Our Understanding of Creation and the Work of Sustainable Stewardship is:

The Adult Christian Formation Opportunity at Christ Episcopal Church Matagorda has prioritized the bullets from the Bishop’s list and we are working through them one at a time as a part of our exercises to be better able to share the faith.

The group chose 6th : “• our understanding of creation and the work of sustainable stewardship is:”

Try it for yourself:

Complete the following:

(extra credit for short answers using only terms a seeker would understand in their ordinary every-day sense.)

"This unique Episcopal witness is articulated through the words of our Baptismal Covenant:"

• our understanding of creation and the work of sustainable stewardship is:

Materials reviewed:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  John 1

O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

BCP 259

Celebrant

Do you believe in God the Father?

People

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

BCP 304

We first discussed our understanding of Creation.

We distinguished our understanding from both Creationism and Deism. Likewise we rejected secular environmentalism as idolatry, worshiping the creation.

Examining John 1, we heard the Word speaking from Eternity into Temporality, out of timelessness into time. With imperfect understanding we discerned that the Word, spoken in eternity, continues to create throughout all time.

In this Continuous Creation we are creatures, created things, but because we share in the divine image we have an active role in creation as well.

Some time was spent in articulation of our role, with the conclusion that we reject the co-creator nomenclature in favor of sub-creators.

We reviewed the role of the human Steward as a transition to the second section of the work. Several fruitful insights were brought up from the works of J R R Tolkien, notably the Steward of Gondor in LOTR and the sub-creator discussion in Mythopoeia:

            Man, Sub-creator, the refracted light

            through whom is splintered from a single White

            to many hues, and endlessly combined

            in living shapes that move from mind to mind.

            Though all the crannies of the world we filled

            with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build

            Gods and their houses out of dark and light,

            and sowed the seed of dragons, 'twas our right

            (used or misused). The right has not decayed.

            We make still by the law in which we're made.

We discerned that a steward who has the powers of sub-creation has a greater power to make-or-mar than a simple custodian. In this discussion the parable of the talents was enlightening. Matt. 25:14

We discussed the appropriate contrast to Sustainable Stewardship. Both Wasting and Consuming were considered. It was finally decided that this was a distinction without a difference.

Since coffee was at hand, the great porcelain/styrofoam debate was briefly revisited, with the beneficial insight that, the only truly wrong position is that of thoughtlessness.

So our answer was:

our understanding of creation and the work of sustainable stewardship is:

• Creation is the ongoing work of God.
• God's love in creation, accomplished by His Word,is inseparable from His love for us in Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word.
• We have a gift of power as sub-creators, and a corresponding obligation of responsibility as stewards.
• We exercise our power responsibly only when we remain mindful of our role. 

Our Fellowship Is:

The Adult Christian Formation Opportunity at Christ Episcopal Church Matagorda has prioritized the bullets from the Bishop’s list and we are working through them one at a time as a part of our exercises to be better able to share the faith.

The group chose 4th : “• our fellowship is:”

Try it for yourself:

Complete the following:

(extra credit for short answers using only terms a seeker would understand in their ordinary every-day sense.)

"This unique Episcopal witness is articulated through the words of our Baptismal Covenant:"

•  our fellowship is:

Materials reviewed:

Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?

People

I will, with God's help. BCP 304

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42

The group agreed that, fellowship is a relationship. In order to establish relationship we must begin by seeking the other where they are.

"Our Fellowship" is a web of existing and potential relationships.

These are broadly of two kinds ("orientations"):

            Horizontal - peer-to-peer relationships; and

            Vertical - Rabbi-Disciple relationships

Our exiting relationships, having come into existence organically, more often than intentionally, can benefit from reflection on their orientation, and the stresses that may have been put on the relationship by changes in orientation. 

Vertical relationships may have grown horizontal over time, and vice-versa.

Our Fellowship, modeled on the Apostle's Fellowship, is by its nature called to be a web of Intentional Relationships.

Jesus said, "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

So even our most natural and organic relationships must be brought to the foot of The Cross and transformed into Intentional Relationships. 

This was identified as a powerful image for the healing of dysfunctional relationships.

We then turned to the creation of new relationships to bring people into Our Fellowship.

There were several identified barriers to relationship that need to be overcome:

            The Otherness - we acknowledge that we are less comfortable engaging those who we see as less like ourselves. This is addressed by awareness that we are not drawn to the Other by our own affections, we are sent to the Other in obedience to Christ's commission. Matt. 28:19

            The Shyness - awareness of our own sinfulness and ignorance makes us reluctant to offer ourselves in the Rabbi role in a vertical relationship. This is addressed by seeing our role as guide toward a truth we are all seeking, not pretending to have possession of that truth, just knowing which way is going to get us closer to it.

            The need to initiate relationship- Those who are most in need of fellowship may be least able to articulate their need and we have to be alert to non-verbal expressions of need.

We ask: "Who do you have?" and "Where do you go?"

We answer, for ourselves, not for the Other, "When I am in need, I go ____________"

So our answer was Our Fellowship is:

• Our relationships with our rabbis who are helping us on the way;
• Our relationships with our companions on the way;
• Our relationships with our disciples who we are helping on the way.

All our relationships are called to be intentional and centered on the journey toward Christ.