View from the Print Shop: August 2012

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Resolution on Structure for the Diocese of Indianapolis

Here's the final text of the Resolution on Structure for the Diocese of Indianapolis I have submitted via .doc, .pdf, e-mail, and fax. Yeah, seriously, fax. Let this post be a witness that I made the deadline. Feedback still welcome as this can (and likely will) be amended on the floor of Diocesan Convention in October.

A reminder: this resolution borrows liberally from the C095 resolution; feel free to borrow from this, as appropriate, for your own purposes.

--

Resolved, that the 175^th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis affirms Resolution C095, Structural Reform, adopted by the 77^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church;

And be it further

Resolved, that this Convention urge all members of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis to pray regularly for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be upon the Task Force so established for the duration of its work, commending the Prayer for the Church found on page 816 of the Book of Common Prayer as a useful example;

And be it further

Resolved, that the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis commit itself and its officers to open and prompt sharing of information and expertise with the Task Force if and when so called;

And be it further

Resolved, that the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis believes that just as the Holy Spirit is urging the Episcopal Church to reimagine itself, so is the Holy Spirit also urging all of the constituent members of the church to reimagine themselves, through the conversion of individual hearts, parishes, and dioceses to more faithfully

Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
Teach, baptize, and nurture new believers
Respond to human need by loving service
Seek to transform unjust structures of society
Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth;

And be it further

Resolved, that this Convention, under the legislative powers vested in it by the Constitution of the Diocese of Indianapolis IV.4.(c) create a committee whose purpose is to

Study scripture and pray for God’s continual blessing upon the whole church and especially God’s people in the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis
Engage in theological and historical reflection on the Diocese as the organizing unit of Christ’s church
Make itself available to the Task Force established by C095 as fellow travelers in discernment of the will of God for the church
Engage in appreciative inquiry of the programs, activities, and outreach of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, obtaining the wisdom, perspectives, and expertise of others throughout the Diocese, including those not often heard from
Discern a shared vision for the mission and ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, and the relationship among the diocese and its constituent missions, parishes, and other bodies that reflects the love of Jesus Christ and the theology and polity of the Episcopal Church
Develop recommendations for the Diocese and its constituent missions, parishes, and other bodies to achieve that vision together, with God’s help
Deliver an interim report to the 176^th Diocesan Convention and a final report to the 177^th Diocesan Convention, the latter to be published no later than the Feast of the Transfiguration, 2014 (August 6), on its discernment findings and recommendations, with such reports also to be made freely and contemporaneously available online, along with such resolutions as may be necessary to implement those recommendations;

And be it further

Resolved, that the committee be composed of at least eight and no more than twelve members, to be selected by the Executive Council through an open nominations process, that the members of the committee be named no later than the Feast of the Confession of St. Peter the Apostle (January 18, 2013), that the committee select its own chair and other officers, and that the members represent the diversity of the diocese in geography, demographics, talents, and order of ministry, and include those at a critical distance from the power structures of the Diocese;

And be it further

Resolved, that the Executive Council, using the powers granted to it by the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, make such resources available to the committee as are necessary to enable this resolution to be implemented energetically and successfully, “…for surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Explanation:

The 77^th General Convention in Indianapolis unanimously passed Resolution C095, Structural Reform, to reimagine the structure of the Episcopal Church, noting:

The administrative and governance structures of The Episcopal Church have grown over the years so that they now comprise approximately 47% of the churchwide budget and sometimes hinder rather than further this Church’s engagement in God’s mission. Reform is urgently needed to facilitate this Church’s strategic engagement in mission and allow it to more fully live into its identity as the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society in a world that has changed dramatically over the years but that also presents extraordinary missional opportunity.

The General Convention chartered a task force to develop a vision to restructure the high level structures of the Episcopal Church for a changed environment, the be presented at the 78^th General Convention in 2015.

This resolution establishes a similar committee in the Diocese of Indianapolis.

The Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, along with many other dioceses of the church, faces a challenge. Our parishes are committed to engaging in mission and ministry to the communities around them and to people in need far away. But not everything is working – from 2000 to 2010, average Sunday attendance in the diocese fell by 19.8%. Our diocesan structures are little changed in response.

As ever, the Holy Spirit calls us to be a missional church, spreading the Good News of Jesus and doing God’s work in the world. A process of prayer, self-examination and discernment is necessary to hear God’s call to us for how we must change to empower our parishes, missions, and members to boldly, energetically, and creatively proclaim the Gospel in the world through word and deeds.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A Draft Resolution Supporting C095? Help, Please.

I'm drafting a resolution to do a re-visioning process in the Diocese of Indianapolis, in parallel with the Task Force established by resolution C095 (which...if you're going to read further, you should open it right now, because you'll want to refer back to it. I make no apologies for borrowing from it liberally). I'm interested in constructive feedback, particularly anything that points out where I might have violated the rules I posted yesterday.

I'm also concerned about anything that might undermine the work of the Task Force, so I'm interested in any thoughts on that issue -- though generally I think that a church wide visioning process is more likely to be supporting than interfering. Nonetheless that's the reason I set August 6, 2014 as the deadline for the reporting of my proposed committee's work, so it would be out there for a few months before the C095 Task Force's final deadline of November, 2014.

I'm definitely seeking ideas for how a committee might be chosen at the diocesan level.

Finally -- I'm under deadline! This is totally my fault, but resolution deadlines are coming down on the Diocese of Indianapolis right now. This puppy is due on Sunday.

Thanks to any and all for your help!

--

Resolved, that the 175^th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis affirms Resolution C095, Structural Reform, adopted by the 77^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church;

And be it further

Resolved, that the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis commit itself and its officers to open and prompt sharing of information and expertise with the Task Force if and when so called;

And be it further

Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
Teach, baptize, and nurture new believers
Respond to human need by loving service
Seek to transform unjust structures of society
Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth;

And be it further

Resolved, that this Convention, under the legislative powers vested in it by the Constitution of the Diocese of Indianapolis IV.4.(c) create a committee whose purpose is to

Study scripture and pray for God’s continual blessing upon the whole church and especially God’s people in the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis
Engage in theological and historical reflection on the Diocese as the organizing unit of Christ’s church
Make itself available to the Task Force established by C095 as fellow travelers in discernment of the will of God for the church
Engage in appreciative inquiry of the programs, activities, and outreach of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, obtaining the wisdom, perspectives, and expertise of others throughout the Diocese, including those not often heard from
Discern a shared vision for a relationship between the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis and its constituent missions, parishes, and other bodies that reflects the love of Jesus Christ and the theology and polity of the Episcopal Church
Develop recommendations for the Diocese and its constituent missions, parishes, and other bodies to achieve that vision together, with God’s help
Deliver an interim report to the 176^th Diocesan Convention and a final report to the 177^th Diocesan Convention, the latter to be published no later than the Feast of the Transfiguration, 2014 (August 6), on its discernment findings and recommendations, with such reports also to be made freely and contemporaneously available online, along with such resolutions as may be necessary to implement those recommendations;

And be it further

Resolved, who should select these people and how should they do it? We don’t have the built-in PHoD and PB structure at the diocesan level, that the members of the committee be named no later than the Feast of the Confession of St. Peter the Apostle (January 18, 2013), and that the members adequately represent the diversity of this diocese, and include those at a critical distance from the power structures of the Diocese

And be it further

Explanation: Don’t have the energy for this now. But if you’ve gotten this far, you know what it’s about.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Rules for Resolutions at Diocesan Convention

Tweaking some of my fellow Anglo-Catholic friends about the Blessed Virgin Mary was fun for a couple blog posts, but it’s time to get back to some holy wonkery, and the clock is ticking. While I was asleep in a post-General Convention stupor, I failed to notice just how quickly the 2012 convention of the Diocese of Indianapolis was approaching. It’s still a little over two months away, and important deadlines are rapidly approaching. I have some people to get in touch with in a hurry.

Quickly now:

Resolutions for consideration by the convention are due by August 26. That’s THIS Sunday. They may be submitted via e-mail. Instructions here.
Nominations for diocesan committees are due by September 1. You may nominate yourself. A nomination form, including a list of the responsibilities of the various committees, can be found here.

I’ll get back to these in a bit, but first: Diocesan Convention, whether in Indianapolis or elsewhere, is really important. A fundamental principle of the Episcopal Church is that the basic unit of the church is not the parish, but the diocese, of which the Bishop is the leader. Conceptually, any ministry done in a particular parish is an extension of the Bishop’s own ministry. The Bishop derives her authority from the laying on of hands going back a great many generations to the touch of Jesus himself. That’s why a Bishop carries a shepherd’s crook. This does not make the Bishop magic, but it does make her well-connected.

So, the Bishop commands a great deal of authority, through both the literal touch of our Lord and Savior and the considerably less mystical means of the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Indianapolis. Mystical or not, the constitution and canons spell out that the Bishop’s authority is shared with her flock.

Let me state it forthrightly: laypeople and clergy all have power to influence the way things are done in our dioceses. We just have to use it.

What I am not calling for is for anyone reading this to prepare a raft of resolutions. That’s basically the last thing we need. General Convention was littered with well-intentioned but basically meaningless resolutions, and the same thing happens at diocesan convention, too.

From the 174th Convention of the EpiscopalDiocese of Indianapolis, I give you two examples:

Equitable Education for All Our ChildrenResolved, that the 174^th Convention of the Diocese of Indianapolis affirm Resolution B025, Equitable Education for All Our Children, adopted by the 76^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, and urge the implementation of this resolution, as appropriate, within our diocese and our parishes.

Renew and Strengthen Economic Justice MinistryResolved, that the 174^th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis affirm Resolution C049, Renew and Strengthen Economic Justice Ministry, adopted by the 76^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, and urge the implementation of this resolution, as appropriate, within our diocese and our parishes.

Note the weasel words – “urge”, “as appropriate”. Note the total lack of specificity in assigning any specific action. I can guarantee you that I voted for these things as a delegate last year. Because the last thing I was going to do was be the jerk from All Saints who voted against Equitable Education for All Our Children, especially when the resolution calls on me and everyone I know to do precisely nothing.

So a few ground rules before you go submitting resolutions:

Is this resolution likely to pass unanimously? If so, can it. The resolution probably hasn’t called anyone in the room to do anything meaningful.
Does the resolution call for someone in the church (not government officials) to do anything concrete? If so, we’re on to something.
Might the resolution legitimately call on you to do something concrete? Better yet. There was an interesting resolution that passed at last year’s Diocesan Convention requiring a research project on the system of Township Poor Relief in Indiana. The township poor relief funds carry large amounts of cash on their balance sheets, where they aren’t helping the poor, and given today’s low yields, aren’t even earning interest! (See Matt 25:27 for what Jesus thinks about that investment strategy). But if I recall correctly, it was suggested that the Bishop kick that project over to the Deacons. I’m not sure if this has been done or if this resolution will appear on the ever-lengthening unfinished business report (the reading of which should frankly be promptly followed by confession and rending of garments; then maybe absolution). I’m not blaming the Deacons, by the way (the Indianapolis Star hasn’t been able to crack this issue, either) – just saying it was an easy one to pass because we kicked responsibility to someone else. Full disclosure: I believe I spoke in favor of this resolution. Maturity comes slowly, y’all.
Does your resolution contain an escape hatch? Note that these most often take the form of non-committal verbs. If so, edit those out right this minute! If you provide an escape hatch, it will be used.
Does the resolution involve money? If so, just make sure you really know what you’re talking about, and you really understand the way the budgeting process works in your diocese and what the actual resources available are. Get help from someone who does know the numbers. There’s a perfectly wonderful resolution regarding support for the Episcopal Church in Haiti committing $500,000 of Diocesan resources to reconstruction efforts. It passed, but it’s pretty problematic. The draft budget for 2013 at this stage completely ignores it. Another one for the unfinished business report? Also - guilty. I voted for it.

So what subjects might deserve a resolution? I can think of two off the top of my head. First, we have a major resolution that passed at the General Convention, C095, establishing a committee to imagine a restructuring of the national church (I've put my name in for this, and maybe you should, too. You've got till August 23 to do it). But as one Bishop pointed out during the debate on this resolution in the House of Bishops, this is a call to reimagine what our dioceses look like as well. A restructuring of the national church is a good and necessary thing, but the dioceses and the parishes are where we spend most of our time (and money). A resolution adapting C095 for diocesan use would make a whole lot of sense. This is my project for the next few days.

Also, specific to the Diocese of Indianapolis here...our website is sorely in need of an upgrade. Fact is, we did one two years ago. There's no reason to lay blame, but we must acknowledge that this did not work at all. Let's allocate some funds and get something usable. We will all feel better. Keep in mind that the audience for a diocesan website is almost entirely church insiders, not outsiders. Easy accessiblity to diocesan resources for parishes is vital.

I'm sure there are other things we need to address (besides the budget, obviously, about which...more later), but not much. One of the great problems of General Convention and Diocesan Conventions is that we so rarely get our geographically dispersed groups together, it's shame we spend so much of our time in legislative snoozefests rather than sharing with each our successes and frustrations, and building networks across distance.

To that end, I'm excited to see that this year the Diocese of Indianapolis is creating room during one of the breaks for workshops. This is an excellent idea (Acts 8 gathering, anyone?). Let's see how short we can make our legislating, and spend our time together instead exchanging ideas, stories, and experiences as we work for the one who is coming into the world.

UPDATE 9/15/2012: I referenced the diocesan website being in need of an upgrade. I recently learned that one is well under way, and caught a sneak peek of it during a brief moment when the new design was accidentally made public. I'm not sure what the launch date is, but it looks very good.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Assumption Eve: the BVM Achieves Liftoff

I generally find it hard to have a lot of conviction about the Assumption of Mary - the idea that Mary's body, upon her death, was assumed into heaven. There's certainly no direct scriptural support for it, just the analogy of the prophet Elijah, who himself apparently disappeared into heaven.

Mary was a great prophet (possibly the greatest of the prophets, let those who oppose the ordination of women take note). What does a prophet do but speak the word of God, and what better way to speak the word of God than to literally give birth to it (John 1:14)? Add on a treatise on economic policy that politicians of all stripes would do well to study carefully (Luke 1:46-55) and you've got yourself a real prophet here.

So even though there's approximately zero in the way of scriptural support for the idea that Mary was taken directly into heaven, I'm inclined to just go along with it. First, the concept does no harm to the faith. Second, without something like the Assumption, how on earth do we end up with apparitions of Mary, and I love me some Virgin of Guadalupe (which I believe to be simultaneously a fraud and an act of God, but that's a topic for another time). Third, who am I to deny Jesus the right to rapture up his own mother?

But the Assumption, like the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, does run into a practical problem. Namely: we can totally fly into space and see that heaven isn't there. Nonetheless, my previous post notwithstanding, I really, really like Mary, and I like to imagine her life. Lacking any better imagery of where Mary went, I just went with a sort of holy NASA in a little snippet I submitted to a New York Times writing contest, where the challenge was to describe the sky in three sentences (I didn't win). This Assumption Eve, it's all I got:

Try to imagine the Assumption, how it must have felt for Mary, full of grace, the first woman to touch the sky (not Amelia Earhart, not Sally Ride). Perhaps it was a breezeless August day above Jerusalem, and she watched the earth recede through circles of carrion birds surveying Golgotha's latest harvest. The air whistling across her ears was alpine, now arctic, then gone, as she floated past the rings of Saturn and wondered which of the twinkling lights in the distance was Heaven's golden door.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

There's Nothing Special about the Blessed Virgin Mary

Jesus is a pretty unusual guy. The core of Christian belief is that he is simultaneously fully divine and fully human. That's an intellectual puzzle, but a little easier to work through when you put it in practical terms.

Take the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-10). Jesus and his mom were at a wedding, and mom notices the wine has run out. Though she's just a guest at the wedding, she's apparently the hostess with the mostest and she notes this to her son, who basically says, "Seriously, you expect me to do a miracle so the best man doesn't have to do a liquor run? Not gonna do it." But after a minute he relents and produces thirty gallons of the best wine ever. So we see Jesus as just another guest at a wedding, aware of his power but reluctant to use it for trivial purposes. In the end he apparently concludes that communal celebrations are important enough to deserve God's grace, and the wedding feast continues. Party on.

The letter to the Hebrews puts the meaning of the incarnation this way: "For it is not as if we has a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin. Let us be confident, then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from him and find grace when we are in need of help."

On August 15, the Episcopal church, along with many other denominations, will celebrate the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of our Lord. My own Anglo-Catholic parish will transfer the observation to tomorrow so more people in our parish can participate in our practices of Marian devotion. I don't begrudge Mary her feast days, but we do ourselves a disservice if we set her apart too much.

If you accept the basic premise of the incarnation, then the person of Mary is pretty mind-blowing. Because it means that Mary, a regular person like you or me, was literally the Mother of God. Dude, like, wow.

The concept that a normal woman could give birth to God is so mind-blowing that the Catholic church has gone out of its way to state that, in fact, Mary was no normal woman. Through the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which has found some traction in other denominations as well, the Catholic church teaches that Mary was born without original sin. The implication here is that Jesus couldn't have been born from just any woman. It had to be Mary. And the reason it had to be Mary, apparently, is that the genetic cooties of original sin are stronger than the grace of God. This completely misses the point of Mary, and further errs in trying to impose limits on God's power.

Mary's not special. Like us, she probably mostly tried her best, but failed from time to time. She probably talked back to her parents and had petty quarrels with Joseph. And yet for some reason God chose her as a dwelling place for a time before coming into the world.

Pondering why God chose Mary will lead us down blind alleys. Martin Luther notes, "The angel witnesses that she is on the same level with all other saints. He does not praise her for her piety, but simply because of the great grace of God by which she is chosen to be the mother of His own son." Ponder not the why, but the what.

And what is the what? In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, "From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first fruits of the spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free." (Rom 8:22-23)

The hope we have in Mary is that we, like her, are active participants in the birth of a new creation. If God called on Mary, a sinner like us, to be his home for a while, God may also call on us the same way. We do not have to be perfect to produce holiness. We just have to listen for God's call, and say yes when it comes.

So by all means, let's celebrate Mary. We'll be processing around my church tomorrow with great clouds of incense and some big honking hymns. But let's remember that Mary's no more special than we are; she's only one of us.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

This is all I'm going to say about Chick-fil-A

Christianity doesn't ask you to be perfect (thank God), but it does ask you to try. Someone tell me what's trying about eating at Chick-fil-A because Mike Huckabee told you to. Was waiting in the drive-thru line hard? Was figuring out what to order agonizing? Tell me how you helped bring about the kingdom of God by eating at Chick-fil-A yesterday.

Because let me tell you something about Chick-fil-A. While some people talk about their cardboard factory-farmed chicken, I don't care. Chick-fil-A is delicious. It has herbs and spices that make the chicken smell so good that I occasionally surreptitiously ate it during my vegetarian years while I was slouching around College Mall in Bloomington. Their bite-size breakfast chicken sandwiches are perfect to eat with some fruit and trick yourself into thinking you're eating something healthy (you're not).

Now the good news is that I don't really know where there's a Chick-fil-A near me and I wouldn't buy it anyway because I've known about their politics for years. But it turns up at various office functions and I'll be damned if someone else has paid for that delicious chicken and I'm not going to eat it.

But Jesus is about burdens, y'all. Light burdens, but burdens nonetheless. And eating delicious chicken to do exactly the opposite of loving your neighbor? Not a burden.

An uneasy compromise on same-sex unions

So the General Convention authorized the use of a liturgy to bless same sex unions! Hurray! But part of what it took to get it passed was to leave the use of the rite in each diocese to the discretion of its bishop! Um...

So, the positions two bishops are taking on this item are attracting attention. Bishop Kee Sloan of Alabama, who voted for authorizing the rite, has declined to permit its use in Alabama. Bishop Edward Little of the Diocese of Northern Indiana, issued a pastoral letter that in no uncertain terms forbids the use of the liturgy in his diocese. This is not a surprise since he voted against authorizing the liturgy at General Convention. Given that, it's surprising that he took the further step to say this:

Second, priests of the Diocese of Northern Indiana who, for pastoral reasons, wish to use "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant" may travel to a neighboring diocese to do so. I have spoken with the bishops of Chicago, Western Michigan, Michigan, Ohio, and Indianapolis (dioceses that border our own), and they have agreed that Northern Indiana priests may request permission to use a church in their dioceses for such a liturgy. Those priests should also apply for a "license to officiate" from the bishop of the neighboring diocese, since the liturgy would be under that bishop’s sacramental covering rather than mine.

These actions are attracting no shortage of criticism and in some cases vitriol (here and especially here for examples, albeit fairly tame ones). And let me be crystal clear on what my position is: I believe that the existing rite of marriage in the Book of Common Prayer should be authorized for use for same-sex couples.

But that is not where we are today. Today we are at an uneasy middle ground, where we have a kind of odd, not altogether satisfying rite (it's here in draft form; there were some modest revisions made at General Convention but I can't track down the revised text), that's a lot like marriage but not really, not strictly speaking a sacrament but treated as though it is, and that can be forbidden by fiat by your local bishop.

Dissatisfying as it may be, this represents enormous progress. The reason the A049 resolution contains the ability for bishops to forbid the use of the liturgy in their dioceses is because that is what it took for it to pass. Without that provision, this resolution would almost certainly have died in the House of Bishops. Further, I think it oversimplifies things to assume that everyone who opposes same-sex unions opposes a role for gay people in the church.

While not all bishops have officially given word one way or the other, it appears that same sex blessings will be made available in most dioceses of the Episcopal Church. I do not know what is in Bishop Sloan's heart, but it seems he voted against his present conscience to be generous to those in other dioceses for whom making this liturgy available is tremendously important. And while Bishop Little voted against the resolution, he has found a way that same-sex couples in his diocese can have their union blessed by a clergy member they know, albeit at the very sad cost of having to do it in an unfamiliar church.

A049 was not the end of the road for same sex marriage in the Episcopal Church, but it seems at this point that the correct approach is not to proceed by taking shots from the blogosphere or questioning the motivations of bishops of good will (it seems that not all of them are, but that's another story).

Instead, we should remember that life in Christ is not instant perfection, but lifelong conversion. Jesus tells us that "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Indeed that may be, but there is a yoke, and there is a burden. For those of us fortunate enough to live in dioceses where same sex blessings are permitted (that means me if I maybe one day ask my beloved for his hand in whatever -- no promises!), our burden is to use the rite, magnify the Lord with our unions, and convert hearts. And it will help if all of us - both those for and against same-sex blessings - will celebrate that we can disagree and yet stay together as a church.

This is cold comfort for my brothers and sisters in Northern Indiana and Alabama who yearn to see their unions recognized by the church. Colder comfort still for my brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Albany, whose canons have been interpreted as forbidding any member of the clergy from participating in or even attending a same-sex union, even if in lay clothing (that is absolutely baffling to me; given Jesus's choice of dining companions I find it hard to believe he'd refuse to attend a same-sex union, even if he disapproved). I don't have anything to make this right.

But this is the nature of the compromise that got us this far. We agreed to find a way we could do this and still live with each other. We get to keep praying together, serving together, and talking to each other. Far better this than the alternative.