Ugly Oil

After reading multiple articles and editorials on the BP gulf oil spill, I can't help but wonder whether or not we are missiong something. I've not read one article that talks about the enormous profits the oil industry makes, or how we, as consumers and tax payers, foot the bills.

What do I mean by that? I mean this. First, we buy all the gasoline and home heating oil from the huge multi-nationals. Second, when there is a disaster, we tax payers foot the government's decision to clean up the mess. Of course, there has been no commitment yet on the part of the federal government to clean up the mess from the BP gulf tragedy, but I bet that "help is on the way." As this thing gets worse, think about all the federal aid that will necessarily go to restore coast lines, assist fisherfolk, rejuvenate the tourism industry, and help coastal industries get back on their feet. Think about all the federal aid that will go to cleaning up the spill, the tidal basin, and the deep water oil dregs that will pester the gulf for generations to come.

So we pay both ways: we buy the gasoline and pump our taxes into fixing the mess. What a deal. The oil companies then continue to make profits and pay dividends to their stockholders.

Now is the time to convert to electric and hydrogen powered cars. Now is the time to move forward with nuclear power plants and wind farms. Now is the time to harness solar energy. Now is the time to make the great transformation from a petrolium based economy to alternative sources of energy. Earth, our island home, demands it ecologically and financially.

Baptism

On April 11th, it was my privilege to baptize Isabella Alyena and Kassidy Faith Terrill, my two twin granddaughters, at Grace Cathedral in Topeka, Kansas, where I served as Provost until my official retirement on December 31, 2000. Left to right are: Son Ryan Patrick, me, son Brett (dad) with one of his daughters, daughter Megan, and daughter-in-law Julie (mom) with the other twin. We had a grand celebration and thanksgiving at my daughter's home afterwards. My 95 year old mom even traveled to the event from Kansas City with my sister, Martha, and my spouse, Judy.

Lost

Having watched the final episode of "Lost," I must say that what I thought would be a "Star Wars" ending of the battle between Good (Jack) and Evil (John) ended up a rather opaque, vapid notion of eternal life, filled with loving couples and reconciled antagonists. I was disappointed, not only because it cast eternity as something other than enjoying God forever and ever, but also because it did not fulfill the expectation I had of something more dramatic, like Luke Skywalker battling Darth Vader, Revelation Apocolyspe between Jesus and Satan, Johanine battle between Dark and Light.

I guess I expected some sort of cosmic warfare, which always delighted my cinematic imagination.

However, there is a Christian observation in all this. From reading the Holy Scriptures, I can't reconcile the "Lost" notion of eternal life from what Christians believe. We believe that, through the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, we are raised with Him now and at the end of our lives on earth. When we die, we enter into a relationship with the Divine Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We don't take our dog with us. We don't join our fishing buddies in a heavenly trip to the heavenly Ozarks. We don't join Aunt Bessie in her divine sewing circle. We join God and enjoy Him forever and ever.

That's why I dislike many introductory lines in the daily obituarys. "John has gone to join his hunting buddies in the sky" type thing. God is the beginning, middle and end of our days. It is an existence in presence, not a place in the sky.

Will the Episcopal Church Survive?

Now I got into my own blog site and figured out how to write something else. What's on my mind? I've been thinking quite a bit lately about The Episcopal Church, the church in which I have been ordained for almost 49 years, as somewhat of a "sinking ship" I am not depressed about it. It just seems that gradually we have evolved into something different; a church that is decreasing in numbers with small churches getting smaller and big churches getting bigger. In rural states like Kansas, where I live, the number of full time positions for clergy have gradually decreased to the point where many rural churches rely on part time clergy who have non church jobs. This might not be bad, but it does raise a serious question about the future for full time seminary trained priests.


Some of my friends in parish minsitry tell me that they wonder if they will have a job in 20 years? That's a reasonable question, I think, given the fact that many of the bigger churches have life cycles along with the difficulty of attracting a sizable number of young people.


The rise of the big non-denominational churches has hurt all mainline churches, except perhaps the Roman Catholic Church. Urban center city churches are also are experiencing a great deal of difficulty.


On top of that, Bishops and their diocesan staffs have grown to the point that funds necessary for parish development and evangelism are being siphoned off by diocesan assessments, as numbers of congregants and the funds they provide are and have been stabilizing or diminishing. As Loren Mean wrote more than a decade ago, the water table is rising above the necks of churches and the money is simply not there to both maintain, evangelize, and support large diocesan staffs.


The obvious answers are church growth and increased financial stewardship. But this does not come easily for Episcopalians. For one thing, our way of doing worship is contrary to American Protestantism. We are, after all, inheritors of the liturgies of both the ancient church and, more recently, the Church of England. This wonderful, beautiful, liturgical candenced way of speaking to God is simply not in the genes of most American Protestants. Having been raised in an evangelical United Methodist Church, I remember wistfully the simply service of prayer and Word with sermons lasting at least 40 minutes. Fortunately, we had a good preacher in the pulpit. It is this with which most American Protestants have genetically experienced worship.


I'm not calling for a wholesale "Americanization" of our way of doing liturgy. I am merely suggesting that it may be a problem.



In preparation for my June mission trip to Kenya, I have studied Anglican worship in an African setting. Some African Anglicans have maintained the shape of the liturgy while adapting to both local African customs and emergencing Pentecostalism. These churches are growing. I think the American Church will be reluctant and even suspicious of moving in this direction, but it will be interesting to see the African Church in liturgical action.


I can't solve this today. I can't solve it tomorrow. And it one sense, as a retired priest of almost ten years, it is presumptious of me to even suggests solutions. But I am concerned. I do fret about it. And I do care...a lot.