Occaisonal Thoughts

I'm going to try something new this year - I am occaisionally going to post some thoughts from theologians of various times and places for consideration and comment if you like.

Here's the first one - this comes from St. Basil the Great who was Bishop of Caesarea in the 370's. This is from his treatise On the Holy Spirit.

"As we speak of worship in the Son becasue the Son is the image of God the Father, so we speak of worship in the Spirit becasue the Spirit is the manifestation of the divinity of the Lord. Through the light of the Spirit we behold the son, the splendor of God's glory, and through the Son, the very stamp of the Father, we are led to him who is the source both of his stamp, who is the Son, and of its seal, who is the Spirit."

What do you think? How might we today describe the relationship between the Father, the Son and the Spirit? And how do we worship each?

New Year's Resolutions

As the New Year begins thoughts generally turn to other new beginnings. New diets, to live into those resolutions about weight loss. New exercise programs with similar goals. New budgets to mark a new year and all of the othe rthings that begin with the new year.

It is also a good time to think about some new spiritual practices. Like all of the other disciplines we tend to start in January, exercise programs and the like, our spiritual practices need regular attention and January is a good time to start a new.

A couple of suggestions for a spiritual new year's resolution:

• Begin or end the day with prayer. The Book of Common Prayer has a section called "Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families" It begins on page 136 and has prayers for morning, noon, early evening and the close of day. They take about 5 minutes each. You might try starting with one or two. You can also find them on line at http://www.bcponline.org/DailyOffice/devotion.html
• If you want to do a little more pick up the Forward Day by Day booklet that you can find in the back of the church, the library or the office. Each day has a short mediation and the listings of the scripture readings for that day. You can read one of the readings and the meditation as a part of your daily prayer.
• If you want more, try adding Noonday Prayer or Compline to your day - these services are found in the Book of Common Prayer and take about 10 minutes each.
• If you want to go even deeper - try the Daily Office - Morning or Evening Prayer or both. All you need is a Book of Common Prayer and a Bible. Let me know if you need help starting one or the other. In an on-line version would work better for you check out the Mission of St. Clare http://www.missionstclare.com

If you'd like to talk about starting these or any other spiritual disciplines, please let me know. One of the best parts of my job is helping people find their way to a closer relationship with God.

The Bishop-elect of Western New York

As I'm sure that you all have heard by now, the Rev. Dr. R. William Franklin was elected Bishop of Western New York on Saturday.

The next step in the process is to ask the Standing Committees of the 110 Dioceses in the Episcopal Church and the Bishops with jurisdiction of those Dioceses to consent to the election. A majority of both need to consent within the next 120 days. Assuming that those consents are recieved, Bishop-elect Franklin will arrive in the Diocese (probably in mid-February) and will be consecrated on April 30 at the Center for the Arts at UB. I'm in charge of the arrangements for the consecration so I will be looking for lots of help to pick up people at the airport, trouble shoot for our guests and do the 101 other things to make the consecration happen - mark your calendars.

Whether or not Dr. Franklin was your, or my, first choice among the candidates, it is important that we all support and pray for our bishop-elect as he comes among us and begins to take up his ministry.

Here are the ballot results from Saturday:

Ballot 1:
Clergy - 95 votes
Ambler - 9
Bamburger - 17
Franklin - 33
Price - 36
Lay - 164 votes
Ambler - 37
Bamburger - 52
Franklin - 38
Price - 37

Ballot 2
Clergy - 95 votes
Amber - 3
Bamburger - 19
Franklin - 33
Price 40
Lay - 162 votes
Amber - 22
Bamburger - 59
Franklin - 39
Price - 42

Michael Ambler withdrew after this ballot

Ballot 3
Clergy - 95 votes
Bamburger - 19
Franklin - 32
Price - 44
Lay - 161 votes
Bamburger - 67
Franklin - 46
Price - 48

Ballot 4
Clergy - 95 votes
Bamburger - 19
Franklin - 30
Price - 46
Lay - 162 votes
Bamburger- 65
Franklin - 44
Price - 53

Ballot 5
Clergy - 93 votes
Bamburger - 18
Franklin - 32
Price - 43
Lay - 159 votes
Bamburger - 51
Franklin - 55
Price - 53

Ballot 6
Clergy- 91 votes
Bamburger - 9
Franklin - 40
Price - 42
Lay - 156 votes
Bamburger - 29
Franklin - 69
Price - 59

Ballot 7
Clergy - 89 Votes
Bamburger - 1
Franklin - 46
Price - 42
Lay - 150 votes
Bamburger - 6
Franklin - 95
Price - 49

Bishop Election

The clergy and lay delegates from Western New York will gather on Saturday to elect the 11th Bishop.

If you want to know more about the candidates there is lots of information available on the Diocesan Website http://www.episcopalwny.org/

The lay delegates from St. Paul's are Andrea Brown, Ward Caldbick and Donna Leney. Deacon Dan and Pastor Vicki also are members of the Convention.

You can follow the progress of the election on the Diocesan website as well.

After the election consent from all the Standing Committees and Bishops with jurisdiction in the Episcopal Church will be sought. Assuming that a majority of each consent the new Bishop will be consecrated on April 30 at the Center for the Arts at UB - everyone will be able to attend the service and you all will be asked to help because Pastor Vicki is chair of the arrangements committee.

Please keep the Convention and the Diocese and the candidates in your prayers this weekend.

For All the Saints

Today is All Saints' Day (although we will celebrate it on Sunday). It's the day that the church sets aside to remember all those saints who have gone before us.

We often think of only the Saints on this day - that is St. Matthew or St. Mark or St. Paul or any of the Saints that the church has named and taught about over the years.

But really anyone who follows the path of Christ is a saint and we are all surrounded and have been all our lives by saints.

I'm thinking particularly of my grandparents today and of how they all in various ways showed and taught me the faith that formed thier lives.

Who are the saints in your life who have showed you the paths you are walking on today?

DOH

We had a great hot dog Sunday yesterday - thanks to Mona and all the church school teachers - people stayed, talked and had fun - and I totally did not get any pictures - so you'll have to take my word for it.

Anyway, thanks to all for making hot dog sunday so much fun

Vision and Mission

The clergy of the Diocese had a retreat last week. The retreat leader was the Very Rev. Kevin Martin, dean of the cathedral in Dallas, Texas.

One of the things that he said was that the clergy should take every opportunity to talk about the vision and mission of the congregation they serve.

It occured to me that I haven't done this much lately - so watch the sermons and columns because there will be more coming - but here's a start. I believe that St. Paul's is poised to become a resource for our Diocese and our community - that we have an abundance of energy, enthusiasm, abilites and that we can, if we choose - become one of the first places that our Diocese and our community think of when they are seeking partners in mission and service - more to come - watch this space.