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What Will the New Year Bring? January 2, 2012

Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Books Worth Reading, Faith & Culture, Resources, Spirituality, Tolerance, Uncategorized.
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I’m not one to make New Year’s resolutions.

Partly because I’m not very good at following through with them. Yes, I always say I will lose weight, exercise more or keep up with the laundry and cleaning better. Today I’ve noticed an extra number of joggers on the roads and many folks posting what their resolutions are going to be on Facebook. And I’ve learned there is a App to make sure you stay on track with your resolution.

I’m wondering if I should resolve to post more regularly here. That’s a tough one; I already blog daily at Building Faith and weekly at The Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education. With editing manuscripts and writing educational program materials, that’s a lot of writing. So, I’ll probably pass on this as a resolution.

However, this afternoon I cleaned up my office. AKA moving around file folders, straightening up books-to-be-read stacks, and filing receipts and clips I’ve torn out of magazines for some future reference. I rediscovered a number of books that I’ve picked up on my travels. I’m a sucker for book stores at conferences. I’ve started a few, but got sidetracked with other reading material. And my Kindle often takes precedence if I’m traveling (or looking for mindless entertainment).

In looking back at 2011, I’ve read plenty of books. Lots are work-related (I wrote the study guide for several*, so I really did read these) and definitely have a theme to them.

  • Love Wins: A Book About Heaven and Hell by Rob Bell
  • Christian Formation 2020 by John Roberto
  • Formational Children’s Ministry by Ivy Beckwith
  • Child by Child: Supporting Children with Learning Differences and Their Families by Susan Richardson (as editor)
  • Conversations with Scripture: Daniel by Edmund Desueza and Judith Jones*
  • Conversations with Scripture: Judges by Roy Heller*
  • Tweet if you ♥Jesus: Practicing Church in the Digital Reformation by Elizabeth Drescher
  • What Episcopalians Believe: An Introduction by Samuel Wells*
And some (fewer than I’d wish) were for pleasure:

So what’s on the list for 2012? Guess I should tackle that stack in my office:

Hmmmm . . . I sense a theme. Could 2012 be telling me something? What book would you recommend I add to my list?

Monks & Angels October 7, 2011

Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in On the Road Again, Spirituality, Uncategorized, Worship.
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I spent last week at Holy Cross Monastery, located in West Park, New York along the Hudson River. Part of the Order of the Holy Cross, the brothers are an Anglican Benedictine Community of Men whose primary work as a community is worship and prayer. The Monastery has a ministry to the community, offering hospitality and worship.

What brought me to Holy Cross was the annual Retreat with Adults Who Work With Youth, led by Jenifer C. Gamber, author of My Faith, My Life and musician Fran McEndree. Being able to reconnect with others whose passion is youth ministry was my primary goal, the second being some time away for personal reflection and rest. I received both. (You can also check out participant and photographer George Reiner’s blog for another perspective of the retreat and life at the monastery).

Outside of our plenary gatherings and group meditations, I spent my time in my little room (one might call it a ‘cell’) reading, writing, and yes, sleeping. I realized the rhythm of the day in a monastic community fit me well, and I grew more and more comfortable sitting in the chapel in silence, being summoned five times a day by the tolling of bells.

The day begins with Matins at 7:00am, followed by a silent breakfast. The Holy Eucharist is celebrated at 9:00am and the day then commences with whatever one might choose to do. At noon, we gathered again in the church for Diurnum (Midday Office) followed by lunch. The first part of the meal is eaten in silence, as one of the brothers reads a chapter from a book. While there I learned a little about how the Puritans (and others) determined whether the Sabbath was to be on Saturday or Sunday – a random piece of information. The work day closes with Vespers at 5:00pm. Compline is sung at 8:30pm in anticipation of God’s care through the night, followed by silence until we join together again at Matins in the morning.

Entering the “great silence” for about 12 hours brought new meaning to the opening sentences of Matins, which we also say in Morning Prayer at the Invitatory:

  • Officiant: Lord, Open our lips.
  • People: And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

The services were all chanted, and we were invited to participate in singing (quietly), allowing the brothers to hear each other as they seek to sing with “one voice.” With candles and incense, one can really enter another dimension in time and space.

A treat was being at Holy Cross on the Feast Day of St. Michael & All Angels, September 21st. Brother Andrew’s sermon was particularly thought provoking:

Next year will be my fiftieth anniversary of ordination – fifty years of pastoring, praying and preaching.  And this is the first time I remember preaching about the angels!!!

That feels odd because Scripture is full of angels… from the Garden of Eden to the garden in Revelation.  Angels with Abraham, angels with Lot, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel.  Hosts of them at the Birth of Jesus.  They appear to kings, to the poor. They glorify God in heaven and tromp the earth.  They are fearful and beautiful.  Some are righteous and some are crooked. They bear good news and they mutiny and rebel.

How come I’ve never preached on them?  Well, we’ve become so rational and so intellectually elite that we scorn such quaint ideas.  Unless, of course, we’ve gone off the deep end and into that place where people see angels everywhere… guarding their cars, in the garden like gnomes and fairies, or hovering over babies.

We don’t become angels when we die; they don’t get their wings when a bell on a Christmas tree rings; Della Reese and John Travolta are not angels! Nor do we become angels when we die.  Cherubs were never babies.

We’ve given up the angels!  We have let them go to those we call superstitious or the naïve.  We have turned them into shadows of themselves and stolen their power.  The mystery and beauty have become suspect.

But Scripture shows us beings with power.  Maybe that’s why we don’t mention them. We don’t quite understand what they’re all about.  They’re messengers. They speak for God…and so we fear them.  Each instance of their appearing seems to be imbued with awe.  They don’t look different, but their power and presence means that they usually have to start their messages with “Do not be afraid.”  Fearful and wonderful!

I think most faiths have the equivalent of our angels – beings from the heart of the Divine power who testify and challenge and protect the created universe.

It’s sad that we ignore them and I miss them.  Especially now, I miss them.  Now when other powers are rampaging in rage and arrogance and blindness through the world.  

Michael, Archangel, we need you!  We need your righteous sword that will cast down injustice and war-mongering. Defy tyrants.  Stand in darkened rooms where children are raped and protect them. Raise your hand against wife beaters and bullies. Give power to the weak; strength to the afflicted.

Gabriel, Archangel, who stood before the Maiden and announced a Savior, speak again!  Speak of the One who comes to dark and empty places in the human soul. Call us back! Proclaim the freeing Word that gives hope to the hopeless and joy to the mourners. Announce the coming of the One who restores and makes new.

Raphael, Archangel, spread healing in famine ridden Africa and in Asia; and in our military hospitals, in half-way houses, and under the bridges where homeless people shelter. Fight for an end to endemic illnesses; bring nourishment to the people starving needlessly. Teach us to spend our resources on life not on death.

Uriel, Archangel, you stand in God’s Presence where there is only Light.  Shine Light in our darkness.  This world is subsumed by the darkness of greed in business, in government.  Light must shine on the needs of the poor; on prisoners and addicts.

Angels in all your hosts, strengthen our voices to glorify the Redeemer, to speak to and for the lonely and voiceless.  Guard our children, cradle the sorrowful.  Shine, for God’s sake shine!

Now maybe that’s too outlandish for belief.  Maybe I’m verging too far on superstition.

But I don’t care. If you don’t believe in the angels, then for Christ’s sake become one.  Become a healer, and a proclaimer; become a warrior against hunger and hopelessness and evil.  Be a Light Bearer in the darkness around us.

Do that for Love’s sake and, believe me, you will find yourself on the side of the Angels…you will be Messengers of God, bearers of good tidings, protectors and lovers of God and God’s people. And the angels will rejoice!

That’s probably good enough!

Amen.

In God we live and move and have our being . . . September 4, 2011

Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Earth Day, On the Road Again, Spirituality, Thoughts & Ramblings, Uncategorized.
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The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’” Acts 17:24-28

It’s been two years since I spent 8 days disconnected to the world.  It was a time I was also most connected to the earth. No phone, no e-mail. No electricity or plumbing. Water. Rock. Sand. Open sky. I was an insignificant fleck in the midst of something too large to fathom.

Along with my husband and our two 20-something children, we were on an adventure of a lifetime. We were rafting down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.  Along with nine other adults and two guides, we embarked at Lee’s Ferry just over the border from southern Utah onto one of the Colorado’s tributaries. It looked like an ordinary river with some interesting cliffs springing out of the ground. After stopping under a shaded outcropping of rock for introductions and safety instructions, the water began to have a life of its own. From then on it was water, shale, limestone, sandstone, and more water. Colors and shadows changed with every turn. Silence, except for the water lapping onto the sides of the pontoons. Or the screams of all of us as we hung on for dear life going through a rapid, to come out at the bottom laughing and shivering from the frigid waters that drenched our skin.

August 9, 1869 – “The river turns sharply to the east and seems enclosed by a wall set with a million brilliant gems. On coming nearer we find fountains bursting from the rock high overhead, and the spray in the sunshine forms the gems, which bedeck the wall. The rocks are covered with mosses and ferns and many beautiful flowering plants.” Major John Wesley Powell from his exploratory expedition journal into “. . . the Great Unknown.”

Layer after layer we went back in time as we floated farther into the Canyon. The dark contorted rocks of the Inner Gorge are the ancient, highly metamorphosed remains of even older sedimentary and igneous rocks. How ancient? Detailed studies of radioactive elements reveal that the Canyon’s oldest rock, the Vishnu Schist, was metamorphosed some 1.7 billion years ago. I couldn’t help but think, “In the beginning, God created . . .”

The rhythm of the water and the lights of the heavens marked our days and nights. We were up at sunrise and usually in our sleeping bags soon after the light left the canyon. Meals were prepared wherever we found a flat place to “park” and set up camp. Lying on my back, with my glasses on, I fell asleep under the Milky Way with more stars than I had ever seen before; I was in a living planetarium.

Each morning we awoke to the sound of birds, sitting up in our bedrolls to discover the tiny tracks of the ringtail cats that had circled us while we slept on the sand. The early sunshine glowed red off the canyon walls; shades of orange on what had been pink the evening before. What would this day bring? What part of creation would we experience for the first time?

Although most of the Grand Canyon is dry and arid, it teems with life. Day hikes into side canyons gave us opportunities to discover tree frogs, sand verbena and evening primrose. Every crevice, every rock and every stream opened up God’s creation to us in new and unexpected ways. Tiny desert flowers and cacti of all varieties grew out of the rock. Small streams trickling down the side of cliffs would host moss and fern. Mule deer and Desert Bighorn Sheep were common sights, once hunted by the native peoples of the Canyon, the Hualapai. Today their descendants, the Havasupai Indians, try to live by the traditional concept of harmony with all life. They want to preserve the natural beauty of their homeland, believing themselves to be inseparable from the land. Could I live here forever?

A week later, the canyon walls began to lower, and we began our entrance into Lake Mead. On the last day of our voyage, civilization began to creep back . . . helicopter tours circling above us, catching a glimpse the ‘viewing bridge’ placed over a side portion of the canyon for tourists. The Canyon was behind us, but the dust remained in us – in our shoes, our clothes, under our skin. The dust of the earth of which we were created.

In Acts, Paul speaks to the Athenians about God as creator of all, and of the irrelevance of temples that cannot contain the divine reality. We had been in a temple made by God. All of creation is God’s temple. Paul harkens back to Genesis, and the creation of the world. Such is the Grand Canyon. Impossible to be made by human hands, but filled with life where many would say it could not exist. Ever changing, slowly through the millennia.

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We are just a small part of God’s immense, indescribable creation. The “Great Unknown” might be around the next corner or river bend, where we can see God working in us and around us and through us. Water. Rock. Sand. Sky. Such is the stuff of life. Such is the stuff of the Creator.

This, Too, Is Heaven January 26, 2011

Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Books Worth Reading, Prose & Poetry, Spirituality, Thoughts & Ramblings.
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It’s snowing here again in Connecticut. We seem to have had a major storm every week for the past five (is it five?) weeks. Yesterday I went to fill the bird feeders, and had a hard time tramping in the snow that went past my knees. I fell over a couple of times. Of course, not having have boots on could have attributed to this. Later in the day, Shadow (our cat, who has found a nice perch at the window to watch the squirrels and birds close-up), flipped out. Not knowing what spooked her, we looked up to see a deer climbing the pile of snow at the window to feed. Guess we should get a salt lick.

Every day I get a meditation from Inward, Outward. Today’s was especially appropriate as I look out my office window with more white stuff coming down from the sky.

Henry David Thoreau‘s, “This, Too, Is Heaven“

Every winter the liquid and trembling surface of the pond, which was so sensitive to every breath, and reflected every light and shadow, becomes solid to the depth of a foot or a foot and a half…and it is not to be distinguished from any level field. Like the marmots in the surrounding hills, it closes its eyelids and becomes dormant for three months or more.

Standing on the snow-covered plain, as if in a pasture amid the hills, I cut my way first through a foot of snow, and then a foot of ice, and open a window under my feet, where, kneeling to drink, I look down into the quiet parlor of the fishes, pervaded by a softened light as through a window of ground glass, with its bright sanded floor the same as in summer; there a perennial waveless serenity reigns as in the amber twilight sky, corresponding to the cool and even temperament of the inhabitants. Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

Source: Walden


Telling YOUR Story September 15, 2010

Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Adult Formation, Christianity, Discernment, Spirituality, Storytelling, The Church.
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The Art of Spiritual Autobiography

As a former mentor for Education for Ministry (EfM), every fall I would introduce the concept of writing one’s spiritual autobiography for this adult formation seminar program. Sharing one’s spiritual autobiography builds a group faster than anything else. And it provides the individual the chance (some for the first time) to reflect on where God has (or has not) been throughout the stages of their life. It is a humbling experience to have another person share their spiritual autobiography with you. Even if they just share portions, it is an honor and a privilege to be entrusted with something so sacred.

Public Narrative is another project from Harvard University that has also gotten some traction in spiritual circles. It was used as a focal point at the 2009 Episcopal Church’s General Convention. Marshall Ganz, lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, explains, “Public narrative is woven from three elements: a story of why I have been called, a story of self; a story of why we have been called, a story of us; and a story of the urgent challenge on which we are called to act, a story of now. This articulation of the relationship of self, other, and action is also at the core of our moral traditions. As Rabbi Hillel, the 1st Century Jerusalem sage put it, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am for myself alone, what am I? If not now, when?””

Thomas Groome, Professor of Theology and Religious Education at Boston College, is another person who taps into the notion of “My Story, God’s Story, Our Story”. His shared Christian praxis, includes scripture and tradition as part of one’s educational foundation.

The Jesuits give an excellent definition of a spiritual autobiography: “A spiritual autobiography focuses less on the people, events and experiences of a person’s life and more on what these people, events and experiences meant for him and how they formed him or shaped the course of his life. It allows the writer to communicate who he is as a person and what is important in his life. Yet the process of crafting a spiritual autobiography demands that he communicate this to himself as well. It demands that the writer look within himself and that he ask himself the very questions he hopes to answer – Who am I? and What is important in my life? It demands that he look long and seriously at the people, events and experiences of his life, his struggles and conflicts, his strengths and weaknesses, and the decisions he has made. Yet it is in seeking to understand these seemingly disparate facets of his life that he gradually comes to understand them in all their interrelatedness. More importantly, it is there that he will often discover God in his life, not simply as his Creator and Redeemer, but as One who has been present and actively ‘at work’ in his life, inviting, directing, guiding and drawing him into the fullness of life.”

This year’s EfM focal point for creating one’s story is through a process called “Stepping Stones”. Jenifer C. Gamber, an on-line EfM mentor, has created a video explaining the metaphor to those who are discerning the moments of shift and journey in their lives.

There are a variety of ways of gathering one’s thoughts about your own history with God. You can develop a time-line, thinking about the historical events that occurred during your life and placing your thoughts, feelings, location and other personal events alongside it. Put together some photos – personal or magazine clippings that resonant with you for different phases of your life. Or following the model of Godly Play, create an Object Box containing mementos and artifacts which have had meaning to you throughout your life.

“Each person has a history because of his or her own experiences. But not until the person’s history is expressed does it have life. The telling generates the story, giving it form and meaning. Once expressed, a person’s history becomes concrete and actual. It becomes something that can speak to the self. You do not have one history but many.” (Common Lesson Year D of the EfM materials.)

Tell your story however it suits you. Allow your story to be part of God’s story. After all, you are part of God’s history and re-creation of the world each and every day.

Passing on Faith September 10, 2010

Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Christian Quotes, Christianity, Parenting, Spirituality, Teacher Training, The Church.
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Words of Wisdom for Passing on the Christian Faith

For many churches, this Sunday is the beginning of a new program year. Children and families return to church as Church School, youth group, and other formation activities start up. Some call this new beginning, “Kick Off Sunday” (after all it’s football season), or “Rally Day” (never really understood what racing had to do with it) or “Homecoming Sunday” (for those who seem to disappear during the summer).

As I prepare to lead some teacher trainings this fall, I recall the wisdom of Christian educators from our past and present.

What is the true idea of Christian education? That the child is to grow up a Christian, and never to know her/him self as being otherwise. In other words, the aim, effort and expectation should be, not as is commonly assumed, that the child is to grow up in sin, to be converted after he/she comes to a mature age; but that he/she is open on the world as one that is spiritually renewed, not remember the time when he/she went through a technical experience, but seeming rather to have loved what is good for her/his earlier years. Horace Bushnell, 19th C educator and theologian

Children will never have faith unless there is a community of faith for them to live in and be influenced by. The Rev. Dr. John Westerhoff III, Episcopal priest and educator (1976)

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts. The right defense against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments. By starving the sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes. For famished nature will be avenged and a hard heart is no infallible protection against a soft head. C. S. Lewis

If you ask almost any adult about the impact of church school on his or her growth, he or she will not tell you about books or curriculum or Bible stories or anything like that. The central memory is of the teacher, learning is meeting. Walter Brueggemman, theologian (1987)

According to Genesis, we were each created in the image and likeness of God. The ultimate goal of all Christian Formation is to assist people of all ages to realize and act on who they were created to be: the living and utterly unique images of God in this world. Vicki Garvey (2006)

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. John Steinbeck

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Prayers for all who teach and all who learn as we recommit to passing on the faith from generation to generation.

Come Away With Me September 2, 2010

Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Adult Formation, Books Worth Reading, On the Road Again, Spirituality, Teacher Training.
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I always enjoy being with Christian educators. They are a species that is passionate about storytelling, creativity and thinking outside-of-the-box. They are (usually) open to new ideas and trying on new things.

This August I was privileged to lead some reflections at the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina’s annual spiritual retreat for those involved in Christian formation. Volunteer teachers, staff educators and clergy gathered at St. Francis Springs Retreat Center, a beautiful retreat center in the midst of nature in north central North Carolina. We focused on Mark Bozzuti-Jones’ wonderful book of inspiration and reflection, Informed by Faith: A Spiritual Handbook for Christian Educators and Parents.

The mission of teachers is to talk about God’s activities in the world, to study the Bible, to be transformed by the Bible, and to show ways in which the Bible and the Christian life bring decisive action to bear on the events of our lives. In creation God teaches us much about who God is and how God acts. Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones (Informed by Faith. Boston: Cowley Publications, 2004).

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Our day was marked with shared meals, prayer, reflections, conversation and time to just “be.” There were areas for dabbling in creative activities and meditation – coloring mandalas, walking a labyrinth (on a canvas and with one’s finger), making all sorts of prayer beads and ropes, praying in color, reflecting on stones, water, shells and feathers. A time for walking in the woods to discover the variety of mushroom all within a short distance from each other.  To be fully human in God’s creation.

We were fed by stories of each other’s ministries as well as wonderfully prepared meals and the Eucharist. We danced. We sang. We shared resources and ideas. Hospitality abounded.  All in 24 hours.

So many of us educators are a “Martha” in need of time to be “Mary.” How might you invite others in your congregation, diocese, or synod to provide such a retreat for educators?

We Are Not God June 16, 2010

Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Christianity, Spirituality, The Church.
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“We are not God. We are ministers – companions on the journey.”*

Bonnie Anderson, describes the Episcopal Church’s “circle of ministries” as a practice of equal exchange and honor, drawing upon the unique charism of each individual, whether God calls us as lay, diaconal, presbyteral or episcopal. Each of us have been given gifts from the Spirit to do the work we have been given to do, to build up the body of Christ. But we are not God; as are called to care for others we also need to care for ourselves.

As educators (from all the ‘orders’ of ministry) there are questions to keep us grounded:

  • What reminds you of who you are and whose you are?
  • What reminds you of your brokenness and helps make you whole?

What might you add to this list?

  • Friendships
  • Healthy boundaries
  • Balance
  • Allowing myself to be ministered to
  • A peer group
  • Practicing gratitude
  • Re-creating in God’s world
  • Learning to say “no” (and recognizing what motivates me to say “yes” all the time
  • To step back and remove myself from conflict when possible
  • Take on a new role by volunteering outside of work

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord* has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ* dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:12-17 (NRSV)

*This week I am attending a Christian Formation at Kanuga Conference Center, located in the Smoky Mountains in Hendersonville, North Carolina. The above quote is from Kate Gillooly, minister for Christian formation and program at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. In one of her keynote addresses, we explored the pastoral nature of the role of a Christian educator and how we care for ourselves while caring for others.

Should There Be Collective Sunday Schools? June 1, 2010

Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Adult Formation, Children's Ministries, Christianity, Curriculum, Parenting, Spirituality, The Church.
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Thank you Mary Jane Wilkie for sharing your opinion in “The Sunday school of the future, proposed” posted on June 1st at Episcopal Life Online via Episcopal News Service. You have opened the door to a wonderful conversation about what the future of Christian formation for ALL ages can be at its best in The Episcopal Church as well as all mainline traditions.

For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone one whom the Lord our God calls to him. Acts 2:39

Metropolitan churches are not that different than rural and suburban churches as far as their desire and need to provide quality opportunities for children to grow in the life of faith. Some of the smallest churches have the greatest children’s ministry programs. Bigger is not always better. All churches in today’s world are faced with fewer financial resources, fewer adults who have the time to volunteer as Sunday school teachers (let alone any other ministry on Sunday morning), and the challenge of sharing facilities with the community and other church activities. These “struggles” provide the church with wonderful opportunities to engage all in mission and ministry – the newcomer, the parish matriarch, the child, the youth, the adult, the elder and those who have yet to walk across our thresholds.

Opportunities do involve new collaboration and the sharing of resources from a variety of areas. An example is the National Association for Episcopal Christian Education Directors, an organization of 400+ individuals (clergy & lay, paid & volunteer) who regularly share ideas and resources. PEALL (Proclaiming Education For All) reported to General Convention (via Executive Council) of the collaborations that do exist and how they can be strengthened. Read the report here. And the Standing Commission on Lifelong Christian Formation (CCAB) recently met to discuss this very issue. Member Bishop Porter Taylor of North Carolina shared in a post, this “pushes us to discern what knowledge and practices are essential as well as to find more innovative practices. What do we need to know and how can it be learned more creatively? What do we need to hold onto and of what must we let go? That is, we must focus on the essentials of our faith and insure that we invite and inform people to embrace them.”

Separating generations by geographic location for education, as proposed by Ms. Wilkie, would only add to the disconnectedness of all involved in our already fragmented world. The whole concept of “Sunday School” is a modern concept and was established to teach working children how to read. The model of pouring information into the empty vessels of children is a thing of that past – anyone who is involved with children knows they have gifts and experiences of God that are freely given to anyone who can take the time to listen. Children are full members of the Body of Christ by virtue of their baptism and deserve full inclusion with the whole community – especially at worship. (See The Children’s Charter for the Church) is through worshipping together that we are formed as a people of God, breaking bread together and sharing God’s love. Sending them (even with their parents) to another facility makes them second class citizens. Perhaps we should close those sanctuaries that are not full on Sunday morning and worship in the local library with our equally low attended church down the street.

Yes. We need more adults who are competent to “teach” in our churches. Finding the right curriculum is always a challenge – what works for one congregation might not be the best for another. In leading teacher training workshops all over the country for a variety of denominations, I stress more than anything else that “we” (aka “you”) are the curriculum. It is how we share our personal faith story in relationship with the biblical story than has an impact on an individual’s faith formation.  A set curriculum cannot do it alone. Many adults who have “grown up” in our churches continue to have a 4th grade understanding of the Bible and other religious precepts – their education stopped when they were Confirmed at the age of twelve.  And many adults who are new to the church are neophytes in the faith. If anything, we need to focus our energies on adult education, perhaps reinvigorating the catechumenal process in all our churches and dioceses.

There is no reason for any church to make sacrifices, especially where our children are concerned. Multiple ages learning together and generations passing along faith to one another is grounded in scripture. Yes, we separate into smaller groups for developmental reasons, but the church that includes liturgy with children is richer for everyone. I believe the challenge of Christian formation today is to equip adults to be able to share their faith and accept the responsibility for all the children within our buildings as well as those in our neighborhoods.

Our leadership on all levels needs to lift up the importance of family ministry and encouraging faith practices in the home. Our churches need to focus on formation for all ages together – education, worship, outreach, pastoral care and fellowship. One place we can start is to explore The Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation adopted at the 2009 General Convention.

Christian education needs to be life giving not consumer oriented. Building bigger and better programs for our children and youth only enables parents to abdicate the spiritual development of their children to others. As it is, many adults drop off the kids to hang out at Starbucks or sit in the car and read the NY Times. Why give them the opportunity to drop them off at a location separate from the worshipping community with teachers who may see this as an occupation for pay instead of a vocational calling?

In an ideal world, we wouldn’t be concerned about how many children or teachers we have enrolled in our Sunday school program. Together we will come to be fed and nurtured in worship and education so that we can go out in the world as Jesus’ disciples with the joy we have experienced in community.

I welcome the conversation. Join in!

For a related article, read “Not Your Grandmother’s Sunday School.”

The Task of Christian Formation in the Future May 26, 2010

Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Adult Formation, Children's Ministries, Curriculum, Spirituality, Teacher Training, Youth Ministry.
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For many churches, this is the time of year when educational ministries are slowing down and concluding for the academic year. It’s a time to re-assess the year, plan for the future, order curriculum for the Fall, recognize volunteers and celebrate accomplishments. The 2009-2010 year as been a rough one for Christian educators (and their budgets). Many have had their hours cut (if they still have a job) and are working on a bare bones budget (if they have one left). It has definitely been a challenge in many ways.

I receive a weekly reflection via e-newsletter from the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina, of which Bishop Porter Taylor offers his thoughts. This week’s particular spoke to me – as an educator and as a person who now works for a publishing company to support churches in providing liturgical and education materials. It is a new day in both arenas, and Bishop Taylor articulates it extraordinarily well.

So I felt it was worth sharing. Along with a few questions for your own reflection:

  • How do we help individuals and communities of faith keep connected to the source of life and love we find in Jesus?
  • What knowledge and practices are essential for forming Christians in faith?
  • How do we spread the Good News to those who have never heard it, or aren’t interested in wanting to hear it?
  • What do we need to hold onto and what do we need to let go?
  • What are some best practices that you have experienced? How can you go about sharing it with others?
  • What are you being called to do in Christian formation within and beyond your own community?

From The Right Reverend Porter Taylor, Diocese of Western North Carolina (May 26, 2010) in “Bishop’s Weekly Reflection”:

“This week I have been in Minneapolis for the meeting of the Standing Commission on Lifelong Christian Formation. This Commission is authorized by General Convention to focus on policies that will enhance, deepen, and improve Christian Formation across the Church and to propose resolutions to the 2012 General Convention. Our task is to make disciples, equip the baptized to do the work of ministry every day, and to enable the people to go deeper in their faith, their connection to God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, and their identity as Christians and Episcopalians. Formation is about individuals and communities of faith being so connected to the source of life and love that they are not only transformed; they become agents of transformation.

Our discussions have centered on how the ground underneath has shifted. It’s the economy and it’s more than the economy. Christian Formation is no longer equated with Sunday School. Our definitions of “formation” are more complex as is our world. It seems as if our mantra since 2009 has become, “We need to do more with less.” We have fewer resources and less personnel, yet the challenge before us is more daunting. In this decade, not only are more people becoming unchurched, but no longer is knowledge of the Christian tradition a given. People simply don’t know the Christian story. We can’t assume that there is a common base of shared understanding. Yet the staffs and the budgets on all levels are smaller.

This combination pushes us to discern what knowledge and practices are essential as well as to find more innovative practices. What do we need to know and how can it be learned more creatively? What do we need to hold onto and of what must we let go? That is, we must focus on the essentials of our faith and insure that we invite and inform people to embrace them.

We will need to think beyond a traditional classroom model and collaborate. We will need to rely on other dioceses and parishes for best practices. I think much of our work as The Episcopal Church is less about providing finished resources and more about providing connections. Someone in Montana might have an idea that would help someone in Maine. We need to find ways to connect them. In short, we have moved from offering published curricula to becoming a Church version of Google.

One thing is clear. Knowing who we are as Christians and as Episcopalians must be an intentional lifelong communal process, and this process is not optional. It is about our survival, but most of all it’s about our mission. If we are to spread the Good News, then it won’t happen accidently but prayerfully, intentionally, and purposefully. The future of the Church is about formation.”


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