Yesterday our diocese met in convention. About 240 of us – laity and clergy – gathered in Salinas to make decisions that will set direction for the diocese for the year. Because of the ripple effect, these decisions will also affect our future for some unknowable time to come. Our delegates and alternates – Bill Costley, Dennis and Eloise Blanchard, Kate Mikami, Barbara Rice and Jani Wild – represented you well. I was proud of the work they did and grateful for their presence.
We went to Salinas, and we did the work that has to be done. We elected people
to terms of office on the committees and councils that provide leadership for
the diocese and manage the ongoing work of ministry throughout the year. After
an extended discussion about the use of funds that have been designated for
stewardship training, we passed the budget for this year.
And we discussed several resolutions that would have significant impact on the
Fair Share – that percentage of each church’s income that is given
to the diocese to support our ministry together.
Currently, churches give 10% of their first 60k in income to the diocese and
22% of any income over that amount. There is general agreement that this is
not working. It’s a higher level of giving than many other dioceses have
set – especially those older dioceses with large endowment bases –
and it’s a burden on the majority of churches in the diocese. Several
proposals for changing the Fair Share have been suggested. The primary issue
under discussion is not whether the Fair Share should be changed but how and
when that should happen.
One school of thought, to which I subscribe, is that we need first to complete the discernment of our diocesan mission and revise our currently unwieldy structure to support that mission, then determine what level of funding will be required. The resolution under most serious consideration by convention is a plan called 10+. It would lower the Fair Share to a flat 10% of parish and mission income and would require restructuring of diocesan ministry to that level of funding. Its proponents believe that churches would be healthier under this system and would be able to give additional voluntary funding for diocesan programs – hence the term 10+.
The basic concepts of this resolution have generated intense discussion over the last year. Most of the people who have involved themselves in the discussion have strong opinions about the right course of action. There are no lukewarm positions. As you can imagine, this resolution generated quite a bit of heat. When we discussed the resolution, people lined up at the mic to speak with passion about their perspectives on the issue and about the process we used to make our decision. They all were articulate, they were thoughtful, they were convinced they are right and that a vote for the opposing perspective would result in certain disaster. The resolution was ultimately tabled until the convention reconvenes in October, when we will have completed the work of visioning and structure design that is well underway.
As I listened to the debate before the vote to table, our readings for today kept coming to my mind. In the reading from Deuteronomy, Moses said – “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.” Moses went on to say: “Any prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak – that prophet shall die.” As I listened, I wondered about those words, and I wondered who really speaks with authority, and I remembered the words we had heard during the morning.
The Rev. Brian Nordwick was our preacher at the celebration of the Eucharist
that began our time together yesterday. Brian is a deacon of the church. He
is also our diocesan administrator.
Over the last two years, his work has made a significant contribution to the
many ways our diocesan systems and function have improved. He has a strong business
background. He understands finances, systems, and the ways people do work. He
can certainly speak with authority in business matters, and his opinions about
the various Fair Share resolutions are easily as well-grounded as those of anyone
in the diocese.
But Brian didn’t talk with us yesterday about the Fair Share resolutions,
or the process of revisioning and restructuring the diocese, or about any of
the other issues that were foremost in our minds. Instead, he spoke to us about
his experience of the Holy. On November 3rd , as Brian was at the gym, deeply
immersed in his workout and prayer time, he heard God speaking to him.
Brian came away from that experience convinced that God had given him a message
for the people of El Camino Real, for our diocese and that he was called to
step out of the background, where he works so effectively and efficiently, to
give this message to us.
He began by telling us that he loves each of us, that God’s love for him requires that he love each of us. Then he asked our forgiveness for anything he may have done to give offense and assured us of his forgiveness for anything any of us have done. Then he reminded us that our feelings about God and each other are not the end of the journey for us Christians. He told us that God calls us – individually and collectively – to action in God’s name, and he described the ways he understands that action.
First, he said, we must have an active commitment to our faith – to hold to the promises of our baptismal covenant to commit ourselves and our lives to God and to the habits of life that emerge from that commitment. Second, he said we must have discipline to keep those promises that help us live into our commitment. A discipline of daily prayer, of the study of scripture, worship in our faith community every week. Third, he said we must be obedient to God’s voice as we hear it in our prayer, our study of scripture and in our worship. Finally, he said we must share with others what God has given to us. Brian named these actions, then reminded us that we are accountable to God, ourselves and our neighbors for our actions and for our inactions.
As Brian spoke to us, I thought of this morning’s gospel reading. Jesus spoke in the synagogue with authority. His authority didn’t come from his study or the learning in the temple. Jesus authority came from his relationship with God – his companionship with God – from his presence to God’s presence with him. Jesus spoke with authority given by God, and he was able to free the man in the synagogue from his demons.
I doubt that Brian would call himself a prophet, but I know what I saw in the pulpit yesterday morning. I saw a man who spoke with authority. Not with the authority that comes from all his knowledge but from his relationship with God – his companionship with God – his presence to God’s presence with him. I saw a prophet who spoke with such authority that he freed us from a demon. Dioceses have demons, too, you know. At the end of the day, the feeling in the auditorium was different from the feeling as the day began. Something was shifted, some demon was no longer with us. We were not the same people who began the day, and I believe that Brian’s words were at the root of the change.
I give thanks for that. I give thanks to God.