Present in fair and flood

As the flood waters ravaged Luzerne County and other parts of northeastern Pennsylvania, the County Fair went on as planned. The Episcopal Churches of the Luzerne County, which still ministering to people in the flooded areas and contending with the possible threats against their own churches, still maintained their planned presence at the Fair.

Here is the account written by Janine Ungvarsky of Trinity, West Pittston and Co-Chair of 2011 Project Presence:

In the spirit of our diocesan mission to “tell what you have seen and heard,” I’d like to share some of the things seen and heard as the Luzerne County Episcopal Churches joined forces once again for Project: Presence at the 2011 Luzerne County Fair.

The fair opened Wednesday with pounding rain that kept away the crowds and sent us all home early. Thursday was even worse as flooding threatened a large section of the county and closed the fair. I didn’t have much hope for Project: Presence as I evacuated my West Pittston apartment Thursday afternoon at 1:30, with the Susquehanna River already swollen to within two blocks of Trinity.

I have to admit I was surprised when I checked the fair web site that evening and learned the fair was going to be opened on Friday “in response to numerous requests.” This made some sense, considering that the fairgrounds are located in an area not subject to river flooding and easily accessible via the Cross Valley Expressway for many of the other areas where evacuees sought higher ground. Though I had doubts about the turnout, I decided I would open the booth and invite volunteers who could safely do so to join me.

That first evening, I was handing a helium balloon to a little boy when I noticed a tear in his mother’s eye. The little guy was laughing big belly laughs as the balloon bobbed over his head in response to every move of his hand, and his mom said she was just so happy to see him relaxed and not crying or fussing for the first time all day. She confided that they were forced to evacuate their home in Harding, one of the areas hit hard by the flooding, and were staying in a relative’s home crowded with other family members also fleeing the flood. This young mother said she needed to get her rambunctious toddler out of the cramped quarters and to think about something besides what the flood was doing to her home. She talked and I listened, until her son decided he needed to be on the move again, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw that mom and child were both giggling over the way the balloon bounced off her shoulder as they headed away.

Versions of that woman’s situation were repeated over and over again as people who hoped the levee would hold and those who already knew their homes had been devastated visited our booth.

There was the woman whose family was forced to evacuate their Kingston home. She brought her two tween-aged kids to the fair to stave off worry about her husband and older son, who went to West Pittston to help friends and were trapped on the home’s second floor by flood waters. She knew they were safe but said, “We just can’t sit in the house watching the endless flood coverage and worrying anymore.” Then there was the man who said he decided to come and watch some of the fair’s live entertainment while he waited for the evacuation order to be lifted because he knew gutting and repairing his flooded home would take up most of his free time for months to come.

Some of the most interesting moments came as people were talking to those of us from Trinity wearing red polo shirts embroidered with the Episcopal shield and the words “Trinity Episcopal Church West Pittston.” Many read the shirts and were surprised that we were there. “You’re from West Pittston,” one woman said on Friday at the height of the flooding, “And you’re here to talk to us and give all this stuff away? I’d be too worried to think about anyone else if it was me.” Others made similar comments, providing wonderful opportunities for us to share the reason for our hope and bear witness to the strength to be found in a life of faith.

Yes, we gave out almost 1,000 balloons in three days—about twice the number given out over the five days of the 2010 fair—along with hundreds of “Jesus Loves Me” kazoos that raised a joyful noise throughout the fairgrounds. We handed out loads of candy and shared information on the services and outreaches at our parishes. But I think the most significant thing we did in that flood-shortened fair was to bring some small respite to those fairgoers wearied by fear and stress by being there with open hearts to listen, comfort and share a prayer.

Our goal was simple: to be a presence at the fair, to let people know that the Episcopal Church welcomes them and is there for them. It may seem strange to go forward with that goal in the midst of a natural disaster, especially one that hit so close to home for many of us, but what better way for us to make our point than to be there in the midst of sorrow, loss and fear, sharing our reason for hope? Thanks to the efforts of my co-chair, Matt Stretanski, as well as Father John and Sandy Major, Debra and Larry Kellerman, Shane and Annie Sonday and Charlie Warwick as well as all the volunteers from Prince of Peace, St. Stephen’s, Grace Kingston, St. Clement’s & St. Peter’s and Trinity who were able to make it to the fair, I believe we accomplished our goal. Please join me in praying that those that we touched with our presence will find the peace and joy that comes from spending time in the presence of our God.

Community presence is a powerful tool to communicate the Gospel. Their presence at the fair was a spiritual ark to people who needed signs of hope in a difficult and uncertain time. They remained faithful to presence and proclamation when no one would have blamed them for staying home. Their presence at the fair opened up opportunities for grace. These congregations demonstrated how Christ changes lives and God is tangibly present even in the midst of trouble.

Amazing what a balloon can do!

Detoxifying the 'E' word

John Smith writes in the Reading Eagle about the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori visited the Diocese of Bethlehem earlier this month.

One of the things our diocese did--which we found out after the fact was fairly unusual (good for us)--was that we spent the better part of four hours orienting her to our diocese. We shared with her the state of our diocese. We told her about what we do well and we were also honest about our greatest challenges. We shared both data and stories.

The Evangelism Commission shared our story, our process and our dreams as well as our accomplishments and our sometimes-successful-and-sometimes-not experiments. I thought that she engaged us the most when we began to talk about "effective communication of the Good News of Jesus Christ" to those outside the church. Bishop Katharine asked questions of us, wanted to know what worked, and was very interested to know about our work with Unbinding the Gospel. (Our gift to her was a copy of that book with a bookmark placed in Chapter Eight, which is where I think that every clergyperson should read first before going into the whole series.)

We were very cheered to hear talk about the things she learned about us when she preached and answered questions. She spoke of the joys and challenges of "telling what we have seen and heard" and we heard her talk directly about evangelism, putting it square into the context of mission. Her words and example went a long way towards "de-toxifying" the dreaded "E" word in the Diocese of Bethlehem.

For Episcopalians, de-toxifying the "E" word will mean doing more of what we are really good at--and communicating the 'why' behind what we do well--and less of trying to imitate what other traditions do a lot of. We can fall into our own version of toxic evangelism if we succumb to the temptation of believing that somehow the Gospel only resides in the Episcopal Church and everyone else is at least mildly deluded. What is important is that the way Episcopalians receive and live the Gospel does explicitly answer real human needs and points people to Christ. If the Gospel message brings life, then it is imperative that way we bring it be life-giving.

Here is what Mr. Smith wrote in the Reading Eagle:

The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church has a few words she doesn't care for. Evangelism isn't one of them.

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori highlighted "the dangerous 'E' word" in her message to members of the Diocese of Bethlehem in Lebanon earlier this month, admitting the word is toxic to most Episcopalians....

...Jefferts Schori offered a five-point message, doubled. She ticked off five marks of mission the church has adopted: proclaim the good news; teach, baptize and nurture its members; relieve human suffering; change the unjust structures of society; care for the Earth.

She also offered five different ways to implement the marks: to grow congregations in their ability to practice mission; identify and evangelize the community; emphasize education and formation for all ages; battle poverty and injustice in intentional ways; develop networks, partnerships and covenant relationships.

Regarding evangelism, the bishop said she hoped Episcopalians would feel as comfortable sharing the good news about Jesus as about a new restaurant they had discovered. On education, she suggested they use their brains, not just their ears....

...Other words could be problems and concerns. During the well-received Q-and-A session that followed, I asked what she considered her biggest one.

"The biggest challenge," the bishop replied, emphasizing the noun, "is growth." She said the church is losing 19,000 members a year, partly because "Anglos don't produce children." The overseas dioceses are growing, but the only four doing so last year nationally were Navajoland, Wyoming, North Dakota and Alabama. (Discounting Alabama, one might assume the church appeals to cowboys and Indians.)

That led to further evangelism talk. She called the church an attractive faith tradition for those of a Catholic background who don't want someone telling them what to do or have to worry about excommunication. "But we can't wait for them to come to us," she said. "We must be out in the community, sharing."

Read the rest here.

UBG Report to Lily Endowment

The report for "Mainline Evangelism Project II" has been released. Here is the link and below is the cover letter.

Dear Unbinding the Gospel Friends,

I hope your day is as gorgeous as ours is in St. Louis!

We've finished the first 15 months of our 4 year grant from the Lilly Endowment to help 1000 congregations work through the full-congregational saturation experience witih the Unbinding books. A few of you have already received a copy of this, but I will err on the side of duplicate information! Here (click on the link below) is a copy of the 10 page report I sent the Endowment a couple of weeks ago. We are extremely excited about what we're seeing in these congregations, and in what we're learning. I include many specific examples (anonymously) from congregations in the process.

The bottom line is that the books work, the coaching model is working with increasing efficiency, people are beginning to pray, to articulate their faith and to invite friends to church. (I'm hearing rather amazing reports that the term "friends" includes ex-prisoners, students, Saudis, and a few people who state of personal hygiene is not on an exact par with the typical congregant!) Staggering shifts are happening in some of these churches. i was with a Disciples of Christ pastor last Saturday who is serving a congregation whose worship attendance had increased from 90-100 to 190-195 over the course of the last 12 months. She's not a typical pastor, but we're seeing miraculous things happening in many churches.

If any of you know of churches that might be good candidates for participating in the grant process, please let me know. I would be delighted to consult with anyone interested in the exploring whether this coaching would be a good fit for them. If we determine that it is, I can help groups of churches prepare for participating in a coaching group.

Our website contains a couple of video interviews of pastors who have been part of Unbinding groups. (Courtesy of the Illinois Great Rivers United Methodists) Th report to the Lilly Endowment is also downloadable from the web site homepage (www.GraceNet.info). Let me know if I can be helpful to you.

Blessings,

Martha Grace Reese

Read the rest here.

Good Things are Happening TV Spots.

Here are the three commercials being shown on WNEP-TV 16 starting April 1st in Northeastern Pennsylvania.



The first ad will run during Newswatch 16 at approximetly 5:53 p.m. (the time may change by a few minutes), and again at 11:29, at the end of Newswatch 16.

Read more about the background of the project here.

Good Things Happening in NE PA Project

The Rev. John Major, Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church of West Pittston and Prince of Peace Episcopal Church of Dallas writes about a wonderful and ambitious project that the Evangelism Commission enthustiastically supports (and, best of all, is not running!):

The Good Things Are Happening in The Episcopal Church in Northeast Pennsylvania project involves the production of three 30-second spots to be utilized on WNEP TV in their Good Things Are Happening segments for one year (if we can afford to run the spots this long).

The spots help to reintroduce our population to The Episcopal Church in our area and reveal

1. The Episcopal Church as a "sacramental" Church,
2. The Episcopal Church as a "Church of diverse people involved in the life of their parish and the mission of the Church" and
3. The Episcopal Church reaching out to one another and caring for neighbors in need".

We are on schedule to launch the spots the week before Palm Sunday. It's likely that the frequency of air time will be heavier before Easter and during the Easter Season, then lighter in the summer and heavier again during Back To School time and before Christmas.

The effort includes the use of a new "The Episcopal Church in Northeast Pennsylvania" logo that will be continuously displayed on WNEP's website. An inquirer will be able to click on our NEPA Episcopal logo on WNEP's site and will be linked to our new "common web page," www.nepaepiscopalchurch.org, which will be up and running in about one week.

This new site will display the names of all the parishes in the north and central region and more. A click on any parish name will take the inquirer diectly to the website of that parish. If a parish in the north and central region does not have a website, the link will take them to general information about the parish and the parish schedule. Various other links are on this site as well, including our diocesan and national websites. All of our parishes in The Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem can be easily found by an inquirer visiting www.nepaepiscopalchurch.org.

A copy of the new logo is available for your use in bulletins, parish publications, postings and newspaper print ads. The TV spots themselves will soon be available for use on your local parish website.

Now is the time to move forward with our parish welcoming efforts and connect our local parish evangelism efforts to a larger effort. Our population will be hearing the word "episcopal" and catching glimpses of who we are in a new way very soon. Please take advantage of this collaborative effort.

As soon as the ads are available for posting on this blog, we will put it up. Stay tuned!

It's not too late to contribute to this major evangelism project by the parishes in the northern half of our diocese! Everyone doing what they can will be a tremendous help. $500 is a wonderful show of support! So is $300. So is $1,000. Everyone's investment, little or great, will make a great difference.

The Evangelism Commission has committed $3500 to the project over two years (2008 and 2009). It would be wonderful if we could duplicate this effort "south of the tunnel." And it would be even more terrific if this could be a collaboration of parish, clergy and lay leaders in the same way. The wide-ranging collaboration at the parish level is also a sign that Good Things Are Happening in The Episcopal Church in Northeast Pennsylvania!

Please make a check payable to The Episcopal Church Northeast PA (TEC NEPA) and send it to St. Stephen's Pro-Cathedral c/o The Rev. Daniel Gunn, 35 South Franklin Street, Wilkes Barre, PA 18701.