Day 6: Reno to Fallon

Today was a busy day with many stops. We bid goodbye to Reno and made the short journey to Sparks and St. Paul's Episcopal Church, a dynamic congregation with a strong commitment to youth ministry and social outreach. We were greeted with a warm welcome and hearty breakfast, and the candidates and their spouses had an opportunity to tour the facility, complete with beautiful desert garden, bubbling fountain, and lych-gate. We spend about 2 hours at St. Paul's, and the candidates chatted with parishioners and spent some time answering questions. Since the questions and answers in the open forum have already been covered in earlier postings I'll not cover them again except to say that the candidates' answers were, as usual, clear and informative.

After our visit was over we waved goodbye to the people of St. Paul's and headed east towards Wadsworth and the congregation of St. Michael and All Angels. By the time our bus rolled into Wadsworth the scenery had substantially changed to deep hues of brown, and the scent of sage was heavy in the air. Thick clouds brooded over the hills, casting shadows that hinted at rain.

Wadsworth is located on the Paiute reservation, so naturally this church is deeply involved with Native American ministries. As we made our way down the highway our visitors learned about Pyramid Lake and its importance as a sacred place to the Paiute people. The Reverend Reporter has visited the lake and never ceases to be awed by its eerie beauty and serenity. It is a special place indeed.

Upon arriving at St. Michael's we were greeted by Eric Lawrence, who serves the congregation as its priest, his wife Robyn, and members of both St. Michael's and St. Mary the Virgin in nearby Nixon. Several women in the congregation had prepared a delicious lunch of fry bread with an abundance of toppings, and while we ate the candidates listened to the parish's concern for increased outreach to youth and to Native American ministries. The Reverend Reporter ate with one hand and took notes with the other, and although my notes are slightly stained with salsa I was able to read well enough to report the candidates' conversation about Native American ministries:

All candidates agreed that ministries to and with Native American people were absolutely key to the mission of the diocese and the Church at large. They also agreed that they needed to learn more about the specific issues facing Native American Episcopalians and to explore creative ways to expand this work. Jeff Paul described some of his knowledge of Native issues through his work with the Commission on Ministry and said that he thought a return to "circuit riding clergy" whose mission was to provide ministry development in small rural congregations would be of great benefit to parishes such as St. Michael's. Eric Funston strongly advocated a ministry of presence by the bishop, who would spend time among Native congregations in order to learn and share. Dan Edwards referred to his time as director of a Native American law unit in Idaho and southern Colorado and talked about the importance of Native spirituality to his own devotional life. Cathy Deats described her exposure to Native American concerns and spirituality through her work with Carole Gallagher, the first Native woman bishop in the Episcopal Church who served as an assisting bishop in the diocese of Newark. Both Susan Burns and Al Keeney emphasized their commitment to Native American ministries and their willingness to learn through a "ministry of presence."

When the candidates' finished answering questions we all heard a heartfelt plea from Ed Ely of St. Mary the Virgin parish in Nixon. Both St. Michael's and St. Mary's are small churches served by nonstipendiary supply priests, and Ed described how the congregations are shrinking due to the lack of regular, consistent, clergy presence. His voice began to break as he described once-vibrant churches filled with the laughter of children and the many services offered to the surrounding community. Without a minister, Ed asserted, these ministries can no longer take place, resulting in the disappearance of children and youth along with dwindling numbers. "We are becoming caretakers of a museum," Ed told us. "Please remember: the body is here, but we need a head in order to survive."

The ride to Nixon was a quiet one as all of us reflected on Ed's words. After a short drive we were at St. Mary the Virgin, a little church with one of the most beautiful sanctuary spaces The Reverend Reporter has ever encountered. The altar and baptismal font are both made from the tufa rock that builds along the shores of Pyramid Lake, and a traditional Paiute pipe is hung prominently from the sanctuary wall. Fresh flowers, polished candlesticks, and fading stained glass windows combined to give the effect of a small band determined to survive and worship in the beauty of holiness. Before we left Ed stood in front of the altar and chanted the Lord's Prayer in Winnebago, and we all left in quiet admiration of this worshiping community that is still hanging on and needs the help of a strong and dedicated bishop. For a moment The Reverend Reporter wanted to give up all she had to practice ministry in this place, and I suspect I was not alone. As we left Native country we stopped briefly on the shores of Pyramid Lake to pay our respects, and then it was on to Fallon.

In the late afternoon we arrived in Fallon, one of the larger towns in eastern Nevada with a strong ranching and farming base along with the presence of a nearby naval air station complete with a "top gun" school. Upon arriving at Holy Trinity parish we were greeted by a large group of clergy and lay parishioners and treated to a dinner of comfort food: roast chicken, mac 'n cheese, fresh veggies, and rolls. Homemade pumpkin and apple pies tempted those of us with room for dessert, and after dinner was over we all settled in for an evening of conversation. The Reverend Reporter realized that such a dinner was a perscription for drowsiness, and hastened to grab a cup of coffee in order to prevent snoozing.

The evening began on a humorous note when the candidates were asked to name their favorite movie or TV show and to explain why. Al Keeney began on a daring note by naming Monty Python's Life of Brian as his favorite because it poked fun at how pretentious religion can be. Susan Burns loves Groundhog Day not only because it's funny, it's also very deep. She sees the movie as a story about resurrection, and about getting second chances.

Jeff Paul likes the movie Stranger then Fiction because it reminds him of the story of Jesus: if we were faced with knowing all about our death, what would we do? Eric Funston loves My Fair Lady, describing the plot as the story of transformation of Henry Higgins from a person without much humanity to one of compassion and caring.

Dan Edwards' favorite movie is The Horse Whisperer. The main character reminds him of Jesus, who shows up with confidence and assurance to heal our wounds and to bring us back to ourselves. Cathy Deats says that The Wizard of Oz reminds her of total ministry, because the characters look to the wizard for help and then discovered that they possessed within themselves the things they needed all along.

When question time became more serious the two main questions that were asked concerned the candidates' commitment to total ministry and the issue of same-sex blessings. All the candidates re-affirmed their commitment to total ministry and expressed a desire to return it to its roots in the theology of Wes Frensdorff, which means that in places where total ministry isn't functioning well it must be studied and re-envisioned. Since this question has been asked at nearly every stop I won't repeat all the answers here. You can find the candidates' ideas about total ministry on earlier postings in this space.

It was clear to The Reverend Reporter that the issue of same-sex blessings (SSB's) was a topic of major concern to this congregation because the Moderator noted the many questions about SSB's that had been submitted. Each candidate answered this question in the same way they did in earlier stops, although for the sake of accuracy I want to parse Dan Edwards' answer a little bit and note that his position is that while we are not authorized by General Convention to perform a blessing on same-sex relationships in the name of the Church, he believes that it is permissible to allow people to come together to ask God to bless a relationship. It is a fine yet important distinction, and The Reverend Reporter regrets not reporting Dan's answer accurately in previous postings. Every candidate assured those present that they would love, care for, and honor those people and congregations that disagree with their position on this subject and would not force any member of the clergy or any congregation to perform same-sex blessings. They also emphasized the need for mutual respect and continuing dialogue as brothers and sister in Christ.

Now it time for us to move deeper into the frontier. Please pray for us as we continue our journey.

Blessings,
RR+