Third Sunday after Epiphany
It was with great sadness that we learned on Tuesday of the death of Bishop Ellinah Wamukoya, a dear friend to this diocese and an inspiring bishop of our companion Diocese of Swaziland in eSwatini. Her funeral is tomorrow, Saturday, January 23rd at 6 am (Central), and can be found at the link below.
One World, One Church has sent a letter of condolence to Dean Advent Dlamini on our behalf, and I will be sending a formal tribute to the people of Swaziland from us all as a diocese later today. Let me, however, be indulged a little longer with a more personal approach. Bishops find themselves in lonely positions. And to have episcopal colleagues with whom to break down that isolation is a true gift. The bishops of Swaziland have provided that for me, perhaps established by the rare opportunity to spend weeks in Canterbury, early on, at the College for Bishops with Bishop Mabuza, Bishop Ellinah’s predecessor and, as she has acknowledged, her spiritual father. I spent my sabbatical in Swaziland, wanting to be put to some priestly tasks. I was made the assistant to the chaplain of the University, a bi-vocational priest, Ellinah Wamukoya, who was also the City manager for the major city of Manzini (think of it like being the city manager of Chicago)! You can imagine that she used to rush into the Chapel just before services, chasing time, probably like every University Chaplain I have known! We shared ministry during Holy Week at the University Chapel and even baptized together, Bishop Mabuza and Lucy’s grandchild. And we couldn’t foresee that this was God laying a foundation for future collaboration.
It seems presumptuous to call her part of our family but for Donna and I, we probably saw her personally as often as we do our scattered family. We had spent time in each other’s homes, and would be at the other end of a phone call whenever our episcopal demands needed fresh wisdom and encouragement, or when tragedy and celebration struck our homes—as when her son died suddenly in South Africa, or when our son and his wife married in Scotland, having met (and been a little bit match-made by Bishop Ellinah) on a joint pilgrimage of young people from our tri-companionship of Iowa, Brechin and Swaziland. This was the intimacy with which she related to everyone she met. She embraced us all as family, and would call us brothers and sisters. She found her spiritual strength from not walking alone, but by appreciating those God gave to her along the way, including some special sisterly bonds with Iowa clergy. She was the first woman Anglican bishop in Africa, and we in Iowa have walked this road of rising female leadership in Swaziland, since the ordinations of the first women as priests in the diocese under Bishop Mabuza, at which our own Barbara Schlachter preached.
There came historical fame with her election, but it never stopped her from leading the way in physically planting a tree, making cement blocks, fussing over babies, or proudly standing with the young University graduates at the diocesan graduate celebration service grateful for her own achievement in obtaining her theological degree while a bishop, and, yes, encouraging two young people to find each other. And that is just what we witnessed in our limited yet closely felt encounters. The person we know in those moments was the person others experienced multi-fold every minute of her life and ministry. To take a phrase from the former Archbishop, Rowan Williams, when describing the goal of seminary formation, “we are called to become transparent to the love of God.” In the tradition of Desmond Tutu, and in the way of our own Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, we have seen in Bishop Ellinah such a transparency.
It is because above all she spent her time looking into the face of Jesus, “seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, (and) being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
In the peace and love of Christ,
+Alan
The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe, Bishop of Iowa
Diocesan Online Worship
Beginning this week, instead of producing a weekly diocesan service, we will be pointing you each week to join a service produced by one of our churches.
Join us on Sunday for Holy Eucharist offered by St. John’s by the Campus, Ames at 10:00am.
Mini Retreats: H.O.P.E.
The Small Church Core Team in the Diocese of Iowa invites youto a series of four mini-retreats focused on HOPE during these changing times.
Join us on Saturday, January 16, Saturday, February 6, and Saturday, March 6. From 9:00 am to 10:00 am. We will gather using Zoom technology.
Topics for each session include:
Healing and Hope in December
Opportunity for Community and Hope in January
Patience and Hope on February 6
Expectation and Hope on March 6
Dismantling Racism Training
Register for online training
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.
The training will consist of 2 sessions from 10:00am-12:00pm and 12:30pm-2:30pm, with a break for lunch.
Youth Ministry
Compline/Youth Check-in on Wednesday, February 3
Join us for two Compline and a Youth Check-in on February 3 at 7 pm. All are welcome for Compline. Check-ins are for 4th-12th graders.
Zoom information will be emailed. If you would like the link to join, please contact Amy Mellies at amellies@iowaepiscopal.org or at 515-277-6165.
Faithful Innovations
Save the Date: Our next Listening at Lunch session will be Thursday February 18 at Noon
Thanks to all who were able to join in our previous session on Jan. 21! We'll continue to meet on the 3rd Thursday of the month, and you don't need to have attended previously to join us next time.
Email Traci Ruhland Petty: tpetty@iowaepiscopal.org for the Zoom login information or if you have questions.
Epiphany Conversations
Thank you to everyone who participated in our first conversation this past Wednesday!
If you missed this first session, there's still time to join in, click below to register.
Questions about the series? contact Rev. Tom Early: priest@stalbansepiscopalchurch.org
Questions about registration or technical assistance? contact Traci Ruhland Petty: tpetty@iowaepiscopal.org
Epiphany is the season where light returns with longer days in the Northern Hemisphere. In this growing brightness, we pray that we might know Christ and join in the work he is calling us to do. As God’s will is best known in the context of community, we invite you to gather with us weekly during Epiphanytide where we will use biblical texts and the questions posed by Mark D. W. Edington’s book We Shall Be Changed: Questions for the Post-Pandemic Church to reflect on where Christ is calling us from and discern where Christ is calling us to in the future.
GILEAD Spotlight: The Way Station
The Way Station used a "Liturgical Space Renewal" GILEAD Grant to make their space more accessible and welcoming to everyone by adding an ADA-compliant ramp on the front of the building and an ADA-compliant bathroom in the garage-turned art workshop.
The Way Station, a diocesan ministry, is a worshiping community and mission outreach that seeks to share God's extravagant love with the community through radical hospitality in a variety of ways, including serving coffee and food, and through the use of an art room, a book room, and a playroom.
To learn more about this innovative ministry, check out their Facebook page:
