I spent August 20-22 in the San Francisco Bay Area with 20 Episcopal clergy people who are doing ministry in a variety of West/West Coast contexts, including California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and New Mexico. 

This so called "West Coast Clergy Convivium" was convened by three Episcopal priests, (Paul Fromberg & Phil Brochard, Diocese of California; and Alissa Newton, Diocese of Olympia) who have been noticing that Episcopal Church conversations often feel very "East-Coast-centric", leaving the false impression that Episcopal identity is centered in places like New York and Virginia.  Our conveners called us together in the hopes of discovering more about what the Holy Spirit is up to in the Episcopal Church west of the Mississippi and, in particular, what wisdom might arise from reflecting together on the cultural particularities of the Western US and ministry in our particular church contexts that could be of value to the wider Episcopal Church.

We emerged from our three days together with a set of questions and commitment to continued conversations with one another and with clergy and lay people in our local ministry contexts in the months ahead. 

The questions that we will be exploring in one on one conversations in the coming months include:

• What's NEW and what's NEXT in the Episcopal Church in the West?
• What [possibly intercultural?] images from SCRIPTURE, THEOLOGY and PRACTICE might help us describe what's new and what's next? 
• How do AUTHORITY and HIERARCHY function (perhaps uniquely?)  in the West?  
• What are our practices for creating RESILIENT & FAITHFUL leaders for RESILIENT & FAITHFUL congregations in this context?
• How do we expand our THEOLOGICAL ARTICULATION of ministry in the West (while avoiding cliches)
• How are the ECONOMICS OF DISPLACEMENT a foundational part of the culture of the Western US, and how do we express this theologically?
• What is PARALLEL DEVELOPMENT? Where is it happening?  How might what's happening now BECOME what's happening next? 
• How do we carry forward the BEST of what's already happening in our tradition and context? 

So here's your big chance--if you'd like to set aside an hour to meet with me sometime in the next few months (coffee shop? bar? my backyard? zoom?) for a conversation about any of the above questions--or West Coast/Western US culture in general and its implications for ministry in the Episcopal Church--just let me know!  You can FB message me, or email me.

At the close of our gathering, we were each invited to share a single word to sum up our time together.  "Energized", "Curious", "Hopeful" were some of the words offered.  The word I offered was "Sad".  I am curious to continue to interrogate and unpack that word, and the accompanying image I created to express it (above).  

Is there something particularly "Western" about the geography of the image itself?  Are we, as Episcopal church leaders, like pioneers struggling to cross the rugged Continental Divide of Grief that separates the present Whirlpool of Fear that threatens to pull us under from the Radiant Yet Unknown Future to which God is calling us?  The glare of the sun in our eyes prevents us from seeing that future clearly. And yet we feel compelled to press ahead...to find passage beyond fear through the sometimes treacherous Mountains of Grief into the great and terrifying unknown where God has promised to go ahead of us.  

The Western Spirit of adventure and independence spurs us on, increasing the odds that we might discover some narrow, ancient path that leads us to stunning and spacious vistas we could never have dreamed of.  But, left unchecked, that same Western Spirit of rugged individualism also increases the odds that we'll get stranded alone in those mountains by an unexpected blizzard or rockslide and be forced to saw off our own leg or eat our only remaining horse to survive.  Or maybe worse, we'll make it through alive only to claim as our own those resources and riches that could never belong to us.  

Before this half-baked metaphor runs  away from me completely, I'll stop and leave you to ponder the Church, the West, and the Mountain of Sad that separates--and connects--"what's now" from "what's next" in the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement.  

Feel free to share your own thoughts & experiences in the comments, below.  [Please don't bother sharing your opinions about my generous and unconventional use of upper case letters.]

In August (2018) I was invited to be part of a retreat with the Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande.  At the Boldly Forward weekend, over 2 dozen attendees explored how the lives of Mary (Mother of Jesus), Mary Magdalene, Judith, Ruth, and Esther inspire our ministries in the 21st Century.

In working with retreat organizers Cindy Davis and the Rev. Pat Green, I was inspired to create a short sung response (with accompanying movements) for use in worship.

The text is an adaptation of Proverbs 8: 1-4. 
​
Does not Wisdom call
from the heights, on the way?
At each crossroads Wisdom is taking her stand.
To you, O people, Wisdom calls
and her cry is to all that live. 

In the video below I teach the song and explain the movements.

And in this video, I sing the song, with movements, standing on the wall of monastery ruins at Holy Island, Lindisfarne.  

​You are more than welcome to use this song in the worship life of your own community--it might work well to welcome the Gospel (what we Episcopalians call the "sequence hymn"), or to precede the reading of any Scripture. 

The statue (pictured above, left) is a depiction of St. Cuthbert erected amidst the monastery ruins on Holy Island/Lindisfarne.  Cuthbert looks remarkably like the image I had in my mind of Holy Wisdom (pictured above, right) when I created this song and movement meditation.