Beloved Community Arises by Monica Burden and the Future — a Future Which Is Deeply Sean T
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an edition of THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN CHURCH THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA June 2007 PACIFICNEWS VOL. 18 No. 6 Beloved Community Arises By Monica Burden and the future — a future which is deeply Sean T. McConnell changed on the face of the earth.” n May 5, a warm and sunny Andrus then spoke of Jesus’ call to us Saturday, more than 300 people as an invitation, but not just an invitation visited Grace Cathedral to attend to be encountered at the individual level. O “There is a missed part often to the “Building the Beloved Community,” for an opportunity to share in the visioning invitation that Jesus issues when he work of the diocese called for at 2006’s speaks to us in our world today,” Andrus Diocesan Convention. The day opened told the crowd. “When Jesus says “You with the Liturgy of the Word, including are the light of the world…” “You are the the music of Jesse Manibusan, and salt of the earth…” And when he says culminated in a homily by the Rt. Rev. “The Kingdom of God is among you,” or Marc Handley Andrus. “within you,” I think I, and I bet many In his homily, Andrus told the gather- of you, miss the invitation. Well, you’re ing that the day was “the beginning of crippled. The reason is that you weren’t what I’ve been praying for for us as the raised in the American South. What you Diocese of California. It’s the beginning need is a “y’all.” Because what Jesus said of shaping a vision of how we walk into is “Y’all are the light of the world.” “Y’all During his homily, Bishop Marc retold our family story, from the Primordial Flaring Forth to the present. are the salt of the earth. The kingdom to the present — 13.7 billion years. That of God is among y’all.” So, we have a beginning point, that flaring forth, was problem when the second person pronoun represented by the cathedral’s paschal in proper English — or degraded English candle. The thing to remember in that — doesn’t quite get it. So Jesus is actually primordial beginning is that all things, issuing invitations to live as a body when everything that makes us all, was present many of his statements are said. And in that moment. “Everything that is, is many of us miss the invitation in the very deeply, deeply interconnected,” Andrus hearing of the words.” said. “It is your family story,” he contin- Near the end of his homily, Andrus ued, “and all those whom I call enemy, conducted an abbreviated version of The and all those from whom I feel separated Cosmic Walk. The Cosmic Walk was are indeed as close to me as every other walked on the day after Andrus’ institu- part of the universe. We are that deeply tion as Bishop of California, and uses a related.” 122-foot rope laid out in a spiral to show During the morning liturgy, two the marking of time since the “Big Bang,” panels flanked the cathedral’s altar. With Dancers cast their nets for diocesan dreams and visions. or what cosmologist Brian Swimme has the South African Keiskamma Altar- called “The Primordial Flaring Forth,” 4Visioning Day: Page 6 Taizé service for diocesan Pilgrimage for Peace Not just hearts and minds, St. Aidan’s, San Francisco has unity. p. 2. On the road in South Africa. but bodies. p. 4. visitors. p. 8. p. 3. Contemplating Wisdom Christianity Together isdom Christianity — the Effective Anglican Mission) Conference is true is that all the community is with conscious connection between brought the concept of ubuntu to life for the hierarch, as she held their good and Wcontemplation and justice — is me. I began to experience how much the being in her consciousness, and it is on a way of naming the kind of Christianity Church’s vital engagement in justice is their behalf that she performed her sacred that I think well characterizes the faith shaped by and flows out of the reality of actions. practiced by the people of the Diocese community. This understanding of contempla- of California. Today I want to look at Having read about ubuntu, and then tion, as essentially a community based the word “contemplation,” because here, powerfully experiencing it, when I spiritual practice, is explicitly part of the in our diocese, this word presents an returned to my home here in the Diocese monastic contemplative tradition. Thomas invitation to greater growth for us. Merton, the 20th century Cistercian whose Like so many spiritual concepts, con- writings were key in the contemplative templation is taken immediately to mean renewal in Western Christianity, for something that is to be applied at the “I would like to instance, emphasized that the monk was individual level. In fact, while a few spiri- never alone in his cell, but always carried tual concepts, such as worship, are able to encourage you of the the concerns for the world with him. maintain a degree of community applica- At times, though, as when a group tion in our hearing, contemplation has Diocese of California, gathers regularly to practice centering particularly individualistic associations: prayer, Christian meditation, or worships we think of solitude, hermetic enclosure, the practitioners of in the mode of Taizé, there is a represen- the individual cell for the contemplative. tative community physically present. For We take the role of the contemplative as Wisdom Christianity, those who have taken part in the above being particularly an individual calling. contemplative, community experiences, You perhaps have seen me write and to experience contem- or others like them, there is an aware- speak in various places recently about plation in gathered ness, in the stillness and silence, of the the social concept of “ubuntu” in South deep interconnection, within the field of African culture. A simple way of defining community.” being that is related to the encompassing ubuntu is, “I am, to the extent that I am presence of the Holy Spirit, between all part of a community” — my self defini- those there and the entire creation they tion takes place most fully in the context of California I began to wonder how to represent. of an integrated community. In South Af- see Wisdom Christianity in the light of I would like to encourage you of the rica, ubuntu is not essentially a religious the dynamic I witnessed in South Africa. Diocese of California, the practitioners concept, but is, you might say, baptized Standing here, in our diocese, with the of Wisdom Christianity, to experience by the Church and becomes a conscious, reflections on ubuntu in my mind, I contemplation in gathered community. If motivating principle with theological remembered an etymological apercu from you are already in such a contemplative interpretations. some years ago — contemplation implies group, think about how you can help oth- Thus, we can see that Desmond Tutu community. ers enter into this experience as well. The drew on ubuntu when he helped shape the A “templum” is the sacred ground deepening of community as a base for Truth and Reconciliation Commission in of augury, the place where discernment our justice work will take place in a way the aftermath of apartheid in South Af- for the good of the community is under- unique to us and our setting: “What we rica. The Archbishop’s emphasis was on taken, by peering into the draining life shall be remains to be seen.” the potential for the transformation of the of a sacrificial animal or into the patterns whole society, if the whole society would of the stars and planets (cf. “consider”). enter into the truth and reconciliation It might be that a hierarch stood alone process. During the Pilgrimage for Peace on the templum, overseeing the sacrifice The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus in South Africa, the TEAM (Towards and reading of auguries, but what in fact Bishop Taizé Service Features Prayers from All By Sean T. McConnell n April 30, 2007, members of the Diocese of California came together in prayerful recognition that we are all one in Christ. The evening service at Grace OCathedral was in the Taizé form, and included chants, prayers, readings, and concluded with more than 200 people writing prayers on small wooden hearts and laying them at the foot of a large wooden cross. Others brought their prayers to the cross by touching or kissing it. The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus told those gathered that the service would serve as a reminder that no group or individual in the diocese should have to shoulder their burdens alone. Members of the diocesan ethnic ministries, Oasis (a ministry to LGBT persons), congregations that maintain companion relationships in the developing world, and other groups were invited to share prayers and special concerns for the creation of a litany that was prayed at the service. The Rev. Anthony Turney, and the Rev. Kathleen Van Sickle, diocesan Archdeacons, collected the prayers and concerns, and crafted the litany that included a sung Kyrie response. The Litany for Diocesan Unity can be found at episcopalbayarea.org/taize. Taizé services for diocesan unity will be held at congrega- tions around the diocese once a quarter. The next service will be held at Trinity, San Francisco, then following services will cycle through the deaneries. PCN2 | March CHURCH PACIFIC NEWS Crossing the Divide Vol 18, No 6. June 2007 Episcopal Life ISSN 1050-0057 Pilgrimage for Peace Goes to South Africa USPS# 177-940 is published monthly By Sean T. McConnell nations, and by the Domestic and Foreign s the winter months drew to a close, a group of young they visited Missionary Society, Inc.