AUTUMN A.D.

2018

VOL. 60 NO. 3

St. John’s Church

Savannah, Georgia
Member of the Parish Partner Plan
 Published quarterly by the Society for Promoting and Encouraging
Arts and Knowledge of the Church (SPEAK, Inc.).

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
CHAIRMAN
THE REV. CHARLESTON D. WILSON
VICE CHAIRMAN
THE REV. CHRISTOPHER COLBY

SECRETARY/TREASURER
DR. E. MITCHELL SINGLETON
THE RT. REV. JOHN C. BAUERSCHMIDT,
THE RT. REV. ANTHONY J. BURTON,
THE REV. DR. C. BRYAN OWEN,

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
THE RT. REV. ANTHONY F. M. CLAVIER,
CATHERINE S. SALMON

INQUIRIES AND CORRESPONDENCE

TOM WALKER, GENERAL MANAGER
805 COUNTY ROAD 102
EUREKA SPRINGS, AR 72632-9705
EMAIL: [email protected]
PHONE: 479-253-9701
FAX: 479-253-1277
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Opinions or views expressed in articles & advertisements

do not necessarily represent those of the Board of Trustees.

ISSN 0003-3278 VOL. 60, NO. 3

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©2018 SPEAK, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

2 anglicandigest.org
 A Letter from the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Dear Digest Family:
Episcopal priest and frequent New York Times culinary contributor
Fr. Robert Capon, whose prose stole my heart many years ago, once
wrote, “The parables are, one and all, about the foolishness by which
grace raises the dead. They apply to no sensible process at all — only
the divine insanity that brings everything out of nothing.” St. Paul,
who certainly issued a few culinary admonishments in his day, wrote:
The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness
of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty (1 Cor 1:25-27).
Both men make a similar point: Grace is no “sensible” process; it
doesn’t work according to worldly standards. And this should in-
deed gladden our hearts!
This issue is the first in a series in which we give thanks for God’s
lavish and overflowing grace shown through the parables of Jesus. It
is my prayer that each of us may find in these pages words that renew
our faith and trust in God.
And, after that faith is renewed, do pray for the ministry of the Digest
— and, as you are able, do help us share the good news by making
a gift to our great cause: “to reflect the words and work of the faith-
ful throughout the Anglican Communion.” We simply cannot do it
without you.
Yours in the Lord’s service,
The Reverend Charleston David Wilson
autumn 2018 3
 Reflecting the words and work of the
faithful throughout the Anglican
Communion for more than fifty years.

connecting gathering telling

For sixty years, The Anglican Digest (TAD) has been the leading
quarterly publication serving the Anglican Communion. From
its inception, TAD’s mission has been “to reflect the words and
work of the faithful throughout the Anglican Communion.” At
a time when print editions are becoming an endangered species,
TAD remains a familiar presence in the homes and offices of
many Episcopalians.

Founded in 1958 by the Rev. Howard Lane Foland (1908-1989),

our heritage is “Prayer Book Catholic,” and is open to the needs
and accomplishments of all expressions of Anglicanism: Anglo-
Catholic, Broad, and Evangelical. Thus, TAD does not cater to
any one niche or segment of the Church, but finds its enduring
ethos in serving the Church, including her clergy and lay leaders,
those theologically educated and “babes in Christ.” Each issue,
therefore, is unique.

TAD is sent to anyone who desires to receive it, and is supported

by contributions. To receive your own copy, or to partner with
us in sharing the work of the faithful, visit anglicandigest.org or
call 479-253-9701.

4 anglicandigest.org
 6 From the Editors
11 The Sower and the Sown
16 Your Money or Your Life
20 Don’t Pull
23 Buried Treasure
28 Repenting of Emptiness
35 The Good Samaritan
39 The God of Allways More
45 The Sheep or the Goats
50 The Vineyard
54 The Talents

on the covers
The cover photographs for this issue are of St. John’s
Church in Savannah, Georgia; the photo on the back cover
was taken with a drone by Canon Frank Logue. You can see
more photos, and learn more about this parish , by visiting
its website, www.stjohnssav.org, as well as by visiting its
Facebook page (search for St. John’s Church in Savannah).
We also encourage you to visit our website to learn more
about the Parish Partner Plan:
anglicandigest.org/parish-partnership-plan/

autumn 2018 5
connecting

THE It’s not just the parables of Je-

PARABLES sus that seem to be so obscure.
The whole Bible reflects a
The Rt. Rev. Anthony F. M. long-gone world. Consciously
Clavier or subconsciously, even prac-
ticing Christians sign on to
“A heavenly story with no the idea that those who came
earthly meaning” was the an- before us were underdevel-
swer provided by a student oped, ignorant, and even big-
when asked to define the word oted. We judge the writings
“parable”. While we may not and beliefs of those who have
provide this answer ourselves, gone before us, particular-
most of us, at least in much ly when we don’t agree with
of the northern hemisphere, them, by our own beliefs and
live in cultures far removed in the context of our own cul-
from the rural agrarian world tures. This is as true of people
of first-century Palestine. We who say they believe every
snootily dismiss as “underde- word of Scripture was dictat-
veloped” people who still live ed through human agents, by
in areas where sowers wander God himself, as it is of those
up and down fields, deprived who dismiss much of the Bi-
of the glories provided by ble’s content as being unen-
condominiums, twenty-four lightened, written by primi-
hour supermarkets and online tive people frightened of their
shopping. At least theoreti- own shadows.
cally, I could do everything I
need to do to live, except go It’s now been a couple of cen-
to the doctor, from the safety turies since the seed drill
and comfort of a recliner – replaced hand sowing, and
and one that even assists me today, “broadcasting” —
to get up and down, at that. throwing out seeds — means

6 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

being on TV. Even fishing tell us that God is all about

is mechanized. Wedding love, that he accepts us as we
feasts remain, but rings have are, that his love is uncondi-
replaced coins and tokens tional — all true — without
threaded on gold or silver mentioning that God is just,
chains like a huge bracelet. We that God judges, and that we
are more likely to dig up trea- are to admit our fallen-ness,
sure than to bury it or store it seek forgiveness, and make up
in an agricultural shed; that’s with those we have harmed.
what banks are for. What In fact, we have to accept that
about the boss who pays his we are to be called to account
workers the same wage even for the people we are and the
if he just hired some of them lives we live before we dare
ten minutes before closing accept that God loves us un-
time? Today, the boss would conditionally. Once, to use
have a government agent, re- old-fashioned language, we
plete with a stack of forms at acknowledge that we are sin-
the door, or a union strike on ners, saved by grace, much
his hand. of what we believed to be ob-
scure about Scripture and the
Thomas Jefferson wasn’t the parables Jesus told suddenly
first to go through scripture becomes clear.
with a pair of scissors, cutting
out the bits he thought dat- There’s a simple reason for
ed, obscure, or plain wrong. this. While humans have ad-
We all do it, not only when vanced and continue to ad-
we think scripture is outdat- vance in technology and sci-
ed, but when our consciences entific knowledge, there has
are pricked. Our generation been no accompanying moral
has been taught to feel good advance. I think of the lives
about itself. Even our clergy cut off and lost, old and young,

autumn 2018 7
connecting

rich and poor, educated and Nowadays, the decision to

ignorant, in concentration find out about a book rests
camps, on battlefields, and in almost entirely on us, unless
school classrooms during my we are young children. We
own lifetime. We now are able read a novel for its story. We
to slaughter with industrial want to participate in the sto-
proficiency. We are capable ry, even to the extent of being
of breaking up a marriage, or an unnamed participant. If
destroying someone’s repu- it’s a good tale, we don’t want
tation, with a few twittering it to end, and we may even
tweets. We can deprive a child grieve when we finally finish
of innocence with one video. it. If the book is nonfiction, a
different process clicks in: We
The parables are not prin- want to be informed, to agree
cipally about fields, donkey with the contents, or perhaps
rides from Jerusalem, virgins to disagree if we want to be
with oil lamps, old-fashioned informed about how other
vineyards, wandering sheep people think about the sub-
that look like goats (at least ject. We want to know about
to American and European the author, his or her quali-
eyes), or even about wheat fications, what others think
and weeds. The parables are of the writing. The process is
about human nature, a hu- something like an autopsy and
man nature that remains very we hope that, when we are fin-
much the same whether peo- ished, there is enough left to
ple are flying to Mars or tak- make heads or tails of it. This
ing a donkey ride from one critical method is very useful
place to another. The para- for scholars. Indeed, not to be
bles are about us, but they are able to critique a book or an
also about God, and how God article, to take it all at face val-
works within us to do his will. ue, is very dangerous.

8 anglicandigest.org
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When Jesus was on earth, the buy a personal copy of the Bi-
only literature available to ble. It would take the invention
most Jews was what we now of the printing press, and later
call the Old Testament; a de- the invention of cheap ways
vout Jew didn’t go to a book to produce books, for the Bi-
store and buy a copy of the Bi- ble to become generally avail-
ble. Its contents were read in able and a best-seller. During
the context of worship. Jesus a raid by Roman officials on a
went into the synagogue in his house church in the early era
home town “to pray” — notice of the Church, the bishop and
that. He was handed a scroll his priests and deacons and lay
containing the writings of the officials were forced to reveal
prophets. He was asked to read where the holy items of wor-
and comment. This wasn’t a ship were hidden. As a Roman
lecture or a bible study group; official wrote down the list,
it was worship. It is all rather someone else spoke aloud: a
like one experiences in church cup, a plate, an incense burn-
on Sunday. People get up and er, and finally a holy book.
read extracts taken from the
Bible, and then someone, usu- For over fifteen hundred years
ally a priest, stands up and Christians heard the parables
talks about these biblical ex- as they were read during the
tracts. The sermon preached Eucharist. Scholars, monks,
isn’t just a lecture given or an bishops, and some priests
essay read, because everything read them personally, stud-
is in the context of corporate ied them, wrote books about
worship. them. They even reproduced
them, word for word, often
The books of the New Testa- with great style and beauty.
ment were first heard during Most people heard Scripture
worship. No one could go and and heard sermons about the

autumn 2018 9
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passages read. As we read We learn about wheat and

them, we are given an eye weeds, and how it will be God
to see Christians together at and not us who will finally do
prayer centuries ago. In short, the weeding because we can’t
the Scriptures were not read tell what is wheat and what
critically, nor read literally; are weeds any more than we
they were prayed. The biblical can tell a sheep from a goat ...
stories were reflected on in the and then we ask God to have
context of worship, in build- mercy on the people we were
ings containing wall paintings about to judge and condemn.
about biblical themes.
As we pray the parables, we are
The parables have not sur- told not to leave our measure
vived to be dissected; they of faith “buried” with a hymn
have survived in the context of book in the parish church. We
worship. Many modern peo- discover, as our pride is shak-
ple have forgotten that. They en, that we were found, lying
dismantle, and often hear on a road, mugged by our
preachers dismantle, the bibli- own foolishness and the evil
cal texts or, if they are funda- that lurks around our path,
mentalists, they seek to make and that it is Jesus who picks
propositions out of words and us up, applies the salve and the
stories which were meant to bandages, and leaves us in the
be meditated upon and of- household of God with all the
fered in prayer. We pray for grace we need until Jesus re-
the Church, that it may grow turns.
as we meditate on the parable
of the sower, which assures Praying the parables — in-
us that the Church will con- deed, praying the Scriptures
tinue in strength despite the — reconnects us to the sacra-
rocky ground and the weeds. mental reality of the Church

10 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

in God’s world. Of course, we Digest family by taking out a

may use our intelligence and subscription and supporting
training to study scripture. If our work.
we do that study completely
outside the context of the wor-
QQQ
ship of the Church, however,
we may well find the process
arid unless we are Bible geeks! THE SOWER AND
But the Church needs Bible THE SOWN
geeks, and we are all called to (Matthew 13:3-23)
study the Scriptures. Discov-
ering Scripture in worship, The Rev. Dr. Jared C.
Cramer, SCP
in the Eucharist, in the Daily St. John’s Episcopal Church,
Offices, and in our devotions, Grand Haven, MI
opens them to meditation
with the eyes of faith and in I am not much of a farmer,
the company of the baptized. nor am I much of a gardener.
To do either of these activi-
We invite you to read the fol- ties well requires regular care
lowing reflections on the sto- and attention. In my house,
ries Jesus told to country folk the favorite plant is the har-
two thousand years ago, as you dy hosta; each year, no matter
pray for guidance and enlight- what I do, it simply pokes its
enment; we hope you will find shoots above the mulch and
within these pages food for turns into a gorgeous plant.
your souls. Indeed, we hope This year, between being gone
there are enough crumbs left much of June, and July so far
over for you to share with your being spent trying to catch up
friends. It would be wonderful on what was missed in June,
if you could persuade your the raised-bed vegetable gar-
friends to join the Anglican den I built a couple of years

autumn 2018 11
connecting

ago (and that actually did seed thrown on rocky soil,

pretty well last year) has sim- where the actual soil was not
ply languished for want of at- deep, may be forgiven be-
tention. cause he had not yet plowed,
but who in the world throws
A cursory reading of the para- seed upon the path where the
ble of the sower and the seeds birds will just come and eat
reveals that we live in a very it? Who throws seed into a
different agricultural time place where you have to know
than Jesus did. The modern thorns are growing, thorns
farmer carefully prepares the that will choke out your valu-
soil first, paying attention to able seed? What is going on
what was planted last year, with this foolish farmer?
tilling the ground until it is
just right, and then placing As with the other parables in
the seed into the ground. The Matthew’s Gospel, this one is
first-century farmer, however, being told in a specific con-
did it the other way around: text. The two chapters before
In Jesus’ time, the farmers this one contain multiple ac-
would first cast the seed and counts of people misunder-
then plow into the land. Thus, standing or outright opposing
you did not always know just the gospel and Jesus’ attempts
how the seed you cast would to spread it. The chapter in
wind up growing. which this parable is told,
chapter thirteen, concludes
But even acknowledging with the well-known story of
those historical differenc- Jesus’ own hometown reject-
es, the farmer in this para- ing him and the message he
ble seems particularly bad at has come to sow. Matthew’s
farming. He doesn’t just cast community must have been
seed throughout his field. The confused, as surely almost

12 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

any Christian has been, as to our vocation, know what it’s

why it was that sometimes the like to scratch your head and
Gospel seemed to take root, wonder, why didn’t this work?
and other times it seemed that I was so sure this would work.
the opposition was as surpris-
ing as it was insurmountable. Jesus seems to be saying that
the Gospel is like this. Though
This is a reality that makes we think that the Gospel is
sense to most of us, I think. something we can package,
Even if our agricultural prac- wrap up, and market expert-
tices have shifted, even if some ly to ensure proper growth, it
of us have greater skills than simply is not. Like anything
others when it comes to the else in this world, you can
planting of seed, we all know cast your seed, but whether
what it means to put your en- or not there is increase is of-
ergy and heart into something ten almost entirely out of your
that just simply won’t grow hands.
the way you expected it to.
Parents whose older children And not only is this the way
don’t seem to listen to them it is, but in this parable Jesus
(and older children whose seems to be saying this is the
parents don’t seem to listen!), way that it should be. By tak-
business people who prepare ing the character of the sower
carefully only to watch their and exaggerating first-cen-
work founder, teachers who tury practices by having him
cast the seed of knowledge throw seed willy-nilly all over
as widely as they can only to the place, Jesus not only ac-
watch some students excel knowledges reality, he leans
and others drop back, seem- into it. “A sower went out to
ingly no matter the effort put sow,” Jesus says, describing his
in… All of us, regardless of own ministry.

autumn 2018 13
connecting

Because make no mistake, vests that are upwards of a

our Lord was not the care- hundredfold, and even the
ful-marketing sower that we smallest harvest is still thir-
would probably prefer in a ty-fold, an excellent harvest
religious leader. He would for someone who sowed seed
bring the word of the king- in such unconventional ways.
dom to Pharisees and tax So, despite what Bible pic-
collectors alike. The rich and ture-books might want you
the poor, the learned and the to believe, though the inter-
unlearned, the righteous and pretation includes the expla-
the unrighteous. He seemed nation of the meaning of the
to believe that his calling was different types of soil, the
to cast the seed of God’s Good point is not that this is a sto-
News widely and extravagant- ry of good soil, but rather a
ly. As one author notes simply, story of a good sower. In the
“It is the purpose of the sower verses that fall in between the
to sow.” And this is what our parable and its explanation,
Lord did: He sowed widely Jesus tells his followers that he
and, in the eyes of the world, speaks to the people in par-
foolishly. ables because the kingdom
itself is hard to see, hard to
The true miracle in this entire grasp, and that many proph-
text is probably the growth. ets and righteous people long
Scholars debate about what to see it, long to hear it, but
sort of yield would have been for some reason cannot.
normal for a regular farm-
er in that day and age, many Most Christians have an idea
thinking a seven-fold harvest of the sort of people they
would have been standard. want to attract to their church
But this sower’s extravagant — preferably middle-class to
sowing results in some har- upper-middle-class younger

14 anglicandigest.org
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people with families. Just go this parable, I believe we are

to the Office of Transition called to cast our seed widely
Ministry website for The and extravagantly. We should
Episcopal Church and down- be careful about thinking we
load a few parish profiles and can judge the soil that lies un-
you will see that almost every derneath a person’s exterior,
one says they want to grow in as though we somehow know
young families — as though better than the sower in the
young families will somehow parable where the seed will
save the church, will some- grow and where it will not.
how save them. We should, instead, make the
welcome broad, make the love
Now, it is, of course, important
extravagant, even foolish. We
to reach out to young families.
should, instead, reach out to
Those with small children of-
all of those around us, those
ten have a true struggle in
of all classes and types and
church, particularly one with
styles, spreading a message of
a liturgical worship where a
welcome and grace, knowing
squirming child stands out
that only God knows what
more. But who knows what
soil lies underneath.
kind of soil lies in the heart of
a young family? Who knows
Perhaps the sower in this par-
whether or not that family
able wasn’t foolish after all.
is at a place where they can
True, he stepped outside of
hear and understand and act
the agricultural approaches of
upon the Gospel in their lives
his day, he pushed the bound-
yet? No amount of welcome
aries, he cast his seed widely
can manufacture in someone
in places no one else would —
else’s life a willingness to be
but in the end, he was the one
changed by God.
who wound up with a truly
And so, like the sower in miraculous growth.

autumn 2018 15
connecting

YOUR MONEY OR The joke only gives us the

YOUR LIFE punch line, but the parable
(Luke 12:13-21) gives us background: The man
in the parable is really well off.
The Rev. James C. Pappas, III He has multiple storehous-
es, and there is every indica-
There’s a joke about a man tion that he already has much
who’s being held up at gun- more than he actually needs.
point. The robber says, “Your And when he is blessed with
money or your life.” The man that abundant harvest, with
says and does nothing. The even more than he already
robber is getting irritated had, his only thought is to
and says again, “Hey bud, keep it for himself. There is
didn’t you hear me? I said: no thought toward sharing
your money or your life?” To this abundance.
which the man replies, “Don’t
rush me! I’m thinking, I’m Note also where the man
thinking!” puts his faith. He asks, “What
should I do, for I have no place
This joke has much in com- to store my crops?” He goes on
mon with the parable of the in the next two verses to use
rich fool. Like the rich man in the first person singular pro-
the parable, the man seems to noun seven more times! This
put more stock in his wealth man’s faith is in himself. As he
than in anything else. But we sees the world, his happiness
also need to be careful in how and his survival depend only
we hear these stories, because upon his own ability — and
they are not stories about sim- that is why he is called a fool,
ply having possessions. These because he cannot recognize
are stories about what we do that the abundance he has re-
with those possessions. ceived is a gift from God, and

16 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

one that is meant to be used God. Our currency carries the

in service to God and others. motto, “In God we trust”, but
it has been said that if we were
There’s a fable which tells the honest it would say, “In gold
story a different way: Once we trust”. There is nothing in-
upon a time, there was a man trinsically wrong with mon-
who used to hide his gold at ey, with wealth; the issue, the
the foot of a tree in his gar- problem, is in our attitude to-
den, but every week he would ward it. If our primary goal is
go and dig it up and gloat over simply to build more wealth,
his money. A robber, who had but not to use it in service to
noticed this, went out one God and our fellow human
day and dug up the gold and beings, that is a problem. If
took off with it — so the next we hoard our wealth as if it
time the man went to gloat might someday save us, that is
over his treasures, he found a problem.
nothing but the empty hole.
He raised such an outcry that Too often, our attitude to-
all the neighbors came, and ward God is not that we are
he told them how he used to to serve God, but that God is
come and visit his gold. “Did to serve us. Like the person
you ever take any of it out?” who asks Jesus to intervene so
asked one of them. “No,” said that he can get what he sees
the man, “I only came to look as his fair share of the inher-
at it.” “Then come again and itance, we turn to God when
look at the hole,” said the we need or want something.
neighbor; “it will do you just God is reduced to a tool to
as much good.” be used, and then put aside
when no longer needed. The
At the root of human greed is so-called “prosperity gospel”
a fundamental lack of faith in is based on this kind of think-

autumn 2018 17
connecting

ing. It isn’t about how we can jars from neighbors. For at

use wealth to serve God and least a while, there wouldn’t
build up the Kingdom, but be hunger in that home. They
about how God can be used offered the pastor a box with
to line our pockets and give several jars of pickles and to-
us the good things in life. But matoes and beans and fruits.
God does not exist to make us The pastor didn’t want to ac-
wealthy. Rather, we exist for cept the gift because he knew
God’s service, for seeking and that they needed those jars of
building up God’s Kingdom. food to survive. But the father
If we live in that Kingdom, of the family insisted, “Now,
God will provide what we tru- you just have to take this.
ly need when we need it. We want you to have it. We
don’t have much, that’s a fact;
There’s another story about a but we aren’t poor!” This last
large family that was in dire statement puzzled the pastor,
financial circumstances. They and he asked, “What do you
lived on the outskirts of town mean you aren’t poor?” The
in a run-down house. The man replied, “When you can
pastor of the local church give something away, even
went to visit them to see if when you don’t have much,
he could be of help. It just then you aren’t poor. When
so happened that it had been you don’t feel easy giving
a good year in the garden, something away, even if you
and the family had canned have more than you need,
everything that they weren’t then you’re poor, whether you
eating right then. Absolutely know it or not.”
nothing went to waste. When
they had filled up all of their Food insecurity and per-
own canning jars, they had sistent poverty are real prob-
begged and borrowed more lems, but this story about

18 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

unexpected generosity shows clothing the naked, healing

that the ways our relationship the sick, visiting the lonely,
to wealth plays out are com- welcoming the outcast: these
plex and that, rich or poor, are the things of resurrect-
we can either possess or be ed life in Christ’s kingdom.
possessed by whatever wealth All that we have now, all that
there is in our lives. Having we will have, is given to us
some savings is not a bad to join with God in building
thing, but without a proper that Kingdom. Our time here
attitude toward wealth, saving is short; the moment when
wealth can and will lead to our lives will be demanded
problems, because the temp- of us could come at any time.
tation becomes to live primar- When that moment comes,
ily to maintain and increase will you choose your money,
our pool of wealth. Under or your life?
those circumstances, we do
not become trusting servants
of God, using the abundance
QQQ
that has been given to us to
build the Kingdom; instead,
we become builders of big-
ger barns to store up wealth
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around. Feeding the hungry, Advertisement

autumn 2018 19
connecting

DON’T PULL consume the wicked “weeds”

(Matthew 13:24-30) of this world, but that the
“wheat” would be spared. Sit-
The Rev. Matthew Cowden ting around her kitchen table,
St. Michael and listening to her deep, fami-
All Angels Episcopal Church, ly preaching, I knew I didn’t
South Bend, IN want to be a weed.

My grandmother preached The parable of the weeds and

against the weeds. She was the wheat from Matthew’s
one of the first women or- thirteenth chapter is often
dained in the United Method- taught that way. In the para-
ist Church in the late 1960’s. ble’s explanation, just a few
From the pulpit, she preached verses on, Jesus tells his dis-
peace and grace, and I can ciples that the weeds are the
still hear her sweet voice and wicked ones who have been
see her in her black robe sown by the devil and will
when she spoke in church. In ultimately be cast in the fi-
her home, around the kitch- ery furnace. This explanation
en, however, she was known by Jesus himself seems to re-
to preach more judgment. inforce my grandmother’s
She was still sweet and her heavy judgement preaching.
words still full of grace for her But by focusing on this expla-
grandchildren, but it was not nation, we can easily miss the
uncommon to hear the harsh textures and the deeper les-
words about how God would sons that Jesus’ parables often
“burn up those sinners.” Her meant to provide.
own childhood among Breth-
ren Christians had taught her, With all due deference to my
in vivid imagery, that a fiery grandmother’s kitchen-table
furnace awaits which shall teaching, and centuries of

20 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

Christians preaching judge- cise application” allows us

ment with this parable, we the poetic room to ruminate
all often have a tendency to more broadly on Jesus’ para-
want to reduce parables to an ble of weeds and wheat with-
easily understood analogy or out rushing to categories of
metaphor. It’s human nature judgment such as my Meth-
to want to know what the ba- odist grandmother sought
sic lesson is, to reach for the to inculcate. Add to this that
bottom line, or find the neat- Matthew, in chapter thirteen,
ly packaged guidance for our provides us with a veritable
understanding and behavior, cascade of agricultural re-
and then practice following it flections in order to help us
through as best we can. to “tease the mind into active
thought.” Matthew takes an
However, by its nature, a par- already pungent parable and
able is not meant to be so easy arranges it with similar par-
to reduce. The Welsh theolo- ables to continue teasing out
gian C.H. Dodd, himself no our understanding. There is
stranger to the effects of a plenty of room in this parable
powerful story, explains that, and its placement for making
“At its simplest, the parable is broader connections to guide
a metaphor or simile drawn our faith and practice from
from nature or common life, the master’s teaching. Besides
arresting the hearer by its a moralistic (even fatalistic)
vividness or strangeness, and interpretation, what else is
leaving the mind in sufficient Jesus saying about the weeds
doubt to its precise applica- and wheat in this parable?
tion to tease the mind into ac-
tive thought.” Entering into the parable of
the weeds and the wheat with
“Sufficient doubt” as to “pre- room to explore, we discover

autumn 2018 21
connecting

in it one of the deepest human loss. Darnel was a dangerous

tendencies reflected back at weed that would have natu-
us, including the tendency to rally sprung to mind for Je-
assign judgment and make sus’ hearers. But something is
assignments about who is a different at the end than what
weed, who is wheat, and what one would have expected: The
action we should take based wheat, though it has been al-
on those judgments. Within lowed to grow, has not been
the parable as Jesus is telling poisoned at the end, but is
it, we hear the cry go up from worthy of being gathered into
the servants once the evil ac- the barn at the harvest.
tion is discovered: “Shall we
pull the weeds?” they ask. Because we expect the worst,
“No, don’t pull,” the master we often follow our urge to
replies. “Let them grow to- action, to pull the weeds, to
gether.” separate the good and the
bad quickly. What Jesus says,
There was a weed called the though, as the master him-
darnel which it was criminal self, is ‘don’t pull; don’t follow
to cast into a neighbor’s field. the instinct to rip up even
Since it was an illegal act listed what the evil one has planted’.
in the law codes, that means One other note that adds to
it was not an unknown act in the strangeness and power of
the ancient world. The darnel the parable of the weeds and
weed, once discovered, could wheat is how Matthew places
be pulled early and damage this parable right before the
most of the real crop it was parables of the mustard seed
entangled with, or pulled and then the leaven. Mustard
late, teased out, but its pollen seeds and leaven are foreign
would poison the whole field bodies to the field or dough
of wheat. Either way it was a they are introduced to: they

22 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

take over the nature of what in kingdom work when we

they’re introduced to and resist the urge to tear up what
change its character. In the we see as weeds and let the
analogies of the Kingdom of master farmer guide the crop.
God here, the mustard seed
and the leaven operate not Resisting the urge to pull is
unlike the weeds. The small not an easy one; leaving the
mustard seed takes over the harvest to the master takes
field; the leaven makes the patience and forbearance. It
whole dough rise. Perhaps the takes preaching peace and
master farmer’s advice not to grace. Fortunately, that was
pull the weeds is a broader re- something my grandmother
flection about how the weeds minister could also do, quite
and the wheat operate in our gracefully.
soul, and we must be careful
about pulling what we are
judging as evil. QQQ
If we look at this parable in
concert with other parables
and teachings in Matthew, BURIED
we might even hear Jesus say TREASURE
to resist the urge to point out (Matthew 13:44)
the speck in others’ eyes be-
cause a log of weeds may be in The Rev. Jesse W. Abell
our own. It may be, as others
have rightly pointed out over I have always enjoyed a good
the years, that the weeds and adventure story involving lost
wheat are active and growing treasure. Maybe that is part of
together inside each of us. We the mystique to Jesus’ Parable
may actually be participating of the Buried Treasure — a
autumn 2018 23
connecting

very short parable, with sparse cash to spend. Then he goes

details, found only in Mat- to the person who actually
thew’s gospel (though there owns the field and buys it with
is a parallel in the nonbiblical that cash. You see, he did not
Gospel of Thomas). actually own the field before,
even though he was meddling
Just imagine it: There is this around in it.
man walking through the
field, poking around at the soil That, Jesus says, is what the
with a stick or a walking staff Kingdom of God is like.
or something. He is drawing
pictures and lines in the dirt. I wish Jesus had given us the
He sort of scoops up mounds whole story. I have so many
of earth here and there, and questions — like: How did the
then suddenly the end of his treasure get there in the first
stick hits something hard. He place?
reaches down, brushes it off a
bit, and sees something shiny, It seems that, in the ancient
something that looks valu- world, most people had no
able. He gets all excited, digs it access to anything like a
out with his hands, and brush- bank, and so some tried to
es it off. It looks like it is really hide or bury their valuables.
worth something. You could not trust that they
would be safe at home while
But he does the unthinkable: you were away, so you might
He puts it back and reburies it. bury them in your field. It had
Then he runs home and sells its advantages. If an army in-
everything he has. He sells vaded, you might be forced
his house, his car, his clothes, out before you could go back
cashes out his pension, etc. He for your valuables, but they
liquidates his assets so he has would be safe from pillaging.

24 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

You might be able to return find more buried treasure in

someday to reclaim them. But, other parts of the field?
of course, you might not ever
get back and they would be Some people have said that he
lost, no one else even know- bought the field because that
ing that something of value way the treasure is his fair and
lay waiting to be discovered in square. But is it really less im-
that field. Maybe this is how moral or unethical to buy the
the treasure the got there in field without disclosing the
Jesus’ parable, but we really do find than it would be to just
not know. take (or steal) the treasure?
And, on the other hand, can
And: What is the finder doing you really steal something that
in someone else’s field? What someone does not even know
sort of person goes snooping they have?
around, digging around, in
someone else’s back yard? And: If it’s true that this man
sold everything he owned to
And: Who actually owns the buy the field, how is he go-
field? I might be a little more ing to survive without shelter,
understanding if it were fore- food, or clothes? What’s going
closed property, seized by the to become of him?
occupying Roman powers,
but Jesus does not say who So many things are left unan-
owned it. swered, and everything Jesus
has given us fits into a single
And: Why in the world does verse of the Bible.
the finder re-bury the treasure
and buy the whole field? Why But we have to remember that
not just take the treasure with Jesus does not say the King-
him and go? Is he hoping to dom of God is like the finder,

autumn 2018 25
connecting

or the field, or even the trea- After all, how many times be-
sure. The Kingdom of God fore might others have passed
is not any of those objects or over it?
people.
Sure, you might say, it was
The Kingdom of God is com- bright and shiny. How could
pared to the action in the sto- someone miss that? But value
ry: the discovery of the buried is not always obvious to every-
treasure. If we focus too close- one.
ly on those other details (the
finder, the field, the previous I once read a news story about
owner, or the treasure itself), a scrap metal dealer who
we may miss what Jesus is bought a golden egg at a stall
teaching us about the King- at a flea market somewhere
dom. in the midwest. He figured he
could sell it to be melted down
The Kingdom of God is about and make some extra money.
the joy of discovering some- No one seemed interested in
thing of great value and recog- buying this egg though, and
nizing just how valuable it is. he was getting worried he had
waste his money on it. Then,
Whatever the reason the find- in desperation, he googled
er happens to be in the field, “golden egg” trying to find
he stumbles across something someone who might be in the
in the ground. Another seek- market for such things. That
er or passerby might have as- is how he figured out just how
sumed it was yet another rock, valuable this egg was.
or perhaps just junk, some
broken pottery, or part of bur- It turns out that this egg was
ied fence post. Another seek- one of the long lost Imperial
er might have just left it there. Faberge Eggs — one of only

26 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

50 that had ever been made world — the busyness of life,

for the household of the Rus- our commercialized culture,
sian Royal Family. It had been the abundance of all sorts of
missing for decades, even media, or the brokenness of
though it was mentioned in life with the tragedies and bad
books. news that’s all around us.
It was worth an estimated $40 Sometimes it can be hard to
million dollars. And, to think see through all that, to see
it had ended up at a flea mar- down to the Kingdom of God
ket and was pegged for scrap that is just below the surface,
metal at one point. waiting to be dug up and
Luckily, the man — like the cleaned off.
finder in the parable of the
buried treasure — recognized I wonder if the man in the
its value. parable noticed the treasure
because of a glint of light re-
If the Kingdom of God is like flected from it as he walked
finding a buried and forgotten past. And I wonder if some-
treasure in a field, then I won- times we might catch a glim-
der how often the Kingdom of mer of the Kingdom of God
God is passed up, forgotten, or too — when we notice the
overlooked. It may be right in goodness of people, when
front of us, but hidden from some Good Samaritan helps
view. another selflessly, when we see
Just as the treasure in the field the astounding beauty of the
may have been obscured by created world made by God
soil, weeds, and the shade of while camping or kayaking or
trees, the Kingdom of God can hiking, when we see the pure
sometimes be obscured from heart of newborn baby, or the
our view by the things of this joy of little children playing.

autumn 2018 27
connecting

Like the character in Jesus’ This isn’t a story about money

story, we first need to recog- or property; the money here is
nize how to see the Kingdom a symbol of life. The son wants
of God — right there in front his life cut loose from his fa-
of us — to recognize how ther’s life. So, like King Lear,
priceless it is, and then bring the old man hands over his
it out into the open, for all the own livelihood. The son takes
world to see. the money and runs. Having
QQQ no more need of his impover-
ished father, the prodigal son
REPENTING OF abandons him.
EMPTINESS
(Luke 15:11-32) The son’s selfishness sets this
The Rt. Rev. Dan Thomas plot in motion. But it is not
Edwards, Bishop of Nevada guilt that makes the young
man come home; it’s what
In English, the parable of the happens next. He squanders
prodigal son does not convey his being. We can get dis-
the force of life and death at tracted by the part about dis-
work in the original Greek. solute living, but it doesn’t
Our English keeps going on matter whether he spent his
about property — the son life carousing in a casino or
says “Give me the share of climbing the corporate lad-
the property that will belong der. What matters is that he
to me”; the father divides his has squandered his life, his
“property”; the son squanders resources, his energy, and his
it. But in Greek, the son asks time on things that are not
for the father’s “being”; the fa- real and do not last. Cut off by
ther divides his “life” between his own selfishness, he is now
his sons, and the younger son spiritually and existentially
then squanders his “being”. dead.

28 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

When did he notice that his The Power and the Glory.
heart no longer beat? When Greene tears down those for-
did he realize that he could no tifications of conscience. He
longer hear birds sing? Not tells the story of the whiskey
until the famine hit. Not un- priest, a bad priest, a drunk
til the useless things he had who sells the sacraments,
spent his life on ran out. This who fathers a child by one of
is no spiritual awakening, his church members, and is a
only a drunk noticing that the coward, a liar, and thief.
bottle is empty.
The novel is set in Mexico in
That’s when he contrived his the 1920’s, when the church
next manipulative scheme. was banned, so the priest is
He would go home to his fa- in hiding. He gets arrested
ther with crocodile tears, and for possession of brandy and
say the kind of rubbish the spends the night in jail, sure
old man liked to hear, “Father the police will recognize him
I have sinned …” and at least and execute him in the morn-
the old fool would give him a ing. In the hot, crowded jail
decent job. cell with a throng of crimi-
nals, he notices: “This place
I am concerned that we may was very like the world: over-
not be able to relate to the crowded with lust and crime
prodigal son because we do and unhappy love. It stank to
not experience ourselves as heaven … but it was possible
sinners. We have ways to for- to find peace there… He was
tify our consciences against moved by an irrational affec-
guilt. So let’s leave the prodi- tion for the inhabitants of this
gal son at this point and turn prison. A phrase came to him.
our attention to the whiskey ‘God so loved the world.’”
priest in Graham Greene’s Continued on page 33

autumn 2018 29
connecting

The Anglican Bookstore

PARABLE AND STORY IN JUDAISM
AND CHRISTIANTY
By Thomas Clemens
A scholarly study of the parables and sto-
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WHAT ARE THEY SAYING ABOUT

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30 anglicandigest.org
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BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

THE PARABLES OF JESUS
By Bénédicte Jeancourt-Galignani, Ma-
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This book retells nine well-known parables

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Please use the order form on page 32

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32 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

The next morning, he sees of their “Thou shalt not’s”, and

the wanted poster with the have added a few new ones.
picture of himself as a young Our moral code allows us to
priest. He no longer resembles say words in public that would
the picture, and he thinks, “It have made our grandparents
is not very like me now. What blush but, at the same time,
an unbearable creature he there are countless things they
must have been in those days said unabashedly that would
— and yet in those days he get us socially ostracized. We
had been comparatively inno- are about as moralistic as our
cent … Then in his innocence grandparents — not much
he had felt no love for anyone”. more, not much less.
Later the whiskey priest re-
calls the innocent time when We construct a neatly do-able
his conscience was easy, and moral code, stick to it close
he thinks, “God might forgive enough, and feel at ease. But,
cowardice and passion, but all the while, we seek our own
was it possible to forgive the will instead of God’s. We come
habit of piety?” nowhere near loving God
with all our hearts, nowhere
What does this have to do near loving our neighbor as
with us? I fear many of us, ourselves. We anesthetize our
myself included, have culti- consciences with our politi-
vated the habit of piety. It is cally correct habits of piety,
not the same piety our grand- while our souls wither from
parents practiced. Their gen- failure to love deeply and we
eration had fairly attainable squander our lives on things
moral standards. Their code that do not endure. “Why do
limited violence, theft, and you spend your money on
some forms of sexual indul- that which is not bread, and
gence. We have dropped a few your labor for that which does

autumn 2018 33
connecting

not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2) value of his life was there all
along. He just hadn’t been
It was not guilt but pover- there to experience it. He was
ty that sent the prodigal son so shocked by his welcome
home. It was discovering that that he began to stammer the
his life had been squandered confession, without any ul-
it. It was like the lyrics in the terior motive from his heart,
Kris Kristofferson song, “Lord “Father, I have sinned … I am
help me Jesus. I’ve wasted it.” no longer worthy to be called
I’ve felt that. I’ve sensed the your son.”
waste of my life despite my
But he never got the chance
habits of piety. Maybe you
to ask for the job. His father
have too, or maybe you will
interrupted him, and shout-
someday.
ed to the servants, “Quickly
So the son went home with bring a robe — the best one
a confession written on his — and put it on him … let us
sleeve cuff. It was a new hab- eat and celebrate, for this son
it of piety, this confession. He of mine was dead and is alive
was hoping to get a job. But again … And they began to
his plot was foiled by grace. celebrate.”
Jesus says, “[W]hile he was The father didn’t need any
still far off his father saw him confession, though the fa-
and was filled with compas- ther’s love did make the son
sion. He ran out and put his need to confess. The Father
arms around him and kissed wasn’t thinking about the sin
him.” of selfish living, but the conse-
The son did not need to con- quences of spiritual death. His
fess to be forgiven. He had son had been dead, but now
been forgiven all along, loved was alive, so he could not do
all along. The meaning and anything but celebrate.

34 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

If our consciences were suf- running toward us, enfolds

ficiently alive and sentient, us in the arms of grace, and
we might feel contrition and infuses our hearts with life
repent. That happens. Even- so deep, so wide, so rich, so
tually, enough selfishness, strong, the only word we have
enough neglect, enough failed for it is “eternal.” Then we and
attempts at self-deception, all creation celebrate.
break through and we feel
QQQ
contrition.
THE GOOD
But usually what we feel is SAMARITAN
the emptiness of a life lived (Luke 10:30-37)
too much for too small a ver-
sion of ourselves. Usually we The Rev. Gavin Dunbar
recognize that the idol of our St. John’s Church,
Savannah, GA
egos has clay feet, that we have
polished our resumes too Parables are acts of crea-
much and loved life too little. tive destruction, conceptual
Usually we feel the emptiness. bombs detonated by Jesus to
confound his listeners and
If we are not too fatally so- make us think about the King-
phisticated, we say something dom of God in an entirely new
like, “Lord help me Jesus, I’ve way. They are not designed to
wasted it.” reinforce conventional piety,
but to blow it up. The parable
Then while we are still far off, of the Good Samaritan is no
our Father sees us and is filled exception. It takes the conven-
with compassion. tional view of neighbor love,
blows it up, and puts some-
We take a few faltering steps thing entirely different in its
toward him, and he comes place.

autumn 2018 35
connecting

What is the law’s demand? you preach! And that is the

This is the issue raised by hard part.
a lawyer, an expert in the
Law of Moses, someone who Still the lawyer does not give
stood for strict observance of up. St. Luke says he was intent
the law and put Jesus to the on justifying himself — he
test, with his question: “What wants to be approved as one
must I do to inherit eternal who fulfills the law of righ-
life?” Jesus knows how to han- teousness. He thinks he wins
dle hostile questions — he an- God’s approval by doing what
swers with a question: “What the law requires — a posi-
is written in the law? How tion sometimes referred to
readest thou?” — ‘you are the as works-righteousness. But
expert, you tell me’. Like all if that is going to work, he
know-it-alls, the lawyer can- needs a narrow definition of
not resist giving the correct “neighbor”; it can’t mean just
answer from Deuteronomy anybody, or he won’t be able
6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Since to justify himself by doing the
everything we are, everything law. There were lots of peo-
we have, all good, comes from ple, then and now, who agree
God, it is rank ingratitude not with him. If I turn in a per-
respond to him with all-con- fect performance, then God
suming love; and we do not will approve of me — and so
love God if we do not care for I have to interpret God’s law
the well-being of the neighbor so narrowly that I can do it.
made in God’s own image as We divide up people into two
we care for our own. It’s a cor- groups: people like us, and
rect answer — but the lawyer people not like us; neighbors
gains no advantage, for Jesus to whom we have an obliga-
simply tells him: “this do, and tion, and non-neighbors, to
thou shalt live”. Practice what whom we do not. That’s why

36 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

the lawyer asks Jesus for a ditch; who is moved with

definition: “who is my neigh- compassion, administers first
bor?” aid, transports the man to a
hostel, pays upfront for the
It is this conventional view man’s care, and guarantees
of religion that Jesus blows future costs of care. What he
up, by telling the story of does is risky, unconditional,
an Israelite who fell among costly obedience to the law
thieves, was robbed, and left of God — probably far more
half-dead. A priest and Levite than the lawyer was bargain-
come upon him — but stop- ing for. Worst of all, however,
ping to help him may be dan- the law-fulfilling hero of the
gerous, since the bandits may story is a Samaritan.
come back; it may be defiling,
if the man dies on their hands; After two thousand years, it’s
it will certainly be costly and hard for us to feel the shock
troublesome; and since he is his listeners would have felt
naked, they don’t really know when Jesus told this tale. We
who he is, whether he quali- think the word “Samaritan”
fies as a neighbor, whether he means ‘someone who is kind
deserves to be helped — and to strangers’, but to first-cen-
so they let themselves off the tury Jews, it meant ‘half-breed
hook. They pass by on the heretic’ — people whom they
other side. Knowing the law is despised, rejected, and de-
one thing; doing it is another. monized. To the Jewish listen-
ers, the wrong guy is the hero
But then someone comes of this story — the despised
along who does not steer and hated outsider who comes
clear, but comes near to in- to the rescue of his enemy and
vestigate; who does not hang oppressor. Who does that?
back, but gets down into the How can anyone do that?

autumn 2018 37
connecting

That’s the bomb that blows up condemned by the very law

conventional religion. That’s through which we hoped to
the bomb that blows up the be approved by God. Now
lawyer’s hopes of justifying what?
himself by doing the works
of the law. The entire premise The lawyer had asked, “who
of his life is blown to smith- is my neighbor?” He meant,
ereens because his hope de- ‘what neighbor do I need to
pends on saying that there are love in order to justify myself
people who are neighbors and before God?’ Now Jesus turns
people who are not neigh- it around: “who was neigh-
bors, there are people who bor unto him that fell among
deserve my help and people the thieves?” Who showed
who do not — but the parable neighbor-love to the wound-
shows that isn’t so. The neigh- ed man? It is the question the
bor is the person that God has man in the ditch might ask:
put in your way, even if he is who has been a neighbor to
someone you despise, even if me in my need? The lawyer
he does not deserve your care. knows the answer, even if he
But who loves the people we cannot bear to say the word
despise? ‘Samaritan’: “he that showed
mercy on him”. Jesus says “go,
Knowing the law may moti- and do thou likewise”. Go, and
vate us to do something — out learn from the enemy you de-
of guilt, fear, or pride, to prove spise, abandon your pride,
we are “good people” — but and become his disciple.
it cannot motivate us to love
and serve our enemies. At the Do you see what Jesus is say-
end of the parable, we are no ing? If we are going to do
better off than the man in the what the law requires and be
ditch: helpless and hopeless, a neighbor to others, then

38 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

someone is going to have to God, earning his approval

be a neighbor to us first. The of us as righteous, but rather
law cannot help us, it cannot as a means of expressing our
save us; it can tell us what to gratitude to him for the gift
do, but it can’t motivate us of love we had done nothing
to do it. Indeed, all it can do to deserve. When we have
is condemn us and leave us received Christ’s true neigh-
half dead in a ditch. But un- bor-love, by trust in his mer-
looked-for grace, compassion cy, and have submitted our-
utterly undeserved, from the selves entirely to his will as his
one we have despised and re- disciples, then we may begin
jected, the one who owes us to become true neighbors to
nothing – that can change our those around us. Then we will
hearts. And who is the per- go and do likewise.
son? Who has come upon us
in our misery and need with QQQ
unlooked-for grace? The true THE GOD OF
Samaritan is Jesus himself, the ALWAYS MORE
one we despised and rejected, (Matthew 13:31-33)
who owed us nothing, yet in
compassion came to our aid Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG
when we were dead in sins
and pride. He came to our res- If God is for us, who is against
cue, entirely at his own cost, us? He who did not withhold
taking upon himself the pun- his own Son, but gave him up
ishment our sins deserved, for all of us, will he not with
and in exchange giving us the him also give us everything
love that he alone deserved. else?
As a result, we no longer look
on the law of love as a means Many things can be said, and
of justifying ourselves before many things have been said,
autumn 2018 39
connecting

about God. God is good; God the Romans. Paul is some-

is loving; God is our creator, one who knows the amazing
our redeemer, and our sancti- power and the extent of God’s
fier. But one thing is certain:grace, and he speaks of it of-
however much we may say ten. Not only does God answer
about God, however much we our prayers, but God sends
may believe about God, we his Spirit to help us to pray!
will always be left at the end How amazing is that! God,
of our speech, falling speech- through the Spirit, prays for
less before the indescribable us! When we have worn out
majesty of the greatness and our voices with singing and
glory of God. And what is reached the end of our praise,
true of God’s incomprehensi- when sorrow has wound-
ble being is also true of God’sed our hearts, when pain,
generous giving and doing. disappointment and doubt
Just as we cannot describe have blunted the edge of our
all that God is, so too we can faith, God himself, through
never come to the end of the the Spirit, reaches out to us
goodness that God has done. and into us, penetrating the
Our God is the God of Al- depths of our hearts and in-
ways More. As Saint Paul so terceding there with sighs too
beautifully put it in his letter
deep for words. For our God
to the Ephesians, “God can is the God of Always More,
do infinitely more than we and even in prayer God does
can ask or imagine.” (3:20). what we in our unworthiness
Such is the overflow of God’s dare not, or in our blindness
richness, the generosity of cannot, ask. God prays for us
God’s outpoured love for us when we cannot or dare not
and for all that God has made. pray to him, for our God is
the God of Abundance, the
Look at Saint Paul’s Letter to God of Always More.

40 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

There is no way around it! rational explanations for

That is, technically, what “in- them. They don’t want to face
comprehensible” means — that these parables are not just
God is too big to encompass, about the growth of the king-
to grasp, to contain. There are dom under the power of God,
several parables in this chap- but the truly stupendous and
ter of Matthew, all of which amazing growth of the king-
capture this notion of abun- dom of God to exceed all ex-
dance in different ways — the pectations — God is the God
pearl that is worth as much as of Always More.
the jeweler’s whole stock in
trade; the catch of fish so full First, let’s look at that mustard
that the fishermen can afford seed. Now I can guarantee
to be picky about the ones you, you can plant mustard
they want to keep and throw seeds as much as you want,
the other ones away — but but they are never going to
I would like to focus on two grow into trees that birds can
other parables: the ones in build nests in. The average
which Jesus likens the king- mustard bush grows to be
dom of heaven to a mustard about three feet tall. Unless a
seed and to leaven. bird has very low ambitions,
you are not going to find birds
Let me note that these two building nests two feet off the
parables are among the most ground. Jesus knows that, and
widely misunderstood of all so do the people to whom he
of Jesus’ sayings. So let me, tells this parable. The problem
as Ricky Ricardo would say is, most of us don’t. We don’t
to Lucy, “’Splain them.” The grow mustard; we buy it in
problem is that people want little jars. If he were simply
to trim these astounding im- talking about how an ordinary
ages down; they want to find plant grows and spreads, and

autumn 2018 41
connecting

wanted to talk about one that world of ordinary agriculture,

starts small and grows big, he but a miraculous world, the
would talk about the cedars of world of God’s Always More
Lebanon, much as we might — this is more like Jack and
talk about little acorns grow- the Beanstalk than it is about
ing into mighty oak trees. As Coleman’s Mustard; Jesus
they used to say when I was wants us to be surprised. God
in grade school, ‘Even the is the God of always more.
mighty oak was once a nut
like you!’ The same is true with that
yeast and flour. Now, this
But Jesus isn’t talking about passage is so badly misun-
something little becoming derstood that translators have
big naturally. He isn’t talking even adapted the language to
about natural growth at all, suit their misunderstanding.
such as how an acorn becomes They talk about this as if it is
a mighty oak; he is talking just ordinary baking, and say
about supernatural growth, a that the woman “mixed” the
miracle. Hear — if you have yeast in with three measures
ears to hear — hear it the way of flour: and so, the picture in
Jesus meant it: The kingdom your mind is of a woman with
of God is as if a man took a three cups of flour as she is
tiny mustard seed, knowing making bread. But what Mat-
it to be a mustard seed, plant- thew’s Gospel actually says
ing it expecting it to grow is that the woman “hid” the
into a mustard bush about yeast in the flour – just like
three feet high, and instead, that other parable, the hidden
up popped a tree as tall as a treasure in the field (13:44).
house, a mighty tree that birds She hid the yeast in the flour.
could nest in. Jesus wants us The Greek word is related to
to know that we are not in the our modern word “encrypt”

42 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

— she “encrypted” the yeast flour that this woman hides

— this is yeast that, for what- her yeast in. This is not an
ever reason, the woman want- ordinary scene of a woman
ed to hide! Perhaps some nosy at her kitchen table making
neighbor had been sneaking Johnnycake, even enough for
into her kitchen and she was a parish supper. This is not
just protecting her proper- a tame and homely message
ty — who knows? But this is about how yeast just works
not about ordinary household its way through an ordinary
baking. loaf. No, what we have here is
the story of a woman who for
And the reason we know this some reason decides to hide
is even clearer when we realize her yeast — but she chooses
that a “measure” of flour isn’t to hide it in the flour-bin: the
the measure that you might worst possible place to hide
use to bake a loaf of bread. The yeast! In short, this is not a
“measures” in this passage — scene from “Julia Child” —
the three measures — aren’t this is a scene from “I Love
cups, three of which might Lucy”! This is not about bak-
go to make a loaf of bread. ing a loaf of bread; this is
This is the ancient Hebrew about coming home into your
seah, three of which make kitchen to discover that the
an ephah. You know how, in pantry door has exploded and
the front of your Bibles, they there is a giant mass of dough
always have those tables of pouring out and filling the en-
measures so you can see, as tire kitchen! This is a message
we have of how many cups about how the kingdom of
make a quart — well three God spreads — the kingdom
seahs make an ephah. And of God bursts forth, even if
what’s an ephah? A bushel! you try to hide it. The Word
This is forty-three pounds of of God will not be suppressed,

autumn 2018 43
connecting

because our God is the God of simply the ruler of a king-

Always More. dom that spreads and grows,
but of a kingdom that cannot
We need have no doubts that be contained, that will not be
God will increase and multi- limited, that will reach to the
ply his mercy upon us. Our ends of space and time, burst-
God is the God of increase ing through all boundaries
and multiplication. Our God built up by fear or hate, or
is the God who gives not only selfishness, by despair or lack
wisdom but life and abun- of imagination. Our God is
dance and victory. Our God the God of Always More, and
is not only the God to whom we will never know the end of
we pray, but who prays for his greatness, his might, his
us and with us, who does in- majesty, power, and domin-
finitely more than we can ask ion, henceforth and for ever
or imagine. Our God is not more.

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contact:
Br. Glen Weeks, OSF,
228 Old Glenwood Rd., West Falls, NY 14170.
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44 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

THE SHEEP AND have heard plenty of South-

THE GOATS ern preaching. This parable
(Matthew 25:31-46) lends itself to fire and brim-
stone imagery. Jesus places in
The Rev. Dr. Robert M. Lewis our hands our eternal destiny,
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, and says essentially, ‘Oh, you
Grand Island, Nebraska say you believe in me? Let’s
see if your actions match your
I have long thought that there words.’
is a disconnect between the
way salvation is presented in It is one of those moments
the Gospels and as presented when we scratch our heads
by Paul. Those who fall into and think, “I am justified by
the theological camp of Paul faith, I am adopted into God’s
speak of justification by faith family in Baptism”, but Jesus
alone — sola fide. That is one also tells us, “Those who en-
of the more pivotal concepts dure to the end will be saved.”
of the Protestant Reforma- (Matthew 24:13)
tion. Then again, we read one
of the more difficult sayings The Genesis accounts of Cre-
of Jesus, in Matthew 25:31-46, ation are similar concepts
that there will be a judgment, with which we wrestle. There
a separation of the sheep and are, of course, two: one where
the goats, based on our will- man and woman are made si-
ingness to help others. Of the multaneously, and the other,
last things, death and judge- far more familiar, in which
ment tend to be rather scary, Adam is created first and
so it is worth a fair assess- then Eve is fashioned out of
ment. his rib while he sleeps. Many
people look at this and ask,
I am a native Floridian, so I “Well, which is it? Which one

autumn 2018 45
connecting

is true?” In true Anglican Religion tells us that we can-

fashion, we can proudly state, not “so expound one place
“Both.” of scripture, that it be repug-
nant to another.” (1979 BCP,
“Which is it?” is a question p. 871) So we cannot pick
with which we often wrestle. and choose; we have to be
— whether it be with our own whole-Bible people. We can’t
callings, or the “big tent” of choose just one creation sto-
Anglican perspectives — be- ry, and we can’t dismiss either
cause we desperately need to Jesus’ or Paul’s words; they are
know for ourselves where are both authoritative sources for
we in our walk. Would Jesus us.
understand us to be among
the sheep, those destined for The concept of justification by
life in the nearer presence of faith comes easier. We cannot
God? Or rather, will he find redeem ourselves; it is Jesus’
us goats? death that makes redemp-
tion possible. Here I believe
Is it even possible to live into is the synthesis of the two
justification by faith alone as concepts — Jesus died to give
well as hold onto the concept us life, not just that we might
that Jesus called us to DO be blessed, but also that we
something? We, as Anglicans, might be the blessing to oth-
do not practice prooftexting, ers. These concepts of salva-
which is the concept that we tion are not different concepts
can take one phrase or sen- at all, but rather approaches
tence out of the Bible to so from different angles.
prove our own point that it
totally ignores or conflicts So let’s look at the difference
with other places in scripture. between sheep and goats.
Article 20 of the 39 Articles of First, sheep are smelly, messy

46 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

animals. It might be an insult border collie at our own heels

to us if we ponder what sheep when we go astray, and our
are like and then think of our- church families do their best
selves. Sheep are useful, for to help us correct our ways.
example, for food. I person- But mostly, sheep are obedi-
ally do not like mutton — it ent, and that is what gets us
is an awfully waxy meat — into the Kingdom. We know
but some people really do. A the shepherd’s voice, and he
goodly number of folks, my- calls us all by name. There is
self included, like wool gar- safety in our numbers, and we
ments — they give warmth can rest in the knowledge that
in their thicker textures and the shepherd loves us.
when made, for example, into
a fine 300s worsted, breathe In contrast, goats are stub-
and drape wonderfully. Sheep born. They are willful loners
are useful. So when we see who are not pack animals.
sheep in the scriptures, it is Carribean islanders like to
not meant that we should eat barbecued goat, and goat
consider ourselves dumb ani- cheese is absolutely wonder-
mals (although at times we all ful stuff, but that is about it.
may be just that). Being sheep Goats are not very versatile.
is living into God’s expecta- You do not get wool from
tion for us. goats either. But above all,
goats have their own objec-
We gather in church on Sun- tives. How do I know? I had
day morning for Eucharist; one as a child.
sheep cluster. We listen to
a sermon to better assist in My grandparents were giv-
living a holy life; sheep listen en this animal by a physician
to the shepherd. At times we that had employed my grand-
may well know the nip of the mother for years. Worse, my

autumn 2018 47
connecting

grandfather had so spoiled viding line between being in

it with saltines, pretzels, the world and not of it. It is
and cookies that that stupid also the barrier that separates
goat would only obey you if those who have a heart for
you bribed it. Worse yet, my God from those with a heart
grandmother thought she had for self. It is also where we can
it leash trained. The conflu- find a synthesis of Paul’s jus-
ence of the spoiling and the tification by faith and Jesus’
training lead to one big mis- demand that we attend to the
take: One day, Penny the Goat needs of the least of these.
took off down the alley be-
hind our home and broke my In his letter to the Romans,
grandmother’s arm. The goat Paul declares that “the just
willed, “I’m not going to be a shall live by faith”. This is to say
follower, I’m going my own that those who are “in Christ”
way!” or have a saving relationship
with him must automatically
Do we really want to be that have faith as a guiding princi-
kind of animal? I think back, ple in their lives. These are the
and I bet Penny the goat was justified, who have given over
more the rule than the excep- their lives to the inner work-
tion. Seeing this stark con- ing of the Holy Spirit.
trast, I find it comforting that
we will be separated, sheep Unfortunately, at its worst,
from goats. Some will be in justification by faith is ma-
the Kingdom, and some of us ligned to mean ‘what I do is of
will not be in the Kingdom. no consequence because Je-
In Matthew 25, Jesus is not sus paid it all’. That is a creep-
much of a universalist. ing gnostic heresy and not at
Which gets to the issue of all what Paul meant. Let us
stubbornness. That is the di- take, for example, a man who

48 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

beats his wife. He can say, “I for example, who has no

love you”, but do not his ac- real relationship with Jesus
tions speak more loudly than might actually feed me, vis-
words? The evidence points to it me in prison, or give me a
a different reality. The Apostle nice sweater if I am cold —
James tells us that, “Faith, if it all those wonderful corporal
has no works, is dead.” (James works of mercy — BUT, will
2:17) There is evidence to he find the same joy as one
back that faith. Paul assumes whose actions are grounded
we understand that the just in response to faith in Jesus?
have deeds that demonstrate When God’s people have a
the faith, not a simple set of true and lively faith, they act
words, not head knowledge; from that faith and it becomes
it’s not just ‘I said a prayer joyful to them. We often for-
some time when I was 12 get that an unjustified person
years old and now everything may attend church their en-
is good between me and God.’ tire life and yet never get real
faith. Justifying faith tells us
It’s real enough when faith not simply to fall to our knees
changes behavior and in- in prayer, but also to put on
forms what we do. But Jesus the apron, or pick up the dish-
is not contradicting what Paul cloth, or the basin, or the tow-
states, either. We will not be el, or the wrench, and get to
separated, sheep from goats, work.
just by what we do, but that it
is evidence of our heart’s con- Each and every year, we read
dition. our Bibles and hear the words
of scripture revealing the es-
Jesus and Paul agree, but take chatological (last things) mes-
it from different perspec- sage of the coming of God’s
tives. An unjustified person, Kingdom. Every Advent, it is

autumn 2018 49
connecting

the central theme. Every Lent, that personal resurrection, it

we enter into the Paschal means reaching out to those
mystery where that Kingdom who are still in the tombs of
is already happening, and not their own despair.
yet fully actualized. Are we
ready? Today is a good day, as Let’s do a little assessment of
is every day, to ask ourselves, our own salvation: Are we
“How is our faith?” Are we do- called to change lives in our
ing what Jesus wants us to do work lives, in our families,
by assisting with the needs of and even out in the super-
others? Sadly, too many of us markets of life in response to
prefer sitting on the premises the faith that is in us? If so, we
and thinking that we are actu- know ourselves to be in Jesus’
ally standing on the promises. sheepfold. But if we spend a
It’s time to wake up and show little too much time just on
that our actions match our ourselves, there is still time
words. The real, compelling for a change.
faith of Jesus gets us off of our
rear ends — not resting in a QQQ
prayer said long ago, or think-
ing our church attendance (as THE VINYARD
solid as it may be) covers our (Luke 20:9-19)
bases, but realizing that we
are all called to change lives. The Rev. Dr. Scott Hoogerhyde

This is the Good News! Not The Lucan version of the

just that Jesus just saves souls Parable of the Vineyard is
— that is a very limited Gos- one of the most intellectual-
pel. Rather, Jesus also gives ly challenging and spiritual-
life — real life. To those of ly convicting parables in the
us who have experienced Gospels. It is also one which,

50 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

when considered closely, them the heirs of the king-

most clearly gives the lie to dom. The owner (unsurpris-
its traditional interpretation ingly) destroys the sharecrop-
— one which has provided pers who abused his servants
at least a small patch of the and killed his son, and rents
groundwork for centuries of the vineyard out to others. Je-
Christian anti-Semitism. sus’ interlocutors are stricken,
believing themselves to be on
A brief summary: A man the wrong side of this tale, and
plants a vineyard, leaves it in Jesus, repeating Psalm 118:22
the care of the first-century (which becomes a New Tes-
equivalent of sharecroppers, tament mantra), tells them,
and goes far away for a long “The very stone which the
while. At some undetermined builders rejected has become
point, the vineyard owner the head of the corner.”
sends a servant to collect his
share of the fruit of that vine- What this parable is not is
yard, but the sharecroppers clear. Clearly, it is not a man-
beat him and send him away ual for how to run a vineyard.
empty handed. The owner It’s not even a manual for how
sends two more servants who to steal one. Biblical scholars
receive the same treatment. tell us these wicked tenants
Then the owner has the bril- could have killed all the ser-
liant idea to send his son. Why vants and sons they liked and
does he think this will work? still never have inherited the
If there is any answer at all, it vineyard. So we know what
is buried beyond our reach, in this parable isn’t — but what
the depths of first-century ag- is it?
ricultural history. The share-
croppers kill the son thinking The traditional interpretation
that this will somehow make has been that God’s grace and

autumn 2018 51
connecting

favor and protection were to and spiritual fidelity? I don’t

be taken away from his tra- claim that there is only one
ditional chosen people (the faithful interpretation of this
Jews) and given to ‘others’ parable, or only one appro-
(us). Indeed, in the last verse priate interpretational tool; I
of the parable, the scribes and only suggest a possibility.
chief priests appear to inter-
pret the parable this way be- Here is a gross over-simplifi-
cause they “perceived that he cation for the sake of brevity:
had told this parable against In the late 20th century, there
them”, and so they attempt to arose a movement of literary
do Jesus harm. Throughout criticism, largely from France
history, this parable has been and largely associated with
used as evidence for the be- the figure of Jacques Derri-
lief that that God has, indeed, da, called deconstructionism.
removed the status of ‘chosen Derrida’s project was locat-
people’ from the Jews and be- ed within a complex histori-
stowed it upon the followers cal, philosophical, linguistic,
of Jesus, and that belief has and literary matrix. Fully ex-
been used as an excuse for the plaining deconstructionism
abuse, exile, and even mur- is beyond our purpose here,
der of Jewish people. In that but two aspects of it are im-
sense, this parable is the Pas- portant. One is ‘close reading,’
sion story writ small. which is just what it sounds
like but, perhaps, more so.
So, if the traditional inter- Deconstructionism also urg-
pretation of this parable is as es us to remain conscious of
wrong as that traditional in- what we bring to the reading.
terpretation of the Passion,
how do we get at an interpre- I suggest that close reading
tation with both intellectual of this story indicates that its

52 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

purpose is not to teach us an with others. Even if we do not

historical or theological les- know, or know only vaguely,
son. It is not like Aesop’s Fa- who the scribes and the Phar-
bles. Again, we aren’t learning isees and the Sadducees and
about vineyards, but we also the chief priests are, we know
aren’t learning a simple lesson that they are not us. They are
about God taking his King- the ‘The Other.’ That means
dom away from one group that when Jesus encounters
of people and giving it to an- these people and ‘teaches
other. Close reading indicates them a lesson’, we allow our-
that the purpose of the para- selves, consciously or not,
ble is much less to teach us a to project ourselves into the
lesson than it is to disrupt (or reading as unseen cheerlead-
deconstruct) what we already ers. ‘You tell ‘em Jesus!’ We
think we know — namely, attach ourselves to the hero
that the Kingdom of God is of the story and, in doing so,
something that belongs to us become heroes ourselves. Not
by right, or even by the exer- so. It is only in understanding
cise of our own will. We are our role as the vineyard ten-
called to rethink — or, better, ants that we become open to
to be open spiritually — to the great reality that we are,
what it means to be part of the indeed, all guilty of squander-
Kingdom of God. ing what God has given us,
and saved by grace from the
What might we bring with us wrath of the vineyard owner
to this reading? Most impor- through the life, death, resur-
tantly, we might bring with rection, and coming again of
us to this parable (and to our Jesus Christ.
reading of the Gospels in gen-
eral) a sense that we are read- This parable is about us. It
ing about Jesus’ interactions is about the fact that — be-

autumn 2018 53
connecting

cause of original sin, or evo- tion, I never did pick it back

lution, or both—we are born up, and have since lost most
deeply selfish and acquisitive of my ability. There is an old
creatures, but also creatures saying, “use it or lose it”, and
whom, by his sovereign grace, just like I slowly “got rusty”
God has destined for salva- on trumpet, so we probably
tion. When we truly see our- all know how true that saying
selves in these parables, we is in one context or another.
may well shed tears, but we In the parable of the talents,
may also shed our addiction Jesus is working from another
to self-will. It is only in truly such common human experi-
doing so that we become open ence. I’m sure we’ve all expe-
to growing in grace and living rienced the loss of some skill
into the vocation of ‘lights of or material object through
the world’ into which he calls neglect. Jesus is essentially
us all. saying, use it or lose it!
QQQ Here, Jesus presents three ser-
vants of a master who is about
THE TALENTS to go on a journey, and how
(Matthew 25:14-30) each responds to what was
The Rev. J. Wesley Evans entrusted to them. To each
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, the master gives an amount
Sherman, TX
of talents; five, two, and one.
Through High School, I was Not an equal amount, but one
in band. I played trumpet, likely related to their ability
though I wasn’t very good at and responsibility. This was
it, and enjoyed the chance to actually a lot of money! A sin-
learn music. I even attended gle talent was worth about six
band camp for several sum- thousand Denarii, with one
mers. However, after gradua- Denarius being an average

54 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

days’ wage. For comparison, important principal of stew-

Texas minimum wage is $7.25 ardship: What they had been
per hour and, assuming an given did not belong to them.
eight-hour day, a day’s wage Second, the reward for their
would be about $58. A sin- efforts wasn’t a personal ben-
gle talent would be $348,000, efit, but more responsibility.
with the five talents given to Both wisely took care of what
the first servant being worth rightfully belonged to the
around $1.74 million! The master and, as a reward, were
point is that the master is notgiven greater responsibility.
giving them a small responsi- Those who serve God well are
bility; they are to watch over a
not rewarded with personal
vast estate until his return. blessings — there is no prom-
ise of health or wealth or per-
Eventually, the master does sonal benefit; instead, those
return, and he demands an who serve him well are given
accounting of how well his more opportunities to serve.
servants took care of his es- The only reward being, as Je-
tate while he was gone. The sus says, to enter into the joy
first and second servants both of the Master.
used the master’s property
wisely and made more with But the wicked servant illus-
it; as a result of their wise trates the opposite. Instead
stewardship, they are put in of caring for what belonged
charge of more. Two things to the master, he forgot the
are of note here: First, both rightful owner and believed
are praised equally. It’s not he had a right of ownership.
an absolute value that con- He accuses the master of be-
cerns the master, but instead ing a harsh man who essen-
the proper attitude. Both tially takes what isn’t his — yet
wise servants understood the of course the talents belonged

autumn 2018 55
connecting

to the master, not the servant! our abilities, our time, our
Instead of stewardship, the money, our desires — doesn’t
wicked servant thought of actually belong to us. We are
it as ownership; thus believ- merely stewards who will
ing he had a right to what he have to give an accounting
made from the talent given. It when our Master returns. As
was all about the “I” for him: I we pray in the Eucharist, we
earned this, I deserve, I knew give to God “our selves, our
you would take it. He was, in souls and bodies” — there-
a phrase, focused not on the fore, even those are rightfully
master, but on himself and his not just ours to do with as we
own desires. Therefore, the please, but rather a respon-
punishment of the master is sibility given by God for a
simple: What little responsi- higher purpose. Our reward
bility he had been given will will be to enter into the joy
now be taken from him and of our Master, and perhaps to
given to someone else who be given greater responsibili-
understands how to be a stew- ty over what belongs to him.
ard and custodian of what be- All things are given by him,
longs to the master. and it’s of his own that we give
back.
This parable was given right
after the parable of the ten vir- St. Thomas Aquinas wisely
gins (Matthew 25:1-12), and talked about all of creation
so is connected to the same having a purpose. All things
teaching of the day when have a final end, and ultimate-
Jesus will return for us, his ly the end of all ends is God:
Church, when we will give an the Good, True, and Beauti-
account of our lives. What we ful. Our abilities to make art,
think is ours — our success, or write, or work, or play, or
our wealth, our intelligence, excel, or succeed, are not giv-

56 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

en for our glory but for the or did we act as if we had sole
purpose of God’s glory. Our ownership? Did we go into
success doesn’t exist for it- the market place of the world,
self but for that purpose, for take risks for Jesus our Lord,
we are mere stewards of all and receive a return on his
those things we have or have investment in us, or did we
accomplished. Someday our hoard what we had and bury
Master will return. And when his gifts in the ground? May
he does, he will demand an the Lord find us at his second
account of our life: Did we coming to have been faith-
use it for his glory and the ful stewards of what was his,
gospel, or did we use it for our and may we then enter into
own selfish purposes? Did we the joy of our Master and
give to God of what was his, Savior, Jesus Christ.

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autumn 2018 57
connecting

NECROLOGY
The Rt. Rev. Albert copal Divinity School. He was
Theodore Eastman, 89, in ordained to the priesthood in
Falls Church, VA. The 12th 1975, served parishes in Riv-
bishop of the Diocese of erside, CA, and Lake Forest,
Maryland, he was a gradu- IL, and served as canon to the
ate of Virginia Seminary and Ordinary in the Diocese of
served as a priest in Califor- Western Massachusetts. He
nia before his 12 years as the was elected bishop of New
Executive Secretary of the Jersey in 2003, and retired in
Overseas Mission Society, 2013.
during which time he served
short-term pastorates in To- The Rt. Rev. Charles Shan-
kyo, Mexico City, and Vienna. non Mallory, 81, in Monterey,
He returned to parish min- CA. The first bishop of the Di-
istry in 1969, serving as rec- ocese of El Camino Real, he
tor of parishes in Allentown, was a graduate of the General
PA, and Washington, D.C. He Theological Seminary. He was
was elected Bishop Coadjutor ordained to the priesthood in
of the Diocese of Maryland 1961, and began by serving
in 1982, became Diocesan as a missionary in Namib-
in 1986, and retired in 1994. ia, South Africa, and Ugan-
da, before becoming the first
The Rt. Rev. George bishop of Botswana. After 18
Edward Councell, 68, in Pen- years in Africa, he returned to
nington, NJ. The 11th bishop the United States and served
of the Diocese of New Jersey, as an assistant bishop in the
he was a graduate of the Epis- Diocese of Long Island be-
58 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

fore being elected bishop of El tired, he and his wife initially

Camino Real in 1980. remained in Havana, before
moving to Florida to be near
The Rt. Rev. Emilio Joa- their children.
quín Hernández Albalate, 92,
The Rev. Dr. Mitties Mc-
in Coral Springs, FL. A grad-
Donald DeChamplain, 70, in
uate of the Evangelical Semi-
nary of Theology in Matanzas, New York, NY. Ordained to
he began his priesthood by the priesthood in 1996, she
serving a parish in Florencia, taught homiletics at Fuller
Camagüey, where he traveled Theological Seminary for two
on horseback. He was later years before she joined the
sent to serve parishes and col- faculty at the General Theo-
leges in Santiago de Cuba and logical Seminary, where she
Palma Soriano. He joined the taught for 18 years. During
Revolutionary Movement of those years, she also served
the People, was betrayed, and at numerous parishes in the
was arrested, imprisoned, and New York City area. For
sentenced to 10 years in pris- months following the Sep-
on; he refused to renounce his tember 11, 2001 attacks, she
principles, and served the full served as a volunteer chaplain
10 years, continuing to preach at the Temporary Mortuary
the Gospel even in prison. Af- at Ground Zero, where she
ter his release, he declined the blessed remains as they were
opportunity to leave Cuba for recovered, and ministered to
the US, and served parishes in recovery workers and law en-
Cárdenas, Coliseo, Limonar, forcement personnel.
and Itabo. He was elected The Rev. Dr. Aaron Man-
bishop coadjutor of Cuba in derbach, 106, in Redding, CT.
1980, and became diocesan A graduate of Berkeley Di-
bishop in 1982. After he re- vinity School at Yale, he was

autumn 2018 59
connecting

ordained to the diaconate in er, NJ. Prior to entering the

May 1937, and to the priest- priesthood, he also served
hood in December 1937. in the United States Marine
He served parishes in West Corps Reserves during the
Philadelphia, Collingdale, Vietnam Conflict.
and Havertown, PA, before
he became rector of a parish The Rev. John Patrick
in Ridgefield, CT, which he Simpson, Jr., 79, in Narberth,
served for 30 years, until he PA. A graduate of Virgin-
retired in 1980. ia Theological Seminary, he
served as director of the St.
The Rev. Ronald Clifton Francis Boys Home in Ells-
Davis, 79, in Tallahassee, FL. worth, KS, as well as a hos-
A graduate of Virginia Theo- pital chaplain and rector in
logical Seminary, he was or- Philadelphia, PA.
dained to the priesthood in
1965, and served parishes in The Rev. Canon John
Jacksonville, Live Oak, Pen- Coming Ball, Jr., 95, in
sacola, Lakeland, and Talla- Charleston, SC. He served as a
hassee, FL, as well as serving first lieutenant submariner in
as Director of Camps and the U.S. Navy during WWII.
Conferences at St. Teresa A graduate of the School of
Beach. Theology at the University of
The Rev. John Griffith the South, he served parishes
Steed, 75, Whiting, NJ. A in Atlanta, GA; San Antonio,
graduate of the General Theo- TX; and Denmark, Barnwell,
logical Seminary, he served Blackville, and Charleston,
parishes in Scotland Neck, SC.
Rocky Mount, Durham, and
Wilson, NC; Culpeper, VA; The Rev. Dr. Joseph Clyde
and Whiting and Toms Riv- Weaver, 90, in Aiken, SC. A

60 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

graduate of Kentucky Theo- School of Theology at South-

logical Seminary, he was or- ern Methodist University, she
dained to the priesthood in was ordained to the diaconate
1967. He served as a hospital in 1997 and to the priesthood
chaplain at The University in 1998. She served as a chap-
of Kentucky Medical Center lain for three schools in Texas,
and Eastern Kentucky Men- as well as serving a parish in
tal Hospital, as well as serv- Dallas, TX.
ing parishes in Lexington,
KY; Pittsburgh, PA; Dunedin, The Rev. James Arm-
Marco Island, and Viera, FL; strong Williams, 83, in Aus-
Leonardtown, MD; Brevard tin, TX. Initially ordained as
and Cashiers, NC; and Edge- an American Baptist in 1964,
field, Ridge Spring, and Tren- he later studied at the Sem-
ton, SC. inary of the Southwest and
was ordained to the priest-
The Rev. William Hen- hood in1988.
derson Martin, 94, in El Paso,
TX. He served in the South The Rev. Loren Benja-
Pacific during WWII. A grad- min Mead, 88, in Falls
uate of the General Theologi- Church, VA. He served par-
cal Seminary, he was ordained ishes in Chapel Hill, NC, and
to the priesthood in 1965. He Pinopolis, SC. He also found-
served parishes in Lovington, ed the Alban Institute in
NM; El Paso, TX; and New Washington, D.C., a research,
York City, NY; as well as São consulting and publishing
Paulo, Brazil. nonprofit working across
lines of denomination and
The Rev. Pamela H. The- faith; published several books
odore, 71, in Dallas, TX. on the future of the Church;
A graduate of the Perkins and worked throughout his

autumn 2018 61
connecting

career for racial justice and odist Seminary, he was or-

reconciliation. dained a Methodist minister
in 1954, and served as a uni-
The Rev. Dr. Harvey H. versity chaplain at North-
Guthrie, Jr., 93, in Oxnard, western University, Kent State
CA. He was an instructor at University, Ohio Wesleyan,
the General Theological Sem- and the University of Iowa.
inary, then helped create the While at Drew University, he
Episcopal Divinity School, was ordained an Episcopal
where he was a professor and priest, and went on to serve
then dean. He also served as parishes in Morristown and
a parish priest in Ann Arbor, Clifton, NJ.
MI.
The Rev. James Stewart
The Rev. Vernon Creigh- Whitaker, 86, in Lincoln,
ton Evans Jr., 65, in Okina- MA. A graduate of the Epis-
wa, Japan. A graduate of the copal Divinity School, he was
Trinity School of Ministry, ordained to the diaconate in
he was ordained a deacon in 1957 and the priesthood in
1994 and a priest in 1995. He 1958. He served parishes in
served parishes in Summer- Portland, ME, and Bedford,
ton and Eutawville, SC; North MA, as well as serving as a
Ft. Myers, FL; and Chatan, chaplain for the VA, eventual-
Okinawa, Japan. ly being promoted to Chief of
Chaplains.
The Rev. William Burton
“Van” Van Valkenburgh, 92, The Rev. Robert Eugene
in Angola, IN. He served as Roach, Jr., 94, in Clifton Park,
a Navy Quartermaster in the NY. He served as a ship’s ar-
South Pacific during WWII. chitect during WWII. Or-
A graduate of Garrett Meth- dained to the diaconate in

62 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

1983, he served parishes and of West Virginia; and Shep-

as a hospice chaplain in the herdstown, WV. He also sat
Albany diocese. He and his on the Board of Directors of
wife also served as foster par- the National Council on Ag-
ents to more than a dozen ing, and created (with a grant
children. from the Robert Wood John-
son Foundation) the Eastern
The Rev. Henry Titus Panhandle Free Clinic, which
Folsom, 91, in Randolph, worked to address the lack of
NH. A graduate of the Berk- healthcare available for the
ley Divinity School, he was poor and underserved in five
ordained to the priesthood WV counties.
in 1957. He served parishes
in Washington and Pompton The Rev. Canon Paul
Lakes, NJ, and Old Saybrook, Forsyth Wancura, 87, in Shel-
CT, as well as serving in re- ter Island, NY. He served as a
tirement at various parishes priest in the Diocese of Long
in New Hampshire. Island for more than 50 years,
serving parishes in Green-
The Rev. John Dainger- point, Brooklyn, Setauket,
field Alfriend, 91, in Midlo- and Central Islip, NY. He died
thian, VA. A graduate of the as the result of injuries sus-
Virginia Theological Sem- tained in a home invasion one
inary, he was ordained to month before; he had been
the priesthood in 1960. He tied up by his attacker(s),
served parishes in Boydton, and only found two days lat-
Clarksville, Yorktown, Nor- er, after he failed to appear at
folk, Charles Town, and Rich- church.
mond, VA; Sharpsburg, MD;
May they rest in peace,
the Nelson Cluster of Church-
es in the Eastern Panhandle and rise in glory.

autumn 2018 63
 St. John’s Church
Savannah, Georgia
Member of the Parish Partner Plan