An Invitation to Serve

From the Catechism of the Book of Common Prayer, page 855.

Q. What is the ministry of the laity?

A. The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.

Fr. Bill Breedlove

Very soon, members of the vestry nominating committee will begin the work of establishing a slate of candidates for election to the vestry. Episcopalians value lay leadership and consider the service of lay members to be at least as of equal importance to that of the clergy. One could fairly say that lay leadership is more important since most church leadership is provided by the laity. As Episcopalians we believe that everyone has been gifted to serve in the mission of God in the world and part of that service is to take our places in the governance of the church. Serving on the vestry is one of the most important and sacred ways that a lay person can represent Christ and his Church. If you were to ask recent past members of the vestry and those currently serving as vestry members about their experiences, I think you would hear them say that the ministry of a vestry person is firstly a spiritual and formative experience, a chance to grow in fellowship with others, and then that it is about the administration of church business.

While not all churches can claim this, we are blessed to have a healthy and vital vestry to go along with a healthy and vital parish. Now is a great time to serve. I invite all members of the parish to prayerfully consider standing for election to the vestry. I know that not all those who stand for election will be elected but your faithfulness in making yourself available is appreciated by the whole church and is a great witness to your willingness to be a servant to the servants of God. Please contact members of our vestry senior class - Deanna Dubose, Chuck Van Gorder, and Elmer Wilson - to let them know you would like to stand for election.

Grace and peace to all,

Fr Bill

Spiritual DNA

“In the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

— Acts 5:38-39

In the Book of Acts, we find a lawyer Gamaliel speaking to the Temple elite, telling them to take no action against the apostles and their nascent faith community. Gamaliel reminds them that, as has been the case of the many leaders and movements that came before the Jesus movement, if this new movement is not of God it will die. I would add that if a community does not remain in God’s purposes it will also die.

Every faith community has a genesis moment in which its “spiritual DNA” is created and its foundational character and purpose are established. God is up to something new when a faith community first gathers and takes root, working his will in and through the lives of his people in a particular place. Reflection upon that genesis moment and the subsequent development of a church are important matters for church leaders and church members. Remaining true to or deviating from its spiritual DNA may explain much about whether a particular church thrives or fails to thrive.  

Good Shepherd is no different in this matter. Its genesis moment was the coming together of Clay County residents who had been traveling to Murphy for Sunday services and their friends. It was founded by a mixed group of Episcopalians and their non-episcopal spouses who found comfort, support, and welcome in their small Clay County gathering. Initially meeting in each other’s homes, they planted in Clay County a faith community whose spiritual DNA is encoded for showing welcome and hospitality to all seeking to belong regardless of prior religious affiliation. This faith community will continue to thrive if we continue to embrace and continue to live into the full implications of our spiritual DNA.  We must not take for granted that we are and will remain welcoming, but we must be intentional in looking for and greeting those among us who are new, those who are visiting, and those in the community who have not yet found us. We must widen the circle of those who feel at home among us. May God continue to give us the opportunity, the will, and the courage to accomplish his purposes for this church.

In Christ’s service,

Fr Bill+ 

Stewardship

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. ”

— Luke 12:48

Over the years I have heard many things said about stewardship and the practice of stewardship described in various ways. Most often, I have heard stewardship being brought out of the closet and dusted off for the annual giving campaign. It is time once again for people to re-up their pledge to the parish so out comes the idea of stewardship to make an appearance in sermons, parish announcements, newsletters, letters from annual pledge drive committees and so forth. During that season of stewardship, we often hear about something called a tithe and perhaps that the Biblical standard is a 10% tithe. Is that 10% of the gross or net, of earned income or all assets? I let all that wash over me without wondering if anything I knew about stewardship was correct.

Most fundamentally, stewardship is how we respond at all times to God’s gracious gift of all we have. Yes, those gifts include our money and our time and our talents. But that is not everything. It also includes the people in our lives, our relationships, our own being, the things in the world around us, and all else we can imagine. Stewardship is about embracing all that God has given as unmerited gift and then responding to that deep understanding with the greatest degree of gratitude possible. As gifts given, as unmerited gifts given, we are challenged to use those gifts in response to God’s love for us. A grateful person, one who embraces the fact that all they have is the product of God’s grace, is one who gives freely and generously, not calculating percentages or the difference between gross and net income, nor thinking solely in terms of time, talent, and treasure. Knowing that God is the source of our gifts, and trusting that God both has provided and will provide again, should be sufficient to overcome fears that if we are generous in giving we will not have enough for our own needs. The truth is that when our hands are tightly closed around the gifts we have received we can neither share those gifts as they were meant to be shared nor can we receive the more that God is always pouring out upon God’s people and all of creation.

We are a parish that has been given much and with grateful hearts gives generously to support this church and its many, many ministries. The words of scripture tell us that having been entrusted with much, much more will be asked of us. I invite all members of this parish to reflect in this post-Pentecost season of growth on the gifts they have been given and how they express their gratitude for those gifts. Developing an attitude of gratitude and increasing our generosity now will prepare us for the time when much more will be asked of us.

With gratitude for the gift of you,

Fr Bill+ 

Engage, Share, Create

“The bold engagement is happening, the blessings are being shared, and folks are finding their way to Good Shepherd.”

I received some inspiring news that I want to share with those who may not have heard. On a recent Tuesday evening, nineteen young women from Hayesville High met with a group of our women to launch a new ministry to young women. They shared a meal, talked about ideas for the group, and are meeting again. That same week, a similar number of younger folks gathered on a Friday evening with the leaders of our Children, Youth, and Family Ministry Council for food, games, fun, and movies. You may have seen the banner for this young people’s event out on the driveway. My heart is full of gratitude and thanksgiving for all those who helped make these two events happen. The next day, Saturday, I came to church and found a hearty bunch of parishioners working toward completing our playground and then dressing up our grounds. I have heard that the public has noticed our playground. That same day, thirty four women attended an informative talk given by Dr. Bud Edmondson on Women’s Heart Health. There were a number of visitors to Good Shepherd in that audience. And then, the next day, Sunday! Whoever has been inviting friends and sharing the good news about Good Shepherd, keep it up. If you have been sitting near the back at the 10:45 service, I think you have seen what I have seen: lots of new faces, families, and children. Friends, the nursery is full! Thank you, Cheryl and nursery volunteers. You are making an impact. 

Good things are happening and continue to happen at Good Shepherd. Please join me in giving thanks to God for these many blessings. Believe me, there are more to share. Your vestry has provided for us a vision for our parish to boldly engage the world, to share the blessings we have received, and to create something of Heaven on Earth in our community. The bold engagement is happening, the blessings are being shared, and folks are finding their way to Good Shepherd. Be sure to welcome them by introducing yourself to those whom you do not know and making it a practice to say hello to them when you see them. When we visited a small church in Wisconsin near where I was in seminary, a man named Mark greeted us at a campfire cookout that followed church that day. The next time we attended, there was Mark making it a point to greet us by name. Mark was not a greeter or an usher. He just did what I hope all of us would do in recognizing new people and greeting them by name, making it a point to let them know that they recognized and known. Let us all be good shepherds of these folks that God is leading to Good Shepherd. 

In gratitude and thanksgiving for all of you,

Fr Bill+ 

Believing and Seeing

“God willing, we will boldly engage the world, sharing our many blessings, and in that create heaven on Earth one person at a time.”

Since at least the Enlightenment, Western culture has been dominated by a world view based in reason, empirical evidence, and the scientific method. That world view has brought tremendous material advance for many people and potential material gains for many more. Deserts have been turned into gardens, the food supply vastly increased, diseases have been subdued and overall life expectancy extended to the frontiers of our physical makeup. I was trained into that community, even if as merely a social scientist. My colleagues in the physical sciences would remind me on occasion that what they did was the real, hard science. Regardless, I shared with them a basic set of premises that included the essential idea “seeing is believing.” We have perhaps all been trained in that same elementary scientific principle that what is is what can be observed in some way. We are unlikely to be shocked when someone asks to “see the evidence” or says “show me the data.” The basic idea is simple. Seeing precedes believing, with the often unstated assumption that seeing is a neutral act. A quick review in your mind of Jesus’ ministry may remind you that folks in his day also asked for evidence. “Give us a sign” is the way they may have put the question.

There is, however, another approach. Some call it post-modern in order to say that it has superseded, or comes after, the modern scientific worldview that came before. But what is post-modern is actually something that existed in the early church. In the writings of St Anslem of Canterbury from the 11th century AD we find the notion of “fides quaerens intellectum” meaning “faith seeking understanding” and much before him in the 5th century writings of St Augustine of Hippo “crede, ut intelligas” meaning “believe so that you may understand.” In either case, the idea is that believing, a reasoned faith commitment, precedes and guides understanding. In contrast to modernism, the seeing and what is seen, and the reality that comes into being depends on a vision shaped by faith and faith commitments. Stated simply, “believing is seeing” and what you will come to see depends on the vision that you in faith believe you are called to create. This is no mere wishful thinking, but rather calls for actions that are believed helpful for bringing that vision into reality.

I am pleased that your vestry has crafted a vision statement for Good Shepherd. It is a statement of faith in the possibility that with God’s help we can and should make the world a better place and realize something of heaven on Earth. It is a statement that captures the faith and values of this parish and dares dream of a brighter future for all people who are drawn to, participate in, and are sent our from this shining city on a hill. This vision for Good Shepherd works alongside our Strategic Plan goals and gives that plan a foundational statement. You will see that vision statement appearing soon in different places as an encouragement and reminder. God willing, we will boldly engage the world, sharing our many blessings, and in that create heaven on Earth one person at a time. This is a high and lofty vision. Imagine what would happen if we reached it.

Grace and peace and vision be with you,

Fr Bill+ 

Sacraments and Healing

““Even if we do not fully understand the sacrament, grace has been promised to us through reception of the sacrament.””

— Fr. Bill Breedlove

Episcopalians are sacramental people. That is, our spirituality is one that involves the regular and frequent use of the sacraments of the church as a central and necessary aspect of our lives as the people of God. Our word sacrament comes from the Latin sacramentum which itself is a translation of the Greek word musterion meaning “mystery, something hidden, not obvious to understanding.” The Book of Common Prayer defines a sacrament as an “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” Stated otherwise, sacraments are physical representations, signifiers, and the means by which God’s grace is given with certainty to God’s people. As musterion, “the what is happening and how does that work” of a sacrament may not be obvious or understood, but it is our faith that Christ gave us the sacraments as a pledge of his love for us. Even if we do not fully understand the sacrament, grace has been promised to us through reception of the sacrament. Their efficacy does not rest on our understanding or much else about us, but in the love, promise, and faithfulness of God. 

Many people are familiar with the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both involve the use of physical things that signify the granting of God’s grace upon the recipient. The water of baptism signifies being united with Christ in his baptism, his burial and his resurrection. The sign of the cross with chrism oil on the forehead of the newly baptized signifies spiritual regeneration and new life in Christ as a member of God’s household. But more than simply signifying some change, sacraments bring about the change to which they point. Baptism is a healing sacrament in that our sins are forgiven, we are united with Christ, and our spirits are regenerated. Renewing our Baptismal vow is a way of reclaiming that blessing and recommitting our lives to that life in Christ. In the Lord’s Supper, bread and wine become for us in our prayer of Thanksgiving those things Jesus offered to his disciples on the night before he died for us. They are physical means by which we are assured that the love of God, the forgiveness of sins, and strengthening are given to us. In the Rite I prayer, we give thanks for the “innumerable benefits” given through receiving the body of Christ, for the forgiveness of sins and “all other benefits of his passion.” Our faith and Eucharist prayer say that whatever it is that you need from your loving Father in heaven, you are given in the Eucharist: forgiveness of sin, strengthening of faith, the grace to work reconciliation with another person, the healing of your body or mind or spirit, or some other benefit from God who seeks to give all good things to his children.

A lesser known sacrament, but one especially related to healing the sick is that of unction. You can find the liturgy for unction in the Prayer Book under the heading Ministration to the Sick. That liturgy includes the confession of sins because sin can be an impediment to healing, and then the laying on of hands and the anointing of the sick person with holy oil. The words spoken by the person who anoints may be very few such as those stated in the Prayer Book, “I anoint you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” It is our faith in God’s love, our faith in the effectiveness of confession, our faith in the sacraments, and God’s faithfulness, not the wordiness of our prayer, that matter. 

We are sacramental people. Come in faith and receive the sacraments as means of healing. They are God’s gifts to the church for the regular and frequent use by God’s children.

Grace and peace,

Fr Bill+ 

Reconciliation

“The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”

Our Prayer Book catechism answers the question “What is the mission of the Church” with the bold reply “The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” That mission of the Church is lived out in many ways in our parish including worship, Christian formation experiences, our community life, and outreach, among others. In worship, we recall who we are as the people of God, we confess where we have fallen short in our relationship with God and others, as a sign of being reconciled we pass the peace, and then as reconciled people we gather as one around the Lord’s table. In our Christian formation experience, we learn more about and draw closer to God. Our life together in community is a way of expressing and growing our unity. Our outreach to others is a way of showing our gratitude for our being reconciled and to offer that same grace of reconciliation to others.

While this is the ongoing mission of the Church, the season of Lent has traditionally been a time where reconciliation is given special emphasis. It is a season of the Church year that begins on Ash Wednesday with a reading from the Gospel according to Matthew. We hear Jesus speaking about the pious practices of almsgiving, prayer and fasting that the reading suggests he assumes people are doing. Done in the proper spirit, these practices are seen by our Father in heaven and result in a store of heavenly treasure, the greatest being eternal relationship with God. Jesus recognized in his day that so much of what people should have been doing to seek unity with God was instead directed to gain the praise of others and the treasures in this world. The reading directs us examine our lives - our almsgiving, our prayer life, all the various things which we have come to enjoy too much and from which we might need to fast - to make amendment of life where necessary, and in some cases to seek reconciliation with God through the Rite of Reconciliation beginning on page 447 in the Prayer Book.

The Episcopal view on private confession with a priest is that “all may, some should, none must.” This is something I will be doing for myself and I invite all who feel called to make their confession to take advantage of that Rite this Lent. I have scheduled Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, 10:00 am-Noon to hear private confessions. If you have not made your confession before, I am happy to talk with you about your preparation.

In Christ’s service,

Fr Bill+ 

Why Lent?

Deriving its name from the Anglo-Saxon word “lencton” - meaning lengthening - the season of Lent occurs at a time of year when the days are lengthening. It is a most appropriate name for that reason but even more so because it is the time of year in which the Light that has come into the darkness is made most manifest in the Passion of Jesus Christ and it is the time of year during which people turn toward and make preparation to receive that Light anew on Easter Sunday. Because it is the season of reparation and preparation, it became the time in the Church year in which notorious sinners underwent public penance and were readmitted to communion before the Easter Feast and the time of year in which those seeking for the first time admission into the Church would undergo their final preparation for baptism at the Great Vigil of Easter. While the Church has moved away from ex-communicating and then readmitting “notorious” sinners (who has clean hands anyway?) the feel and themes of Lent remain penitential and it is now the whole body of the faithful who share in corporate confession and reparation. With practices brought forward from the Old Testament, where repentance is given symbolic expression in the donning of sack cloth and ashes, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with the declaration that God hates nothing that God has made and forgives the sins of all who are penitent, and the imposition of ashes for those desiring an outward expression of their inward penitence. While sack cloth is not in keeping with current fashion, churches do something parallel in the veiling of crosses and statuary and the use of unbleached linens. In our readings for the season, we listen for, hear, and reflect on messages of conversion, baptism, and the promise of new life.

This Ash Wednesday we will again take blessed ashes out of the church into the world for those whose work and whose school schedules keep them from attending either the noon or 7:00 pm services that day. Please join us at 7:00 am in the courtyard if you are in that former category and invite your friends to Ash Wednesday at Good Shepherd. During the forty days of Lent we will gathering on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 pm for a simple supper and a teaching on the “Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell” - very appropriate for the season of Lent when we consider again matters of sin, death, judgment, and the gift of God in Christ that gives eternal life. Holy Week is the final week of Lent. Thanks to the great work of so many last year, I am anticipating this year another deeply spiritual Holy Week that takes us from Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday through his death and burial on Good Friday and the Great Vigil of Easter where we welcome back the Light of Christ. Keep an eye on the announcements and newsletter for information on these and other opportunities to experience the meaning of Lent. And because it may be the most appropriate time for them to do so, I encourage you to invite someone you know who has slipped in their faith journey to reconnect with God this Lent. Invite them to come and see, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” - Book of Common Prayer, p. 265. 

Grace and peace,

Fr Bill+

The Life of the Church

“Yet it is important to understand that with that blessing comes a challenge.”

It is apt that Scripture speaks of the church as the body of Christ. Like a body, we understand the church to be composed of many parts with many functions. Like a body, we understand that church has needs that must be met if the church is to remain healthy. Like a body, the church has a purpose and thrives when properly exercised and applied toward those things for which it was meant. And also like a body, the church is born, grows, and changes. The church, like a living thing, has a life cycle. While there are limits to this analogy, understanding the church as a living thing should keep us mindful that birth, growth, and change are normal experiences for the church. Good Shepherd is blessed to be a healthy and vital church, and to be a church that is on the cusp of potentially significant growth. Yet it is important to understand that with that blessing comes a challenge.

Church growth experts would tell us that Good Shepherd is at a transitional point in its life cycle. In terms of our current average worship attendance, Good Shepherd has grown beyond what is called in the church literature a Pastoral Church, but has not reached the size, organizational structure and full functioning of a Program Church. Operating in between those two types of church, we are currently living with two sets of cultures and expectations. A Pastoral Church culture places the minister at the center of community life. The minister is expected to be involved in all decisions, attend all events, and personally handle all pastoral calls. Delegated lay leadership and programs are not expected features of the Pastoral Church but they define the Program Church. In the former, decision making and management of decisions happens at the vestry level while in the latter vestries are visioning bodies who set the course for the direction of the church and who help ministry heads develop strategies for reaching that vision. In the former, it is the minister and relationship with the minister that matter most while in the latter it is the quality and diversity of programs that bring people together that matters. 

The transition between the two kinds is the most challenging place for a church to be and is the environment that can most quickly burn out leadership. Most churches do not successfully grow from Pastoral to Program because it is a painful process for both the laity and the clergy. Growth may mean that the church will no longer be a place where everyone knows who you are. Growth may mean losing personal access to the minister. Growth may mean that a ministry dear to your heart will no longer receive the same attention as before. In this kind of culturally conflicted church environment, people may become unhappy and leave. Consequently, transitional churches rarely make the transition and typically regress back toward a Pastoral sized church. This is the challenge of the blessing we now hold.

Your vestry and I are committed to honoring that blessing and seeing Good Shepherd through the transition. We invite your participation. Let us be a church where all members are Christ’s ministers set out to build the church. We invite your encouragement. Stay connected with each other and reconnect with a friend who you have not seen recently at church. Ask what you can do to serve them and invite them to come and see the good things happening here. We invite your prayers. Let us all give thanks for the many blessings we share as members of this parish. There is much to commend about holding an attitude of gratitude. And now we pray, “God make your name hallowed in this place, your will be done in and through us, allow us the blessing of participating in the building of your Kingdom.”

Fr Bill+

Eucharist

“When we gather for Eucharist we offer our own thanksgiving. ”

Holy Communion, Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, the Great Thanksgiving. Different terms for an act of worship that the Book of Common Prayer presents as central to our identity as Episcopalians and our worship of God. Probably because of my childhood experiences in the Roman Catholic church, to do church has always been to celebrate Eucharist. However, it was not until much later that I even thought to ask questions about Eucharist, its meaning and its liturgy. What I have found so far in my study is something more profound and mysterious than I could have imagined.

The word Eucharist comes from the words Jesus spoke at the Last Supper, that Passover meal where we are told that he took break and gave thanks, broke the break and gave it to his friends. The Greek word for giving thanks is Eucharist. When we gather for Eucharist we offer our own thanksgiving. In Eucharist to God, we present our offerings - called “oblations” in churchspeak - of bread and wine and the fruit of our labors. In our Eucharistic prayers, we give thanks for what God has done for us in salvation history, for forgiving our sins and for granting us eternal life. And in thankful obedience we do what Jesus commanded us to do in remembrance of him. That is, recalling his words, we take bread and wine, give thanks for those, and break and share them as one body gathered around one table. 

Unfortunately, this remembrance has been a source of heated debate and division in the church. Some think of remembrance in the common sense of “to recall or bring to mind” and so think that Jesus is saying something like “do this so that you do not forget me.” To those who think this way, the Eucharistic meal is a memorial service. Yet, for Jews to recall an event like the Passover was not merely to remember but to make something from the past present to them in the current moment. Thought of in this way, when we remember Jesus’ words we are remembered with Jesus and the disciples at that Last Supper evening and with Christians everywhere with whom Christ is present in the celebration of Eucharist. For this reason, some say they believe in the “real presence” of Christ at the Eucharist.

The Episcopal tradition has been to teach the “real presence” of Christ in the Eucharist but not to have an official or authoritative explanation of how that happens which must be believed in order to be a member of this church. As a broad and inclusive church that stands between the Roman Catholic and Reformed Churches, what you will hear in our Eucharistic liturgy is something that embraces both traditions. “These are the gifts of God for the people of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you.” “This is the body of Christ, the bread of heaven.”

Now, if any of this has piqued your curiosity, days off purgatory are offered for locating in the Eucharistic prayer the “sursum corda,” “sanctus,” and “epiclesis.”

Fr Bill+