Good News People

So the new Diocesan Academy for Formation and Mission is well and truly off and running. I had thought to post some themes from our first weekend together, but for now I am going to let that gather some steam and put something different, though not altogether unrelated, on the table. This evening I picked up a half read report from the Church of England on the the work of Diocesan Evangelists. This role is definitely evolving but may become ever more useful as the Church and the World change. The term and the role have some heavy baggage and an inconsistency of example that makes it difficult to recognize. So appropriately enough, this report is called "Good News People: Recognizing Diocesan Evangelists" from Church House Publishing in 1999. Their findings are compelling:

We therefore came to understand the word 'evangelist' as describing someone, man or woman, lay or ordained:
*who goes where the church is not;
*who proclaims and lives the gospel: the way in which this 'proclamation' takes place is essentially contextual, and is by no means limited to preaching or even to verbal communication;
*who interprets the Church to the world and the world to the Church;
*who comes from the centre of the Church and feeds from its riches and is accountable to it as well as challenging it;
*who encourages the whole Church in its work of evangelism, not least by communicating the gospel to those inside as well as outside the Church.

In many ways, this is what I feel called to do, despite the fact it seems like the exact opposite of the natural inclinations of my personality. The life of a monastic does feel like my natural inclination. However, when I met with the abbot of my Benedictine community to discuss some of the possibilities surrounding my call and the education I was hoping to undertake (this was about two or three months before the plan for the Academy blessedly reached me: Good News indeed), she said that what she was hearing was a more active and world engaged life than is possible in the cloister.

We shall see. For now, the end of another day. Amen.

Shaking the Subjunctive

So. Though the new diocesan Academy for Formation and Mission's grand opening is a week from today, we had a bit of a soft opening last night at the home of our new professor. The Dean and Chaplain were on hand to lend their guidance as well. There are a whirlwind of possibilities that remain to be incarnated in our experience and practice, but we are indeed off and running.

The revised syllabus arrived today. There are three main assignments or points to consider at present. The homework itself is the first part of our text and the Book of Acts with a reflection paper. We are also working to consider how to be a praying community together in the time between our intensive weekends. The Dean warned us not to think of this as something that happens every two weeks, but that it is something that is a part of our lives every day. The Dean, another of the students and myself are all part of my Benedictine community. From what I know of the other members of our new academy community, they also are not strangers to fostering bonds of study, prayer, and community while balancing daily concerns. It is still slightly in the future, but I believe we will live into something life giving both to ourselves but also as a source of strength and inspiration that can be channelled into the situation of our lives and ministry.

The third item is to carefully consider the syllabus and to raise any questions and concerns before our first official meeting. In the words of our professor, It is to become a covenant between us and that bears dialog prior to accepting that responsibility. I find myself with one concern. It reads in part, particularly as concerning our research paper, as if we already know where we will end up. In fact the core of the research paper assignment is to delve into sources for the order of ministry to which we are called. Yikes. That is at least half of why I am here: to find the answer to that question. Which order of ministry (lay, deacon, or priest) best enables me "to do the work you have given us to do" (as we pray each week in the postcommunion prayer)?

I started writing this post as a way to get out all the things that I did not want to include in my official response. Because all I could think about were the myriad forms a life in ministry could take. I was hoping to avoid putting all that on the table as part of what my professor had to wade through to understand my concern. However, it looks like even the blog will be spared that morass of subjunctivity. A few sentences from the above paragraph, but a little bit of background concerning my understanding of how discernment was to be part of the work of the Academy. While this is definitely true in terms of as a proving ground, i.e. whether postulants go on to be candidates; I believe the Academy can be a powerful in moving Aspirants to their next stage of formation whether to a Postulant for Holy Orders or some other form of ministry. We would not part of this developing community if we were not apiring to something.

Once again this sounding board has done me a great service just by providing space to type and collect.

Blessings to the ethers of the internet and upon any who happen upon these words. May we all find our place in God's kingdom for there is work enough for us all to do. Amen.