Joyful Concert Raises Funds for Flood Relief

Dinner concert raises $3,000 for flood relief at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields 
by Allison Askins

An evening of  great music and delicious food brought in some $3,000 for flood relief work by St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, Columbia, earlier this month. The funds will be donated to the South Beltline Flood Relief Program, which formed after the 2015 flood in the Columbia area and continues to do work as a result of that natural disaster to this day.

St. Martin's parishioner Frank Avignone with The Rev. Susan Prinz

The event which took place on the one-year anniversary of the flood -- Oct. 4 -- drew more than 100 people who had purchased $25 tickets that provided a New Orleans style meal cooked by parishioners and a concert by Dick Goodwin and the Capital City Big Band. The event seemed to strike just the right chord. Participants raved over the food and danced during several musical numbers. 

Another aspect of the evening that brought unexpected success -- and nearly $1,000 of the $3,000 to be donated --  was the Patisserie, a room filled with home-baked goodies that participants purchased for their desserts. Many also bought whole cakes to take home for later enjoyment. 

Le Patisserie!

Delivery of leftovers to the Oliver Gospel Mission in downtown Columbia the next day was another bonus of the event's outreach efforts. 

The Rev. Susan Prinz delivering food to Oliver Gospel Mission in downtown Columbia

Happy pictures filled Facebook feeds the next day, as well, a joyful sign of a parish coming together in fellowship with the community in a mutually-supportive relationship.

If you would like more information about the event, contact the Rev. Susan Prinz at susan.prinz@stmartinsinthefields.com.

Life on the Seminarian Road

by Chris Wilkerson

to the Commission on Ministry

19 July 2016

Dear Commissioners,

As you may have heard, mine has thus far been an exciting summer.  The greatest example of that is my recent pilgrimage to Canterbury, UK, where I spent two weeks in close community with seminarians and recently ordained clergy from Anglican provinces all around the globe. As part of the experience, I got to visit the Anglican Communion Office, which was particularly eye opening for me, with my interest in the global affairs of the wider Church.  I also was privileged to take part in a group audience with Archbishop Welby—I even got to ask the ABC a question myself during the Q & A after his prepared remarks.  That was a once in a lifetime moment.  The majority of the pilgrimage was spent on the cathedral grounds, however, worshiping together in both the Quire and the Crypt and attending morning and afternoon lectures.  But by far the most significant aspect of the experience was time spent together with my brothers and sisters in Christ outside of the classroom, sharing meals and stories, hopes, fears, and joys.  I came away understanding that the Church is both much bigger and much smaller than I had realized before.  In fact, in the fall I will be taking a class from Bishop James Tengatenga of Malawi, the bishop who ordained one of my new international friends, the Rev. David Mpona, the youngest priest in Malawi at the time of his ordination.

I am deeply indebted to the Diocese of Upper South Carolina for these experiences. I would not have known of the program had Bishop Waldo not brought it to my attention, and I would not have been able to attend, even after being selected to participate and receiving a UK scholarship for tuition, had the diocese not generously reimbursed me for the cost of traveling there and back. For this support I am profoundly grateful.

In the meantime, I recently had the opportunity for the first time to preach on a Sunday morning in my home parish of St. Matthew’s in Spartanburg. I had served for a number of years as a lay worship leader for St. Matt’s Wednesday night healing service, but this was my first chance since beginning seminary to preach as part of the regular Sunday liturgy.  It was a great honor to be able to serve my family and friends in that way and to give something back in return for all of their support the past two years.

In other news, Dean Alexander of The School of Theology at Sewanee recently recommended me for a prestigious scholarship and subsequently helped me get it. His nomination came as a bit of a surprise—I had not even known of this particular scholarship until I received a letter from the dean informing me that he had put my name down for it. 

It has definitely been an exciting time. This coming weekend, my family and I will be visiting my parents for a little recreation, and then it will be just about time to get ready for classes. I’m looking forward to this senior year, though it is difficult to believe I only have two semesters of seminary left. It continues to be an amazing journey.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do for the Commission or anything else you require of me. Again, I am deeply grateful to have the support of The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina as I move ever more deeply into this process of priestly formation. Thank you!

God bless,

Christopher T. Wilkerson

Postulant for Holy Orders

Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina

Sewanee SOT, T’17

The Vision Thing

a sermon by The Rev. Jack Hardaway, Rector, Grace Episcopal Church, Anderson, SC at the ordination to the transitional diaconate of Jimmy Hartley, Kristen Pitts and Jane-Allison Wiggin
June 3, 2016, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

So twenty one years ago I sat right where you are and listened to Dr. Don Armentrout preach.  Actually, I don’t remember where I was sitting, or much about the sermon. I think it had something to do William Porcher Dubose and the Chalcedonian definition and a vision for ministry, I could be wrong about that.

Back then we had a full year transitional diaconate. I served at St. Peter’s in Greenville with the vocational deacon Steve McDonald. One of the problems with a long diaconate is that people get impatient with your not being able to do priestly things.

This one time I grew impatient myself and said, “I can’t do that, I’m just a deacon.”

Well Steve McDonald didn’t appreciate that, and what made things worse was that someone started making T-shirts that said “I’m just a deacon." Steve and I wore them with pride.

Yep, that pretty much set the tone for my whole career, one long humorous lesson in humility, the first in a long line of T-shirts that are best forgotten, but worn with pride.

Steve had a thing about serving the poor, I did too, so we hit it off really well. He had me working with the homeless on my days off, re-meeting old friends it turns out, from elementary through high school, whose lives had been one long rocky road.

One thing I have noticed is that there are always reasons not to be present with the poor. We have our reasons and logic that at the end of the day always explain away clergy being present to the poor.
  

I don’t have much advice about ordained ministry, but I think the first little bit of my not much advice is to beware of flawed logic that justifies deacons not knowing the names and faces of the poor, and the poor not knowing the names and faces of the clergy who belong to them.

I think the second bit of flawed logic is that the transitional diaconate is only transitional. I don’t think we lose the diaconate when we are ordained priests. The vision for ordained ministry is greater than the false logic of necessity that all too often has very good reasons for forsaking the personal presence of clergy being with and for the poor. I think this happens because our vision from ministry usually revolves around institutional maintenance, rather than a vision that comes from somewhere else, or rather someone else.

And that brings us to what George H.W. Bush called “the vision thing."

  

“Write the vision” from Habakkuk or “without a vision the people perish” from Proverbs, these are about visions of God being present in the world, but they are often relegated to institutional shopping lists, visionless visions that are quickly forsaken and forgotten. It is so easy to become cynical about the vision thing. But the vision thing is for real, a vision of God present and active in the world, it is the only thing that can rescue us from reducing faith to mere institutional and ideological shopping lists.

Why do we so often take God out of the vision thing - Or the fullness of the vision of God that is Jesus, the wisdom and the word of God incarnate, the fullness that brings life back to our myopic humanity?

I’ve been spending time with St. Irenaeus over the past several years. Usually he is attributed as saying that “the glory of God is a human being fully alive."  As cool as that is, his intention is something else. It was actually about the vision thing. What Irenaeus intended goes more like this, “The Glory of God is the living man, Jesus, and the life of humanity is beholding that vision of God.”
  

It was the climax of Irenaeus’ case for God being made known in many ways that sustain life, but especially in Jesus. The Gnostics didn’t appreciate God being so mixed up with things and so super-generously known in the messiness of life. That is why the heretics left the Church, they weren’t kicked out, they left because the Church was too messy, not spiritual enough, not pure enough, while  Irenaeus on the other hand found the glory of God in all the imperfection and messiness of the humanity of the Church. God’s glory is messy.

The vision of God’s glory vivifies (a really cool word that Irenaeus liked to use) humanity and all creation. My last little bit of not much advice is to always seek the vision of that particular and messy glory, don’t let it be relegated, deleted or reasoned away. There will always be new ideas, processes and techniques but they only work if they are filled with the vision of the humanity of Jesus who is God’s glory and life itself.

Be filled with that vision of God, the glory that is among us as one who serves, whose greatness is on a cross, that image, that icon of God.

Be fully alive with that vision of messy glory, may your eyes be filled, may your eyes grow wider and wider with beholding.

Maybe someone will put it on a T-shirt?

The Stone Necklace by Carla Damron

a book review by Connie Britt, Trinity Cathedral Columbia

Ms. Carla Damron is a member of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, Columbia. Her book has been chosen for the 2016 One Columbia's One Book, One Community read. Congratulations, Carla. 

Pat Conroy's “jacket blurb” for Carla Damron's novel THE STONE NECKLACE says, “Damron's masterful portrayal of misery giving way to empathy leads us toward a glimmering hope of redemption for families and a community on the cusp of bold rebirth. This is a novelist to be read again and again.” For any writer, those words from that wordsmith must be the ultimate validation. For the reader/reviewer they are keys to analyze and appreciate this lovely, touching novel.

The first key is “portrayal” for the portraits of the widely diverse cast of characters in this story are cleanly and honestly drawn. These are real people.  Lena Hastings and her husband Mitch are a couple you might know if you belong to the country club – they live in a lovely home in one of Columbia, SC's best neighborhoods, they are active in their church, supporters and participants in the community's art circles, the parents of three children. Tonya Ladson, her husband John, and their young son Bryon are a young family struggling to make ends meet; financial pressure, the pressure of juggling a small child's needs when both parents are working, and the pressure of feeling they are not living up to the expectations of their parents are very familiar to too many young families today. Nurse Sandy Albright has been through several hells – a miscarriage, a divorce, drug addiction, job suspension – when we meet her as she comes into the hospital locker room on her first day back at work. And then there's wonderful Joe Booker who has done some yard work for Mitch Hastings - a homeless man who has found a more or less permanent shelter in the graveyard up close to the church wall behind Mr. Pinckney's stone at the church where the Hastings worship.

Joe Booker, Sandy Albright, Tonya Ladson, and Lena Hastings are the four characters who form the corners of the frame for this story; but there are many other wonderfully drawn characters who are woven into their seemingly unrelated worlds. Each of these four main characters has known pain and disillusionment; each has battled his or her own demons. Thus the ground is plowed for them to be attuned to the pain of others, particularly young Becca Hastings the teen-aged youngest child of Lena and Mitch. The character of Becca is beautifully drawn. This child on the cusp of adulthood dealing with peer pressure, insecurity, and then the loss of her father becomes a focal point for decisions and actions that impact those around her. In their reaction to and concern for her others are pulled away from their own sorrow and become stronger than they thought they were because she needs them. 

Empathy is not a synonym for sympathy. It is active, not passive. It is acknowledging, not judging. Rev. Bill Tanner and Mitch acknowledge Joe; they find work for him when they can; thy don't lecture. Sandy Albright sees the pain in Becca; she recognizes the struggle Becca has with herself; she doesn't preach but gives Becca her phone number. Lena's love for her daughter forces her to look inward and honestly appraise what has happened in her life, why it has happened, and what steps she must take next. In example after example throughout the book, from minor characters to major characters, the theme that in interpersonal relationships empathy can emerge and lead to healing and redemption is brought home.

A final note, a grace note, this is a novel with deeply important themes about individuals we care for and the interrelationship of individuals and community.  However, in the depth this powerful story is humor.  The chatter in Tonya's office with her friend Marion and their immediate supervisor Ruth aka “Ruthless” is fast and dead-on. The descriptions of the early attempts of Joe to stay clear of a homeless woman named Rag Doll are both poignant and funny. The dialogue between Becca and her older brothers as they watch the football game between the University of South Carolina and Troy State University with their mascots, the “Cocks” and the “Trojans,” will bring a grin to anyone with any SC connections,

           

A melody has more that one note. A symphony has more than one theme. A good story invokes more than one emotion; and this is a very good story.