That God is Love,
Commentary on John 15: 1-8
“Me in thee, and thee in me…”

Homily
Peter Menkin, Obl Cam OSB
Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal)
Mill Valley, CA USA
(North of San Francisco)
Fifth week of Easter
Wednesday Eucharist, May 13, 2009

Acts 15: 1-6
John 15: 1-8
Psalm 122



In the name of God: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

It is in Love, through the Church, Worship, and prayer; it is in Love, through acts of mercy, charity, and deeds for others; it is in Love, through following the poor and chaste Christ through the Church year—where we come to know and live in the way of Christ. This is called the Christian life. What this life entails is narrated through the Bible, in specific The New Testament. On this day we are reminded again that God seeks us in Love.

Our reading from John 15:1-8 says directly:

“I am the true vine, and my father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me…”

My life as an Oblate, received by the Camaldolese monastic order of St. Benedict 15 years ago, has opened to me a life lived as offering to God. Sometimes I think of it as Samson in the Bible who lived under a vow, and think that called by God I’ve responded and may hold a special fervor for Christ and Church, to abide in God and continue the Divine Call that brought me to live in the world as the Oblate does, rather than in a monastery, as does the Monk. This is a life of abiding in Christ, abiding in God, and a radical giving over to a more religious life.

One preached retreat at Immaculate Heart Hermitage in Big Sur, California where Brother Bede spoke of The Rule of Saint Benedict, I realized that this Holy Book was an excellence direction and resource for living life in a full. It is a directed way that is common to the monastic community of which I am a part. Having chosen to center my life around the daily office and worship and prayer, my interest is in living with the Parish as a centerpiece for life. With its many Biblical references and references to the Psalm in The Rule, I am helped in my direction for abiding in a manner consistent with John’s, “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me…”


Living with others in community, as I live the Parish life, and the monastic life in the world, I, like you, follow the poor, chaste Christ through the year.

“Me in thee, thee in me.”



Love binds us.
We are friends in Christ.

That Christ invites us: it is an enormous hospitality of God that is extended anew through Christ. We are invited, and this is Grace--for we are accepted.

Like Dame Julian of Norwich, we learn the Lord’s meaning that is brought to us through divine longing.

Love is his meaning.

Who shows it to us: Love.
What is shown: Love.
Why was it shown: Love.
We learn that Love is our Lord’s meaning.

Christ in the Bible, Christ in the Church Fathers, Christ in the Church guides us. Though we may have different approaches and needs, we are united in Christ. For example, as a contemplative, I seek Union with God. This is an unknowing knowing. One lives with the contradictions, lives with the questions of Christ and those of the Church. This includes those mysteries that we find in the Bible.

The invitation to God is the result of God’s love, not our love of God. Humans cannot be so perfect as to regard God in a manner as He regards humans. Though we bless God “for our creation, preservation, / and all the blessing of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love/ in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ…” and may do this daily, it is God’s grace that gives us these freedoms. This gift of Christ is a result of God’s love for woman and mankind.

A relationship has many dimensions, as any love affair.
Being angry with God is not failing to love God. Asking why did this happen; having doubts, is a way of reaching and moving towards love. These are points of starting that enables us to enter into love. Otherwise the stumbling block becomes our own emotional failure. One must be true to our own feelings and thoughts. Emotional honesty is required. It is not one who is angry who is a failure, but when one is denying dishonest self-awareness in the relationship with God. This honesty, and knowing oneself in Christ is a job itself, and all of us as Christians work at this task. It is part of the vineyard work.

Abiding as resting in Christ, in the spirit of the Church—is balm. It is comfort. As Archbishop Rowan Williams says, “Church is something that happens, a verb before it is a noun.” Church is a vineyard of Christ, and the Church asks, even tells us, that the world is Christ’s vineyard, as our lives are engaged and lived in the vineyard. We labor in God, who is Love.

Love is a verb before it is a noun. Love acts upon us, as we live in the history of God in our lives, and within our nation and community. It is common for us to offer guidance and moral community in Christ, and we do this personally and corporately. Each member helps the other along the way. We express this help and caring each Sunday. One example is: Each Sunday we offer each other “…the peace of the Lord…” This offer is our desire that each of us experience Christ’s peace.

As an Oblate, I enjoyed meeting acceptance and understanding of the requests made of an Oblate in one’s life. This is called Postulancy. Postulancy lasts at the least a year.

The Oblate Introduction says:

Long before the coming of Christ, humanity's quest for the Absolute gave rise (and bears) throughout the centuries … witness to the divine destiny of the human person and to the presence of the Spirit in the hearts of all who seek to know what is true and ultimately real. … [E]very Christian call witnesses to that dimension present interiorly in every other Christian.

For as our reading says, and as we live and learn as Christians we recognize in each other Christ, and our faith in heart, deed, and word. We believe in the seen and unseen:

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” So we learn to “…feed the poor, and homeless,” as we do through our work in providing a meal to them, so we learn to “…worship regularly in Church, as we do on Sundays and other days, so we learn to “…introduce others to Christ, as we do by being a light to the world.

We seek God together as we abide in God in Christ together.

More from the Rule for Camaldoli Oblates:

As sincere seekers of God (RB 58, 7) we approach God as sons and daughters. We center our lives on the encounter with God, which finds expression in forms of prayer handed down in early Christian, patristic and monastic traditions. Ultimately, our prayer seeks to become the very prayer of the Holy Spirit within our hearts.

This statement of the Rule for Oblates is genuine for me. I believe it will resonate with you, for we experience prayer in Church together this day. I find that my own yearnings are fulfilled in my divine search, as I rest in the prayers. This form of abiding in Christ is one of many we may practice or know. It is within the Church that means of offering from generation to generation life in Christ, that we find meaning and direction.

Through the centuries mankind and womankind have experienced the divine search, and the words of John have been revelation, comfort and instruction: “I am the true vine, and my father is the vine grower…Abide in me as I abide in you.”
Let me end with this blessing: The Lord bless us and keep us. Amen. The Lord Make his face to shine upon us and be gracious to us. Amen. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace. Amen.



Audio of the Homily is here:

Interview: Christian formation, No longer your grandmother's Sunday school
June 23, 10:34 AM

By Peter Menkin

Readers will note that this interview with Sharon Ely Pearson is the result of several questions, answers, and responses over a period of separate days. The title for this piece on “Sunday School,” suggested by Sharon, says a great deal about where 2009 brings us in formation of members of The Episcopal Church in the United States, part of the worldwide Anglican communion of 77 million. Her title for the interview is contained in this email response by her:

As far as title (suggested by me), "Sunday School with Sharon" (you reply that it) is rather demeaning to the ministry of Christian formation and I prefer you not use it. A title such as "Christian Formation: No Longer Your Grandmother's Sunday school" if you need to use the term Sunday school (which is not used in the Episcopal Church very often anymore). It is LIFE LONG formation and education into living out one's baptismal promises.

Tell us then, is Christian Formation or what was called Sunday school, for children only?

Christian formation is life long, so it includes all ages. This is occurring across denominational lines, and is not new to Christianity. It is reclaiming the understanding of how Christians were “formed” in the early Church.

Sunday school is no longer seen as a separate component of education just for children. We like to use the term, “Christian formation” to describe the continual lifelong process of deepening one’s understanding of his or her faith.

In the Episcopal Church it involves all aspects of our life together – worship, service to others, mission, pastoral care, evangelism, fellowship, AND education. Education is comprised of learning and reflecting, integrating holistically all of our experiences with God’s Word, connecting faith and daily life.


Where did the term “Sunday school” originate?

The term “Sunday school” originated with Robert Raikes, a devout Anglican layman, (1736-1811) who started a movement of prison reform and education of offenders and poor children. The purpose of the school was to teach poor children (in “Soot Alley”) the rudiments of learning on Sunday, their free day. Of course the Bible was their textbook, and from the movement the idea of Sunday schools spread to the Baptist, Congregational, and Methodist churches throughout England. In 1803 the London Sunday School Union was created. It was also brought to America, and in 1824 the American Sunday School Union was formed in Philadelphia. It was, and is still today, characterized by strong missionary and evangelistic zeal. There continues to be a Unified Lessons Series curriculum, though this is not usually used in Episcopal Churches.



So, what is the official curriculum used for Christian Formation for Episcopalians?

The Episcopal Church does not have a “mandatory” or endorsed curriculum for all to use. Holy Scripture (The Old and New Testaments) and “The Book of Common Prayer” ground us in study. We are the curriculum – individually and our congregations together in all that we say and do as well as what is implicitly stated in how we shape our environment and provide hospitality.

And remember, Christian Formation is not just about memorizing doctrine, Bible verses, a Catechism, and certain prayers. It is about developing a relationship with God, and living out Jesus’ commandments in the world, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your mind, and all your strength …You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12: 30-31)

Episcopalians are called to live out The Baptismal Covenant (http://www.diocesemo.org/whatwedo/ministriesandprograms/campusministry/washingtonuniversity/ourmission/thebaptismalcovenant.htm
And http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_100155_ENG_HTM.htm),
what many consider the foundation of our lives together and which guides us to live out our ministry in the world.

All churches are called to use this as a foundation for our life together, including our educational programs.


How do you offer teachings on Baptism as part of Christian formation?


This Covenant takes seriously our call to be Christ’s ministers in the world at the moment of our Baptism. We understand that we are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge, but are known by God and already have a relationship with God, no matter what age.

By virtue of our Baptism, in the Episcopal Church, we believe we are full members of the Body of Christ. God was present with us at birth, and at Baptism we are filled with the Holy Spirit, that continues to remain with us, being “marked as Christ’s own forever” with the sign of the Cross on our forehead, one of the outward and visible signs, with water that is exhibited at Baptism – no matter what age we are.


Will you give an example?

An excellent example of how this is experienced in a church setting with children is through a program called Godly Play (www.godlyplay.org).

This Montessori-approach to children’s formation was developed by The Rev. Dr. Jerome Berryman, understanding that children have a desire to learn liturgical language while exploring their relationship with God and Jesus on their own terms. While learning the lessons of the Old and New Testaments, children learn to fall in
love with God all over again and again.

The program is child-centered and is story-based, using beautiful materials and open-ended wondering questions to allow the child to place themselves in the various stories of God’s people. It is a program used in a growing number of churches of many denominations.


So Christian formation is just for children? It seems so many parents come to a church for the moral, spiritual, and religious education of their children. They want their child to have a firm sense of right and wrong:

But Christian formation is not just for children. It is a lifelong process in which all of us are continually learning and growing in our relationship with God.

At the Episcopal Church’s triennial gathering this July in Anaheim, one of the pieces of legislation will include a Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation (www.formationcharter.com). Patterned after The Children’s Charter for the Church passed in 1998 (www.episcopalchurch.org/49485_6119_ENG_HTM.htm), this document will highlight the importance of education and formation for all ages.

There is a hunger in Episcopal Churches to better understand how to read scripture and apply it to today’s world. There is a hunger to learn spiritual practices to keep one grounded in the midst of a busy lifestyle. There is a desire for intergenerational methods of engaging each other, understanding that elders have much wisdom to share, children are often prophets calling us to see God in the world, and all ages in between make up the whole people of God.

Many adults in our society today were not brought up in a religious tradition, or had a bad experience as a child with the institutional church. So when their own children start asking existential questions about God, Jesus, and the meaning of life, they turn back to the Church for assistance.
While many are looking for “education” for their children, they too are hungry for a deeper spiritual life and connection to the holy.

Our world today is very fragmented, and our lives are like a gerbil running on a wheel. The Church provides a community of faith in which one can slow down, be renewed, and fed.

And the Episcopal Church is open to all people. Our doors are open to any seeker. As many would say, you do not need to leave your questions at the door before you enter. We embrace Scripture, the Traditions of the past, as well as Reason—our ability to make up our own minds and personal decisions as to where we believe God is calling us.


As we end this part of our article-interview, tell us something of your title and who you work for, as well as something about what published materials are offered by Church Publishing on Christian formation:

My title is as the Christian Formation Specialist for Church Publishing Incorporated (CPI) (www.churchpublishing.org), the publisher for the Episcopal Church.

CPI publishes books on prayer, faith in the world, and other topics of interest to those lay and ordained. We publish “The Book of Common Prayer,” various Episcopal hymnals, and many resources.

(I) also work closely with one of its divisions, Morehouse Education Resources (www.morehouseeducation.org), which publishes curricula and educational materials for The Episcopal Church and other denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church.

These include the original lectionary-based curriculum, Living the Good News, as well as Godly Play books and materials, All Things New, and many more. Confirm not Conform (www.confirmnotconform.com) a groundbreaking confirmation program for youth that was developed by St. John’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, CA is also part of their resources.

Some basic questions of Sharon:

Morehouse Education Resources www.morehouseeducaiton.org is a division of Church Publishing Incorporated www.churchpublishing.org , located in Denver. Church Publishing’s main office is in New York City, along with its parent company the Church Pension Fund www.cprg.org , which serves all (7,500) Episcopal congregations in the United States and beyond (many countries in the Caribbean and Latin America): www.churchpublishing.org and www.morehouseeducation.org Church Publishing publishes all liturgical materials as stipulated by General Convention.

We also are partners with The Godly Play Foundation www.godlyplay.org and the founders of Confirm not Conform www.confirmnotconform.com – both are used in the San Francisco Bay area.

These two programs exemplify the ‘cutting edge’ in the area of Christian formation and education in the Episcopal Church (and beyond).


Are all the people you help Episcopalians? If others, give me a couple of examples, please.

Morehouse Education Resources publishes curricula and sacramental resources used by many denominations. I participate with APCE, the Association of Presbyterian Christian Educators www.apce.net , the National Association for Episcopal Christian Education Directors www.naeced.org as well as many educators from the United Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), and Roman Catholic Church.


Will you name five people around the country who you consider "partners" in your work and in its direction? Notable ones are good, with Church name. Is there anyone in specific in the San Francisco Bay Area you can name? This is not to contact or interview, but as a kind of list of endorsers and people who are prominently involved in Christian Formation and Sunday school.

• Julia McCray-Goldsmith, Director of Ministry Development, Episcopal Diocese of California (located in San Francisco);

• Melissa Neofes Mischak, Director of Christian Formation, Christ Episcopal Church (Alameda, CA);

• Carol Campbell, Resource Center Director, Episcopal Dioceses of El Camino Real and California (located in Sunnyvale);

• Wendy Cliff, Director of Christian Formation, St. Paul’s’ Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA; and

• The Rev. Beth Foote, Rector, Holy Trinity, Menlo Park, CA



How many Churches do you serve?

7,500 Episcopal churches (a membership of over 2 million) and many from other denominations.


Are all the people you help Episcopalians? If others, give a couple of examples, please.

I participate with APCE, the Association of Presbyterian Christian Educators as well as many folks from the United Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), and Roman Catholic Church. Morehouse Education Resources publishes curricula and sacramental resources used by many denominations.



Note: Sharon says she:

travels extensively, offering workshops and consultations to congregations in need of training and program planning support.

produces a free, monthly e-newsletter, Living IN-Formation as well as maintains an on-line Resource Room (www.morehouseeducation.org/Resource-Room) of support materials for the Christian educator.

Readers may write Sharon: Sharon Ely Pearson, Christian Formation Specialist Church Publishing Incorporated/Morehouse Education Resources Mailing address:17 Pumpkin Lane - Norwalk, CT 06851

Images: (1) Godly Play class. Photo courtesy Church Publishing. (2) Sharon Ely Pearson. Photo courtesy of Church Publishing.

This YouTube is a very good one on Godly Play. Chip Lewis, its producer, says in an email: "'Introduction to Godly Play' gives an overview of the Godly Play program. Godly Play trainers Linda Clapp and Fr. Leander Harding illustrate how the program is presented to children and talk about the benefit to the child's spiritual foundation." Credit: St. John's Episcopal Church - Stamford, CT, with thanks for the video.




Father Matthew is on YouTube. He talks about Episcopal Church subjects. Father Matthew comments in an email, "A presentation of the Godly Play lesson 'The Great Family,' given by the Director of Christian Education at Christ's Church (Episcopal) in Rye, New York, Tami Burks. Christ's Church has hosted Godly Play classes during Sunday School for three years, now."

Many times I've been in our Church Sacristy, where the bread and wine is kept prior to Communion. It is here, in this more "private" space, considered special in ways intimate and important to God, that I've had some quiet minutes alone. Though this is an occasional experience, they are special to me.

Then others come into the Sacristy, making a host of small group of people who work to prepare for Communion. Of course, one is the Priest, who as Celebrant must robe in the Sacristy. The Deacon, who does so also, robing for the coming religious service. Sometimes there is talk, and even a few moments of laughter. Generally, it is an upbeat experience, one of fun and joy. We know this is a special place.

Though common in some ways to those of us, who can be quite a few who work to prepare and maintain the room for Communion purposes, the room remains a place of reverence. This poem, inspired by times in the Sacristy, remarks in its simple way on the experience and the Sacristy. Its preparation, mostly.

As Summer is here today, the season changing from Spring, and as Pentecost still remains relatively new for this year, we that have the privilege of preparing ourselves, or working (and we all work when in the Sacristy, one way or another) share I think what is put here in writing the reverent moments and holy things that are special to an Episcopal Communion service. It is a kind of behind the scenes poem, in that it spells out in brief, so almost in a stark fashion, the spare observation of blessings.

Written this Sunday, June 21, 2009. Poem written the previous day in anticipation and preparation of Sunday:

Preparing for Worship
By Peter Menkin—June 20, 2008

God, in the Sacristy of the Church:
We encounter you-- as
We go about our routine
Preparing for Communion.

Yet aware of beauty and the gratitude:
This is the day the Lord has made,
Let us be glad in it.

Doing the work of worship:
Preparing in this room, holy
Sacred items reverently placed.

One of us prepares the wine
for Communion,
for blessing:
Contained in silver; and the water,
For blessing, contained in silver.

The bread for the Body, prepared,
for Communion,
for blessing,
Offered on silver. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
These items that are earthly, memorials of You.

How lovely is your presence:
This sacred time of waiting,
Working, preparing, as we speak
Together quietly, in peace.

Audio reading of poem by poet is here:

Prayer as subject: Response to an email posting

This particular struggle of worship, how to approach and address God so one may be personal and intimate with the Creator depends, at least for me, on my need and posture of faith at the time of prayer.

Mondays for me and others is a time for Evening Prayer in the Church. And since I am Episcopalian (an Oblate of New Camaldoli through Charism of Friendship, and more), we use "The Book of Common Prayer." It has rubrics, or directions, for prayer usually followed throughout the world by various Anglicans who are engaged daily in this Work of the Lord. We Oblates are united in Prayer, as Father Robert points out. United with the monks, too, certainly and significantly.

Starting at 5 p.m. on Mondays, I prepare by prayer on my knees. At this particular service, which I lead on Mondays, and sometimes on Thursdays at my Parish, I find that Mondays I look for an informal and special more personal interpretation of kneeling.

So we get permission from the Rector to bend the Rules Mondays, an unusual thing which took some conversation on the why and how. Nonetheless, with his blessing by the Rector, on Monday Evenings only we are allowed to spend more time on our knees than the rubrics really call for, and perhaps even allow.

We stand for the Gospel, and the creeds, but otherwise almost the entire time is spent on our knees. Though this is not the "inspiration" for the start of this practice, I do remember that on my visits to Immaculate Heart Hermitage, the Rosarie is said on one's knees (unusual for Camaldoli, since the usual arrangment is sitting).

Mostly, when in contemplative prayer at home, and even in Church where I have done so, if only briefly, I sit. I find though, that contemplative practice spills over to the usual by the book prayer time in Church. And to go further with this discussion of to kneel or not, I find when listening to the sermon and at times like prayer, sitting or on my knees while Communion is given, I rest in the Lord and the prayers. This is probably the better and more important part for me. As I seek peace and pursue it.

I remember Father Robert saying that when first getting up in the morning, during that half awake, asleep time, pay attention in a meditative way to thoughts etc. I do this at the times just noted when listening to the Sermon, or waiting with others as Communion is taken. So it is on the knees or seated, I find prayer and relation to God in Christ.

It is in a kind of dreamy, meditative, waiting state that I spend this time of "unconscious exploration" prayer time once in a while. If only briefly so.

And as I say, this came from the experience of exploring the time of wakening in the morning. Again, it just came. I did not plan it. I hope it is an all right practice, for I like others look for direction on matters like this, like those of to kneel or sit.

Though not feeling divided on the issue, my general rule when visiting another Church, a not so often thing, but I do attend Saturday Catholic mass with my friend frequently, I do as the others. I follow the community practice. Almost entirely, I do so in my own Parish--of course, I say this.

But you can see, that for me the question arises, as it has for others given the recent postings here. Mostly, though, I find surrender the better of the focus in these matters. And also, I am pretty conventional, or so I think, and not given to various rebellions of kind. Not when it comes to these kind of matters, at least.

Afterall, I am led and taught. I like this. I even seek it. That I am is one reason I became an Oblate.

Peter Menkin, Obl Cam OSBMill Valley, CA USA
(north of San Francisco)

Special Report: 50th Anniversary of Baptist Seminary in retrospective -- celebration Spring, 2009


The 50th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (Mill Valley, California) celebrated this last part of Spring, 2009, ushered in memories and celebration of a Homecoming on the Mill Valley, Campus. Two highlights of the May 28 and 29, 2009 days included opening a time capsule and homecoming by elder graduates who appeared in Gold Robes.

In a public statement, the seminary remarks: “This place declares the Glory of God to all the nations,” said President Jeff Iorg as he stood before the open time capsule, speaking to alumni, students, faculty and staff. “Is there another explanation for the Seminary’s success other than God’s power and glory?”

President Iorg held up and marveled at the remarkably well-preserved items which had been sitting in the copper shoebox-sized box, nestled in the administration building’s cornerstone since 1959. Items included the Seminary bylaws, the Baptist Faith and Message, pages from the SBC minutes of 1950 showing action of the Convention accepting Golden Gate as a Southern Baptist seminary, copies of the first and 15th anniversary issues of the alumni magazine The Gateway, photos of the three Seminary presidents (Isam B. Hodges 1944-1946, Benjamin O. Herring 1946-1952, and Harold K. Graves 1952-1977), the first and the 1959 academic catalog of classes, the student-faculty directory and faculty group photo.

In an interview by email, Dr. Rodrick Durst, answered questions as part of a restrospective at this time of the 50th Anniversary. Dr. Durst has served as faculty and administration at Golden Gate since 1991. He also served eleven years as the
Vice President of Academic Affairs and, prior to that, three years as the Director of the Southern California Campus.

The seminary says of the professor, “Dr. Durst loves the classroom. He teaches theology and history from a leadership formation perspective. His passion is for developing life-changing ways of communicating and teaching Christian truth for transformation, retention and rapid reproduction.”

His remark:

How has the campus changed in its history, a broad question. A broad answer is good.

In my thirty-five year association with Golden Gate, I have seen the campus change dramatically in terms of color, constituency and delivery modes. Its student color demographic was 90% plus Caucasian in the 1970’s and is 50% Caucasian today, with the other half being African American, Korean, Chinese, and Hispanic. Korean students discovered Golden Gate in the eighties due to its Bay Area location, affordable tuition and biblical conservatism. They have been a significant presence for the last quarter of a century.

The first seminary President was influenced by the seminary’s roots. “Who will open the western seminary?” Those words from former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president L. R. Scarborough in a chapel speech in 1924 were forever etched into the mind of Isam B. Hodges, then a student at Southwestern.

In an announcement the Seminary notes: “Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary opened the doors to its Northern California campus in Mill Valley fifty years ago, in September 1959, after six years of planning and construction. The 148-acres of former dairy land called Strawberry Point became home to the first Southern Baptist seminary in the west, and today the five-campus system is known as the 10th largest seminary in the United States.”

Continuing our retrospective, Dr. Durst answered a second question by email.

Tell us, please, how many Baptist churches are there in the west.

There were few Baptist churches in the west in 1959 when the Mill Valley campus opened. Now there are over 2,000 Southern Baptist churches in California alone. This western constituency rapidly began to reflect the west after the great post-war Southern migrations ceased in the early sixties. Today our constituent churches reflect the west, if not the Pacific Rim, and not the so-called Bible belt. In 1959, Mill Valley was the sole campus of Golden Gate, which was and is mandated by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) to provide ministerial leadership to SBC churches in the western half of the U.S. To better achieve that mandate, the Northern California campus has intentionally multiplied and sacrificed resources to open campuses in Los Angeles (1973), Vancouver, WA (1981), Phoenix, AZ (1995) and Denver, CO (1996).


The seminary catalog tells readers: “Golden Gate's mission is shaping effective Christian leaders to accelerate the fulfillment of the Great Commission through the churches of the West and the world. At Golden Gate, students share unparalleled opportunities to participate hands-on in the real world of ministry and mission in North America and across the globe."

Further statements on the seminary purpose for this retrospective add: “Joining the Golden Gate family means becoming part of a community of people committed to sharing the message of Jesus Christ in creative, practical, life-transforming ways.

“Every year, we train more than 1,900 men and women at our five campuses and multiple Contextualized Leadership Development centers across the West. We pray that Golden Gate Seminary can become your partner as you seek to fulfill God's call in your life.” The seminary President says as part of its statement of purpose from its catalog.

One current student remarks of her time at the seminary: "I was drawn to Golden Gate because of my desire to have a greater spiritual impact on the lives of others. I am passionate about reaching lost people and I believe training from Golden Gate will help me to become a better minister. Golden Gate does not just train church leaders, but effective leaders for Christ." (From the seminary website.)

Another woman student says from the seminary website: "My seminary experience has been nothing short of life-changing. I am learning to delve deeply into the Scriptures, to wrestle with understanding them so that my proclamation is accurate and insightful and, most importantly, empowered by the Holy Spirit. I am also learning to wrestle with this thing we call the community of faith - learning to love my brothers and sisters in Christ as I love myself. I am learning to love those outside the Kingdom with grace and truth, loving them into the family. More than anything, seminary is enriching my own walk with Jesus and helping me be more like him."

Here is a taste of the current leadership sense and training of students. Certainly, the seminary is centered on Jesus Christ. These characteristics are taught as part of Christian Formation and Education:

Leadership characteristics related to being a follower of JESUS:
1. Following Jesus -- A Christian leader understands the biblical, theological, historical, personal, and experiential foundations of being a follower of Jesus.
2. Spiritual Disciplines -- A Christian leader practices the spiritual disciplines of being a follower of Jesus.
3. Christ Commitment -- A Christian leader demonstrates commitment to living as a follower of Jesus through knowing God through Jesus and knowing self.
4. Integrity -- A Christian leader demonstrates integrity, meaning he or she consistently applies biblical
principles in character and actions.
5. Wisdom -- A Christian leader demonstrates wisdom, meaning he or she follows God’s Spirit to apply biblical principles to complex life situations.

Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary is part of the emerging Church movement. Dr. Durst notes in the email interview:

In the same line of history, what aspect of the emerging Church movement is now prevalent in the teaching and ethos of the Seminary on its anniversary (50 year)?

Without losing focus on Christian grace and truth, classes are now taught with a distinct awareness of cultural diversity, generative creativity, and spiritual authenticity. Courses and chapels challenge students to move from being spectators to participants in their learning experience. All five senses and multiple learning styles are employed so that students can engage from their strength rather than be forced into one model or mode of learning. The classrooms and faculty computers are wired for the Internet. Many faculty are on Facebook or other social networks and use these to keep in touch with their students.

A great deal has notably changed in the 50 years of seminary life, and as a look back

a highlight of the festivities was honoring the Seminary’s “Golden Graduates” during commencement on May 29. Twenty-eight of those who graduated from the Berkeley and Oakland campuses from 1949-1959, donned golden robes and walked with the Class of 2009.”

During this time of retrospective, we asked Dr. Durst to give us perspective on the current seminary life. He did this in the interview by emails in two parts:

We’ve heard the term “Postmodernity” so many times. Will you comment?

If we can call the emerging culture “Postmodernity,” then that culture is moving away from the anthropocentric toward an ecological centricity, away from nationalism toward a global/local awareness, and away from trust in truths expressed propositionally toward truth conveyed in stories, especially stories in graphic formats. The emerging postmoderns are rather allergic to denominational structures but are rightly fascinated by spirituality. Spiritual formation is now core in the curriculum and students from this generation relish the challenge ancient spiritual disciplines bring to their inner authenticity.

As a retrospective, will you point to a major evolution in this area for ministry, the seminary and the Church.

Ministers and ministry will need to continue moving from a focus on performance excellence to relational authenticity. People are becoming less trusting of the “sage on stage” and more open to the “guide at the side” who is on pilgrimage with them. The Seminary will need to be ancient and future. Ancient in the sense of being rooted in the reliability of the gospel and future in the sense of knowing and making space to hear the questions people are asking in the 21st century. The classes, that are willing to entertain the toughest questions today with fair-minded biblical response, will be better able to prepare its students to have joy and effectiveness in ministry.

Churches must move from building and organizational structure centric to people and relationally centered. The churches will need to continue to move from being inwardly focused to being externally focused, realizing that postmoderns want to see Christianity doing good in the community before they care to hear the message of forgiveness and relational restoration. In the past it was tell then show, and now its show then tell. And often it will mean inviting the interested into the showing to create opportunity for trusted telling.

As an end note to this article-retrospective, Dr. Durst comments in his interview by email on the Trinity and its “place” in the seminary context:

Will you say something of the Trinity in the Seminary’s biblical doctrine in a way that a lay person will be interested, so as to illuminate as a reflection your years with students in this past decade of experience?

In about 1997, I was using Jung Young Lee's 1996 The Trinity in Asian Perspective as an example of a global theology. While I do not agree with the work's imposing cultural norms on biblical texts, I did appreciate the way Lee looked at the different New Testament orders of the divine three names. He called the Father, Son, Spirit order the patriarchal order and the Spirit, Father, Son order “matriarchal”. I was used to the order cited at my own believer's baptism, "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." I took that order as the biblical norm. I unconsciously heard any reference to the divine names in that order. However, I was charmed and intrigued by the famous benediction in 2 Corinthians 13:13, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Until Lee's book, I simply overlooked such a dissonant Trinitarian order as so rare as to be the "exception that proved the rule.

Gradually, I began to pay close attention to the order of reference to persons in divine triad and how often those orders were not in the Father, Son, Spirit baptismal order. It turns out that well over thirty Trinitarian instances occur in the New Testament, which use an order other than Father, Son and Spirit. In class, I tried an experiment. I showed the students that, while the prayer of the disciple must be to God as Father in the name of the Son, the New Testament prays in that manner with surprising variety. Would the students be willing to pray to God in whichever Trinitarian order made most sense to them that night? I did not anticipate the outcome. One female student shared that she had had a difficult relationship with her father and as a result had never felt comfortable to pray to the Father. Up to that class, she had always prayed to Jesus alone. She said that by praying to the Son and then the Spirit, then she was for the first time able to pray to the Father by name. I pondered the significance of this experience and am working it out in a book tentatively entitled,” The Trinitarian Matrix of the New Testament.” I also wondered if one of the reasons the church looks and feels narrow minded is because it was overlooking the diversity of the ways God is named and worshipped in the New Testament.

--Peter Menkin, Spring, 2009 (Mill Valley, CA USA)



Images: (1) Time Capsule (Whittaker, Iorg, Crews. Photo courtesy of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (as are all photographs in this post); (2) Seminary instructor Dr. Rick Durst; (3) Gradutes in Gold Robes at Homecoming Day ceremony.

'The resources we’ve known to support the [Presbyterian] seminary have diminished significantly'


In a letter of 2009, The Reverend Doctor Philip W. Butin, President of The San Francisco Theological Seminary (Presbyterian) wrote: The resources we’ve known to support the seminary have diminished significantly.
This same Spring season, the San Anselmo Seminary is taking action with a strategy supported by its Board:

To overcome a 33 percent decline in the value of its investments, the board of trustees of San Francisco Theological Seminary has approved a four-part strategy to achieve "financial equilibrium"…

• the sale of off-campus property at market prices to add to the seminary's endowment and thus support long-term operating expenses;
• planning for a capital campaign;
• repayment or refinancing of bank debt; and
• a commitment to continue to provide adequate student and faculty housing.

Additionally, several Seminary programs will be eliminated, including three administrative faculty positions. The internship program will find itself under “streamlining,”, and the role of Seminary Chaplain is to be combined with other duties of faculty and staff.

Further impact for the campus and students includes moving the Lloyd Counseling Center, the leasing of the Seminary’s Children Center, and modest salary reductions for employees making more than $50,000 a year. There will be changed or reduced employee benefits.

Children’s Center staff will be retained, but this cannot be guaranteed, reports the Seminary. The Children’s Center’s full time staff members have been offered severance packages.

There are 500 students enrolled on two campuses, tuition is $9,900 a year for the Seminary whose President declares, “At SFTS, we believe that God’s purposes are for the wholeness of the whole world; they don’t end with the church. The church exists for the sake of God’s reign and the restoration of the whole creation.”

Speaking to the reductions and financial plan, he states: “Unfortunately, this is happening all across the country,” explains Butin. “After a year of research and analysis, we are acting decisively to secure the Seminary’s mission and future in preparing a wide diversity of potential church leaders for holistic ministry in the church and world.

“Make no mistake, however. These are painful reductions. We enjoy a very close-knit community on both of our campuses. In San Anselmo, our faculty and students live and study side by side.” There is a Pasadena campus.

In a press statement, the Seminary declares:

• The sale of off campus housing combined with a successful capital campaign will position the Seminary to improve the condition of its San Anselmo property. $1.6 million in operating cuts will enable the Seminary to have balanced budgets for the next three years and time to create new innovative education models that will increase student enrollment and widen the Seminary’s donor base.

• San Anselmo housing options for both faculty and students will be greatly improved, while building and maintenance costs will decrease.

Both Seminary Board and key staff are hopeful of the plan, and notes this quotation from Jeremiah in the Bible in one of its papers on its website:

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”


This plan set forth by the Seminary is a work of much effort. “The winter of 2008 really forced us to face an economic ‘perfect storm,’” added Barbara Brenner Buder, vice president of finance and administration. “Our endowment assets lost 33 percent
of their value, causing operating deficits to move from manageable to unmanageable levels. In addition, the maintenance of our 47 buildings in San Anselmo was approaching $1 million per year.”

“Administrators, faculty and trustees worked together over the past year to develop a plan that will enable the Seminary to address its pressing financial challenges,” said Jana Childers, dean and professor of homiletics.

The Reverend Doctor Butin clarifies some misunderstandings of the issues, providing more light on plans:

I understand this to be a strategic plan. At what point in your project evaluation period will you know your plan is the right one and working? That you have results?
The seminary has adopted a financial plan to reflect our educational mission that applies to the next five years. The plan will be monitored and adjusted quarterly. The plan includes raising funds over the next three years through sale of off-campus property and a multi-year capital fund-raising campaign. The scope of the campaign has not been determined.
The plan also includes operating cuts of $1.6 million over the next two years. These reductions included a reduction of staff, faculty and operating budget cuts

I note you look to reduce costs of building or property maintenance by $1.6 million a year, a savings of sorts?
This is a misunderstanding. The cuts you mention relate to the operating fund, not the capital maintenance funds. By selling some of our property and building new, more energy efficient student and faculty housing, our maintenance costs will be lower, but we haven’t determined the total savings in this area.

My understanding is the money from the sales will go into student housing, mainly for student families. Is this so?
No, primarily the income from the property sales will be placed in our endowment, which lost one third of its value last winter. Some funds from the property sales may be used for student and faculty housing, but we’re hoping to raise most of those funds from our friends and alumni.

Founded 1871 in San Francisco, and moved to 14-acre hilltop site in San Anselmo in 1890, established the Graduate Theological Union in 1962, a consortium of 9 seminaries housed on the Berkeley campus, the Seminary opened a second SFTS campus in Pasadena in 1990. It’s Mission Statement, as published on its website says, “San Francisco Theological Seminary prepares leaders for the church of Jesus Christ sent by the Holy Spirit in God’s mission to the world. We are scholars and servants of the church devoted to Biblical interpretation and theological education in the Reformed tradition within an ecumenical context. We are committed to the education of students in spiritual formation, critical theological reflection, and the skills and arts of ministry, to serve in congregations, the wider church, the classroom, and the public sphere.”

Notes from the website say,“The Rev. Dr. Philip Butin joined San Francisco Theological Seminary in July 2002 after nearly a decade of service as pastor of Shepherd of the Valley Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dr. Butin was an active member of the Presbytery of Santa Fe and co-founded the Ecumenical Institute for Ministry in New Mexico. He holds an M.Div. degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Duke University.”

Images: Castle. Photo courtesy San Francisco Theological Seminary; The Reverend Doctor Philip W. Butin. Photo courtesy San Francisco Theological Seminary.

--Peter Menkin, Spring, 2009