Baptism: Welcome to the Roundabout

by the Rev. Dr. Mellford (Bud) Holland. This article appeared in “A Collection of Resources for Baptism and Baptismal Living” edited and published by J. Fletcher Lowe, Leader Resources (www.leaderresources.org).

I remember driving in England and encountering my first roundabout.  It is a juncture where several roads intersect offering several new possible roadways to travel.  At first these roundabouts seemed very confusing particularly since I needed to drive on the “wrong” side of the highway, but after a while I saw them as my friend.  These roundabouts offered options to me including returning in the direction from which I came.  This was especially helpful as I often had taken the wrong turn before reaching the roundabout.  The roundabout is thus an important juncture to gain one’s bearings.  It is also a place where we are reminded of the need to work for each other.Baptism is like a roundabout in several ways: a) it, too, is a place to get our bearings and to catch a vision of who we are and what our direction for travel in life might be ; b) it also involves other people whose travels intersect with ours, meeting us in that juncture where we recollect our past, contemplate our present, and are introduced to the possibilities of the future; and c) it is a place to which we are invited again and again regardless of the road that we may be traveling..

Vocation

by Noah H. Evans 

We are called to intimacy with God.  As Christians, we begin this path to intimacy with God through the rite of Baptism.  In Baptism, we begin to walk the path as disciples of Christ, and we seek to draw close to God in Christ through growing in love for God, our neighbors, and all creation.  To talk about vocation and call in the Christian context first requires an understanding of this primary vocation of all Christians to love and to grow in love.  Our vocations as Christians are our path that God has helped us to find which leads us to grow in love, and fulfill our primary vocation began at our Baptism.

How do I Choose a Seminary?

by Sarah Irwin 
 
Okay. You’ve prayed and discerned and thought about your calling, and now it’s time to think about seminary.  How does anyone make a decision like that?  Is it like going to college?  Or choosing a place to live?  A lot of factors will go into your decision about which seminary you choose to attend. This is a time when you want to make as many contacts as possible with as many different people as you can.  Where did your parish priest or college chaplain go to seminary?  Where did your bishop go?  Does he or she want you to attend a particular school?  At first, there seems to be a bewildering number of choices to make.  The range of seminaries in the Episcopal Church is very, very broad. With a few categories of thought in mind, though, you can start to think concretely about where you are called to be. 

One important thing to consider is that, more and more, Episcopal clergy do not attend denominational Episcopal seminaries.  If your spouse or partner cannot easily leave his or her school or job, you may choose to study at a non-Episcopal seminary closer to home.  You may also choose to attend a seminary without a strong denominational allegiance, where students come from all denominations.  An important thing to keep in mind in attending a non-Episcopal school is to be very clear with your bishop about what s/he expects you to study and how to stay in touch with Episcopal community and worship.  You may need to take a year or semester at an Episcopal school to learn about Episcopal worship and about other more church-specific topics.

Do Ordained People Have to Pray? Or: How Holy do I Have to be?

by Hickman Alexandre 

If you look at the “job description” of an ordained person. it is so easy to get bogged down in all the committee work and such that we can sometimes forget to pray. A big  part of what clergy do is to lead in worship and to give spiritual guidance and counseling.  That responsibility requires that you are a person of prayer beyond the public prayer life of the parish.  Now it doesn’t mean that one must spend the whole day praying; but there should be some time set aside every day for personal prayer and communication with God.  Many priests find it helpful to have a “rule of life,” a set pattern of scheduled prayer and reading of the scripture that one follows.  Something simple like reading the daily offices will help you to establish a pattern of prayer. It can also be helpful to take time out and go on a retreat, such as to a monastery, where a person can be renewed and refreshed.  Remember also that as leaders of the church, you are an example for others to follow.  The reality is that most clergy are not spiritual gurus or shamans, but have their own daily struggles as well.  Many clergy find it helpful to have a spiritual director, guide, or companion – someone who helps to guide them along the spiritual path.   Some dioceses may even require you to have a spiritual director as you enter the process. 

Ordination Process: Learning Radical Non-defensiveness

by Fr Nathan Humphrey, a curate at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, K Street, Washington D.C.

By cultivating the spiritual discipline of radical nondefensiveness, I believe God has given me the grace to put my focus and energies where they need to be:  on loving the other (in all his or her cantankerousness).

Perhaps the single most important lesson I learned about ministry happened when I was going through “The Process,” and it has influenced the way I interact with people to this day. This lesson was about being radically nondefensive.  I’m not always good at it, but I’ve tried to approach it not so much as a technique to be mastered as a spiritual discipline to be lived into, as I hope to grow in empathy and love toward everyone I meet. 

To illustrate what I mean by “radically nondefensive,” I will first describe how I learned this lesson, and then give a few examples of how I’ve applied it to my priestly ministry in varying contexts.
I was twenty-four years old when I entered the ordination process, which in those days was regarded as barely out of diapers for an aspiring priest.  My first meeting with the Commission on Ministry went well, but not well enough for me to move on to the next step in the dreaded Process.
“Don’t you think you’re too young to be a priest?” asked the Commission on Ministry (COM) member.  She continued, “I mean, don’t you think you haven’t got enough life experience…haven’t suffered enough?”

I do the best I can

I was invited to lead a youth group meeting at Trinity Wall Street once.  I spoke with the youth about vocation and discernment.  We wrote an acrostic to describe our calling and the gifts and talents we think we have to fulfill such a calling.  One of the youth, said he feels called to be a priest and in the letter I of his acronym he wrote “In all I do, I do the best I can”.  This is a key phrase for all of us, the baptized, when engaging God’s mission in our life.There are varieties of gifts and talents, but the same Spirit, like St. Paul says.  Whatever your talent, gift, or calling, do it to the best of your ability for the expansion of the Kingdom and to strengthen the Church.Dear young people, you find yourself in a stage in life when you must make important decisions for your future.  God gives us an opportunity to give full meaning to our lives on a daily basis. Listen to your heart.  Listen to God and do your best!

Miguelina+

En una ocasión fui invitada a dirigir una sesión del grupo de jóvenes de Trinity Wall Street.   Hablé con los jóvenes sobre la vocación y el discernimiento.  Hicimos un ejercicio en el cual escribimos un acróstico que describiera nuestro llamado y las cualidades, dones o talentos que tenemos para desarrollar dicho llamado.  Uno de los jóvenes al exponer su dibujo dijo que quería ser sacerdote y en una de las letras del acrónimo tenía la siguiente frase “En todo lo que hago, hago lo mejor que puedo”.  Esa es una frase clave para todos nosotros los bautizados que asumimos la misión de Dios en nuestra vida.Hay diversidad de dones, pero el Espíritu es el mismo, dice San Pablo.  Cualquiera que sea tu don, tu talento, tu llamado, hazlo lo mejor que puedas para la expansión del Reino y la edificación de la Iglesia!Apreciados(as) jóvenes, ustedes se encuentran en una etapa en la cual deben tomar decisiones importantes para su futuro.  Dios nos da la oportunidad cada día de darle pleno sentido a nuestra vida.  Escucha tu corazón. Escucha a Dios y ¡haz lo mejor que puedas!

Miguelina+

The Rev. Miguelina Espinal, PLSE Missioner
The Episcopal Church Center, Office of Ministry Development, 4th Floor
815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017
Tel: +1-212-716-6162  or +1-800-334-7626 ext 6162