Session five - Clergy Retreat, Diocese of Caledonia, held at Domano Renewal Centre Prince George B.C.
THE DREAM
of Wesley Fresdorff, late Bishop of Nevada
presented by The Reverend Alex Thomas
One of most important things that we need as we enter into the new and changing land that we talked about in the last session is Vision. Somewhere in Proverbs there is the statement that "where there is no vision the people perish". Certainly if we attempt to go into the land without a vison we will most certainly perish.
A person was telling us one time that he visited the what was purported to be the ovens of Auchwich where so many Jews had lost their lives in what now is called the holocaust. He said that he could still smell burnt human flesh. It was in the bricks. He asked the old man who was touring him, "How could this happen." "How could people act so inhuman to others?" "How could they be so insensitive to other human beings". The old man answered, "They lost their vision of Love of God"
Where there is no vision
There is no risk
Where there is no risk
There is no witness
Where there is no witness
There is no Gospel
Where there is no Gospel
There is no hope
We who have this vision of the great love of God, and Gods desire to restore, forgive, and strengthen, and transform our lives and the life of the world. Let us envision a church that can speak to the world in love
I have to say that the vision of the church that I have had in recent years has been strongly influenced by The Dream of the late Wesley Frensdorff who was the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada. He had put forth his dream for the church on numerous occasions at major church events during the period 1981-85. This is a rendering of his dream:
Let us dream of a church
In which all members know surely and simply Gods great love, and each is certain that in the divine heart we are all known by name.
In which Jesus is very Word, our window into the Fathers heart; the sign of Gods hope and his design for all humankind.
In which the Spirit is not a party symbol, but wind and fire in everyone; gracing the church with a kaleidoscope of gifts and constant renewal for all.
A church in which
worship is lively and fun as well as reverent and holy; and we might be moved to dance and laugh; to be solemn, cry or beat the breast.
People know how to pray and enjoy it -- frequently and regularly, privately and corporately, in silence and in word and song.
The Eucharist is the center of life and Servanthood the center of mission: the servant Lord truly known in the breaking of the bread.
With service flowing from worship, and everyone understanding why a worship is called a service.
Let us dream of a church
In which the sacraments, free from captivity by a professional elite, are available in every congregation regardless of size, culture, location or budget.
In which every congregation is free to call forth from its midst priests and deacons, sure in the knowledge that training and support services are available to back them up.
In which the Word is sacrament too, as dynamically present as bread and wine; members, not dependent on professionals, know whats what and whos who in the Bible, and all sheep share in the shepherding.
In which discipline is a means, not to self-justification, but to discipleship and law is known to be a good servant but a very poor master.
A church
Affirming life over death as much as life after death, unafraid of change, able to recognize Gods hand in the revolutions, affirming the beauty of diversity, abhorring the imprisonment of uniformity, as concerned about love in all relationships as it is about chastity, and affirming the personal in all expressions of sexuality; denying the separation between secular and sacred, world and church, since it is the world Christ came to and died for.
A church
without the answers, but asking the right questions; holding law and grace, freedom and authority, faith and works together in tension, by the Holy Spirit, pointing to the glorious mystery who is God. So deeply rooted in gospel and tradition that, like a living tree, it can swing in the wind and continually surprise us with new blossoms.
Let us dream of a church
With a radically renewed concept and practice of ministry and a primitive understanding of the ordained offices. Where there is no clerical status and no classes of Christians, but all together know themselves to be part of the laos-- the holy people of God. A ministering communit rather than a community gathered around a minister.
Where ordained people, professional or not, employed or not, are present for the sake of ordering and signing the churchs life and mission,not as signs of authority or dependency, nor of spiritual or intellectual superiority, but with Pauline patterns of "ministry supporting church" instead of the common pattern of "church supporting ministry."
Where bishops are signs and animators of the churchs unity, catholicity and apostolic mission, priests are signs and animators of her eucharistic life and the sacramental presence of her Great High Priest, and deacons are signs and animators -- living reminders -- of the churchs servanthood as the body of Christ who came as, and is, the servant slave of all Gods beloved children.
Let us dream of a church
So salty and so yeasty that it really would be missed if no longer around; where there is wild sowing of seed, and much rejoicing when they take root, but little concern for success, comparative statistics, growth or even survival.
A church so evangelical that its worship, its quality of caring, its eagerness to reach out to those in need cannot be contained. A church in which every congregation is in a process of becoming free -- autonomous -- self-reliant -- interdependent, none has special status: the distinction between parish and mission gone.
But each congregation is in mission and each Christian, gifted for ministry; a crew on a freighter, not passengers on a luxury liner. Peacemakers and healers abhorring violence in all forms (maybe even football), as concerned with societal healing as with individual healing; with justice as with freedom, prophetically confronting the root causes of social, political and economic ills.
A community: an open, caring, sharing household of faith where all find embrace, acceptance and affirmation. A community: under judgment, seeking to live with its own proclamation, therefore, truly loving what the Lord commands and desiring His promise.
And finally, let us dream of a people
called to recognize all the absurdities in ourselves and in one another, including the absurdity that is LOVE, serious about the call and the mission but not, very much, about ourselves, who, in the company of our Clown Redeemer can dance and sing and laugh and cry in worship, in ministry and even in conflict. (1)
(1) The Dream by Wesley Frensdorff in Reshaping Ministry:Essays in Memory of Wesley Frensdorff Editors Josephine Borgeson and Lynne Wilson copyright © 1990 by Jethro Publications
Reflection
Interaction within the total group on the questions:
What phrase or concept stands out for you in Frensdorff's dream? Why? What if anything in the dream would be worthwhile pursuing in the congregation to which you belong? What would be the benefit in realizing this part of the dream? What would be the difficulties in attempting to make the change?
Additional material and questions to refect on:
CONSIDER THESE QUOTATIONS FROM FRENSDORFF'S DREAM
"A ministering community rather than a community gathered around a minister................."
"....each congregation is in mission and each Christian, gifted for ministry; a crew on a freighter, not passengers on a luxury liner."
AND THESE QUOTATIONS FROM THE ALBAN INSTITUTE
"This change means that each member of each congregation is being called from "support service" to "active engagement" . It is as different as it is to move from being an annual subscriber to the symphony to realizing the your and your friends have to pick of the oboes and bassoons and violins and make music. Different? You bet. If there is going to be music, you have to make it....
The new ministry is the task of the people where they are involved with life - at work, at play, at home -wherever. Clergy who used to BE the ministry, and were trained to be the ministry, do not know how to train the new ministry, are unsure how to support it, and often cannot even get out of it's way.
Similarly the people are not universally enthusiastic about the new responsibility that is theirs, are not clear what they are to be and do, and are often afraid to get started.
In the present age, if there is going to be a ministry, the people of our congregations will have to do it. It is no longer the prerogative of the professionals."
(article by Loren Mead in Action Information March /April 1989) Celia Allison Hahn, editor)
THEN DISCUSS THESE QUESTIONS
In you experience how widespread is this idea of the ministry of the whole people? (Is it taking place in every congregation? Is it here and there and now and then? Is it not taking place at all?)
What are the difficulties and the opportunities in such a concept.
If it is taking place now or if it were to take place in the future what kind of support and training would be necessary for the clergy and for the lay people? How would that support and training take place?