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Meditation from President Ferlo
Creator of all things
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. Genesis 1:1-3
My wife, Anne, is an artist. She makes things from other things. She calls it cutting and pasting. It's different from the kind of cutting and pasting I'm used to.  |
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I'm a writer of sorts. I cut and paste in pixels. Anne uses paper and scissors and glue, the kind of glue you stir in a pot. She cuts random cuts of paper into more attractive cuts, and then assembles them on poster board. She glues them down in patterns that sometimes she plans, and sometimes she doesn't, but when she doesn't she usually shifts things around anyway and what emerges looks like she planned it, sort of on the fly. What you see here is an image that Anne created the other day. I take a bit of credit for that bit of flaming orange, only because I happened to pick up a bright scrap that attracted me and wondered whether it might change the way the darkness looked.
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Dialogue for Understanding and Unity
Dr. Titus Presler on Christian-Muslim Relations in Pakistan
 On behalf of the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus and with generous hospitality from the people of All Saints Episcopal Church, New Albany, Ohio, Bexley Seabury hosted the 12th Annual Lecture on World Religions and Interreligious Dialogue on April 13.
The Rev. Canon Dr. Titus Presler offered an insider's perspective on the c hallenges and opportunities in Christian-Muslim relations in Pakistan. His presentation was based on first-hand experience gained as principal (president) of Edwardes College in Peshawar.
The Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus is a collaborative effort of Bexley Seabury, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Pontifical College Josephinum, and Trinity Lutheran Seminary.
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Open Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors
Initiating new partnerships to broaden our community
 In preparation for our move to Chicago Theological Seminary's Hyde Park/Woodlawn campus in July, Recruiter Jaime Briceño has been busy meeting and scheduling meetings with bishops in Province 5 of the Episcopal Church, and reaching out to alums. Last week, he was
in Phoenix for the Association of Theological Schools student personnel administrators conference. The theme of the conference was "Creating Holistic and Seamless Learning Environments in Student Affairs."
Jaime is available to talk to any prospective student -- or anyone who may wish to refer a colleague or friend -- whether the individual is interested in pursuing degree or non-degree studies. Jaime can be reached at this email or by calling 773-380-7045.
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"...rejoice with joy and singing."
Giving thanks, Eastertide 2016
 As the worldwide church celebrates a new season of joy in the risen Christ, we at Bexley Seabury give thanks for all the ways you have inspired and propelled our work. THANK YOU.
We are deeply grateful for your past contributions to our annual fund. With your renewed support, we have an exciting road ahead. If haven't already offered a 2016 Eastertide gift, please make a contribution online...or call Susan Quigley at 708-380-6785 to charge a gift to your credit card...or mail a check to the address below.
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Every contribution makes a difference, and will be recognized.
THANK YOU.
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Bexley Seabury | 8765 West Higgins Road, Suite 650 | Chicago IL 60631
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Collaborative Leadership
Continuing our participation in ECF's Vital Teams Leadership Colloquium
For two days last week, April 12-13, the Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) convened its 2nd annual Vital Teams Leadership Colloquium at the Cathedral Center of St. Paul in Los Angeles.
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Bexley Seabury, among the returning institutions, was represented by Suzann Holding (standing, far left), shown here with other Vital Teams leaders and ECF staff members.
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The forum gathers leaders who play a key role in forming other leaders -- through seminaries, local leadership institutes, and dioceses. Dialogue is focused on creating relationships and creating change in order to more effectively prepare leaders
for ministry. More broadly, the group aims to build a church-wide culture where team leadership skills are valued.
Bexley Seabury was pleased to be re-invited for 2016, one of nine participating institutions. We were again represented by Director of Lifelong Theological Education and Doctor of Ministry Program Suzann Holding. Asked what she found most valuable, Suzann highlighted:
- Building relationships. The colloquium contributed to new or stronger ties with representatives of Bloy House, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, ChurchNext, the Episcopal Dioceses of Colorado and Minnesota, General Theological Seminary, Kemper School for Ministry, and Virginia Theological Seminary.
- Sharing ideas. Participants discussed how each of their institutions are addressing team/collaborative leadership in their contexts. The group identified common challenges and opportunities, and developed collaborative action plans to work out solutions.
- Receiving updates on new resources. The ECF team offered a status report on their pilot initiative to develop new training, partnership-building, and selection tools to support and extend the work of the colloquium. Full launch is scheduled for 2017.
A follow-up online meeting is planned for colloquium participants in fall 2016.
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Re-thinking Church, Re-making Community
Jesus has left the building...have we?
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Missional Voices 2016 Artist-in-Residence Todd Thomas, sponsored by Bexley Seabury, is flanked by Jason Fout and Suzann Holding.
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Two days were barely sufficient to get acquainted with the world of possibilities that emerged at the Missional Voices 2016 conference, April 15 and 16 at Virginia Theological Seminary. As Bexley Seabury representatives Suzann Holding and Jason Fout discovered, the forum more than delivered on its goal of inspiring new ways to be church.
The conference probed ways to transform ministry by exiting worship spaces, offices, and classrooms, and moving into our neighborhoods. Fresh Expressions of Church (Diocese of Southern Ohio), Laundry Love (Diocese of Los Angeles) and The Abbey community coffee shop (Diocese of Alabama) are a few of the innovative ministries that the group learned about.
Artist-in-Residence sponsored by Bexley Seabury Sheds New Light
With support from Bexley Seabury, Todd Thomas served as artist-in-residence for the two days.
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Todd created this piece as the Eucharistic Prayers was spoken. His tablet was projected so everyone could see his work in progress.
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Using imagery, color, and words, Todd did what one might call a simultaneous translation of his experience of the conference, both distilling and illuminating new ideas as participants learned about them, and considered how the ideas might apply in their own communities.
Through Twitter and projections during live-streamed sessions and worship, Todd shared his creations well beyond the confines of the conference. See more of Todd's images here
Friday Night Incubator Sessions
The value of exploration and discovery were demonstrated throughout the program. On the first
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Collagers creating.
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night of the conference, participants were encouraged to step away from
business as usual by choosing an incubator session designed to help the day's presentations percolate in activities that promote connection and creativity. Yoga, music, collage, painting, zen doodle, sculpture, creative writing and contemplative prayer groups formed to help everyone process the day.
 Suzann spent her incubator time collaging. You can see at right how well she captured the spirit of the conference -- and the spirit of Bexley Seabury!
Asked for his takeaway, Jason reported, "I found the conference inspiring, moving, and hopeful. I was heartened by the energy for the gospel and the possibilities for creative engagement with our communities. I was also heartened by the diverse, engaged, creative, faithful (and often quite young!) leaders in our midst. I'm already looking forward to the next conference, set for April 2017."
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APPLY NOW for Bexley Seabury Leadership Institute
at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management
Meets in Chicago June 20-22 or June 20-24 -- apply by May 2
 Insight and information you can apply to any ministry setting. Our 6th annual Bexley Seabury Leadership Institute offers a wealth of opportunities for lay and ordained leaders who want to make a difference. Participants will learn best practices and how to assemble an array of practical tools for leading and following; the art of difficult conversations; stewarding your resources; leveraging generational differences and other relevant -- and timely -- topics. Content will be probed in lectures, interactive exercises, and free-wheeling dialogue. Year after year, this innovative program draws participants from across the country and from multiple faith traditions, and prompts rave reviews. Choose from 3-day and 5-day institute options. If 2016 isn't your year to participate, please share this opportunity with colleagues or friends. NOTE TO PAST PARTICIPANTS: new case studies and field research are incorporated into the curriculum as they emerge, and topics change each year. If you benefited from your past participation, our 2016 institute may be an opportunity for you to refresh and go deeper.
INTERESTED? It's easy to APPLY ONLINE.
QUESTIONS? Contact Suzann Holding, director of lifelong theological education and Doctor of Ministry program at 773-380-6784.
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May 2 Deadline to Register for June Term
4 courses in Chicago, 3 from $475 -- all close May 2nd
 NOT FOR DMIN STUDENTS ONLY... Our June term has lots in store for DMin in Congregational Studies students, but ALSO for anyone interested in strategies and practical tools to:
strengthen leadership skills * empower teams * develop more meaningful relationships with partners and allies * better understand Jesus' teachings * advance God's mission
Choose from four 5-day intensive courses -- or combine several. Any course may be taken for academic credit ($1,620) and all but one may be taken for continuing education credit ($400) or enrichment ($375).
- June 6-10...Dwight Zsheile will lead "Congregations in the 21st Century," which focuses on ways to renew congregational identity and bring new vitality to community life.
- June 13-17...John Dally will lead "Forming Gospel-Shaped Mission," an examination of the four canonical gospels as missional documents intended to reveal what each of the authors' communities were sent to be and do.
- June 13-17...Barbara Wilson will lead "Community Organizing for Missional Living," an opportunity to develop relational leadership skills and learn how to engage colleagues and neighbors in uniting on shared values and leading change.
- June 20-24... Roger Ferlo, Suzann Holding and faculty from the Northwestern University Kellogg School will lead "Non-Profit Management and Leadership," an extension of the three-day institute (see previous story) that emphasizes blending best practices with becoming a more confident and effective leader. NOTE: Offered for academic credit only.
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8 Days Until Chicago Convocation 2016
RESERVE NOW for Thursday, April 28
If you will be in the Chicago metro area on Thursday, April 28, please spend at least part of the afternoon or early evening with us at St. James Commons, 65 East Huron. We'll gather there from 2 to 7 PM for TELLING IT FRESH, Chicago Convocation 2016.
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Roger Ferlo
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____ 2:00 WORKSHOP:
Forming Leaders for a Re-forming Church
President Roger Ferlo will lead a candid conversation on some of the challenges and opportunities that confront emerging church leaders -- and all who are helping them to prepare for ministry. The workshop will meet in the Gallery of St. James Commons.
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Ellen Wondra
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____ 3:00 WORKSHOP:
Authority and Power: Things Seen and Unseen
Whatever "church" means to you and whatever role you play, our second workshop is likely to pose new questions and new possibilities. Bexley Seabury Professor Ellen Wondra and University of Chicago Professor David Tracy consider how authority and power operate -- tacitly, informally
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David Tracy
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and symbolically. This conversation between two longtime colleagues and friends will be moderated by Bexley Seabury Associate Professor and Acting Academic Dean Jason Fout.
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4:00 KEYNOTE:
Of Pearls and Prodigals: Hearing Jesus' Parables
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Jason Fout
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Our featured presenter, Vanderbilt Divinity School and College of Arts and Sciences Professor Amy-Jill Levine, will shine light on how parables were heard in the first century, how misunderstandings of Jesus' Jewish culture create misinterpretations of the parables, and how imagining their original meaning provides new, provocative and challenging messages applicable for today.
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Amy-Jill Levine
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5:30 FESTAL EVENSONG at St. James Cathedral, offered in thanksgiving for Ellen Wondra and her scholarship, pedagogy, leadership and service to the church on the occasion of her retirement from Bexley Seabury. ____ 6:00-7:00 RECEPTION at St. James Commons.
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On and Off Campus
Jim Harrison (Seabury-Western '10) has been called as rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Appleton, Wis. Jim is currently rector of Transfiguration Episcopal Church in Indian River, Mich. He starts at All Saints on May 2, and will preside at his first Eucharist there on May 8. Congratulations, Jim!
Lauren McDonald (Seabury-Western '08), campus chaplain at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va., was featured in a recent article in The Captain's Log,
student publication at CNU. To check out the entire story see this link at The Captain's Log
Andrew Kunihito Shirota (Seabury-Western '09) has
been called as priest in charge at St. Paul's Episcopal Church
in Louisville, Ky.
 Hope Benko (Seabury-Western '06), has been named
director of enrollment at Seminary of the Southwest effective June 1, 2016. Hope currently serves at All Saints' Episcopal School in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is upper and middle school chaplain teaches religion. Her husband, Andrew Benko, is a 2006 MTS graduate of Seabury-Western. For the full story, see this link
Faculty Jason Fout traveled to Durham, England for the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Theology, April 2-7.
On April 3, Roger Ferlo was guest preacher at a Choral Evensong at St. James Cathedral, Chicago. The service paid homage to William Shakespeare, part of Shakespeare 400 Chicago, a year-long celebration of the 400th anniversary of the author's death.
Katherine Louise ( Burlingame ) Nestrock (Seabury-Western '71), wife of the Rev. Frederick R. Nestrock (Seabury-Western '70) died peacefully on April 4 at her home in Waterford, Mich. She and Fred had been married just short of 45 years. Both have worked in parishes in Provinces 1, 11, and 5 throughout the last 45 years. Funeral plans are still pending with burial at Christ Church, Westerly R.I., planned for sometime in May.
 The Very Rev. Charles Taylor (Bexley Hall '79) died suddenly April 16 at this cottage on Chenango Lake in upstate New York, when a large branch fell from a tree he was pruning and struck his head. Chuck's wife, Donna, found him too late. A faithful and respected priest of three parishes in the Diocese of Central New York -- St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, New Berlin, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, South New Berlin, and Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Norwich -- and the Dean of that district, Chuck was about to begin his much anticipated retirement. A memorial service will be held April 22. More information
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