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Yellowstone Episcopal Ministries is a regional cluster of churches in the Diocese of Montana. We are four congregations, nestled between the city amenities of Billings and the beauty of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, supporting one another in life and ministry. We strive to seek Christ, share Christ, and serve Christ in all that we do.
Regional news and current events are listed below on this main page. For more information about our individual congregations, please click on one of the links in the sidebar to the left.
Thanks for stopping by; may God's peace be with you!
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(The following article is also printed in the May issue of Spiritual Ties. You may download a copy of the whole newsletter by clicking on the link in the column on the left.)
Last week, in the name of continuing education, I went to Salt Lake City for a conference. The focus of the conference was preaching, particularly the nature of preaching here in the western United States. The presentations gave me a lot of food for thought; but as often happens at this sort of event, I learned from others attending the seminar almost as much as I did from the presenters leading the sessions.
In one session, another pastor noted that good preaching is often the intersection of stories: the proclamation of God’s story, and the impact that has on our stories, yours and mine.
We all have stories, don’t we? The fabric of our lives is made up of dozens, even hundreds of them. We find them from major milestones like births, marriages and deaths, to minor tales of little moments of triumph or tragedy or just plain quirky behavior. In our family, there are a few stories that are so familiar that they don’t really need to be retold – a mere reference will earn an automatic laugh, or eye–roll, or cringe.
And yet, we retell them anyway. “Do you remember when...?” and we dive into the details, relishing the adventure anew each time.
Why do we bother? There are a couple of reasons, I think. First, it is how we know who we are, and where our place is in the world. We identify ourselves at least in part through shared experience with those who touch our lives – parents, siblings, friends and neighbors. The stories we tell show how we are like (or decidedly unlike!) one another. They show what we have in common and where we diverge. They help us to define ourselves.
Secondly, it’s how we get to know one another. By sharing our stories, we offer a bit of ourselves as a basis for connection. “I understand; something like that happened to me, too!” Or perhaps, “I’ve never thought about that before. Tell me more.” And in the telling and retelling, relationships are nurtured and grow.
So it is with our faith stories as well. We tell Bible stories, as well as the stories of our own faith journeys, over and over again. In the telling of events large and small, we make these stories part of our own. We are shaped by them in ways we cannot even see. We identify ourselves as Christian disciples, and define who, and Whose, we are. Then we pass them along and build connections, adding others to the grand narrative of God’s beloved people. Yep – it’s all part of God’s story, too.
So, what are some of your faith stories? Try telling one today. “Once upon a time…”
God's peace,
Jane+
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Dear Friends in Christ,
It seems fitting that our annual meetings happen during the season after Epiphany. The name for this season comes from a Greek word meaning “reveal,” and revelation of Jesus as “God with Us” is indeed emphasized during these few weeks. On the Sundays we have our meetings in this region, the Gospel readings tell us: of the Baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River, and the descent of the Holy Spirit as a dove upon him, identifying him as the Son of God; of Jesus’ invitation to his first disciples to “come and see,” and their recognition of him as Messiah; and finally, of the Transfiguration on the Mount, and Jesus’ miraculous visit with Moses and Abraham, patriarchs of the faith.
So, you might ask, how do our annual meetings fit into this season of revelation? In comparison to these stories, what we do as we gather together seems mundane. We worship together, as we do every Sunday. We enjoy a good meal, and spend some time visiting with one another. We elect vestry members and convention delegates, and we look at our budget for the upcoming year. All very normal… very prosaic… very much business as usual.
Well, yes… and no. The thing to remember is, that all of those events in Jesus’ life also began as “normal” days. Ritual cleansing was common practice, then as now, in the Jewish tradition, and there were an untold number of others being baptized that day in the Jordan River. Meeting new friends, and hanging out together, was as commonplace then as it is now. It’s also not so unusual-- especially in Montana!-- for a group of friends to spend a day hiking up a mountain. It was only as the “normal” was enacted, in the presence of Jesus and with intentional focus on God, that things started to happen. And even then, sometimes the significance of the moment (as it was with the gathering of the disciples) was really only apparent in hindsight.
And so it is with us. I look back at the past year—our first full year together, yours and mine—and I see both challenges and gifts, “normal” things that we take for granted, that have made a difference for us.
The challenges we know only too well. Though attendance has been steady, we are smaller in numbers than we would like to be. Finances are tight, as we continue in the 5-year process of reducing our aid from the diocese, and becoming financially independent. It is sometimes too easy to focus on these things, and fret about what the future holds. It is too easy to get so caught up in our concern for maintenance that we lose sight of our mission.
At the same time, we do have much for which to be thankful, and to rejoice. Every one of our churches is supported by faithful leadership: any number of caring souls who serve in a variety of ways, to make sure the doors are open, and the church is ready for worship, and who support our mission and ministry with generous giving, and the even more precious commodity of their time.
We also are blessed by the presence and example of those among us who serve God outside the doors—which is where important witness happens. That’s the business we are in as a church, remember—“equipping the saints for ministry.” We are fed and strengthened here for the purpose of going out into the world in witness and in service.
And so, in this season of revelation, we begin again. We renew our baptismal vows. We choose our leaders, take stock of our gifts, and look forward. Where do we go from here? What is our purpose? This discernment is harder—we don’t have the benefit of clarity that we have in looking back. It’s an adventure, a stepping out in faith, trusting that God will be watching over us, that Jesus will be present among us, and that the Holy Spirit will guide us.
So, how do we do this? What is our call, living as Christians in this region? I would invite you to consider a threefold approach to that question.
First, we Seek Christ. We spend time in prayer, in worship, in study. We look for the presence of God in our lives, and in the life and work of the church community. We learn to identify were we see the Holy Spirit at work among us. Where do we see the power and presence and peace of God, living and active? And where is it notably absent – in our church, our communities, our world?
Secondly, we Share Christ. You’ve heard me say it before: it is not necessary to stand on a street corner waving a wiggly Bible in the air to do this. But what if we learn to talk about what we see and know, of the presence of God within and among us? What if we articulate our faithful reasons for doing the work we do, in church and community? Someone recently told me that the “spirituality stuff” was my job and Randy’s, as clergy. With the best will in the world my friends, that is incorrect. It is our job as Christians, all together. How can we do it better?
Thirdly, we Serve Christ. Of course, we look for opportunities to help those less fortunate, in our local communities, and beyond. And hopefully we are intentional about our support of the church, in time and in money, giving back to God’s work out of the abundance God has given us. But beyond that… what if we make the commitment to make our faith a priority in all we do? What if we were to live as though God’s reign on earth were real and present, here and now?
Seek Christ. Share Christ. Serve Christ. If this is our focus, and we make the intentional choice to live in this way, God will be revealed in and through us—and there’s no telling what might happen next.
God’s peace,
Jane+
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We have begun a newsletter here in the region, to help us keep up with what is going on in our churches and communities here. We will distribute it the first week of each month in a variety of ways. Printed copies may be picked up at each church on Sunday; any remaining will be mailed to members who are away that week. Electronic copies are emailed around the diocese and posted to here to our website. You may access and download each issue, by selecting the "Spiritual Ties" forum in the left column.
If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please share them with Fr. Randy, our intrepid editor.
Happy reading!
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