felix hominum

list of candidates announced for next bishop of Edmonton

The Search committee has posted the names of the candidates for the upcoming episcopal election for the next Bishop of Edmonton on the diocesan website:

The Rev. Wendy AINSWORTH
The Very Rev. Dr. Jane ALEXANDER
The Rt. Rev. David ASHDOWN
The Ven. Edward KING
The Rev. Darcey LAZERTE
The Rev. Dr. Mervyn MERCER
The Very Rev. Peter WALL

I've met 6 (I think) of the candidates.

There is a provision in the process for additional names to be added up to 72 hours prior to the beginning of the electoral synod.

Over the next little while we will be looking at the various documents we've been asked to consider as we discern who is called to be our next bishop.  Understanding the vocation of a bishop is key to helping us discern the person called to that office.  In the meantime, it would be appropriate to uphold all these people in prayer.  It is probably not an easy thing to discern whether to let one's name stand. 

While we are first and foremost called to pray for discernment, the diocesan committee will also be posting information on the candidates, as well as their responses to a series of questions.  As a delegate to the synod, I will be looking at those responses when they are available.

I would like to remind us that each of these persons holds an office of leadership within our church.  No doubt, there will be initial preferences among various the members of our diocese as to whom they think is best suited to be our next bishop, and whom they think is not so called.  Such a situation is unavoidable.  It is particularly acute at this time in the life of our church. However, we are called to follow advice which St Paul himself heeded and quoted:  "You shall not speak evil of a leader of my people."  Look it up (Acts 23 et al).  That sentiment will be the guiding policy for any discussion (and comments) here at felix hominum in the upcoming weeks.

Click here for the Episcopal election post series

Don't forget that soon we will be descending into Hell.

Update:  since I'm going to be away from the blog for much of the day, and to avoid any possibility of having to check comments as they come in, I'm going to close off the comments here for a while.  The pancake mix is calling.

There is only one facebook group worth its weight in theology

and this is it:  Anglican Beard Enthusiasts

This group is dedicated to the appreciation, examination, evaluation, and propagation of tremendous facial hair on Anglicans, particularly clergy.

The name of the group, however, should lead none to believe that we are only interested in beards. In fact, all forms of facial hair are applauded, including disgusting mustaches, unconsciousable sideburns, and that most prolific of Anglican facial hair: the overhanging eyebrows.

Just as Thomas Cranmer surely stroked his navel-length beard as the first edition of The Book of Common Prayer flowed from his pen, so too do we seek to celebrate and cultivate similarly inspiring beards on all Anglicans such that they might truly be a light to all the peoples of the world.

People who live on a dollar a day

One in five of the world's population lives on less than a dollar a day - yet even this statistic fails to capture the humiliation, powerlessness and brutal hardship that is the daily lot of the world's poor.

In Kaimosi in Western Kenya, Isaiah Mawangu knows all about this sort of existence. His disabled wife and six grandchildren live on the little they can grow on their small plot of land.

"How to get food is the difficult thing," he says.

"We grow just a little maize. The soil is not very fertile, which is why we are not really getting anything from the land.

"We just eat the maize ourselves, there is not enough for selling."

rest of the story at the BBC

Does "giving up something for Lent" still seem difficult?  Fasting and almsgiving...

 

thoughts on the end of week of prayer for Christian unity

This Sunday marks the end of yet another 'Week of Prayer for Christian Unity'? No doubt this past week has been filled with ecumenical services around the world as different Christian traditions (denominations) join together in worship of our Lord.

I must admit that I find much of what goes on during this week somewhat trite. It's almost as if we're saying to the world, "Look at us! We're holding hands, singing the same hymns, and worshipping the same way for this one service. See, we're united!

from a priest in Labrador

wholesome encouragement for nominees: bishop of Edmonton, II

Ignatius of Antioch. Bishop and Martyr, Feb 1.

Arrested and brought before the emperor, the latter addressed him: “Who are you, poor devil, to set our commands at naught?” “Call not poor devil,” Ignatius answered, “one who bears God within him.” And when the emperor asked him what he meant by that, Ignatius explained that he bore in his heart Christ, crucified for his sake. “Change your ideas, and I will make you a priest of the great Jupiter, and you will be called ‘father’ by the Senate.” “What could such honors matter to me, a priest of Christ, who offer Him every day a sacrifice of praise, and am ready to offer myself to Him also?” “To whom? To that Jesus who was crucified by Pontius Pilate?” “Yes, and with whom sin was crucified, and the devil, its author, vanquished.”

The questions and the courageous replies continued for a time that day and also on the following one. Saint Ignatius said, “I will not sacrifice; I fear neither torments nor death, because I desire to go quickly to God.” Thereupon the emperor condemned him to be torn to pieces by wild beasts in Rome.

Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882)

Okay, so maybe it's not all that errr, encouraging.  Remember to pray:

Almighty God, giver of all good gifts, look on your Church with grace, and guide the minds of those who shall choose the next Bishop for this Diocese, that we may receive a faithful servant who will care for your people and support us in our ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BAS)

Almighty God, the giver of all good gifts: Grant thy blessing, we humbly beseech thee, to the clergy and laity about to assemble for the election of a Bishop; and give unto them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, that a chief Pastor may be chosen who shall minister before thee to the glory of thy Name, the good government of the flock committed to their charge, and the welfare of thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. (BCP)

Ignatius is credited with introducing the term "catholic" to describe the Church, and he describes the relationship between bishop and laity wonderfully:

Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.

Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8,
J.R. Willis translation.

Click here for the Episcopal election post series
 

sermon notes - Transfiguration, Matthew 17:1-9

Updated version for 2011 Year A is found here

(see also Mark 9 transfiguration comparison here)

This week's option for the last Sunday after Epiphany will be the feast of the Transfiguration.  The story occurs in all 3 synoptic Gospels, with some variation of details.  See Luke 9:28 ff and Mark 9.  A coupling can easily be made with the other readings this week.  Exodus 24:12-18 tells us the story of God giving the Commandments (lit 'words') from Sinai.  A comparison of the words from the two mountains can make a good start.  The new word from the mountaintop is that Jesus is the Beloved, and to listen to him is the key to the new commandment.  2 Peter 1:16-21 makes reference to the transfiguration "on the holy mountain" (this is the new Sinai?), and the letter says something of the nature of revelation.

Here's a start, will do more after lunch...

Matthew 17:1-9

1 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.

We have a setting like that of Sinai - a sort of divine revelation on a mountaintop.  A note on the geography.  Tabor, the traditional site of the Transfiguration, is lush, (Mt. Hermon is a strong possibility, and it is a source for the Jordan...streams of water).  The traditional site of Sinai (or any other site you might want to suggest as plausible) is mountain desert.  I find it an interesting geographic contrast to think about - both Tabor and Hermon are so geographically different from anything in the Sinai, north or south...   What exactly goes on when Jesus is "transfigured"?  It is not merely the same as what we think of as being "changed".  Essentially, who Jesus is on the "inside" is made physically manifest on the "outside".  His physical appearance tells us something about his identity.

Most of us want "change" on the outside;  God wants change on the inside.  Remember that when Moses came down from the mountain, "his face shone".  This is rather like a spiritual sunburn - Moses reflected God's glory.  It was not something which came from within, but something that came from without.  In the person of Jesus, the glory that was hidden within is now made manifest.

3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

Moses and Elijah - representing the law and the prophets bearing witness to who Jesus is.  Meanwhile, Peter does what too many of us tend to do:  when God is doing something amazing, we focus on building projects.  Now it doesn't of course have to be a building project, but when Jesus makes his presence known, that is what we should pay attention to.  If God is at work, don't get bogged down in the wrong things.  We can be like Peter when we spend our time and energy on the "externals" - the mere trappings of church - and then we can miss out on the presence of Jesus in our midst.

5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!"  6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.

7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." 8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Church of the Transfiguration/ Mt Tabor/ Israel/ 2007

UPDATE:  lunch is now well finished.  Now where was I?  Oh yes, the Transfiguration.  There is something to be said for learning to see the glory in Christ.  Parallel to this is learning to see the glory in each creature made in the image of God.  To see Jesus for who he really is should have a profound effect.  Likewise, seeing every other human being as a creature made in the image of God should also have a profound effect.

The voice from the cloud is an echo of the voice heard at Jesus' baptism.  It speaks not only of Jesus' identity, but also of his relationship to the Father.  And then there is that little addition:  "Listen to him."  If the Israelites were to listen to Moses and the revelation from the old mountain, how much more are to listen to Jesus, and the revelation from the new mountain. 

The phrase "this is my beloved..." connects the two episodes of baptism and transfiguration in the person of Christ.  And I suppose that we are to see the connection in ourselves:  as we are called in baptism to be beloved of God, so we are also called to be, well, not exactly transfigured yet, but changed.  And there is a pointing forward in the reference to the resurrection to the renewed body, the resurrected life, the fully transfigured life which will be given to us in God's grace.  It is only after death and resurrection that the final transfiguration takes place. 

That whole fear thing throws people for a loop, eh?  The disciples fear simply the sound of the voice; I wonder if they comprehended at the time what the words were actually saying? 

All too often we castigate these expressions of fear on the part of humans as some sort of divine bullying - as if the disciples' fear was God's fault.  It is entirely possible, and I think more likely, that human fear at the manifest presence of God is rather an indication of problems within ourselves, rather than in God.  Jesus touches and reassures:  do not be afraid.

This passage is a fitting end to the Epiphany season - we have followed Jesus from birth, to early childhood, to baptism - all events which gave us insight into who he is.  The Transfiguration gives us a "final" glimpse of who he is.  The season of revelation is complete.