Category Archives: Uncategorized

We have been here for ten days and spent a week in language school.  We now have an apartment and have wandered the city – at least the area around where we  live – for part of the afternoon each day.  Yesterday was our first day off from language school so we wandered further to Barranco.

The fact of being car-less is interesting.  Granted we are in a big city and there are busses and taxies to take it is nontheless a fascinating experience.  As Americans we are so used to being mobile and most of us take it as some kind of inalienable right.  In Vermont we could not survive without a car as we are over five miles from anywhere.  I am not proposing to get a car here unless the work I will be doing makes it necessary.  Frankly that will save us having to learn to drive “Limenois style.”  The effect here will be an interesting one – will this make us see the car differently when we return to the USA?  Will this change our attitude to driving and expecting to go places at the drop of a hat?  I am thinking that this may be a spiritual issue!

Language learning is a somewhat humiliating experience!  We are as little children in the hands of skilled teachers.  These teachers are very patient as we learn not just new words but indeed a new language.  We have to learn new idioms, word order, how to conjugate.  I have always taken a great pride in my mastery of English and here it is useless.  Granted I learned other languages in my youth and somehow that was easier.  Polly tells me that I am now learning new brain pathways.  I believe that to be true.  The end result is that we are at the beginning of a process that will make us in a way NEW people.  It is not simply a language that we are learning but how to be Peruvian/Spanish.  That surely is akin to our early steps in learning to be a Christian.

The early steps there were worship, bible and prayer immersion.  We learned a NEW way of living and being.  It was all part of being a NEW CREATION.  We are now in those same early stages and being led by the hand.  What an excellent way to enter into a new ministry in a new place.  We are “babes in Peru!”  In Christ!

To those who read this – please pray for us that the process will continue to be blessed and grace filled.  There are many “angels” who surround us and help us in this transition.  Pray for the miracle of brains that will grow new pathways.  Pray that God will be wonderfully glorified.

I am including some pictures of our big city environment and mission field.

Polly and I have arrived and are well.  Lima was  a sweltering 80 degrees at the airport when we arrived just before midnight on Tuesday.  We were graciously welcomed by Judith Godfrey and Allen Hill.  The trip was a time of reflection – lost of time and God’s gifts – both upgraded to first from Detroit to Houston and lots of kindness.

We are staying with John and Susan Park and will begin the apartment search this afternoon having spent time browsing the internet this morning.  Yesterday we recovered from being on the road for nearly 24 hours and this morning we are in fine shape.  Yesterday I did attend the clergy morning and was able to be reunited with my dear clergy family here in Lima.  They are the most wonderful men and women, utterly dedicated to the Lord and the mission of the Church.  We spent time in small groups and counted off by numbers and guess what?  My group was all English speaking – a huge gift to me.  We are all getting ready for the Synod at the end of the March.  At this synod Polly and I will be formally incorporated and licensed in the Diocese.

Tomorrow we visit the language school and will get that set to begin on Monday morning.  Thereafter begins much hard work.  It looks as if we will be busy on the Sundays as we will visit several churches.  The cathedral will be our home church as we do speak that language!  Besides the Parks are wonderfully hospitable and encouraging.  I really do want to revisit with Polly the San Andres mission pictured with this entry.

Anyway – please pray – we are greatly encouraged already

San Andres Mision

I received the news today that a dear couple of missionary friends are going to San Ignacio, Belize.  Juan Bernardo and Maria Isabel Marentes announced this today.  What joy and blessing they will bring to this wonderful church and country.  I had the privilege of serving this congregation as part of my sabbatical last year, in April.  I have had a huge burden for the Church in Belize and its bishop, Philip Wright.  San Ignacio, known locally as Cayo, is only a very few miles from the Guatemala border.  In the hills and surrounded by higher ones it is beautiful.  There are several spectacular Mayan ruins in those hills.  There is a small fellowship of missionaries, three Anglican Schools and both Anglo and Hispanic congregations.  Last year I shared with Bishop Philip that I would work and pray for five missionary priests.  God takes his time!

Juan and Maria will have a fabulous ministry there.  My only sadness is that I shall miss them in Peru.  However we shall see them next week when we arrive in Lima.

Praise God for answered prayers

The picture is from last April at the Church in Cayo.

We have spent the last week and this visiting friends and churches. It has been a joy to meet and renew friendships. In Dallas the Heidts and the Godfrey’s.  In Fort Worth the Pettas, Bishop Iker (I like Iker) and Fr. Chris and Margie.  In Houston the Smiths.  We detoured in San Antonio, visiting the missions from the 1700’s – except for the Alamo these are still functioning and much prayed in churches.

We had a fabulous homecoming in Nashville at St. Bartholomew’s the weekend before.  After Texas we go to Destin, Florida for time with Forrest and Nancy Mobley.  We visit overnight in N. Carolina with fellow missionaries Mike and Linda Chapman.  We started the trip with the Mudges in Albany then SAMS, Mary Hays and friends in Ambridge.  HUGE blessings and “Divine Appointments.”

I was welcomed by two events soon after we moved in – by the grace of God these came after getting there and unloading the truck!

We were given about six inches of snow and later a morning temperature of minus 18 degrees fahrenheit.  The house stayed warm and cosy and the woodstove gave great warmth.

We are now surrounded by our familiar things while we still have much to unpack and sort out.

Currently we are on a support raising tour of Pittsburgh, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and possibly Florida.  Back home in two weeks.  What a blessing to greet and visit lots of old friends.

I wrote this piece nearly two years ago and the Living Church was kind enough to publish it.  It provoked a written defense by the dean of the seminary in question in the same journal which generated a series of blog responses.  That seminary has now effectively closed down, which I regard as some kind of divine intervention.  I was asked about the article recently and so here it is.  Sadly my beliefs then concerning church idiocy are more than reinforced today.  Ian

I attended a commencement at one of our seminaries this year – I am not naming names so as to keep some anonymity as to places and people.  I was struck during the administration of Communion by the fact that the bread used crumbled badly and was dropping to the floor during the administration of the sacrament.  Thereupon the line of people trampled upon the rather large pieces.  When communion was over I went forward and collected the pieces lest further “trampling” be done to the sacrament.  All this seemed to be a metaphor for the state of our Church.

To complete the story I was already disturbed by the printed invitation to communion, which read: “All who seek God and are drawn to Christ are welcome to receive Communion at God’s Table.”  No mention of communion being only for the baptized as our canon insists.  Is this the “open Communion” of the new Episcopalianism? The neutered acclamation and sursum corda did not help my peace and equanimity.  The sermon had been grievously disappointing.  The preacher was a clearly uneducated (theologically) bishop.  The preacher distorted and twisted the text to fit a predetermined agenda that included the sentence a “new mind of metanoia lets us see God’s wisdom.”  What the preacher exactly meant I am not entirely sure.  I would certainly understand that repentance leads us to the “fear of the Lord,” which is the beginning of wisdom, however the point of the sermon was to ask us to ask us to be open to a new teaching that in fact contradicts the holy Scriptures as we have both received them and traditionally understood them.  In this case the Greek word was left un-translated and I am not sure that the word repentance would have meant what ever the preacher was trying to say.

Let me get back to the metaphor.  To trample upon Jesus is so to disregard him that we crucify him again by our callous indifference and manipulation of him to our own ends.  This is what I see happening to the Apostolic Gospel in so much of our Church today.  Where is the servant ministry of a Cuthbert or an Aidan when our bishops live in penthouses and mansions while so many mere parish priests suffer on tiny incomes in inadequate and sometimes abusive circumstances? Where is the faithful preaching of the Gospel in such a way that people are brought to Christ in conversion and transformation when what we seem to get is a political agenda wrapped up in ersatz spiritual language?  Where is the holiness and sacrificial ministry when so often we are asked to bless hedonism, materialism and the pursuit of narcissistic self-absorption?  Why are so many faithful clergy and parishioners being persecuted and harassed?  They are faithful to the Scriptures, their ordination vows and the Apostolic Faith as we received it from our forbears and as is upheld in the majority of the Anglican Communion.  In many cases they are the most successful in building and planting vibrant faith communities.  They are being told to knuckle under and be obedient to the new order and teaching or else expect to be punished.

Last year two bishops suggested that there are two churches trying to share one roof.  One – a Pakistani from England – actually said two religions are trying to share the same roof.  How right they were.  The other bishop recently suggested after the March 2007 House of Bishops’ meeting that the Episcopal Church has now become a monoculture that brooks no dissent.  In the new totalitarianism those who dissent will be silenced and trampled upon.  Actually it is Jesus who is trampled upon – crucified again.

Where then is Jesus?  Like the crumbs on the floor, dropped by careless communicants and trampled upon by the next in line, he is disregarded, not really seen. The holy and the Holy one is dishonored, ignored and disfigured.  Who would have thought it – in the Church even!

But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 1Peter 3:14-16 ESV)

Ian, Kath, Polly and Joe - New Year 2009

Dear Ones.
We are coming to an end and a new beginning.
Let me begin by saying how much I appreciate the St. Thomas community. I arrived in August 1997. I was a newcomer to the Midwest, to the frozen tundra, to the rather Catholic Diocese of Fond du Lac. I came as a result of a call that seemed to me very clearly from God. I was assured than and I know it to be true, that the vestry believed the same. It seems to me that this was a “risky call” as the vestry had the choice of two who would maintain the past and one who would bring change. I was the latter. I knew however that I was building upon the past.
The Inheritance.
I inherited from Fr. Bill a stable church with a commitment to biblical authority, sacramental and apostolic orthodoxy. Upon this foundation of Jesus Christ we have built further. It is St. Paul who tells us in today’s epistle (1 Cor 3:4-11) this truth.
one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Three exhortations from St. Paul:
1 “You came to believe.” The purpose of our ministry is that we might believe. We are not here to make people feel good. Not to bless what ever we feel like. BUT to make disciples transformed by the Holy Spirit for Christ-likeness and to continue Christ’s ministry. This is the ministry of evangelism.
2 “God made it grow.” We are servants of God. This is His Church and Jesus is Lord of the Church. Give glory where it is due – give it to God. Continue to pray for God the Holy Spirit to water and bring life to this body. Tell how it grew (healing team, missions, etc)
3 “Foundation, … , Which is Jesus Christ.” Our ministry and church life is all founded upon Jesus. He is the Lord of the Church, the author of our salvation. Christianity is not about the Church but about Jesus Christ – the Church is the “bride of Christ,” not a substitute.
4 We are called to be tireless in contending for the Faith that we have received. One sows, another waters and yet another reaps. The foundation is the apostolic faith that we have received and upon which we build. St Jude says:
I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. (Vs 3)
5 To this I add what Joshua says to the people of Israel as he prepares to leave them.
Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, … But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)
To be a follower of Jesus is a daily choice and commitment – a SURRENDER of who we are to who he is.

The Ministry.
I have been dominated in these years with a passion for my vow at ordination, which reads –
Will you be ready, with all faithful diligence, to
banish and drive away from the Church all erroneous and
strange doctrines contrary to God’s Word?

I have sought to be faithful to this vow in the midst of unprecedented change. I am deeply committed to the authority of Scripture, as this is how the authority of God is mediated to us. This is how God instructs and guides us. According to our catechism the Holy Spirit will only lead us in ways that are confirmed by the Holy Scripture. Our Anglican formularies call the Scriptures “God’s word written.” In my tenure here there has been a titanic struggle and a tectonic shift.

We cannot give up the authority of Scripture and remain an Apostolic and Catholic Church. We are to:
1Cor. 16:13 stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.
Phil. 1:27 stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.
2Th. 2:15 stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you.

Scripture is clear that we are to be a Missionary Church. The Great Commission is the parting charge/commandment of Jesus to his disciples. With this command he makes of those who follow him “apostles.” Ones who are sent into the world to proclaim the Gospel and to bring all people everywhere to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

The mission is described as being to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Since my arrival in 1997 we have sought to serve Christ in our witness locally and overseas. Our ministry is to be life transforming so we feed the hungry, clothe the naked in Christ’s name. WE seek to bring Jesus to people and people to Jesus.

To be a missionary Church is to embrace God’s transformation personally and as a body. Our ministry of worship, word and sacrament is not simply to bring blessing, but to equip us for ministry with the strength that only God can give. Through the sacraments, preaching and the sending and equipping of God the Holy Spirit our mission and ministry is made effective. May God bless you as you continue to stand and proclaim Jesus as Savior and Lord.

The Ministers.

Clergy come and go. The body of Christ that is the local Church is a continuing presence. In this community we are St. Thomas Church. You are St. Thomas Church. You are the ministers of the Gospel.
It was he (Jesus) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Eph 4:11ff.

We are weak but He is strong – one of our communion hymns
At last I come to today’s Gospel. John 21:15-19
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
• Do you love Jesus? He is not asking for a perfect love like his but the desire to love him.
• Do you want to be transformed by Jesus – from who you are to who He purposes and wants you to be?
• Come to him as you are.
• Surrender to Jesus who you are.
• Admit your need of Him and your sin. Receive his forgiveness, love and new birth.
• Receive the Holy Spirit and live for Jesus – let him light your fire!
We are moving now to the Baptismal Covenant. Before that I have the following questions. Please remain quiet and consider these, as they are the questions and answers that are essential to surrender and commitment to Jesus Christ. Yes this is an “altar call!” If any today are making this decision to receive Jesus then please come and let me pray with you in the chapel during communion. Please make your responses quietly/silently
Question Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces
of wickedness that rebel against God?
Answer I renounce them.

Question Do you renounce the evil powers of this world
which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?
Answer I renounce them.

Question Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you
from the love of God?
Answer I renounce them.

Question Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your
Savior?
Answer I do.

Question Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?
Answer I do.
Question Do you promise to follow and obey him as your
Lord?
Answer I do.

Welcome to the family of God. Love him, serve him – be a light for Christ Jesus in this dark world. This is our high calling. God bless you. Thanks you.

This is my last Christmas at St. Thomas – in ten days I shall be retired.  I really cannot fathom what it will be like no longer to be part of this parish and its wonderful people.  This Christmas brought one of the greatest gifts possible.  Let me back up and give some background.

It was over five years ago that we started a ministry to the needy and hungry of our community.  It is now a partnership with three other churches – Calvary, Christ the Rock and St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic.  We usually feed over one hundred twenty people three days a week.  My colleague Ed and I have spent time sitting, listening and getting to know these dear folk.  They are the vulnerable and rejected in our community.  They have learned not to trust.  They live on the edge of our society whose margins make them all but invisible.  Some have been in institutions, some live in their automobiles, some move from shelter to shelter.  The institutional Church has not been a friend to many.  This last year we have seen a few begin to trust and even come to worship on a Sunday.  Three have become members and one came to me this last week.

He said that the time had come to become a Christian.  He had never believed until recently.  He had never really encountered God except recently in the community that served at “Double Portion.”  We had talked often and he had developed relationships with a couple of other men.  There was trust, a desire to “have what they have.”  Could he pray to receive Jesus as savior and Lord?  We met privately in the chapel after everyone had gone home to prepare for Christmas.  We used the simple words of the prayer book:

• Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?
• Answer – I renounce them.
• Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?
• Answer – I renounce them.
• Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?
  Answer – I renounce them.
• Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?
  Answer – I do.
• Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?
  Answer – I do.
• Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?
  Answer – I do.

He was baptized with tears in his eyes.  He came to Communion at the 4:00 pm family service.  One of our families embraced him as soon as he arrived and he was to join them in the front pew, no objections entertained!  What a joy as I was able to share with him the body and blood of the Lord and now his Lord.  Dale S. and Fr. Ed S. are now his godfathers – they will do a great job!

What a gift!  Phillips Brooks in his hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” includes the words concerning Jesus “be born in us today.”  He is and for my dear brother he truly is this Christmas time.  What a wonderful gift.  This is what ministry is all about.

There was a delightful gathering at Nashotah House last week. Actually it was two gatherings. The first was the meeting of the Anglican Global Mission Partners and then a missions conference put on by the seminarians at which Bishop Bill Godfrey of Peru was the featured speaker, having been awarded a DD at Nashotah on Wednesday. It was the first time that I had seen +Bill and Judith since May in Peru. It was a great reunion.

It was a reunion too for me as I was able to gather with so many friends from the Anglican mission world. I made some more too! I was a guest of SAMS and it was a privilege to see how God is moving amongst us as well as hearing how God is putting his hand on so many to send them overseas. The AGMP folk ran workshops on Saturday and Bishop Godfrey gave keynote talks.

Bishop Godfrey shared out of his long experience as a missionary bishop. He was very modest as usual. God has used him greatly in both Uruguay and Peru. He has a vision of mission and mission mobilization that is so fresh and effective. He talked of his “spider pattern” for church planting. He spoke of training and equipping the people of Peru for ministry and eventual oversight. He spoke of complete integration of mission that is both Gospel and socially transforming – Mision integral.

His talks were inspiring to all present.

+Bill’s greeting to me was to say that he has my office awaiting me. Next to me is a Peruvian who speaks little English and wants to learn. I hope to learn Spanish from him. He confirmed that we should go to Arequipa for language school and I shall be setting that up shortly.

What a blessing!

Saints Simon and Jude.

Today I celebrated Saints Simon and Jude at our daily service. I know the epistle was meant to be from Ephesians but I substituted portions of Jude. What a joy it was to read and to be reassured by his words. I was hugely encouraged by his admonition to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”
It seems to me that this states plainly the challenge before me. I am sometimes asked, “Why bother?” Just be a parish priest who pastors his flock. Part of this is the ordination vow taken in 1976 “will you be ready with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God’s Word?” That vow is a direct application of Jude’s exhortation.
The Gospel reading for today was John 15:17ff. The reading ends “the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, the will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
The epistle set was from Ephesians 2:13-22 and concludes with these words, “you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”
What does it mean to be the household of faith? What does it mean to be hated without cause and yet to bear witness to Jesus?
Jesus and St. Paul as much as St Jude knew what would happen. What would happen not simply in the interface of Church and world but would infect the Church. Jesus and Paul talk of “wolves”
Matt. 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Matt. 10:16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Luke 10:3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
Acts 20:29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
As I read Jude I was impressed not so much by the list of offences but by the description (vs. 17) of these people as “devoid of the Spirit.” One of the hallmarks of our current situation is that we are constantly told that these innovations that promote immorality are from the Holy Spirit. Mark 3:29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin.” Jude talks in verse 10 of their blasphemies.
The end of Jude is a lesson in how to be graceful. “But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Are these not words to live by? This morning at the altar I again committed myself to “contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.”