New Blogs and New Friends

I’ve finally gotten around to updating my blogroll ….

Please check out to the right ….

Ship of Fools and the Wittenberg Door, two satirical sites on all things Churchy. My personal favourites are the iBelieve ipod which can be found on Ship of Fools (you can listen to Black Sabbath during Church and look very pious while doing it!) and the New Years resolutions for televangelists in the WB.

I’m also adding some blogs from those i’ve corresponded with on GCN.

Yard[D]og, a fellow Episcopalian who lives out in LA, and the radical liberal I wish I dared to be. He and I also share some common interests. Hi Sir!

Non-Metaphysical Stephen,  who’s wisdom and intelligence always leaves me dumbfounded and surprised by joy.

Anthony over at Dancertm, an aspiring Deacon in The Episcopal Church who has a warm spirit and is good at reminding me of how comprehensive our faith is. Oh, and we also have some “common interests.”

And finally, we have Martin over at Homodox, who has very insightful posts on spirituality, everyday life, and is good at giving us reality checks (eg his post on Health).

QUOTE OF THE DAY

From Phyllis Tickle during her interview w/ the Wittenburg Door

“Christian nation” is such an offensive term that I can hardly speak it, even. One of the biggest blows to Christianity’s vitality and legitimacy occurred on the day that Constantine made it the official religion of the Empire. Nobody in his or her right mind would want to be a member of a socially acceptable religion. It’s very dangerous for the soul. A nation is in the business of doing Caesar’s work, not God’s.

THANK YOU!

Calling and Being Called

Texts: Isaiah 49:1-7; I Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1: 29-42

What is calling? What do we mean when we say vocation? Is it part of identity? Is it part of mission? Or should we speak of it in the context of a gift? When we speak of calling or vocation we usually mean a calling to ordained ministry or to religious life, such as being a monk or a nun. But in the first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul does not stop there. He refers to those who are called to be saints, and that is the entire people of God…including you and me. My good friend Pisco talks about his becoming a Christian not as a conversion, but “God was calling me to become a Christian.” St. Paul’s introduction to his letter speaks to his most fundamental convictions. We are called to be in Christ. We who carry the name of Christ are called into fellowship with each other and into a common mission. I have thought of the Church in Corinth as the Pentecostals/Charismatics of their day, for they had an abundance of spiritual gifts. But Paul, in his talk about these gifts, is more concerned about how they are used as opposed to the expression of the gifts themselves.

Our call, our vocation of being a Christian is one of fellowship. Factionalism and splintering or schism means a denial of that fellowship. All members of the community belong to the God who called them into fellowship with Christ. Where does this call come from? The beginning of our call into fellowship, like all senses of vocation is a revelation from God, a gift. In the Gospel of John, St John the Baptist say, “I did not know him then, but I know him now!” This perception of our calling as a Christian might be gradual, like a sunrise, or abrupt like a lightning bolt, but regardless of how the revelation or gift happens it does not come from reason alone, or even intuition or any human perception. It comes from God and is a gift of grace. As a result of our revelation, it gives birth to witness or mission. Our call as Christians are not meant to be private possessions, but we are to share this gift with others. Indeed, as we grow and mature as followers of Jesus, we cannot help but be living witnesses of God’s grace as we respond to his call of fellowship.

OVERHEARD AT THE MONASTERY

I was going through some old emails and I came across a few “overheard” comments during a retreat at an Episcopal monastery, which i passed on to my friends and thought I would share them here:

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Jr Monk:  “I think I’ve been asked if we serve gruel at least once a week since I’ve been here .. “
Sr. Monk:  “Did you direct them to the Catholic monastery up the road like we suggested?”

Visitor:  “You mean their chef was trained at the culinary institute and his wife is a pastry chef?”
Visitor #2:  “Remember, they are Episcopalians.  This is probably roughing it for them.”

Life update

Back in the fall, I spoke about a particularly bad day.  I found out I was getting a bad performance review at my job, and the same day I received a letter from the diocese asking me to withdraw from the discernment process for a time. Some important updates have happened since then…

On the job front, right before Christmas when my compensation for the year had been settled (and more importantly, the check cleared!), I told my boss that I wanted to transfer to another department.   He agreed, and when I got back from vacation two weeks ago, I started interviewing for other positions in the firm.  I spoke to HR and said that regardless of what position I took, I wanted to “try it out” for a couple of weeks and if it didn’t work for whatever reason, I would go into the floating pool (which is kind of like temping but you are fully employed by the firm) until I found something that would be suitable, and they were agreeable.  After all, I have been with my firm for over 5 years and worked for my former boss for 4 of those years, and so they were willing to do what it took to keep me.

I am going to be taking a position in the Marketing/Investor Relations area of the firm where I’ll be supporting two people who help raise money for our Private Equity and Real Estate funds.  Though there will be a personal assistant-type component to the job, I’ll be responsible for doing other “real work” stuff as well that requires you to use your brain.  After a couple of weeks, if I like it (and just as important, they are happy with the quality of my work) I will stay with this group.   In the future, I will probably be attending group meetings to put in my two cents to help streamline the work flow and general how-we-get-things-done type of things.   Most importantly, it seems like a good environment, and I know some of the people in the group already, and I think it will be a very positive change.

On the discernment front, the diocese said they wanted me to get some leadership experience and they want me to see a therapist.  I have never been in therapy (except for the bar called therapy near my apartment), and the diocese likes all of their aspirants to have spent some time with a therapist on a regular basis.  On the leadership side, I’m running the new Integrity chapter in NYC, which is going well, and I have found a therapist whom I feel comfortable with and my health insurance will cover a good chunk of the cost.  I’m pulled back from some of my duties at my parish, Immaculate Contraption so I can focus more on iNYC.  I’m also in the market for a spiritual director I can see once a month or so and I believe I am close to finding one.  I’ll also be meeting with Immaculate Contraption’s discernment committee every month for a brief touch base.

The challenge, like all things in NYC, is maintaining a sense of balance between work, outside activities, and social life, as well as scheduling!

So, it’s all good things   2008 is off to a great start.  Lots of transition, but life is all about change isn’t it?