Celebrating a Season of Creation with Canterbury

by Don Partridge, Sr. Warden and co-chair of CASE (Canterbury Advocates for a Sustainable Environment)


In his Encyclical Letter, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis makes an “urgent challenge to protect our common home.”  Support for this appeal for stewardship of God’s creation was soon expressed by leaders of the Orthodox Church, Islam, and Judaism. Canterbury Advocates for a Sustainable Environment, CASE, has been quietly advocating for stewardship of God’s creation for a number of years.  Most recently we have supported NMIPL (New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light) and maintained a recycling program for the household’s batteries and CFLs.  Pope Francis goes on to say that “Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”  The mission of CASE is very much in line with this sense that environmental stewardship is not just what some radical tree-hugging believers do, but that respecting and protecting God’s creation is central to who we are as Christians. 

We happen to live in an especially beautiful corner of God’s creation.  I’ve been fortunate to have been able to hike trails past 500 year old trees and through treeless badlands, to break trail on my skis through fresh snow in a totally silent forest, and to paddle lakes set in Georgia O’Keefe paintings.  These are easy reminders to me of why it is important to be stewards of creation, but my real challenges come with my less obvious interactions with the environment.  I have developed expectations for unrestricted transportation, availability of out-of-season produce, and instant delivery of unnecessary consumer goods that cause me to have an unsustainable impact on God’s creation.  Part of a day of hiking in the mountains is driving to and from the trailhead!

The Roman and Orthodox Churches will hold up 1 September as a Day of Prayer for Creation and the Environment and we at Canterbury will use this as an opportunity to begin celebrating a Season of Creation.  I hope that this will be an opportunity for CASE to begin a more active and visible role in the life of the household.  I also hope that this Season of Creation will challenge me so that when I repeat that I believe in God the creator of heaven and earth that I add that I believe that I am a critical steward of what God has created.

There are millions of ways to help

by Alexandra Miller-Mutia

My name is Alexandra.  I’m in 5th grade and I go to Monte Vista Elementary.  My family and I moved to Albuquerque over the summer from Berkeley, CA.  I’ve been a member of three other churches.  The most recent was St. Gregory of Nyssa in San Francisco.  I’m very new to Canterbury, but I’m looking forward to getting to know the church and finding ways to help here.  

In my opinion, there are many ways to be involved in church. One of the ways is to help people that can’t be in church or are going through a hard time.   Also I think that this is definitely a job that everyone can do, and there are multiple ways to do it.   

In the past, I’ve helped in many different ways.  For example, once after church I went with a group of people to visit a member of our church who was in the hospital.  When we got there, we talked for a while and then we sang hymns together.   Also sometimes my family has helped people by bringing them meals.  At Eastertime, sadly, some people could not participate in services.  So what we did was we set up a table at the side of the church and on that table there were art supplies for making cards for people.   

One memorable experience was when we visited our friend, Ginny, in hospice.   She was a very good artist.  I was really surprised when I saw her room.  It was filled, floor to ceiling, with art she had made.   However, she couldn’t do any more art because of her cancer which was very sad.   When we visited her it really felt strange to know that she would die, but I could tell that she appreciated us being there.   About a year later a miracle happened.  She didn’t die. She survived and she is living back in San Francisco.   

In the future, I hope that I can do more of the things that I’ve done, including visiting people and helping them in any way I can.   And I’m sure that you will find a way to help someone in need as well.  

Report on General Convention 78

by Diane Butler

The 78^th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 23-July 3, elected a new Presiding Bishop, passed resolutions effecting dramatic change in the structure of the Church, and approved new marriage rites.

General Convention is the governing body of the Episcopal Church that meets every three years to consider resolutions and other matters that will guide the church over the following triennium. After having the honor and privilege of attending three General Conventions, it is clear that being present at GC is ever much more than attending to legislative matters.

Serving as a deputy is an experience that has allowed me to move from a parochial view of church to an on-the-ground understanding that our Church is vast -  geographically, culturally, and in terms of the diversity represented by people from across this and other nations. Serving with people who hold views across theological and ecclesiological spectrums has enhanced my ability to enter into deep, meaningful, and respectful conversations and even to change my mind on some issues.

This year’s convention was markedly different from those previous as evidenced by more harmonious interactions on the floor of the House of Deputies and between the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops, a more expedient process by which resolutions were considered and voted upon, and, by being “paperless.” The latter was achieved through the use of iPads by each bishop and deputy (rather than reams of paper documents) and multiple large screens in meeting rooms.

On Sunday, August 23rd, the Men’s Group is hosting a forum for a report on actions and activities of General Convention. Please join us! 

Presiding Bishop Elect the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry (Photo: Diane Butler)

A New Day: How is God Calling You/Us?

The Rev. Sylvia Miller-Mutia

On my first Sunday at Canterbury (July 5, 2015) I invited everyone in worship to listen for a word or phrase in the readings that spoke to our best hope or prayer, or God's greatest dream and call for us, as we moved together into a new day in our life as a household of faith.

We wrote these words and phrases on silver stars, which have been hanging on a silver tree in Beckett Hall for the past month. 

Today I took the silver stars down from the tree, and recorded the words and phrases, below.  I invite you to take a moment to prayerfully read through the list.


 Which words and phrases, in particular, catch your attention? 

What themes do you see?

What might God be calling you towards, through these words,  in your own life?

What might God be calling us towards, through these words, as a community of faith?  

• justice, patience, humility
• worship as we choose; say what we choose
• peace
• patience and gentleness amidst chaos
• love God and love one another
• do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with our God
• harmony, happiness
• love the strangers, grace, peace, walk humbly
• love mercy, together, magnanimous peace, equally, dissolve the political bonds, God gives us to see the right, love the strangers, love your enemies
• a people at peace, created equal, malice towards none
• with charity for all
• with malice towards none
• almighty, love, respect, peace
• joy, peace, love
• peace
• I too am America
• "He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen."
• to be a refuge from darkness
• tomorrow I'll be at the table when company comes
• delight
• charity, mercy, community, justice
• equal, harmony, perfect
• knit together, glory in his bosom
• we each hold these rights equally
• we must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities for the supply of others' necessities
• abridge our superfluities for others' necessities 
• wise, equal, trustworthy, faithfully
• a new day, start, a new act
• love the stranger, walk humbly, grow strong, no one person
• in His light, let us see our light
• gather together, lasting peace
• counsel, worship, peace
• together
• love the stranger
• cultivate peace and harmony with all
• great and awesome things...we must delight in each other...with malice toward none, with charity for all
• a new day
• serve the neighbors
• care for others
• cultivate peace and harmony with all
• enlighten us
• no one person is more entitled to any of these rights than the next
• cultivate peace with all
• cultivate peace and harmony with all; we must delight in each other
• serve the neighbors
• to care for him who shall have borne the battle
• serve the stranger
• God who is not partial and embraces all
• all are created equally
• I, too, am America
• love your enemies
• liberty
• grace

 In the days to come, I hope we'll return to this list often, as together we continue to discern God's dream unfolding among us!  

What's up with all the bells?

The Rev. Sylvia Miller-Mutia

Worship is an experience that we enter into with our whole selves-bodies, minds, and spirits.  At its best, liturgy engages all our senses. 

The use of bells in worship can awaken our senses, and call us to attention.  Traditionally, the ringing church bells call the entire community to gather for worship.

 At Canterbury, the bowl bell invites us to enter the silence, to become still and quiet and listen for God speaking in the depths of our souls.  The hand chimes invite us to emerge from the silence, to open our eyes and ears and pay attention as we continue with the liturgy.  

This Sunday we introduced another set of bells in the liturgy: the altar bells.  Historically, the altar bells have been used in a variety of ways, in various historical periods and various liturgical traditions.  The altar bells call our attention to the holiness and mystery of a particular liturgical moment.  At Canterbury, we ring the altar bells three times during the Eucharistic Prayer: once before the words of institution, once after the elevation of the host (the bread), and once after the elevation of the chalice (the wine.)  I will be inviting the children of the parish to take turns assisting me at the altar by ringing the altar bells.  (I've created this video introduction to the bells for the children of the parish...please share it with a child you know!)

I invite you to enjoy the sound of the ringing bells in worship.  And I pray you will heed the bells' call to attend to the mystery and beauty of the moment, where God is always present.