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A Vocational Conference for Young People of Color June 1-4, 2009 |
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Campus Ministries Conference June 24-27, 2009 |
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Young Adult Festival General Convention 2009 July 9-14, 2009 |
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The Abundant Table Farm Project |
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The Abundant Table Farm Project by Rachel Engle (alumni of CSUCI) and Sarah Nolan (Chaplain at CSUCI) Earlier this year, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori posed the following thought in as sermon she gave on the 5th Sunday after Epiphany, “Where have you met the healing hand of God? Where has that hand, gloved in human flesh, reached out to lift you up? Maybe that hand has fed you or soothed your troubled and fevered brow. Perhaps that hand has even shaken you to greater wakefulness, to notice the lonely soul or the suffering mob in the street outside.” Reflecting on these words from the Presiding Bishop, the Abundant Table Campus Ministry at California State University Channel Islands hopes to embody the work of Christ and be God’s hands and feet in many different shapes and forms. We desire to offer a safe place for community members to engage their faith, find healing, be equipped and empowered, and, hopefully, encounter God’s hand “gloved in human flesh.” In taking this and many other similar reflections seriously, our Campus Ministry has begun to take steps towards a transition which reflects a unique transformation, taking into account the ever shifting economic climate, while at the same time seeking to put a different type of “hands and feet” to the work we do as a campus ministry. Recognizing the blessing of resources housed within our ministry and its partners, the Abundant Table Campus Ministry has created a faith-based rural internship program for college students and young adults. Through the willingness of a local priest and her family to put their resources of land and a farm house into the mix of possibilities for the Abundant Table, we are linking our campus ministry to a large farm-house sitting on 40 acres of land. The Abundant Table Farm Project (ATFP) will begin its first year in August of this year (2009). It will be an intensive eleven month project. During this time, ATFP seeks to provide the space to develop an alternative model of living for young adults interested in vocational discernment around spirituality, community, and stewardship of Creation. ATFP hopes to create a space where young adults can negotiate what it means to live out the gospel message within the local community and the broader church, in our current context of human beings alienated from each other and the earth. This project will equip young adults with practical and spiritual skills for creating sustainable community and agriculture. ATFP participants will leave the program with first-hand knowledge of issues related to environmental sustainability; organic, small scale agriculture vs. industrial agribusiness; community health and access to unprocessed foods, especially as it relates to disadvantaged communities; immigration and labor issues--and a passion to work for justice around these issues. In conjunction with the farm work, interns will participate in such activities as weekly community dinners, four retreats a year, service learning opportunities, community reflection times, and Sunday evening worship services with the Abundant Table campus ministry. Along with housing the interns the Farm House will become a center of worship for the students and community members of the Abundant Table Campus Ministry at CSUCI. It is within the development of this project and ministry that we hope to find new economic models to support the ever growing work of our campus ministry, as well as, recognize that there are many ways for students and community members to engage the church. As issues of sustainability, food justice, and community arise at the forefront of national discussions, the Abundant Table Farm Project hopes to add its voice to the conversation as a worship centered community with a land based ministry. The Abundant Table Farm Project is supported in part by a grant from the office for Young Adult & Campus Ministries. For more information about this ministry and the opportunities it provides, visit the CSUCI Campus Ministry website.
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Mutual Discernment Groups: Clearness for All Ages by Alissa Newton, Postulant to Holy Orders St. Paul’s Seattle At St. Paul’s Seattle what started out as an attempt to fulfill a Diocesan discernment requirement for Holy Orders has blossomed into a rich opportunity for parishioners of all ages to explore and discern about big life questions in the context of small group community. Each fall a call goes out for those who are interested in discernment on some life question: vocational direction, a change in location, a relationship choice. This is not group therapy. The invitation is to join with other discerners and work together on addressing big life questions. The groups work like this: each member commits to the group for a year, with monthly meetings. The first couple times a group meets are for getting to know each other, hearing a little about each person’s spiritual past and current question. Then the meetings shift, and each meeting is focused on one group member, on that person’s question. The goal of that meeting for the focus person isn’t necessarily to find an answer, or to come to a conclusion, but to have the opportunity to get other perspectives on one's question, to find “clearness” (as the Quakers would call it) in the continuing personal discernment of one’s life. The goal of the rest of the group, who are not the focus person, isn’t to provide answers or personal opinions to the focus person, but rather to engage in real wondering about that person’s question, to ask open ended questions that the focus person might not see to ask, and to really engage in discernment with that person. At St. Paul’s each group is led by a facilitator who is not part of the discerning process, but instead helps the group to structure their time and avoid common pitfalls such as offering advice. One of the truly unique things about Mutual Discernment groups that are structured this way is that they provide a real and powerful experience of intergenerational and diverse Christian community. For young adults in particular this can be a great way to build connections with other age groups in the parish in a mutually validating environment. Interested in starting mutual discernment groups at your parish? Send Jason an email and he'll put you in contact with folks at St. Paul's.
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A Change of Perspective by Andrea de la Torre, Sacramento, CA There are many events in our lives that have a great impact on who we are and how we view the world. But sometimes we must leave our comfort zone. Last year I was given the great opportunity by my former diocese of Southwest Florida to apply to the Short-term domestic Internship Program for Young Adults or SIP. The internship I was awarded placed me in Sacramento, CA, were I served eight weeks for forty hours a week. During the internship I had the opportunity to volunteer my time, experience a new environment, and personally spend some time trying to find myself. SIP gave me the opportunity to give my time and all my effort to serve a community beyond my own. I had two volunteer sites during my internship: St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church and St. John’s Shelter for Women and Children, both in Sacramento. At St. Matthew’s my day would begin helping in the food closet, where I bagged food, and screened clients into the database. There I experienced first hand the need for more local food closets, particularly on the week of Thanksgiving. Bishop Barry Beisner of Northern California would drop by to help prepare food bags and deliver them to our clients. Around mid-day, I would help sort the clothes in the clothes closet where clients could come to get items for themselves or their relatives. I would also help in the church office, putting together the bulletins for the English and Spanish Sunday morning services. Later in the day I would help with the after school program the church provided for local elementary school children who had difficulty reading and writing. At St. John’s Shelter I would supervise the safety of children while doing fun family activities. I also helped out in the front office screening "seeking shelter" calls, sorting mail, and organizing files. Learn more about the Short-term domestic Internship Program for Young Adults at episcopalchurch.org/youngadults, just click on Internship/Mission Opportunities. The next round of applications are due August 29 for our mid-September to mid-November internships. This is an incredible opportunity for individuals who do not wish to commit for an entire year or 6 month period but are looking for a meaningful way to engage in service to a community other than their own. For more information contact our office. |
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Road to Ordination by The Rev. Stephen Lee Manzigo, St. James Parish, Wilmington, NC Looking back on the process that I took to become an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church, one of the things I realize is that you never know at the start where the process will take you. The first time I remember considering the idea of being a priest I was actually sitting around the living room with my family. I was beginning my junior year in high school and my parents where talking to me about colleges and jobs. It was basically the “what do you want to do when you grow up” talk, only slightly more serious then when you are five. Nothing really jumped out to me. We talked about law but law school didn’t sound very fun, and we talked about computers but I really wanted to work with people. Then suddenly “well I could be a priest” just popped out of my mouth. My parents kind of looked at me funny and said, “well, yeah, you could do that.” And so it began. An outburst from a frustrated seventeen year old became an idea; an idea became a possibility, and the next thing I knew I was a senior in High School signing up to do an internship with a priest. The priest from my home church became my mentor and guide through the process. I went to college at Appalachian State University, the furthest in-state school from home. I began studying business and minoring in philosophy and religion, my mentor thought the business would be good for me to know. However, as I went through college I couldn’t help enjoying my philosophy and religion classes and hating my business classes. So, I switched them, I majored in philosophy and religion and minored in business. After floundering a little on the social scene I finally found an open and welcoming group to be a part of, the Westminster Canterbury Fellowship. WCF, as we called it, is an Episcopal/Presbyterian campus ministry. This is what helped me to form my adult faith as I continued the process to seminary. The process was not easy. I had to jump through all of the diocesan hoops set up to help you discern your call. Luckily my mentor made sure that I started the process at the right time, two years before going off to seminary. I wrote papers, had interviews, went through the physical and mental exams and finally in the beginning of my senior year at ASU I was approved by the diocese and accepted to the only seminary I applied to, Virginia Theological Seminary. Seminary is one of those interesting places where you go in strong and come out strong but while you are there, you are complete mush. With theological debate, intercampus politics, international church politics, and the ever-looming ordination process going on, it can be trying. However, I can honestly say that what I learned in seminary prepared me for ordained life. When you begin the process you may think you know where it will end, but for me it was totally different then what I thought it would be. I took a missionary position right out of seminary with the Young Adult Service Corps, which took me to South Africa. I was ordained Deacon in my diocese, and two weeks later I was on a plane going halfway across the world. In my three years at seminary I learned quite a bit, but nothing will compare to how much I learned about the world, the church and myself while in Africa. As I lay prostrated at my Ordination to the Priesthood, in front of the Bishop of the Matlosane, at a church in a small township in South Africa, I thought about that simple statement made so many years ago, “well I could be a priest.” I thought about how far from that time and place I was, and how much God had played a part. Did I complain about the process while going through it? Of course, it was hard, it was trying, and I hated it sometimes. But, the process put me where I needed to be and I thank God for that. If you are considering a call to the priesthood and would like to be put in contact with a young priest who can offer you their story on how they discerned their call and help you explore some tools you might employ, please contact Miguelina at the Pastoral Leaderdship Search Effort. |
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