Our MultiCultural and Ethnicity is showing

 First I must wish Bishop Marc and his family my prayers, as they lost their beloved dog after 14 years. When Bishop Marc and Sheila made their first visit to my congregation a few years ago, they couldn't stay as long as they might have wanted to stay, for their dog wasn't doing well. Since that time, I have asked about the dog, which I think that they liked. Sadly today when I went onto Facebook, Bishop Marc had posted that his beloved dog has passed. So please keep him and his family in your prayers.

 I had to go to DioHouse yesterday for a meeting with Bishop Steven. After the meeting I headed to the bathroom, and suddenly I noticed on the walls a bunch of photographs and quotes from People of Color on the walls. It brought tears to my eyes. After years of going into that place and seeing only pictures of White males on the walls, it made me realize that the Diocese of California really does care about ALL of its people. The exhibit is up for a little while, but my hope is that the moral that I am in stays up. I don't want it to stay up because I am in it, but because it will be a reminder and will show all that this is a diocese that cares for all of its people.

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Rethinking the Pyramid

 I often here the term "Top of the pyramid" when it comes to levels of where people in job positions are. The people at the top are the CEOs, Presidents, Owners, etc. in a company. These are the people with power. In the church it's the same way. We have placed the Presiding Bishop at the top of the pyramid and the laity at the bottom. 

 After some things over the last few months, I am beginning to think that this pyramid thought is wrong in the church. The top of the pyramid in the church is really the Laity. Some of this thinking is from getting to know some of the Deacons in this diocese and the role of a Deacon. I really wish that the world really got to understand the role of a Deacon and gave it the true respect that it deserves.

 Here is my thinking. Now I could be wrong, but hear me out. The bottom of the Pyramid is really the Presiding Bishop. The PB puts together a staff and plans that help Bishops do their job. like a house, the base/foundation helps to lift up the Bishops. Part of the role of a Bishop is to be one that is visible to the world, and the ones that are out in the world spreading the word are the Deacons.  Even though most people would think that it should be the Priest in that position of being lifted up by the Bishops, in many ways it is the Deacons that Bishops are lifting up. Now the Deacons are not only out in the world spreading the Good News, but they are also inside the church in some ways putting things together to help raise up the Priest do that they can do their job. Now much of the work that the Priest does is administrative and helping to support and raise the Laity. This puts the Laity at the top of the pyramid. 

 Now if you look at a pyramid, you can remove the levels below the Laity and the church will still survive, but if one removes the Laity from the pyramid (church) no longer exist. Think about it. As much as the claim is that only the other position can do certain things, do you really think that the Holy Trinity is going to get mad if a Layperson were to bless and administer the communion if it brings someone into a closer life with Christ? 

 Now I could be wrong, and actually like the fact that we do things in the matter that we do, but we really do need to rethink the pyramid as to who is on top. I am sure that their are people who will tell me how wrong I am in my thinking, but another way to look at it is that the Laity is the Keystone of the church. Without the keystone (Laity) of a stone arch (the church) could not exist.

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The Spirit is working in DioCal

 It's been a bit since I wrote anything here, but let me catch you up on a couple of things.

 Several years ago, Bishop Marc asked me to be a guest blogger on his blog. I had asked him what he would like for me to write on, and he said anything that I desired, and he mentioned some ideas. I took one of his suggestions and wrote a blog on Being Black in the Episcopal Church. It was received well, and even part of it was put onto the Episcopal Cafe. People from all over kept telling me how much they enjoyed it. One of the things that I had put into it was a call for DioCal to come up with something visible to let people know that we are a multiracial church.

 About 8 months ago people began telling me that they say my picture in DioHouse. I was shocked, but whenever I would have to drop by there for something, I never saw this picture. When I would be there I would look, and all that I ever saw were the white faces that we always on the walls. The other day I had to go to DioHouse for a meeting. I came in through the door on the Plaza level with someone, then came down the steps. As we reached the bottom of the steps, we stopped and talked with one of the other people who was going to be in this meeting. I turned and looked at the door that I should of come in, and noticed a moral. Their it was. There was the picture that people had been seeing of me. I was shocked. I walked over and looked. My diocese does really care for those of us of color.

 I had been seriously thinking about leaving the congregation that I am in. I have grown tired of almost being a Lone Ranger in getting things done, and trying to get the congregation to grow. I've been trying to get the congregation to try and make the place look better. I have tried to get stewardship going, but have no help from the clergy person who will talk about stewardship as being everything but giving money, and in fact has said that stewardship has nothing to do with stewardship, and has come up with tons of reasons for not having people make pledges to help the church continue. The congregations is full of excuses for not doing something.

 But I have changed my mind on leaving. Our Bishop and the diocese has come up with an idea called Area Ministry. Now what Area Ministry is varies depending on who you talk to. Now Area Ministry has never been spoken about in my congregation except for a couple of times. I am lucky enough to be on the Commission on Ministry in this diocese. I love it, as I have gotten to meet some wonderful people and it has helped me to grow spiritually.I love being on this commission.

 One of the things that Bishop Marc desires is for all of us to become deeply involved in our local Area Ministry. My problem is that nobody in Oakland is really doing anything to get the congregations to even talk with one another about this ministry. I've been thinking lately that maybe I should contact a few people in other congregations just to sit and have a talk about it.

 As part of being on the Commission on Ministry, we interview the people that the Bishop feels should be considered to become clergy people. This is called Vocations Day. Vocations day happened last weekend. We on the CoM are paired into teams of 4, and split into twos. Depending on how many people their are, depends on how many people we have to interview. At this past one, with one of the people that my team had to interview, I was really unsure. Yes I could vision this person wearing a clergy collar, but I really didn't see this person really doing anything beyond just being an Asst Priest at a congregation.

 I had been attending a Lenten Series at another congregation that dealt with Prayer. Even though this person was doing some work at this congregation, this person wasn't at this event. I understand as they have a distance to drive, and young children. I had written the team report on this person, and even though the others saw more in her, I was still having a problem. I went to the other congregation today because the last of the series was being done after the service. I enjoyed the series, and had someone cover me at my congregation with the music. 

 What I was unaware of was that this person was going to give the Homily today. They did an incredible job. I was just blown away. We talked afterwards, and I let them know what a great job they did. They were able to take an event in their life, the lessons, and the description of Area Ministry on the diocesan website and make it work in a way that made my mouth just drop open. I wish that we had some of ordaining this person last year, as I see great things in the future for her and Christianity.

Well, let me end this here. I hope and pray that the Holy Trinity Blesses and Guides you always.

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Negro?

 Well it has been a while since I wrote anything here, but I figured it was time after what happened today.

 The day before now President Obama was sworn into office, one of the neighbors in my building died. He was a great guy, and it was to bad that he didn't live another 36 hours. After his funeral, I went to the wake which was held at a building where a theater is that I used to go to all of the time. As I sat their with a couple of other people, and a woman came around passing out postcards of an upcoming play that she was going to be in at the theater. It looked interesting, so I decided that since it had been years since I had been to a play, that I would go.

 I got up and went to church this morning, and had a feeling during the Spanish service that it wasn't going to be a good day, because we only had about 12 people for that service. At the next service, I had a feeling that I really shouldn't go to this play, since the only people were me and the pastor. 

 I go home, watch some stuff on the Internet, then get changed. As I come out of my building, I see the bus just a few blocks away. Why didn't I just go back into the apartment. I jump on the bus, and the Translink machine isn't working. Luckily for me, the bus driver tells me not to worry and to have a seat.

 I arrived at the theater and bought a ticket. Still something in me told me not to.

 The play was about Harriet Tubman. I figured that it would be a good play to see, and had even thought about calling Divine Angel a call to see if her and her son would be interested in seeing it, but I hadn't talked to her in several years, and she was pretty pissed with me the last time that we even spoke. I'm glad that I didn't, as she would of beat the crap out of me afterwards.

 This play had to be the worse play that I have never seen in my life. I have seen school plays which were far better. By the time that it was over, I was wondering if I should refer to myself as being a Negro to avoid being associated racially with the people who put this play on. It was really sad.

 Now don't get me wrong, the play did have a couple of great actors in it, in fact the woman who played Harriet Tubman did a great job, and this was her very first play. The person who did the best played Frederick Douglas. But a couple of the people kept forgetting their lines, and it was obvious. The play was very disjointed and parts of it just shouldn't of been in it. One character was a white slave catcher, who had one seen that lasted maybe 3 minutes. He came on just before intermission, and I figured that he would be in the second part, but he wasn't. 

 I had started to leave during the intermission, but figured that I needed to be punished even further for my stupidity. The second half was better than the first, thanks to the guy who played Frederick Douglas. All that I know is that I think that it will be a while before I head off to see another play.

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Giving up on the Youth Group

 It is sad, the my diocese is holding and event this weekend for the youth of the diocese, and none of the youth from my congregation are coming. The thing is that it is something that they want to do, but because the pastor of the congregation isn't happy that things aren't going to be done his way when it comes to youth and Young Adults in the diocese, he is not going to try and get any of the youth from coming, and will most likely in fact do his best to stop them from coming. He has his mind so determined on how things should be, he is not willing to listen to others, or open his mind at other possibilities. 

 I am throwing up my hands and am going to stand back with the youth of the congregation. This person has no real desire to do things that the youth want to do, which is sad and why the youth group never really grew and in fact no longer has any kids. It's about him and the things that he wants for the kids to do, not about the youth. For him it is more important to rely on what people who have pieces of paper say that youth should be doing than to listen to the youth want to do. 

 Nightwatch is a wonderful event, and I am hoping that several hundred youth from throughout not just the Episcopal Diocese, but from other denominations come for this wonderful event. I am hoping that the diocese takes advantage and gets these youth involved in other things.

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Going to fight a little longer

After writing my last views here on the congregation that I am in, I think that I'm going to try to stick it out a little longer, but I am seriously thinking about leaving. The congregation does have some good in it, which are hard to think of at the moment, but I am going to do my best to get people into it that will get it to live. But what I am not going to do is to be worn out by the congregation. I am going to stick with the stuff that I enjoy doing, but the members will have to go about doing their own thing in getting stuff done that they want do. I am no longer going to do their "dirty work".

I am also glad that I am involved committees and commission in the diocese, as I have really enjoyed meeting new people, getting to see the work of other congregations, and it keeps my following the right path of doing the work of the Holy Triune. It is just the congregation that I am in that is driving me crazy.

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The Death of a Congregation

 When I first moved to Oakland in 1980, I had no plans on attending church services at an Episcopal Church anymore. I had been raised in the Episcopal Church and felt it was time to try something new. I had seriously thought about joining the Quakers, as I had attended a Quaker school as a child, and I think that they are part of the reason that I have turned out the way that I am.

 After living here a few months, I woke up one Sunday and needed to go to an Episcopal service. I was living with an aunt at the time, and we looked in the Yellow Pages and found a couple of congregations that were close by. We went over to the first one, but something about it told me that I wouldn't like it, so we went to the other one. She dropped me off, and as soon as I walked through the doors I knew I was in the right church. 

 After a few years, I changed to the current congregation that I am in now. What I liked about it was that it was a Church Family that was welcoming to all regardless of sex, sexuality, age, color, etc. I had planned on only being involved in a couple of things (acolyte and the choir,) but was going to limit my activities. Before I knew it, I was involved with much more.

 I was elected to the vestry, and I enjoyed it. I have not only been just a Vestry Member, but have been elected the Jr. Warden and even the Sr. Warden. I currently serve as only a member of the Vestry. Over the last five years I have watched as the church has been dying. The sad part is that the congregation doesn't seem to want to do anything about it. I had brought up ideas and I keep hearing excuses as to why we can't do certain things. When we needed to get our roof redone, I brought up the idea of going after grants. I was told that churches can't get grants for that. When I went back to visit my father and was at his congregation (the same congregation that I grew up in,) he told me about them getting grants to replace their roof. I get back here and explain to the vestry about what happened with then, the vestry said that this is something that we must do. I sent an email to the person that said that they would contact my father's church to find out what information that they had. I sent it to them. Someone else said that they had a friend who wrote grants and they would contact them to find out if they would be willing to help. Months go by and no report as to progress. I finally ask at a vestry meeting, and was told that the person never got the email and the other person hadn't even bothered to contact their friend. I resend the e-mail twice in a reply to something that they had sent me. I know that they have never bothered to make the call. With the other one, they contacted their friend and the friend said that she didn't have the time. I asked if her friend would be willing to help someone (myself) via email, the person said that they would check, and to this day I have never heard an answer. So we end up having to go to the diocese and ask them for the money. The condition with the money is that if the current priest were to leave before we finished paying the money, or if we came back to the diocese to have a conversation about becoming a mission.

 I brought up the idea of having a monthly breakfast between services on the first Sunday of the month. Each month a person/group/family would prepare a meal and we would charge say $5. The host would have donated the expense, and the money would go to the church since we aren't bringing in enough in the plate to even pay the Gas & Electric bill. I was told how that wouldn't work, but someone had a microwave that we could raffle off. Still haven't seen the microwave or anything being raffled.

 The church has historic Stain Glass windows that could never be replaced. My bet is that they are worth three to five million dollars. In the windows of the chapel, they are beginning to fall apart. The faces on two of the windows have faded away. Most of them are beginning to collapse. One of the members of the congregation contacted 5 or 6 different places about getting them repaired. Each place came out to inspect them, and most of them sent estimates on cost. The person comes to a vestry meeting and talks about it, two months in a row. If you were to look at the Minutes of the Vestry, nothing appears about what was said. 

 Because of my involvement on an ethnic commission in the diocese, I was asked to be apart of a group that was drafting a strategic plan for multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity in the diocese. Someone from my congregation was asked to find a plan from another diocese. This person never got a copy of the other plan, but got involved in the group. The day after the plan was passed at convention, this person stood in front of the congregation and talk about what a great person he was for creating this plan and getting it through convention. The fact that I was apart of the group wasn't even mentioned. Just recently the Assisting Bishop came for a visit to the congregation. Prior to the service, he came over to my direction because of the music that I was playing. This same person came over and began talking. The plan came up, and I mentioned that the two of us were apart of creating the plan, then the other person said in effect that the plan wouldn't of come together without all of the work that he did and that I was only apart of the group. I walked away.

 About 5 years ago I committee was put together to come up with a pricing chart, rules and regulations, and a new form to be used. Nothing occurred as the committee never met. A couple of years ago another committee was put together to do the same thing. I wasn't on either committee. I proceeded on my own to put all of these things together, and presented them to the committee and the vestry. The committee met once, and my work went to the vestry who voted to pass it. Credit was then given to the committee for all of the hard work that they did. When it was mentioned that the credit should really be given to me, the reply was that it should be given to the committee, not to me. After a few months, I asked that the record be corrected and that I was upset about what had occurred. I was told how wrong I was for asking such a thing and that I shouldn't of gotten upset. After a bit of time, it was decided that an apology should be given to me. I still haven't gotten the apology.

 I brought forth the idea of doing a monthly Movie Night. The idea for this was to advertise it to the neighbors to get them to just come into the building, and hopefully we could get a couple of them to actually attend church there. I figured with the number of apartment building in the area, their had to be a few lacked Episcopalians/Anglicans, and maybe we could get a few to attend. I was hoping also that we could raise the number of English speakers since they are the ones who actually tithe in a recognizable way. After a few times of this event, people felt it was more important that we should show films that have Spanish subtitles than to try and grow the congregation. 

 I'm getting long with this, so let me tell you about today and why the blog (I hate that term) has the title that it does.

 At last months meeting of the vestry, I brought up the idea of putting a committee together for deal with the maintenance of the campus and other property. I suggested three names. Two of the people were sitting there and said that they would be on it, and someone else said that they would ask the third person. At todays meeting, the third person was their for a little bit. They still hadn't been asked. The person left and even though I and that person said that they hadn't been asked to be on it, neither the person who was suppose to ask or the other two bothered to ask. After the person left and I said something about blowing the chance to ask the person, excuses were given.

 Another issue came up and I said that this is something that I have brought up before with the vestry and that I was told how wrong I was with other excuses. I was then told that I had never done that before, and that excuses weren't given when I had brought it up.

 Later when am idea was brought forth about planning for the future, and voting on putting a committee together of three people to plan the way that we will do it, I will then told how wrong my idea was on just having three people, and that we should have two committees doing this. After a bit of back and forth, people wanted to no longer go with what they already voted to do, and the Jr. Warden then asked for a vote. He asked for the Yes Votes, but failed to ask for the No's and Abstains. I mention this, and they have a problem with it, but they go ahead and ask the questions. I and one other abstained.

 It was during the debate during the last thing where I finally decided that I had had enough. I realized that putting anymore effort into trying to get this place from just doing nothing but continue to die, to a place where it wants to live is not going to work. It is time for me to find a place that wants to live. A time to find a place that doesn't have a bunch of excuses as to why we can't do something, to a place that wants to do things to grow and Live. If the diocese were to ask me to stay where I am, I don't know if I could. Life is too short to stay in a place that is doing everything that it can to die, and wants to fight the ability to Live and Grow.

Time Tired.

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