happening at all souls
All Souls Church, Bolivia.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
So begins the traditional welcoming of a bishop to one of his parishes, with the hollow thud of wooden staff against the wood of the closed narthex doors. At the start of the Sunday morning worship and holy communion service, 10 August 2008, our clergy and wardens opened the doors to welcome the Rt Rev Frank Lyons, Bishop of La Iglesia Episcopal Anglicana de Bolivia, and seat him in the chancel for the first time as our own bishop as well. Bishop Lyons is well known to us at All Souls. He was with us at our very first service four years ago, and has visited us often since then. It was only more recently, though, that he has been at liberty to take on oversight of our congregation and clergy, and to receive us into the Anglican Church of Bolivia. This temporary measure keeps us as part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and provides us with continued godly episcopal oversight until such a time as the Communion establishes a new orthodox Anglican province here in North America. We thank God for Bishop Lyons' ministry to us.
We also thank God for our time in the Anglican Mission in the Americas, and for its bishops who watched over us during our early years as a congregation. Through them we've made friends around the world, including with the Diocese of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and Bishop Geoffrey Rwubussissi. God has allowed us to play a part in the life of that diocese, and its people have in turn blessed us greatly. We look forward to continued friendship and collaboration with them for many years to come.
We also look forward to continued partnership with our local AMiA congregations, and indeed with all of our sister Anglican churches in the Common Cause Partnership. We rejoice in this new phase in the life of our own congregation, now as part of the Anglican Church of Bolivia.
The least of my brothers
98th Street on the west side of Cleveland was once a tidy and quiet working-class neighborhood. But, in a story repeated all across urban America, a changing economy, shifting demographics, and a freeway overpass cut the heart out of the community, leaving it a rundown dilapidated shadow of its former self. In July 2008 ten of our youth and six adults drove to Cleveland to participate in All Souls first summer youth mission trip. Partnering with the Nehemiah Mission of Cleveland, they labored to clean up and restore yards and houses along 98th Street whose owners had given up on keeping them in good repair. That's right; our young people worked hard for an entire week painting, weeding, building - whatever needed to be done to help restore a sense of civic pride to a downtrodden neighborhood. The work was difficult, but fortunately, the laborers were sufficient to accomplish a lot of work which will help the Nehemiah Mission to bring light into dark areas, and to be the body of Christ in the city of Cleveland. Thank you so much for your prayers and support, and we look forward to doing this again next year!
Our young people planned this trip in order to serve others, not to get anything out of it for themselves. Yet, they found that you can't help but grow when serving the Lord. As a group they grew closer together, learning to work with each other in less than ideal situations. Each person on the trip also got to learn more and more what it means to truly serve God with right actions and with right hearts, as well. The week is best summed up in what Jesus said in a parable in Matthew 25: "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least my brothers, you did it to me." That was the spirit of the trip, and a lesson learned to stay with each participant for the rest of their lives.
