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The
Bishop's Notebook
25 January 2002
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Recent
Visitors to the Episcopal Church Center
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Any time you're in town, please stop by.
(It's preferable to call ahead so we can be prepared to
greet you!)
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| Bishop Packard, Chaplain Marcel
Algernon and The Rev. Gerry Blackburn (left
to right) |
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Bishop Packard and Chaplain Ted
Edwards |
The Bishop's Notebook
18 January 2002
Excerpts
from a letter from ECUSA Chaplain Sarah Shirley, U.S. Air Force,
whose unit is serving in Oman in support of the U.S. response
to terrorism. It was written to the Rt. Rev. George E. Packard,
Bishop for the Armed Services, Healthcare and Prison Ministries,
and to the Rev. Gerald Blackburn, Director of Military Chaplaincy
Ministries
Dear Bishop Packard and Gerry Blackburn,
I have been intending to write this letter for over a month. I know
that because I have quotes from an email I sent my mom, things I
wanted to include
in “Sandbox Times #3”, saved to my hard drive.
Regarding
Air Force life and ministry in Oman: I have a CD player. I share
a cold shower with all the other women here, but have some hookups
to a hot shower. I have a friend who has a bathtub, so if I ever
really, really want one I can ask, but she and her husband and little
baby live in 2 rooms, so I don’t think I’ll ever ask unless they
go out of town.
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Oman
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I live in a tent with several other women. I have a little corner.
I have a camp cot with a foam mattress. They gave us a sheet and
a comforter and a pillow. I brought my Swedish foam pillow. I have
clotheslines and some mosquito netting poles hanging up for my stuff.
I scored a real piece of furniture, a little cube with one shelf
and one drawer that I use for a nightstand. I keep my CD player
and personnel file and checkbook and stuff like that in the drawer.
I keep my towels on the shelf. I keep the book I’m reading and my
flashlight and my glasses on top of the nightstand. I keep all my
clothes and toiletries and stuff in cardboard boxes. I bought a
sort of polypropylene rug, and have that under my bunk now. It’s
quite nice. Would be greatly improved by indoor plumbing, however.
Never underestimate the power of an inside toilet. I eat at the
dining facility, although we are getting set up with a microwave
and stuff at the chapel, so I ate my instant oatmeal with soy powder
at my desk this morning. They don’t really have vegetarian food
here, so I eat egg whites and fish when they have it, and stretch
out my soy powder.
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| Chaplain
Shirley preaches during a worship service in Oman |
My work is unending, and I have not had sufficient motivation to
reign myself in. Therefore I am working too much, sleeping and exercising
too little. A little confession is supposed to be good for the soul
- I hope it works here and that I begin taking better care of myself,
starting with going to bed as soon as I send this note to you, as
well as working out in the morning before morning prayer.
Now, I’ve written more than a page and said nothing. So, I’ll tell
you the essence of the Christmas message I preached.
(From the story of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel according to
Luke, and the story of who God is from the first chapter of the
Gospel according to John . . . )
Our best opportunities to be part of establishing God’s kingdom
(the kingdom of justice, peace, and freedom) may come when we’re
somewhere we think we don’t want to be, enduring what some might
call hardship. Mary and Joseph were in a bad spot, far from home,
when the light of Christ came into our world. The bad spot turned
wonderful. Generations upon generations have had the chance to taste
freedom. Because our military members are in bad spots, far from
home, women in Afghanistan are tasting more freedom this Christmas
than they did last Christmas. The bad pot becomes wonderful. (And
then tons of other examples of how the grace of God sweetens bad
spots into wonderful twists and turns of freedom and healing.) Focus
on the light of Christ today. Focus on the invitation to be part
of the transforming of all creation into a haven of peace . . .
start with yourself, your home, your workplace, your community.
Be the light of Christ to your world.
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| Chaplain
Shirley visits with local women in Oman |
An old story, seemed appropriate this year.
Many blessings to you, and love,
Sarah
The Bishop's Notebook
11 January 2002
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Glimpses
of What We're Doing
Senior Leadership Conference
Participating in God's Continuing Project
January 8th - 11th 2002
The Episcopal Church Center
New York
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The
Presiding Bishop,
The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, greets conference participants
after Evening Prayer |
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Ground
Zero banner in the Chapel of Christ the Lord at the Episcopal
Church Center |
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Ground
Zero from the viewing platform next to St. Paul's Chapel |
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| Dr.
Diane Zompa, conference facilitator, with Bishop Packard |
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The
Rev. Jackie Means, Chaplain Anne Williams and Ms. Molly Shaw
(left to right) |
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Chaplains
Gary Parker, Jay Magness and Mal Roberts (left to right) |
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| The
Rev. Jean Denton, Executive Director of National Episcopal Health
Ministries talks with conference resource person, The Rev. Rosemari
G. Sullivan, Executive Officer, Office of the General Convention |
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Conference
participants were asked to mark a map indicating where they
have ministered around the world |
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| The
Rev. Canon Brian Grieves, Driector, Peace and Justice Ministries |
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The
Rev. James G. Wilson, Executive Director, Church Deployment
Office |
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Thom
Chu, Director and Young Adult Ministries Staff Officer, Ministries
to the Young |
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| Conference
participants were treated to real New York City pizza! |
The Bishop's Notebook
4 January 2002
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| Dr.
Kübler-Ross amuses Dr. Henritzy and the group by trying on New
York State Trooper’s hat. |
When
we look back on the events of September 11th and its aftermath,
we now frequently
focus on some of the heroes: the police officers, the fire fighters,
doctors, nurses, chaplains and the thousands of volunteers in all
those categories and others.
On the Friday before Christmas, I had the opportunity to spend the
afternoon with one of my real-life heroes and an icon of the late
twentieth century: Dr. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross. Dr. Kübler-Ross, you
will recall, wrote the definitional book “On Death and Dying” which
dealt with how we respond to these crises in our lives. In the ‘60’s
she was a practicing psychiatrist here in New York City and began
the then-radical practice of sitting at the bedside of her dying
patients and asking them to tell her their stories. These impressions
led to her first book (today there are twenty) and established her
as one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject. Like many
of you, I studied her work in college and seminary. She is now retired,
living in Arizona, and confined to a wheelchair.
When our
office began to construct our response to the terrorist attacks,
one of our first efforts was the design of a training program to
assist clergy in dealing with the crises they would be facing. We
relied heavily in our training materials on Dr. Kübler-Ross’ definitional
work, particularly her five stages of grieving. We could not have
constructed this program without drawing on her wisdom.
So you can imagine what a thrill it was for me when the Bishop asked
if I would be willing to host this hero of mine for the afternoon!
The person who taught us how to grieve wanted to see this national
focus of our grief and I got to be her host! Wow.
To keep the story short, we were privileged to have a State Police
escort (see the photo of her having fun wearing a trooper’s hat!),
and we were able to show Dr. Kübler-Ross two of the most important
sites: Ground Zero itself and St. Paul’s Chapel. It was awesome
to be pushing her wheelchair and stop as people approached to thank
her for her influence on their lives. A policeman: “When my wife
was dying, I read your book and it got me through it.” A social
worker: “Because of a commencement speech you made, I decided to
be who I am today.” A priest: “I just want to shake your hand and
tell you how much you have helped me in my ministry.” “It is an
honor to meet you.” And so on.
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| Dr.
Henritzy shows the Presiding Bishop the CI script based on Dr.
Kübler-Ross' scholarship |
Very shortly after the attacks our political leaders, with the good
intention of helping us cope, encouraged us all to “normalize” our
routines and get back to living as well as we could. This struck
me as well-meant but perhaps not entirely realistic advice. Knowing
from Dr. Kübler-Ross about the stages we need to go through as we
grieve, I was concerned that we were being urged to “get over it”
too quickly. Of course, I asked her what she would say to those
who were grieving over losses at the hands of the terrorists. Her
three-word reply summed it all up for me: “Let them cry.” Even though
we are approaching four months post-September 11th, we still need
to realize that there is a process to grieving and we do ourselves
harm if we short-circuit that process. With Kübler-Ross, let’s remember
to “Let them cry.” David
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