May 2015 | In This Issue
"Where is that Fire..." from President Ferlo
Giving Thanks
Congratulations to the Class of 2015
June Term an Overachiever
JOIN US in Salt Lake City
Fall 2016 Study Opportunities
A Pentecost Seminary
On Campus & Beyond
Update Your Email Address

"Where is that Fire..."
President Ferlo on Pentecost 

"Where is that fire that once descended on thy apostles?" (George Herbert)

There has been another Pew survey released, once again noting the steady decline in the number of Americans who self-identify as Christians, let alone religious. We are getting used to such reports, I suppose. The temptation is to lament our own failures as Christians in spreading the good news, and perhaps for some of us simply to get used to the fact that we are in a steadily dwindling minority-that's at least the tack the various media pundits expect us to take.

Giving Thanks
Chicago Convocation 2015: learning, fellowship, and prayer   

The April 29 gathering of the Bexley Seabury community -- alumni/alumnae, supporters, and friends -- for Chicago Convocation 2015 was a blessing on all fronts. We give thanks for:

  • warm hospitality offered by the Diocese of Chicago
  • the thrill of paging through historic prayer books, Bibles and psalters so generously shared by collector Michael Morgan
  • touching reflections and engaging questions from all who participated in the two workshops and keynote presentation
  • all that Scott Gunn challenged us to do--on social media and otherwise--in response to Jesus' Great Commission
  • celebrating a joyous day with Evensong led by Kara Wagner Sherer, Beau Suratt, and Todd Young
  • reconnecting and regaling one another over refreshments
  • everyone who participated and orchestrated the day's events

Watch for our annual magazine, published this summer, for more highlights and a copy of Scott's timely and enlightening keynote address. 

 

   

Congratulations to the Class of 2015
Commencement set for May 23 for five Bexley Seabury students

L-R: Professor KJ Oh; MDiv student Maggie Leidheiser-Stoddard; graduating MDiv seniors Robert Samuel Hill, Whitney Bousman Smith, and Gene Alan (AJ) Stack Jr.;
and Dean Tom Ferguson . 

On May 13, continuing a tradition that dates to 1927, MDiv seniors received their crosses at the community eucharist -- one of the last preparations for graduation. Commencement is set for Saturday, May 23. Please pray for all students receiving diplomas this year.

Not pictured (though equally feted) are Maureen Nicole Elliott and Nancy Louise Woodworth-Hill, both slated to received a Diploma in Anglican Studies. Please pray for all students at any level who are receiving diplomas and making decisions about their next steps.

> To learn more about the Bexley Seabury MDiv or to refer a potential student,
   contact Tom Ferguson 
> To learn more about the Bexley Seabury Diploma in Anglican Studies or DMin program,
   contact Suzann Holding

June Term an Overachiever     

More students and more diversity for enriched learning

 
Click the image above to download our course offerings brochure.
WE'RE EAGERLY awaiting 56 students who will be with us for the 2015 June term. Folks with a wide range of experiences and learning interests are coming from across the country. With four courses, classes meeting on our Chicago campus plus downtown (at St. James Commons and Northwestern University) -- and staff reaching out and recruiting at General Convention -- June is going to be an extremely busy and rewarding month!

It will be an honor to welcome:
  • MDiv students
  • our 2015 entering class of DMin students as well as continuing DMin students
  • eight students -- five priests and three lay persons in the deaconal formation process -- from the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, one of our partners in diocesan clergy formation
  • additional students earning CEUs plus others auditing for enrichment
  • people representing 17 states, A-to-V (Arkansas to Virginia), Pacific to Atlantic coasts, Great Lakes to the Florida Gulf
Join our 2015 Fall term community --

 

JOIN US in Salt Lake City for General Convention     

Help us reach out and offer fellowship and hospitality

Must credit Dana Sohm
Salt Lake City (photo by Dana Sohm)
THANK YOU to all who have already stepped forward to help us connect with deputies and others at General Convention 2015 in Salt Lake City.

Be part of our outreach and hospitality crew. Convention will meet June 25 through July 3 and Bexley Seabury staff, faculty and friends will be on hand to recruit students, connect with alumnae and alumni, and live into our mission as a seminary beyond walls.  

 

If you plan to participate in Salt Lake City -- or if you are able to add General Convention to your schedule -- please consider these opportunities to reconnect and strengthen our presence:

  • SIGN UP to serve as a booth representative 
  • BE A GREETER at our Tuesday, June 30 reception, 7:30 to 9 p.m.
  • MIX & MINGLE at the June 30 reception ($25 per person)

To say "yes" to any of the above, contact Lynn Bowers by email

Fall 2015 Study Opportunities

Register by August 17 for credit or for enrichment

  

Interested in knowing the four gospels better and understanding them as community action plans?
Want to know more about the differences from one Christian tradition to another? Want to delve into the history and development of the Episcopal Church? These are just a few of the courses available this fall.

Think of all you might learn about:
> Anglican and Episcopal History with Tom Ferguson
> Ecclesiology and Ecumenism with Ellen Wondra
> Forming Gospel-Shaped MIssion with John Dally
> Field Education Seminar with KJ Oh
> Liturgy & Music: Development and Theology with Jason Fout
> Anglican Formation with KJ Oh
> Pastoral Offices with Valerie Bailey Fischer
> Canon Law with Ellen Wondra

To learn more and to register, follow the links above. Each of these courses is available for academic credit ($1,620), continuing education units ($400), and enrichment/no credit ($375), except for Canon Law ($540) which is offered exclusively online and not-for-credit.

For information about more 2015-2016 course offerings, download our brochure 

A Pentecost Seminary  

In appreciation of all the ways you support Bexley Seabury

We celebrate the Pentecost event this month on Sunday, May 24. The Holy Spirit dramatically alit on the sequestered apostles.

 

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly ... All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each."  (Acts 2: 1,4-6)

 

In this formative event of The Church, boundaries of language dropped away, even as faithful people from many nations and cultures gathered together. From its beginning The Church has burst seams thought to hem it in.

           

God has always refused to have a fixed address; "the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands." (Acts 7:48) And the Spirit has sent the People of God moving again and again.  

 "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor." (Deuteronomy 26:5)

 

In quite a real way, that migrant spirit is part of Bexley Seabury. "Bexley Seabury is called to be a 21st century seminary beyond walls," our vision statement recognizes. So in that, as in other ways, we are a Pentecost seminary.

 

Your support for us continues this ancient, contemporary vein.

 

"When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year (which is the year of the tithe), giving it to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows, so that they may eat their fill within your towns, then you shall say before the Lord your God: 'I have removed the sacred portion from the house, and I have given it to the Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows, in accordance with your entire commandment that you commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor forgotten any of your commandments." (Deuteronomy 26: 12)

 

Conrad Selnick

Vice President for Advancement and Church Relations

 

Contribute online

On Campus & Beyond 

Students & Graduates

Congratulations to Bexley Seabury senior Gene Alan (AJ) Stack Jr. on receiving the 2015 Philander Chase Leadership Award. God willing, AJ will be ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacons along with former classmate Jennifer Oldstone-Moore by Bexley Seabury Director Tom Breidenthal, bishop of Southern Ohio, on June 6. 

 

JOIN US in Columbus Saturday, May 23 for 2015 Commencement. The commencement eucharist preacher will be the Rev. Dr. Lisa Dahill, associate professor of Worship and Christian Spirituality at Trinity Lutheran Seminary. The commencement speaker will be Dr. Diane L. Jacobson, director of the ELCA Book of Faith Initiative. For information contact Shirla Langknecht 

 

Congratulations to Ciritta "Cricket" Park (Bexley Hall '06), installed May 9 as the seventh rector of The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Bethesda, Md.

 

Congratulations to Shaun Andrew LaDuc (Bexley Hall '12) and Shawn Evan Dickerson (Bexley Seabury '14), ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests on May 14 and 15, respectively.

 

Lizbeth Tulloch (Bexley Seabury '13) was featured in the Spring 2015 issue of "Church Life," the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio magazine. Lizbeth is serving the Anglican Diocese of Belize as a deacon, working with the Council of Churches to establish an ecumenical chaplaincy program focused on helping people with basic health issues. 

 

Faculty

Ellen Wondra presented a webinar for the Scholar Priest Initiative on Wednesday, May 20 on the theology and practice of authority. View Ellen's session on the Scholar-Priest Initiative Google+ page and learn about upcoming offerings.  

May 20, 2015 Google+ Hangout w EWondra
Click on the image to visit the Scholar-Priest Initiative website.

Visit Bexley Seabury on Facebook (and "LIKE" our page!) and
follow us on Twitter @BexleySeabury to learn of similar opportunities in the future and be in conversation.

Tom Ferguson and Jason Fout have each been awarded Conant Grants for 2015-2016. Faculty at the 10 official Episcopal seminaries may apply for grants to support research, writing, and course development.

Board of Directors

Director Tom Breidenthal is one of four nominees for Presiding Bishop. Please join us in congratulating Tom on this honor and in offering prayers for Tom, his family, and the people of the Diocese of Southern Ohio.

Two new directors have been elected to the Bexley Seabury Federation Board of Directors.
  • Jan Saik, whose husband Bob is an alumnus (Bexley Seabury '13), lives in Mesa, Ariz., where Bob is rector of Church of the Transfiguration. Jan is a full time volunteer at the church, and audited most of Bob's classes at seminary. She has a BA in psychology and an MBA with concentrated studies in management. Church-wise, Jan sings in the choir, has served on vestry, and has chaired stewardship and personnel committees.
  • J. Robert (Bob) Lind Jr. of Winnetka, Ill. has 30 years experience in the municipal bond market, most recently as manager of a $500 million portfolio of high-yield municipal bonds at Deutsche Bank, AG. Bob is a principal of Lind Capital Partners, LLC, in Northfield, Ill.  He is active at Christ Church, Winnetka, where he is a former senior warden. Bob has a BA in history and an MBA in finance and accounting.  
  Four directors retired from the board at the May 14-15 meeting:
  • The Rev. J. Stephen Bergmann (Bexley Hall '68), who also served on the Bexley Hall Board;
  • The Rt. Rev. C. Christopher Epting (Seabury-Western '72), retired bishop of Iowa, who now serves as assistant bishop in the Diocese of Chicago;
  • The Rev. Darby Oliver Everhard (Bexley Hall '04), rector of St. Paul's, Winston-Salem, NC; and
  • Mr. James Gladden, an Evanston, Ill. resident who previously served for many years as chancellor of Seabury-Western. 

Host Diocese
Episcopal Diocese of CHicago logo Congratulations to Shoemaker Fellows-Diocese of Chicago lay and clergy leaders-awarded scholarships for the Bexley Seabury courses. The scholarships will support the recipients' tuition for the Bexley Seabury Leadership Institute at the Kellogg School, June 15-17, or our  June 15-19 "Non-Profit Management and Leadership" course.The 2015 Shoemaker Fellows are: Debra Bullock (Seabury-Western '06), Thomas Camell, Bryan Cones, Victor Conrado, Lisa Hackney (Seabury-Western '03), Bill Nesbit (Seabury-Western '96), Dean Niedenthal, Katherine Spelman, Beau Surratt, Kristin White (Seabury-Western '09), and Robert Wyatt (Seabury-Western '71).
 
MANY THANKS to the Diocese of Chicago for providing classroom space for our "Community Organizing for Missional Living" course which meets June 15-19 at St. James Commons, and for offering out-of-town students convenient and comforting accommodations at the Nichols Center.

Church at Large
Have an interest in the catechumenate as DMin student and alumna Debra Bullock (Seabury-Western '06) does? Join her at the 2015 gathering of the North American Association for the Catechumenate, "Transforming Congregations Through Spiritual Practice: Creating a Discipleship Community," July 30-Aug. 1 at Bon Secours Spiritual Center, 30 minutes from Baltimore. Paul Hoffman and Jessicah Duckworth are featured speakers.
More information   
 

 

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