All About You – Helen Reed

As part of our ongoing “About You” series, in which members of the CCS community talk about their lives, their ministry, and their connection to the Centre in their own words, we bring you 2010 CCS grad Helen Reed.  Helen is a member of the CCS Central Council, chairs the Communications and Promotions Committee, and serves on the Tapestry working group.

In Helen’s word’s…

“ I was born in the North of England, and at sixteen my father moved our family to Alberta. The family imprinting of loyalty, service to others and faith based living that happened in my early years still continues to pop up from time to time – not necessarily a bad thing. Family continues to be important in my life and I am very proud of my children who both are finding their grounding in their own unique ways and don’t mind speaking to mom every so often.

I was always involved in church in some way. When life suddenly had some major challenges and hurdles to be negotiated, God took my hand and moved me toward ministry. Those who had watched my faith grow told me it was not a surprise that Diaconal Ministry called my name.

The Centre for Christian Studies always felt like the right choice. I was so scared to go back to school but this place just felt like home. Don McLeod and Ted Dodd were the facilitators at my LDM and at times we just roared with laughter as we learned and explored together. Every year of the Diaconal program taught me more about myself and how the Spirit can move us into new adventures…spending three days hearing stories from Aboriginal viewpoints and recognizing the built-in biases I had absorbed… remembering everyone smile as they watched me realize the food I was eating for breakfast had a huge ecological footprint… having a facilitator insert a gentle question into a conversation which turned everyone’s perceptions upside down…the community at Booth at tea-time …the excitement of coming to circle knowing that, with friends who were drawn by God to that place at that time, something awesome was possible and probable.

I graduated in 2010 and was settled in the Pastoral Charge in Alberta that includes Cereal and Oyen United Churches. This was the last year that Settlement was not optional and, though I recognize that it didn’t work for everyone, it certainly did work for me. Settlement was an unsettling process but where I am is where God knew I was supposed to be. I find myself in an area where there are small churches in various stages of transition and upheaval. The Oyen Pastoral Charge has many personal connections with surrounding areas and we are seeing an opportunity to talk and walk together to a new way of being church in those communities. It’s exciting work.

My passion for music, reading and laughter fill my life well. I enjoy going for tea at our Seniors lodges and just visiting with folk…learning their stories and sharing a few of my own. We’ve learned that communication is a helpful tool, and there is a graciousness that extends among us in accepting and moving forward together in faith. For example, I mix the poetry of More Voices and Voices United in every service and really do try to pick music that they will know. But we’ve discovered that they have had a different hymn inventory that I have. They valiantly sing my choices every week (enjoying most of them) but one of the Elders of the Congregation is gathering a list of their favorite Old Hymns and together we’ll create a worship service out of them. We weave new and old traditions together and find ourselves yearning for more.

This busy, spirit-filled life is something I would never have envisioned for myself. Yet, here I am, where God would have me be and loving every minute of it.”

The Threshold of the Years

 Principal Maylanne Maybee writes:The threshold of the years. My mother sent me a note on the anniversary of my ordination to the diaconate – May 28, 1978. She’s the only one who remembers! 

I was ordained in the seventies, when most deacons were young men fresh out of theological school, preparing for a “career” as parish priests. The prevailing practice in the Anglican Church was for deacons to be ordained to the priesthood six months to one year later after completing a “curacy” or period of apprenticeship under the supervision of the rector.
Some years earlier, when I was discerning a sense of call to the diaconate, a bishop, now long gone, wrote me this little poem about deacons.

A Deacon’s Plea to the Rector
I am the deacon, full of hopes and fears,
standing at the threshold of the years.

Give me the cup to hold for you,
the deacon’s cup of everlasting wine.

The Gospel, too, that blessed word divine,
is mine to read for you.

Give me the poor, the young, the unbaptized, the ill:
these are the deacons’ charge until
their ordination day.

Till then, I pray, that when my deacon’s days are through,
I don’t become a busy priest like you! 

It was a silly poem scribbled on the back of an envelope, but it said a great deal about my sense of calling to be a deacon and not a priest. I gained insights from it that I didn’t have previously:

• Deacons have a specific charge to work among those outside the church, those who are young and ready to learn, those at the edge of economic systems, those whose health is at risk.
• In some traditions, deacons also have a specific role in the Eucharistic liturgy – to proclaim the gospel and to administer the chalice. Their place is inside and outside the church.
• And finally, deacons have a contemplative side. Being busy all the time is not their calling!

Thirty-four years ago when I was made a deacon, I was indeed “full of hopes and fears, standing at the threshold of the years”. Since then, my ministry has been one of struggle and growth and deep learning.

CCS grad and M.A. recipient Sarah Bruer and CCS principal Maylanne Maybee

Yesterday, I happened to be at the conferring of a Master of Arts in Spiritual Disciplines and Ministry Practices by the Faculty of Theology (University of Winnipeg) on Sarah Bruer, a CCS grad from 2007. Someone else is now standing at the threshold of the years, full of hopes and fears.

Diaconal ministry continues, in different forms and different traditions, but with that common thread of action and contemplation that makes us open to God’s transformative power. Congratulations to Sarah as well as to all those being commissioned as diaconal ministers at this time: Alice Hanson, Vicki McPhee, Tracy Robertson, and Debbie Springer (Alberta and Northwest Conference), Ingrid Remkins (Toronto Conference), Marly Bown (Bay of Quinte Conference), Carey Wagner (London Conference). Our thoughts and prayers are with you!

All About You: Alice Hanson

Alice Hanson is 2012 graduate of the Centre for Christian Studies.  In Alice’s words:

“My roots were deeply embedded in the Lutheran tradition, growing up in a clergy family and then offering my music gifts in worship leadership in my adult years.  A two-year volunteer program with Lutheran Missions overseas as a teacher in Papua New Guinea during my twenties led to a global perspective and a deeper appreciation of Canada’s place in the world.  When I returned, I began theological studies at the Lutheran Seminary in the late 70s and then decided to return to teaching where I remained for thirty-some years.

My area of teaching combined two specialties – Music and French.  Both called forth creative and energetic leadership. In time, I embraced my spiritual home in the United Church.  In recent years, the call to return to theological studies led to discernment and then the Diaconal Program at the Centre for Christian Studies.  To do this, I “retired” from teaching and have been working in part-time ministry (Northern Lights Presbytery) and full-time CCS studies.

I would describe my leadership within the church as diaconal – not so much in the actual task of ministry, but in my way of doing ministry.   In rural and smaller urban churches this most often calls forth ‘all things needed’ as I embrace my joy and commitment to Word and Sacraments, Pastoral care, Christian Education and Community Outreach.   I see the call of ministry as an invitation focused on strong vital team building and empowering one another to offer their gifts as service to and for others.  I lift up the personal and communal call to seek justice and invite all to embrace acts of kindness for the sake of the well being of all.   Rooted in spiritual practice, in the love of sacred scripture and liturgy, energized by theological conversation and attentive to creative ways the Spirit speaks in our lives today, I offer my gifts so that together we can move forward as the people of God in life-giving ways as we seek together to live faithfully in today’s world. 

After my four years with CCS, I am now in the process of accepting first call placement just north of Edmonton (Morinville / Redwater) in the Yellowhead Presbytery, Alberta Northwest Conference.  Commissioning is just around the corner and then I am off with her partner Paul to a celebration holiday in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island for two weeks.”

Strategic Thinking and “Wiggle Room” at CCS

Principal Maylanne Maybee writes:

Once every three or four months, the CCS staff team holds a longer than usual meeting that includes lunch, and allows us to delve more deeply into issues we want to address in common.

We did just that last week. Our purpose was to reflect on the realities of being a staff team “with very little wiggle room” to absorb personal or organizational crises, to balance our many-layered and complex workloads, to do justice to the routine tasks in our job descriptions.

The process was brilliant – and should be copyrighted for other staff teams! As a preparation, each of us – Ann, Ted, Scott, Marc, Liz, and I – took our job description and summarized it into main headings. We also attached our picture as a way of linking an abstract job description with a real human being. At the meeting, with help from the SMART board, we took turns giving a general description of our work, sometimes making comments or a time percentages.
We then went around saying what gives us energy and what drains our energy in our work, attaching stars and “X” marks and other graffiti to our job summaries as we spoke.

The best part of the day was responding to what we heard from each other: what we observed, what was missing, what surprised us, what we affirmed.
It was an exercise that invited risk, built trust, and offered very valuable information about each other’s responsibilities and areas of strength and struggle. We ended with a commitment to recommend changes to the HR Committee in our job descriptions where needed, and to hold each other to account for doing the “important but not urgent” work that often gets neglected.

This week, at least, we did NOT neglect the important but not always urgent work of living out or staff mission statement: “Sharing a commitment to CCS, the staff will value and risk mutual encouragement, support, and deep reflection in a spirit of trust, laughter, and a sense of the sacred.”

Strategies/Start-egies for Making the Vision Reality

Things are quiet once again at CCS. The Pastoral Care Year spring learning circle ended last Thursday.  The following poem by Ted Dodd was used as part of a session on advocacy in pastoral care.  (If you want more thought-provoking words,  here   are some other poems and quotations from that session.)

STRATEGIES/START-EGIES FOR MAKING THE VISION REALITY

Be aware
Learn
Model openness and attitudinal conversion

Accompany
Be an ally
Stand in solidarity

Empower
Encourage

Make change
Embrace transformation

Resist
Denounce
Challenge

Act
Initiate
Offer an alternative

Reflect
Question
Analyze

Build community
Cooperate

Honour diversity
Use collective process
Decide through consensus
Set collaborative goals

Find a voice
Provide a safe space to speak

Claim identity
Sustain (counter) cultural traditions

Tell the truth about the world
Overcome status quo

Be revolutionary
Subvert
Disrupt

Research
Interview
Hold focus groups

Communicate
Develop public relations
Write, phone, email, text, tweet
Contact media
Write letters to the editor
Employ social networks

Lobby
Connect with legislators
Prepare government briefs

Attend court as supporters
Explore alternative justice models

Network
Become board and committee members

Live Simply
Reduce, recycle, reuse
Compost
Turn off the lights, the water, the engine

Organize protests
Demonstrate

Host educational workshops
Fund raise

Hold vigils and ceremonies
Pray

Celebrate
Laugh lots

Be humble
Care
Show compassion
Maintain hope

Love

poem by Ted Dodd

Springing Forward

CCS Principal Maylanne Maybee writes:

Springing forward from a successful Annual General Meeting and year. Last week was a good week! On a personal level, the Human Resources Committee conducted my probation review and will be recommending that I be made “permanent”. The process was gracious, carefully done, and clear. I am grateful not only that I “passed” but also for the thoughtful, specific feedback. CCS does that sort of thing well–with students and principals alike.

It was a good week for CCS too. The Annual General Meeting drew about 45 attendees – more than twice the turnout in recent years. Roughly half were in Winnipeg and half huddled around phones in communities from BC to Quebec. And there was a strong show from both denominations without shaking the bushes for either! Participants listened and contributed with patience and grace and we dealt with each item with enough time for introductions, worship, questions and answers, and substantive information- sharing.
The necessary business was conducted: Jim Boyles and Carolynne Bouey Shank gave highlights from the Co-chairs’ report, I spoke to the Principal’s report, and Ted Dodd to the staff report. Patty Evans led us through a serious of resolutions to adapt and simplify the governance structure, Brian Faurschou led us through the requisite budget for information and audited statements for approval, Maureen McCartney gave an enthusiastic Nominations report with a renewed roster of volunteers for Central Council, Committees and Working Groups, and Bill Gillis gave an update on by-law revisions (stay tuned for an exciting new version next year!).

It took time to navigate through all the business items, so the “interactive presentation” by Walter Deller, Alice Watson, and Keith Simmonds on Attracting Students and Growing our Program had to be non-interactive, in order to end the meeting on time. For the record, the link to the website notes and questions are given below. .

The AGM represented hours of dedication from staff and Friends of CCS and gave a good snapshot of how CCS has moved and changed in the past year: a new principal, a sound financial picture, a bright and positive spirit, a sense of energy and strength to meet the challenges ahead. Thank you to everyone who came, and especially to those who hosted “phone parties”. It really strengthened the sense of community. Thanks and, as they say in French, à la prochaine! See you next time!

All About You – Mark Laird

Mark is a current student in the Diaconal Ministries program at the Centre for Christian Studies.  Mark writes:

“ I don’t need to tell you that the life of a minister can be busy. When you add on a family life, and full time school to your 3-point charge it becomes quite a workload. But I wouldn’t give it up for another career, well maybe a professional baseball player, but that would be it. Going to CCS we learn the history, the theory, and get to expand our theological knowledge. We get to apply skills in a safe environment, where we can make mistakes and grow into becoming great Diaconal Ministers.

However there is one thing that the school can’t get across to its students. And it is not for a lack of trying, but it is impossible for CCS to get across how privileged we are to be ministers.

I don’t mean privileged in the same way that we learn about that word at school, as in being privileged above someone or something else. I mean it in the honor way, as you would say it is a privilege to meet you Mr. Ripken. This has been the major learning that I have had in this my third theme year, my pastoral care year. It is an honor, to be allowed into someone’s home, and to be able to create a sacred space in his or her living room as you celebrate communion together. It is an honor to stand up there with a couple as they profess their love for one another as they get married. It is an honor when a family at a hospital who you have not met before invites to into the room where their father is dying, it is an honor to be accepted into that sacred love that the family has for their dying father. And it is just as much of an honor to be looked upon to help lead families and friends through the grieving process as we lead a funeral or memorial service. I am sure that there will also be the same honor felt when I baptize a baby for the first time.

These are just some of the experiences that I have had this year that have re-enforced in me how privileged I am to be doing this work. How much of an honor it is for all of us as ministers, as ministry students to be allowed into people’s lives in their most intimate moments. This isn’t why I became a minister but I have come to realize that it is one of the most precious aspects of the job for me. May we all be blessed as we move forward with this special occupation that we share.”

CCS student Mark Laird

Attracting New Students, Growing our Program

Principal Maylanne Maybee writes:

So far, just enough people have registered for next week’s Annual General Meeting of Friends of CCS to meet our quorum (15 voting Friends, at least five Anglican and five United Church), but more is better. What if there’s a snowstorm or someone falls on the ice? Every Friend counts, every pre-registration makes us happy!

Scott Douglas has done an amazing job collecting reports and laying them out in the Annual Report .  You will find it a fascinating account– in words, pictures, and numbers–of another year in the life of CCS.

Following the business part of the meeting and special items of business, the Student Recruitment and Tuition Task Group will be giving a progress report on their research and ideas. The members of the Task Group are Dr. Walter Deller, DM Keith Simmonds, and Alice Watson. They will be asking for your thoughts on these three sets of questions:

1. If you are or were a student, what brought you to CCS, and what kept you here? If you weren’t a student, what draws you and keeps you connected? How would you use that experience to encourage other students to enroll at CCS?
2. What are your hopes and fears for the future of diaconal ministry (Anglican or United)? How should CCS promote or adapt its program if our status as a testamur granting institution in Diaconal Ministry for the United Church were to change?
3. What are the unique strengths and gifts that CCS possesses? What steps should we take now to make them known and used by the wider community?

Your experience, ideas, and opinions matter! If we want to attract new students and grow our program, we need to understand what made CCS work for you – why you studied here, why you chose to be a Friend, why you stay connected.

The other stuff matters too – what we do with our money, where it comes from, how we manage it, ongoing matters of governance, a year in review about where we’ve come from and where we’re going. I look forward to hearing your voice and hearing your ideas about how to continue to offer our exceptional resources and experiences to God’s people in the Church and the wider world. Talk to you soon!

Circles Circles!

Principal Maylanne Maybee writes:

In the last two weeks I have participated in or thought about circles in a number of ways. Top of the list are the circles we encourage you to create in your home communities to participate in the Annual Meeting on the theme of Celebrations and Challenges, on Wednesday, February 29 (see below). Pre-registrations for the AGM are trickling in but we are hoping, waiting for an avalanche! The meeting will feature a presentation on “Attracting Students and Growing our Program”: we need your best ideas about how to do both so we can widen our Learning Circles!

The month began last Wednesday, February 1 with a staff retreat – not a workshop, but a way for the CCS staff team to be together in worship, prayer, and reflection. The idea for this came out of a staff day in November when we named our desire to experience worship that engaged the spirit and senses as well as the mind and voice. We asked Sandra Stewart, a spiritual director and Friend of CCS, to lead us in a day-long retreat at St. Charles Retreat Centre, a beautiful and peaceful riverside facility at the edge of Winnipeg.

Sandra introduced us to a process developed by Parker Palmer, drawing on his Quaker background, for bringing people together into “Circles of Trust”. It’s a simple process of listening and reflecting in small groups, often focusing on a “third thing”, such as a poem, or a piece of art, or music. 


One of our “third things” was to work together as a group, without speaking to each other, to create this mandala (a Sanskrit word from the Buddhist and Hindu tradition meaning “circle”, often an aid to meditation) with coloured sand, beads, shells, and stones.

I left the next day to attend a pre-conference workshop (in Las Vegas, Nevada!) where, by coincidence, this exercise of building “Circles of Trust” was used again, though in a different setting and among different people, as a way of learning how to discover, listen to, and live out of our “hidden wholeness”.

The conference itself was the annual meeting of Living Stones, a partnership of Anglican and Episcopal dioceses in Canada and the US who are committed to mutual sharing and learning through case studies presented by local teams. (There’s much more to say about this at another time.)

It so happens that we met in a Las Vegas hotel called Circus Circus– which brings us back “full circle” to the title of this piece: Circles Circles. May ours continue to widen and grow.

All About You – Dave Robinson

Dave Robinson is a former CCS student and a member of the CCS Communications and Promotions Committee.  He currently lives in Toronto with his spouse and daughter, working as Director of Congregational Development for the Diocese of Toronto.

In Dave’s Words:

“In September of 1985 I walked in the doors of the old CCS on Charles Street in Toronto as a passionate, if somewhat inexperienced, lay person with a passion for politics and youth ministry. In June of ’87 I walked out those doors with more confidence, somewhat bewildered but still passionate about politics and youth ministry and fully intending to come back and finish up a few things to complete my diploma as a Youth Ministry Specialist through CCS and the National Youth Ministry Unit of the Anglican Church. Somehow I never made it back……

I continued working at my 2^nd year field placement at Davenport-Perth Neighborhood Centre through the summer but was persuaded to apply for the position of Youth Worker at Flemingdon Park Ministry in the Don Mills and Eglinton area of Toronto. Much to my surprise I was offered the job and instead of being back on Charles Street I found myself immersed in community ministry in the most multi-cultural square-mile on the planet. It was a 3-year crash course in humility where the skills of reflection and analysis I had acquired were stretched to the max. In 1990 the community was impacted by crack cocaine, a brand-new street drug that completely re-wrote the social matrix of the community in 3 months. One of the casualties of this was me. On the verge of burnout, as the only youth worker in the community with no resources to deal with the new reality, I was offered the position of Consultant in Youth Ministry at the Diocese of Toronto…. It was a life-ring that I grabbed.

The seven years I spent in this position were awesome. I got to use my training and develop my skills as an educator, facilitator and consultant. The department I worked in was a team of life-long learners who had intentionally hired young, creative staff and mentored and encouraged us to develop our gifts in a praxis-based learning organization.  We had a good con-ed plan and we were strongly encouraged to diversify and expand our skills and to read and consult broadly. When I transitioned out of Youth Ministry in ’97 I took up a position in Congregational Development, helping parishes across the diocese to grow and thrive.

My present ministry title is Director of Congregational Development where I function as team leader and coach to a group of 5 staff and 35 high-judgment volunteers deployed across our Diocese consisting of about 220 parishes. Our focus is on building healthy, vital missional communities of hope and compassion. We have become international leaders in the implementation of Natural Church Development, pastoral transitions and mission-shaped congregational ministry. We are intensely engaged in experiments in Fresh Expressions of Church, trying to learn how God is calling us to be the Body of Christ in our neighborhoods.

It was somewhat stunning to realize that it’s been almost 25 years since I walked out of 77 Charles St., fully intending to come back and finish things up…. In many ways it feels like the work has been an extended field placement, I’m still learning, reflecting, experimenting, the spiral is hard-wired into all of us when we leave. It’s been great to give back a little bit recently since being recruited on to the communications committee. I’m looking forward to the 120^th celebrations this fall and hope to see a bunch of old friends and to learn where you seeking has taken you. Maybe I should have a conversation with Maylanne about finishing up a few things…..”