Beloved in Christ,
We are in the full swing of this Minnesota summer. This past weekend I had the pleasure of spending both mornings at the St. Paul Farmers Market. Flower bouquets burst out of buckets and fruit and veggies were in full abundance on table after table. The smell of toasting bagels wafted through the air and people were laughing all around me. It was a moment of life after a long winter in isolation.
It has certainly been a weird start to the summer though. The world seems to be forgetting the pandemic, and yet, if you have little ones, the fear is still so real about how to keep them safe. Extreme weather is pounding at our doors, reminding us of how we are harming creation. Every day violence, poverty, and racial injustice headlines are in the news to a point where we wonder if we are moving the struggle forward.
It is in this juxtaposition that I feel stuck. The abundance of life around us versus the real concerns of daily life keep me in a tug-o-war. Is this not the contrast that Jesus is always teaching us about?
Jesus tells us there is a different way to exist in this world. His way is about hope. His goal is love.
Every day we get to show this world about the hope and love of this Jesus movement. Now, this isn’t always easy, and some days, this feels downright impossible. But Jesus and his friends started a movement that is still going today, so I say that is pretty hopeful.
In Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s book Love Is The Way, he talks of how we can live into this movement of love. He creates a manual for how to find hope and wisdom in the midst of the world's challenges:
“When God, who is love, becomes our spiritual center of gravity, and love our moral compass, we live differently, regardless of what the world around us does. The world changes for the better, one life at a time.
So don’t give up on love.
Listen to it.
Trust it.
Give into it.
Obey it.”
(Curry, Love is the Way, p.248)
If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it for this complex time. Leading with love does change the world and grounds us in our discipleship to the movement.
If you are interested in learning more about how to develop deep relationships with your community, please reach out. I focus on Asset-Based Community Development community organizing that is grounded in my social work teachings. We can change this world with love. It will not be easy and we must develop strong resiliency within ourselves. But we can continue the movement together.
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Rachel Babbitt
Missioner for Community Engagement
612-870-3321
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For our faith communities in transition:
St. Mary's, St. Paul
Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour, Faribault
St. Paul's, Duluth
St. John's, Mankato
St. James, Marshall
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Sarah Barnett is on a canoe trip with youth from around ECMN.
The Rev. Susan Daughtry will join the vestry of Holy Trinity, St. Paul for a retreat on Saturday.
Karen Olson will be at Christ Church, Frontenac on Sunday.
Rachel Babbitt will preach at St. Paul's, Lake of the Isles, Minneapolis on Sunday.
The Bishop is on vacation for the month of July.
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Help Create the ECMN Mural!
During the summer of 2020, a team of leaders from across ECMN gathered to discern and provide direction to ECMN around our collective work of racial justice and healing.
There were several resulting recommendations that emerged from those discussions, one of which was to engage art as a practice to foster healing.
The Rev. Robert Two Bulls has been spearheading an effort to bring together professional muralists from across the US to model this practice through the creation of a mural on the south-facing wall of the ECMN offices in North Minneapolis. The artists are:
Dimitri Kadiev, Los Angeles-based artist/muralist. Dimitri led the creation of the mural for All Saints, Minneapolis.
Rufo Noriega, Los Angeles-based artist/muralist
Joshua Grace, Philadelphia-based muralist/musician, and itinerant part-time pastor
Cameron Jarvis, Philadelphia-based artist, formerly from Minneapolis
Nidaanis Taylor, Red Lake Ojibwe art student
Here's message from Rev. Two Bulls about the project:
"Creating public art and murals are great ways to stimulate dialog. One good example is the lettering of “Black Lives Matter” in big, bold font on streets in cities across the country. The dialog that has emerged so far has spanned the spectrum of racial relations. From positive conversations to individuals trying to paint over the letters while yelling “All lives matter!” art creates dialog. Art raises awareness. Art can heal.
A few years ago, All Saints Indian Mission and First Nations Kitchen invited an artist named Dimitri Kadiev from Los Angeles to paint a mural. Dimitri is what I would call an itinerant evangelist muralist. He travels around the world painting murals in bright colors, using symbols that are contextual to the community or neighborhood he is working in. When he is painting, Dimitri actively engages all who happen to walk by and invites them to grab a brush and join in. As a result, the whole community feels connected to the mural. The symbols used in the All Saints and First Nations Kitchen mural are connected to both the Dakota & Ojibwe traditions and food. There are also plenty of Christian symbols throughout the mural.
One way that we can engage racial healing and reconciliation in ECMN faith communities and Minnesota is by engaging folks with art-making."
Each faith community is welcome to submit words, phrases, symbols, figures, etc., that hold special meaning for your faith community and that express your community’s hopes for a more just future. Please submit to Rachel Babbitt at rachel.b@episcopalmn.org, with the subject line "ECMN Mural," between now and Friday, July 16th.
If you’d like to help paint the mural, individuals can come by any day of the week between 9am-8pm, and groups can contact Joshua at (215) 901-4914 to a schedule a time.
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Young Adult Intentional Community Housing
417 House is an intentional community of 7 students—or those who want to be students—in Minneapolis. Located at 417 University Ave SE, the young adults who live here commit to a rule of life, a charism of hospitality and a regular house meeting. Rent for a furnished room in a furnished house is $400/month and includes all utilities. It's the best deal in Minneapolis! We are hoping to have all 7 students in place by September 1st.
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Safe Church Update:
Notices from Praesidium Database
ECMN, along with most of the Episcopal Church, uses a database system, Praesidium, to house our Safe Church training records and to store the online modules we have created that mirror our live trainings. This system is being upgraded, and as a part of that upgrade, all those who have been trained in Safe Church in-person or online will receive an automated email.
For the time being, please disregard this email, which requests each person entered into the system to create an account. ECMN will continue our practice of logging trainings, but will be moving to a different system for storing that information.
You can also disregard any notices of training expiration that come from Praesidium. Per ECMN's Safe Church policies, training renewal is still required every three years.
Later this summer, we will provide an update on using online modules going forward.
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Celebrate Pride with St. Mark's Cathedral!
July 17-18, 2021
Loring Park & St. Mark's Cathedral, Minneapolis
To allow for safer gatherings, the LGBTQ Twin Cities Pride Fest will be held in Loring Park on Saturday, July 17, and Sunday, July 18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. There will be no parade this year.
St. Mark’s will offer our traditional Pride service on Sunday, July 18, at 4 p.m.
On Saturday, July 17 from 12 - 4 p.m., St. Mark’s will offer hospitality on our front lawn.
On Sunday, July 18 from 12 - 4 p.m. the doors to the nave will be open for simple guided tours and also for a time for personal prayer and reflection. La Tortilla food truck will be parked in our lot and serving on Sunday!
PLEASE JOIN US at 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 18, for our Pride service.
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EpiscoBuilders Seeks Volunteers
July 19-23, 8:30am - 3:30pm, Plymouth
September 13-17, 8:30am - 3:30pm, New Hope
EpiscoBuilders, made up of West Metro faith communities, started about 12 years ago when Episcopalians in the Western Suburbs (especially Lindsay Freeman and Jay Nord) saw the need for additional housing. Over fifty houses later, EpiscopBuilders is committed to doing at least two projects every year. How exciting it is to see one more family move into their very own new house! We hope that more folk will become a part of this venture.
There are several ways to support this work:
- Volunteer at the build site (volunteers must be 16 or older)
- Provide a snack or lunch for the builders
- Donate money
To volunteer, call Bruce Moulton at 612-210-4741.
To donate morning snack or lunch, call Lynne Whitacre at 612-267-6593.
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Two Opportunities to Deepen Your Racial Justice Work
presented by Embody Equity
Deep Racial Discernment Retreat
July 23-24
ECMN Gathering Space, Minneapolis
This mini-retreat is geared towards white people seeking to discern how best to continue their journey of anti-racism. Learn more and register here.
Embodied Cultural Activism Salons
6 Wednesdays, various times
Online
These salons are a response to the call for white people to re-culture, articulated by Dr. Resmaa Menakem and other cultural somatics thought leaders. White-bodied people need spaces to develop the trust and camaraderie to have honest conversations about our anti-racism journeys.
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Spiritual Formation for Racial Healing
presented by the Absalom Jones Center
August 30 - November 22, 2021
Online
Dr. Catherine Meeks, founder of the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing, teaches taht sustaining a ministry in dismantling racism demands a lifelong program in spiritual formation. To this end, she has asked the Rev. Kenneth Swanson to develop a new prayer discipline to support those involved in racial healing. Learn more and register here.
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ECMN Convention
November 5-6, Bemidji
After a long and difficult year apart from one another, we are eager to gather again in the flesh in November for our Episcopal Church in Minnesota "family reunion." During our time together, we'll take care of canonical business, including electing members to our governing bodies, considering resolutions, and reviewing the financial statement of mission. We'll hear stories from across the diocese and, most importantly, we'll reacquaint ourselves with who we are as the people of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. Find more details here.
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St. Mary's seeks Rector
Names are now being received for those feeling called to be the next ¾-time Rector at St. Mary’s in St. Paul.
For more information, please visit the Office for Transition Ministry site for their portfolio and view a brief profile for a deeper glimpse into who they are as a faith community and what leadership characteristics they are seeking in their next Rector. See here for more information and to learn how to apply.
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St. David's seeks Minister of Music
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St. David's seeks Children & Youth Minister
St. David's in Minnetonka seeks a half-time Children's & Youth Minister to engage children and teenagers in their faith journey and to help them build connections with one another, the congregation, the diocese, and the larger community. See here for more information and a position description.
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Stories from the First Cathedral |
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By the Rev. Canon James C. Zotalis
During Lent of 1903, the addition of Gilbert Hall was started with children in mind. Today the space is located between the Great Hall and the Kitchen of the Guild House. It is the most unusual room for its contents and for the motivation to teach the Cathedral children about the Christian faith. Click here to read more . . .
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The Episcopal Church in Minnesota | 612-871-5311 | info@episcopalmn.org episcopalmn.org |
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