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Winter, 2007: Discerning the Call
"Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening"
(1 Sam 3:9)
Being called to the priesthood, or to any profession, the altar guild, deaconate or episcopate, all involve the asking of questions. (You want me to do what? How in the world will I do that? Are you sure?) And the willingness to listen for and hear the answers. (Sometimes no. Or yes. With My help.Yes. ) Acting upon God’s call is another story.
In this issue you will meet five people, all in various stages of discerning their call. These personal Journeys of Faith reveal the private, sometimes difficult, path to the priesthood. Where Gladness and Deep Hunger Meet offers a step-by-step tour of the discernment process in this diocese. Clergy discernment is but one process explored. Discernment by parishes, for youth and adult missionaries, lay leaders, educators and for those working in prisons are all important to personal growth and that of our Church.
The Rev. Anjel Scarborough, deacon at Gathered by Christ Church, Buckeystown, talked to the Frederick News-Post about discerning her call to the priesthood in In God’s Time.
The Commission on Ministry guides aspirants and postulants through the ordination process. This handy flow chart, Typical Formation Process, illustrates the steps to becoming either a deacon or a priest (Where Deep Gladness and Hunger Meet, MCN, p. 5).
In Journeys of Faith (MCN, pp. 5-9), five individuals tell their stories of clergy discernment. This series of interviews shows that no two paths are alike, and neither are the destinations.
There are many Anglican convents and monasteries. For a greater understanding of a specific religious community, including the locally-based All Saints Sisters of the Poor, read Glory of God, with links to various Web sites (Glory of God, MCN, p. 10).
Discover resources and recommended reading material that will take you deeper into the world of the Spiritual Director in A Closer Look at Spiritual Direction (When God Nudges, MCN, p. 12).
Pictures from Kenya (A Journey to Kenya, MCN, p. 20) tells the story of two women’s trip to Wamunyu, Kenya, where parishioners of St. John’s Church, Ellicott City, and the children of the Parish Day School have forged partnerships and friendships with Mbaikini Primary School students and administrators.
In God's Time
By Alison Walker-Baird, News-Post staff
awalker@fredericknewspost.com
Reprinted with permission of The Frederick News-Post and Randall
Family, LLC as published on Sept. 24, 2007.
The Rev. Anjel Scarborough believes God's work takes time, but is worth the wait. In February, Scarborough, deacon of Gathered by Christ Episcopal Church in Buckeystown, will be ordained an Episcopal priest. She has been preparing for the ceremony and this honor much of her life.
"Trust in the slow work of God," she said. "If you're impatient, you don't see the big picture. God's work is slow, gentle."
Sitting in a Frederick coffee shop recently, Scarborough — wearing her clerical collar — said 30 years have passed since God first gave her an inkling of her call to the Episcopal priesthood, a vocation once unheard of for women.
Scarborough, 43, of Myersville, will soon be among the roughly 15 percent of Episcopal priests who are female. She remembers being politely told in the 1970s that as a girl she could not serve at the altar as an acolyte.
On a Sunday morning in 1976, the year the church finalized its decision to allow women to serve as priests, Scarborough, then 13, was seated in church for a sacramental service. A little voice inside her said, "I can do this."
Scarborough quickly dismissed the notion. It wasn't until she attended California State University at Long Beach that she spent time with a female Episcopal priest, a chaplain at the University of California at Irvine.
After graduating from Cal State in 1987 with a degree in business, Scarborough moved to Frederick with her husband, Stuart, and began attending All Saints Episcopal Church on West Church Street.
The couple was busy raising their daughters, Claire, now 12, and Erin, 8. Anjel founded an Internet technology consulting firm in 1995.
In 2000, Anjel and Stuart had just wrapped up a challenging session of youth ministry at All Saints when Stuart turned to his wife and said, "You're going to make a great priest some day."
Anjel was stunned.
"I realized God was persistent — now he was getting serious with me," she said. She began her studies in fall 2004 at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg. She graduated in May.
She was ordained an Episcopal deacon in June. Her ordination to the priesthood will be celebrated this winter at St. John's Episcopal Church in Hagerstown.
"I've had people say straight to my face, 'I don't think women should be priests,'" she said. "But I'm not here to change anyone's mind. I'm here to do what God has called on me to do."
Journeys of Faith
In this article you will meet five people, all in various stages of discerning their call. These personal Journeys of Faith reveal the private, sometimes difficult, path to the priesthood.
The Rev. Barbara Sears
In 1989, I was 43 years old and a middle school math teacher in Baltimore County. I was considering early retirement in a couple of years, and my husband Bill asked me what I would do after I retired. It was a fair question, and so I started praying about what direction God might want me to go. Read more...
The Rev. Dr. Carol Pinkham Oak
My call came clearly when I was 25 and working after college. Initially the spiritual tugging at my sleeve to enter more deeply into prayer and discernment was gentle yet persistent. I began my own discernment to learn what God wanted me to do and was surprised to find a call to ordained ministry. Read more...
The Rev. M. Dion Thompson
I was 43 when I received "the call." Actually, it was a call to go back to church. I knew nothing about the Episcopal Church, but as god would have it; this is the church I was called to. At the time I was a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. The beginning of my journey was a mystery to me. Read more...
Kristofer Lindh-Payne
I was 20 and a student in college at the time. I had an epiphany of sorts on a hiking trip in the Appalachian Mountains. When I returned home from the trip, I continued to discern this call with a spiritual director who is an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Washington. I had a number of other “burning bush” type experiences through out the discernment process, but most of the journey has been about discerning God’s call in the subtleties. Read more...
The Rev. Dr. Paul D. Tunkle
At age 20 I began in earnest a spiritual search. I moved from the Bronx to Ward, Colo. (elevation 9,960 ft). In this small mining town in the Rockies, I experienced the magnificence of nature that humbled me and sent me searching for answers to questions I had never known. Raised by socialist atheist parents, I was deeply skeptical of religion. Read more...
Glory of God
Learn more about religious orders
To learn more about these communities and their ministries, check the Episcopal Church Web site, episcopalchurch.org, under “religious order.” CAROA (Conference of Anglican Religious Orders in the Americas) can be found on the Web at orders.anglican.org/caroa.
Locally, the Society of All Saints' Sisters of the Poor is a traditional Anglo-Catholic convent located in Catonsville, 10 miles from the center of Baltimore, on 88 rolling acres. This group of women choose a monastic lifestyle, profess a vow of poverty, and seek simplicity.
Nihil Habentes, Omnia Possidentes (As Having Nothing, Yet Possessing All Things) is the motto of the All Saints Sisters of the Poor. In 1872 three Sisters sailed from England in response to a request from Baltimore's Mount Calvary Church to come and assist the parish in its work with the poor of the city. Soon other Sisters arrived and American women also began to join the Order. In 1917 the community moved to its current location. The property had been a home for children, and the land was given to the Sisters who continued to work with children. By 1991 the community consisted of 21 Sisters, 2 Novices, and a Benedictine Monk.
All Saints' Convent supports itself with gifts and through its Scriptorium Card Shop. Call for a catalogue: 410/747-4104.
In nearby Rising Sun is the Episcopal Carmel of Saint Teresa. This contemplative community for Episcopal Women can be found on the Internet at ecst.ang-md.org. According to the community’s wish list, the monastery is in need of office supplies and equipment as well as furnishings and, of course, prayers.
When God Nudges
A Closer Look at Spiritual Direction
Classic books:
Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction by Margaret Guenther
Spiritual Director, Spiritual Companion: Guide to Tending the Soul by Tilden Edwards
Group Spiritual Direction: Community for Discernment by Rose Mary Dougherty, S.S.N.D.
Selected resources for selecting a director and discerning the call to be a director:
- Spiritual Directors International
www.sdiworld.org - Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Bethesda, MD.
www.shalem.org - Kairos School of Spiritual Formation
www.on-the-journey.org
Pictures from Kenya
By the Rev. Rosemary Beales
I can't say enough good things about the journey to Kenya that Sharon Runge, development officer for the St. John’s Church, Ellicott City, Parish Day School, and I took in September. JOY was the overwhelming impression, despite some very real deprivation and hardship. These six photos tell a bit of the story.
Many Faces
Runge, an active St. John’s parishioner, is surrounded by the children of Mbaikini Primary School, which is partnered with St. John's parish and school via an organization called Kenya Connect, based in Silver Spring. Aren't these children beautiful? The school is in the village of Wamunyu (within the Diocese of Machakos, though it is not a church-sponsored school). Our children exchange pen pal letters, and St. John's will be providing financial help as well.
Recess
Here I am with some of the children on their playing field. A child shot this picture! After classes, the children spend an hour in games - sometimes with homemade balls constructed from plastic bags tied together. In this case they had a handball to use. One of Kenya Connect's projects is to provide athletic equipment for schools and clusters of schools - this is something American children can relate to as they raise funds for their counterparts in Africa.
Personal Connection
Runge meets the pen pal of her daughter Emma, a fourth-grader at St. John's Parish Day School. The possibilities for personal relationship are why we chose to partner with Kenya Connect, rather than simply give money to someplace far away in support of the Millennium Development Goals. In addition to our children corresponding, we hope that teachers and others in our community will communicate with the teachers and parents of Mbaikini Primary School.
Dressed for Success
Twenty-one children received new uniforms via the $1,049 our schoolchildren raised. Most of that funding went to provide materials for a fence around the school compound, which the parents constructed. We take for granted here that cattle and goats will not wander, or be driven by herders, through our school grounds. The fence is important to the security of the children's education, and also the gardens they cultivate, as well as for protection of their water tanks. The children who received uniforms, which are required to attend school, are all orphans. In the future uniforms will go to children designated in greatest need by their headmasters. Uniforms at Mbaikini School consist of a yellow blouse, blue jumper or shorts, and maroon sweater. For some children, these are their only clothes.
Gracious Host
Runge and I meet with Bishop Joseph Mutie Kanuku, bishop of the Diocese of Machakos. He presented us with Mother's Union bags, which we're holding. Our meeting was very warm, and focused on our common mission to care for God's people in body and soul, rather than on the divisions in our communion. We were greeted with great hospitality by Bishop Kanuku, as we were everywhere we went in Kenya. The parents of the school children came out to greet and provide a feast wherever we went. Always before we ate, someone would pray from the heart. And always, they would provide a bowl and pitcher of warm water (obtained with difficulty and warmed over a wood fire), and pour it over our hands before we ate. This gesture of hospitality, generosity and grace touched our hearts deeply, echoing the waters of baptism and the washing of the disciples' feet -- both reminders of Jesus' call to serve one another, wherever we may be.
Clean Water
This water tank was provided by Solley Elementary School in Glen Burnie, for the children of a neighboring school to Mbaikini. This tank is the kind we will be providing for Mbaikini. These 10,000 liter tanks are the most effective way to gather water in this semi-arid country. Tanks are constructed near roofs to capture rainwater runoff. A 10,000-gallon tank will last the school for 5-6 months, so two tanks provide a year's worth of water, God willing and the rain providing.
The Rev. Rosemary Beales is associate rector of St. John's Church, Ellicott City. 410-461-7793 x120 or rbeales@stjohnsec.org
Published quarterly, the Maryland Church News is a resource for Episcopalians throughout the diocese with messages from the bishops on current events and mission-specific issues, diocesan and parish news, features, information and events. It is a vital tool that mirrors where we are as a church and how we witness to our community, and provides an in-depth analysis of our mission.