions. They have been persecuted by every major religion in their region although they contain elements all; Islam, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Gnostic etc. They are an Abrahamic Unitarian kind of faith. But they’d rather not be pinned down into one set of dogma or another. History has not been kind to the Druze.  

It is tragic that in the history of our search for God, humankind has been hasty to inflict judgment and violent punishment on those who differ in point of view one from another. 

Today’s First Reading is a case in point. Another tiresome battle and another tiresome war. David against Israel, and his own son Absalom leading the enemy there in the Forest of Ephraim. In the heat of battle Absalom is mortally wounded. He is caught up in the thicket between Heaven and Earth. Armor bearers put the young man out of his misery. When David hears the news, of course, he laments the loss. Those who have lost a child will know the searing pain; “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!”

The Psalmist says; “Out of the depths have I cried out to you,”.

Our search for God, our quest for land, our raging violence, our feuding family pettiness, all our inner demons, lead us into unintended consequences that cost us very dearly.

But here’s a thought. What enemies offer one another by way of cuisine is flavorful and satisfying. Interesting that Jesus taught us about the Bread of Life. I love Italian, Greek, Palestinian, Jewish, French and German cuisine. Cindy and I were both pleasantly surprised to discover that British and Irish cuisine is delightful in its own way. And when the prospect of yet another routine supper looms near, we might look at one another and say; “Let’s send out for Chinese!”

Why then, why then, do we hasten to judge one another so hastily? Religion and Politics! Politics and Religion. We should know better. We’ve already had one Civil War. Why in the Name of God would we need another! God help us. It has been a year now since Charlottesville. Why the hate!

This is why Jesus becomes someone I can sink my teeth into. 

Jesus is for me like fresh bread out of the oven. I love to make fresh homemade bread. I like to get my hands right into the mix of things. I sometimes think of someone I may be out of synch with as I knead that dough mercilessly. That’s a more fruitful way of taking out frustration than in resorting to foolish name calling or fisticuffs. I use a cement baking stone to make a good crust. I preheat that oven to 425 to sear the loaf! Then back down the heat to bake. Ah, and then the aroma of that bread when it comes out fresh from the oven fills the house and the human lungs with something exquisite and delightful!

Jesus said; “I am the Bread of Life!” 

In detail he describes what he means by that.

He invites us into Discipleship.

He gathers us on the hillsides to tell us that even when the poor, mournful, meek, those seeking justice, the pure in heart, peacemakers, or persecuted, we are the blessed of God. 

Rejoice, he declares, for great is your reward in God’s good heaven!

He heals us of all our soul’s diseases.

He visits us when sick or in prison. 

He seeks us out when others reject us.

He brings us into his confidence and lets us in on the “Keys to the Kingdom.” 

Love one another.

Forgive one another.

Be reconciled to one another.

And then he breaks the news to us. 

Yes he will suffer, yes he will die, and yes, he will rise again from the dead.

And so will we! 

Jesus is the Bread of Heaven. 

He makes it vivid and clear to us what he means by that.

He wants to become a spirituality for us we can sink our teeth into just like a fresh loaf of bread out of the oven. 

Jesus is the Way! The Way of the Love of God!

Its either that or you go your own way. 

Try the hateful way…the way of prejudice, violence and warfare…or self recrimination. 

But what does that satisfy?

You may choose the Way that leads to Life or the Way that leads to Death.

Which is it? 

By the way, you can take drugs if you wish. But the evidence seems to show that leads to Death too! Duh!

Why not take life at its own speed, enjoy it for all the richness that it gives you; with all its joys and sorrows. 

The only Way is to be filled with Jesus!
Jesus is not a drug.

Jesus is the Bread of Life!

I love the stories, the history, the theology…but above all I love Jesus. He is someone I can sink my teeth into!

He teaches me how to love. Mind you some folks can make that difficult, especially those who mean us harm…but Jesus said; “Love your enemies!”  

That’s the part I struggle with. But then Paul also gives us something to sink our teeth into; “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”

Yes. A Spirituality I can sink my teeth into.

As the French philosopher/theologianTeilhard de Chardin once wrote.

"Plunge into matter. Plunge into God. By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us and molds us. We imagine it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact, we live steeped in its...layers."

   ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Amen

Fr Paul

Fullness of God and Documentation

The Fullness of God and Documentation

Good morning, Al. Ive been thinking about you lately. Many years ago a parishioner called me when I was serving at the Church of the Epiphany, in Euclid, Ohio. He told me that his best friend, Al, had just received news that he was facing a terminal illness and he was struck with terror. Al was not a parishioner and in fact, he was, what we call in the trade; “a pleasant pagan”. My parishioner wondered if I would mind going to the hospital to visit him. I did that.

When I got to the hospital, Al greeted me warmly and said somewhat sheepishly, that he was not a believer but would very much like to be. He wondered how he could become a Christian. I suggested Baptism. I briefly explained the matter to him. After all, there was that Baptism we read about last week of the Ethiopian Eunuch. And this week we read from the Acts of the Apostles; “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” Clearly Al had received the Holy Spirit and was searching to be filled with all the fullness of God. I asked the nurse for a basin of water and we stood together along with Al’s wife as his Godparents, and I baptized him “in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” 

Al’s life changed that day. He worshipped the Daily Office with us. We were few in number on weekdays but we usually had a cup of coffee and chatted afterward. One day Al said to us; “All I ask for is to be present for my daughter’s wedding” which was scheduled for about the following Spring. I told Al to see if he could “cut a deal with God”. That sounded Biblical enough for me. He did cut a deal and then, the following Spring, in a moment from heaven that I’ll never forget, he danced with to “daddy’s little girl”. Of course I was the officiant. What a day! Talk about all the fullness of God!

A little later on, Al said; “I wonder if I could make it to my son’s graduation?” The young man was working on his doctorate. Now we were talking a couple of years. I said to Al; “You’re beginning to stretch things, but go ahead; see if you can cut a deal.” He did. And he made it.

Al kept cutting deals but finally, the last deal he could cut with God was this; “Jesus, bring me safely home.” And of course, God did that. Jesus brought Al safely home. 

The key to life is to love God in all things and above all things just like today’s Collect says. That’s what it means to bring joy to your heart and to the heart of others. Walking along by the sea morning by morning I see the waves crashing onshore and today’s psalm comes to mind. 

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, *

for he has done marvelous things.

8 Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it, *

9 Let the rivers clap their hands, *

and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord,

I see dogs chasing the waves, children playing in the sand, elderly women wearing their canes walking steadily along, hale young men standing with pretty young girls, I hear foreign and domestic languages, and in it all, I feel filled with all the fullness of God. Jesus said it in the Gospel today; “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

Many of you feel filled with all the fullness of God, don’t you? Just the simplest of things you see along life’s comings and goings, inspire such joy. Yesterday, I happened to come across Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong’s song; “What a Wonderful World.” The nickname “Satchmo” was assigned to him by his friends who said his mouth looked like a “satchel”. His smile as broad and bright as as a rainbow, always fills me yet again with the wonder of it all. “I say to myself; what a wonderful world!” It doesn’t take much, going for a walk on a beautiful sunny springtime day like yesterday was, for instance.

Where do we get all this, you may wonder? I wonder about that too. How was it that I became so filled with the fullness of God? Was it my grandmother? The traumatic loss of my dad as a child? Perhaps the beauty of my childhood church? Perhaps the long lonely nights when I tried to reason it out during those times I could not sleep? I still do that. Perhaps all the above.

Where did you become filled with all the fullness of God? I’m not at all sure. But this I can tell you, you fill me with the fullness of God. It is somewhere in your music, the way you read the sacred text, at the altar rail when shoulder to shoulder, you make close to each other and the sacred spaces allotted to us in life. And then you go out to do the work God has given you to do. You care about the kids in the neighborhood, those struggling with anxiety about where they stand with this country’s skittishness over sexual orientation and transgender rights, immigration, documentation and so many other matters of controversy regarding our status with one another.

Funny thing, I’ve been doing some genealogical work and discovered that my ninth great grandfather was Captain John Gallop. He was the first Boston Harbor Pilot in the mid 1600’s. He lived on what is now known as Gallop’s Island way out there in the harbor. Later generations of Irish and Italian immigrants were quarantined on that island when they first came to these shores. It was the first bit of land they saw when they came here by the tens of thousands in their day. 

On further examination, I discovered that the “documentation” my Puritan ancestors, Irish ancestors, Cindy’s Italian ancestors, was, shall we say, questionable or scant. Captain Gallop came on a land grant. History tells us that native Americans found that documentation of  questionable validity. Native Americans didn’t grant Captain Gallop that island. He took it! As for my Irish ancestors, Cindy’s Italian ancestors, all they had to do to get here was pay passage, and get through quarantine on grandpa’s island. And as for African American immigration and the documentation for that? It took far too long for us to realize that slavery was cruel, unjust, and plain morally wrong! But here we are today, all of us together somehow, filled with all the fullness of God. 

Now what about the "Dreamers", DACA? The folks from Honduras? On what moral ground do we stand when we decide to deport them?

I like to describe myself as just a “simple parish priest”. That’s all I ever wanted to be. But someone I know and care about very much recently said; “A simple parish priest? Naw, I think of you as a feisty parish priest!”

Come to think of it, there’s probably some truth to that. When I see the poor, the homeless, the elderly, the young, the marginalized, and the foreign born…anybody who I think of as vulnerable in the social order, being bullied about by those in power, I find myself eager to “insinuate” myself into situations like that. To be filled with the fullness of God, means more than personal piety. For as Jesus points out in today’s Gospel; “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

I read about the families that are being broken up by ICE, the so-called Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency of The United States of America. I find myself wondering what I can do?  I don’t know right off hand. But, I’ll think of something. 

All through our history we’ve built churches to help organize our efforts to protect the vulnerable in our midst. The key to our future, if indeed God wants us to have a future, is for us to organize our mission and ministry among those in need and where there is any suffering or sorrow, oppression, or injustice.

How did these people build all those churches? How did they build upon the ruins of their history? I asked that question when I visited Holy Island in Britain way back in 1973. The church here at the time, was in decline. All my life, the church has been in decline. How did those Celts do it? Build churches? 

One on one they went out to discover the needs of the people? St Aidan of Lindisfarne (aka Holy Island) is my teacher. After all, if he could convert the Brits, who am I to second guess him. He built the church stone on stone, person on person. He walked everywhere. And wherever he went his first question was; “Are you Baptised?” What is the reason and purpose of your life?  What do you care most about? What do you need? How can I help? What can we do together which neither of us can do alone? Do you really know who Jesus was? Is? 

I picture Aidan sitting at the hearth with friends he made, and a sheep dog sitting between them. They talk into the wee hours of the night sharing their hearts. They discovered together who God is between them. Learning together to love, forgive, reconcile and make sense of the short time we have on the planet. And then they built a place where they could make manifest the love they shared for God and each other. 

They made the church visible. They greeted visitors skillfully. They got to know people, they baptized them in the name of the Holy Trinity, then they sent them out to do the work God gave them to do. 

But where they began was with learning where the people hurt, what they needed. By the way, these Celts were also a cheerful bunch. They had wonderful fun gatherings. They made very good beer. They knew life was short. They knew how difficult and sad life could be. They never let a Sunday go by without a celebration. In fact this is why, to this day, we call what we do; “A Celebration of the Holy Eucharist.” 

Jesus said this of being filled with all the fullness of God in today’s Gospel. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Well, Al, thank you for listening. I have a heart that is full of love for God and for these people, just like you. Captain Gallop...good morning grandpa, thanks for listening. I hope to get out to the Island this summer like I do every summer. This really is a beautiful place. There are still many more we hope will to come to these shores like we did to find a place in the sun. I pray we can find a way to welcome them. This life we live is simply an amazing gift. 

In the Name of God, the Most Holy, Undivided, and Everlasting Trinity. Amen

Fr Paul

Politics, Spirituality and Silence

Politics, Spirituality and Silence

Years ago, when I was on retreat at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York, I was walking about keeping the required silence. I came across a simple piece of art in a hallway written in exquisite calligraphy that said “Silence is the guardian of charity”. I stopped and thought about that for a while and wondered about the number of times I had used a hasty word or two and when others in my family or in my circle of friends had also used hasty words. There can be hurt, harm, and worse, there can be insult and injury. Carry that out far enough, and sharp words can lead to even more serious consequences, like actions that incite violence and even warfare.

As I thought about family history and world events I thought about the value of silence and how the keeping of it can guard the peace and kindle compassion and charity among human beings. I thought about the pursuit of justice among and between various races, ethnicities, nationalities, even in our more intimate relationships. Gender relationships are often strained and folks of various orientation can find themselves marginalized by thoughtless, insensitive and hasty words. Yes, silence is indeed the guardian of charity.

I thought of the art of listening to one another, and now, especially after the last two weeks of oratory in Cleveland and Philadelphia, I find myself "listened out". A friend of mine posted a meme on Facebook in which a large red circle was drawn. Green represented the number of times your opinion changed the opinion of someone else who disagrees with you. Red represented the times your opinions changed nothing at all but managed merely to incite anger in both the the writer and the reader. There was only the angry color of red in the circle.

Conversation is a lost art form particularly in our political life, it would seem. And yet, when practiced toward perfection, conversation can become a vehicle in which the ministry of reconciliation can occur. 

When I lived in Toronto, I remember living with a family while I attended college. In exchange for babysitting, I had a room and meals. It was a good deal. What struck me most about living with this particular family, though, was that during the evening meal there was a lengthy ritual of conversation. As the family sat down to dinner, the father of the family would preside. He happened to be the Department Chair of Greek and Latin Classics at the University of Toronto. He would call upon his children to share the events of the day. Sometimes it required a bit of encouragement. Sometimes it took a great deal of encouragement. But eventually he was able to elicit a good story or two from each of us as we recounted the events of the day. He was a masterful educator. He listened with care, he supported his children, he probed their thoughts he supported them and then he’d often challenge them to think more deeply and more critically about the convictions they were beginning to form. Dinner lasted for hours, particularly as we lingered over tea and biscuits. 

It was not an eat and run kind of family, but we have become more and more, an eat and run kind of society. We are more and more a fast food nation. We are very, very busy. 

Many years after college, I came to learn that in conflict management, listening is a primary skill. It takes time to listen. It takes a willingness to be quiet; to be silent. We have to slow down to hear each other. To listen, we have to suspend our own opinions for a space of time. Listening is hard work.

To help with the management of the communication process, I learned a convenient strategy. We called it the LAPS strategy. The acronym stood for four words:

Listen

Allow 

Probe 

Support

Let me suggest to you that to listen means to repeat what the speaker says and to check that you have heard correctly. You may be surprised how often you will need to hear it repeated because you don’t always listen carefully enough, especially the first time or two.

Perhaps even more difficult will be to allow what the speaker says. You may vehemently disagree for instance, but how can you really show that you care about what anybody says unless you allow them the right to say it?

However, once you get past the first two parts of the strategy then you can probe what the speaker says. This is often when the speaker gets to hear himself/herself and often begins to wonder just a little bit about their convictions. They begin to hear themselves speak. In its better moments, probing, can yield insight to all involved in the communication process.

Then to show that you have the courage to listen, find something to support in what has been said. With any amount of imagination you can find something in what is said with which you can agree.

By the way, this method of communication can be useful in marriage counseling or any other conflict situation. 

Nevertheless what it takes to listen is to:

Listen

Allow 

Probe

Support

Now that you have taken the time to listen to the "other" it is your turn to speak. Can your counterpart extend the same courtesy to you that you extended to them? This is the essential justice question in any conversation.

For a parliamentary system to work we will need to learn how to listen to one another. The word parliament is based, as many of you know, on the French word, “parler”, to speak. It is easy to speak. It is harder by far to listen. Listening requires spiritual discipline. The idea of parliament, whether it is in Britain, Europe, The United States or the United Nations, is to provide a vehicle for us to share ideas, concerns and interests. It is the hope of diplomats the world over, that when we sit down at the table to reason together, we can avoid conflict and warfare. Sometimes that works. Tragically, sometimes it does not.

In today's Gospel, Jesus finds himself in a situation in which he is called upon to be an arbiter in a family dispute. Interestingly he uses the occasion to teach us about our relationship to our worldly goods and verses our relationship to matters of more consequence, such as our accountability to God and to one another. As Jesus clearly says; "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Paul follows up with his encouragement to seek the things that are above. He says;  "But now you must get rid of all such things-- anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth." Really? Paul must have been listening in to some political speech making in his own time to come up with that turn of phrase.

There is hope you see. 

It sometimes takes silence. It always takes the skill of listening. Paul says that "There is a better way" when we "seek the things that are above". The ministry of reconciliation has been entrusted to us, according to Paul.~2 Corinthians 5:18. Jesus blessed the peacemakers.~Matthew 5:9. The dangers of these ministries are well documented. And while it is clear to me which of the two presidential candidates more faithfully represents Gospel values, I believe that what is even more important than my conviction is finding the pathway to peace and the route to reconciliation. 

Now that all the hoopla of the political conventions is over, a moment of prayerful silence is in order. After all, “silence is the guardian of charity”. And if we are to make our way back to a viable Golden Age of democracy we’ll need to learn to how to hold conversation. Such a discipline will require all the spiritual resources we can muster. 

May God grant us each a part to play in this sacred and holy ministry.

In the Name of God, the Most Holy, Undivided, and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.

Fr Paul

The Journal & Spirituality

You and I and Us

My journal led me to You. You led me to the "I" within me. And You led me to "Us"

For over 20 years I have been recording the events of my life in my journal. My spiritual director led me to record the feelings I had around these events since my feelings are my "angels" or messengers from You. These feelings led me to accept Your invitation to explore my life with You and Your life within me.

We dealt with difficult people like my mother and me. 

We dealt with Your church for over 42 years now. We managed a great deal of joy and compassion and conflict. You taught me to do so without complacency; an amazing lesson!

We built a homeless shelter and fed the poor. We housed battered women and children. We were resolute together against the powers and principalities. 

You led me to the ministry of reconciliation and taught me that You and I and Us are becoming increasingly One. 

You led me to retirement and You insisted that I work on in Your church. Thank You. I love the Church, her people, and her gracious buildings. You lead me to the Holy within me. You lead me to the Holy among us.

I found you in the journal, the Holy of holies within. Just by telling the truth to my heart I realized that You are there with me. The nearer I journey within my heart, the nearer You come to me as my Friend and Companion.

Like the writers of old who spoke of the "Muse", I noticed You. Thus in the art of conversation between us, we discover one another. It is in the art of conversation that we do that among our friends and the deeper that conversation goes, You too become part of our life in one another.

As the Jewish mystic Martin Buber speaks of the I-Thou relationship within
As Moses met You at the burning bush and asked Your Name
As You spoke those amazing words "I AM"
I discovered "I am" too but without the caps. 

You are my only connection to the eternal. You are my connection to those I love, those I don't love so much and those I don't know at all. But we are all still One. 

And now You led me at long last to take care of myself in these latter days. You have led me to gastric by-pass surgery and weight loss...more than 80 lbs now. 

You led me to see that I cannot do this without you. 

You led to to see the joy and compassion of seeing myself as You see me.

You are now leading me to look upon myself without complacency as I rejoice with compassion.

This I learned again just today.

So many things to learn every day, again and again.

Adieu,
Paul

Take time to be Holy

Tuesday in Holy Week. If ever there were a time to be holy, this would be it.

Take Time to Be Holy

Take time to be holy,
speak oft with thy Lord;
abide in him always,
and feed on his word.
Make friends of God's children,
help those who are weak,
forgetting in nothing
his blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy,
the world rushes on;
spend much time in secret
with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus,
like him thou shalt be;
thy friends in thy conduct
his likeness shall see.

Take time to be holy,
let him be thy guide,
and run not before him,
whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow,
still follow the Lord,
and, looking to Jesus,
still trust in his word.

Take time to be holy,
be calm in thy soul,
each thought and each motive
beneath his control.
Thus led by his spirit
to fountains of love,
thou soon shalt be fitted
for service above.

   ~A Mennonite Hymn

The Image of God

The Image of God

Christ is my constant companion. 

So are the people of God

And the people without God

That's why I love God.

Something within calls me to 

Love 

Forgive

Reconcile

It is a never ending cycle.

It is not so much that I believe in God

It is that God believes in me.

There are many to love

The poor

The outcast

The sick

The lame

Gay folks

Endless love

This is my image of God

In the people God wants me to

Love

Forgive 

Reconcile

Why do I love God?

Why do I love God's people?

It is the greatest joy of life to love God

And to love God's people

How do I know there is a God?

Deep in my heart, I know

God is not "up there"

God is "in here"

In the truth that comes through

Love 

Forgiveness

Reconciliation

In the journey deep within

I discover my heart of hearts

I discover God's heart within me

Asking me to look at you with

Love 

Forgiveness

Reconciliation

It is all that is true,

All that is noble

All that is pure

All that is holy

This is the Image of God

Fr Paul

Reversing the Decline

Reversing the Decline

A Three Pronged Approach to Revitalization in the Church

Here is an outline of my current project. I have been invited to give the keynote address at the Diocesan Convention in Montana and then tour the Diocese go give power point presentations on the following material. The Bishop of Montana, Frank Brookhart has encouraged me to write this up. Given my experience in smaller congregations in the Episcopal Church during these past 41 years, I thought it made sense to share a conceptual framework for revitalization in the local congregation. Here is an outline of the work I am doing. I am more than half way through the project, which will be a cross between a book and a manual for church leadership. 

There are lots of book out on church growth out there. What I hope to do in all this is to participate in the conversation I believe the church needs to have as we consider the challenges facing us. 

But, what I believe is this; we must begin to think about reversing the decline we are in. Frankly, I believe we have been all too passive in accepting decline as if it were inevitable. I do not think this is necessarily so. There is also a great burst of energy "out there" within the Episcopal Church in particular and within the Progressive and Emerging Church in general for a new optimism. 

To reverse the decline we are currently experiencing, I believe we need to take stock of and strategize on how we might mobilize the local congregation around three general areas of community life.

I Community Ministry: 

Organizing the church's life around the needs of real human beings for justice and healing.

One on One conversations with communities leaders. How to organize and conduct those conversations.

Research and Demographics. The critical importance of doing your homework.

Identifying Issues: The act of identifying the issue(s) the congregation will organize its life around.

Networking: Identifying allies and those who will challenge the congregation's values.

Action Plan: Identifying what the congregation will do about any particular action.

Evaluation and making Community Ministry a continuing loop of a congregation's lead mission.

II. A Membership Drive. 

This is often called a Stewardship Drive in the Episcopal Church but I am using a word here "membership" as the "marketing" side of Stewardship. In the same way that NPR and PBS run membership drives, so too the church needs to "market" itself to the world and community it finds itself in.

Thus it builds a five step Membership Development Program as follows

1. Visibility. Every congregation needs to increase its visibility.

2. Greeting. Greeting skills need to be sharpened.

3. Orientation. Congregations need to help orient newcomers to the life of the church

4. Incorporation. The membership team needs to figure out when and how to "pop" the question of formal membership.

5. Apostolic Call. The job is not done when you have a pledge card. Only when each and every member of the congregation has the opportunity to participate in the church's ministry does our work have any sense of completeness.

Ongoing then the Membership Team will continue to "manage" the membership roster on a regular basis; no less than once a month.

III. Storytelling.

The third part of each presentation will be about the importance of sharing our faith through story. We will consider the importance of small groups; from Adult forums, group spiritual direction, reading groups all the way to altar guilds and choirs and how each group provides and opportunity to tell the story of Jesus and his love for us. The spirituality of a congregation becomes part of the ultimate appeal of a church.

The essence of mission and revitalization involves this and much more. But this conceptual framework provides a beginning.

Here then is the general outline of what I hope to present to the Diocese of Montana and within my new book. Please do let me know what you think.

Fr Paul