August 2017

Planning to attend the State Fair this year? Please come on Saturday, August 12th. That is when the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa will be hosting a Revival evening at the State Fair with a Breaking Bread Eucharist. Fair organizers were impressed with the Breaking Bread event last year, and invited us back. We are returning with an expanded worship agenda and, with your help, in greater numbers. The State Fair Episcopal Breaking Bread Revival starts at 5:30pm and will be at the Farm Bureau Shelter House, located behind Pioneer Pavilion.

At the congregational level, this month Revival 2017 picks back up after a six-week summer recess. We are exactly halfway through and have held nineteen revivals impacting twenty-nine congregations and attended by 500 people.  The Revival moves west over the next few months and up to the north east and north west. We held a second orientation meeting last month at the Cathedral of St. Paul which was attended by representatives from St. Andrew’s, St. Timothy’s, and the Cathedral in Des Moines. Fort Dodge, Mason City, Spirit Lake and Emmetsburg, Shenandoah and Glenwood, Cedar Falls and Waverly were all represented, as well as Trinity, Iowa City and New Song, Coralville.

I believe that God honors our efforts to draw closer and in fact is the One meeting us more than halfway through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Revival is about our personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. It encourages us to take stock of what is driving us spiritually, and through the various prayer stations gives us an opportunity for reflective action–whether more traditionally in renewing baptismal vows, or receiving prayer with the laying on of hands, or in the contemporary and creative ways of “prayer through coloring,” journaling, or joining me for a one on one conversation on your life in the Spirit. Some congregations are adding to these ways of responding that I think are vital to letting God act in renewing, recharging and rekindling our lives as followers of Jesus.

We have found that music is a key ingredient for an effective weekend. Angie Dowd of St. John’s, Mason City shared at the orientation several reasons for this. She gave six reasons for music’s importance: music gathers us in; it unifies; opens hearts preparing us for new ideas and possibilities, providing a “solid emotional base”; it supports the message of the day; provides segues; and uplifts the energy level of a gathering space. She also added, “and it adds raw entertainment value.”

One thing that the Revival 2017 evening does is make us think of how to incorporate elements into more regular services. The impact of music is an obvious given, but what about offering opportunities for immediate responses through prayer stations on a Sunday? Some of this might flow into a new small group or house group movement as we follow up in the months and years following Revival.

There are some excellent referrals out there already–such as from Carl Mann of Christ Church, Burlington, or Fred Steinbach of St. Andrew’s, Chariton. Whether the attendance was large or small (rule of thumb seems to be one third of your Sunday average attendance), God has “shown up” and the evidence is in the nine filled canvass tiles which have captured people’s prayers and commitments as a result of the Spirit’s nudges. These are prayers which we carry around to each Revival as the tiles grow in number, and which will be featured throughout the Diocesan Convention in October. The final Revival 2017 weekend will be in Des Moines at the Cathedral on Saturday as St. Paul’s combines with Indianola and St. Mark’s, and wrapping up at St. Timothy’s in West Des Moines Sunday evening at 5pm, October 22^nd.

Give yourself a chance–Give God a chance–to stir up the gift of the Spirit within you, which many of you received through the laying on of hands in confirmation or reception, and all of us in baptism.

In the peace and love of Christ,

+Alan

The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe

Bishop of Iowa

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July 2017

Tackling the difficult subject of death and dying is something we tend to avoid as long as possible. This is not the case at New Song, Coralville. There, in your welcome packet, as a newcomer to the Church, you will find information about Honoring Your Wishes, a ministry of the congregation started by their Rector Emeritus, Elizabeth Coulter in 2011. Honoring Your Wishes is about planning in advance for those difficult days that come to all families. It helps people think about death when not in a crisis and can acquaint people with what “extraordinary measures” involve. Receiving such information while you are healthy might very well assist you to determine if such measures would add to your sense of quality of life when you or a loved one faces a catastrophic illness.

The Book of Common Prayer invites the clergy to “instruct the people, from time to time, about the duty of Christian parents to make prudent provisions for the well-being of their families, and of all persons to make wills, while they are in health, arranging for the disposal of their temporal goods, not neglecting, if they are able, to leave bequests for religious and charitable uses” (445). Advanced care planning is another element of that prudence.

This is one of the topics treated by the Older Adult Ministry Development Team in their workshop which I attended on Faith and Aging at this year’s Summer Ministry School and Retreat in Grinnell. They have posted an extensive collection of resources on the newly revamped “Iowa Share” website (IowaShare.org).

When did you last engage in conversation as a congregation on choices around death? How many of us with adult children have sat them down and talked over our wishes if we should face a difficult death? Do those closest to us, including our clergy, know our preferences for our own funerals? I once sat down with my own father and said that with someone in his condition, if he was my parishioner, I would be beginning such a conversation. He took my awkward opening in stride and started out with what he didn’t want – a viewing. “I don’t look good at the best of times,” he added! Then we moved on to brass bands playing, and if possible my leading things. “If you are not up to it, I won’t be mad,” he offered.

The aspects of considering issues of death and dying involve discerning what is of value to us. What speaks to us of living well? We need to work hard to define what living well means to each of us, and to make decisions about our care that express that definition.

Stacey Gerhart, a long-time hospital chaplain, explained that she had never met a person on their death bed who did not know that they were dying. The issue tended to be avoided by those around them.  Having such a hard conversation ahead of time can be a pastoral gift to relatives and neighbors alike. It is a vital (living) part of the Church’s mission, appropriate for those who state their belief in the One who says “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

In general, conversations can be started when a person is in the hospital as you invite them to reflect on how life is going. We can be bold enough to share our thoughts with a friend in regular conversation, and ask them “what about you?” Sometimes it is easier when doing something with a person side by side–jogging or driving or working together­–and not looking at one another.

We should be grateful for the group of people who, in forming the Older Adult Ministry Development Team, are bold and open to entering into such conversation and inquiry. The presenters at Summer Ministry School and Retreat–Warren Frelund, Diane Eddy, Stacey Gerhart, Judith Crossett, Kelly Shields, Lori Erikson and Bob Sessions–are all eager to help us develop our ministries with seniors. For many of our congregations, seniors are a large percentage of the membership. Seniors fall into three categories: young seniors (65-75), middle-aged seniors (75-85) and older seniors (85+). Each category brings its own vocational and spiritual development needs. Along with the focus on death and dying, the group explored ministry opportunities in retirement; the evangelistic challenge of boomers examining their lives and reflecting deeper about them; seizing the opportunity to see church as coordinating centers of concerns among the community; and seeing Senior Centers as components of the Church.

Finally, I found the concept of “eldering” very powerful. Eldering needs a community to flourish while at the same time elders help a community flourish. Together we spoke of elders as people who are growing in spiritual maturity, people who do their spiritual homework and move beyond their egos. They are people who build up larger identities to carry the concerns of the community and to offer service. They are people in mission with Christ through each and all. (Where have I seen that phrase before?)

In the peace and love of Christ,

+Alan

The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe

Bishop of Iowa