The Bible Challenge: Helping Us Tell A Story

By: Linda Buskirk

Christmas is a time of retelling the story of the miracles of Jesus’ birth… Mary and Joseph being visited by angels, Mary and Elizabeth together in wonderment about their miracle pregnancies, Mary and Joseph embarking on a journey.  For many people, the most precious story telling happens in children’s pageants, with little cotton-ball-covered sheep, floppy eared donkeys, shepherds in robes a bit too big, wise men with Burger King crowns, the Holy Family knocking on doors, and the triumphant angels proclaiming that God has come to live among us!  Alleluia!

The Christmas Story is meaningful, hopeful, and powerful – and it’s one we know by heart.  Lesser known are hundreds of meaningful, hopeful and powerful stories found elsewhere in the Bible. 

I know they are there, but I don’t always know WHERE.  Sometimes when I need one, I wonder… “Was that in the Old Testament, or did Jesus say that?... or maybe it was in one of Paul’s letters?” 

I am taking on the Bible Challenge this year so I will be more familiar with the Bible and will be able to tell more than one story.  I care about this because of this verse, Deuteronomy 8:3:  “He [God] humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Jesus quoted this very verse when tempted by Satan to turn rocks into bread while he was fasting in the wilderness.  Jesus answered every temptation with quote from scripture, and the devil retreated.  The Word of God is powerful, and more vital to our sustenance than food. 

I pray that 2013 will be a year of spiritual renewal for me, as I gain a greater understanding of God, His character and the relationship He wants to have with me.  I believe the Bible Challenge will flame this renewal each day.  I also hope the Challenge equips me to tell the right story just when someone needs to hear it. 

The practicalities of getting started on the Challenge entailed figuring out when I would actually read each day.  Several Lents ago I disciplined myself to incorporate a prayer and study time into my day, in the early morning.  I have decided to extend that time to include the Bible Challenge.  I find it’s better for me to have a set schedule rather than hoping I can grab a few minutes here and there.  Take some time to determine what will be the best way for you.

I also determined that I would use the schedule of readings provided by the official Bible Challenge site which are so conveniently forwarded to anyone in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana by the Bishop’s office. I selected the NIV Study Bible as the “hard copy” Bible to use for the Challenge. 

Additionally, I downloaded the Bible onto my iPad, so when I am traveling I have easy access to it.  My husband also downloaded a version on his phone for the same reason.  We have come a long way from those huge stone tablets God carved and gave to Moses!

By now, you hopefully have received a pamphlet at your (northern Indiana Episcopal) church that outlines the daily Bible ready program.  You can find more information about the Bible Challenge at http://thecenterforbibicalstudies.org.   You can sign-up for the Bible Challenge on the diocesan website, http://www.ednin.org.  When you do so, you will receive via email periodic words of encouragement and reminders of the Bible verses “assigned” for each week.  These are really helpful!   The diocese also created a Northern Indiana Bible Challenge Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/edninbible.  

If you weren’t really “up for the Challenge” at the beginning of this year, don’t worry or let that be an excuse.  You can start TODAY.  Join hundreds of Episcopalians in northern Indiana who are signed up for the challenge, experience spiritual renewal, and start telling some wonderful stories!

The Apostolate of a Young Mother

By: Hollie Adamson

As a mother, my experience of worship has changed. I have found that I cannot be as present in the same way or for as long a time during worship, whether I have to leave to change a diaper or whisper instructions to one of the boys as they wriggle under a pew. As I have learned to relax and accept these changes as part of this season of my life, I have also learned about intentionality and the moment of grace. When I walk into the sanctuary, I purposefully focus during the first few moments of the liturgy and try to find other moments later when I can reconnect and worship. Note that I said moments. Sometimes it might be just for one phrase in a prayer or hymn, and if not, I can always count on the Eucharist. I purposefully trust that the crumb and the drop will sate my hunger and my thirst. At the moment of Communion, I know that the physical and the spiritual intertwine, while saints pray, angels sing, and the Lord triumphs.

As for my apostolate, my main mission field is contained mostly on two acres of land, within a white ranch house, serving two boys under the age of six, a husband, and an eleven-year old collie-retriever mutt. I am a stay-at-home mother and wife and I have answered the call to homeschool the two immortal souls placed under our care. I have chosen to be, as G.K. Chesterton said, “shut up in a house with a human being at the time when he asks all the questions that there are, and some that there aren’t.”

As a homeschooling mother, my apostolate mirrors my renewal as I intentionally go about my work and am surprised by moments of grace. I am privileged to teach the boys about the three R’s (reading, writing, and arithmetic) as well as the 3-in-1; I can teach them about the life cycle of a sparrow while reminding them that His eye is on the sparrow; I teach them about the lights in the heavens (the moon, the sun, and the constellations) and about the Father of Lights. Jon and I plan God moments into our family’s day, creating our own sort of homely litany: Morning Prayer, memorizing Scripture, singing hymns and spiritual songs, reading the Bible, blessing the boys before Jon goes to work and before they sleep. We also, by being faithful church attenders, have emphasized renewal and carved an expectation into the minds of our children, who now cry if we do not go to church, which happened when we got the flu earlier this year.

I don’t only serve my children as spiritual guide and schoolteacher. I serve them literally – binding up wounds, feeding and clothing them, amid the rest of the tasks that a mother and wife needs to accomplish to create a home. As I go about my work, I hope that I show the boys how the smallest tasks can be of great spiritual value depending on how one uplifts it. Something as simple as making bread can fill the house with an aroma that can lighten a weighted heart.

I could not continue to do this without asking for and receiving spiritual sustenance myself. A mother’s apostolate is all-consuming. That is why coming to church, focusing, and asking for spiritual food and drink is so important. I am fed so that I can be a source of nourishment for my children and give them true and good food. It happens moment by moment, with just enough grace to get to the next.

A few ways to exercise your apostolate as a parent:

• Learn a Bible verse by writing it out on a large piece of paper and hanging it on a wall in a prominent place in your home. Have the children decorate it, either all at once or day-by-day as the family learns it. Make a new one once you’ve mastered the first.
• Say prayers taken from Scripture such as the Our Father or the Magnificat either in the morning or at bedtime. Repetition is the key to learning. To add some fun, try a call and response method, alternating phrases between you and the children.
• Bless each other using the blessing found in Numbers 6:24-27 before you leave for school or work for the day. You can create your own blessings. Speak good into the hearts of your family’s members.
• Be prepared to talk about spiritual matters when you least expect it. For example, you never know when an ordinary conversation about the weather might lead to questions about clouds and why God made rain.

What is Your Apostolate?

By: The Rev. Susan B. Haynes

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

Everyone likes to talk about the Mission of the church. We all want to be more missional. We are in fact commanded, as in the Scripture above, to find ways to preach the Gospel everywhere we go. Many of us feel ill equipped to do so. Where do we find the wherewithal to become evangelists?

We come to church on Sunday morning and sometimes during the week too, because we desire renewal and strength. Our life of worship at St. Paul's is something we do out of a commitment to stability and a desire to be obedient. In this weekly observance, we are renewed then to go out again into the world to exercise our various ministries.

Our life in the world is not and should not be compartmentalized from our life in the Church. The way we exercise our Baptismal vows in the world is actually an extension of the ministry of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. And so it's a cycle, renewal in the church leading to ministry in the world. This ministry in the world is called our apostolate. Each of us is called to exercise an apostolate and for each of us, that apostolate looks different. For some it is a call to the ministry of companionship through volunteering at places like Hannah's House, St. Margaret's House or Hospice. For others it is working with the homeless or the illiterate.

Sometimes the apostolate looks like this: a young mother staying home to mother a child who will grow in God's love. Or it is the line worker who gives his very best in the factory to build a part or a product on which many will come to depend. Some are teachers, some healers...the list goes on and on. The lines of hope and healing which extend from St. Paul's are as many and varied as the members who gather on Sunday to make up her body.

What is your apostolate? How are you called to express and fulfill the promises you made at your Baptism? During the months of October and November, we will be hearing during worship from various parishioners who express their apostolates or ministries in different ways. All of these disciples of Jesus depend on St. Paul's to be the place where they can come to be fed and renewed so as to venture out again to bring the Word and Hope of God to others. In a way St. Paul's is a haven of renewal. Many depend on it as the source of strength and nurture for their own ministries.

As you think about your own ministry or apostolate, know that I am giving thanks for you and praying for your renewal.

My Friend Cosmo

By: Jeff Norris

Cosmo is a dog.  His owner is Anthony.  Cosmo lives with Father Phelps in the apartment attached to Good Shepherd Episcopal Church because Anthony can’t have pets at his apartment.  Cosmo lives his life as most dogs, he is just a little spoiled and he is well loved.  Cosmo knows secrets!  I know that seems like a strange thing to say but let me tell you what I saw.

It was a very warm and muggy Sunday evening in East Chicago Indiana.  Evening prayer was finished and we were finishing up serving dinner in the church basement.  I guess I must have looked a little haggard because Father Phelps asked me to come upstairs and cool off.  No one was waiting to be served and things were winding down so I decided I wouldn’t be missed and joined Father upstairs.  I sat down and watched as Father was giving Popsicles (a real treat) to the children from the neighborhood.  Well it wasn’t just the children there were some adults too.  It’s funny how when an adult gets a treat like that they can light up just like the children do, I had to chuckle to myself at that.  I did catch a thread of the conversation and quickly realized the adult whose eyes had just lit up was someone who is way down on his luck and my chuckle left me as I thought about where I was and what I was doing there.  I was once “down on my luck” and spent the night at a mission.  They fed me and gave me a safe place to sleep that night.  Before I had been sleeping on the streets and doing what I thought was necessary to survive.  Seeing that man get the Popsicle and some encouraging words took me back over thirty years ago to a mission in Florida.  Wow, I hadn’t remembered that for a long time, but this visit tonight is stirring memories and emotions that I have not wanted to deal with.  I am starting to get sad and then out comes Cosmo!  He came right up to me and demanded to be petted, any sad thoughts quickly departed as Cosmo got my attention.  I petted, I patted and scratched I even got a few doggy kisses, and all was right with the world again.

Now there is not much that can distract children away from Popsicles on a hot muggy Midwest July evening, but Cosmo can!  A small boy came in and as soon as he saw Cosmo thoughts of a Popsicle was gone.  He fell down to his knees and hugged Cosmo like he was a long lost friend.  This boys face lit up like fireworks at the fair.  Some more children came in and of course had to greet and pet Cosmo, but as they left the first boy remained with Cosmo.  Father Phelps and I continued our conversation as much as we could amongst the parade of visitors.  But I was glad for those breaks because it gave me time to watch Cosmo and the boy.  He was telling Cosmo all his secrets!  He would talk, then get quiet and whisper in Cosmos ears and I knew I was witnessing something special, something magical.  The boy in a very poor some would say bad area had someone to share his inner most thoughts with.  We can only guess at what he was saying to the dog, but he was very serious and very intent on telling him things.  And Cosmo was just the kind of listener he needed, no judgment, no advice, no interruptions just listening.  All to soon it was over, I returned to the kitchen, Cosmo went for a nap and the young boy went to play water balloons with the other children and of course Anthony. 

I know this may sound silly or superfluous to you, but I know what I witnessed was special.  I wish I could ask Cosmo about it but I guess all I would get would be a wag of his tail and a kiss on the face.  I guess that’s ok because that young mans secrets are safe with Cosmo.

Something to Strive For

By Jon Adamson

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

- Philippians 3:14

There was a sermon sitting right in front of him, the Baptist pastor who officiated by the funeral of my wife’s grandfather, Gerald. Seated in the pews were members of the family and friends—men and women alike—each wearing one of Gerald’s neckties. A grandchild had suggested this as a way to honor him—a token of remembrance. But it was more than a token—it was a word waiting to be heard, obeyed, lived, and preached. There was a sermon sitting right there in front of him, but he didn’t preach it.

Instead, it was the usual cookie-cutter assemblage of humorous anecdotes, pop culture references from days gone by, and overly glowing eulogizing—words that everyone expected to hear, could nod to and take some brief comfort from, and then summarily forget. It was forgettable because it asked nothing of them, because it missed the point of a funeral liturgy, and because it ignored the word that was surrounding them.

What was this word? Briefly, it was “marked,” as in “You are marked as Christ’s own forever.” Perhaps the Baptists do not have that sentence in their baptismal rite, so the pastor could be forgiven for not hearing it. But there it was nonetheless. Each man, woman, and child in the place was marked—marked with Gerald’s neckties, marked by his death, and marked by his life.

They were marked by his service as a faithful bread-winner, who due to a remarkable constitution and a stubborn will, never took a sick day in over forty years of his professional life. Though that was lauded by the pastor, it rang empty, for Gerald’s obedience and stability were never set in the context of markedness—how he might have heard and lived the call of Christian fatherhood and how that good gift might mark his descendants.

So there we were sitting the pews with the word around us. We were marked, marked by disobedience, dislocation, and death—those traits and consequence of the fall so readily brought to mind by the casket in front of us. But we were not all marked by that alone. The baptized among us were marked by another death—Jesus’ death—marked by water and the Holy Spirit as truly as we were wearing neckties. And not just marked by his death, but by his Resurrection and Everlasting Life.

That is the point of the funeral service—to sing the Gospel song at the grave! There was an opportunity for the pastor to exhort those assembled to take on Jesus—to be marked by him, his death and his life. To those baptized, to order their lives around the vows of stability and obedience that we might be further changed into the likeness of Christ, experiencing conversion of life again and again and again, so that in the end we are completely marked by him. And to those who were not, to acknowledge that thing, death, that we all fear and that marks us and to offer to them a little first step that leads into life.

The Gospel is always ready to be preached and lived. The word is always surrounding us. It is no accident that the word “obedience” is related in its root to the word “listen”. If we open our senses to God, to listen in our daily tasks and to follow up on what we heard in the community in which we have been called to live, we will experience conversion of life. St. Benedict sets that promise before us in his Rule. None of us has attained the fullness of that life, but it is something to strive for.