Second Sunday of Easter
Fun Days have been a tradition with the diocesan staff during my time as Bishop. They are an annual event, normally scheduled a few weeks after convention and before the annual staff retreat where we lay out the strategy for the next year. Under COVID, we have added a couple more, including a Christmas party, St. Patrick’s Day and an Easter week event, held just this Thursday! In 2020, these have been on Zoom, and we have become quite adept at carving out a couple of hours for group games, quizzes, and wearing fancy hats.
This week, Traci shared a Prayer for Play (written by Vinita Hampton Wright), which I want to share with you:
Prayer for Play
God who made each and every living being,
I know there’s a fun and whimsical aspect to you
because there is no complete logical explanation for the way kittens play,
and children say the most accurate, embarrassing things sometimes.
I know that you designed us to run until we’re giddy and breathless,
to converse in ways that, in mere moments, can dissolve an entire group of people into uncontrollable laughter.
You built within our minds a fascination for solving riddles and working puzzles.
You gave us the ability to skip or to roll down a hill,
neither of which would have helped the species survive in the wild.
Surely you had fun in mind and nothing else.
Open my eyes and heart, Lord,
to see the whimsy, to take part in the play,
To enjoy my life
and to laugh often.
There is no secret that I am fanatical about football with one’s feet, the way the rest of the world play it. I remember saying eighteen years ago that you’d know when Manchester United or the English national team were playing because I wouldn’t be answering the phone. When I first saw the dates for the originally planned 2020 Lambeth Conference, I wondered: who schedules a three-week conference parallel to the Olympic Games? I even count how many more Olympics I might be able still to enjoy. And among my hero bishops were Bishop Garver of Los Angeles, who in retirement received the schedule of every JV and Varsity game of the two Episcopal High School sports teams, and there you would find him cheering them on and being a pastoral presence for both wins and losses. With four children in eleven sports, we experienced the breadth of his interest! I admired, also, the authenticity of a one-time Bishop of Grantham in England who was not ashamed of his affection for the Leicester City Football Club, the Foxes, who in one miraculous year came from the very bottom of the Premier League to take the title, and have stayed relatively close ever since. Was it the Bishop’s prayers? We might be familiar with the religious sister who is devoted to the Loyola-Chicago basketball team, or the one who coaches a South African world class athlete. Did you know that the Kenyan running phenomenon started from the coaching of an Irish monk?
All of this is not to say that I am ruminating on post-retirement possibilities, though I have a series of retreat presentations called “Jesus: Coach, Quarterback or Waterboy,” which I actually gave at a retreat camp in Nevada one year. But it is to raise the question, with the theological writer and vicar of St. Martin’s in the Field in London, Sam Wells: “Maybe it is time to ask ourselves what this avalanche of emotional, physical and financial commitment (to sports) is all about. What are the features of athletics that put it at the heart of society, and cause it to evoke so much admiration, so much disdain and so much controversy?”
He offers three themes for reflection: that in sports (and obviously not exclusively so) we learn the life lesson that practice makes perfect. It is “99 percent perspiration, and 1 percent inspiration.” We keep our eyes on the prize and along the way we learn sportsmanship, hard work, and how to set priorities. Think about the obedience involved to a coach, and compare it with the discipline of spiritual practices. And consider the apostle Paul’s words about the cooperation and coordination of the Body of Christ, and the smooth running of a sports team. “Life is a team game,” writes Wells. “Athletes know this, if only the Church did too.”
The second gift or blessing is that of athletics being play. He quotes the great manager of the Liverpool football team, Bill Shankley, who I would say “out-Lombardied” Lombardi with this statement, “Some people think football (soccer) is a matter of life and death. I assure you it is much more serious than that.” Wells suggests that “the whole point of athletics is precisely not to be about life and death, but instead to a be a glimpse of timeless, intense, play.” I remember every take of the lead on the last bend of a mile race, or what it was like to break the two-minute mark for the 800 meters. I even have sense memory of great moments of floating on air during a good practice distance run. Wells invites us to compare Irenaeus’ statement that: “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” And adds one of my favorite quotes from my favorite movie, as Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire fame declares: “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel God’s pleasure.”
Golfers, think of that one under par you achieved on a Tuesday afternoon sometime long ago, that still lingers with you, and that was only on one hole and only one time ever! Play has an eternal element to it. And it is expressed in so many ways—sports, music, art, getting lost in one’s craftsmanship, reading, telling stories, losing yourself in laughter. That is going beyond life and death. Liturgy does it too!
The third blessing is peace. That is one goal of the Olympic Games. Sports are a kind of non-violent interaction that peace involves and requires. “Violence arises when you can’t think of any better way to get level, get even, or get ahead. Athletics at its best is a training in how to overcome apparent disadvantage without violence.” Wells claims that it involves “the ability to learn how to play beyond the imagination of the opponent.” Again, in St. Paul’s words, “It is about overcoming evil with good.” Ultimately sports can be seen as a way of understanding the Holy Spirit, Wells claims. “It is the Holy Spirit who makes us holy through the constant practice of discipleship; it is the Holy Spirit in whom we dwell when we feel God’s pleasure in our play; and it is a sign of the fruit of the Holy Spirit that we see when we realize that we are living in peace.”
I find an Easter message in all of this. One tradition I have not managed to pass on to the Diocese of Iowa from my own formation is that we stand for the Eucharistic Prayer even after the Sanctus during Eastertide. Why? Because in the resurrection, life has all come together, and we are invited to celebrate on our feet! Just as we do, at the scoring of a home run, or a goal or a touchdown, or the end of a musical or an absorbing play or speech. We rise for the Risen Christ, even as we rise with Him. Yes, God has made you for a purpose, but he has also made you fast. Run, leap, hurl, soar—and feel God’s pleasure.
In the peace and love of Christ,
+Alan
The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe, Bishop of Iowa
Diocesan Online Worship
Join St. Mark's, Fort Dodge for Morning Prayer: Rite II at 10:00am.
GILEAD Grant Spotlight: St. Paul's Cathedral, Des Moines
St. Paul's received a "Support for Recently Ordained Clergy" GILEAD Grant. Grant funds are being used to expand the Assisting Priest position to 75%-time. The Assisting Priest has been a boon for the Cathedral by adding new energy into both old and new ministries and by offering pastoral and social continuity for parishioners. The energy, enthusiasm and technological skills gained by the Cathedral through their Assisting Priest has enlivened, energized and engaged St. Paul’s.
Serving as the lead minister to families and youth, Fr. Zeb has recently undertaken new responsibilities, including co-creating a webinar series on End of Life Planning, leading adult formation in a hybrid in-person/online format, website development, co-representing the cathedral to the Des Moines Downtown Chamber of Commerce, and planning an outdoor ministries fair and parish fun day.
“Fr. Zeb is a great asset to our community.”
COVID Vaccine Information
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Online Training Opportunities
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BYSTANDER INTERVENTION
Wednesday April 14 at 5:30pm // Thursday April 29 at 2pm
CONFLICT DE-ESCALATION (BYSTANDER INTERVENION 2.0)
Wednesday April 21 at 3pm
WORKSHOP FOR PEOPLE EXPERIENCING ANTI-ASIAN HARASSMENT
Thursday April 15 at 5pm
Dismantling Racism Training
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Grounded in The Episcopal Church's commitment to dismantling racism as essential to our formation as Christians, this ONLINE training is open to all persons who would like to deepen their understanding of racism, prejudice, and privilege.
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Earth Day, Every Day: Meet Dawson Davenport
EPIC 2021: JULY 5-9
The EPIC planning team is doing all we can right now to have an in-person camp this year. EPIC will look different for a number of reasons, partly because we will be at a new location, the Christian Conference Center in Newton, and because of COVID protocol. We are also working on an online option for those who might not be comfortable with in-person camp this summer.
EPIC is for youth entering 4th grade through 12th grade. Registration information will be sent to families and posted on the Children and Youth Ministry page of the diocesan website soon.
Faithful Innovations
Thursday April 15
Noon - 12:45pm
Come and see, or send someone from your congregation to check out this congregational development practice. All are welcome to join in these "Listening at Lunch" sessions, held on the 3rd Thursday of the month.
Email Traci Ruhland Petty: tpetty@iowaepiscopal.org for the Zoom login information or if you have questions.
Agape Cafe at Old Brick: Celebrating 28 Years
Agape Cafe -- a diocesan ministry out of Old Brick in Iowa City for over 28 years, serving a hot, made-to-order breakfast weekly to their guests. The cafe is open to all; it has become a community of those in need of food, friendship, respect, and welcome. Agape Cafe is celebrating their anniversary by launching a fundraising campaign with up to a $10,000 diocesan match. To learn more about Agape Cafe, visit their website.
As a diocesan ministry, Agape Cafe appears on the Gifts List on the diocesan donations page -- along with the Bishop's Discretionary Fund, Companion Dioceses above-and-beyond gifts for greatest need, and others. To see a fuller Gifts List and support one of our many diocesan ministries by online donation, click here.
Podcast Corner
New Episode Alert! "Episode 11:Scarred & Made Whole: Resurrection Matters" of The Middle Way podcast dropped this week
What does it mean to practice resurrection? In this episode Hannah & Eric discuss the work of Monica Coleman, Nancy Eiesland, and the Gospel of John with their own stories of new life and resurrection.
And in case you missed it, go back and check out Episode 10: Sitting with Our Grief - conversations of grief, loss, and despair - "There cannot be a real Easter without a real Holy Saturday before it. Let us resist rushing toward resurrection and sit with each other."
This podcast is brought to you by Rev. Eric Rucker & Hannah Landgraf (members of St. Andrew's, Des Moines). Listen on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or on their website.
"The Middle Way is a podcast that explores the interplay between the church calendar and… pretty much everything else. It's like Sunday School with cussing. Or, the Easter Vigil with dubstep."
