Mission Meanderings

Dear Ones. While at camp I shared from C.S.Lewis. If I may paraphrase it, it is that life following Jesus is like traveling with the engine at our backs. At once I thought of what he meant. Meanwhile Polly also thought on it. I shared the statement from Lewis and asked what it meant to them. What images did it conjure up? Some folk thought of it as traveling on a train (not something many of us do these days) and we had our back to the engine up front and we were being pulled along, seeing what we had past as we moved along. Many more saw this differently. They saw it as being in a vehicle where the engine pushed us along in front. One likened it to a modern dragster. Others saw it as perhaps being in an old VW with its engine behind the back seat. As you read this I am sure that you have your own first image. Mine was rather dramatic.
I saw myself sitting on the front of a steam engine, legs hanging over the cowcatcher, sensing the power that carried me along the tracks. God was the driver and I was thrilling at the ride and expectantly looking to see what was around the next corner. This may tell you more about me than you want to know. However this is how I deal with life, especially when in the midst of huge change, facing the unknown, wondering where God is in all this. I tell you – I am totally confident in God! The ride can be scary (reminds me of a friend taking me to sit at the front of Raging Bull (horrible, huge roller coaster ride) last year.)
You see that is the other part of my confidence. I am with people who I trust. We do not face change, crisis, death or disaster alone. We are in the community of God’s family. Alone we may feel. Alone we are not. Jesus said that he would never leave us. That is my faith as it is his promise. Upon that promise I live or die. There is an old hymn and this is the refrain: – Standing, standing, standing on the promises of Christ my Savior; standing, standing, I’m standing on the promises of God. Banks may fail; friends have died and are dying. In the midst of this I thank God that Jesus is my savior and is driving the engine. God bless you all

This was my last family camp with St. Thomas. I was close to tears on a few occasions. Enough that God showed up and we were greatly blessed.

I am testing out a piece that I want to write about being useful following retirement. I am set with a call to go to Peru for a few years and to assist Bishop Bill Godfrey in teaching clergy and seminarians. However, I meet a variety of similarly aged clergy whose idea of retirement is to find a home somewhere and then play golf while assisting some local parish. Some even seem to make themselves a nuisance in their old congregations! Others spend much time annoying their wives who are not used to having them around all the time. It seems that the house can only be painted so many times and living here in Wisconsin, golf gets iffy because of several feet of snow, notwithstanding temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees.

My research informs me that the age of 65 was arbitrarily selected by the German General Otto Bismark as an age when people should retire; in the 19th century, it was an age that few attained. Now we are expected to live several years longer. So what to do?

I believe in continuing in ministry. I was ordained in 1975 and by then had already exercised ministry of one kind or another since 1968. Most of my working life has been in parish ministry. I am taking my pension after 3o years in the Episcopal Church because I can do so and still be useful to God while not having the burden of running a congregation. I have no need to be “in charge.” I do have a passion to help younger and beleaguered clergy.

Let me tell some of the story.

In 2005 I spent a sabbatical couple of months (I have a generous congregation) in Kenya. This led to two further trips with mission groups from our congregation. I believed that I would spend my “encore ministry” in Kenya, assisting a dear brother who is a Bishop near Nairobi as well as teaching at the local theological college. Several doors closed on that opportunity, the last being the political unrest following the last election. I asked God what I was to do. I literally threw myself at his feet and asked for guidance for my 2008 sabbatical. (I said the congregation was generous!) Low and behold I received three invitations. One was to Belize, one to Madagascar and the last to Peru. I was in fact offered jobs in each place. I knew I had to hear from God. Invitations from bishops were clearly not enough!

I spent April 2008 in Belize and May 2008 in Peru – where Polly joined me for a week or so. They even spoke my language in Belize, but it was in Peru that God spoke so we simply said yes. When I wrote to Bishop Todd in Madagascar to tell him of the call and my non-availability for Madagascar he was not only gracious but really affirmed the call to Peru. The reaction at SAMS-USA was interesting as they had thought that we would be going to Belize. I thought we were to go to Belize. I even had reactivated my scuba certification! I had a wonderful time as the Vicar of the congregation in San Ignacio, up in the hills near Guatemala. The picture above was taken at San Ignacio. How God must laugh at our ideas, plans and propositions.

I am often asked – “How Long?” The answer is naturally in God’s hands; however, we think it will be three to eight years. The initial commitment is for three years and then it can extend until I expire. Truly that is in God’s hands. We have taken the decision to work under the “covering” of SAMS-USA and they make no demands regarding age. They are excellent at helping the support raising and supervision in the field. I believe that they are the premier Anglican Mission society in the USA.

How about others? I know of five vacant parishes in Belize that are waiting for someone with a vision for an “encore ministry”. Please let me know if you are interested and I will work with you and SAMS.

I have just received a bunch of pictures from Lima. The church that was begun with the dedication of the corner stone in May and then was held in a tent ten days later now has a building. Here is the picture!

The work was done by the women and children and under the guidance of Fr. Benjamin Salas and his wife Livia. They are indefatigable! Thanks too to Bishop Godfrey who found the funds for the materials. What I love is the “can do” attitude, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Next week my dear friend and colleague – Fr. Mike Chapman and his wife Linda are attending a Crossroads conference with SAMS-USA to discern their possible calling to Lima. Mike and I worked together and are co-godfathers of the Mision San Andres.

On another matter. Praise God! I have heard from SAMS-GB that they are very happy jointly to sponsor our ministry in Peru. This means that contributions from the UK can be made to SAMS-GB and thus the full tax advantages are available there as well as in the USA. In the UK the charitable organization is able to recover the income taxes paid by the donor so long as the giving is done according to the UK system. Sounds good to me!

Blessings to all at the end of a very long and exciting summer.

I went to London last week for a few days so as to spend time with my father. It was the first anniversary of my mother’s death and he has been devastated. He is coping! It was a good visit as we just hung out and had lunch out together a couple of times. We met the lawyer and things are now getting sorted out for his further care. What a blessing that he is in a place where people know him and care, and look out for him.

While in England I spent a wonderful day with Simon and Angela Kendall. We go back to school days – though I was too young and junior to be noticed. We met later as we tried to become chartered accountants together and discovered our shared faith in Jesus. Simon and Angela went on to live in Kenya for quite a while where Simon worked extensively with the Church. He then after returning went to great lengths to rediscover me and what I was doing. Lo and behold they live in the next village from my parents. It has been a joy to rediscover our friendship as well as to be blessed by having our wives getting on famously.

Simon has a great gift for networking and he is working hard to help me get in touch again with the folk of thirty or forty plus years ago. I was able to get in touch – with Simon’s help – with those clergy who influenced and guided me those many years ago. My old vicar, Tony Waite is now ninety seven and as with it as ever. My other rector, Dick Lucas was preaching at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate (picture on the right) last Tuesday and so we resumed conversation. The blessing of renewing friendships effectively lost when I emigrated to the States is huge. It is my hope and belief that there will be a prayer support community in England as well as in the US.

Simon had some interesting advice. He suggested that I drop the form of address “Father” since this might offend. It just shows how long I have been here where that is a normal form of address as it describes relationships rather than an office. After all Paul suggests that those to whom he ministered think of him as their father. On the other hand Jesus does say “call no man father.” Anyway I have now changed the newsletter a bit lest I offend. It is too late to change email addresses which have been in use for so many years.

One of the side effects of going into missionary ministry is that the relationships become all the more vital and wonderful. Truly this is about people partnering in mission – we will simply be those on the front line.

I was really struck by this testimony sent to me by one of my mission partners. This is a “goose-bump raising” witness to the power of God. Praise God – Ian

Testimony from Abby:

“My name is Abby. I am 14 years old. I live in western North Carolina. During the summer (June) of 2008, I went on a ministry trip to Guatemala. During part of the trip, we divided up into small ministry teams (5 to 7 people) and visited different villages in the San Pedro La Laguna area. We traveled from village to village telling the Indian people about Jesus. On one particular day, we were visiting in the home of a young woman. She lived in a small village of about 14 or 15 houses. We were trying to lead the young lady to Christ, but it was not going very well. After awhile, we decided to move on. Before leaving, we asked the woman if we could pray with her about anything in her life. She told us that just the day before, she had given birth to a stillborn baby and that we could pray with her about that.

“In Guatemalan culture, there is great shame and condemnation on mothers who give birth to deformed or stillborn children. We prayed a simple prayer that everything would go well with the funeral and burial of the baby and that the mother would be spared the shame and condemnation associated with having given birth to a stillborn child. As we were praying this simple prayer, my friend and fellow ministry team member, Julia (age 17), told me that we needed to pray over the baby’s body. I thought she was crazy to suggest this and that it was not a good idea. Julia was persistent. She said again that we really needed to pray over the baby’s body. She told me to ask the mother if she still had the baby’s body. When I asked, the mother told us the baby’s body was wrapped up in a burial cloth in the back room. I asked her if we could pray over the body. The mother hesitantly said, yes. We went into the backroom and saw the baby’s body wrapped up in a bundle! on the bed. Julia poked her head out of the back room and asked if she could unwrap the baby’s head. The mother said, yes, if we wrapped it back correctly when we were done. Julia picked up the body and unwrapped the head. The baby’s head was tiny and pale. The baby was stillborn and had been dead outside the womb for 27 hours. Her skin had turned shades of purple. Our entire ministry team, five of us, began crying and praying over this baby.

“We prayed for thirty to forty minutes. At the end of that time, Julia screamed out to God, telling Him that she believed with all of her heart that this baby could be raised from the dead. After Julia screamed out, everyone was silent. We were quietly interceding and praying. Within a few minutes, the baby started moving. Then the baby coughed and began crying. The mother came rushing into the room. She was screaming, what is going on? No one could answer her. We were just staring at the baby, who had come back to life. The mother asked us again, what is going on? She began crying as she saw that her baby was alive. She ran out of the house and banged on every door in the village, telling all of the people that God is real because her baby was alive. Within about thirty minutes, the baby’s! skin tone and movements had become completely normal.

“The other villagers came to the house to see this amazing miracle. They asked us which of the Indian gods we had prayed to for such a miracle to happen. We told them we had prayed to the biggest God ever and we began to explain to them about Jesus. Soon, we realized we would not have time to minister salvation to each person individually. So, we gathered all the villagers together, turned on our little sound system and explained the way of salvation. Everyone in the village, 80 to 90 people, prayed to receive Jesus. Each of them was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues. Many would fall to the ground as the power of the Holy Spirit came on them.

“Five days later, we returned to the village to check in on the mother and the baby. The village had prepared a big dinner in honor of our team. We enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship together. The baby, whom they named Julia, was perfectly healthy and had gained weight. Even after five days, the mother was still shaking from the impact of God on her life through the resurrection of her child. Two days after our follow-up visit, the mother brought baby Julia to church. The mother was still shaking from the power of God on her life following this astounding miracle.”

This is a good week. Polly came back to Wisconsin for week so we could be together. What a joy to have her back here for a while. She will return to Vermont the day I fly to England to help my father and visit my brother. This week also we received our first pledge of financial support. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have God begin to put together this patchwork of wonderful people who are going to be part of this ministry. Our support team has been joined by Anne Peterson. Her daughter Katie is tutoring me in Spanish which is wonderful. I have now started to dip into a Spanish NIV Bible and have ordered a couple of “Oracion Comun” books. This is getting serious.

A dear friend advised me to put Polly on the front of the blog. He says, “I don’t know when I have seen pictures of Ian where he looked happier (Pictures of Polly would raise more funds. She is much prettier than you, Ian.)” So right – it is done.

A funny thing happened to us on the way to retirement in Vermont. The road runs through Lima, Peru! More than a decade after accepting God’s call to service at St. Thomas Church, Polly and I were again contemplating our future. More practical than anything was where to live after leaving. Most of you know, as much as we love the Fox Valley, our hearts were being drawn to our vacation and soon retirement home in Vermont.

All that remained was for us to finish the race, keep the faith. In addition to the discharge of my duties for the balance for the year, I was scheduled to take sabbatical time in Belize and then Peru. Belize was wonderful and I even knew the language! A month later we found ourselves in Peru, aiding Bishop William Godfrey in Arequipa and in Lima.

As most of you who know my heart would suspect, what excited me most was the ministry of the church in the shantytowns; makeshift communities up the valleys and the hillsides above Lima. Populated by displaced people coming in from rural areas, driven by a variety of social circumstances and unrest, you and I would call these places slums. Most lack water or drainage and electricity lines run from place to place like spider’s webs. Truly, for Peru, these are the poorest of the poor. Yet in these communities the Anglican Church’s ministry is welcomed and bears great fruit.

Still as adept as the Anglican Church is at starting these new missions, I soon learned that many of clergy called there are still “fresh off the boat” or have come from other denominations. All this to say I saw a great need for their further training. Certainly this would be a burden we would carry on our hearts as we left Peru.

And then I heard God’s Voice. He spoke and changed everything. All our plans. The direction of our lives. Everything.

As we were participating in a service led by the local pastor, Fr. Benjamin Salas, a woman stared me right in the eye and said, “Are you coming here to help us?” Her words pierced my heart. I sincerely believe that it was not just a woman speaking to me…

Not much later in my trip, we were gathered with Bishop Godfrey and he spoke directly from his place of need and perhaps even frustration. To all assembled he said, “I need people to help me here.” Although in a crowd, I felt words again pierce my heart. Afterward I asked him if he was speaking to me. He turned and said, “Was I? If the cap fits!”

Excited beyond all measure, I told Polly about my experiences. Polly: “So much of what captured me was not necessarily spiritual: the ocean, good food, the pace, the style, the warmth of the people…..Ian being happy. The Bishop talking with me like I was a person and not just Ian’s wife. I had prayed last summer that God would woo me; He did.”

The wonderful news here is that God does not believe in retirement, certainly not from a lifetime of teaching, equipping and ministry. Through hearing his voice, prayer and an excitement we can hardly contain, we accept His call to Peru, for such a time as this.

Our ministry will be one that is both evangelistic as well as socially transforming. Bishop Godfrey’s invitation is for me to mentor, teach, encourage and come alongside his clergy in Peru. I will be able to use my great love for the Anglican clergy to oversee the teaching and molding of energetic, enthusiastic and freshly minted clergy and lay leaders.

Polly again: “I see the opportunity to plan spiritual retreats for clergy and lay people along with facilitating the comfort and itinerary of visiting mission teams. And Lima, on a good day, does kind of remind me of Vermont. Hills / Andes!” Psalm 32:8

If you receive this news with as much enthusiasm as we have, please know that you are a partner with us in this challenge, as well as part of our family. We have been accepted by the South American Missionary Society (SAMS- USA) and are beginning to assemble a stateside partnership team, develop a strategy for raising support and a timetable. You will be hearing more in the coming months.

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you should go and bear fruit…” John 15:16

I have just learned that Bishop Bill had a rough trip to England due to his ill health and has stayed there rather than go on to the GAFCON conference. Please pray for his health and strength.

I have been workingon putting together a support team. I believe that the team will have a Vermont as well as a Wisconsin component. So far God has given us Fr. Paul and Julie Feider, Fr. Ed Smith and Michael Sajbel, who I have titled “propagandist.” Michal is doing a wonderful job of helping Polly and me get our initial news letter ready. Fr. Andy Osmun is joining us from CT. Andy and I go back to seminary and 1972. Andy has been a stalwart SAMS board member for as many years as I can remember and knows so much more than I do about missions. Paul, Julie and Ed are my closest friends and companions in WI. They have prayed with us and fretted as God seemed to keep us on the hook. There are some more folk yet to be asked. I do not want to be too broad and just invite people because I like them. This has to be a leading from the Lord to us. Then the person can respond to God. I am also trying to give some separation from our parish who will, after we leave in January 09, be struggling with a search process and they do not need our ghost haunting their decisions in any way.

Michael Sajbel has said that the picture on the left is for him one of the most haunting in my collection. It was taken on my camera by Fr. Mike Chapman while I was singing and trying to attract people to our service. When she came Mike continued to photograph he and she hid the hat behind her back. She has the most beautiful face.

As a matter for prayer – please pray for a buyer to come along for our house. It is not as if we are moving until the end of this year, however it would be nice to have that house sale taken care of. We will be happy to rent when the time comes.

P.S. I know the picture is repeated further down the blog – It bears repeating.