For the month of March I am resident at the School of Servant Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina http://www.servantleadergreensboro.com/ . On Tuesday evenings I attend a class on COMPASSION:Awakening the Intelligence of the Heart. I am also doing the reading for the class Tricia is attending on POWER: The Practice of a Third Way, as well as participating in other activities and conversations at the School.

A central text for my class is Field of Compassion, by Judy Cannato. The subtitle is How the New Cosmology is Transforming Spiritual Life. The author proposes that we no longer need to live between two competing stories – the scientific story and the religious story. The new science which has emerged tells a story which complements and stretches the religious story. The book is challenging and exciting me. I am still digesting it. In the mean time, here are two quotes from Thomas Merton she uses to provoke our imagination:

• Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things                              
• I have the immense joy of being [human], a member of the race in which God became incarnate. . . . if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.

A highlight of my trip to England was a visit to John and Shirley Davies. John was the Anglican chaplain at the University of the Witwatersrand when I was an undergraduate. The community which grew under their leadership continues to shape my own vocation. Hear is what I wrote to them after the visit.

Dear John and Shirley,

. . . .. I vividly remember my first retreat in Rosettenville, finding myself at home in a community of men and women, black and white. When I was waiting outside the Johannesburg station for a bus home, being back in apartheid South Africa was so disorienting that for a moment I could not see anything – didn’t know which frame to use! It has taken me a long time to know how to translate experience of transformational community into parish ministry. The early years of my ordained ministry (after two years as a curate in Springs) were non parochial. I was able to focus on creating transformational communities on the margins of the church – Self supporting ordained ministry in Johannesburg, Theological Education by Extension groups for Laity in the USA (which developed a model and methods of theological reflection) and Congregational development teams in the Diocese of South East Florida.

In 1992 Tricia and I became jointly Rector of St. Martin’s-in-the-Field in Severna Park, Maryland, a position we held for more than 12 years. This was an opportunity to invite the parish as a whole to be a community of transformation, where each person had an opportunity to discover and live into God’s particular call. We did make progress with many individuals and together with Dylan Breuer, who was on staff at the time, created a three part curriculum to further this work. When we moved to Massachusetts in 2005 Tricia and I continued to develop the curriculum and to implement it in the parishes that we served. You can find the courses at www.saintmarksburlington.org

Prior to accepting the half-time position of priest in charge at St. Mark’s in Burlington, the lay leaders and I agreed that my role would center in empowering them to be the church. This agreement continues to guide our life together and is beginning to bear fruit. I am implementing the curriculum with positive results; I am also finding a need to strengthen the opportunities of ongoing healing, emotional, physical and spiritual. As we hear and respond to God’s call we are faced with the limits of our resources and the wounds which cripple us.

All of this is sourced by my own transformation at Wits. Thank you both for setting me on this path! I look forward to our continuing conversation.

Tricia and I had a truly amazing time in Kenya. We stayed for a week at the training and office facility of BTCKE in Ongata Rongai, about an hour out of Nairobi, depending on the traffic. The three person staff team of Natalie, Sarah and Ken were preparing for the launch of the 2012 organizing campaign, which is linking teams of young adults with Children’s Homes (Orphanages) to mobilize community support for the work that is being done with the orphans. Participating in the preparations for the weekend launch was a huge blessing, allowing us to meet the five directors of the Homes which are participating this year, and the five young adults who will each lead one of the teams. I was deeply moved by the faith, compassion and commitment of the directors and young adult leaders and I look forward to continuing to be involved in this work in some way. You can see more in the BTCKE blog at http://bethechangekenya.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/btckes-2012-launch-weekend/

Youth Leaders at St. Faith's

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On Sunday 5 February, Tricia and I attended the Youth Service at St. Faith’s, Ongata Rongai, the town outside Nairobi where we are staying. The service began at 7:30am! Lots of youth leadership in prayers and music. After the service, Natalie Finstad, who has preached at St. Mark’s and many of you know, met with the team of young people from St. Faith’s who will be working with one of the local orphanages this year. Natalie is leading Be The Change Kenya to pair 5 youth leadership teams with 5 orphanages in order to enroll the local communities to support the amazing work being done by the orphanages.

Yesterday Tricia and I participated in the first meeting of the directors of the children’s centers(orphanages) that are participating in BTCKE this year. Such grace filled people! I introduced an abridged version of the Jesus Way (sign up for the Lent Course to learn more) and they identified quickly with the difference between the way of the world and the way of faith. Mary, who has been doing this work for many years, said that “if you try to do this as a profession, you will fail. Only if you are called, if you have a heart for the children, can you succeed” How else can you deal with the daily challenge of feeding 49 children with no regular source of income? Rachel has learned that she needs to love each of the children the same, those who are easy to love and those who are challenging, those who are orphaned and those who are her birth children. If she favors one, the others will hate that one! What an icon of how God loves us. The leaders are growing daily in grace through the work that they do. They inspire me. And what a blessing toe be able so share the resource of the Jesus way paradigm.

I was so encouraged to hear of the spirit at the Annual meeting. You continue in my thoughts and prayers!

My father is 98 years old. In eighteen months he will be 100. He sees only dim shapes and colors and gets out of breath going uphill. In the last three months he has been sleeping more and his memory is less sharp than it used to be. He lives with his wife, Victoria, who used to help him look after my mother when she had dementia. Victoria and I have a complicated relationship. I am grateful to her for the love and care my father experiences as they live in the beauty of their home on the coast.

Charles de Beer at 98

My favorite moment of my visit was sitting alone with my Dad at a restaurant right on the ocean. Tricia and Victoria had gone for a walk on the beach. We were eating oysters on the half-shell and drinking red wine. “I was with Sheila (my mother) for fifty-five years” my Dad says, “I remember her with love.” I feel grateful for the conversation.

The local name for the Victoria Falls is Mos-Oa-Tunya, or The Smoke That Thunders. The Zambezi River is a mile wide as it falls 400 feet.

A view of the Victoria Falls

I had visited the Falls as a thirteen year old. It was a a great pleasure to be there today with Tricia and my brother Cedric and his wife Hannchen. This earth is a mysterious and marvelous place. On the one hand human life seems so insignificant and fleeting. On the other hand we seem to belong here – the awesome power of  and scale opened my heart.

The service at St. John’s parish, in the crypt chapel of the school I attended, was welcoming and informal.

Chapel at St. John's

The ministers were not robed. In place of the Gloria we sang “Lord I come before Your throne of grace. We used a Baptismal Creed as follows:
I believe and trust in God the Father,who made the world.
I believe and trust in his Son, Jesus Christ, who redeemed humankind.
I believe and trust in his Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God.
I believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Amen.
The whole congregation gathered around the altar for the Great Thanksgiving and joined in the whole of the Eucharistic prayer. Two traditional elements were the prayer of humble access “. . . we are not worthy to come before You. . .” and our closing hymn “Now thank we all our God.”
I was baptized in that chapel, over 50 years ago, as a twelve year old boy. The church has changed, South Africa has changed and so have I.My teenage self would be very surpised at the person I am at the moment. My sixty-six year old self feels tender to the boy that I was.

God was present for me in the baptism as God is present now. I trust that this is the one constant, in all changes.

A Quadrangle at St. John's

I visited a wonderful exhibit an hour out of Johanesburg “Maropeng – The Cradle of Humanity”

Archeological discoveries at Maropeng and the nearby Sterkfontein caves have shaped our contemporary understanding of how homo sapiens developed. I was fascinated by the evolutionary steps along the way which are part of this understanding and the question “what will be the next step in our development as a species?” Here are some critical changes which brought humanity to our current point.

1. Bipedal. Walking on two legs meant less energy expended in traveling
2. Jaw structure which enabled the consumption of both meat and veggies
3. Increased brain capacity. This led to a larger skull, necessitating birth at an earlier stage of development than most mammals.
4. A stable family that could protect, nurture and teach infants in the first several years of life
5. Tools – making, adapting and passing on the use of tools
6. Manipulation of fire
7. Development of the throat to support language
8. Symbols and the ability to communicate beyond the present moment
9. Creativity!

I came away with a deep sense of wonder at the path which has brought us all to this moment in time.

The next day Tricia and I worshiped with a small congregation which uses the crypt at the Anglican school where I was educated. I heard the commandment to love God with heart, mind and soul and to love neighbor as I love myself. I also heard Jesus identified as the light to the nations.

So what if we thought of Jesus as embodying the next step in evolution, calling and empowering all humanity to love God with our whole being and love, honor and respect the dignity of every human being?. This may be wishful thinking, not grounded in reality. Or it may be the necessary step for our survival and evolution as a species.

We arrived in Johannesburg on Wednesday 28th at 6:30pm local time (it was still Tuesday in Burlington.) Tricia and I are looking forward to two weeks here with my brother Cedric and his wife Hannchen. Our first day was spent settling in and taking naps. We are glad to be in a comfortable and welcoming space, with a beautiful grand. Pictures will follow when I get over jet lag.

My sabbatical begins after Christmas (I fly out on December 26) and lasts for three months. Palm Sunday will be my first Sunday back at St. Mark’s. I plan to post to this blog once a week, to invite you to share something of my journey.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to refresh my own sense of God’s presence and call in my life. Thank to all who have wished me well!