Why "The Gander"?

Why "The Gander"?

Most people are familiar with the mythology of St. Martin's cloak. Less familiar may be the myth of St. Martin's goose. It is told that Martin the priest was wanted as bishop. He didn't want the job, and so hid (here the accounts are fuzzy) in a goose pen, barn, or bush and was revealed by the honking of the goose. A gander is a male goose - much like a drake is a male duck. To "take a gander" means to take a peek, a look. We hope to use this space to take a deeper look at things happening at St. Martin's, and share more thoughts and information with you.
Showing posts with label Philadelphia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philadelphia. Show all posts

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Restore SNAP

"Feed the hungry" is one of the clearest calls to people of faith in scripture. It is also the basis of one of St. Martin's three major community engagement priorities. SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) plays a vital role in feeding America's children.

Below is an article we have shared on social media that outlines new proposals that could seriously affect how families qualify for food assistance, and how children specifically are affected in regards to free and reduced school breakfast and lunch costs. 

We are lucky here in the Philadelphia Public School District that ALL students currently receive free breakfast & lunch- however, this proposal could also affect how schools qualify based on the needs of their population.

The USDA has reopened the public comment period for this proposal until NOVEMBER 1st, 2019 (that's next Friday). We have a short time to make our concerns known. Please read through this article & consider your position. If you feel moved to do so, please leave a comment with the USDA.


Read the PBS news article on this subject:


Visit the USDA comment page to leave your comment electronically.


Below is a form letter that you can use or adjust as you see fit, to send along to the USDA either on the comment page above, or by mail, before the end of their comment period on November 1, 2019. We have copies of this letter at St. Martin's in the Parish House lobby that you can sign and send on Sunday morning as well.


Mr. Stephen L. Censky
Deputy Secretary USDA
Office of Policy Support
Food and Nutrition Service USDA
3101 Park Center Dr.
Alexandria, VA 22302

Dear Mr. Censky,

As a person of faith, I am writing to oppose the proposed rule change to SNAP that will take benefits away from hundreds of thousands of citizens and cause suffering to children in under-resourced schools. The proposed rule (ID: FNS-2018-0037-16542) will gut broad-based categorical eligibility, take away free school lunches from hundreds of thousands of children, and create a benefit cliff for families already struggling with poverty-level incomes.  

I am asking for the USDA to retain the current categorical eligibility standards for broad-based eligibility in the SNAP program. SNAP is the most effective program we have for combating hunger and supplementing income for marginal households while supporting neighborhood groceries and American agriculture.  

Food security is a basic human right and our faith traditions teach that care for the hungry is a primary obligation for any just society. Please reject this rule change for the good of our most vulnerable citizens and take a stand for the moral decency of our republic.


Sincerely,

(Name) 

(Address)

Thursday, August 8, 2019

Liberation Walking Alongside Our Neighbors


Editor's Note: The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel is away this month on his vacation. While he is away our Associate Rector, the Rev. Anne Thatcher, will be writing for the Rector's Note.

“Is it about the liberation of the receiver or the redemption of the giver?” Robert Egger

Many of you have heard the announcements about our One Book, One St. Martin’s selection, Toxic Charity by Robert D. Lupton. We have copies available in the foyer of the Parish House and we had a wonderful turnout for our first discussion in late June. We have another conversation scheduled for Wednesday, August 14th after SUPPER. All are invited: those who attended the last one, those who have not come to one yet, those who have read the book (part or all), and those who are curious to learn more.

The Monday after Bluegrass Mass, both Jarrett and I received an email from a Sunday visitor who heard my announcement about Toxic Charity. He said he was curious so he went home, ordered an e-copy, and read it right away. He shared that he found the book to be transformational in his understanding of ministry, and that as a member of the Diocesan Council (Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania leadership), he was recommending that the entire council read the book. What a ringing endorsement! I was delighted that he found the book as transformative as I did. 

I discovered this book a few years ago in Washington D.C. when I attended a Faith in Action series with the Consortium for Endowed Episcopal Parishes (CEEP). Our group visited D.C. Central Kitchen (founded by Robert Egger) where I saw a community engagement ministry that truly walks alongside to empower and liberate our neighbors in the communities in which we are situated. They do extraordinary ministry as a nonprofit that hires those who are homeless or released from prison, and trains them in job skills, character building, and community. I encourage you to visit their website and learn more. When I asked about resources to guide me in this different approach to ministry, Toxic Charity was recommended.

Both the trip and the book moved me to deeply reflect on how we approach ministry when we are working with different communities and individuals. Robert Egger asks, “Is it about the redemption of the giver or the liberation of the receiver?” Apparently, it was Robert’s participation on a midnight sandwich run to the homeless with a church in Washington D.C. which was the catalyst for his question to emerge. He noticed that the regular parishioners who participated in this ministry knew the names of the homeless to whom they were giving sandwiches. When he mentioned this observation to one of the volunteers, they said, “Why yes we do,” very proudly. They were proud of the relationship that they had built with the homeless community through this food ministry. But was giving out free sandwiches a liberating act to the homeless? This reflection let Robert (an experienced restaurateur) to found D.C. Central Kitchen as a place to liberate the receiver through employment, job skills training, and a caring community.

This summer Refugee Resettlement Ministry (RRM) is in the process of reflecting on our call to serve immigrants and refugees. What have we learned? Where is God calling us next? And how do we take a new approach to our ministry based on Robert Egger’s question and the learning examples from Toxic Charity? RRM has invited St. Martin’s to read this book and reflect with us on how these lessons apply to our daily lives: whether in church ministry, nonprofit involvement, or volunteer opportunities. Is this all about my resume, my desire to “feel good”, or about “doing good”? Are our acts of ministry purely for our own self-aggrandizement? Or are they truly selfless, seeking to empower and liberate our neighbors? Shining a light on our own intentions illuminates motivations that we don’t always want to admit are there within ourselves. But this illumination is what gives us the gift of self-awareness. Through this journey we can discover how to step out of ourselves and into the shoes of another. Jesus said to God, “Not my will but your will be done”. It is very difficult to remove our own agendas and desires for others and not only let, but actually askGod to step in and lead the way. In handing over the reins, we can discover discomfort at letting go but also relief in following a God who will surprise us and delight us while transforming us. We will learn how to walk alongside our neighbors and liberate them so that we may all be free from injustice and oppression.

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)

Blessings,
The Rev. Anne Thatcher
Associate Rector 

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Get on the Bus!


For eight years we have worked on full, fair funding for the public schools of Pennsylvania. We won a big victory two years ago when we convinced Harrisburg to use the full, fair funding formula on all new money allocated for public schools in the Commonwealth. 6% of state funding is now distributed justly. Our next goal is 100%, a change that will bring $1,800 per student to Philadelphia public schools, not to mention Reading, Allentown, Harrisburg, etc. 

On June 12 a bus will depart from St. Martin’s to the State Capitol, full of citizens concerned about public school excellence. Our goal is that 25 members of St. Martin’s will be on the bus reflecting our deep, long-term commitment. Please talk to Deacon Carol Duncan or me for more information and sign up on POWER's website.

St. Martin’s has a lot at stake in this funding struggle. More families will stay in Philadelphia when their children hit school age when the schools reach their potential. More families who stay in Philadelphia will have more free time and resources for other things without the demands of the private schools. Our members will invest more in the neighborhood as property values increase in proportion to the desirability of our schools. 

The church is committed to this struggle not only because we believe in equity, equal opportunity, and the inherent dignity of every human being, but also because we have a real self-interested stake in the outcome. I hope you will join me and at least 24 other church members on the bus to Harrisburg. There, we will join thousands of other citizens exercising our duty and right to shape our Commonwealth into a just society. 

The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Rector
Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Episcopal


Thursday, March 14, 2019

Have I Told You About My Diet?

The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Erik Meyer, our music director, told me a great joke: An atheist, a vegan, and a cross-fitter walk into a bar. How do I know? Because they told everyone within two minutes of entering the place.

The joke was told because the staff and I were talking about the zeal with which people share what diet they are on. There are some things people love to share; diets, vacation locations, good books, good movies, and the list goes on.

“Imagine if folks shared about Jesus as much as they shared about their diet?” I wondered out loud eliciting warm laughter around the staff lunch table.

Clearly we are more comfortable on the topic of food than discussing our relationship with “the true bread that come down from heaven.” Why is that? Diets are scientific, you might say. Diets make me feel good, you might say. Diets address things we all share in common, you might say.

The faddish quality of diets makes me doubt the first objection. The second objection makes me wonder if our relationship with God also makes us feel good? For the third, if our faith does not address things we share in common, then what good is it?

So what is it? I would propose that elite cultural despisers (Schleiermacher's term, not mine) have taught us to be ashamed to admit we are people of faith. Every time I study the Bible I hear a voice in my head saying, “Only stupid people read the Bible!” Lord deliver us from “sitting in the seats of the scornful (Psalm 1),” I pray. In addition, some of the loudest voices of Christianity today are repellant and I completely understand people wanting to avoid an association with that version of the faith. Finally, it is hard to overestimate the damage the sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Church and now the Southern Baptist Convention rightfully does to the reputation of the church. If I risk opening my mouth about God’s love, will I be forced to give a long defense for everything Christianity has done wrong?

The onus is on us to find a reasonable account of the faith that is in us. The time is ripe for us to learn this skill. In fact, it is crucial. Our approach to the faith needs to be represented because it brings liberation to the oppressed, good news to the poor, release to the captive, and loving embrace to the outcast. When we avoid representing a sober and reasonable faith in the world we leave the most vulnerable in the hands of the most vicious.

How do we start? We practice. Try it out with someone you trust and love. Explore the words that best describe your experience of God even if it means bumbling and stumbling and babbling for a bit. Identify what you might need to learn to better articulate what you believe. Talk to the clergy if you feel like you have this gift or an opportunity to try it. We will help and we are learning too!




The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
Rector

What's your experience of God? What story would you share with others? Tell us in the comments below!

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Associate Rector’s Note: Where in the world is the Rev. Anne on Second Sundays?

The Rev. Anne Thatcher
Dear St. Martin’s,

You may or may not know that, prior to answering a call to St. Martin’s, I served a Spanish- and English-speaking congregation in Santa Ana, California. The growth of worship services in Spanish in the Episcopal Church continues across the nation and our diocese is no exception. Unfortunately, the number of clergy who are fluent enough to preach and celebrate the Eucharist in Spanish is limited. Due to this clergy shortage, churches with a Eucharist in Spanish within our diocese are often challenged with finding leadership for Sunday worship. 

Free Church of St. John in Kensington is one such congregation. In November of 2018, their vicar, the Rev. David Franceschi-Faccio, returned to Puerto Rico. For the interim, the Diocese of Pennsylvania Office of Transition Ministry has asked me to serve on the second Sunday of each month as the celebrant and preacher for their 11:15 a.m. Sunday Eucharist in Spanish. Free Church is a congregation comprised of both English- and Spanish-speaking members, with deep roots in the local Mexican and Puerto Rican community. This is a service full of joyous music with guitar accompaniment.

I will still be here until mid-morning on second Sundays to connect with you all, and then I will drive down to Free Church. I encourage you to consider visiting and worshipping with us on a second Sunday in the coming months. Their address is 3076 Emerald St., Philadelphia, 19134. Experiencing the Eucharist in another language is a way to begin to understand how worship both transcends and distinctly represents different cultures. You would be welcome to carpool with me to the church and back. I am also available to talk with you in more detail about this church and their engagement in the local community of Kensington.

In the coming months, I will share updates about the Free Church community.


Blessings for 2019,

The Rev. Anne Thatcher
Associate Rector

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Shabbat Shalom!

Rev. Jarrett Kerbel
The community of faith that is St. Martin’s causes me to feel heart-bursting pride on a regular basis. That feeling welled up again on Friday evening last week when at least 30 of our members joined Shabbat services at Germantown Jewish Center.

We began by standing along the sidewalk on Ellet Street to express our solidarity and care for our Jewish neighbors. We were warmly welcomed by the congregation as they arrived. The grief caused by the atrocity in Pittsburgh was palpable and worn openly on the faces of our neighbors. Our presence was a response to that pain. Our ministry was to reassure, comfort, and accompany a vulnerable community in fear for their safety and in worry for their future.

At 6 p.m. we filed in to join Shabbat worship lead by Rabbi Adam Zeff. Lovely, heartfelt singing and prayer, even dancing, lit the synagogue up with a radiant spirit! Joy, love, and peace were celebrated as God's wish for us and in resistance to the forces of violence, hate, and misery that threaten our neighbors.

Shabbat Shalom! The peace of the sabbath was richly celebrated as God's restoring and life-giving gift. My spirit was refreshed by such faithful and energized invocation of God's promises.
St. Martin's parishioners at GJC.

As in so many cases, I left feeling entirely blessed by the experience. I had gone to be a help, and I left as the one who was helped. Thanks be to God!

Reflecting on that evening, so much of our ministry was on display. Deep relationships empower us to do bold ministry with our neighbors. Intentionally building those relationships in our neighborhood opens the way for healing and reconciliation, the ministry Christ gives us. Let’s not forget the legacy of antisemitism in Chestnut Hill where Jews were systematically excluded from its earliest days. Or, the long and sordid history of antisemitism in the Episcopal Church and white-anglo-saxon-protestant culture in general. By moving across the divides caused by our history of prejudice, we put a stitch in the ripped fabric of our community and joined God in God's work of mending the world.

Blessings,
The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel, rector



Find your fellow parishioners’ reflections on Friday’s shabbat service on this Facebook post - or add your own!




Save the Date for this upcoming series with our neighbors at Germantown Jewish Centre

God's Country? A Jewish-Christian Text Study on "the land" in Scripture
Sundays in February: 3, 10, 17, 24 from 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Germantown Jewish Centre, 400 West Ellet Street, Philadelphia, PA 19119

Rabbi Adam Zeff of Germantown Jewish Centre and the Rev. Jarrett Kerbel of the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields invite members of our faith communities to gather around sacred texts to explore the meaning of the land of Israel in our respective traditions. While in that land conflict rages, lines are drawn, and sides are taken, Rabbi Zeff and Rev. Kerbel intend to create a space of understanding, deep listening and dialogue where peaceful practices of conversation lay the foundation for peaceful outcomes not yet imagined. Rabbi Zeff and Rev. Kerbel have studied scripture together for five years and share a love for textual interpretation and an abiding concern for allowing concerns to be articulated in their full complexity with disagreements noted and respected. Texts will come from the Hebrew Bible, the Greek Testament and the Talmud. We will meet four times, every Sunday in February starting the 3rd from 1-2 p.m.
Registration coming soon!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Celebrating Success, Deepening Faith

One phrase stood out for me at POWER’s celebration of the passage of Issue 1. Bishop Royster, reflecting on what we had accomplished, said “Every phone number dialed, every door knocked was a prayer for the well-being of the city.” That helped me make faith-sense of the work we have done. It felt like one wrong number after another, but it resulted in making a real change in the city.


Councilman Goode spoke at the celebration about the campaign as an expression of his faith life. His family had been sharecroppers, he told us, and since that beginning he has wanted to lift all people out of grinding poverty. In 2000, he was (and still is) the youngest council-at-large representative on city council. He has worked toward raising the minimum wage from his first months in office. The arrest of a cousin on a drug charge deepened his resolve to improve living conditions. He told us when police informed him in 2005 they were arresting his cousin, he shut himself away for two weeks until he had framed a resolution about raising the minimum wage for city workers. He returned to council and introduced the bill without consulting any other council members. When the resolution passed unanimously he interpreted it as a sign he was doing God’s will. He first aligned with Acorn to support the effort, but they fell away. He has not felt so sustained and strengthened until POWER backed his work. It has been a faith journey for him, he said, as though he were just realizing it.

POWER has become a significant part of my faith journey also. Discovering and building relationships with people from many denominations and faiths has deepened and inspired my experience of worship. I have learned to address God, at least in spoken prayer, as Holy One or Creator God. God is One and is known to all participants in POWER. Also POWER worship tends to be joyous and responsive more than formal and reserved. Plus it is strongly incarnational. We did an exercise to discover our own strength by being invited by Bishop Royster – who is a very substantial man – to join together to physically move him from his chosen position. It took probably 15 of us to move him, showing the difficulty but also the possibility to make change. Coming to know people across so many boundaries enriches my life and my faith. POWER’s mode of operation is to help all its participants strengthen their leadership abilities. POWER staff and colleagues support and encourage us to take the next step, dare the next challenge. We learn community organizing as relationship building. Jarrett points out that God, by God’s own triune nature, is relational. We are imitators of God in POWER, although I’ve never heard anyone express it that way.

I hope all who joined in the campaign to pass Issue 1 had something of this experience. The next step is to achieve a full, fair funding formula for all public schools in the state. We will be partnering with other organizations, researching what other states have done, learning about how schools function now and how they can improve. I invite anyone interested in children and education to join us after SUPPER at St. Martin's on June 25 to talk about your POWER experience in the Voter Engagement Project and to hear what is happening next.

- The Rev. Carol Duncan

Read about the May 20, 2014 Ballot Question #1

Learn more about POWER's Education Funding plan

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Naming our Values: Discussion Part 2

Image from http://www.360dpi.net/what-are-your-core-beliefs/

For the next few weeks, we will use this blog as an extension of our Values Clarification work being done in Parish Forum at 10 a.m. and over lunch after our 11:15 a.m. service. You are welcome to come to the blog and see where the work is taking us each week. This will also serve as a way for people who were unable to attend one session to "catch up" and feel welcome at subsequent sessions. Last week's discussion was on Aspirational Values. This week we moved on to Accidental Values, and we'll finish out on the 23rd with Core Values.

ACCIDENTAL VALUES

From the Two Sunday Forum Sessions on March 16

Below you will find summaries of the “Accidental Values” discussion from the weekend of March 16.  Below is a condensation of the responses from the general gatherings of members based on vote totals.  This is followed by the Pastor's Observations and then raw results from the Forum gatherings arranged according to the tables where people sat.  We are posting these results to stimulate discussion and reflection between our gatherings so we enter each forum prepared for a deep and enriching discussion. 

1.      Elite Social Status/Privilege (appearance thereof)          45
a.     Assumption that all are acquainted and travel in similar social circles
b.     Appearance of prosperity and self-assurance
c.     Initial outward perception of elitist community
d.     Inaccurate perception of privilege not caught up with reality
e.     Most kids in Private Education
f.      We assume certain behaviors – Overemphasis on the “Chestnut Hill Way”
2.     Diversity of Church Schedule to the point of lack of connectivity of members with each other  28
a.     Why is it so hard to recruit greeters and other volunteers
b.     It takes 90 plus volunteers to run St. Martins on a Sunday morning
c.     TYPE A Parish, too busy, spread too thin
3.     Assumption  of Left Liberal Values and Politics                   21
a.     Room for other points of view
b.     How do we involve more voices in determining our social justice activities?
4.     Expectations of Women/Traditional assignment of tasks and work load to women         17
5.     Salvation through GOOD TASTE!                  15
6.     Smarter is better/Intellectual approach    7
7.     A tension between tradition and innovation in liturgy and language
a.     Some think innovation is the norm
b.     Others think tradition is the norm
c.     Interesting tension!  How do we study that?


Pastoral Observation:  The accidental values we project seem to cause people to struggle with the following questions:
1.     Do I belong here?
2.     Am I accepted here?

3.     What do I need to do to fit in here?

Raw Data

“Type A” Parish [10]
·       Poorly attended?
·       Too busy—too much/spread too thin
o   Especially social justice events—too many?
·       Conditional Acceptance [1]
·       Where is music in values? [2]
o   Less & less...especially bell ringers

00000

Accidental
·       Initial outward perception of elitist community [7]
·      
Type A
 
Individuals seem unapproachable—because of some priorities [1]
·       Originally only community based [2]
o   Hard to star introductions
§  (Shyness) Not family
·       Thick schedule (?) getting thinner [2]
o   Lack of introductions
o   Embarrassed
·       Wounded community [3]
o   Ok to be needy
o   All have wounds
·
·       God centered focus.
·       Social justice [5]
·       Salvation by good taste.
 
Language of belief is [5]
o   Conservative
o   Intellectual 
00000

·       Wealth [2]—whiteness
o   Used to be very much valued or still today?
o   Where do you vacation? [1]
o    What independent school do go to? [1]
·       Assumption that liturgy is very important
·       60’s—growing parish involvement in politics and social action justice
·       Coldness to new people? [1]
o   Slowness to come to know new people
·       Assumption that now everything is better than in past [7]
o   Need to see values in past as well as in present
o   Or that some groups matter more than others
·       Assumption that improving the world matters more than caring for each other (POWER and Stephen Ministry) [4]
o   (Need to balance)
00000

·       TASTE (“Good”) [2]
·       Liberal politics/Hegemony/Assumed [4]
·       Smarter and Better [6]
o   Skepticism is smarter.
o   Doubt is smarter.
·       Social Status: Prestige/Privilege [7]
o   or “Everyone goes to Maine”
o   Rarified Inaccurate Perception
§  Not caught up with reality.
·       Most kids in private education [5]
·       Neighboring concern: *arrow*
·       “We think we know each other” [1]—“Everyone who belongs is already here.”
·       WE FEED EACH OTHER—FOOD/FELLOWSHIP
·       Location? Reflected values of neighborhood?
00000

·       “We assume certain behaviors” [9]
·       We don’t always acknowledge why we are really here = God. [4]
·        The summer combined service looks like 11:15
·       The four service schedule—does that serve the congregation best? [3]
·       Designation of roles [6]
o   Old-timers know how it should be done.
o   Let the younger people do the work now.
·       Why is it so hard to get people to be greeters and work at other ministries? [14]
o   Like grounds clean-up

00000

Accidental
1.     Colored Dots
2.     Appearance of prosperity and self-assurance [8]
3.     Assumption that we are all acquainted and travel in similar social circles; we all know the codes [7]
4.     There is a ruling elite of the church—a social elite (e.g. Cricket Club, SCH, etc.) (eroding) [3]
5.     Spiritually, we have already arrived—no need to go further [2]
6.     “Deliberate instancy”—move and chance carefully and deliberately
7.     Focus on food!! And feeding people. [4]
8.     Engaging the mind.
9.     More casual dress—come as you are.
10.  Beauty of worship and performance—“Salvation through good taste.” [13]

00000

Accidental Values
·       Formerly
o   Preppie
o   Elitist
o   Ad Chestnut hill – Changed a lot lately
·       Possible new accidental [6]
o   Political activism [7] –shoving petition at people at Wednesday Supper
§  Do we leave room for people who aren’t comfortable “manning phone banks” or who are here for family, liturgy, social, etc.? [1]
§  Only one definition of social justice? [4]
§  How do we involve more people in church in discussion of what we do in terms of social justice? [3]
·       Highly intellectual approach

00000

Accidental Value
·       Beauty [1]
o   Aesthetics (building, grounds, etc.) + Liturgy + Music
o   Parishioners
·       *Over Emphasis on the “Chestnut Hill Way” [6]
o   Mannerisms
o   Class
o   Expectations
·       Lack of relevance of Sunday school and meeting students where they are.
·       *Expectation of women and their time [16]
·       Diversity of church schedule to the point of lack of connectivity of members with each other [14]
o   Planning
§  Acolytes
§  Bulletins
§  Eucharistic Ministers
§  Clergy

*To Be Changed.
00000

·       LADY BOUNTIFUL  
·       WE VALUE “PROPER BEHAVIOR,” but WHOSE? WHEN? WHERE?
·       VALUE TRADITION at the expense of inclusivity and change.
·       We ASSUME LIBERAL (LEFT) VALUES and politics. [2]
·       THE MUSIC BUDGET IS PARAMOUNT. [6]
·        Lack of concern for general diversity. [4]
·       Work of parish is for women to do. [1]